Chapter XLIX: The Mob ~Sirocco

Syforthe clenched his fist as he floated over the cave in which Sirocco and his guest sat. "Why that little..." He growled in rage. It was him who had started the cattle stampede after spotting his brother nosing around. He had figured he was there to try and stop him again. Many times his brother had stopped him...but this time he wasn't supposed to get the chance. Thanks to Sirocco, however, he very well might. Syforthe was about to destroy them both when a thought came across his mind. He should enter through stealth. With that as his plan, he landed, and surrounded himself in the shadows of the nether, blending in with the terrain and becoming nothing but a just barely darkened disturbance in the air. He entered the cave, and got his first good look at the Patchwork. A mix of flesh and robotics that would disgust anyone who looked at it, he thought. And he then was hit by inspiration. *The people of Lidon...yes...I can use them to defeat this being and concentrate entirely on my search, without my brother's pestilence!* He cackled mentally, and disappeared from sight, returning to Lidon to begin putting his plan in place.

Sirocco looked down at his gun. It was a trusty piece of hardware. Even though he had only used it for a short time, he could do amazing things with it. One of the most powerful techniques he had learned with the addition of the 'Bakuretsu-Te' programming was the Cannons of Bismarck attack, which he had used to stop the stampede that nearly killed his guest. He picked it up, and re-holstered it as his guest awakened. "Uugh..." he moaned, rolling over, his eyes slowly opening. Before them they saw the Patchwork. "What in the---" he began to mutter, before Sirocco turned and gave him a look with his red eye. He silenced. "...Good morning," Sirocco said. The guest nodded an affirmative, and got out of bed. "You were that guy who stopped the stampede, right?" Sirocco's guest asked. Sirocco nodded, resulting in a similar action by the guest. "My name is Aelin de Syforthe," he said, extending a hand for Sirocco to shake. Sirocco looked down at his hand, then back up to him. Aelin frowned, and pulled back his hand in realization of his stymied effort to get on Sirocco's good side. "Sirocco Zephyr," the Patchwork stated simply. Aelin nodded. "So...any idea what planet this is?" Aelin asked. "It's a patchwork, just like me...called Zolott," Sirocco replied, cracking his knuckles. Aelin, feeling a bit uneasy, asked, "Would you mind if I went outside and got some fresh air for a minute?" Sirocco gave a slight chuckle. "Well, there's enough in here, but, sure, go ahead." Aelin nodded, and went outside. *Yup, disgusted with me,* Sirocco thought to himself as he examined his gun.

The villagers chattered and conversed to create quite a din in Lidon's town square. Syforthe had called a gathering of all the village's people about a 'beast' found outside the village. Rumors were spreading like wildfire. Syforthe stood on a podium, examining the crowd. He smirked, and then began to speak. "Citizens of Lidon!" All the crowd turned to him. He went on. "The recent earthquake was not a mere earthquake. It was, instead, the work of a demon who wishes to destroy us!" A wave of panicked chatter spread over the crowd. Syforthe chuckled, and threw his arms out. "Do not panic, citizens or Lidon! We can defeat this monster!" The crowd hushed once more. "Go to your houses," Syforthe shouted, "and retrieve your pitchforks! Your old weapons of war! Your swords, your partisans, your bows! You, citizens of Lidon, you shall eradicate this menace together!!!" As Syforthe spoke, the villagers chanted their agreement, and scrambled to their homes to retrieve weapons with which to hunt down and kill the 'demon'. As Syforthe grinned wide, his skeletons led the mob in Sirocco's direction, much like the one that went after Frankenstein's monster in Mary Shelley's First Earth book. Just as he had hoped, they never noticed that he was not with them, and he summoned up two Wraiths to aid him in his search for the Demon Realm and the Unsouls he so badly wanted to meet and have the power of.