Pete wasn’t much of a man. He didn’t always think like that but his wife certainly did.
“What are you gonna do for the rest of your life, Pete? Are you just gonna deliver coffees and run papers, Pete? I told you you needed to ask for that promotion. If you don’t grow a pair no one is ever gonna respect you.”
Jane was bouncing their year-old on her hip as she tore into Pete. She was a short and plump woman, just over 5 feet and nearly that wide. She scowled at the man standing before her.
Pete was near five nine but before the angry woman his thin frame, subservient attitude, and bespectacled face seemed tiny in comparison.
“Yes dear, you know how it is though. Mr. Donnivan is always busy and he doesn’t even properly know my name.”
“That’s because you let him call you coffee boy! Are you gonna let him walk all over you forever? What about your wife who slaves away all day at home for you? Do you think about her at all?”
Her shouting made the child cry and she shoved a pacifier into her wailing mouth.
“See what you do Pete. It’s at least peaceful all day when you’re at work but you come home with almost no money and bother me and the baby!”
“I’m sorry Sweetheart. Can I make you some dinner? I picked up groceries on the way home tonight.”
“Fine! But don’t burn it again. I swear someone is playing a cosmic joke on me giving me an incompetent husband like you.”
The night went on like this as Pete cooked pasta in white sauce that Jane called “soggy and bland.” He cleaned up dinner while looking after Susie, his daughter, before taking out the trash from their apartment and getting out his computer to work on his night classes for his MBA. The whole time Jane was watching a reality TV show about relationship drama while providing her own brand of commentary.
“Come on Jake, you can get such a better girl than that bitch Cloie. Look at her fucking shoes! Classless bitch.”
Comments like this rained over Pete as he worked through his statistics homework. At least when she’s watching TV she is happy and I’m not bothering her. Oh, I wish she didn’t curse like that around Susie. Thoughts like these filled his bowed head as he worked away his evening into the night.
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“Wait where am I?”
…
“Where’s my legs?”
…
“AHHHHH! AHHHHH! What the hell is happening to me!”
…
“Races? Classes? Stats? What the hell? Where’s Susie?”
…
“Kobold? Huh, loved by dragons sounds pretty cool. I mean, subservient isn't so bad. I guess I’ll go with that.”
...
“Name? Best to choose good name. Name for tribe and master. Master will call me… Tikkis.”
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Twelve hours after the world fell asleep, Tikkis the kobold awoke in the small apartment previously owned by Pete the human. Even with his short horns, he was only a little over two feet tall. Ochre red scales covered his small, but muscular, frame and a stocky tail fell between clawed reptilian legs. After digging himself out of the clothing that swamped him, the first thing he noticed was the strange glowing square covered in a script he didn’t understand on the large table before him. The second was the goblin staring at him through the bars of the crib next to the chair he was standing on.
He backpedaled in fright and fell off the chair. The goblin looked at him as if he were her next meal. Is that Susie? Wait who is Susie? Is Susie member of tribe? Can’t be. That goblin. His thoughts raced as the goblin climbed over the walls of the crib and jumped to the floor near him. The goblin was naked and hunched over and yet still was nearly his height.
He raised his hands and pleaded for his life in the yipping language derived from the tongues of dragons that all kobolds know as the creature approached him with cruelty in its eyes. Just before the creature reached him, movement elsewhere in the room drew both their attentions.
Standing up from the couch was a creature that could best be described as a cross between a hyena and a human, though that comparison fell flat to the reality. This beast was closer to eight feet tall than seven and had broad shoulders and neck that supported the stooped forward head that much more resembled a hyena’s than any human. It had a thick furry hide that was striped green-gray and light brown. Each thick arm hung past the knees on its recurved legs. Large canine teeth protruded from raised lips, giving the other two humanoids in the room the impression of a smile. This impression was further instilled by the cackling hyena laugh that came from its mouth as it approached the two much smaller creatures.
The goblin ran. She jumped over the desk and through the glass window, not knowing or caring how far they were from the ground below. Tikkis began to prostrate himself before the gnoll. Bowing and scraping so low his forehead repeatedly smacked against the floor.
