Doing things when you're angry can often lead to more reasons for you to be angry, not always though. Sometimes life just sucks.. Events unfold including but not limited to: Sarah 'sleeping' through important events. (while John watch's over her, but not in a creepy way) And Hannah confronts more then one situation which gets a little out of hand.

The Martials doorbell is exactly the same as it was when I was a kid..

I don’t know why I’m surprised.
It feels like everything on this little Cul-de-sac has been at a standstill since the moment I left.
The only thing that’s changed is me.

Me, Sarah, Mum and.. I guess.. John.
The people changed.
The place though.. it’s a bit worrying how few things have changed here.

It’s been YEARS since I was last here.
At the very least I would have expected their crappy little doorbell to give up the ghost by now!

“I’m round the back, the gates open.”

My teeth grit down hard at his voice.
It seemed to come from the front door rather than the back of the house though.
Just out of curiosity I placed my hand on the door and gave a little magical push.

Oh honestly!
How lazy can you get!

I stomped around the side of the house and pushed open the little gate along the path to the back of their house.

He pushed a pair of sunglasses up onto his forehead with his cocky smile firmly in place.
We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity.
He’s got to be doing it on purpose..

The Martials have a pool in their back garden.
John apparently decided that this muggy, overcast day would be the perfect time to laze around in the middle of the pool, on a neon orange blow-up sofa chair.. in bright blue swimming trunks decorated with little palm trees.. and what looked like a Piña colada in his hand, little umbrella, pineapple slice and all..

He’s even got a bloody curly straw in it!!

Without breaking eye contact with me he moved his mouth a little to the side and snagged the top of the straw.
My eye twitched at the loud sucking sound, he seems determined to finish the whole drink in one go..

His mouth finally left the straw with a slight pop and he smiled at me again.
“Hello Hannah. How can I help you on this fine summer day?.. want to join me in the pool? The waters lovely.”

My eye twitch extended into an aggravated facial tick for a moment.

His eyes were alight with fun.
“No?.. are you sure? Your missing out..”

My irritation seemed to just amuse him ever more the longer the stilted conversation went on.
“Are you seriously using magic as an intercom so you can answer the door while laying out here?”

His free hand came up and gave me a mocking-salute.

“Naturally, I’m using it to keep this chair from tipping over, keep myself dry and my drinks cool too.”
His face shifted into a manic grin I recognise more from his time as my best friend in high school then my reincarnated stalker.

“Plus, watch this!”
He lifted his glass in the air and waved it around.
A second later he let go of the glass and it stayed floating in the air.

Some clinking sounds from inside the house made me turn and stare as a parade of bottles and fruit made their way out of the back door, listlessly bobbed their way over to him and started pouring themselves out in order.
When the bottles had seemingly finished their jobs the glass sunk in the air and nudged his hand slightly until he grasped it.

Fully aware of my awed look, he rose the glass slightly and took another luxurious suck of his curly straw.

“Your serious..”
His mouth quirked up into a smirk but he didn’t stop sucking the straw until the glass was empty.

“ahhh.. the perfect drink every time.”

He didn’t seem at all phased by the look I was giving him.
“How long did it take you to do all this?.. more importantly WHY did you do it all?”
He shrugged his shoulders, seemingly more interested in the bottom of his empty glass then looking at me for a moment.
“That had to be at least a hundred spells, all working in tandem to pull off your little ‘refill’ trick..”

“One hundred and thirteen actually.. and four rough enchantments. You know I’m no good at those.”
He seemed oddly proud of himself.

My instincts are screaming that he’s up to something.
He’s being far too calm and talkative, not to mention goofy!

The John who’s spent the last few years chasing me, the frantic man who turned me into a girl, he would never waste all this time and magic on something as simple as refilling drinks!

He’d sooner summon the bottles and do it himself.. or more likely mesmerise some normal person into making the drinks for him.
His smile is wrong too, it’s not as sharp as the grin ‘Max’ usually gives off.

Right now he reminds me more of my John, before all the magic got in the way, then he has since the day he showed his true self to me in Dante’s throne room..

“What are you up to John?”
He let his mouth fall open indignantly and placed an offended hand to his chest as if he was shocked by my accusing tone.

Again, the action was too playful, too goofy for the Max I’ve come to know and echoed my old John a lot more.

He seemed to give up his little offended act when it became obvious I wasn’t buying it.
“I got bored.”
He shrugged his shoulders, managing to make the simple gesture look somehow overly awkward.
“There’s only so much you can do around here with no-one to hang out with, you of all people should know that Hannah.”

