“Okay, but best-case scenario…”
“That is the best case!! The worst case is becoming a full-blown necromantic mana-infused spirit! Your mind would be wiped, and all that would be left is a desire to feed on any mana around you! You’d feed on the children with pleasure and suck on the Tower collectors until you overdrew, making an explosion that would warp the land for hundreds of miles into a hellscape of twisted creatures and evil!”
“Okay, so… how about I don’t do that again?”
“Definitely! Now, Oracle is waiting to ‘discuss’ this with you further; have fun!”
“Oh crap.”
“Oh yes… enjoy!”
I turned my full attention to Oracle then, wincing as I saw the way she smiled at me. Somehow, the tiny, stunningly beautiful wisp looked more like a great white shark watching a skinny dipper. A skinny dipper that had just pissed in her tank.
Chapter Three
It was more than a half hour later before I escaped Oracle’s tirade. She’d taken the time to berate me for everything from my lack of paying attention last night (I was drunk, dammit) to putting off reading my notifications, to my lack of planning for the future. Even the fact that I hadn’t been working on my next gift from the Goddess Jenae was thrown in there.
I had an answer for everything, mostly along the lines of ‘I’m working on it’, but I wasn’t that stupid.
I’d learned long ago, when you’re in a fight with someone who’s that pissed with you, it’s best to just take it. Fair enough, tell them afterwards what you’ve done to make up for it, but never, ever let them know they’re too late and you’re already fixing things. They won’t stop ranting, and they won’t accept it; you’ll have just become ‘defensive’ and have wasted the opportunity. It was always best to wait a while, then unveil what you’d been doing anyway. They’d claim credit, but you’d get an easier life.
Before I could go back into the Tower, I decided I needed a little ‘me’ time to process, so I sat and thought back on everything that had happened lately.
I realized I was running from fire to fire, constantly reacting, and never really getting ahead of things. That needed to change. No, dammit; I need to change…
I had been sitting for maybe twenty minutes, when a Golem arrived with a single bag of supplies and a tiny, rusted knife with a loose sheath. It was perfect, and I felt myself grinning from ear to ear as I thanked it automatically and took the bag, joining Bob and Oracle where they watched over Lorek and his two friends.
“Good news, assholes!” I called out as I got close to them, lifting the bag higher to make sure they saw it. I came to a stop and threw the bag at Lorek, hitting him in the face and knocking him back a few steps.
It might have been petty, but fuck it, I was sometimes, and he was an ass who deserved it.
“Wha…what is this?!” he spluttered, shoving the bag at one of his companions, who took it and peered inside cautiously.
“It’s your supplies, as promised. One bag of supplies, one weapon.” I said, and I held up the little dagger, giving it a little shake from side to side. Once I was sure I had their full attention, I threw the dagger underhand to the second man, who caught it and checked it over.
“You said supplies for all of us! And weapons!” Lorek spat at me, clearly working his way up to a full tirade. “This proves you’re no noble, you…”
“I promised a bag of supplies, and a weapon. Not my fault you weren’t paying attention, you little bitch. Now, I also promised I’d let you go home. Guess what you missed me leaving out from that promise?” I asked, smiling thinly at them.
Pissy Pants looked at his friend and then at Lorek before gaping at the forest behind them. I could see the light dawning in his eyes, even as I ignored Lorek’s complaints.
“Looks like we have a winner!” I said with a wide grin, “For the slower amongst you, I never said I’d help you get anywhere, just that I’d let YOU return home. Judging from the direction your Airship came from, that’d be that way.” I said, pointing south by southeast. “However, if the Airship banked at all, rather than going straight, well, I hope you enjoy your chance to get back to nature, lads!” I turned to Bob and a glowering Oracle; she’d gone back to watching them after tearing me a new asshole and had been looking forward to this. “Bob, Oracle, these dicks are not welcome in my lands. Anywhere in my lands. If you catch them within one mile of this Tower, or anywhere sworn to me, I want you to kill them, and do it fucking slowly. They get thirty minutes’ head start, then feel free to hunt them.”
I started to turn away, intending to walk back towards the Tower, when I sensed more than saw Lorek move. He was a scrawny little fucker, and he telegraphed the punch so blatantly, it might as well have been a love letter sent in the post. I turned back, and held my hand up to Bob and Oracle, letting the punch land.
He hit my right cheekbone and glanced off, making him grimace and cradle his hand. I blinked at the pathetic blow and leaned toward him, whispering loud enough for them all to hear.
“You want to try that again, little man?” I could feel the unchecked rage building again, its coldness threatening to overwhelm me as I
