“Then he never ordered you to tend to his needs, fulfil his wishes, etc.?”
“That is correct, Lady Priestess.”
Priestess clapped her hands together. “Then you must be doing so of your own free will.” She pointed her fingertips at the younger girl. “You are a slave by choice.”
Annala’s eyes crossed. Priestess giggled.
“You’ll understand someday. You might even,” she snorted, “find it funny!” She tittered until her familiar barked. At that point, she stopped and said, “You’re right. Thanks for reminding me.” She rubbed the wolf behind the ears in gratitude. Then she took up her staff and swung it at Eric’s head.
He ducked and the staff instead swung through the air where his head had been. She completed the swing and thudded the staff’s butt on the ground. From there, the shaft illuminated piece by piece until it revealed a gaggle of spirits caught in its Flower of Chaos. They followed the framework in an endless loop.
“These pests have been attached to you since this morning,” Priestess said. “Ever since breakfast, in fact. Mildred bungled her teleport after all and allowed these to piggyback on her spell. Someone who spends as much time in the spirit world as she does should know better. If she cleaned herself off regularly, then this wouldn’t happen.”
Eric watched the spirits run their ceaseless race. They manifested as a transparent and grey cloud and they sparked weakly with tiny black lightning. To think that they were on his head and he didn’t realize it unsettled him.
“Don’t worry, they’re harmless,” Priestess said. “Sort of. They didn’t want to be attached to you any more than you did. Something pushed them onto Mildred so they would pass through the Chaotic Curtain. It hurt them so much they can scarcely hold themselves together. They could have done something nasty to you under other circumstances, but now they don’t have the ability.”
A magic circle formed at her feet and a portal opened above her head. The rainbow light of the Veins of the Noitearc could be seen within it, but nothing entered through it. Eric activated Magic Sight and saw an ethereal field obstructing the path. Priestess lifted her staff through the filter and into the vein. There, the River of Chaos washed away the spirits, leaving the staff head clean. Priestess retracted her staff and thudded it on the ground a second time. This closed the portal and dismissed the magic circle.
“Enjoy the festival,” she said. “I know I will.” She burst into another snicker fit and her familiar had to grab her sleeve to get her moving.
“Strange cleric...Don’t you think?” Eric said.
Annala was staring into space.
“Annala?”
She didn’t respond. Eric snapped his fingers. The slave collar hummed and its runes shimmered dully as they processed. Finally, she said, “I want to because I have to, not because I previously wanted to. I gave it to him because it belongs to him, not to me. I was...returning it. Strange circumstances and heretical action caused an...unorthodox bonding of slave and master, but the relationship itself remains the same.”
She blinked.
“There. All better.” She clutched Eric’s arm tighter. “That chaos cleric is not strange at all. It is perfectly logical and predictable for them to behave in a tricksterish manner to confuse the honest and law abiding.”
Eventually, darkness fell and Dnnac the Sage Tree responded by illuminating the village. Its trunk provided light to the center and its branches spread this light to every corner. Under this light, the village became a carnival. No more workshops, demonstrations, or lectures; now was the time for pure fun and indulgence!
Band music filled the air with cheer and the smell of food drew in hungry villagers. Eric walked among them with Annala, both smiling uncontrollably. Between them, they carried eight baskets of hot, greasy, sugary treats, and still had hands left over for drinks and a teddy bear Eric won. Annala clutched it to her chest with both arms.
The magical garden created that morning had flourished over the day. Flowers grew from the ground, the stalls, the buildings, and even the thin air. Eric snatched one of these and placed it behind Annala’s ear. She blushed and smiled.
“Do I get a flower?” Kallen asked. She and Emily had walked up behind them.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Eric asked in reply.
“No,” Emily said. “She does not.”
Kallen herself put one arm around her and another around Eric.
“Why do I need a boyfriend when I have you two?”
“Excuse me!?” Annala demanded.
“You’re excused,” Kallen said.
