[1408] – Y06.308 – THE HEART III

It was a small, underground, perfect for the half elf’s needs. The stone walls bare as innocence, a solitary chill seeping deep into the room and into the half elf’s bones. As he channelled his Mana through his body, it fought off the chill, the warmth of magic flooding through his heart, the young man inhaling calmly between every breath as he completed his spells.

As he placed the bronze token, wide and heavy, into his cloak, then shifted it into his ring, he stared straight ahead, to the wall. His eyes swallowed the grey wall whole, before it disappeared into darkness as he thought about the girl, blue as she was, like the sea.

‘What else can I do for her?’ the half elf thought. He could buy her a shortsword, a dagger perhaps? No, should he even do that? He thought of asking the mermen to train her, but would they treat her well? They were those born around royalty, so their common sense would be gravely lacking, and when they treated her poorly and forced her away, wouldn’t they blame her bloodline rather than their despicable teaching methods?

Of course, they could always do that to her.

The half elf fought off the urge to kill the Merman Prince, thankfully with ease, for he was not a mad dog.

‘Being one hell of an erratic fool didn’t work since I didn’t commit to it,’ Adam thought, finally taking himself into consideration. ‘I can’t go around killing people, I wasn’t raised like that. I hope I’m not that kind of guy. If nothing else, Vonda would be disappointed in me.’

Adam thought about how many people he would have killed for Vonda if she so asked, letting out a relieved sigh that his wife was raised by Life’s Rose.

‘I should have been a respectable fellow, in the way they like to pretend they are respectable, and then… I should have made a name for myself, as the High Alchemist, as a great warrior, as someone even the Iyr depended on.’

Adam mused on his thoughts for a long moment.

‘I should have beaten them senseless,’ the half elf thought, his entire body flushing red with heat, before continuing, ‘respectfully.’

Adam’s eyes fell upon his amulet of obsidian, feeling the ridges against his fingers, the cool gem pressing away the heat in his hand. ‘Should I have revealed my connection to Baktu more overtly? If I was the High Alchemist of the United Kindom, the grandson of the Mad Dog, and the Chosen of Baktu, how many people would dare to look at my children like that? Who would dare to mess with my family?’

Even as Adam considered all which he must consider, for it was that kind of time in his life, he reached up to his pulsing forehead.

‘They call me the Crazy Father, but… what am I?’

The city bustled with life, the various aunties shouting across the road, the uncles sitting at one corner, smoking from pipes, talking about this and that, even pointing towards the various figures which walked down the road.

“I bet they slumber together in the night,” the older man said, tutting. “Back in my day, you saw a couple of those kinds, can’t call them some things these days, but you could drag them off the path and beat them proper to teach ‘em a lesson.”

“Everyone’s all soft these days,” the other confirmed, the bravado of speaking poorly to an Iyrman who probably didn’t know what they said, out of ear shot, filling his heart.

“That’s why the Reavers came down, causing a mess in the north, everyone knows they’re a bunch of-,”

A body flew across towards the trio of men as a giant figure of a man, who probably had some kind of giant blood within him, rubbed the side of his neck, liquid sanguine pooling outwards from a dagger. He looked down towards the old men, who stared up at him from under his shadow.

“Sorry,” the large figure said.

“Hussain! Hussain, you bastara, what are you doing?” called an older man, holding out a broom, ready to whack the giant fellow lightly. It was then he noticed the dripping red, the drunkard who was on the ground groaning, and the bloodied dagger. “Hussain!”

Lay on Hands: 45 - 35

The warmth slipped through the giant fellow, who shuddered lightly, feeling the magic run through his neck, knitting his skin back together.

“Are you alright there, Hussain?” Adam asked, the fellow turning around towards him to meet his gaze.

“Hussain, Hussain, my boy!” The old man held up his scarf to press against the bloody wound, not yet realising the large fellow was healed.

“He should be alright now, ahm,” Adam said, before raising a hand and making his way.

Jurot blinked, certain this was Fate for the half elf to meet the large fellow to adopt into a fine warrior. ‘How deeply are you thinking?’

Adam sighed as he continued, making his way back to the inn, his eyes darting towards the sky, where a gentle rain seemed to be threatening the city with refreshment.

“Can I really not take her as my apprentice?” Adam asked.

“She should return to her family,” Jurot replied. “She misses them.”

