Return of the Runebound Professor

It wasn’t the fastest death Noah had ever had. In fact, it was considerably slower than he’d been hoping. He doubled over, resisting the urge to clutch at his searing throat as blood poured out of it. Noah fought the urge to desperately draw breath, worried that the gasping would alert Brayden that something was wrong.

His life coursed out of his body and into the drain. Noah’s heart thumped violently. Knowing what would happen didn’t make dying that much easier when he was still actively doing it – and especially when it didn’t happen quickly.

When Noah’s soul finally peeled out of his body, he was relieved. He floated up and Lee grabbed his corpse by the shoulder before it could thud against the ground. She paused, glancing around.

Noah waited for a moment, and when the pull of Sunder’s magic started to call him, he immediately gave in. His soul flitted down, a new body materializing as he jerked upright, stifling his gasp as he drew in air once more.

Noah’s head thumped against the edge of the counter as he stood up and he swore.

“You all good in there?” Brayden’s voice called from the other side of the door, a slur to it.

“Fine,” Noah called back, nursing his forehead as he pulled himself upright. Lee tilted her head to the side and looked down at the corpse. Noah gave her a nod, then turned around to grab his clothes and pull them on. He didn’t recall her being the quietest eater, so it was probably a good idea to keep Brayden distracted.

Once he was fully clothed, Noah slipped out of the bathroom. His head thumped, both from hitting it and from the headache that came with death, but it was probably the mildest pain he’d ever felt from a death. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the fog from creeping in and sealing off his magic.

Interesting. I killed myself, and I guess that means the energy didn’t go to someone else so I took less soul damage. That’s very good to know. Might be useful in the future. Then again, killing myself was not a pleasant experience in the slightest. Not something I want to repeat a lot.

Noah kept his face from showing the pain as he poured himself another drink. All the alcohol was gone from his body, so he had a fresh start. Even with that, had Brayden not already been fairly drunk, Noah probably would have still gotten drunk under had Brayden still been paying attention to how much he was drinking.

Instead, he was able to just touch the mug to his lips and tip it back, only drinking miniscule amounts at a time. Brayden continued to go through the barrel like it was water. The large man had sprawled out at some point, abandoning his cross-legged position to stretch his legs.

He leaned back on one hand, using the other to drink. Dull crunches came from the bathroom as Lee ate Noah’s body, but Brayden didn’t notice. His cheeks were flushed a ruddy red and his eyes had started to gloss over. If he went for much longer, Noah was pretty sure that he’d just end up keeling over.

“It’s difficult for me too, you know,” Noah said.

Brayden blinked heavily at him. “Huh?”

“Having to do all of this on my own. You said you wouldn’t be able to do it. I hope I haven’t given you the impression that I felt the same way. It’s difficult not to doubt myself.”

Brayden’s brow furrowed and he shifted to get a better look at Noah. He set the mug down so he could support himself with both hands.

“Really?” Brayden asked. “You?”

Noah nodded, sending a dull flicker of pain bouncing around his head in the process. He leaned back as well, mirroring Brayden’s position. “I try not to show it. It’s not… right. You know?”

“Father wouldn’t have approved,” Brayden said with a slow nod. “I never knew. You were so confident.”

“It’s easy to be confident when you don’t think about the consequences of your actions,” Noah said, his gaze tightening. “Maybe I didn’t quite realize that yet. I’ve just been getting through things by squeezing my eyes shut and running as hard as I can, hoping that the road will just lay itself out in front of me.”

“I hear you, brother. Never realized you felt that way too.” Brayden hiccupped and chuckled. “Who wouldn’t feel like that? I’m an idiot for not realizing you’re just like me earlier. That’s why we’re doing this.”

Noah nodded, choosing to remain silent. People tended to say far more than what they originally planned to when they were left in silence, and Brayden was no exception. The large man ran a big hand through his hair and shook his head.

“You didn’t do it because you were scared, huh?”

Noah didn’t respond, and Brayden took that as agreement. He shook his head in disbelief.

“I can’t believe I never noticed. Not much of a brother to you, am I? Just Father’s taskmaster.”

“We’ve all got our own roles to fulfill.”

Brayden grunted and nodded to the barrel of rum. “Except you break yours to treat me, and I just come to deliver your next job to you. What kind of family are we? We’re supposed to be trying to make the world a better place, but here I am treating you like scum.”

Noah rubbed the back of his head and shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position while keeping the effects of his headache from showing through. “I don’t blame you. Like you said, we’ve all got things we need to do. That’s just how it is.”

Bradly nodded sadly. “So it is.”

He reached for his mug and poured himself another drink. He took a slow sip from it and sighed, smacking his lips and setting the mug back down. “I won’t tell Father that the delay was because of your nerves, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I wasn’t worried in the slightest. I know you wouldn’t do that to me.”

