Omen: 16, 16

‘I knew it,’ Adam thought. ‘There was no way my luck was going to be that bad.’

After Adam finished his morning routine, he remained at the estate for a short while longer.

“Look at you,” the Half Elf said, holding out his arms.

Lanarot stumbled her way towards him, grabbing his leg once he was in range. She smiled and giggled up at him, repeating the process of walking to him several time, before he picked her up to shower her with his affection.

“Just the other day you were crying all night long, and now you’re walking?” There was a proud warmth which had filled Adam, with a great sense of satisfaction. “You’ll be chopping away at beasts with your axe in no time.”

Lanarot babbled up at him, clapping her hands together excitedly, before she hugged him tight.

“You’re such a big girl now, Lanababy,” Adam said. It truly felt as though time had passed by. She had been so small back then, a wrinkled little thing. Now she was so much taller, and she was so chubby thanks to all the extra bread he was feeding her.

“I need to go enchant today, Lanababy,” Adam said. “I need to finish a longsword for little Polban. His dada helped me a lot, so I have to make sure his children are given proper gifts.”

Lanarot babbled in response, before returning back to sucking her thumb quietly. Adam planted a kiss on her forehead, before placing her down. She complained, reaching up to him.

“Later, Lanababy, okay?” Adam said, brushing her hair. She continued to complain and cry, and Adam squinted at her, feeling terrible for making her cry. “Do you want to play with mama?” He picked the girl up and carried her to her mother, who was currently overseeing the teaching of the children.

Sonarot accepted her daughter into her arms, brushing her hair aside. “Did you complain to your papa?”

Lanarot looked up at her for a moment, before sucking her thumb as she rested her head against her mother’s bosom.

“She thinks just because she can walk she can start crying to get whatever she wants,” Adam said. “Kids these days. Back in my day, when I was a wee one year old, I had to walk to the farm ten miles away, in the snow, both ways, to plant crops.”

Sonarot stared at Adam blankly, wondering what he was talking about. However, seeing him snicker to himself, as though he had told himself the funniest joke, she realised he was merely jesting.

Adam cleared his throat, catching the fact that the children were giving him looks. “That was just a joke. Anyway, I’d best get to enchanting.”

Mana: 18 -> 16

Enchanting Check

D20 + 7 = 20 (13)

Omen: 16, 16 -> 16

16 + 7 = 23

Adam plucked a Thread of Fate.

Thunder clapped and lightning fell. The sounds terrified the worshippers, who continued to chant, trying to call for their God to answer their calls.

The baby stood, watching as the two fought. It was fairly obvious what was going to happen.

The young warrior, who was fighting with fist and thunder, was panting heavily, all the while the heavily armoured Champion was marching towards him, ready to put him out of his misery.

“You’re pretty damn tough,” the young warrior replied, holding onto his knees, trying to catch his breath. This land had yet to challenge him, but he hadn’t expected to come across a Champion.

The Champion did not respond, still marching towards him. He was merely on a mission to slay anyone the Lord of Order asked of him, but only those who were truly terrifying.

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The baby.

The young man.

The old man.

That was the order of importance.

The old man and the young man were in the same area, but it was sheer luck he had managed to find the most dangerous of the three. The baby, who was currently being defended by a young warrior, one who would need to be kept alive to maintain Order.

“Not the kind to talk?” the young warrior asked. He brought his hands together, lightning crackling between his finger tips. He was running on fumes, so this was his last chance.

Lightning fell onto the young warrior, which only strengthened his heart, the plasma coursing through him. He brought up his hands and let loose a torrent of lightning, which spanned dozens of metres ahead, blasting forward mostly as a line, though it ended up splitting as a cone towards the end.

The Champion marched forward, unimpeded by the lightning, using his great tenacity to break through the lightning. It wasn’t the first time he had been blasted by the lightning, so he continued to walk forward.

Until he couldn’t.

