The fastest way to travel was in a straight line, but Anna had made a few concessions along the way.

The city officials had frowned upon her early attempts at simplifying transit, and had insisted they "had enough streets already". Fools.

The academy was a different matter entirely. Privately owned, and funded, they could do with a few extra ventilation holes.

Anna had already warmed the thermal lance in anticipation, but was disappointed to find the headmistress waiting for her outside the school.

"Heyyyyy!"

"Biiitttchhh", Anna charged into her old friend and attempted to knock her to the floor.

Unsuccessfully. The headmistress remained upright.

"Anna, dearest, please? and put down the lance. So unsightly."

"Fine. I'm still angry. I said ..." Anna muttered.

"I know I know. No spirits. Besides, You fixed her, right? Better than I could,"

"Whatever, but you could have done it.", Maybe without preserving the beauty's looks, but the headmistress was more than capable.

"Look, Anna. What if I told you that all of the spirit problems have been, well, getting easier."

"I'd say, .... Fuck. Wait?"

"Yep. Not just here, but all across the surrounding area—but it is localised."

"Fuck fuck fuck."

"Thought you might say that."

Anna reached into the emergency compartment of her bag and retrieved a cigarette. The cat leaped after her, trying to snatch it from her hand, then her mouth.

"No. No Kitty. Nooooo."

He only gave up once it was lit.

"Wow, that bad?" she took a seat next to Anna, now slowly puffing away.

"No-one died. A golden apple and no-one died. She didn't have to eat anyone, either. Means a big one's coming. Not a boon. A sprite. I can feel it."

"That’s why I sent her your way."

"I knew there was something up. That wasn't your favour, was it?"

"Nope. That was me saving time. You believe me now, huh?"

"Fucker", she stubbed out the cigarette into the neatly mown lawn, taking extra care to spread the ash as wide as possible.

She was annoyingly right. Anna would have never believed without seeing it. A beauty spirit that tame could have been resold for, well, a considerable amount.

When you're that beautiful you can ask people to wear name-tags. When you're that beautiful, other people's names don't matter.

You don't really suffer from ordinary problems, although you still have problems. Like a sprite arriving.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Unlike a spirit, a sprite had sentience, as well as power. Someone had made a powerful wish and a heavy price would have to be paid.

Again.

Anna fumbled in her bag, and pulled out a long metal tube fastened to a leather harness. She strapped it to her neck, carefully adjusted it—and was stopped from activating it by her friend.

"I come back, it's only temporary death." Anna protested.

"But... the gardens... the mess."

"Oh come on, I stopped using that method a while back. This is clean." Anna announced and punched herself in the neck, falling backwards onto the ground.

Her friend stood watch over her now lifeless corpse. A few seconds passed before the device reset, pushed out of her body and clicked into a safe position. Anna gasped for air a few times, then promptly took the device off, inspected it for damage, then packed it away.

"That’s, that's new."

"Disconnects the soul from the body. Microdose. I have about four uses left," implying, ‘I did it the nice and clean way for you’. Anna moved on.

"I spoke to Death, and well, they say that there's good, and there's bad news"

"I want the Bad Ne..."

"The Good news is that it isn't a sprite. The ambient energy has been waning because it's been gathered somewhere else. The spirits haven't been as cruel because it's been harder to reach through the void."

The first part wasn't actually good news. The second part wasn't good news either.

"Something is trying to come through the void?"

"Yeah. I lied. There's bad news, and worse news. Something already came through."

"What."

"A titan has just hatched," Anna explained, "One of the old divines. Um."

"Anna, we don't all have the ear of a God."

Anna held back a correction.

"Anna, yes, yes I know, not a God, a Divine, come on," she'd seen Anna's frown and corrected herself, "What's a titan?"

"Ugh. Look, death isn't some kinda lecturer with course notes, it's, they're..."

"What?"

"I can only bring back so much information, ok?"

"Fine."

"Look, the gods and divines as we know them won't be around forever, and haven't been around forever. They came second, third? Maybe. Even death, well, they hint that someone else used to have their job. They hint that the old guy was, um, a little evil."

"... and that's what's been reborn?"

"Not yet. Ugh." Anna grumbled.

"Anna, can you please, just, spit it out,"

Her head was always a little giddy after a temporary death.

"Something bad, really bad, has been sealed away with the blood of a titan. The last titan. There shouldn't be any more, but…” Anna’s voice trailed off.

"One just got born, huh."

"Yeah. Death hinted that it had happened before. Another hint that the titan wouldn't be an issue. Then an unambiguous warning, that we had to find him first. You hear me? Unambiguous."

Anna didn't have a contract with death, but had encountered them enough times that they'd become social calls rather than nerve-racking adventures. Death had been surprisingly friendly, patient too. Even so, Death didn't like to spill all of the details.

This time, Death had repeated the warning twice.

"If something were to hatch, well, the real problem will be who finds it first. What they might have planned? Who knows." Anna sighed.

It was serious.

"That big bad thing, sealed away by the ancient gods, knows the titan has hatched too." Anna explained.

"Fuck", her friend paused, "Hey, is that another cigarette?"

"No. And No” Anna waved it around. “This is my last not-a-cigarette."

"What the hell is it?"

Anna coughed, "Well, it's a whole packet's worth. I condensed it into one. Saves time."

"Gimmie."

The earlier scene repeated, but this time it was her friend desperately trying to grab it from her mouth, rather than a cat.

"Is that it? No clues?"

"One big one. It hatched. Oh, and that it wasn't the first titan," Anna smirked, "We're looking for a powerful egg. Ugh, I probably owe em again."

"What? How can you owe death? I mean, doesn't death get your soul anyway?"

"Oh, a favour. See, I'm a mortal, I can't be learning things from gods, not without a cost, not without breaking the rules, but, if I happened to stumble onto some undead that happened to need purging, or say a lost soul, or a tear in the void, or prevent the assassination of the prince, something like that."

Anna had done a number of small favours over the last few years.

"Anyway, if I happened to do something like that, for no reason, well, I'd find all of this out." Anna explained.

"If another God checks in, there's a backstory." her friend corrected her.

"That or I just happen to be told things I'll find out myself. Told things a few days early by an impatient god, a god who wants to trick me into free work. Like a certain head teacher I know."

Anna stubbed out the second cigarette.

"I thought you said death wasn't a God. How many cigarettes are in that? There's so much ash."

"I don't pronounce it with a capital-G. The cigarette? A pack? So like, 100?"

"That'll kill you."

"I know." Anna rolled her eyes, "This one is for the comedown."