ARC 7-Cursed Fates-45
Childhood fears are a strange thing. When you’re young, the simplest things seem impossibly complex and the easiest obstacles insurmountable.
As a child, Gordon and the Grimoires were worse than the imaginary monsters that lurked in gloomy corners or within the unfathomable darkness beneath my bed. They were real, flesh and blood, and they would be with always, there to terrorize even after I’d grown up. For the longest ti, I accepted that I would be oppressed by the Grimoires with the sa certainty that I knew the sun would rise and set every day.
Now, as I approach the two-year mark since my faithful encounter with the glossiest elental in all the realms, that certainty has been turned upside down along with the rest of my life. The Grimoires, the To family’s greatest fear for generations, are no more. Humbled into retaking their original na and made the puppets of the creatures they once treated as pets. My childhood bully, Junior, is nothing more than a puppet. All his family’s wealth, power, and traditions have been turned against him, made to serve another’s purpose. His family made to serve another’s purpose, at the whim of a To.
The scowl he wears as he prepares to take his free shot at thoroughly communicates how much he hates . I have no doubt that he is going to use this opportunity to put down, or at least try to with all the strength he’s capable of.
I’m sure, to him, my death is the answer to all his problems. Too bad my dying will do nothing to improve his life. Even if he could kill , Geneva, the highest-ranking succubus in this realm, has already ordered all the succubi contracted by the Masons to ignore their orders. Fen will never again be under his control.
Saints, I don’t want to imagine what that creature would do to him if she wasn’t constrained by my arbitrary rules and Geneva’s agenda. He should be thanking for whatever peace he has in his unfortunate life, but deep thought has never been his family’s strong suit. They prefer to strong-arm their problems. Hence, Junior getting ready to puml rather than stress his peanut-sized mind.
“You’re really going to stand there and let hit you?” he asks skeptically, his eyes glowing as he channels mana. “I won’t be holding back. At all.”
“Didn’t expect you to.” I watch in growing amusent as he shakes himself and balls his hands into fists. “How have you been, Junior? Has Fen been treating you well?”
He sneers. “Oh, great. She keeps clean and fed. Sotis, I even get three als a day. How about your pets? They treating you well?”
“Looking for tips from the better summoner?”
“Better summoner my ass. Do Tos even summon anymore? Your cousin wants nothing to do with your prized art and all you’ve done with your so-called talent is copy my family.”
“Is that ant to be an insult? Cause you’re only insulting yourself. The Grimoires have done nothing but copy each other for literal centuries. At least the Tos have made advances in the field.”
“Are you talking about your father’s little theory? Sure, it was original but it’s useless, isn’t it?” His mouth opens again, but no words co out. Junior trembles, as if fighting sothing, but ultimately closes his mouth and shakes his head. “This back and forth is pointless. I’m ready.”
“Give it your best.”
The bastard doesn’t even have the decency to hesitate before throwing one of his aty fists at my face, oh so slowly. Saints, it would be so easy to move out of the way, but I let the blow connect. It barely has enough weight to turn my face and it certainly doesn’t do any damage. “Is that all you have?”
He roars and hits again. When he attempts a third blow, I catch his wrist and my opposite hand lightly grabs him by the throat. “Ah ah,” I mock, shaking him like a child disciplining a misbehaving pet. “You only get two tries.”
“All that power…” he forces out between the pressure of my grip and his grit teeth. “…and you’re still clueless.”
Clueless? That has to be a joke. If anyone is clueless, it’s him. “No need to be a sore loser.” I toss him away, Junior stumbling as he struggles to keep his balance. “Walk if off and grab a drink. The night is still young.”
He grunts while rubbing his throat. “You look different but underneath it all, you’re still the sa Lou.” His tone suggests that his parting shot is ant to be an insult, but he leaves it at that, still massaging his throat as he moves toward the drinks table.
I let him go. Junior is the last person I need to argue with. I’ve won against him in every way, including the ways that don’t matter. If throwing a few cryptic barbs makes him feel better, I’m not so petty as to deny him.
“Anyone else?” I query the crowd. “A free shot at with no consequences. A small fortune in goodies and all you have to do is put down. Anyone? Anyone at all?” I snicker when no one takes up on my offer. “That’s fine. Thank you to all my contenders. I hope everyone enjoyed the show.”
