"Wow, that was fast."
"Yeah." I snorted. "The creatures we face can only be so strong, I suppose."
"It'd be a lot more fun to fight people."
"We will soon." I sighed. "We'll be free to explore the south next year."
"Really?" She leaned in close, squinting with sarcastic skepticism. It was a curious sight, considering she was leaning against the very wall I was lounged upon. "How do you know?"
I leaned in closer, squinting in turn as I grinned and whispered. "The library."
"Tch." She turned away and crossed her arms. "Lame!"
"True." I amiably shrugged. "Not everyone can be as cool as you."
"Hehe! I mean." She turned back to look me in the eye as she playfully tucked her hair behind her ear. "You're pretty cool too. That stuff you did in there was reallll nice." She teasingly dragged on the last words while raising her brows in quick succession. "If you know what I mean."
"Oh?" I chuckled lightly. "So, neither of them hurt?"
"Nah! They felt really good actually." She nudged my shoulder with her forehead, her brows still twitching madly before they suddenly stopped and she pulled away. "The first one was kinda normal but also, like… warm? I dunno." She shrugged with blatant disinterest. "But the second one was, like, woah!" Her eyes grew wide. "It almost made me cry. But not, like, sad tears or anything!" she grasped my shoulder in reassurance. "It was happy tears. Like, I felt like I was… protected. Like you were watching over me. I felt like I could go anywhere. I felt... free."
"Uh-Huh." I slowly nodded. "So it's safe to say it wouldn't hurt my undead?"
"Oh, fuck no!" She snuggled closer for another round of brow bouncing. "It felt really good."
"Interesting." I grinned, then turned to her with beaming eyes. "Alright. I don't know if this will work, but-"
"I trust you."
I paused for a moment in surprise and felt myself staring. Smiling in appreciation toward the woman before me. "Thank you." I patted her head. "Hold on to that feeling. Believe in it. Have faith in it. Pray to it. To me."
"Like… you're a god?"
"Like I'm a god." I nodded, still smiling. Still rubbing her head.
"The god of what?"
"You decide."
"Okay." She reached up to take my hand and squeezed it tightly. "I will. And Opal and Elijah will too!" She squeezed tighter. "I promise."
We hung around for a little while longer, enjoying a companionable silence until my smoke was smoked and we went inside. Winston arrived shortly thereafter. Like a hero returning from a daring adventure, he entered to receive immediate praise from the Party and rewards from Slate and Kao before he was able to retreat to his room to freshen up.
It was quite a lively environment, especially after considering two-thirds of them were scheduled to fight 'dangerous' creatures. Though, as Winston just showed, the word was highly subjective.
Instead of worry or fear, I saw nothing but boredom or excitement on their faces as they conversed or brooded in their various corners, their sealed envelopes within close reach to facilitate their opening come the appointed times.
Mine was 9:25 and it was a box, not an envelope. Other than that and the general idea of where to be when that time came around, I knew nothing about my engagement. Nor did I care to know. Not where it would be or what it even was against. I only hoped it was a challenge and that it would be a nice addition to my undead legions.
Regardless, I was going to put on a show that would be spoken of for ages to come.
In the meantime, however, there were a few means I could step toward achieving. So with that in mind, I approached Els with the friendliest grin I could muster.
He was of course at the bar. Slamming down pints of ale every minute or so and paying next to no mind to those closest to him. Though, to say there were close was an overstatement.
"So, Elsgril." I settled in the seat next to him. "What's the price to learn the language of dwarves?"
"No." He firmly stated with nary a look my way.
"What if I make you an endless flask next year?"
"No!"
"I'll give you land for a brewery." I offered with a shrug. "And an alehouse. Or whatever else you want."
"NO!"
"I'll let you inspect my armor?" I offered with raised brows and an expectant frown. "All my weapons too. Plus the aforementioned offers."
He turned, grunting to himself and squinting his little beady eyes through the folds of his skin to stare at me for a long moment. Then turned back to take a swig of his ale and belched. "No."
"Alright." I pried myself from the stool with a groan and a few obscenities muttered under my breath. "On to the next one."
I was surprised to find him in the dorms for once. Probably because he wanted to silently mock the humans while they battled against what he- and I, considered lesser creatures. Regardless, he was brooding in the reading corners. Settled atop a stool that seemed a few sizes too small for his size.
"Tell me about Tiamat."
The dragonborne flicked the crimson orbs of his eyes towards me and growled. "Read."
