“I’m impressed," Eric asked.
“You’re impressed with me?”
“You’re not at all worried that I’ll eat you.”
"Being The Trickster's Choice, we all kinda expected this would happen."
Tasio appeared on Eric's right. "Are you saying I'm predictable!?"
Starven pulled a cable and a bucket of water placed over Tasio's position spilled its contents all over him. It was strategically arranged before the show began. Now the trickster god was sopping wet and dripping.
"Yes."
Tasio blew a raspberry and disappeared.
It took hours to reach this last interview and, as Basilard predicted, Eric needed an energy shot to make it this far. His legs jittered and he gestured when speaking. Somehow, Kallen switched their bottles while they were talking earlier, and now he was agitated and anxious. Eventually, he blurted out, “What do I do about girl trouble!?”
Starven was speechless. The audience was stunned. The studio was silent.
“Excuse me; did you say you have girl trouble?”
“Yeah….I asked her out yesterday, but she didn’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”
“What did she say?”
“She said ‘busy.’”
“How long have you been friends?”
“Months. Almost a year.”
“Then you must be good friends. How about you talk things out with her? See where you stand with her before you make another move. Both of you should be on the same page relationship-wise before you take such a big step.”
“That simple?”
“Simple is good.”
“Yeah! Simple is good!”
Eric ran off stage and out of the studio. Again, there was silence. No one knew what to say, least of all Starven. None of their focus groups imagined that Eric would run away to talk with his crush. At last, he turned to the camera and said, “That, ladies and gentlemen, is what Her Majesty promises for every victim of mana mutation; the opportunity to worry about crushes instead of monsanity.”
The grendel ran like a juggernaut to Roalt Public High. Then he waited until the bell rang. He fidgeted, hopped, and felt more adrenaline than fighting D-class monsters. This meeting would determine the course of their relationship or if they could even have a friendship anymore.
The students stomped out, but Annala paused when she saw him. She bit her lip and told the demons to leave without her. Revas made a comment that made her blush and Oito hiss with laughter. Red faced, she pushed them away. Then she shyly approached Eric and gestured back inside the school building. There was a bench in the main hall. She waited for him to sit and then sat on the other side.
"I've been thinking," she said bashfully, "and I came to the conclusion that I owe you an apology and an explanation."
She stroked her hair and spoke to empty air.
"When I was thirteen, my parents took me to a family reunion. It was a beautiful day. I saw my great-grandpa Ferdinand and my great grandma Mildred and Uncle Felix and over a dozen cousins. Everyone was happy. Then Aunt Tris arrived with her human husband, Mori. That year marked their one hundred and seventieth anniversary; yes, one seven zero."
Immortal humans were nothing new to Eric. The record keeper for his guild was older than the mountain housing it and so was the Royal Archiver. During his nine-day library stay, he learned about the Circle of Noitearc, a religion whose clergy could live for centuries and longer.
Eric knew where this was going and opened his mouth. Annala shushed him.
"He was healthy; no blindness, no deafness, no physical infirmity, no chronic heart trouble, no senility, no liver spots, nothing. He did everything he could to keep himself in good condition, and for a while, it worked. For a man two hundred years old, he didn't look a day over forty. One time, he dyed his hair and called himself 'a golden-haired immortal.'"
Eric chuckled and then quickly shushed himself.
Annala smiled wanly. "It's okay. It was funny at the time. Even Meza admitted it was funny and he's not allowed in human settlements. Mori told many jokes and many of them were at his own expense. In fact, he was telling a joke that very night. Everyone was laughing and Mori suddenly fell face first into his soup. They laughed louder, thinking it was another joke...but...but..." Eric moved an arm around her, but she recoiled and jumped away. "He never raised his head! He just lay there! He wasn't even blowing bubbles!"
Still, she refused to look at him.
