Chapter 20
Fun & games
“Sooooo, do we have something to kill time with until we reach Masdak?” staring at the nearly endless white ceiling, over the past year, the ship evolved into something akin to a small city, it was unbelievable seeing that Panthy’s interior is much bigger than the dragon itself, and everything was connected with some weird portal shenanigans.
“Come, Adam, let me show you my quarters” Mahaar excited voice shot out of the bunch.
Each of my companions now had his/her own wing, remodeled specifically to accommodate any of their needs, Mahaar’s was a jungle themed room the size of a friggin stadium, with several weird shaped plants the colors of green and blue. I have no idea how Pantharax and Cordi did it, but as long as Mahaar was happy, I had no right to dig further into the matter.
About a quarter of the room was turned into a gym-like environment with all kinds of weights and machines in front of a huge mirror. It seems that Cordi introduced him to human weightlifting, something the Grokati race was strongly alien to, considering their naturally bulging muscular bodies.
Mahaar took me around for a tour, showing me how the machines worked while holding two gigantic dumbbells that Cordi didn’t even bother to print a number on.
“This is where I usually come and strengthen myself. And I have to say, the result is very convenient” He proudly huffed as he flexed his biceps like a professional bodybuilder.
“I noticed that you bulked a bit too, so that’s why, it’s pretty nice Mahaar, but you sure this is necessary? I mean, you are already practically a mountain of muscles” I jokingly teased the giant, only to find his brows furrow.
Did I say something offensive? He shouldn’t be bothered with a lame joke like that
“It is necessary Adam, for what is to come. By Gola, no mercy shall be shown to the filthy murderer” his frown deepened as his green eyes went blank.
“I-I’m sorry Mahaar, we’re gonna sort this ou- UGH!”
“ADAM!”
Pain soared into my left leg, making me drop down on my knees in pain.
“ADAM ARE YOU ALRI-, GOLA’S MERCY, WHAT IS THAT?!”
My leg started morphing and twisting, bones cracking and flesh opening and closing, showing a wide spectrum of skin colors rapidly changing shapes.
“C-Cordi” words came out weakly amidst the cries of pain, the same pain I felt while my legs were first forming.
“Your body is trying to mutate on its own, please Adam, tell her to allow me in”
“AAAHHHHHAAHHGHHH” I felt my right leg doing the same, followed by my entire body, every DNA inside me started a battle for dominance over my flesh and bones, I couldn’t even reply as the pain became unbearable to the point I felt my conscious fading.
I tried to fight it, gritted by falling teeth as it was replaced by another set, ignoring the muffled shouts of Mahaar whom I found difficult to look it as my eyes rapidly changed as well, but in the end, I lost.
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I found myself standing once more in the meadow by the ocean, behind me was the wooden shack, beside me was the little girl and before me, was an endless stream of every single animal, bird, insect, and other things I didn’t even comprehend what it was, the ocean was boiling with movement as well.
“W-what is that?” my eyes bulged at the sight, but she spoke, bringing my dropped jaw back into its original place.
“That… is you, my love,” she said as she held my shaking hand.
“Me?”
“Yes Adam, they are all here to welcome you, to embrace you, to coronate you, to submit to yo-”
“LORD PRIMUS”
“Huh?” I turned my head to the voice behind, coming out from the wooden house, only to find a red-haired girl not older than Eve, carrying two swaddles and running at us with a speed not fitting a kid.
She stopped with a small dusty trail behind her, I took a closer look at the strange girl and a little gasp escaped my throat.
“Ryola?”
The girl cocked her small head, her three eyebrows tilting up.
“Lord, it’s me Artemis” She grinned as she raised her small arms, showing me the contents of the swaddles as she saw me looking curiously at the flailing arms coming out of the huge one, the other one was of a normal size and not a whisper coming out of it.
“This is Asura, he cries all the time” I looked at the baby wetting the entire swaddle with tears as she handed it to me, a familiar feeling I had before engulfed me as I looked at it, the baby met my eyes and stopped crying, his golden eyes full of joy as his mouth curled up and started giggling.
I played with him for a few second until its weight made me nearly drop it, the baby was almost as big as the girl herself.
“And this one is Tian Gong, as u can see, he Arg-, TIAN GONG, GROSSSS” the baby barfed on her face, looking at her like she was some kind of trash, it made me chuckle inside
Is a baby even capable of doing that?
