Chapter 27

"Pride? Pride, it's time for breakfast. Hey, are you okay?"

Pride ignored Briar. He was staring at the man who'd formerly been in a comma. A man Briar had definitely shot in the head, and who Pride had removed the lungs of. And now there was no hole in his head, and he was breathing evenly. He looked exactly like he did when Pride first saw him the previous night.

"But-" Pride swallowed. "But he was dead."

"He must've rebounded sometime last night. He won't be happy when he wakes up, but it should take a little while for him to reverse out of a comma."

She smiled and said that part like it was a joke. Then she walked out of the room. She was so calm about this. And he was supposed to be too.

He followed her out of the room. He was starting to guess what a rebound was.

He knew for sure when they went to the dining area. Several soldiers were already there eating. Briar got some disapproving looks as she moved to the front of the room, while Pride was mostly met with confusion.

"Oh, you must be the wizard," the man up front said as he put food on the counter. "General Windsor said you'd be here." He turned further into the kitchen. "Hey Ella! We've got another rebound!"

"Really?" came a younger female voice.

Pride stepped up on his toes and peered into the kitchen. He could see someone step off a stool. She'd been standing on it over the pot in the back. She came up to the front. She had black hair, starting to wave at the bottom, and brown eyes. She looked older than his appearance, but still decidedly not an adult. Probably in the early teenage years.

"Oh hey," she said, waving to him. "Name's Ella. I should be retired, but apparently, it's just that hard to find a decent cook."

"Pride," he introduced, his brain no longer focused on just the conversation.

"Ella's been cooking for, what? 120 years?" the man at the counter said.

"I tried to slow down and step out of the limelight when I died, but special circumstances and all. Sorry you got dragged into his mess."

"Don't be," Pride said. "I happen to like being a wizard."

"If you say so," Ella said. She looked over Pride and Briar's shoulder. "We should keep moving, but we'll talk later. Don't see many people who've rebounded here. Which is weird considering how many die."

Pride nodded as Ella waved and the two took their plates. They moved to a side table in the dining area. Someone offered Pride a better spot. They said something about not needing to stay with Briar, and Pride was fairly sure he politely turned them down, but he wasn't focused on that. He was busy spinning the idea of the rebound over in his mind.

It was death. These people who resembled humans, but different, died and started aging backwards. They thought he'd died (which was sort of true) and was deaging (which was in the fact the opposite of the truth). Assuming he had 'died' of natural causes they must have assumed he was pretty old too, though still not as old as he actually was. It wasn't an insulting assumption, just a strange concept to work with. What happened if you died while on the rebound? You were already dead. How did fighting a war work? If their enemies didn't rebound they should surely be winning this. But if the enemies did rebound, then did anyone in this war actually die?

"Hey? You okay?"

Pride looked up to see Briar watching him with concern. Well, he had been giving the oatmeal a thousand-yard stare.

"I'm fine." And since he actually had a plausible excuse, "Just didn't get much sleep last night."

Briar nodded. "Yeah, you were up practically all night. Don't know how you did it."

By royally ruining my sleep schedule. "Magic trick," he answered, smiling cheekily.

Briar was less than impressed. "I get the feeling you're lying to me."

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

Briar laughed. "You know, you're not so bad. Less stuck up than some of the wizards I've met." He was less what? Had she been paying attention? The name alone should've been a tip off. "And most of them would've ditched me by now."

Ah. Less stuck up in a self-centered view then. Made more sense.

"Strangely, I don't like people like that either," Pride said. "Which is many people here."

"You don't live this long without getting some kind of attitude," Briar said. She set her empty breakfast bowl aside. "Now come on. The General wants your help. He's planning to invade the enemy base."

Something was wrong. That much had been obvious almost immediately. They'd left the underground tunnel area and moved across an open field, including being at the top and bottom of hills. Someone should've seen them. But they reached a concrete building nestled between some hills, and still nothing. Since the building had no obvious windows, Pride couldn't tell if there any signs of life in there, but he didn't need to.

"I think this is a trap," he muttered to General Windsor.

"Do you think I didn't notice that? That's why I want you to go first. You're on the rebound. You can't be killed again."

So that was how it worked. He was actually far more vulnerable than he used to be, and people here thought he couldn't die. Lovely.

"I won't be able to injure them directly," Pride warned him.

"Yes, Briar mentioned it to me. Can't believe we got a wizard who can't attack people, in a war." He took a deep breath. "But, we'll work with what we've got. So just spring the trap. The rest of us will take care of the fighting."

Very comforting. Pride pressed his palms together and put them against the door, moving the material aside. No one was there. Nothing was there, as far as he could tell.

"What?" asked one of the soldiers with them.

The group stepped in, hesitantly, but with more confidence as nothing happened. Pride could now see parts of the wall were made of a special material. While no one could look in, it was possible to look out. Still, with no other exit, anyone here would've had to leave before they came into sight.

"I don't understand," one of the soldiers said. "Where's the trap?"

"Was it a trap?"

"Oh it was a trap alright." They all turned to the General. "But not for us."