It took a moment for me to realise what was bothering me most about that last sentence.

“You called me Hannah?.. you never call me Hannah..”
He shrugged again and gave me an impish smile.

“I’ve changed my mind. You’re not Arista.”
His smile dipped a little but didn’t fade completely.
“Simple really, I’d call you Al but that really doesn’t suit you in that body.”
My mouth dropped open in shock.
“I like the hair by the way, I think Arista had an incarnation that braided hers in a similar way a while ago but your hair is a lot better. Have you done something with it? It seems longer..”

I stared at him hard, trying to work out what he was planning.
He’s ALWAYS planning something.

“You don’t change your mind.”
He puffed his cheeks childishly but I wasn’t finished.
“You NEVER change your mind, you’re the GREAT Maxarimus! If your wrong then the world BETTER change before you MAKE it change!”

His lips shifted into a pout and he swirled his curly straw around his glass a little.

“Maybe I don’t want to be ‘the Great Maxarimus’ anymore..”
I stalled in surprise.

He’s got to be joking!
..Tell me he’s joking?

What the HELL has gotten into him?!

“When did you start questioning your own psychotic existence?”
His eyebrow perked up and he grinned with a twinkle in his eye.

“When did YOU become a walking magical time bomb?”
His mouth dipped down slightly and his eyes became suddenly serious.
“By my count you’ve let off a small Sun’s worth of magical energy TWICE in the last few hours alone. What the hell’s going on with YOU Hannah. I know it’s not something I’VE done.”
His smile finally left completely and he seemed to sink slightly into thought.
“I spent far too long researching the old magic for it to have been a side-effect I missed..”

I growled at the back of my throat angrily but the emotion wasn’t really there.
He sounds honestly concerned that he might have caused something bad inadvertently.

I can just about feel his magic from the poolside and, like with Trudy before, his magic doesn’t feel like he’s lying.
He really is worried about me..

My shoulders slumped.
It’s hard to be pick a fight with someone who’s being far too nice about everything suddenly!

I kicked off my thin shoes and slid down to sit on the edge of the pool with my feet dipping in the water.
He was right, the water really IS nice..

“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
His eyebrow perked up again and a shadow of a smirk played across his lips.

“Naturally, but you want to. We know each other too well, unlike the rest of these.. non-magical apes.. we understand each other.”
His head cocked to the side and his smirk got a bit more pronounced.

“I’m NOT Arista!”

Just when I was letting my guard down!
I KNEW he would have an angle.
He’s trying to play me because he thinks I’m HER still!
He-

“I know you’re not, didn’t say you were.. recently at least.. what I meant was that we were best friends for sixteen years before all of this.. AND we’re both powerful mages with some of the longest uninterrupted incarnation chains in the world.”
His shoulders shrugged upwards and he sunk into his blow up chair a bit more.
“No-one can understand us. Hell, I barely understand us and I’m one of us..”

For what feels like the millionth time in this conversation I stalled.
He.. he really means that too.. I can feel it in his magic..

“What the hell happened to you John?.. a few days ago you were practically insane. You’re being far too nice at the moment to be considered normal..”
I squinted at him hard for a moment.
“Did you hit your head when you bounced off my blood wards?.. no.. you were still your normal self the day after that.. what the hell is going on?”

He huffed in a deep breath and rolled his head back a little to stare up in the sky.

“It happens.. every once in a while one of us has an incarnation which rejects us to some degree or another.”
His head lolled back down to stare at me thoughtfully.
“Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Arista. We’re soul mates, and above that she understands me in a way no-one else could.. that doesn’t mean she’s not a complete bitch at times though.”

I snorted in amusement before I could stop myself.

“Some of the best memories I have are of incarnations where Arista isn’t really ‘Arista’.”
His shoulders tense slightly and he let out a gusty sigh.
“I thought you were her.. just playing with me.. she’s done it before.”
The hand holding his drink released it leaving the glass waving casually in the air.
“Pretend to not remember or reject her own identity and then the moment I fall for it she throws a fit and.. well..”
He winced and rubbed his right arm with his now free hand.

“It’s nice sometimes.. after an awakening I tend to forget how bad she can be, how messed up our relationship really is..”
His lips twitched into a small self-deprecating smile.
“When I found out you were the next Arista instead of Sarah I damn near lost my mind with rage..”

He must have noticed my flinch because he quickly continued speaking to reassure me.