“here you go my Lord” she handed the other baby as she started wiping her face with Asura’s swaddle, I looked closely at the blue baby who turned his eyes to me, making me flinch for a bit, he was more like a thug than a baby, yet the feeling that I did this before washed over me once more, and in an instant, he smiled”
“What?” Both the little girl’s jaws dropped, making me give them a confused look.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“he never did that before” answered Eve, “the bastard never smiled even once…” she exclaimed with a vein popping over her forehead.
I tickled the baby’s belly and it started giggling loudly, increasing the shocked expression on the girls faces.
“Ok, we’ll head inside now, I’m hungry,” the girl called Artemis said as her stomach grumbled “I’m so happy you decided to visit us, Lord Primus”
I got on my knee and hugged all the three of them, I could feel the little girl’s warm tears on my shoulder, she was really happy to see me.
She fixed the babies positions on her arms and turned to leave into the house, a small black bow strapped on her back.
I went back to face the throngs of animals before me in this lucid dream state, my eyes same as the girl holding my hand.
“Shall we?” I calmly asked as the animals started to move like an avalanche towards us.
“Yes, my love” she giggled as we charged as well back at them.
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“Ugh!” Groggily I opened my eyes, remembering what I felt before I lose consciousness, and unexplainable feeling I had when I and Eve met out with the animals.
I checked my body from head to toe before a sigh of relief left my mouth, everything was normal once again, I’ve not only stabilized but also gained something extremely convenient as well.
Leaving the ball of goo after a quick clean up form the tongues of affection. I headed out to the main bridge once again.
“Guys, what the fuck? Is that?”
“ADAM, YOU’RE BACK”
*BOOM*
“ACK! RYOLA YOU CHEATER”
I let out an uncontrollable laugh as I saw Mahaar and Ryola arm wrestling, and by the looks of it, she won.
“Ahahaha, so the brute finally lost to her as well” an evil laugh echoed throughout the air as Saido descended from air, looking at the Grokati shaking his wrist “Good job Ryola, you finally won”
What the fuck? So that’s how she matched Mahaar
The smiling Ryola, a rare sight to see, stood up and gave me a slight bow, her weapon unwrapping from her wrist.
“So, you can use it like that as well?” I tiled my head in question, she just used the weapon as some kind of an exoskeleton to support her small hand, making her able to gold grips with Mahaar gigantic fists.
“Yes,” she shyly whispered, before a laugh left us all, including the sound of an old man of a bow, who could now speak freely as well.
“Saido, why aren’t you contesting with them,” I asked the Half Noran as I pointed at the small platform where they held the contest.
“…”
“Saido?”
“Last time, she broke my arm, I had to spend two hours in that filthy room you just came from”
“BUAHAHAHAHA, THE MIGHTY CONTROLLER COULDN’T EVEN BEAT A WOMAN, BUAHAHAHA” Roared Mahaar as he started laughing, pointing his index at the floating magician.
“Laugh as much as you want, you still can’t beat it, the undisputed champion” The mage countered with a twisted, mocking grin, pointing nowhere in particular, making the giant drop his head in frustration.
“Someone care to explain guys?” I was curious who’s that champion Saido spoke about, the power levels of the contest were pretty much the same as one expects, Mahaar was strongest physically, followed by Ryola then Saido, then who-”
“This guy over there!” The blue magician pointed his chin at the ground, and a large pillar emerged, it started twisting and turning until it too the shape of an arm.
“P-Pantharax?” the muffled words leaped out of my lips in shock.
“Yes, do you want to try?” The AI teasingly asked, her voice echoing throughout the hall.
“Cordi?”
“Yes, Adam?”
“…”
“Guess I have to show you something as well” I don’t know how my face was, but from the expression of my companions, I probably was making a very nefarious face.
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In front of a stone castle surrounded by white mountains, a large figure covered from head to toe with a fur coat stood before a door thrice his size and slowly knocked.
“What do you want?”
“Yes, what do u want?”
“You’re not welcomed here”
“Yes, not after what you did, not welcomed here”
“Hey, don’t copy me White”
“You’re the one who’s copying me, Black”
“yes yes yes whatever. YOU, leave, you have no place here”
“…”
“You still here?”
“You still here?”
“…”
Two childlike voices answered the figure in fur from behind the door, their voices were more like echoes than actual voices.