Right on cue, the angry music changes to sothing more relaxing, Talia’s powerful voice softening and my servants quick to adjust the music accompanying her. Conversation picks up, the crowd mainly discussing my little performance and its consequences. Several tongues wag with speculation about the Hall’s reaction to the giant hole in our wall. A hole that is letting in a draft in. Bell, do sothing about that.
As my imp scampers over to raise a wall of earth, I make my way over to Alyssa. Lane still hasn’t left the redhead’s side and, judging from how tense he looks and the way the instructor isn’t paying any attention to him, I assu he still hasn’t mustered the courage to confess. He stares at as I approach but doesn’t say anything, choosing to focus on his drink instead. Which suits fine as I have nothing to say to him. “Will that do for a demonstration?” I ask Alyssa.
“Yeah.” The redhead sighs. “I’m sure Jack saw enough to put in a word with the guilds. Pretty hard to take revenge on a woman that can’t be killed. From the chatter I heard, the side arguing to take you down figured that as long as they could separate you from your elf, you’d be the easiest target to take out, but you definitively put that suspicion down. He used the worm on you, didn’t he?”
“The what?”
“Blade worming through your gut.”
“Oh, yeah. Very unpleasant.”
“Wasn’t supposed to feel good.” We share a chuckle. “Hey, uh…thanks. If that proved anything, it’s that you don’t need to bother deescalating. I don’t even want to imagine what it would take to kill you. Reminds of the stories the guilds have of the legendary monsters they’ve brought down. Beasts so strong and tough entire guilds mobilized to bring them down.”
“They have records?”
“Oh, yeah. Big musty tos they keep in locked chests and those are kept in vaults. I imagine they like them more than summoners like their records.”
“I doubt it.”
“Don’t be so quick to. I know they haven’t given the best impression, but the guilds are old institutions with a lot of history. They’ve done as much to settle this continent as the royal army or any noble house. And so of the creatures they had to take down. There were a lot more Harvest heroes back then. And I an heroes. They didn’t have ti for petty nonsense like kidnapping brewers.”
“No. They were too busy slaughtering the original lords of this land.”
Shake steps up beside us. The look she gives Alyssa…it isn’t an, I suppose. Maybe a little challenging. And the instructor returns it, sohow both expressing her exasperation and her readiness to handle any unwanted confrontations. “Yeah, I’ve read about the creatures the Temple worshipped. They would have us digging roots out of the ground instead of farming.”
“Living in harmony with the land, according to the natural cycles of the world.”
“I don’t know about you, but I like getting my at from a market. And plumbing.”
The big woman scoffs. “Humanity is its own race, with its own needs and quirks. Conflict is expected. Greatness would have been finding the way to reconcile our needs with those of the teachers who gave us their wisdom and welco. Instead, when their ways conflicted with the vision of n, their solution was to kill them and raze their lands.”
“Did you want an apology or sothing?” the redhead snipes, frustration evident in her tone. “Cause you’re not getting one. I don’t care how intelligent they were, a beast is a beast. I and no one else should feel guilty putting down a threat. They sure as shit wouldn’t have spared us.”
“No apology needed. You bear their sins but not their fault. When you ntioned the glory of the guilds of old, I could not let the comnt pass without ntioning their sha. But that is not why I am here.” She turns to with a big grin. “Your communion ended earlier than I thought.”
I smile back at her, mostly because I’m happy that she isn’t the kind of fanatic that would ruin a good party arguing with soone about her beliefs till soone runs out of breath, figuratively or literally. “That’s your fault. Throwing us through a wall is a hard act to follow.”
“You are remarkably resistant to blunt force. It is a sha Ruby did not partake. I was curious to see how you would handle magic.”
“Pretty resistant to that too. The elents, I an. A knife cutting apart my guts is as harmful to as anyone else.”
“Not quite. You stood back up.”
“That’s because I heal better than anyone else.”
“I had hoped to discuss that. If you do not mind talking about yourself.”
“I’ve got nothing to hide.” Not really. I already decided to be freer with my affinities and I’m sure rumors of the March have spread by now. “If you’ll excuse ,” I say to Alyssa and Lane. The redhead waves off while her lackey ignores us. I wonder what’s going through his mind but not for long. One of Shake’s hands grabs my shoulder and I let her lead away.
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