Annala growled in a way that was not at all becoming of a flower-haired slave girl.
“That’s Kallen,” Eric said, bemused, “... did you just want a flower?”
“I found something you’ll like.” She took one of his drinks and placed her hand in its place. “Though a flower would be nice.”
The warm feeling flowed up his arm, as it always did around Kallen, and he followed her. Annala glanced at the hand like it was a viper but said nothing.
A dunking booth was set up. Ralm was in the cold seat and the line was long. He was already dripping wet, but he wasn’t shivering. He was smiling. He gleefully provoked every thrower to the point of shapeshifting into a caricature of them. When Felix stepped up to the plate, he turned into a mole. He was promptly dunked.
“Finally making yourself useful?” Eric asked.
“No, goofing off,” Ralm said. “Now come on, Fake Elf! Let’s see what you got!”
Eric grinned cockily. “You’re gonna regret that.”
Ralm shifted into an Eric that was human and had giant floppy ears to go with a long nose. “I’ll believe that when I’m wet.”
“One ticket per ball.” Nilo stood beside a bin empty of balls and a glass overflowing with tickets. “But for you, the first two are on the house.” While Eric took aim, she gave three to Annala. “I’m sure you’ll want a crack at him too.”
“Thanks,” Annala said. Eric tossed his first ball but earned only mocking laughter from Ralm. “Is there any chance you’ll get up there too?”
“Maaaybeee,” Nilo said, “if you beg me to.”
Splash! Eric’s second try sent Ralm plummeting into the ice-cold water. He climbed back out, shook himself off, and continued egging Eric on. Annala and Kallen joined in and together they each dunked Ralm seven times.
The quartet explored the other booths and another one caught their attention. There, a couple was trying their luck at a shooting gallery. While the boy wasted shot after shot, the girl munched on a sugar waffle. Eventually, she got bored and took a turn herself. One shot later, she was handed a giant bunny plushie, which she passed to the boy.
“Hey, Nolien, where’d you get that bunny?” Kallen called.
Nolien glared at them.
“Yes, dear teammate, tell us,” Eric chimed in. “I’d like to win one for my girlfriend.”
Nolien gravely glared at them.
“Let it go, Tenderfoot,” Tiza said. “I’m just better at carnie stuff than you, like you’re better at tent stuff than me.”
Eric pointed to another area of the carnival. “Such as dancing?”
His finger led to a raised platform with a wooden railing encircling it. There, a crowd formed a circle around a single couple and clapped a beat. The belle holding their attention was Hailey Heleti, Nolien’s younger sister. It was a fast and intricate dance, but she performed it flawlessly. Beautiful in a simple dress and curled hair, she smiled widely and her partner seemed to be enjoying himself as well. The dance came to an end as Forge dipped her.
“You’re pretty graceful for a blacksmith.”
Forge placed her on her feet and flexed his right arm. “It takes more than strength to forge elven weapons.” Then he flexed his left arm and shapeshifted both of them to be more visually impressive.
Hailey giggled, and in doing so, entranced Forge further. Five boys around him grew envious and pushed him aside. Then, i
n unison, all of them asked for the next dance with her and glared at the other four. She took her time making her choice.
Nolien sighed. “Boys are boys be they human or elf.”
“This a common sight, I take it?” Eric asked.
“I believe that in the whole of Heleti, my brother and I are the only ones who do not paste pictures of her on our bedroom walls.”
“Hey, Forge!” Eric called. “I thought you didn’t like temps and their dead skin shedding.”
Hailey looked at him, aghast, and the elf boy tripped over himself trying to both deny it and apologize for it. Eric chuckled, then he turned to his own lady with a bow and asked, “May I have this dance?”
“Yes you may,” Annala said with a curtsy.
On the dance floor, her arms went around his neck as she lay against his chest and his own slipped around her waist. Eric’s heartbeat was a steady rhythm in her ear; a rhythm that would last forever.
