Omen: 15, 20

‘Damn, look at that Omen!’ Adam smiled to himself. ‘How can one man be so lucky?’

Once Adam was able to doff his children, he continued to complete his morning routine. Gurot sat beside the half elf once it was time for breakfast, the boy picking up slices of his banana to eat, making a mess over his face, his hands also growing sticky.

“Do you like your salya?” Adam asked, wiping the fruit off the boy’s face once he was done. Gurot only smiled shyly in response, before Adam picked him up to hug him tight. “How can this be? Gurot, my boy, how can you be this cute?”

“Stop it,” Jirot called out, pointing up to her father. “My daddy.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right,” Adam replied, letting out a large smile.

“Adam,” called a familiar voice.

‘I wasn’t that cringe, was I?’ Adam thought, before following the Elder out. Zijin didn’t take the half elf towards his estate, this time leading Adam though the various tunnels of the Iyr.

“We will rent to you the plot of land between the rivers,” Elder Zijin informed as they made their way. “You may use it as you please, but the Iyr reserves the right to rescind the offer when it pleases.”

“Please give me a month’s notice so I can resettle the others.”

“I cannot promise you such, but we will try.”

“I guess that’s good enough…” Adam wasn’t sure he could press the Iyr.

“You will pay one hundred gold monthly for the land, one hundred gold monthly for each shrine you require for business,” the Elder informed. “We will also offer to assign some Iyrmen to assist with safeguarding the business at the price of one Basic weapon seasonally, or one Greater weapon yearly.”

“When you say seasonally, is that four seasons?” Adam asked. “Does the Twilight Month count as a season?”

“Four seasons.”

“Ah.” Adam nodded.

“We have already formed a plan for the fort, and will reveal to you most of the secret rooms within. The payment for the fort shall be taken over the course of many years.”

“How much?”

“The cost of the fort is typically tens of thousands of gold, but we would be willing to accept five Greater weapons, or thirty with the first pluck of a Greater enchantment.”

‘First pluck?’ Adam thought. ‘Oooh!’ “So it works?”

“It does.”

Adam glanced to the side, noting how his XP had increased by a hundred. ‘Oh. I see.’ “Nice. So, what, about ten days of enchanting this month? We were planning leaving by the end of the month…”

“I have faith you will return and repay such debts,” Zijin stated, causing Adam to smile. The Elder led Adam though the tunnels towards a larger shrine, one with a similar set up of six stones standing in a circle.

Adam glanced around, noting a door set within the stone. “Where does that lead to?”

“Nowhere, at this moment,” Zijin replied. “There is rock behind it.”

“Okay…” Adam decided against asking more about the topic. “When you say you want the first pluck, do I have to pay for the gems used during the first pluck?”

“No.”

“Thank you.” ‘Phew.’ Adam was glad to had saved five hundred gold for each Greater weapon.

“You may enchant here from now,” the Elder stated. “Your magic will not work within this area, but you will be able to enchant. The Iyr’s magic will guide you back when you are done.”

“Just what is…” Adam shook his head, letting out a defeated sigh. “Never mind.”

Elder Zijin smiled, bowing his head before he left the half elf be. As the Elder left, he thought of what else he could do to make sure Adam would remain safe before he retired.

Adam enchanted passively within the shrine, creating several Basic magical weapons which would be auctioned throughout the year. He needed to create a few so he could adventure in peace. ‘No one would believe I was the Enchanter if I’m showing my face around while the weapons are being auctioned.’

Meanwhile, Elder Story met with someone who was long thought to be dead. The figure long thought dead appeared to be a young woman, with dark blue hair, nearly black, which parted around her horns, and her eyes were blue and silver. She sat opposite a small snake, whose body was entirely red, as though it were made of blood.

“It’s been a while,” Umbra said, staring at the one known as Elder Story, though she knew the figure by another name. “I heard my father caused you trouble.” Umbra blinked upon the response she heard within her mind. ‘Right, father said she was shy.’

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“You don’t have to be so polite, I know how my father is.” Umbra poured them cups of wine, slowly sipping her own. “If you’ve returned from the Higher Realm, it must be because you had to assist one of mine?”

While the pair had their conversation, in the Higher Realm, the two Emperors also spoke. Emperor Shama had intruded himself into the court, and with the dismissal of the court, the pair shared cups of tea. They were on the fifth cup when Emperor Shama finally decided to speak.

“You have a boy, don’t you?” Emperor Shama asked.

“I have many boys,” Emperor Iskar replied.

“There was a boy by the name of Bael,” Shama stated, thinking back to their first meeting.

Emperor Iskar let out a sigh. ‘Of course he would want to speak of that troublesome girl of mine…’

Emperor Shama’s thoughts fell back to the event which had occurred within the last few years, within the last couple of centuries.

“Hoi hoi hoi,” Gabba laughed, throwing a rock down towards one of the islands, forcing the warriors stationed to panic, trying to deal with the rock.

“Gabba, you shouldn’t cause so much trouble, even if this is the Outskirts,” Gubbu, Gabba’s twin brother replid.

Gabba, the large earth giant, continued to chuckle, reaching down into the earth of the sky island, slicing it with his fingers as though the earth was made of butter, before forming it into a ball. “Relax, brudda, it is not like either of the Emperors will come and-,”

“You wicked fiends!” came out a shout, and standing atop the nearby hill was a…

Little girl?