“Not for the reason you probably expect.. I was happy with the idea that Sarah would become Arista.. let’s face it, in high school she was a major bitch at times.. she couldn’t even remember my name!”
His eye twitched a little for some reason.
“I’ll admit, it looks bad that I memory wiped you so often, It probably doesn’t buy me any ‘good friend’ points in general but I was doing it to protect you.”
He winced.
“You know what it’s like if a non-mage finds out about magic, you seemed to almost sniff out EVERY damn TIME I used magic. I didn’t want to draw you into all of this..”
His hand rubbed his arm again and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“My plans were already too far ahead to change by the time I found out YOU were the new incarnation. Dante would have killed me if I hadn’t at least pretended to give you to him, and Rastalin demanded Sarah to seal the deal..”
He shifted his eyes up to mine with such a lost look on his face.

“I thought you were doomed.. I’d found a friend, a real friend, do you know how rare that is?”
His frown tightened with no small amount of annoyance.
“I can go LIFETIMES with no-one but Arista for company, but I had you this time.. and then you would awaken and SHE would be back.”
His hand nervously came up to push through his hair and got slightly tangled on the sunglasses he’d left up there.

With an awkward smile he put his hand back down and sighed loudly.
“Your little shadow magic trick after you awakened convinced me you were her, the fire blast you let off afterwards told me I had to be more careful then usual too, it seemed like Arista had woken up as a fire mage in a bad mood for some reason..”
He winced, his hand twitching to go up to his hair again but he stopped short.
“I suspected things were wrong, that you might not quite be a normal ‘Arista’, in the temple after you tricked me into getting branded.”

My mouth felt dry.
This is possibly the most I’ve heard him speak in a long time.
What makes it worse is that I can STILL feel his magic, and it’s plainly stating that he’s not lying.. Somehow..

“H.. What made you suspicious?”
I tried to hold it back but my voice shook a little.
It feels like someone has pulled the rug out from under my feet with the sudden change in atmosphere between us.

This ISN’T how this was all supposed to go!

He looked up at me with that same lost look in his eyes and quirked his lips a little as if he wanted to smile.
“You didn’t kill me.”

I could feel my eyes go wide at that statement.
He said it so calmly, as if commenting on the weather.

“Arista, the real Arista, if she’d gone through what you did and she’d managed to trick me into the same position you did.. she wouldn’t have hesitated to kill me.”
His lips twitched up again but he seemed to lose focus on me and stare off at something else.
“We have a messed up relationship.. show me another couple who are as old as we are and I’ll bet they’ll be just as messed up. I still love her, she understands me in a way no-one else POSSIBLY could.. all we have is each other.. but I can’t STAND her at the same time and the feeling is more than mutual..”
His brow scrunched up as if it hurt to speak but he didn’t stop.
I don’t think he could at this point.
“Death is nothing between us. She killed me once for splashing her cloak with rain water from a tree branch. A few years later she tracked down my next incarnation and had the time of her life pretending to be my ‘mummy’ for a while.. then we both died again..”

He shuddered a little and shot me a sad look.
“Talking about it.. kind of brings home just how wrong it all is.”
His hands tightened on the arm of his silly inflatable chair.
“No-one should get as old as we are, it messes you up in the head, makes you into a monster without you even realising it..”

His hands went slack and sunk down into the pool to stroke calming circles in the cool water.

“I pushed and pushed, chasing you, waiting for the moment you would turn around and kill me to prove you were her.. but you didn’t. As time went on I lost sight of that goal, got caught up in the chase.. “
He huffed to himself.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so open and vulnerable..

“Since the temple.. on the journey back to Klamath Falls I decided to give it all one last try, a final push to prove it all, one way or the other..”
He blushed for some reason.
“I came back here and pushed.. and pushed.. then you showed me..”
His head rose up again and he smiled at me brightly.

“Arista knows sympathetic magic on an instinctive level.. but she’s never been very good with runes..”
His mouth twitched and his eyes lit up in amusement.

“It’s ironic.. one of the greatest sympathetic mages of all time.. and she’s got NO imagination.”
His body shook a little with a suppressed laugh.
“She knows all the runes, she can use them well.. but she could never seem to make something NEW with them. Everything she’s ever done with runes has been done before.”

My eyes were wide in surprise.
“So when..”

