Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

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Happy New Year, readers! I think two weeks is long enough of a break. Don't you agree?

I thought it would be my turn to write by now. Unannounced vacations suck.

Chill, we'll get to you in due time.

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Waylay

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Every new lifetime, I have to see familiar faces look at me like I'm a stranger. I can sometimes take a shortcut into their good graces since they are essentially the same people I remember from previous lives. Most of the time, though, there's just no easy way to get back to the standing I used to have with them.

Jakjak is quiet as we ride. He's back in his armor. I'm sitting in front of him, wedged between his legs and the front of the saddle, rope tied tightly around my wrists. I may have avoided violence earlier, but I'm definitely a long way away from earning Jakjak's trust this time around.

"We're not passing through Mount Pillar?" I ask.

Jakjak pulls the reins more, leading the skeletal steed further away from the trail. "The fewer interruptions, the better. And Mount Pillar is full of interruptions."

"I know where Jaquez is," I offer. "You can meet the Danian you're named after. Isn't that worth the detour?"

Jakjak says nothing, but I feel his body freeze up a little, see his hands tighten on the reins.

I persist, "You aren't the least bit curious?"

"It does not matter," he answers quietly. He presses an elbow into my shoulder, knocking me around a little. "I know what you are hoping to accomplish. I am bringing you to Gothos Tower, no matter what you say."

Well, time to change tracks. "What about bandits?"

Jakjak lets out a loud laugh. "Bandits in Danian territory? If those bugs have one thing going for them, it is how well they keep out unwanted pests like bandits."

I nod. "Yeah. Unwanted pests."

Jakjak is silent for another while. "You are saying that there are bandits in these lands the Danians ignore."

"Sometimes."

"Hmm..." He whips the reins, and the skeletal steed trots faster. "Human bandits. The Danians would not suffer an UnderWorlder to poach their lands, but you Humans, you have no home. I could see a blind eye being cast on your kind, yes."

"Does Van Bloot tolerate Humans around Gothos Tower?"

"...No," Jakjak says slowly. "We were ordered to destroy them all."

I already knew the answer, but I can't help but shudder.

Jakjak notices. "I do not think you will share their fate, Human. If my Lord wished you dead-"

"He would have ordered you to kill me on sight instead. Yeah, I know." I sigh and rub my eyes as best I can with bound wrists. "I know why Van Bloot wants me."

Jakjak pulls on the reins, and the skeletal steed stops. "...Does he know about that... thing? The vision you showed me?" I feel him shiver behind me. "That is a terrifying power you have. Yes, that makes sense. If he knows about it, then, of course, he would want it."

"So you see why I can't let him get me," I continue. "I know you're thinking about your brothers, but what chance do you think you'll have once Van Bloot sees that you've spoken to me? That you saw those memories of his? You'll be as hunted as Atrapol. And I don't think Bloot would stop at sending one..."

Something's not right. Jakjak has been still for way too long. I lean against his arm. Stiff. His whole body moves with my push without resisting.

Shit.

I hook my heels against the skeletal steed's saddle and bend my knees, sliding until I'm lying down on its back. I hear a faint whizzing, see a blur pass where I had been sitting. I see an arrow shaft sticking out of Jakjak's torso, out of his unarmored waist. Freaking stupid armor design.

I have another few seconds before that weapon can be reloaded. I roll sideways, away from where the dart came from, and hit the dirt on the far side of the steed. "Hoof check!" I shout, and it lifts the leg closest to me. A slide of the ropes along its hoof and my wrists are free.

I spring to my feet, grab Jakjak's leg, and pull. He crashes down in front of me, and I hear another faint whiz get cut short with a thunk as another poisoned arrow collides with the Underworlder. I hope that hit armor and not flesh.

"Sorry about that," I mutter to Jakjak's frozen face as I roll him toward me and stick my hand down the front of his armor. "And for this, too." I grab my vlaric heart from around his neck and pull, snapping its chain for the second time today.

No time to fix the chain. I grip the diamond in my right hand and feel the earth around me. A raise of my left hand and a wall erupts from the ground, breaking our attackers' line-of-sight."

A distant voice cries out, "What the hell?! I told you to hit the red guy first!"

"I did!" replies a different voice. "I swear I did!"

Humans. I tighten my grip on the diamond. They're just trying to survive, same as me, but it's me or them. I look down at the heart. The light in it is dim, maybe one more trick left. I better make this count.

I raise my voice as much as I can. "I gotta admit, you're a nice shot! But I'm going to have to ask you guys to leave me alone, or I'll kill the lot of you!"

"You're in no position to be making threats!"

That was the same voice who claimed he'd hit Jakjak with his first shot. I raise my left hand in front of me with fingers curled, then clench my fist.

There's a sound of twisting earth and snapping bone. The archer's companions cry out in alarm and fear as a large stone mouth erupts from the ground and devours him whole, him and his weapon. Sorry, whoever you are, but your story ends there.

The diamond is opaque and empty. They don't need to know that. "I'll ask you guys again! Leave us alone, or I'll kill you all!"

A voice cries out, "Rush him!"

Well, shit. Jakjak's hands are still gripping the skeletal steed's reins tightly. He doesn't carry any weapons, and my weapon is dry.

I crawl over Jakjak's frozen from, under the steed, and press my back against the stone wall I made. I listen for the footsteps coming closer.

Three, two, one.

I swing my fist out past the wall. Fist against face, a nose cracking, a scream of pain. Footsteps behind me, I twist and kick to the side. My heel against an attacker's stomach. A sting of pain that quickly numbs. Damn it.

The world wobbles around as my body freezes, and I fall forward to the ground. There's a Human doubled over, clutching his stomach. Another one with his hands on his face, blood leaking between his fingers. A jolt of pressure at my stomach forces the air from my lungs, but it doesn't hurt.

"Calm the fuck down!" someone says, pulling the guy who kicked me away. He sounds so far away.

My attacker's face is twisted with rage. "He killed Zachary!" Tears are running down her face. "He killed him!"

"Listen, listen." The first human shakes the woman by the shoulders. "I get that you're pissed, but the Danians aren't going to buy damaged goods, yeah? He's going to get what's coming for him, don't worry."

Another voice comes from behind me. "I don't think the big guy's breathing."

Oh no. Not Jakjak.

"Well, strip that one down, hopefully the armor's worth something. Maybe they'll buy the body, who knows, or we'll save it for if hunting comes up short."

The fingers of my right hand are forced open. "Hey, look at this! A gemstone? Pierre, this look familiar?"

"That might be a diamond of vlaric. In the game, you sacrificed them to give a creature earth attacks for a turn."

"Oh. How does it work?"

"Beats me, but this asshole will have already used it. Might be worth something still though."

"Oi, he's still conscious!"

A shadow fills my vision as a foot rushes up to my face.

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Michael.

Yes?

How many weeks has it been now?

Four.

Michael.

Yes?

You need help.

Yes.

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Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.