"He died that night. No one could figure out how. All that super magical special chaos technology and it couldn’t do a fiend fornicating flatulence! His body just...stopped working. Aunt Tris couldn't accept it and went deep into denial. She continued ‘walking with him,’ and even carried on conversations that only she could hear. She became violent when anyone tried to tell her the truth. The last time I saw her... she was in The Trickster's Shelter." She paused. "I believe humans call them 'mental hospitals.'"
She finally looked Eric in the eye.
"That's why I'm busy today, and every day you want to be alone with me. I could blink and you'd be a rotting corpse."
“If he were a necrocrafter, he would never die,” said a new voice. Sitting between them was a pale woman in a black gown. "Eric Watley, make a contract with me."
On reflex, Annala jumped away from the bench, pulled her bow from her backpack, unfolded it, and notched an arrow. The magic circle appeared an instant later. The entire process took five seconds.
Suriel appeared next to her counterpart. "Both of you possess the kind hearts needed by all the unborn of the Great Tree. Please make a contract with me instead."
Eric looked between the three of them and got an idea.
"Tasio! Tasio! Tasio!"
The Trickster appeared in their midst. "Yes, Eric?"
Eric gestured to the nether creatures. "These two are offering me immortality in exchange for becoming like them. Could you make me immortal through chaos?"
Tasio grinned, but it wasn't that of a trickster. This one was a predator’s. "Maybe."
"What do you want in exchange?"
Tasio glanced sidelong at Annala.
"You want me to sign your contract as well?"
"This is for both of you and both of you can pay the price in the same way and at the same time. Don’t worry; it’s something one of you is already doing.”
Eric inclined his head to the reaper and sower. “Samael, Suriel, thank you for your time, but I must decline your offers.”
“We understand,” they said in unison. “The Great Tree suffers because of your action.”
A rift in time and space appeared behind the reaper and sower. They did not curtsy before walking through it. The rift closed and they were gone. Annala took notes to herself about it for her mother; not even elves could travel between worlds (yet). Once she finished, she invited them both to her apartment.
The last time Eric was here, it was after escorting her from school and meeting Nulso. His fists clenched at the memory. He was useless then and even his new abilities did not prevent Nulso from controlling him. I need more power.
It was a small place. There was a desk, a pullout bed, a CV, a mini-fridge, and shelves of books. It was the kind of place for a study abroad student. At the Dragon's Lair, Eric had access to subsidized meals in the guild's mess hall. They weren’t gourmet by any means, but they were better than frozen dinners.
The grendel and the trickster sat/floated at the kitchen table while the elf fetched them refreshments. As he assumed, it was soda and salty snacks. Tasio drank and ate without mischief and even put his can on a coaster. Such politeness weirded Eric out. Having served her guests, Annala took her seat at the table and gestured for Tasio to begin.
"My terms are simple; I want you to convince the Mana Mutation Summit to invest in Medical Mana Mutation."
"Does this mean you're a lobbyist?"
Tasio scowled. Annala giggled.
"No. It means I'm Victor Frankenstein. Moving on...I'm sure you'r
e sick of hearing this, but it bears repeating. You are the first monster to recover sapience in a controlled human setting and one of a handful in any setting for one hundred years. Your existence validates the International Community Dedicated to Mana Mutation and silences the criticism of countries like Latrot. This means all eyes will be on you."
"Goodbye, peace and quiet..."
"Lunas can exploit this if he can twist public perception of you. Even now, he's trying to convince the general populace that there's a chaotic conspiracy going on."
"There isn't?"
Tasio rubbed his forehead. "I want Medical Mana Mutation to be a success because I don't like seeing victims of mana mutation."
"It's part of The First War; a territory struggle between Order and Chaos over the world fruit hanging from the Great Tree Noitearc," Annala explained. "If Tasio can remove the negative of Chaos, then Order won't have a ledge to stand on."
"Precisely.” He ruffled Annala’s hair and she playfully protested.
“So you don’t actually care about the victims themselves,” Eric stated.
