NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11 - Cruelty and the comedown
I awoke the next morning, feeling what I can only describe as alive and just breathing. My brain was being pressed and flattened and, if I had a wife, I'd tell her "Look after the kids and don't think about finding anyone else, it's til death do we part… and the rest, welcome to 2024 dear. #progressivism #live love laugh.
I can only imagine what our new blue haired companion is feeling being 4/10th my size...ish. Gathering my things and trying not to keel over, a fourth wind helped me stumble through the room and to the door. Horace was waiting outside for me smiling, away and giving me a thumbs up, of course I returned the gesture, it is rude not to. We join up and he tells me that everyone else has gathered for elevenses since it is midday now.
Well, that's just FANTASTIC, I thought. The group sat at a table in the corner, eating and chatting away. Our new companion was doing exceptionally well, diving into the schmuu cream and gurdbår jam. And that is when I remembered… and a side of me that was long gone resurfaced.
"Lucyyyyyy," I said whilst dusting the floor with my foot. She looked up surprised, nobody had noticed that me and Horace had entered the eating hall of the inn until now.
"How are you today, young sir, are you feeling better after last night?" she said. "Yes, deary thank you deary, but Lucy~" I repeated. "Can I have my Cranky Jay flapper please~."
She laughed and asked "Why I am speaking like a kid?" and then threw the grain bar at me.
"Because you're the best in the whole wide world, Lucy~" Wardi put his head in his hands, and Rhua just shook her head. Jokes on them, these things are unbelievably good, and the effects are top tier:
Doubles the rate of all learning, physical training, and the rate of recovery for 24 hours. Immunity to status ailments for 12 hours.
But I'm just eating it because it's DELICIOUS.
I took a bite, and I could hear the smooth jazz music erupt in the back of my mind, velvety vinella goodness begins melting on my tongue. Dancing and swaying, beckoning me further.
That brown body and blonde locks, they could haunt my dreams forever, nothing compares to you, my love-that-shall-not-be-named. A crumb tumbles down from my mouth and rolls down, crashing into my armour, fragmenting, little bits hit my boots, others fall to the floor, the rest cling to my attire. The rush is intense as it activates, surging quickly, and it is euphoric. This moment, this collision… I shudder from the excitement.
A romance that never was ended by a swift and brutal punch to the gut. "OOF…sorry about that," I said though Rhua was not having any of my attempts at apologies, "Every damn time he gets one of those, he starts being the world's biggest creep". "They just taste so damn good though, Wardi gets it, he loves them too!" of course Wardi denies it in the moment but whilst the rest of the group focuses on me, he leans back, looks at my direction and nods in a way only a connoisseur would give.
I had noticed a little too late that I was no longer holding the snack, and it was casually halfway across the room being carried by …what appeared to be a part lek part…dafdil…thing? Perhaps the comedown is still affecting me, or Rhua's punch travelled much further than it should have, and maybe I'm dying.
"We should go find the Von's after eating, I want to know how they are doing after such a traumatic series of events" said Lucy, troubled by thinking of the victims and the fighting. Rhua nodded and spoke "Certainly won't forget that in a hurry, but it will be alright, we can back up Broekslang if necessary, but I don't think it will come to that."
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
"Let's hope so… he does not deserve any punishment; it is not his fault that he was manipulated." Said Wardi.
"What happened? You hide a thing from me while I sleep?" said Silana
"Don't worry, kid." I patted her on the shoulder, "Bad …stuff happened unexpectedly, man was tricked by evil things there, evil things gone now, we beat them up.", feeling more prehistoric Terrahuum by the second. Silana seemed to believe my words, well, I assume so because she almost immediately resumed eating like a feral animal.
Food was finished as quickly as it appeared, and we set off towards the town guard's quarters. Larry informed Lucy that Broekslang had been held there for safety purposes on the off chance he went for another round of mayhem. Surprisingly Emcee had taken it upon herself to speak to him personally, judging by the huge aura emanating around the area, she was going to get answers whether he suffered or not. Frank spotted us heading over.
"Iawn conts." The words joyfully said to us, we all looked at each other confused, and he had a disappointed look on his face."Expand your minds, learn a new language occasionally." He grunted. The boss is already in there talking with your mate Broeksod, judging by what I heard, he's probably still alive, he laughed. "Right…good," said Wardi on behalf of everyone.
Pushing past Frank, Curly was sat in the corner chatting amongst the guards and carried at this point it was better to just continue towards the cells than to get terrible comments thrown at us again. The aura seen from outside, was much stronger as we got closer to it, well at least for me it was, likely a side effect of not joining the system.
"Took you lot long enough, get in here," boomed the voice of Emcee. Broekslang appeared to have had a few accidents during his 'talks' with Emcee. He cried out with Oh's and Ah's, sitting with his back against the wall. Blood came from his face down to the floor, the bruising was dazzling purple along his left arm, and the aroma in the air hummed of the TPS's that's Tears, pee, and shiitake, oh my days that smells bad! Trying to hold my breath whilst the thought popped into my head, and my eyes twitching at the fumes.
Lucy was the most shaken and, unfortunately for her, nervously cracked, speaking first. "H-hey," she stumbled out with. "Everything ooo-ok in hhh-here?" she followed up.
"Of course, just making sure, he ain't able to hulk out again, if there is one thing I love, it's an excuse to bury something."
"HA" Curly laughed heartedly in the background after hearing that. "So…you just wailed on him over and over? No questions about what happened?" Said Rhua. Uncomfortable, overwhelming, the silence in the air was crushing, yet Curly was still grunting away in the background.
"He knows me well enough so why the fook would I ask, if he were gonna say something important, he would have cracked before I started. Did you listen to me before!?" Emcee was furious and had a whiff of unhinged about her, a boot was being taking off rapidly and it then headed straight at Rhua, THUD.
The boot would have hit her shield had it not been intercepted and caught by the shortest and most rotund member of the Koanit tribe I've ever laid eyes on. "Should use spear Emcee, hwahwa, much stronger than boot."The chances of being in the same room as a tenny are low, but two of them… is there some unofficial reunion going on here in Et Navn?" Wardi said with a smile on his face.
"Oh Stonker! Sapnin with you bud?" Emceee said with a personality shift that would alarm any doctor. Stonker let out a piercing honk, noticing Broekslang casually slipping away mentally, and threw what looked like red sludge, slapping him in the face, and he almost immediately began recovering from Emcee's playtime. Cuts were sealed, bruises were fading, the smell still lingered, so you can't have it all, I thought to myself.
"Slimy stuff, same as good-good potion, hwahwa."
*Translation – "The red sludge has the same healing and recovery potential as a potion for those in the high rankings.*
"Emcee, you hear? BIG sounds in Nitan state, huge battle happen, many rankers!" he followed up with. Curious about his words, she replied with a raised brow and spoke back. "Battle? Rankers? Tell me everything," not before she conjured a huge wind ability, blowing the roof off and us with it, then the roof slamming back upside down.
We landed back at Von manor, dust scattering from the ruins when the wind passed through from our impact, which was certainly was not something I needed whilst still on this comedown.