He nodded and twitched his lip again, his other hand going down to paddle in the water gently.
“When I bounced off your blood wards and you gave me your little rant I could see it..”
His lip twitched again.
“Those blood wards of yours, they’re custom made to stop me. That’s NEW..”
He carelessly waved a hand through the water.
“Arista.. Arista could never have made something so.. brilliant..”
His mouth finally gave up the battle and became a full blown smirk.

“I can think of only one person who would be smart enough to do something like that, on such a large scale.. without prior planning, all in one night, using BLOOD MAGIC of all things..”

He paddled both his hand a little to push the chair closer to me and ended up bumping his hanging feet against my legs.
I looked up at him and couldn’t hold back my gasp at the honest joy on his face.

“My best friend.. my only friend..”
His magic was bubbling with a strange mix of sadness and joy but not a hint of a lie.
“I thought I lost you Al, I spent years making your life hell and if I had just LISTENED..”

He planted his feet on either side of my legs and kicked off from the pool side a little.

“I.. I’m sorry Al.. Hannah.. whatever.. I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused you. I didn’t mea.. I shouldn’t have done any of it to you..”

My breath was coming sharply for some reason.
As he’d approached me I could feel his magic even easier.

He’s not lying.. he’s not told a single lie this entire time.
I can FEEL it!

I ca.. I can..
I can’t HANDLE this!

Without a thought I struggled upright and broke into a sprint.
Out the back gate, across the burning hot street and up the path to our still open front door.

It felt like I didn’t breathe for the entire sprint over.

I stepped inside the cool darkness of our hallway and pushed the front door shut before sliding down it to rest on the floor with my knees pulled up to my chest.

I can’t breathe.. my magic is bubbling.. I can’t.. I..

“Han?.. Han are you okay? I-“
Before she could finish another word my magic gave up all pretence of control and exploded out of me in an almost physical wave of golden light.

My breath still wouldn’t come.

I needed to pant, the pleasure of releasing my magic was rolling through me and I couldn’t do anything about it.
The edge of my vision became dark.
I barely registered Sarah’s gasp, or her movement to catch me as I sunk face first to the floor.

I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.. I can’t-

The world went dark.
Mercifully, mercifully dark..

======

“Go away John!”

I groaned and rolled over.
For some reason the bed feels really hard.

Slowly my brain caught up with what happened.
Did I.. did I just have a panic attack?

“She doesn’t want to see you John, just leave!”
Sarah’s shouting.
Why would she be shouting at-

JOHN!

I surged to my feet so fast I went momentarily light headed.
Sarah must have noticed me moving because she came rushing over to my side and offered a supporting arm to stop me from falling over again.

After a moment to gather myself I waved her off and slowly made my way along the hallway to the front door.

John was standing just outside it.
He looked dishevelled, his hair was a mess and it looked like his stupid bright blue swimming shorts had gotten wet at some point.

“Hannah..”
The word almost came out from him as a single hushed breath.

“What do you want John?”

Why is he here? Can’t he just leave me alone!
I need time to process all this.
I don’t get what’s going on!

I know he wasn’t lying earlier.
Magic doesn’t lie, magic CAN’T lie.
You can’t actively hide your emotions from your magic!

Most people don’t even bother trying, it takes a really powerful mage to read other peoples magic.
It takes an even MORE powerful mage to be able to read emotions from the confusing mass of thoughts that make up someone’s magic in any kind of useful way.

As always I’m the weird one, even if it’s a positive thing this time.

“Hannah, you need to hide.”
My eyebrow perked up, I didn’t look at his face though, I can’t right now.
I’m barely holding it all together at the moment as it is.

“You just let off a blast of magic beyond anything I’ve seen in a long time, people will be coming.. if we’re lucky then it’ll just be the Hub coming to bring you in for questioning, if not..”
His hands twitched.

I think he wanted to reach out, to shake me or something, but it’s pretty obvious he was holding back because of my blood wards.
I’m glad I put them up, I don’t think I could handle him touching me right now..

“Han.”
Sarah’s hand rested on my shoulder reassuringly.

“Hannah, I’m serious, run!”
His hands cupped together tightly as if pleading with me to listen.
I stared at them in surprise rather than look up at him properly.

“Run now, get out of here! There’s a shop in town that should be safe, it’s just off Main Street, owned by a woman named Fena. She can protect you.”
For a moment I could feel indignity well up inside me.

I DON’T need protecting!
But.. why is he suggesting I go to Fena?..

“Han?”
The hand on my shoulder twitched but I didn’t look away from John’s tightly fisted hands.

“Damn it Al listen to me! RUN!”
My head jerked up automatically to stare at him.