“How can you say that? My heart bleeds for every single tragic, unfortunate, and hilarious victim.” His grin broadened. “Like that one just now; a creature that farts out of its mouth and eats with the other end.”
“Is it called a ‘Tasio’?”
“Of course not. They’d be invoking me every time they saw one. Anyway, Lunas’ mudslinging presents a problem for another reason; the only way I can make you immortal is by making you an elf. Elves can shapeshift and Lunas can use that to feed his propaganda and say that everything was a chaotic prank."
"Then why would you offer in the first place?"
"More than anything else, I need you alive. Thus far, my siblings and I have been puppy guarding you. Recent events have demonstrated that I need to step up my game."
"Are you going to tell me why?"
"Would you believe the 'bestest friend' line?"
"No."
"Then you won't believe the truth because it’s more unlikely and you'll appreciate it less. In any case, do you believe I'm working against Lunas and Nulso?"
Eric nodded.
"Then regardless of how you feel about me, or my mother, or mana mutation, we can agree that their influence needs to be curbed."
“They need to be torn apart and scattered to the winds!"
Annala gasped.
Eric fixed his eyes shut until they returned to human. He took a calming breath and his vocal chords reverted. Then he opened his eyes and scratched the back of his neck.
"Sorry about that. I got a little carried away."
"As I was saying, I know how much you don't like the spotlight, but I need you to be a peacock just this once."
"You brought me back from Threa for this, didn't you?"
The trickster grin returned. "Nonsense. I brought Emily here to help her fulfill her dream. You piggybacked on my portal."
"Bullshit. You did that on purpose. You said as much on the Flying Whale."
"Even if I planned that, and I'm not saying I did, it was still your decision to jump."
"Fine, be that way. In a nutshell, you want me to make a spectacle of myself so the big wigs will agree to fund Kasile's latest pet project."
"In a nutshell, yes. Do we have a deal?"
"How will this work?"
The Opener of Doors clapped his hands together and pulled out a sphere of shining golden-brown light. It was eerily similar to the ones Eric used in his act the other day, but the similarities ended there. That was just a light show; this was true power!
Greater energy radiated from this palm-sized sphere than all the Fog of Mt. Heios plus a thousand more like it. Everything around it faded into dullness in comparison with its brilliance. The only exceptions were Annala’s hair and Tasio himself; they shone with the same power and same life, but they lacked its untapped and unbridled potential. It was a bountiful harvest and a forest fire; a mother’s love and a mother’s loss; never-dying hope and everlasting despair mingled into an inextricable mess. This was the subject of Grey Dengel’s lecture and his own Mana Enlightenment. This was the Source of All Power.
"That-that-that…" Annala blinked and rubbed her eyes. "THAT'S A SEED OF CHAOS!"
"Shhh! Not so loud!" Tasio covered Annala's mouth, which stirred a protective instinct in Eric. "If people knew there was a SEED OF CHAOS in this city, there would be tremendous panic and mayhem." The Incarnation of Despair turned thoughtful. "Which, come to think of it, would be fun to watch..."
“You already did that with your Tazul stunt.”
“You’re right, I did.” The Embodiment of Hope turned serious. "Eric, listen carefully, because this is very important. This orb was given to me by the previous Avatar of Chaos and I have been holding on to it for a special occasion. It can turn you into an elf with all its perks: golden-brown hair, pointed ears, healing factor, and immortality."
In other words, within arm's reach was something that could make all his dreams come true. As an elf, his magic would be greater and he would be closer to proving himself better than Dengel. As an elf, his body would be able to heal even when he was on death's doorstop, so his mentor and teammates would never have to worry about him. Most importantly, as an elf, he would be beyond time's grasp and so Annala might consider him her boyfriend.
Grand action. Commitment.
"Is this permanent?" Eric asked.
"I don't know. I’ve only done this once and she never asked."
