I'm sitting at a small, wooden table, doing my best to not pay attention to the demon who is attempting to bore a hole in my skull with his gaze. To my left is a small wooden shelf. To the right is the door, closed now. Directly in front of me is a counter, as well as what looks like a kitchen, equipped with a small fireplace. Behind me is a bigger room, with a rack near the edges. There seems to be a hallway connecting it to another room.

... Yeah, this isn't working. The dude hasn't stopped glaring at me for the ten or so minutes I've been here. I'm honestly kinda scared. Stop ... please? He's not stopping. I'm honestly too scared to speak, considering he hasn't set his bow down.

...

"Ozamini teruson...", the ranger-, sorry, Ozari sighs. He strides over to a small rack, and places the bow onto it. Then he takes a small cup from the shelf and places it in a large basin in the kitchen. He reaches down, I hear what sounds like a creaky cupboard open, and he pulls out a tank of water. He washes out the cup, and then pours some more water into it. He adds some leaves, puts it on a little tray, and sets it over the fireplace. He lights the fireplace.

Don't just make tea like it's the most natural thing in the world!

He looks at me for a bit, before pointing at the boiling tea. I sigh and point at it, and back towards me. He takes another cup, repeats the same process, and now there are two teacups on the tray. I stay silent. He walks over to me, and points at the table.

"Teromini."

I point at the table.

"Teromini?"

"Teromini."

I point at the counter.

"Teromini?"

He tilts his head, before waggling his fingers.

"Teromini, bulacar."

I point at the counter.

"Bulacar."

I point at it again.

"Teromini."

"Yo."

"Yo?"

One of his eyebrows goes up, then the other. He seems to be seriously struggling on how to define "Yo." I sigh.

I have this strange feeling this'll take a while...

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Luckily, I was wrong! I've got a basic grasp of it now. I raise my nose into the air. 6 months, to somewhat comprehend the language of Azerian. I'm a bloody genius.

"What you doing?"

Ozari looks at me, confused.

"I ... I ..." Fuck, I don't know this word.

He looks at me, confused, but then raises his eyebrows in what appears to be understanding. "Evening. We sleep. Wake dawn tomorrow."

I've been sleeping fine for the last six months, but today I just can't. It's been two hours since I climbed in here. The mattress is really rough...

I look outside, and gasp. The stars are beautiful, twinkling like fairies. The moon is round and full.

It's almost enough to make me forget the mattress...

I pull out the mirror. If nothing else, the drained feeling from interacting with it puts me to sleep.

Skills:

Disguise

Enhancement disabled.

Classification paused.

Messages from Patron:

0 Unread, 254 Read.

The screen flashed in it's usual way.

New Message from Patron.

Display? Y/N

I push the Y.

I never understood the concept of sleep. Why do some people enjoy it so much? It is the time when you are most vulnerable - shouldn't most hate it?

I chuckle. "Well, sleep is relaxing. You don't have to think about anything."

But is that not what differentiates you from animals? The power of sapience?

"Mmm, yes, but sometimes, things can get to be too much."

I do not understand.

"Like, sometimes, we get overloaded, y'know?"

No.

"Ugh... Haven't you ever worried about something?"

Yes.

"Haven't you ever felt that you were worrying too much? That you are overloaded, and need to think of something else?"

No. I can think on many separate levels. I am never overloaded.

"Oh, okay... I don't really know how to explain it then." Over the past six months, I've learned Xeno (the red dude) thinks differently than the rest of us. Then again, he is a god, so I guess that's par for the course.

"Anyway, can I ask a question?"

?

"Why must I kill the Hero?"

The Hero is the champion of that god.

"Which god?"

Mari. We've been together for eons, Mari and I. We used to fight all the time. Those were fun days.

"Then what happened?"

It got boring. We tried making peace, but it never lasted long. She's my anathema - we try to kill each other whenever we can. But the constant warfare got boring too. Now, we just don't really directly interfere with each other.

"That sounds ... sad."

So, we decided to take it to the mortal realm.

"Yeah, I think I get it now. Me and this Hero are the people whom you fight through, right?"

Correct.

So then, should I kill this person? Kill a dude I've never seen before, because some gods hate each other?

That's kinda...

Remember, this is part of the bargain you accepted.

...He's right. I did.

Ha...

I look outside, towards the moonlight. Suddenly, the stars seem darker than they were before.

"...So, how?"

How to kill the Hero?

"Yeah."

Train your skills. By drawing on your Skill freqently, your soul will become used to my power, thus being able to draw on more of it. In this way, you will be able to push your Skill farther, and enhance it to its utter limits, until it becomes a new Skill entirely.

"...So I'll train. Train till I can murder him."

Yes. Sleep now, for your body requires much rest.

I'm already yawning. I look outside once more. The moon's been obscured by dark clouds.