HBWnovel Chapter 87: To Escape
Chapter 87: To Escape
Toren Daen
I was awoken by a slight prodding at my shoulder. I groaned as I opened my eyes.
Dima was crouching by my bedroll. “Time to get up, Daen,” she said. “You’ve slept for over twelve hours. We’re having a meeting here soon.”
Twelve hours? Damn, I was exhausted yesterday. My thinking struggled to catch up as my still-tired mind loped along.
“Can’t you let a man sleep for a few minutes longer?” I asked, feeling my leg ache as I tried to move it.
“You’re needed at the discussion,” Dima said, standing up. “Considering your abilities are what will get us out of this hell.”
I lay facefirst in the bed for a few more moments, absently wondering what in all the hells Darrin had seen in that woman to be her lover. Anyone who woke you up too early was not a good person.
I sat up, brushing my hair out of my eyes. I’d need to tie it back into a short tail soon.
Calling on my mana, I
Hraedel worked his jaw. “What was that? Some sort of spellform that made your music so…” He seemed lost for words.
“Compelling?” Alandra offered, her eyes glazed over.
Hraedel nodded mutely.
I cleared my throat, trying to hide the flush in my cheeks and setting my violin back into its case. “No, actually. It's technically magic, I suppose, but I use intent to convey what I feel. I’m not forcing emotion onto you like some mana arts do.”
Sevren’s eyes narrowed from the side, but I ignored it.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Bered said, pushing through his shock. “You touched our emotions. That was unnatural! It must be a spellform of some kind.”
I frowned, trying to think of an analogy. “It’s not, actually. When one of you sees a child crying, you feel sympathy, yeah?” I said. “A part of you remembers being a child yourselves. You know somewhere, deep down, what it's like to weep like that. This technique works similarly. You see what I feel and sympathize with it, except to a greater degree due to the purity of what I convey. And it's not a spellform. Any mage can use killing intent, after all.”
The twins exchanged uncertain glances, looking unconvinced. The lull stayed for a while, the mages out and about seeming uncertain of how they could go back to their work after my display. Eventually, however, the hustle and bustle of cooking continued.
I looked down at my violin, feeling a complex web of emotions. I’d succeeded in replicating what I’d shown at the New Year’s Festival in its entirety, yet I was left grasping for more. I thought I could improve this even further.
“The commander undead,” Sevren said quietly. “It did something similar to this. Somehow.”
I didn’t answer him, stowing my instrument back into my dimension ring. That ring held all my essentials, plus a few extras. Namely, the gun replica I’d picked up on my last ascent and the glowing phoenix feather the djinn had left behind.
I still was unsure of what I wanted to do with that feather. When I got the chance, I asked myself where the djinn could have possibly gotten it. Did they have some sort of connection to the Hearth? Or was it another conjuration of the Relictombs?
Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure I’d ever know. The maddened djinn who had left it behind probably wouldn’t answer my questions. The existence of that old, decrepit ancient mage in that town zone raised enough questions as is.
Darrin sat next to me with a thump, a satisfied smile on his face. “I think that was just what everyone needed to get their spirits up, Toren,” he said. “Thanks for that.”
I huffed but silently accepted the thanks. My attention, however, was drawn to Jared and Alandra as they cooked together. They’d always worked well together as a team, regardless of their spats, but they seemed close tonight. The burly shield scratched at his eyepatch, unbalancing the little skillet he’d made. Alandra quickly leaned over the man’s lap, adjusting the skillet before it could tip. Her auburn hair draped over her face. She snapped something at Jared, who said something back.
Darrin followed my gaze, his smile becoming wider. “You look very confused, Toren,” he said.
“Well, yeah,” I replied. “Those two?” I said, disbelieving. “I’d sooner expect the Doctrination to proclaim the dragons the true gods of this world than those two to hook up. Alandra’s always tearing his hair out, and Jared’s an unrepentant napper.”
Darrin’s smirk softened. “Why do you think they squabble in the first place?” he said, a glimmer in his eye. “Love and hate are two sides of the same coin.”
I sighed, my mind drifting slightly as I watched Jared and Alandra do something between flirting and fighting.
Jana stepped up, her lone hand holding a plate steaming with rice and vegetables. She was a large woman, easily as tall as I was, and filled out her frame better. She smiled when she caught my eye, holding the plate up.
“I saw you weren’t cooking,” she said a bit quickly. “So I thought I’d make you some food. You’re our sound mage, after all. We need you to keep your strength up.”
I blinked. “Thank you,” I said, accepting the plate gratefully. “I, uh, kinda forgot that I should’ve been cooking something for myself.”
The bronze-skinned woman's smile widened slightly. “No worries, then?”
I tilted my head. “Why would there be?”
The shield shook her head, backing away. “It's nothing. I hope you enjoy the food,” she said, before walking back toward the cookpots.
I speared a floret of some sort of vegetable that looked close to broccoli, bringing it to my mouth.
Upon seeing Darrin’s shit-eating grin and Sevren’s raised brow, however, I lowered the fork.
“What?”
Darrin simply smiled wider, his green eyes twinkling. Sevren slumped back into his seat.
“What is it?” I asked again, genuinely confused.
“You seem so confused by Jared and Alandra,” Darrin said slowly, savoring each word, “Meanwhile, there’s an Amazon warrior already cooking your meals!”
I dropped my fork in surprise. “No, she’s just being kind!” I said, grasping the implication immediately. “I helped her with her bandages earlier! And with the Frost twin, too. She’s only repaying the favor.”
Darrin crossed his arms, raising a brow.
It took a second for my words to catch up with my brain. That sounded like a sound argument in my head. Not so much when spoken aloud.
I huffed. “Yeah, maybe that doesn’t help my point. But only if you look at it through your perspective.”
“Come on, Toren,” the leader of the Unblooded Party said. “What’s holding you back from courting that lovely woman?” He spared a glance behind himself, where Jana was working. “If I were you, I wouldn’t mind having those thighs wrapped around my–”
The weight of all my burdens compelled me to lash out, striking at this sore spot that Darrin had inadvertently found. “What’s stopping you from getting with Dima again?” I said a bit snappily, cutting the striker off mid-sentence.
Darrin looked at me, a bit of shock in his face.
I looked away from my friend, immediately regretting my outburst. I took a deep, measuring breath, then let it out slowly. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “That was uncalled for.”
“It was,” Darrin acknowledged.
“Romance is… a difficult topic for me,” I said, feeling too ashamed to look at the leader of the Unblooded Party. To lash out in such a way was the height of immaturity. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
To truly fall in love with someone, you needed a level of understanding and vulnerability that this continent would never allow me. I was from another world, waging a silent war against the godlike leaders of this society. Who could sympathize with that? Who could I confide this in that would not drop me into Agrona’s hands?
I would never be as close to a woman as I could be. And no relationship could stand on a foundation of lies and mistruths.
I let that irritation simmer in my gut silently. It was another thing that I might have had on Earth, but couldn’t in Alacrya.
Darrin gave me a somber pat on the back before standing up. He left me to brood on what I’d lost once again.