Eric turned to Annala. She turned away. Her posture was rigid, but she didn’t tug her ear. She gave no sign of approval or disapproval. Considering how vigorously she protested him becoming a reaper, he considered this a good sign.
He looked at Tasio's solemn face and then down at the orb he carried. The chaotic energy swirled in perfect harmony. The subtle blends and shades of gold and brown were beautiful; almost as beautiful as Annala's eyes.
"I want it."
Tasio's face remained solemn as he held out his hand. "Then take it."
Eric reached out, his hand hovering over Tasio's for only a second. Then he grabbed the Seed of Chaos.
His hand burned as if he were sticking his hand in magma. The feeling surged up his arm and traveled through his chest, then burrowed into his heart. From there, it spread like a wave flooding a beach. He screamed in ecstasy as the chaotic power engulfed him.
When he opened his eyes, he lay in something soft and there was a sweet voice in his ears. The sight of Annala's worried face greeted him. His smile brought out hers.
"Did it...work?"
Annala held up a mirror. "See for yourself."
His crimson hair was replaced by gold and the points of his ears touched the edges of the mirror. He jumped out of Annala's lap and reached for his staff. Drawing his crystal, he made a small cut on the palm of his hand. It healed in seconds. The only sound was their breathing.
Annala hugged him so fiercely she knocked him backwards. Eric slipped his arms around her waist. Both sighed happily.
They lay together on the floor for some time. Annala was so comfortable she fell asleep. This led to a look of mischief on Eric's face. Gently, slowly, and carefully, he arranged Annala into his arms bridal style and stood up. He crossed the room and phased through the door. Annala stirred but didn’t awaken. With painstaking care, he walked down the stairs. He was almost to the lobby when Annala awoke. She yelped and tightened her grip around his neck.
"What are you doing!?"
"I'm taking you out to dinner in a literal fashion."
Annala squirmed, but he reestablished his grip. She pounded on his chest in protest but settled down after only a few beats.
"Okay, just let me get my coat..."
"I don't think so, Hercules. This Atlas isn't letting go of his world."
Annala pouted. "Using mythology to charm me isn't fair..."
"But effective."
She retracted one arm from around his neck so she could tug
on one ear. “There will be people outside…they'll see me like this..."
"Indeed."
The Trickster lounged in the air and munched on an apple. He farted and the flowers below bloomed magnificently. Eric could only stare in shock. The Catalyst of Change finished his apple and threw it over Eric's head. It landed by the stairs and an apple tree grew where it fell.
"Are you implying something?"
"Apples are delicious and I want to grow an apple tree, but it can't be out in the open."
The apple tree broke into motes of light like any other illusion.
"Because of Lunas' fakedly true chaos conspiracy," Eric said.
"'Fakedly' is not a word. Anyway, I need you to look human again."
Immediately, Annala protested, "Eric can't shape—!"
Eric shrugged. "Sure."
He imagined his human identity and willed himself to become it. Just like that, his ears rounded and his hair turned red. Then he grew taller, broader, and other features until he was a grendel. He tried to cycle back to elf but stayed a grendel. This piqued his curiosity for a second, then he figured it out and became human again.
"How the abyss did you do that!? Shapeshifting is exclusive to elves! I know you can do the limited—I saw in the Organic Research Repository—but…? Did that seed teach you—”
"No, it didn’t. I am Eric Watley. What I look like is simply a projection of this identity. Mentally, I am human and a grendel but not an elf. It's no different from Grey Dengel's lecture about the Uno-Elemental System as opposed to the Deiz-Uno-Elemental System: there is only one entity and although it has more than one shape, its properties remain fundamentally the same!"
Annala interrupted his lecture by pulling his head down and kissing him. Tasio passed the time by debating whether or not she did that because she was aroused by it. Eventually, he turned his left hand into a flugel horn and blew it in their ears.
"Are we clear about the Mana Mutation Summit?”
Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) Page 16