There was a stubborn core of anger lingering somewhere in my stomach, gnawing at me with the tenacity of a dog with an old bone. Not driving me to action, simply sitting there, a reminder that I was different and in some people’s opinion lesser. Counting to ten, in a trick I had once read about, I let out a deep, slow breath, trying to expel my frustrations with idiots on the Internet with it, forcibly reminding myself that nothing good ever came from arguing with them. I had alerted the forum-mods and hopefully, they dealt with things, even if I made a mental note to come up with something unusual and seriously cruel, just in case I ever happened to meet the Ghost-nouns again. 

Ideas started to come to my mind, some practical, others not so much, when I was lying down in the capsule, getting ready to enter Mundus. One of my favourites was to combine two failed experiments before running like hell, simply because I wasn’t certain what the result would be but with an inkling that it would be… interesting. The discarded idea to create a slave-collar and the carving of runic formations directly into the skin, combining the two might give me a way to practically feed someone to the Nethersprites, possibly in a permanent way. Carving a runic formation into someones body seemed to tie it directly into someones magic, so what would happen if a Nethersprite latched onto that connection, sucking their essence dry? I wasn’t sure but if I met the Ghost-nouns again, I would find out. 

“Who made you this angry?” Lenore asked, instantly feeling my mental state once I was within my Hallow. 

I shared a mental image of her dropping bombs onto the Ghost-nouns bound heads before focusing on the idea I wanted to test on them. The sheer audacity of it struck Lenore speechless before she answered with an amused awe.

“That might grant us valuable information, especially if those three are willing to share. Or can’t help themselves but share.” she mused, the idea obviously intriguing her as much as it did me. Just what would happen to them and their Avatars? I was quite curious. I could feel Lenore’s mind racing, trying to form hypotheses about what might happen, coming up with all kinds of interesting ones, some of them I had considered, others not so much. 

The idea that an essentially undying being might be able to fuel a perpetual link into the realm of the Nethersprites, whatever that might be, was a curious one, turning a cursed, continuously respawning Traveller into a weapon to disrupt the place they were being spawned, whatever that might be. That is, unless the devs had changed something with the way the system worked since I had done my last experiment, which I would only find out by experimenting again. 

Another idea I had considered was that the Traveller in question might either have their Avatar devoured by Nethersprites, permanently destroying it. That would be both awesome and disturbing, perma-death shouldn’t be something a player could wield without serious effort and restrictions put into place to prevent abuse but, on the other hand, if I was the only one who knew how it would put my notoriety over the top. In a similar vein, the idea that the Avatar would be dragged into the Realm of the Nethersprites would put my name out there again, with similar notoriety. Maybe I should go looking for the Ghost-nouns, or maybe the so-called Crusaders of Light or whatever they called themselves. 

“On the bright side, Sigmir got to deck the orc-woman trying to make you help her, before they all left town.” Lenore told me after a bit, sending the mental image of said orc-woman standing in front of the others, looking agitated, her face darker than the night before, likely from blood rushing to her head. Words were shouted, accusations made and after a few moments of listening to her, Sigmir simply stepped forward and struck the woman, open-handed but with enough force to knock her to the ground. Sigmir then told the stunned crowd that they would be leaving and simply started walking, the crowd melting away from her glare. The fact that, even through the memory, I was able to feel the oppressive power of her aura made me wonder just how bad it had been for those who had roused her ire.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Part of me wanted to have been there, simply to cover her back but another part of me wondered if my presence would have complicated things, namely my Outsider-trait.

“Did anyone follow them?” I asked, hoping that they had taken precautions. 

“If anyone did, I was unable to spot them so I seriously doubt it. I kept overwatch all morning and nothing untowards was visible. But they did look rather cowed, so I doubt they would go look for trouble.” Lenore assured me, while I focused on my connection with Sigmir, making sure that she was fine. I could feel the distance between us shrinking, making me realise that Lenore had turned towards them and was quickly flying towards her, probably ever since she had felt my presence within her Hallow. I just hadn’t focused outwards, instead enjoying the atmosphere of my Hallow, the second most comfortable place for me to be in. Only Sigmir’s embrace could make me feel more at home than the enveloping presence of the Astral, a mirror of the Astral Power within me. 

Before long, Lenore strongly flapped her wings to land on Sigmir’s shoulder but even before she was able to touch down, I had started to push myself out of her Hallow, not even trying to land on the ground but instead letting gravity carry me into Sigmir’s arms. I had been able to feel her, especially when focusing, so I hoped she would be feeling me as well and catch me. Which she did, either thanks to superior speed or by anticipating my actions. Not that it mattered, once I was wrapped around her, arms around her neck, legs around her waist, I could bury my face and take in her scent, gently nibbling at the nape of her neck, just because it was there.

In turn, one of her arms went around my back, the other supporting me from below, lightly groping my behind, even as she held me. I loved being held by her, no questions asked, and her scent instantly brightened my day. 

“Ah, you are back.” Adra said, her voice amused. I clung to Sigmir for a moment longer, before pulling back and giving her a longing kiss, right on the lips. 

“Yes, I am.” I answered, once Sigmir and I had finished greeting each other, maybe a little too enthusiastically for the short separation but I had needed a little pick-me-up after the day I had on Earth. The new topics Mrs. Wu wanted to teach me were still hanging in the back of my mind, like a nagging worry I couldn’t shake. Being on Mundus helped and being in Sigmir’s arms helped more.

I had to twist a little, to actually see Adra, which was only possible thanks to Sigmir’s physical strength, allowing me to mostly sit on her arm, while she simply held me up.

“Did anything happen while I was gone?” I asked, curious if they had run into anything after leaving the village.

“Well, we had some excitement when leaving the village, that Monta-woman accused us of having harmed her daughter and wanting to cover it up, trying to make it out as if that was our reason for declining the quest and leaving right away. But other than that, it was a boring morning.” Adra told me, before shaking her head a little, dismissing the problem.

“But you promised to tell us why you actually wanted to decline, it might have given us some insights or even led to something interesting.” Adra asked, remembering my promise from the evening before.

Hearing the question, I instantly felt Lenore’s amusement as she burst into her cackling laughter, surprising Sigmir.

“Well, I guess I should.” I admitted, chuckling to myself.

“You know that I wanted to test my latest weapon? The runed Ice-Blade I had made?” I asked, and they all nodded in response, even if Adra frowned a little, not seeing the context.

“Lenore and I were looking for some beasty to test the weapon on when we saw what looked to us like a male orc forcing himself onto a female. To us, it was as good a volunteer as some beast, just as driven by their instincts and most likely as dumb.” I explained and noticed Sigmir mirroring Lenore’s amusement, most likely guessing where I was going.

“The weapon worked, maybe a little too well and not quite as planned, the effect killing both of them. If I had to make a guess, I accidentally killed both their children, misinterpreting what I had seen.” I finished, shrugging while Adra covered her face with her hands, shaking her head. 

Luckily, nothing bad had happened to my group, due to my mistake. Now we just needed to get out of the area to make sure it stayed that way.