“Annala?”
“Mmmh?”
“What will you do after this festival’s over?”
“Now that I’m human? Mortal?”
“Yes.”
“As long as I’m with you, I’ll be fine. You are all that matters to me.”
Eric’s grip tightened. “No matter what happens, I’ll definitely protect you.”
Annala giggled. “Master Eric, excuse me for saying so, but you’ve been rehearsing your lines too much. No one can protect me from Death himself.”
His heart rate sped up: Eric was laughing. He was laughing so hard it was distracting to other couples, who were trying to have romantic moments of their own.
A flash of light and sound announced the theater’s awakening. Its scenery rose up and down from the floor and wall as if stretching and its lights blinked on and off as if waking up. Eric and Annala reluctantly left each other’s embrace.
“Come, my maiden, it’s time for your debut,” he said and kissed the back of her palm.
“Please lead the way, my master.”
Kallen watched them go. She observed the exchange from her lounging position on the rail. She wanted the first dance with Eric, but that honor belonged to his girlfriend, so she stepped aside. Now that the show was about to begin, she wasn’t going to get a dance at all. Regret weighed her heart into her stomach, but she pushed it back up like she had every other time it happened since Siduban. Then she joined them with Emily joining her.
At the Enaz family home, they crossed the threshold into the building. Then two of them immediately stepped back out.
Both Annala and Emily expressed anxiety at the two of them standing together, and apart from themselves. Annala was afraid that the sexy hussy would steal her master, while Emily feared that the loser heartbreaker would seduce her boss.
“Don’t worry, Annala,” Eric said. “I’m just going to do something that will help me get that collar off your neck.”
“But, Master Eric, I don’t want it off. I just want to be with you.”
“You see, that’s the collar talking. If you want to play ‘slave girl’ afterward, then we can have this discussion.” Eric kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back soon.”
Annala struck a pitiful posture and said, “As you wish, Master” in such a remorseful tone that Eric felt bad about leaving her behind.
“I have to go with him,” Kallen said. “He can’t do this thing without me.”
“But, Boss!”
Kallen put a hand on her shoulder. “Listen, Emily. I need you to keep an eye on Annala. She’s not in her right mind. Rest assured that I have no intention of starting a relationship with Eric like you did.”
Emily looked up at her. “You’re treating me like I’m younger than you are.”
Kallen shrugged. “In this world, you are; physically speaking.”
Emily exhaled. “Fine.”
The new couple walked back through the village and its festival cheer. Out of curiosity, they stopped by a couple of booths on their way to their destination. Under the light of the Sage Tree, their hands brushed and bounced against each other. The familiar tingle of warmth and peace spread through both of them at each moment of contact.
“Such a beautiful place,” Kallen said. “You should see it when it truly is spring.”
“I intend to,” Eric replied. “Along with every other spring this planet ever sees.”
“If that’s true, then you have a round-about way of doing it.”
“There would be no point if Annala weren’t at my side. Is everything ready?”
“Our plan is like this festival,” Kallen said. “It should work perfectly, but some drunkard could still stumble along and ruin everything. Do you know what’s going to happen?”
Eric shook his head. “While I looked far into the future and all along my personal timeline, the possibilities bred like rabbits the further I looked. I could only memorize the immediate possibilities, like Nulso. All I know is that what we’re doing is possible, but I didn’t need Wiol’s help to know that.”
Their destination was the Isolation Courtyard. The tree sentinels allowed them to pass without challenge. Judging by the rotten tomatoes and fresh fecal matter on its surface, other elves had already paid the statue of Dengel their respects in honor of this holy day. Eric stood to the statue’s right and Kallen to its left.
“Right now, you are an immortal shapeshifter with a lovely and loving slave. If you continue with this plan, then you will become mortal, mode-locked, and marked for death by Order himself. Your love might leave you. Why would you want to do this?”
“Annala is mortal right now.”
