Page 9 of Reine's Salvation

Reine reached for his sword and stopped, shocked. He had no hand to grasp a weapon. All he had left was an arm that ended below his elbow in an ugly stump. He was powerless. The minion’s evil smile grew even more. Then it vanished into Sam’s head where it would speak and whisper words of darkness and despair.

Reine could do nothing. He was no longer a warrior. He was defenseless against the Sins, but the worst was he could do nothing to protect the humans which he was supposed to look after. He wanted to cry. He grasped his beer bottle and finished it in one go. He needed something stronger, something that would make him forget his miserable life. He didn’t need an Inferum in his head to feel mindless anguish. The knowledge that he was maimed for life because of his own foolishness was enough for him. His arm throbbed as if wanting him to remember that terrible night in front of the mirror in the Sin’s lair. He had stood there and seen and heard things that still tormented him to this day.

“Hey, I’m back. I’m on my break and—”

“What do you want?” he snapped.

“To get you out of your gloom.”

“What?” Reine gaped at Mystique. “What are you talking about?”

She smiled. “You’re lost in thought, and by that dejected look and the way you keep squeezing your fist, you’re either not very comfortable or you’re not having happy thoughts.”

“What’s it to you?”

“I don’t like unhappy people,” she replied.

“You’re fucking kidding me?”

Mystique settled on the stool next to him and leaned over. He fought the urge to move back. What the hell did this girl think she was doing? Didn’t she see he wanted to be alone?

“There’s nothing wrong with being sad from time to time, but when you’re spinning the same problem in your head over and over, you’re just creating a web impossible to escape from. You shouldn’t let it get to you.”

Reine gawked.

“By the way, you haven’t told me your name,” she said.

“That’s because I don’t want you to know.”

She laughed. “Well, aren’t you grumpy.” Her cheeks flushed. “You’ve been coming here for the past three, almost four weeks, so it looks like you’re going to stay in town. We like knowing our customers.” She shrugged. “I'd rather serve a beer to a friend than a stranger.”

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