“Oh, great and powerful one! Hear my plea from lips unworthy to even speak in your presence. Let my life be spared to me and I will serve you all the days of my life. Oh, great and glorious one. Let this worm be of some use to such a one as yourself. If you do eat me let me bring you strength and let not my unworthy flesh cause your stomach any discomfort…”
He continued like this ad nauseam while bowing and prostrating before the amused gnoll. Kobolds were not usually eloquent speakers, or much of speakers at all, that was till they were before their masters. To their rulers, they spoke and pleaded as best they could for the mercy and attention of the greater beings. They spoke in a dialect of draconic that was developed specifically to sound pleasing in subservient to dragons in a way that a human would probably call slimy. Unfortunately for him, the gnoll didn’t understand a single word he spoke. But the meaning got through and the gnoll decided that the pitiful funny creature may have a use.
The gnoll who had so recently been the kobold’s wife treated him with little difference from before. After approaching him, she kicked him, sending his small frame crashing into the wall behind him. As she stood over him, she grunted and gestured for him to follow.
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The gnoll had survived two days. She had met up with a small pack of gnolls that was forming up and building a base in a forest clearing near the eastern edge of the old city. The others had treated Tikkis even worse than the first and had even taken the small leather pack he had been rewarded with for surviving the first day. But that was right. The strong rule over the weak. Tikkis knew this and craved it, but it did little to ease the bruises and scrapes he had received.
On the evening of the first second day, Tikkis had been beaten and sent off to the creek near the impromptu camp for water. This simple task brought him joy. He was able to serve, level his [Kobold Slave] profession, and spend some time away from his masters. While he was gathering water with some concave piece of old-world metal he heard shouting from near the camp.
Creeping back towards the clearing he watched a large group of dwarves pour through the camp, crushing and cutting with makeshift weapons, some old-world weapons, and even a few obviously superior quest reward weapons. They were led by a larger than normal dwarf that was wearing a makeshift suit of armor made of old-world metals bent into the shape of crude plate armor.
The dwarves poured over the camp and swiftly killed the small group of gnolls without taking much damage from the surprised group. With the advantages of surprise, superior numbers, and superior weaponry, the dwarves crushed the resistance of the much larger gnolls.
Tikkis slowly began creeping back through the brush he had been hiding in, trying to avoid the massacre. That was till his bare foot hit thick leather behind him. Looking behind him he saw a large mostly naked dwarf holding a crude wooden club. A club that swung and faded the world to black.
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When Tikkis awoke it was night, and he found himself in a crude wooden cage near a group of dwarves gathered around a large fire. They were laughing, eating, drinking, and speaking in the deep guttural language of the dwarves. It appeared that they were roasting large pieces of meat over the fire and on rocks near the flames. It took him a moment to put it together, but when he did it made him nauseous. They were cooking the gnolls they had killed. Tikkis had little love for those beasts, but they were still people in his mind.
He was looking about the camp and trying to see if there was any way he could sneak out when he saw another kobold, a young female, run over to a dwarf with an old-world bottle of some drink. The dwarf took the bottle and backhanded the small kobold before turning back to the group. The kobold bowed and drug herself backward, away from the fire and nearer to Tikkis.
“Ho! Peace sister!” He quietly shouted over the noise of the party around him.
“Who? Oh, you.” The young girl's pointed ears had shot up before flattening back against her head when she recognized where the voice came from. “I must serve the masters or be they wroth. Serve well, bowing much, will let serve.” With that, she turned back and began bringing more pieces of bloody gnoll meat to the dwarves by the fire.
Tikkis sat back and watched the festivities. The dwarves drank and some eventually sang but mostly they just ate. While watching, Tikkis saw two other kobolds serving their dwarven masters as the night went on. This isn’t right. Kobolds serve one. Not many. If one says to kill another who do we serve? If only there were one who was strong. He watched the dwarves late into the early hours of the morning. It became apparent to him that there was some structure in the dwarves and they all seemed to defer to the armored one, but even then he was no true leader. Other dwarves grumbled when he asked for the best meat or even fought him for an old world bottle. He almost lost that fight too! No, Tikkis was certain of it now. This was no place for kobolds to serve.
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Late the next day, Tikkis was sitting in a small circle of kobolds. Earlier in the day, the armored dwarf had come to Tikkis and demanded he bowed to him. Of course Tikkis had, that was his place, and had been released to serve the dwarves. But now Tikkis talked about their place in this group. The four kobolds who served the dwarves sat together and quietly talked over their situation.
