Chapter 55: Wanted Poster
After Jimmy abandoned the war, life felt like it went in slow-motion during the first few hours. He spent the day slapping bugs down, and eating them to maintain his fast metabolism.
Occasionally he reminded himself to watch out for squirrels, as he was told that they were infiltrating the city, but he hadn’t run into any of them yet. He kept forgetting about them.
Simply put, he was a powerful crow who had freed himself from the burdens of his community, but now, he didn’t have anything to use his power against. He felt that he wandered around aimlessly.
It had only been half a day since he cut his ties, and yet he felt that he was wasting his power away already. He felt like a former muscle-head whose body mass slowly declined on account to the lack of training.
"I can’t believe a bunch of random crows had such a grip on me," He sighed, frustrated, "Good riddance to those smooth-headed dickweeds I suppose?"
The sun had set over the horizon. Jimmy went from one rooftop to the other, taking naps, eating bugs, and repeating.
This went on until the next morning, and he liked the fact that he felt better than ever. He wasn’t recovering from any wounds, his belly was full with sub-par food, and he didn’t have a single worry in the world. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was how he was supposed to live his new life, like a traveling monk.
Anyway, as he floated across the city, looking for a meal that didn’t consist of bug proteins, he spotted something odd that pulled him out of his isolation for a moment.
"What the hell is this?" He cocked his head back, unsure if he should laugh or cry.
An expensive looking canvas was nailed to one of the buildings. The painting in the canvas consisted of a unique portrait.
"A crow?" He blinked a few times, "Or is it a raven? I can’t fucking tell."
Jimmy studied the canvas for a couple of minutes, and actually decided if he should laugh or cry. He laughed.
He laughed so hard and loud that he almost thought his feathers were going to fall off. This was no doubt the funniest thing he had ever seen ever since he popped into this world.
"Who the fuck made a Wanted Poster for a crow?" He ran out of breath, and after he gathered himself a little bit, he broke down again, "Hahahahaha!"
It was a poster alright. Jimmy could not read the writings at the bottom of the portrait, but it looked angry. He knew that much.
Virena climbed at the top of Jimmy’s head, studied the poster for a moment, and reached a horrifying realization.
"Jimmy, that’s you." She said, "They drew you. I think you’re in trouble."
"What?" He grunted, "That can’t be right."
This portrait looked just about like every crow and raven he had seen so far. He figured that whoever painted it, did so clumsily, but now that Virena put that idea in his head, he couldn’t help but think that he was the wanted crow that the poster defined.
"Maybe it is me?" He said, "I don’t know what I look like. Never got a chance to sit in front of a mirror."
"It’s definitely you," She insisted, and then pointed out, "Look, the painting perfectly captured that stupid look you get when you’re confused. You look aloof."
"Alright, don’t mock me. I already mocked myself, accidentally." He sighed, "This is a big problem. Who the hell could be looking for me?"
Jimmy began to feel a great sense of dread. He began recalling every murder he committed, specifically, every human he slaughtered, because he doubted that he’d be held responsible for killing ravens or squirrels. He killed three humans in under a week, and in this city where every crime was punished severely, especially towards crows such as himself, he feared what would happen to him.
Some older fears hit him like a violent wave! He remembered living in fear nearly every given minute, unsure if anyone had seen him when he had to kill those couple of humans. The consequences of those murders could very much chase after him, even today!
The two of them studied the Wanted Poster for ten minutes, and wracked their brains as to who could be hunting him. At last, Vinera picked up on a clue.
She asked, "What do those three lines mean? The ones close to your head there."
"Lines?" He repeated, "Oh, those aren’t lines, they’re bars.... What? Bars, like jail bars? Some fucking lunatic wants to throw me in a dungeon?"
"That sounds better than them down-right killing you, honestly." She said, "Humans are rarely this kind. One of them crushed my sister to death for no reason."
"I’m sorry to hear that," He said, and as he studied the poster, he asked, "Someone wants to put me in a dungeon, doesn’t want to kill me for some insane reason, and they bothered to make a Wanted Poster. Does that sound like any human we know?"
"Yes," She nodded slightly, "It’s that weird old guy, isn’t it? The one that kept talking to you even though you didn’t understand a word?"
"It can’t be anyone else," He shook his head, "He has to be pissed because we stole the Flesh Core. Why does he care that much? He wasn’t going to use it anyway."
"I’m not sure, but we should lay low for a while." She said, "We should start sleeping through the day, and hunting at night. I think that’s the best way to avoid the humans."
Jimmy had no reason to protest that idea. He knew she was right.
The thing he focused on the most was the fact that the old man made an actual Wanted Poster! He could not process why anyone would do that. Humans were absolutely face-blind when it came to birds, for one thing, especially crows.
The average guard wouldn’t be able to tell Jimmy apart from the other crows even if he walked past their feet. He was worried that some random crow would get thrown in the dungeon by mistake. Or worse.
"We should take the posters down," He said, and released a tiny Red Fireball, setting the canvas ablaze, "If you spot another poster, let me know. We can’t let this bullshit bite us in the ass."
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