“Xavier Lenton, for the crimes of forgery, money laundering, and embezzlement this court hereby finds you guilty and sentences you to life in prison.
May you reflect on the hundreds of lives you’ve destroyed.”
Half a year later my boss was found spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in a casino in Vegas, far more than he had any right to have. He was promptly arrested and questioned, where he immediately spilled everything, including his plot to frame one of his no-name employees.
I was freed given a short apology and pushed back into the world that didn’t want me anymore, I was a pariah hated by millions, and my fucking court case was on national television! No one even said my name as I was released of all charges like it never happened!
Why am I thinking about this?
This is one of the things I wanted to forget! I almost had with all the shit that’s happened lately but now I’m stuck here thinking about that fat bald bastard and how he stole my fucking life!
Wait, why does my chest hurt?
I look down and see a bright pink flower, then I hear the scream.
Oh, right, what did he say again?
Pain, healing, fix, risk, danger.
I accepted the dagger in his hands.
And then, Ah right he stabbed me like I asked him to.
The flower darkens to a bright cherry red.
I can feel my toes again.
It’s blood red now.
I stand the blanket exposing me but I don’t care, despite the scream turning to a squeak of some sort.
With all the courage I can muster I grip the stem embedded only an inch from my heart.
And Pull.
Blood flows for only a second before the last of the flower leaves me a small scar the only sign I’ve ever been stabbed. I chuckle, my hands turn to fists, and then I laugh. As I used to with Nina, I walk to the corner of the room where a set of clothes has been awaiting me for months.
God, it feels good to move again you never appreciate things until you lose them I guess.
Turning to the pair of shell-shocked onlookers I bow and in my best, whatever their language is, I introduce myself.
“I am Xavier.”
That was so much harder than it should’ve been x doesn’t translate well at all.
—{}{}{}{}{}—
I'm a little concerned again as I enter the main room of the house, it’s a picture-perfect living room with a cozy cabin theme, specifically a hunting cabin. Off to the side is a decent if simple kitchen, no electronics but I expected that with all the lanterns, and right above the kitchen is a skull twice my height. Just the skull.
I'm not on earth anymore am I, I whisper as I glance at the hundreds of monsters surrounding me, their still eyes just as alive as they once were. I sit on a luxurious couch facing a fireplace in one corner above yet another monster, this one still holding the axe that killed it firmly in its skull. Some have jaws that remind me of sharks, hundreds of pointed tips in perfect lines just waiting to tear away flesh.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I feel sick.
They follow me and stare as all my energy leaves me and I’m left on the couch unwilling to look anywhere but the fireplace. They used magic on me hadn't they, I wanted to feign ignorance with dim lights and simple effects but that flower and now this? This can’t be explained by smoke and mirrors. Oh sure one or two could easily be a trick of some kind but everything up to this point?
I absolutely want this to be a prank between a vfx master, a legendary illusionist, and the world's greatest acupuncture master but I’m more skeptical of that than the magic world idea.
I died.
That’s what this is isn’t it, one of those anime plots right?
I can hardly stand but slowly I manage to shuffle back to my room all the while ignoring the twin stares of my friendly neighborhood magicians.
—{}{}{}{}{}—
Arvi.
I quietly pronounce his name again and again as he walks defeated back to bed all the energy of his newfound freedom fading as soon as he’s seen the lounge. It’s tacky but I doubt it’s the cause for his emotional 180, I think in his excitement he forgot what put him in that state and only now is he realizing it. The good news lies in his gaze, his eyes have cleared just a bit and I can tell he’s just a little better, not fixed but closer.
Anna the poor thing had to walk in at the worst possible moment watching what could best be described as a mercy killing. She's kind but sometimes I wonder if I raised her to be too kind she’s been sheltered her whole life behind the safety our village provides. We aren’t normal. I've tried to tell her that and with the work me, Oliver, and her mother have done to this place I doubt any other village could compare. No, compared to those starving masses we might as well be a fully-fledged city by now all we’d need is a proper guard for the walls and we’d be set for the next few years.
Xavier, I think it’s pronounced, is gone leaving the room to me and Anna, now’s a better time than any I suppose, I gesture to the couch and she sits her face still blanketed by shock.
“You all right honey?”
She silently nods.
“Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something that’s been on my mind, and with what just happened I’m having some concerns, brought to my mind.
Namely how little of the world you’ve seen.”
She turns to me a rebuttal forming as her brow tightens and her eyes harden but I stop her with a finger.
“Don’t, you know how bad it is out there but you don’t actually know about any of it yet.
The worst you’ve seen is the occasional accident or two and that’s a very poor representation of the lands we inhabit.”
“But I’ve helped you hunt before!”
“Yes you’ve helped me hunt animals, did you know your mother put up wards to stop monsters?
Like the ones the cities use, not as strong but for this little village so close to Falden’s walls we’ll not see a monster in our lifetime.”
“You can’t make me go, not with Emma still so young!
Not to mention who would help with my share of the farms, I’m needed here! Not in one of those pretentious colleges!”
“You need to see the world.”
“The colleges that got mom killed.”
I flinch.
Her mother still haunts me, I know I could’ve done more but damn it that was her passion! She died to save the world in whatever little way she could so that she wouldn’t have to watch her little girls grow up so scared of the dark. But I can’t tell Anna that her mother killed herself all to protect her, it would break her.
I sigh.
“That man, Xavier, he’s a perfect candidate for the live study program, I want you to train him as best as you can.”
“W-what?”
“On your next birthday, I’m sending you to the college, if he’s with you it won’t be as bad, I know we don’t know him that well but I also know you’re fond of him.”
She turns trying to hide a blush.
Idiotic awestruck youth, she’s enamored with the first new face she’s seen in years and thinks it’s love. Almost makes me smile if I didn’t want to strangle that man right now, it’s not his fault but still, he’s a bastard.