“Not right. This place not right. Where our master? Where our god?” Tikkis asked in a quiet voice among the other kobolds.
“Dwarves still strong. Iron man strong.” This came from the small female that had first spoken to Tikkis.
“Not strong enough. Too many lords. Not enough strength. Must find stronger master.” Tikkis responded strongly. He saw the two older males nodding their heads as they listened.
“What we do?” Asked one of the older ones.
“We must sneak. We must steal. We leave.” Tikkis said these things quietly despite the dwarves not being able to understand their language. As he spoke he saw the men nodding. They seemed determined to try, even if the young female would rather still serve these weak masters. Kuna the female, Jeep, Kiam, and Tikka sat and discussed their plan till a dwarf came near and broke them up with several hard kicks. The dwarf took Kuna and Jeep and put them to work cleaning makeshift wooden and old-world metal bowls before returning and putting Tikka and Kiam into the wooden cage for no more reason than he wanted to. Thus passed their third night.
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The four Kobolds managed to escape their dwarvish captors in the late morning of the next day. They had managed to break out of the cage they were left in while the main group of dwarves had left on a hunting trip. Part of this was due to the dwarves drinking late into the night and leaving only their most hungover to guard the camp, another part was due to the heavy snowfall last night that muffled their movements and made the dwarves sleep soundly beneath their mismatched blankets. They left the camp in secret and took what little they could carry as they stepped around the unconscious bodies of the hungover guards that had been left to prevent this very thing. They mainly took what food scraps they could find as well as scraps of old-world clothing that were left in a pile for the dwarves to choose from.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
After gathering what they could, they left camp going the opposite direction that the dwarvish hunting party had. North. The dwarven camp had been near the eastern edge of the old world city but well within its borders. They first passed through the broken, and in some places still smoldering, buildings that surrounded the clear flat patch of grass where the dwarves had camped. The kobolds talked little and moved quietly, but the few comments they shared were words of warning about movement they saw or exclamations on the strangeness of the old world city.
“Why so frail?” Jeep said pointing at the collapsed wall of a large square building covered in balconies. “Grand building. Weak walls.”
The others shrugged but they had noticed the strangeness as well.
“No beauty. Square.” Was all Kuna said in reply.
They moved from one patch of cover to another through the rubble. They saw the clearer roads that moved through the city, but they chose to avoid the risk of moving uncovered. Each moved anxiously, swishing tails and checking over shoulders. They wished they could move faster but no matter the risk of being tracked down by their old masters, they knew much worse things moved about in this town.
“Quickly. Quickly.” Tikkis said while gesturing them to follow him into the thick brush near the edge of the town. They followed the wide road that led north of the town, not on the road but off to the side in the brush. They avoided where there was no brush, trees, or even high grasses. Mainly they ran low in the ditch that followed alongside the road.
And run they did. Once they were out of the city and the looming darkness between broken buildings they fled like they all had been anxious to do. They fell forwards onto all four limbs and raised their tails back behind them for balance as they ran for their lives. They still moved stealthily trying to avoid detection. Through trees, grass, ditch, or brush, they ran. With no destination or plan in mind, they ran.
It was as they ran through one of the many groves of ash trees they had run through that they heard the voice.
“Ho! Brothers! Sister!”
They slowed to a stop and raised to their legs warily, looking for the source of the voice. The source made itself known as a kobold, small even for their race, fell with little grace from the tree he had been hiding in.
“Oof.” The small kobold groaned as he had the wind knocked out of him upon landing. He quickly stood and gave a low bow to the group, acknowledging the greatness of their small tribe in comparison to him. “Brothers, sister, good to see. Forest cold, lonely, dangerous alone.” He looked up at them with pleading eyes.
The group looked to Tikkis who had somehow been taken for the leader, an uncomfortable position for any Kobold.
“May join. Numbers stronger. No tribe?” That question was responded to with a tight shake of the head. “Join then. You know safe place?” Tikkis said that while gesturing to the sun which had already dropped low in the sky.
“One place. Men were. Now not. Maybe food. Unsafe alone.” The new kobold said bobbing his head in excitement.
“Safe now? Safe for tribe?” Tikkis asked.
“Can’t say. Not safe here.” The small one replied.
Tikkis knew it was true. The tribe wasn’t safe in the open like this. Even if there was a chance of danger at the other place, that was better than here.