“Are You both done arguing?” the figure calmly spoke.
“Yes, we are done”
“No we aren’t”
“yes we are”
“NO”
“YES”
“NO”
“YES”
“YES”
“NO”
“Hahaha, got you, stupid Black”
“Who’s you’re calling stupid? You are the stupid one, White”
*BOOOOM*
“OPEN THE DOOR” the figure outside roared in frustration, he has been here before, several times in fact, but this time he seemed impatient, even at the minus two hundred and fifty degrees weather that even micro-organisms couldn’t even come close.
“Nope, no doors will open for you,” both children said simultaneously, their voice is getting edgier.
“Nozzy, open the door” The figure went back to his calm dementor.
“Hey he doesn’t like to be called that”
“yea, don’t call him that, he will kill you for it”
“Don’t even call him that name”
“yea, don’t, don’t”
“Nozzy, it’s about Master” The figure spoke once more, a hint of defiance in his voice.
And the voices behind the door completely stopped, not even the wind could be heard.
*Crack*
*Crack, Crack, whoosh*
After the strange sounds that could be only heard in butchery shops, the door bursted open, revealing a large hallway, the figure entered and the door closed as fast as it opened.
The man kept walking for a while, leaving a trail of bits and pieces of icicles that formed on the coat, he walked for what seemed to be hours, until he finally reached an iron door with some kind of demon face engraved on it, and a large dark hole where the mouth should be.
The man sighed as he rolled up his sleeves and shoved his long arm in the hold, making the iron demon face close its mouth.
The man didn’t even wince as he pulled a bloody arm.
Damned Nozzy, did you have to take that much?
The door slowly opened with a loud creak, revealing a long red carpet in the middle of a hall lit by hundreds of chandeliers, and at the end of a hall, sat a majestic-looking man on throne-like platform with his head resting on his fist, a pair of deep red eyes staring at the figure.
“If you need something to eat, there’s no food” the man on the throne moved his mouth, his voice as deep as the universe, he didn’t give the other man a chance and added “Did you meet him?” a strange gleam flared through his eyes, “never mind, your blood spilled everything, same as your wiggling tail”.
“You seem unhappy, Nozzy”
“I am unhappy, with you” The man snorted “Why did you lie to him?”
The man dropped his head in shame “I-I, Nozzy I on- “
“STOP CALLING ME THAT!”
*WHIRRRRRRRRR*
The entire castle shook as the man flared in anger, he removed his head resting on his hand and stood up, looking down the other man behind him.
“He’s the one who used to call you that” the man under the throne smirked slyly.
“SO HE IS THE ONLY BEING THAT HAD THE RIGHT TO CALL ME THAT” the castle kept shaking, small pieces of stones and derbies giving up its place to gravity, “HE TOLD YOU, HE TOLD US NOT TO INTERFERE, AND YOU DEFIED HIS ORDER AND FED HIM, SOULS! YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN OBSESSIVE ABOUT HIM, BUT TO DEFY HIS DIRECT ORDER, SHAME ON YOU, ANUBIS!”
A dog’s whimper came out from the man, followed by what could heard as sobbing.
“Sigh, apologies, I know how much you love him, I know you value even a hair on his body more than your own soul Anubis, but we all are, and we also have to heed his commands, if he told us not to interfere, he must have his reasons” the man stepped down from his throne and walked up to the sobbing man hound.
“there-there, don’t worry, he will be stronger, he will regain his entirety, and he shall rule over everything once again, with us by his side like it always been, just give him his time” the man patted Anubis’s back. “Where is he heading now?” the man asked, now brushing his hand over Anubis’s back.
“M-Masdak”
“Asura’s home I see. You can watch Anubis, like you always did, but I advise you not to interfere with him again, even if his life is at the line, it would be disrespectful to our Lord’s orders”
“Yes Noz-.. I will not interfere again” the Dogman raised his head in determination, perhaps the idea of going back to his Master’s side completely changed his mood.
“Ahhh! What a nice texture, is that Kuroon fur? Such dim, beautiful colors, the contrast is amazing, it must be very comfortable. Ohh the thickness and volume, it must be cozy in there, protecting you from the harsh cold outside” the man hissed with a dreadful smile, speaking as if he was intoxicated by the coat.
“Nozzy, you know climate does not affect m- “
“I WANT IT!”