Me and Rob stayed a few more days at that camp while he taught me a few more things like what time of day would be best, what kind of bait would work with what fish, things like that.
“It’s time for me to head back to base James, I’ve been awhile for far too long and by now my pile of paperwork is probably sky high. I think it would be best if you came with me.”
I felt a pang of fear rise in my heart and quickly shook my head. “I can’t go with you to HQ, it’d be like throwing a piece of prime steak into a cage full of wild dogs!” I yelled as images of Alex’s body resurfaced and Kelly’s sobs echoed in my ear. I caused that, I was the reason she lost her husband…
Rob put his hand on my shoulder and shook. “I know what your thinking James. It’s not your fault, you didn’t know that was going to happen. I promise that I will protect you, ok? I will have you work under me on paper but you can just roam free unless I have a mission for you. You will get paid and have my name to secure your protection, there will also be others like you that I’ve taken under my wing so you won’t have to go down this road alone.”
Millions of thoughts raced through my head as I tried to figure out the pros and cons of this. It would be bad to see Jack and his group… I am afraid of them lashing out, of killing me… But I’m also afraid of how I will react, The anger I felt ate up the sadness and now I would like nothing more than to feed them to Shadow.
Again I was shaken by Rob. “Don’t think like that either boy. I already called dibs on that group. Now pack up and let’s go.”
I raised my head to look at him and argue that I wanted to seek revenge for Alex, but the words caught in my throat as I stared into portals of pure anger that were his eyes. I could feel the hatred for the ones that took away his friend almost piercing its way into my core.
“O… Okay.” I barely muttered and he let me go before turning to pack up his stuff.
Not another word was spoken for hours after that as we packed everything and started making our way back to civilization. It took a few days of travel that was as peaceful as could be since Rob was leaking his aura outwards and scared off any would be predators. It was hard for me and my pets to breathe some of the time as he would let it go for a split second before reeling it back in before coughing in embarrassment. But still thanks to that we didn’t have to fight and before long we were finally back at the first city. I never did get the name of this place… But ah well not important to me right now.
“This way James HQ is over here, I’ll drop you off at the front desk and have you start signing the paperwork right away while I go on ahead to my office, they will bring you to me when you’re done.” Rob said as we made our way along a big open road through the middle of the town, It was like what you would expect from a farmers market, large open area with stalls of different types lining the sides and someone yelling at the top of their lungs trying to draw up business. I heard some yelling about deals on Cutter skewers and some screaming about Kweh Milkshakes made from 100% real Kweh milk.
There were others that were selling armors and weapons and some did look quite nice but right now wasn’t really the time to go shopping. Rhonda and Shadow were drooling at the smells of food but I kept them just barely reigned in.
After a few minutes we were at the entrance to the HQ that was huge!!! It was built out of solid white stone and looked almost like a fortress. But just outside was a group of people that I thought looked familiar? It was the supposedly training group for newbie Gifted to learn how to survive on this side of the portals. What were their names again??
Ugh, that’s right…. This was the asshole group that looked down on me because I was weak. Oh great, they spotted us.
“Well well well, look who we have here class. It’s the little E rank Tamer Jack.” Said the teacher that I think was named Bill?
“Oh, hey it’s the teacher of the nobles Jill right?” I said with a smile as I waved at them.
“It’s Bill you little shit!”
“Well, it’s James you Pompous asshole!”
I felt a wave of pressure from Bill as he tried to lunge at me with a fist raised but was suddenly stopped as Rob raised a hand and caught it like he was catching a leaf falling from a tree.
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“Who the hell!? Where did you come from you motherfu…..” Bill yelled but soon went pale as he realized just who he screamed at.
“Ah, looks like your finally recognized me Instructor Bill Roderick. It seems that you have become a bit, overzealous, while greeting my new disciple I see. I didn’t know we allowed this sort of behavior from our employees.” Rob said with a look of feigned disappointment.
“Uh, uh, Master Rob, sir, I-I-I was just saying hi to James here in our own special way. Right James my boy?” Bill smiled at me as if to say follow along with my lie but hell no AHAHA.
