"On top of that, even if we find a way to fix my core, I cannot part from the tower. I might beco my own master after your death, but that would an living an eternity of loneliness.
"Immortality would be my curse rather than my blessing. After losing everyone I love, it would be only a matter of ti before grief and isolation drive insane as it happens to Liches." Solus had never been so scared of her future.
Finding the answers she had long searched had brought her no joy, only despair.
"Stop spewing nonsense, Solus!" Lith said. "You’ve never been a burden for . You are my most precious friend and confidant. Our bond made better and I have yet to even start repaying you for all you did.
"I’ll take care of you not because I have to, but because I want to. No matter what kind of ss my life will turn into, I want you in it. As for immortality, you and I are in the sa boat.
"I can’t afford to die without taking another trip to never-never land so don’t kill off like that. Don’t worry about the future. We’ll deal with it when the ti cos just like we did with everything else. Together." Lith kissed her head, lulling Solus between his arms.
"Since we still have so ti before going to bed, what do you say I prepare you my worlds-renowned hot chocolate with whipped cream and pancakes drowned in syrup?" Lith asked with a soothing voice.
"Are you trying to give diabetes?" Solus nodded and chuckled at the sa ti.
"The good thing about having an energy body is that you can’t get fat. You should enjoy it while you have the chance. Once you get your real body, you’ll be like anyone else. A mont on the lips, a lifeti on the hips." Lith playfully pinched at her belly.
"How dare you make fun of a lady!" Solus laughed, trying to return the favor but finding nothing to pinch at.
"I’ll take your advice and a double chocolate. Then, maybe, I’ll forgive you."
While Lith prepared the food, Solus checked her body and realized that she had no idea how to prepare a single al. Mages were often so focused on their research to pay no mind to things like cooking or sewing.
The idea that to keep enjoying all of her favorite foods as she had always done without gaining ten kilos per month she would need to both exercise a lot and learn how to prepare them, made immortality look like a minor issue to Solus.
***
Weghan region, near the lair of Ajatar the Drake, in the central part of the Griffon Kingdom.
Ajatar was sound asleep even though the sun had just set. His latest experint had not only been a massive failure, but it had also lasted over three days. The Drake was annoyed and in dire need of rest.
Invigoration couldn’t nd his wounded pride nor his bad mood. The only prescription was taking a bit of ti off to learn from his mistakes.
That’s why when soone triggered all of his alarm arrays and knocked on his door, Ajatar was royally pissed off even before learning the identity of the unwanted guest or why they were bothering him.
"This better be urgent, pal, because otherwise I’m going to paint you black and blue all over." The Drake resembled an oversized lizard covered in sapphire-blue scales with a huge white horn coming out of his snout.
Despite his huge size, Ajatar moved as lithe as a cat, reaching the door in a split second.
"What the actual fuck?" He said noticing a raggedy man asleep on his doorbell. "How the heck does a human know how to find my buzzer and how did he trigger yet dodge my traps?"
Ajatar activated his mystical senses and arrays to make sure it wasn’t so kind of elaborate ruse for an ambush. A lot of people would kill Drakes for their sturdy scales that could be used to craft extraordinary protections.
In a similar fashion, the Drake’s ho was surrounded by human skins to remind all wannabe hunters that skinning was a ga two could play. Only after all the security sweeps ca back negative did he take a good sniff at the stranger.
The ragged man slled of dirt, loads of alcohol, and sothing that reminded the Drake of his own dissolute youth. Under all that stench, the sll of a fellow Emperor Beast was faintly detectable.
"If you want to sleep, go sowhere else. What do you want from ?" The Drake asked.
"Oh, sorry." Morok managed to yawn, burp, and fart at the sa ti, releasing a noxious gas that wiped away any trace of sleep left in Ajatar’s body.
"I need a ride back to the Ernas Arch Duchy to collect my prize since those bastards dropped like a bad habit." He said before literally falling asleep on the ground with a thud.
"What kind of idiot has just stumbled in my house?" Ajatar asked the heavens while rolling his eyes.
"Be more specific, dammit! Do you have any idea how big an Arch Duchy is? There are several Awakened Lords living there. Either you tell where you want to go or I swear to the gods that I’ll Warp you to a random location."
"Take to the Ernas household, thanks." Morok stopped snoring long enough to answer and then promptly resud.
Tired of playing along with all that nonsense, Ajatar used Invigoration on Morok, cleansing his body from substances and fatigue alike.
"It doesn’t work like that, pal. Start from the beginning. Who are you and what do you want?" The Drake asked.
"You fiend!" Morok looked at the Drake with outrage, making him feel guilty even though he had no idea why. "That was so first-rate booze and chemical joy. Do you have any idea how much it cost ? I demand compensation!"
"Do you want to pay for ssing with your intoxication?" Ajatar was flabbergasted but no longer felt guilty.
"You break it, you pay for it. Why is the Warp Array still inactive?" Morok extended his hand for the money while looking at the ssy lab in contempt. "Dude, this place is a stinky ss. Do you have no sha?"
The failure and consequent explosion had indeed left the lab in a pitiful state. Pieces of broken equipnt lay everywhere and the stench of burned ingredients gave the lair a pungent sll.
Yet hearing those words coming from soone that made his lab look and sll like a rosebud in comparison, almost gave Ajatar a stroke.
"First, I’m not going to give you a single copper piece. Second, if you don’t like my house, go to Feymar and use the humans’ Gate." The Drake said.
"Have so respect, dude! I’m a fellow Emperor Beast and a war hero at that. I faced Baba Yaga, barely survived the legendary battle of the three armies, and then crawled my way here. Is it too much to ask for a little help?" Morok said.
"Even if I wanted to believe you t a living legend like Baba Yaga and lived to tell the tale, I call bullshit on the rest. The last war happened before I was even born and I’ve never heard about such battle."
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