As Hei sat in the freezing tavern, Linhai sounded infinitely better than pulling a creaking melon cart through the mud for the rest of his miserable life.
Can you even imagine the tragedy? The self-proclaimed hero, pulling a wooden cart, day in and day out, until his spine warped and his teeth fell out due to old age?!
Alright, that was unnecessarily insensitive of me. In all fairness to the melon cart merchant, he is an honorable and hardworking man doing what he must to sustain his family. There is no shame in honest labor and cart pulling.
But Hei wasn't meant for it. His spirit was too loud. He was meant for a higher calling, even if that calling was just unlocking a door for an apocalypse.
Hei looked across the table at Bai. The philosopher was giving him a look that could only be described as an unhinged grin. It was madness, but it was alive! Hei felt the corners of his own cracked lips turning upward against his will.