“We follow you,” Tikkis said, nodding his head. “May we ask this little one his name?” He switched to speaking in the dragon tongue as is right for important questions and statements such as this formal greeting.
“You may call me Tumpus the Survivor.” The little one said.
The others nodded appreciatively at the title Trumpus had earned.
“Good Tumpus.” Tikkis struggled with the name some. It was not a word similar to the kobolds language, but he was careful to pronounce it properly in respect. “You lead to new home.”
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Tikkis laughed hugely and slapped Tumpus’ back. It was a time to celebrate for the Kobolds. They had been led to this quarry filled with food, wood, and shelter by Tumpus and had found it completely abandoned. After checking the quarry over several times and finding nothing dangerous, besides the strange sealed stone doors, they had kindled a large fire and began cooking strips of the frozen meat they had found in the strange wood and stone chest.
As the sun was beginning to set over the walls of the quarry, Tumpus stood and addressed the four other kobolds.
“Alas, I have been saved, rescued, adopted. By you, strong men..” He said this raising a half-cooked spear of meat over his head to the other men around the fire who responded in kind. “And you, beautiful woman.” This raised a flush in the face of Kuna as she sat on a stone by the fire. “But I find that I am at an impasse.” He paused for effect. All eyes were on him. They knew he was going to say something of import by how he spoke and the elegance of how he stood. “You see, I know each and every one of your fine names, but here I stand unable to raise a toast to us. For we, our strong tribe, has no name.”
As he finished speaking the other’s jaws dropped in shock. They had only realized it at this moment when Tumpus made his speech. How could they have no name? A tribe was the life and the meaning of a Kobold, second only to their master. They looked at one another and chattered in unison about the problem. It wasn’t till the four others quieted and looked back at him that Tikkis realized it was his place to choose.
Standing to his feet, Tikkis panicked internally. What defines us? Who are we? We have survived, that is true. But we are weak. None of us are even level one. Three of us are [Support] class, I am [Undecided], only Jeep is a [Fighter] and he still hasn’t leveled. Who are we? If he could have sweat, he would be doing so right now. He looked at the expectant faces around him and was struck by an idea.
He bent down and picked up a small stone off the ground. “We are small, yes? Unassuming and forgettable each one. Simply, we are weak and small.” As he said this he saw the other’s faces drop, all except Tumpus who looked up at him even more expectantly. “But.” That single word brought their eyes back on him. “But, we are hard. We survived. We are tough. Just like this stone here.” He held up the stone in the firelight. “And just like this stone.” He reached down and began stacking stone upon stone till a small circular wall stood around the original stone. “When we work together, we are strong. We can defend one another. We can make a place here for us that is safe.”
He sat back down and looked up at the eyes staring back at him filled with a new light. “We are the Small Stone tribe. Don’t forget.” He reverted into their less formal speech to signal that the moment was done.
Tumpus and Jeep were nodding energetically at him with their sharp teeth bared in the kobold version of a smile, while Kuna and Kiam were already talking about the name as they praised the decision. The moment lasted and they each rose and gave a short but impassioned dialogue about the tribe before sitting again and enjoying the hot skewers of meat. Jokes were told, food was shared, and friendships were made.
Tikkis knew that the bond that had been forged tonight was a bond as strong as family. These people, these friends, would be here for him through thick and thin no matter the threat or trouble they encountered.
Tribe.
It is what everyone craves, but it is what a kobold can’t do without. They were small, some would say simple, but they were fiercely loyal and subservient to the needs of their tribe. Of their people.
Tikkis was thinking about their future and what it meant to be leading this small family when their whole world changed.
Rounding the corner of the small old-world building, came two giant men. They were both humans and very well equipped. They wore swords at their hips and were nearly fully clothed in heavy, if tattered, old-world clothes. They even had a large backpack each on their backs and carried a large wooden chest between them. But that wasn’t what caught the eyes of the tribe.
Floating ominously over the head of the smaller of the two giants was an orb of flame. He was obviously the leader, something any kobold can sense, and he spoke with his larger guard or servant as they approached them. Seeing them draw near, they snapped out of their panic and grabbed whatever they could use around them as weapons before huddling into a tight mass.
The humans exchanged a few words before the leader came towards them and began to yell while waving his hands about him in an aggressive manner.