“There are ways to keep her with you forever. Go to Dengel’s Lair and pull the information out of Asuna. The same spell that kept her with Dengel will keep Annala with you.”
“I don’t want to be like Dengel.”
“Don’t you want to prove yourself a better mage?”
“I’ve already done that. Now I want to prove myself a better elf, a better mercenary, and a better person.”
“Then you are resolved to die for the girl you love?”
“No. I am resolved to live forever with the girl I love. By the power of my Razor Spirit, I will cling to this stuffed animal should my present mortal coil expire.” He held up an emperor penguin decorated with elaborate runes. “I’m confident that I can do this long enough for Nunnal to plug me into a replacement grendel body.”
“I can’t change your mind?”
“I’m committed.”
Kallen brought out her magic spear and stabbed Eric in the gut with it. The grey-white spirit light at its center shimmered and then it drained the nearby chaotic energy. Slowly, Eric’s body weakened as the light of chaos left him. His ears rounded at their points and his hair returned to its former red color. His legs buckled and Kallen gently lowered him to the ground. The pain was so intense that only the fact that it was Kallen inflicting it prevented him from taking his true form and killing her.
Once the process was complete, only a few strands of golden-brown remained on his head. They were similar in nature to Kallen’s. Noting this, Kallen carefully removed the spear’s point to keep the exit wound’s size to a minimum. Then she ejected the crystal’s contents into her hand, a Seed of Chaos.
“You are dust,” she said solemnly. “You will die. Eric Watley, I have killed you.”
Chapter 3 Re-enacting History
Meanwhile, back at the festival, Tiza and Nolien had joined the other couples on the dance floor. Tiza was awkward with the steps, but by treating it as a martial arts form, she did well enough. Hailey gave her a thumbs-up from inside her crowd of admirers. Tiza nodded in reply.
“You two seem to be getting along well,” Nolien said softly.
“Yeah, she’s not as flimsy as I thought,” Tiza replied.
“Her peers are more or less the same as her.”
“Tenderfoot...” Her face was against his as she spoke. “Stop. It wouldn’t work.”
“My family would lov
e to add you as a member; you would make friends with your peers and you would excel at the monster hunts.”
“I don’t care if it’s not as stuffy as I thought it would be, I’m still not cut out for it.”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard you admit that you can’t do something.”
“It’s not that!...This isn’t monster fighting...or mage killing. I’m scared...”
She shuddered and Nolien stopped the dance so he could hug her. She leaned into him, sought comfort from him, and, all of sudden, it struck her how much she relied on him. Then she pulled back and said, “Why am I the one who has to change? Why can’t you leave?”
The sudden hostility in her voice and the harshness in her face surprised him.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you! Hail would do a great job running the place.”
“It’s my responsibility to—”
“You don’t think she can do it!” The venom in her tone wounded him. “You don’t want to give it up!” She pushed him away. “You’ll write off all your time with the Dragon’s Lair as some silly teenage rebellion. I’ll have you know that it’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and nothing in your ivory tower could ever replace it!”
He reached out for her and she smacked his hand away. With utmost vulnerability and concern, he asked, “Is that really something I would do? I remember planning something like that when I ran away and I remember calling you names, but I’m definitely not like that now or planning that now. I’m sorry for ever giving that impression.”
Tiza’s eyes widened and she gasped. She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. They paused at her grime streaks, untangled, and fell to her sides.
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you or made those accusations. You’re not someone who would disown his teammates. You’re the most loyal person I know. I want to be with you and rely on you, but I’m afraid that if I go too far...I’ll lose myself.”
Suddenly, Nolien understood the problem. At the start of the previous fall season, he met a greater mage by the name of Haburt Kloac. This mage abducted Tiza when she was younger. Along with the botanist, Mareth Jacquins, he tried to brainwash her into believing she was someone else. That personality was a contrast to who she was now and she didn’t want to drift back for fear of it returning in force. All of this passed through Nolien’s mind in a flash.
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