Between the system assistance kicking in and the normal shock of being stabbed, there wasn’t a thing Adam could do. Martin, on the other hand, could do whatever he wanted.
So he laughed.
Asshole, Adam thought.
The girl, Abby apparently, somehow managed to actually make her smile even brighter. Like a princess who’d just been given her well deserved first unicorn pet.
Then stabbed him in the other leg.
That seemed to finally break Adam out of his stupor.
He drew in a shaky breath, and then belted out, “What the hell are you thinking you little monster!?!?!”
Or tried to, anyways.
Instead, what came out of his mouth was, “Well aren’t you adorable!”
Following that was an attempt at saying, “That hurt! You fucking stabbed me!”
Once again it came out differently. “Be careful running with sharp objects, sweetie. It’s dangerous.”
Adam’s normal voice wasn’t the deeper tones of a man as of yet, but it was definitely lower than that of most women. However, the last few things he had said seemed to reach that higher tone that most people only reserved to talk with adorable puppies, babies, and pixies. The actual words he had said still hadn’t quite reached his brain. As the older man and the little girl stared at him, he reached up to rub his throat.
He coughed into his hand, then cleared his throat. Looking at Martin he said in his normal voice, “I think I’m coming down with something.” He turned to Abby and tried to glare, growling out, “Alright you little goblin, what sort of curse did you put on that blade?”
Or at least that was his intent. What he got in lieu of that was a gentle smile, arms raised to hug the child in front of him, and a warm voice saying, “Don’t you worry, little one. Those little pokes didn’t hurt me at all. Everything will be alright now.”
Martin watched on dumbfounded as Adam gathered the stunned-stupid girl into his arms and gently rubbed her back. There were murmurs of, “There, there. Shhhh. You’re ok.” Abby had originally been as straight and stiff as a sword, but eventually, almost against her own will, she relaxed into the embrace.
After a short time, Adam tucked the girl under one arm and gently guided her back into her chambers. Seeing the disaster zone that it was he frowned briefly, but continued leading the unresisting girl towards her bed. He flipped the covers to one side, then got her tucked in comfortably.
Martin had stayed at the doorway, terrified to cross the threshold for a multitude of reasons. For his part, Adam was shocked into insensibility. He knew it was the system assistance, but even his darkest fears hadn’t prepared him for this.
Stroking her hair, more words escaped his lips. “I know that was rough on you, sweetie. How about you take a little nap, and you’ll feel better in no time. We’ll see if I can’t rustle up some cookies for when you wake. That sound good?” The small girl just nodded in confusion. “Wonderful. Now, you get some rest.” Adam placed a small kiss on her forehead, then rose from the edge of the bed. He brushed the enchantment control panel near the door on his way out, dimming the lights, and left the door cracked a little.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Martin followed silently as Adam walked off down the hallway, humming quietly to himself.
~~~~~~~~~~
Inside Adam’s mindspace an old hippy was laughing himself silly.
Szellem hadn’t intended to return to Adam’s mindspace unless the boy called for him. It would perhaps be more appropriate to say he wasn’t allowed to return unless called for, but that was the genius behind his tricking of the new Apprentice. Certainly he could have helped the boy more when he realized his situation, but Szellem didn’t get out much. Since the system had usurped his afterlife into being its mouthpiece he spent most of his time in a form of limbo. Not that he had any idea how long he had been dead. His only escapes were when he was called to help those he was guiding. It had taken an unknown amount of time to figure out how to better direct the conversations the system forced him to have with those in need so that he could get more time outside of his little prison.
Appearances to the contrary, Szellem actually wanted to help people. However, his desires were unimportant compared to the need for freedom of some sort, and the system’s tyrannical authority. The system had limited intelligence, but very strict rules. He wasn’t allowed to talk about how he ended up as a guide, how he could really help people, or volunteer more information than it allowed without people asking for it. That being said, he could work to redirect people to ask the right questions, or, better yet, call him back over and over again to have him help them talk through their options. In his mind it was a win-win situation, and the best solution he could ever imagine.
Adam was a bit of a special case even by his normal standards though. Someone getting a class with as low of an affinity as he had had was unheard of. System assistance was a horrible thing to do to someone that young, but with his mistake early in their conversation the system’s monitoring algorithms were paying too much attention. As such, instead of helping as he would have liked to, he would have to help the poor boy get through the next few years with his mind intact.
He’d had no idea that activating system assistance without him around would be so difficult. When it had trouble starting up, he had been called to rectify the problem. With the number of complications inherent in using system assistance on someone with only 3.6% affinity, he was now ordered to oversee Adam’s “re-education”. It may have been intended as a punishment, but he saw it as a combination of a work release program, and free entertainment.
After all, watching a thirteen year old boy behaving like the greatest mother who ever lived was comedy gold, and he had no intention of missing it. He couldn’t wait to talk to Adam the next time he returned to his mindscape.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three turns down the hallway, Adam came to an abrupt stop, causing Martin to struggle not to bump into him. When the man had regained his balance and looked at the boy he was shocked to see him gasping for breath as tears rolled down his face. Thinking it was the stabbings that had set him off he quickly tried passing the boy a small potion, but was completely ignored. Stepping closer, he finally heard Adam whispering to himself.
“-ays like that? Gods, years of that? How…?”
Confused, the man just rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder. He didn’t know what else to do.
Sometime later, Adam, with a stubborn look on his face, stood up straight, shaking off his despair again. He was terrified, furious, and determined. He had thought he knew how bad it would be, but the system assistance was worse than he thought it would be. Add in being pissed about letting the world get him down again, even for a moment, after everything he had been through before. He was resolved to get a handle on all of it; the “assistance,” the changes in his situation, and, his most overriding concern, his reactions to all of it. If he couldn’t get control over his emotions he’d never get through the mess he was in.
He looked at Martin. “Show me the boy.” There wasn’t much more he needed to do at the moment, and then he could look for answers to the problems at hand. First, he needed to see the last of his new charges. At least there were only two of them. Surely the boy couldn’t be worse than Abby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in his mindspace Szellem was laughing again. Residing in Adam’s mind let him hear his thoughts loud and clear, so he knew his thoughts as soon as the boy did. He felt for Adam, he really did, but tempting fate like that was a terrible idea.