“Great sorcerer casts spell!” Yelled Jeep as they backed away from his striking figure into the shelter behind them. This seemed to further enrage the man and he began shouting louder as he pointed away and towards the sky.
“Cannot fight, must run!” Shouted Kuna as she pointed the sharp stone at the sorcerer with a shaking claw.
It was then that the man raised his hands and shouted the last of his great incantation. They felt the world shift as they were all nearly knocked unconscious by the power of the aura that blasted off the magician.
“Dragon.” Whispered Tikkis When he found his voice again.
Without reservation, every member of the Small Stone tribe fell to their face together.
“Oh, mighty and glorious majestic one...”
“Let my blood wash your beautiful feet when you cut me down…”
“Praise your might and praise your mercy, my King!”
“Spare this one so I may serve you till my breath ends and the sun rises no more…”
They prostrated, pleaded, and praised each as they recognized their new master stood before them. Instinctively, they each activated their level zero [Kobold Slave] skill [Undying Service]. This was a risky option that few kobolds, besides those serving dragons or greater beings, would ever use. If the being accepted, their entire will, as well as the will of all of their descendants, would be tied to the being till they or the being perished. They could not harm their master in any way. They could not reuse even the most dangerous of tasks. It was something reserved for when a kobold met the being they were certain would be their master forever.
The majestic one grunted some words then dismissed their request. They all looked on in horror. They knew this is where they died. Even a dragon would have accepted their offer, even if only to eat them at its convenience, but this being dismissed the plea with a simple wave of the hand.
He stood silently, towering over the lesser beings that cowered by his feet. They did not run or try to fight. They knew this being was too great for them to do anything but wait for his judgment.
The magician sat on a log by the side of the fire nearest to the group. This caused them to pause. They were not very good at reading the fleshy expressions of the being before them, but it seemed to them that it was thinking while scratching its scraggly half-beard.
The man reached out towards them and collectively the kobolds braced for their death. But instead, the man simply picked up the stick that had been used as an impromptu weapon before being discarded on the ground. He then proceeded to do something that shocked them even more. He began to draw on the ground.
First, he drew a crude human and a small kobold bowing before the human. Tikkis moved closer to see the picture and risked sitting up on his knees to see better. The others stayed face-down on the stone. The human looked at him and gave a strange flat-faced smile before crossing the picture out with the stick. This made Tikkis’ heart stop in his chest.
What? Does he not want us to serve? How can we not serve one as great as he? His confusion deepened as the man began drawing a new picture. He drew a man again, but now in front of the man, he drew a kobold standing. He then drew an arrow from the man to the kobold and drew a simple symbol above the arrow and then an arrow from the kobold to the human and another symbol near that arrow. Tikkis didn’t understand either.
He dared to look up at the human’s smiling face and pointed at the symbols, making the confusion apparent on his face. The human said something to his servant before the servant opened the chest and disappeared into it. This elicited a gasp of shock from Kuna who had raised her head enough to watch what was happening. When she saw the human look at her, she dropped her face back into the dust. The larger human returned in a moment with a simple iron pick which he brought to his master.
The master then took a piece of semi-cooked meat from where it had been abandoned by the fire before placing both that and the pick before him. He pointed at the human in the picture first, then at himself. Tikkis nodded. He then pointed at the drawn kobold then gestured at the whole tribe. He nodded again. He then pointed at the symbol on the arrow pointing from the human to the kobold and pointed to the meat. He gives us food? Tikkis hesitantly nodded. The master then pointed at the pick then the other symbol. He gives us food for picks? This time Tikkis scratched his head in confusion before sitting heavy on his butt. He was fairly confident that the humans weren’t going to kill him or his tribe, but he also knew they wanted something from him.
The human laughed this time and the kobolds started. It was strange, their mouths and the noises they made were so different, but a laugh sounds like a laugh. Tikkis saw the genuine humor in the man’s eyes and decided to return a smile and simply shrug. The man took this as a challenge and began furiously drawing on the ground.
After a few minutes, he sat back and motioned for Tikkis to look. There were several pictures. One was of kobolds using picks in what appeared to be a tunnel, another was kobolds and humans sitting together around a fire, and a third was kobolds and humans carrying bricks to an unfinished structure.
Tikkis thought he understood, but he didn’t get it. He looked up at the human, then back at the pictures, then back at the human. He scampered away and drug his companions into the shed to speak.
