The wolf lunged at me, and I dodged out of the way, although it managed to turn and catch me with its vicious claws.
I cried out, more out of surprise than pain. I think adrenaline had temporarily blocked that sense as I pivoted on my heel.
It gnashed its teeth at me, but Bruiser had a hold of its tail and pulled it back out of range so it couldn’t take a chunk out of me.
“Sleep!” I shouted, swishing my hand towards it, but it pulled away, baring its large, yellow teeth at me and I feared getting too close. This had been so much easier with the dire-rats.
Bruiser clamped his knees around the wolf’s haunches and gripped it behind its skull with both hands.
“Try again.”
Confident that he had it secure, I reached forward and slapped it right on its furry skull. “Sleep!”
The wolf slumped over. I didn’t waste time, stabbing it right through its eye and into its brain.
Breathing heavily, I fell to my knees with exhaustion. Bruiser rummaged in my bag and retrieved some slime, which I poured on my shredded skin. It knitted itself back together without a trace, but I still felt like I wanted to cry.
“You did well,” Bruiser said, laying a hand on my head between my horns.
“I hate this,” I panted. “I just want a nice little shop. No dire-wolves, no necromancers. Is that too much to ask?”
He tweaked one of my horns. “It gives you something to fight for.”
I glared at him, trying to communicate my extreme displeasure at the idea of even having to fight for anything in the first place. He waited for me while I sang over my shredded skin.
“Stupid wolf, stupid bear,
I really don’t want to be here,
Silly song, heal my skin,
So I can go back to the inn…”
When I finished, he pulled his hefty carry bag in front of him and rummaged around in it, pulling out a perfect cinnamon roll and handing it over to me. “Here, that should replenish your health and mana. We’ll head back when you’re done.”
“How is this still so perfect?” I gasped, gratefully accepting the roll and taking a bite into it. The butter was still as gooey and fresh as the one I’d eaten earlier that afternoon.
“They’re always like that,” Bruiser shrugged.
I swallowed my mouthful. “It’s just, I’d expect it to get squashed in your bag. Food still goes off in this world, right? You said Kira’s stew smelled like spoiled meat that time.”
“That’s because she would be making it with spoiled meat. Harvested from zombie corpses, not from the farms.”
I suddenly lost my appetite, letting the roll fall to my lap. “She what now?”
Bruiser shrugged. “That’s why I don’t want to eat it. You get a 2% chance of getting poisoned.”
“From zombie flesh? I’d expect it to be a lot worse,” I said, shaking my head. “And I’d thought hairs in my food were the worst thing I had to worry about.”
There were so many weird things about the rules of this world that the longevity of food wasn’t ridiculously surprising. In games like Stardew Valley, you could store food in fridges or chests indefinitely. Fresh food would stay fresh, and I supposed spoiled food would stay spoiled.
No wonder the stew was so cheap.
“You know, there’s no reason we have to stay at Kira’s,” Bruiser said thoughtfully. “We could leave for the university today if you like.”
I gave him a long stare.
“But Brick’s coming back for me.” I didn’t want to imagine how Brick would feel after fetching his gold to make a home with me, only to find I’d gone off adventuring with another guy. It was too horrible.
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“We could leave a message with Kira, so he’d know where to find you. You really do need to start levelling up so you can defend yourself. We don’t know how long you have until you’re found, or what the threat will be when it happens.”
I sighed and twisted the toe of my boot in the soft dirt. His advice felt right, but the decision felt all wrong.
“You really feel strongly for him, don’t you?”
I looked up at Bruiser in confusion. “Of course I do. I love him.”
He sighed and picked up a stick, using it to draw some lines in the dirt.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A map,” he answered. “We’re here on the X, the mountain range is up there, the shore is to the south, and these are the two rivers. The university is there in the Citadel on the left and that’s Necromancer Heights there on the right.”
I looked at his scratchy lines, taking a moment to orient myself. I wasn’t particularly skilled at navigating, but this was a simple enough one to follow.
Bruiser's Map [https://imgur.com/a/sW5fmwg]
A shiver ran down my spine as I thought about the Necromancer Heights. I had no intention of going anywhere near them after Brick and Lily’s warnings, and I was glad to see that the university was in the complete other direction.