“Nah, I’d rather step in shit and smear it than be associated with you. Master, I believe we had some pressing issues to deal with? Instructor Bill should be in the middle of his lessons if I’m not mistaken.”
Rob just smiled at me before we walked inside and left a group of noble asshats with a look of disbelief covering their faces and an instructor with a red face and steam escaping from his ears.
“James Frough, I will get you for this.” Bill whispered.
---
Inside the building I was chuckling as I gave that bastard a little comeuppance for treating me like dirt last time.
“He will get your for that, you know that right? You did that all to yourself.” Rob said as he smiled at me.
“Yea I know. But man it was worth it to see that assholes face like that.”
“Sure, just don’t come crying to me when it happens. Here we are, Miss?” Rob spoke to a desk clerk who had her back to us. Turned out that it was the clerk that helped me get registered!
“Ah Mister Rob how are you? Oh and who is this? James? OMG I heard what happened out at Alex’s farm are you ok! Hector and Jasmine have been worried sick about you! You had better go home as soon as possible young man!” She spoke so fast that I was barely keeping up with the flurry of words being said like a freaking minigun!
“Missy? MISSY!” Rob yelled and that thankfully got her attention as she apologized and asked why we were here.
“I need you to get out the paperwork for James to start working as part of my department. He will be working for me for the foreseeable future.”
Missy looked at Rob with wide eyes as she spoke. “Does that mean James here is a…” Rob nodded and Missy looked at me with pity and even a small tear rolled down her cheek.
“Right away sir. James come with me.” I said goodbye to Rob and followed Missy to a back room, she sounded sad as she handed me a few pieces of paperwork to fill out and explained a few of the rules to follow as an HQ employee.
“I’m so sorry James… I never would have wished this on you.” She said after she took back the paperwork and led me to Robs office. I wanted to ask her what she meant but Rob immediately shooed her away.
“Don’t worry about that boy, if you get strong enough than you’ll never have to worry about it. Now before we begin it is important that you go back home to Hector and Jasmine, because this might be the last time you can go back to earth for a while…”
“What! What do you mean!”
“I mean that as an Avatar, your body will be growing to house the Deity of growths power, and do you think that Earth, with how little magic power is flowing on its surface even after 10 years of being subjected to the portals, can sustain someone who has the body fit for a god? I haven’t been on Earth for 2 years because I couldn’t even breathe that rotten air, it might be a little better now, but it is by no means enough for the likes of you and me as it is right now. You should have enough time to go home and say goodbye to your family, it’s not forever since they can come to this side, but you can’t return through the portal to Earth after this.”
He handed me a cube that upon touching my palm immediately filled me with energy. I looked at him with confusion but he held his hand up before I could speak.
“This will lessen the effects of being in a lower world, it won’t negate the feeling of running out of air entirely as even I’m not that powerful, but it can give you some relief for at least a few hours. However, you need to be back on this side before the power I put into that cube runs out got it?”
“Why? What happens if I don’t get here in that time?”
“You seen the fish we caught as they left the water? That will be you the very second this thing runs out of energy. Now be on your way and I’ll see you back here when you are done, I have a few others that I would like you to meet before the day is over.” He opened the door to see me out and there was someone that led me down a nearby elevator that opened up into a giant room with only a giant gate looking circle inside.
“Is this?” I asked as I stared at this monumental structure that looked like something out of a sci-fi show.
“Yes, this is a portal that can lead to anywhere we have the coordinates of it is used only by the employees of HQ and allows travel across the multiple worlds that we have set up bases on. For now Sir Rob has allowed you access to go back home and say goodbye to your family while your employee paperwork is being finished. We have notified your family and they should be waiting in a secure area outside of the public eye.”
I nodded since I couldn’t think of anything to say at the moment and instead just walked up to the portal and stood at the entrance, there wasn’t the blue liquid filling it at the moment but soon I heard over a intercom as some kind of process was taking place, The gate was now slowly starting to spin and by the second it was getting faster as multiple unknown symbols started to light up around the edges. In the center was a small dot that slowly expanded until that familiar liquid filled up my vision.
“Portal is now ready for use Mr. Frough, please proceed and good luck.” The voice of the person who brought me hear rang out over the intercom and with a deep breath I took what could very well be my last step back to Earth.