‘Damn it…’

The half elf returned to find Kizwolima currently listening to a tale from the young Iyrman, who spoke his family’s tales to the girl eagerly, which was more than an acceptable reason to keep his pride, while also not feeding into the half elf’s ridiculousness.

Kizwolima spotted the half elf some time later, the girl’s eyes lighting up, a smile on her face, barely paying attention to the story.

“Isn’t mister Tagak really good at telling stories?” Adam asked, beaming down towards the girl, who beamed up at him in return.

“Yes…”

“Let’s thank him and let him go eat and relax for the evening while we play together?”

“Okay!”

“Thank you again, Tagak,” Adam said, raising a hand towards him, before picking up Kizwolima, with a light grunt from how heavy she was, who had probably ate her bodyweight in fruit this journey, taking her to the side.

Tagak frowned slightly, but left the half elf be, especially since Jurot had given him a look.

As the darkness fell on the city, Adam and Kizwolima lay on the ground, staring up at the night sky, with the moon high in the sky. “When you’re under the sea, do you see the stars?”

“No.”

“What do you think of them?”

“It’s so pretty, mister.”

“Yeah,” Adam replied, smiling as he stared at the stars, those which had begun to seem familiar to him. “Did you have fun with us?”

“Yes! I am having so much fun!”

“I’m glad…” Adam’s heart shuddered lightly. He closed his eyes, his chest tightening, the anxiety filling his bones. “You don’t have to worry, Kizwolima. It won’t be the last time we meet, and next time, I’ll be even stronger.”

“You’re already so strong, mister Adam, ‘specially for a landdweller.”

“I suppose I am a little strong,” Adam admitted. “You need to go back to your mummy and daddy and tell them all about what we did, yeah?”

“Yeah…”

“Then, in the future, we’ll meet again, you don’t have to worry about that…” Adam swallowed.

“Yes…”

“If you ever need any help, you can send word to me.”

“Okay!”

“I’ll be sure to send word now and again to check up on you. Mo Dunes will do it too…” Adam then glanced to the side while the girl affirmed his words, checking the description of the spell. ‘Oh? That’s fine then.’

“Can I learn magic?” Kizwolima asked.

“If you want to learn magic, I’ll teach it to you one day,” Adam promised. “If you want to learn the sword, I’ll teach you that. I’ll take you as my apprentice and I’ll train you to become a Master at least, if you want.”

“How strong is a Master?”

“As strong as my brother, Jurot.”

“Ooh,” Kizwolima replied, thinking of Jurot. “He is so strong!”

Adam smiled. He wanted to call her his little sister, but if he did that, it would be awkward for everyone involved, no matter how much he wanted to adopt her into his family. In his heart, she was already his little sister, and in the future, when she was older, and could make her own choices, he would train her to become a Paragon at least.

“Are you happy?” Adam finally asked, through a pained heart.

“Yes!”

Adam’s eyes teared up slightly. He had thought so much about what he wanted to be, but if she replied so fervently, wasn’t he doing something right?

“You aren’t allowed to miss us too much, alright Kizwolima?”

“Okay…”

“If you want to miss us, that’s fine too! If I hear they’re troubling you, I’ll come down there myself!”

“But mister, you can’t swim!”

“I’ll learn to swim even better, you don’t have to worry!” Adam promised.

“They’re so strong, mister! It’s a Prince! Princes are so strong!”

“Did you know that Prince who is taking you, Prince Merza, I beat him up already!”

“Mister, you can beat up Princes on land, you can’t beat Princes in the sea.”

“I already beat him up! Didn’t you remember, when I told you about Prince Morkarai, he’s the Prince of the Fire Giants!”

Kizwolima considered his words long and hard. “Mister Adam?”

“Yes?”

“Is that mister, um, the green half dragon uncle, is he stronger than Prince Merza?”

“Prince Merza, he’s a Grandmaster. Then there’s a Paragon above them. Then there’s the Peak, which is what I think that uncle was.”

Kizwolima considered Adam’s words. “Did you really beat him up, mister?”

“I did!”

“Why?”

“He picked a fight with me when my wife was sick,” Adam said, feeling the heat of rage flooding through him. “I beat him good!”

“You can’t be beating up Princes, but they shouldn’t pick a fight with you when your wife is sick,” Kizwolima said, with wisdom beyond her years.

“That’s right!”

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Adam must be really depressed if he met a second Nobby but ignored it.