Brayden stared at Noah. His eyes welled with tears that he quickly wiped away. He cleared his throat and nodded, quickly upending the rest of the drink into his mouth. “What are you going to do, though? If things aren’t done soon, Father will make you return everything and find someone else.”

“Could someone else even do this?” Noah asked, choosing his words carefully. They were starting to get close to the meat of the matter.

Brayden let out an amused snort, then sniffled and wiped his eyes again. “That’s why you got the job. Nobody else was crazy enough. It’s good to hear that you aren’t inhuman, though. It makes me look up to you even more, you know.”

“Thank you,” Noah said with a flicker of a smile. “Do you know if Father is going to care much about the delays?”

A frown crossed Brayden’s lips as he considered Noah’s question, trying to make his addled brain work properly. “I think it’s more that he was impatient. We all are. After working toward the summoning for so long and having everything this close to hand… well, we’re hoping you get back in time soon.”

Finally, something I can work with. But… a summoning? And get back in time for what? I don’t think dead bodies typically do a lot of moving around. That’s outside their job expectations.

“Of course,” Noah said. “I would hate to be late.”

“Father would hate it too,” Brayden said with a laugh that might have had more of a bitter undertone than he’d intended to let through. “It’s all about his stupid election. He keeps saying it’s about family, but from what it seems, you’re the only one that actually cares about it.”

“What do you mean?” Noah asked, praying Brayden would keep going.

Brayden hiccupped and gave him a one-shouldered shrug. “He’s so obsessed with becoming part of the family’s main branch that he sends one of his sons out to get himself killed and then has the other one ferry information around like a spy. I’m a terrible spy. Everyone knows I’m a spy, and the whole point of a spy is for people to not know you’re a spy!”

His voice steadily rose with every word until he was practically yelling. Brayden froze, then buried his head in his hands and groaned.

“See?”

“It’s fine. You said it yourself. Nobody is listening to us here.”

Although they definitely heard that all the way to the G building. Brayden would be a great choir singer. Maybe the whole choir.

“I can’t blame him for anything. He’s just trying to improve life for both of us,” Noah said.

At least, I hope he is. Getting into the main branch is clearly important, and Brayden clearly respects his dad enough to care deeply about him, even if he’s pissed about whatever it is that Vermil was supposed to be doing.

“I know,” Brayden said into his palms. “But nobody’s ever managed to do this successfully before. What if you weren’t right about your offerings or properly preparing your body? You could just end up dead for real instead of in hiding. How would your life really be worth some ranking?”

In hiding? What is this –

Oh.

I’m an idiot. He didn’t mean Vermil was actually supposed to die. He was supposed to fake his death somehow. How did I manage not to consider that? Why would I just assume that Vermil was actually trying to get himself killed? I’m a moron.

“Or what if the part after the summoning went wrong?” Brayden continued. “It’s not easy to kill yourself. If you messed it up, you could die.”

Okay, you know what? I’m confused again. Was Vermil supposed to die or not? I shouldn’t have gotten Brayden this drunk. Damn it. I’ve got no idea if he’s just talking out of his ass at this point.

“Well, instead of dying, I could just choose to live,” Noah suggested. “Everyone knows that you can’t die if you tell death ‘no’. It needs your consent.”

Brayden burst into laughter. Noah was pretty sure his joke hadn’t been that funny, but Brayden brayed like he was the greatest comedian on the planet. Wiping the tears of mirth from his face, Brayden shook his head. He nearly lost himself to another bout of laughter before he managed to wrestle control of his emotions again.

“I didn’t think about that. Good point.” Brayden snickered, then let out a long sigh in an attempt to keep himself from laughing again. “You’re right. You’re confident this will be okay, right?”

“Of course.”

“I knew it,” Brayden said with a goofy smile. “Even if you’re scared, you’re the one comforting me. You should consider treating other people like this more. They’d like you more.”

“It was an–”

“Come on,” Brayden sniffled. “We both call it an act, but is it one when you’re like this ninety eight percent of the time? Maybe even a hundred and one percent. This is the first time I’ve seen you like this since we were kids.”

Noah’s smile flickered. “I’m sorry.”

“I get it. It’s not easy. You have to keep people away. The demon would use any connections you had to influence you if it found any. I just wish it didn’t have to be this way.” Brayden yawned, then rubbed his eyes. “Do you mind if I sleep here? I’m sure you don’t. Thanks for the drinks, brother.”

He laid back and closed his eyes as Noah gaped down at him. Within moments, Brayden’s chest rose and fell with heavy snores that threatened to shake the room out of its foundations. And despite that, all Noah did was stare.

Did he just say demon?