“Wants tribe to work for him,” Tikkis said to the frightened group in a low voice.
“Serve?” Kuna said with reverence in her voice.
“No,” Tikkis replied flatly.
“Why refuse loyalty?” Tumpus asked curiously.
“Not either,” Tikkis said.
“What then?” Kiam asked angrily.
“We work together. Like tribe work. Share food. Share work.” Tikkis said, not really understanding the concept himself.
“They join Small Stone?” Kuna asked, obviously confused.
“No. Two tribe work together.” Tikkis insisted.
“They human!” Said Jeep angrily.
“No master?” Tumpus asked.
“No master. Just tribe. Work together. They give food. We mine, build, work.” Tikkis said resolutely.
At this point, the others were scratching their heads and seemed to be trying to digest the idea.
“If no master, who serve?” Asked a now confused Jeep.
“Serve tribe, serve family, serve human tribe. Human family?” The last thought was more a question than a statement and it caught the whole tribe off guard. For a moment they all thought in silence before Tumpus stood up straight and said;
“This morning I had no tribe, no family. Today I found both. You accepted me and took me in. I see no reason we should refuse the same from these humans. Especially one as great as the magician.”
He looked over the group. They looked back. They understood the importance of his speech and slowly began to see it the same way.
Tikkis stood. “I accept the humans as tribe and family.”
Kuna stood next. “I too accept.”
Then Kiam. “As will I.”
Lastly Jeep stood, not as eagerly as the others. By no small margin, he was the oldest of the five, not that it meant a whole lot in this new world, but he spoke with the perceived wisdom of one of many years.
“They are not kobolds. It is not kobold to have no master. But it is even less so to stand against one’s tribe. I will accept too. But be wary. Human dangerous.”
With that, the five kobolds followed Tikkis out of the shelter and approached the humans. Tikkis stood the closest and was the only one to look the human in the eyes. What he saw was happiness and some deeper meaning he couldn’t understand. The human stood and stretched a hand towards him. After a moment, Tikkis understood and grabbed the large hand with his small one. The human gently shook the scaled and clawed hand before turning to his companion and having him go back into the chest for a large pot.
Your profession: Lvl. 1 [Kobold Slave] evolved to Lvl. 1 [Kobold Worker]
You gained new skill [Lesser Strength]
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Later that night Tikkis stumbled into the small metal shelter and fell asleep on the pile of kobold bodies wrapped up in a thick wool blanket. The smaller human had cooked a large soup of broth, rice, and chunks of meat. It was by far the best meal that any of the Kobolds could remember and they had eaten to their heart’s content. While they had done so Tumpus and the larger human had been trying to communicate. This mainly consisted of the human pointing at something and saying the word till Tumpus could repeat it. It was slow going, especially because the words were strange and difficult to pronounce with their long mouths and tongues. But Tumpus’ work bore fruit when he returned and told everyone the names of the humans.
“‘James’ and ‘Liam’” Tikkis said quietly to himself as he curled into a ball next to the members of his tribe. What a strange and wonderful family.
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Tikkis dreamt of a giant gnoll bossing him around. It was a sweet dream. The gnoll didn’t ask any impossible tasks and he served so well that she never had to raise her voice at him. It was bliss. That bliss was interrupted by a human walking up to him and waving the gnoll away, out of existence. It was James.
“Hey man. I know we haven’t properly talked yet. I’m James.” The man reached out his hand to shake with him and he was thoroughly confused.
“Why here? Speak like kobold. Strange dream.” Tikkis said before walking away from the man.
James ran to catch up with him. “Hey now, it’s me. Really. I have a skill where I can talk to people in their dreams. It sounds like I’m talking in your language to you but you sound like you're talking in mine to me.” He said it with such sincerity that Tikkis stopped.
“This true?” Tikkis asked skeptically.
“Yeah, it is. I just can't do it for very long right now so I only have time to introduce myself tonight. What’s your name? You’ll know it's real when I know your name tomorrow.” The man looked very excited so Tikkis decided to play along with his strange dream.
He reached out his hand to the man who he only just noticed was the same height as him. “Tikkis. My name is Tikkis.”
“Nice to meet you Tikkis,” James said while shaking his hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” As he said that, his substance became black smoke and dissolved into nothing.
“Huh. Strange dream.” Tikkis said before he went back to trying to romance a dragon.