"I have." I snorted. "The stories say the Chromatic Queen was sealed away ages ago. I imagine it's the goal of all chromatics to free her?"
"What's it to a devil?"
"Consider me an advocate for freedom." I shrugged. "If I help free the Queen, I can ask her about the ancient times."
"And the other gods will want you dead." He snickered.
"Then they'll have to try and kill me." I grinned. "But I may be harder to kill than they think."
He growled lightly, squinted hard, and stayed silent to study me for the true meaning behind my words. But I was unrelenting.
"Teach me to speak draconic," I said. "Two hundred fifty thousand gold and one enchantment of your design once I'm able to create it. That's my price."
"A hefty sum just to learn a language." Urshure huffed out a smoke-imbued chuckle. "I accept."
After a quick shake to seal the deal, we stepped outside so I could give him the deposit along with a book of mine I asked him to read in draconic while I listened and watched Toni through the screens.
She was still shy but had grown as comfortable with fighting as she'd already been in the woods. Although that wasn't where she found herself now, she may as well have been with an affinity for Snow Magic. She advanced through a snowy tundra without hesitation, a bow made of compacted snow drawn and held at the low ready while she scanned the unchanging environment.
There were no trees, no rock outcroppings or source of life even. Only a powdered landscape of lumpy hills that left Toni Forester in a mind-numbing silence until suddenly, a guttural roar pierced the air.
She spun about at once and released two arrows of hardened mud at what appeared to be a giant gorilla with pale blue skin and snow-white fur.
I had seen Toni fight hundreds of times by now and now was no different. She fought from a distance, using her snow to maneuver while her mud arrows were loosed in volleys into the Yeti's flesh.
That wasn't the object of my focus, nor was Urshure steadily rattling on in Draconic. That was relegated to the Eternal Eye. My biological eyes were focused on Toni's magic while my mind imagined me using my magic in a similar way. Lightning Arrows. Gravity Arrows. Nuclear Arrows. It was all possible and more, it would probably be effective.
It would be effective. Considering it took around five minutes for the yeti to finally fall by her arrows. A horrendously long time for any fight, but a short one considering the toughness of yeti.
By the next fight, however, Urshure was tired of reading and Curious Twig offered no magic or abilities capable of being augmented to my magic so I took a smoke break. Still, however, her fights were a graceful display each and every time I was lucky to witness them and this one was no different. At least aside from the glass panes obstructing my views while I smoked.
She fought a harpy somewhere in a forested mountain. A seemingly disadvantageous battle if it weren't for the tremendous climbing and leaping ability of the Tabaxi. With but a single glance, Twig knew what to do and jumped into action immediately.
With levels of fluidity that I could only hope of achieving, she scaled the cliffside and kicked off to arc through the sky and latch onto a harpy. Then proceeded to scratch and bite and claw at it as they fell to the ground. It, in a wrinkled mess of feathers and bones and her in a neat display of feline grace.
Duke's match was much the same case. A round of areal jousting against a demon imp that was quickly felled. However, my theories were once again proved by Rhody's fight. Wherein, he threw hand-shaped cakes of clay over a hobgoblin's eyes and mouth to blind and suffocate it while he shanked and sliced at it with a pair of water daggers.
Another fast match and I assumed mine would be no different, yet I still had upwards of fifteen minutes until the awaited time. Fifteen minutes that'd been ticking by so slow that I sat in a dilated domain outside to pass them by until 9:25 and ripped the parcel apart to scan the contents.
All I found was a brooch that resembled both a beetle and an acorn that had been cut in half. And of course, a slip of parchment.
'Amun, you are to enter your dormitory portal at the ninth hour and thirtieth minute of this day to encounter a creature chosen by myself to test your abilities. The portal will take you to the outer rim of the Bodhi Tree's Territory. As such, you will need to replace your academy uniform with clothes of your own in order to move beyond the barrier. Conversely, you will need this brooch to reenter the barrier upon the completion of your task. That task is, to kill or otherwise incapacitate the creature you are to meet. Any equipment or abilities may be used to accomplish this task. Failure is not an option.'
'Be without mercy. Bodhi Tree Headmaster, Zorrenor Knagh'
'Ah. So, I have five minutes to change.' I nodded in annoyance. But after, I couldn't help but grin with maddened excitement. This letter made it sound as if I was to face something dangerous.
Something extremely dangerous.
"It's time to go outside and play."