The figure, at least two and a half metres tall, stopped. He did not stop, he froze, the lightning having stunned him in place. He was certain he had beaten the shock with his sheer strength and force of will, but something had stopped him.

No.

Not something, but someone.

“As much as I want to fight you to the death, I can’t just let you kill everyone here,” the young warrior said, finding that his heart was wounded from running away from a good fight.

The young warrior had only half expected his lightning to work, and as it stunned the Champion, he turned and shouted for them to flee. He also grabbed the baby, and had leapt into the air. In a flash of lightning, he had gone, moving a hundred metres away with a single step.

The baby held onto the young warrior, sighing. ‘I couldn’t have imagined I’d be running away from some little cub with the help of another little cub.’ He half wondered if he could die from the embarrassment of it all.

The Champion remained frozen for some time, but he was able to think. If he continued to chase like this, he’d be unable to claim the soul of the old man before he disappeared forever. He did not think about how much Order will fall once he claimed the old man’s soul, but it was something which was worth too much not to take, even if it went against Order.

There would always be another day to kill the baby, but there wouldn’t be another soul of such great strength he could claim, a soul which went against Order.

That young man would not be long to live in this world, either. It was not his Fate to escape Order.

Thus Fate was forever changed.

“How did it go?” Sonarot asked.

“Pretty good,” Adam replied. “I thought about enchanting twice and risking being sick, but I missed my little Lanababy so much.” Adam hugged the girl tight to his chest. “Are you all tired because you’ve been walking all day? Don’t walk too much, otherwise you won’t be so chubby any more.”

Adam blew a raspberry against the girl’s neck, causing her to squirm and laugh wildly. He constantly showered the girl in his affection, letting her laugh and squeal.

“Why are you always being so weird with your sister?” Lucy asked, having returned from her day of training.

“I’m not being weird,” Adam replied. “I’m just playing with her.”

“Who has fun playing with babies?”

“I do,” Adam replied. “Not in a weird way,” he added, quickly.

Lucy scrunched up her face towards him, unable to hide the look of disgust.

“Do you want me to beat you up again?”

“I’m much stronger than before,” Lucy said, crossing her arms and sitting tall.

“So?” Adam scoffed. “I held back and I beat you.”

“That was only because…” Lucy tried to find a reason as to why she had lost. “I was holding back too!”

“I’m sure you were,” Adam replied.

“That doesn’t change the fact you’re weird.”

“Of course I’m weird,” Adam replied. “Otherwise I’d be like you.” Adam copied the face she had made at him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I know you’re only here for Raool and Nobby,” Adam stated, simply.

“What’s wrong with that?”

Adam repeated the face. “My love for Lanarot is nothing like your creepiness towards muscle bound hunks. Right, Lanarot?”

Lanarot laughed and clapped in response, sucking on her hand as she stared up at his face, constantly laughing at him.

“See?”

“See what?” Lucy asked. “You can’t ask her, she’s not impartial!”

“Iyrmen don’t lie,” Adam said. “Isn’t that right, Turot?”

“Cousin Adam is correct,” Turot said.

“What are you going to say to that?” Adam asked.

Lucy wanted to complain, but since Turot had spoken up, she couldn’t fight him. Turot, and the other Iyrmen children, were always excited to talk about how they would love to kill her when they grew up. It was always a terrifying thing to hear, and it was Adam who would protect her from the children, who were mentioning her demise less and less as time passed.

“You’re lucky that the Iyrmen are glad to let you fondle them, otherwise I’d have beaten you up already,” Adam said. “Though you leave our poor Nobby alone, otherwise…”

Lucy snarled at him. “Just you wait until I take my place as the Demon Lord! I’m going to fondle Nobby all I want.”

Adam made the face again, but this time there was no ironic overtones across it. Even the Iyrmen stared at Lucy with a look.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Lucy declared.

The children shook their heads at her, and Taygak even tutted. “Bad Demon,” she said.