“What are those?” I asked, pointing to the lines he’d drawn over the ridges.
“Bridges. The northern one into necromancer territory was destroyed during the war. I can still cross the river up there in my bear form, but it’s tricky. Brick and Bastion wouldn’t try it. And there is a lake to the north by a gnomish village, but it is more trouble than it’s worth to deal with them. They would be using the southern bridge. We could go south and meet them. It’ll take us longer than if we headed to the university straight away, but you’ll be getting more experience and levelling up along the way and at a much faster rate than if we stayed at Kira’s and just kept doing the easy repetitive jobs. I know a bit about harvesting ingredients too, so I can get you started on that skill, although with your class I’m sure you’ll surpass me before long. And we can meet up with Brick and Bastion at the bridge. I’m not sure where their safe house is, but they’ll have to cross that bridge again, so we’ll be sure to find them.”
I sat and listened, watching the tense lines around his eyes as he tried to convince me. Although his intelligence was 15/20, his charisma was only 3/10 and I could see it was straining for him. Despite my low intelligence stat, I could tell it wasn’t his only reason. I felt a gnawing feeling in my heart, the same feeling that seemed to rise up whenever I thought about the attraction between us. An attraction that was doomed to fail unless I decided to embrace the polyamorous succubus lifestyle. A lifestyle I had decided I didn’t need or want – until I met Bruiser.
“Why do you want to go, really?” I asked softly, placing my hand over his in a gentle plea for honesty. “You know there will be an endless supply of dire-wolves right here for me to practice on. There’s something else you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”
He closed his eyes as though in pain, and when he opened them again, he was staring at my blood-stained boots rather than my face.
“I need to know,” he whispered, his husky voice heavy with emotion. “I need to know if there’s any hope for something between us, and I know that can’t happen until you’ve cleared up how you feel about Brick.”
He looked at me suddenly and the power behind his gaze stole my breath away.
“Since Elise, I’ve never formed a bond with anyone, Emma. I’ve had sex, but it was just sex. I’ve never… I’ve never felt that desire to commit myself again. It’s too painful when you lose them… But you, Emma. You’re changing me, I can feel it. I swear to you, I will stay by your side and help you until the final necromancer is no more than ashes whether or not you choose to love me back. But I want you. I want to be with you. I want to know if my hope is futile.”
My heart pounded in my ears at his declaration. He grasped my trembling hands in his with a fierce strength. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. His nose twitched though, and I knew he could smell my answer even if I couldn’t verbalize it.
“I love you, Emma,” he leaned in and kissed my cheek with a gentleness that contrasted starkly with the strong grip he had on my fingers. His beard brushed my skin, and I felt a jolt through my heart. I wanted nothing more than to grab him and pull him to me, but I felt that conflict in my conscience again screaming out Brick’s name.
“I’ll give you a ride home,” he whispered. “It’ll be easier in my bear form to keep my hands off you, but I’m glad you know how I feel.”
Then he withdrew, and I felt suddenly cold, gasping for breath as I tried to calm my pounding heart. He adjusted the contents of his bag and began stripping his clothing off, folding it and carefully packing it away.
His sudden nudity was doing absolutely nothing to help calm my poor nerves, and I stared at him in bewilderment, trying not to salivate.
“Bruiser…”
“Yes, Emma?” he turned to me and I tried to keep my eyes trained on his face.
“You really wouldn’t mind… sharing me? With Brick?”
“You’re not a possession to share, Emma,” Bruiser answered seriously. “You’re a person to love, and love doesn’t have to be exclusive. I’ve been in a harem before, and I would consider it a great honour to be in yours. You don’t seem to realize just how special you are.”
I shivered and watched him transform. His face widened and hair spread out around his eyes and down to his wet, black nose. The body hair on his torso, arms and legs thickened and became lush fur. The carry bag that had hung loosely on his shoulders as a man, fitted snugly around his bear body.
He plodded over to me and tilted his head towards my sword. I picked it up and fitted it back onto my belt, then gave a yelp as he stuck his head between my legs and lifted me up.
“Argh!” I gasped, sliding down his back and grasping onto the fur around his shoulders. “Bruiser! Give a girl some warning next time!”
He let out a guttural, huffing grunt that sounded suspiciously like he was laughing at me.