"One step at a time, Thoth. One step at a time." And what steps these were. The lightning fused with my scales had yet to fade.
Whatever patch of verdant majesty I came close to, withered before breaking down into dust particles.
Swaying grass, thick bushes, endless trees... it didn't matter. They all were crumbling, as was my reasoning.
Waking up just on time to quell this spell I surely was not in the right state to cast, these precious slivers of rationality were just about to disperse again.
The reason for that was simple. "Elfriede... as an immortal high elf, do you burn intelligence instead of your unlimited lifespan?"
I didn't understand. She... was one of the few who knew me inside out. So the problem was especially glaring.
How could she willingly dig her own grave?! "You're tired of living?" I heard myself mutter darkly, as my thoughts were in some entirely different place.
After repeating this peculiar sentence for some time, I eventually realised that this was no questioning tone I spoke in. It was cold, factual, even.
"Inquiry: Does the Master require aid?" I scuffled along the way, ever so slowly. The recent mana expenditure coupled with unshackling my first authority, however limited it may be at the moment, was no joke.
As I'd remain quite listless for some while, this snail's pace was already the fastest I could get. Not that the youth would escape me.
The Greater Consciousness kept me updated constantly as if fearing I'd lose myself to rage again. She was no longer entangled, I was told.
She kept crawling on the soft grass, few pebbles in reach and no danger in the vicinity, or such I was made to believe.
Yet how could I fully trust? The very same creature schooled in screwing up what was deemed safe in the truest sense of the word, unharmed?
She, who did the greatest harm to herself? "Germs, bacteria, fungi, thoughts, happenstance..." I had to stop myself from casting certain spells, giving my body the time necessary to recuperate.
Among a swamp of worries swam one question I had absolutely no answer to. "How, just how? How can such an evil creature exist to inflict harm upon this bothersome treasure?"
Even asking the Great Consciousness rewarded me with nothing. Even that omniscient, omnipotent piece of work had no answer.
As to how it could even as the personification of these qualities, I wasn't rested enough to ponder over such a meaningless thought.
"Cease action. The price isn't worth it. But take precautions, just in case somebody went irreversibly cuckoo."
I eventually saw it within my endlessly burdened mind to answer Sovereign Gardener, albeit only after a truly ridiculous delay.
It was relieving to observe my creation had embarked on the path of empathy. But at the same time it filled me with dread too.
For their sole purpose... and the powers conceded ro them were definitively best not found in anything sentient.
But that, I was damn sure, happened to a topic for another time. For now, my mind, body snd soul had to cope with one brutal issue.
That was, the youth. More specifically, how I was going to gather a certain key material for the Baptism of Gula if Elfriede evidently had ended up on the warpath...
Yet these circumstances were made most difficult because of the incessant screams of anger, fear and terror that slipped by my mind when I didn't exert too much influence.
Luckily for me, there hadn't been any need to wait for long since my slow steps nonetheless brought me to the youth. We weren't separated by entire realms, after all.
On a mental level we might as well be. She was happily squealing in the mud. Smearing stuff left and right, in and out of her drooling mouth. Splish, splash, quish, quash...
My hatred for Elfriede shot through the roof. The sole reason I wasn't immediately out for blood was that she had lost her bottle, now so dirty I didn't want to look at it.
And, more importantly, she was otherwise as safe and sound as a mudball rolling through exceptional dirt could be.
Product of my curses, the dirt. "Damn, doesn't this mean you're ultimately responsible for this mess?" My mouth seemed to voice out the accusation without my consent.
Where prior it had only been a thought I tried to forget, now it had become a reality to process. With abhorrence was it that I went to... work?
That, of course, it was. A damn piece of work getting her cleaned up and the clothes unsoiled. Not least because she fought back assiduously against my attempts.
So much so that I ultimately ended up dirty wherever she was clean... Rubbing my horns, I felt tiredness creep up on me. The youth laughed.
"You're fine," I addressed her while starting the same cleaning process with the dirty bottle, "on the road of starvation, but otherwise fine."
I shouldn't have fiddled with the bottle and instead cleaned it with a spell or some such. In the end, that was exactly what I had to do to end the job on a satisfactory note.
Only magic could fight the monstrosity it'd turned into. "Now," I grabbed her at her waist, lest she escaped when I didn't keep a close watch for but an instance, "let's be on our way, shall we, mate?"
The answer came in the form of some happy frolicking up and down my neck. Naturally, my horns weren't spared from her mistreatment.
With possibly crying features etched on my stony facial scales, I took a deep breath, trying my hardest to hypnotise myself.
When I felt the progress wasn't bad at all, I hit the road. "Now then, mate." She stopped giggling, leaning her furry head in the direction of my lips as if to better understand.
"Suppose a good old friend almost gutted you, razing to the ground what you hold dear if not for the alarm system. What would your reaction be?"
She hissed. So did I. The answer was evident, my future actions effectively cast in stone. Elfriede... had it surely coming.