Her hair was dark, near black, cut short, her bangs covering her forehead. Her eyes blue and silver eyes were filled with the kind of arrogance only an emperor could have. She wore the attire of a warrior, though it had been sized to fit the little dragon child, who was no doubt only twenty years old or so, only a few years older than a baby, her horns still growing.

Gabba turned to his twin brother, Gubbu, the large earth serpent, and exchanged a curious look with the tiny girl, who stood defiantly atop the hill. “Who are you?”

“You wicked, no, you punks! I am, I’m Emperor Hadda!” the little girl exclaimed, her stance widening as she glared at the pair in front of her. “Who are you, ya, ya punks?” the girl stuttered, trying to speak properly improper.

“Hey, kid, how can you dare to say that man’s name?” Gabba asked, still crushing the earth together, forcing it into a tiny pebble. He felt his body cool at the thought of the figure known as Emperor Hadda, that crazy old man. He felt the heat against the back of his neck, but thought nothing of it.

“You brat, why are ya staring at me that way?” the girl asked, before narrowing her eyes, her lips forming a smirk. “You wanna fight?”

“It’s dangerous here, kid, you should leave,” Gubbu said, slithering his way along the earth towards the tiny girl atop the hill.

“Are ya gonna run away from a fight?” the girl claiming to be Emperor Hadda asked, smirking cheekily towards the pair.

“Kid, you better watch what you say?”

“If yer a coward, jus’say so,” the girl stated, tilting her head upwards as she smirked at the pair.

Gubbu turned his head to look towards his twin brother, the earth giant who stepped towards the girl to tower over her. “Little girl, you have to watch what you say. You’re lucky we’re kindly folk, otherwise you’d find yourself in trouble.”

The girl inhaled deeply as the shadows loomed over her. “It’ll take too long if you come one by one, so both of ya, come at me together.”

The earth giant’s body flashed red hot as he reached down towards the girl. “Little girl, you should-,”

“Young man, why don’t you step aside?” a voice called from behind Gabba, the stranger placing a hand on the kneeling earth giant’s shoulder. He was an older man, adorned in the finest of battle garments. His forehead was tattooed, a collection of four dots in the centre which formed a diamond.

“Who do you thi-,” Gabba began, before his entire body flashed red hot, embers tickling across his skin.

Gubbu remained frozen still, staring at the stranger who had appeared. No, he was no stranger, for who in these realms didn’t know who this figure was?

The little girl stared up at the older man. “Just who do you-,” she began before she gasped, her mouth forming a tiny circle in shock and excitement. “So you’ve finally come, ya punk!”

“Who might you be?” Emperor Shama asked, allowing the pair of earth elementals, criminals who kept causing issues in the Outskirts, to leave.

“I’m Emperor Hadda, and I’ve come ta beat ya!” the girl exclaimed confidently.

‘…’ Emperor Shama couldn’t believe he had rushed away from his duties to come and find one of that bastard’s brats messing around in his territory. He could imagine the mess right now thanks to his sudden disappearance, including from all those annoying fools who kept begging him to do something about the tiny issues they couldn’t handle.

“Little girl, you-,”

“I’m not a little girl, I’m Emperor Hadda!” she shouted, daring to cut off the Lord of Flames. She raised her fists up, ready to fight. “Come on, ya punk! There’s no way yer gonna run away, are ya, Shammy boy?”

“…” The Emperor undid the blade at his side, which floated to one side. It was a weapon which could match some of the greatest in the Higher Realm, and was all but extinct in the Lower Realms. “You two kids should head on out of here.”

Gabba exchanged a look with his twin brother, the earth serpent, before they stared at the pair, the Emperor and the girl. ‘What?’

“Our fight has begun earlier this century,” the Emperor informed. “Let them know not to disturb us.”

Emperor Shama recalled the mess they had made over the week of their fight. The little Emperor Hadda needed to take breaks now and again, and would sometimes break character to speak of their great grandfather, before the pair would return back to fighting. It had been the most difficult fight to date, for the old Emperor did his best to look flashy, destroying the floating island all along the week.

It had ended as Emperor Hadda’s win, though it had pained the Lord of Flames. ‘I should have beaten up those two brats who made such a mess.’

Emperor Iskur stared at the man who was his grandfather’s match, wondering what he was thinking about. He assumed it was the time when his daughter had caused such a mess within the Outskirts recently, although she had left for the Lower Realm not long ago, no doubt making a mess there too.

“Bael, wasn’t it?” Shama asked. “He took the name of that old fool while he was making a mess in the Lower Realms.”

“Her name is-,”

“Emperor Iskur,” Emperor Shama dared to interrupt the boy. “Do you know the single sign which makes an empire great?”

“A happy populace?”

“You are close,” Emperor Shama admitted, though he thought back to the past. “It was something a crazy old woman once said.”

The words which Emperor Shama stated next flooded Emperor Iskur’s mind with the memory of the first time he had met his grandfather. When he was a little boy he had caused so much trouble due to the fact he never got to see his mother and father. The pair had appeared to tell him off, and though it had left him a blubbering mess, through his blurry eyes he saw the Emperor for the first time.

He wasn’t sure what the old man had said to his father and mother, but he was sure the Emperor had berated them. It was then he picked up the boy, with such a wide smile on his face, something which had shocked even the boy since he had never seen such joy before.

“Children should dare to dream!”