John’s face was an open book.
For the first time in what feels like forever I can see every thought in his head flying across his face and none of them are comforting.
Panic, fear, worry, desperation.. and anger.

Oh..boy.. he’s REALLY angry!

“Han..”
Sarah’s voice sounded really worried now.
Behind us there was some kind of crashing sound.

I should turn around.
I know I should turn around but it feels like I’m stuck staring at John.

..He really is JOHN right now..
There’s none of the arrogance, cruelty or just plain madness I’ve become so used seeing in his eyes.
There’s no.. there’s no MAX in him.. at least none that wasn’t there to start with.

I know he was awakened young, before we really became friends to start with, so really he’s ALWAYS been Max.. he just wasn’t chasing me, thinking that I was ‘Arista’ at the time
He was my friend instead..

I said we’ve been friends for twenty years before but if I’m honest it’s a bit less than that.

We’ve known OF each other for twenty years, that’s true at least.
We met in pre-school but he was a pretty quiet kid back then.
It wasn’t until the fight that he even registered as anything but a face in the crowd to me..

“HANNAH! This isn’t the time for you to space out!”

I jerked in surprise.
That wasn’t John yelling, that was Sarah?

Slowly I turned to look at her.
She seemed really scared.

Now that I’m paying attention there’s sounds coming from inside the house.
There shouldn’t be sounds coming from inside the house, there’s only two of us here..

Before I could do more then let my sluggish brain consider what that could mean a flashlight came sweeping down the hallway.
It was followed quickly by the muzzle of the automatic rifle it seemed to be attached to the tip of.
After the gun, came the man holding it.

A large man dressed in full SWAT gear with what looked like a thick motorbike helmet on his head and aiming his gun directly at us!

He let off a shout.
There was the sound of people jogging awkwardly and his flashlight was joined by two others.
Another man in bulky SWAT gear and a shorter figure who was possibly a woman.

“Get down on your knees. We’re operatives of the Hub, you’re coming with us for questioning.”

I lifted my hands up to show I was unarmed.
It doesn’t mean much to a mage but it’s the thought that counts.
Well.. the thought and the fact that they have rifles aimed at us of course.

“You will be handcuffed and we will lead you out of the premises.”

I could hear John shift awkwardly behind me, after a moment he huffed and muttered to himself.
“This doesn’t feel right..”

Damn it John, that’s not helping!

Actually.. what REALLY isn’t helping is that, deep down, I agree with him.
Something about this doesn’t feel right.

I’ve not seen any badges yet.
I was told that Hub operatives have to display their badge on first contact with a target.

It’s not just a formality, the badge activates a snapshot spell when you speak your designation.
It’s a safety measure in case you are ‘taken’ while out in the field.. to make it easier for the Hub to find out who killed you..

“Get on your knees and put your hands on your head.”

John hissed in a breath between his teeth.
“Hannah.. run, take Sarah and run.”
He tried to say it quietly but apparently not quiet enough.

The SWAT team moved forward in a rush.
The woman got a hand on Sarah’s wrists while the two men pointed their guns at me and John respectively.

The one aiming his gun at my head reached out and carefully managed to clip a thick pair of handcuffs on my wrists.
The moment they were in place I felt something.. wrong.

My magic disagreed with the handcuffs for some reason.
All the built up magic in my lines was bubbling angrily.

Something’s not right.. something’s not RIGHT!

Before I could react the woman holding Sarah slapped cuffs on her wrists too and promptly bashed her in the head with the butt of her gun.
Sarah crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

“WHAT THE HELL!”

What about the wards?!
They should be protecting us from harm!
How the hell did they manage to hit Sarah!

John growled behind me but there was nothing he could do, I could hear my own growl bubble up in my chest in concert with his.

They hurt Sarah!

A gun aimed at a mage is often more of a formality then anything major.
A gun aimed at John would usually be useless, but if he even twitch’s, it’s pretty obvious these SWAT guys won’t hesitate to pull the trigger on either me or Sarah.
The same goes for me.

I can’t do anything without risking them killing Sarah.

“UP!”
Reluctantly I staggered to my feet, bringing my cuffed hands down to my waist and staring at the man’s dark reflective helmet with anger.

“You didn’t need to hit her..”
The woman standing by Sarah made some kind of laughing sound and took the chance to kick Sarah’s shoulder hard.

My anger flared and my magic shot up, eager to react.

Before it could do anything, hopefully heal Sarah or in the least do some kind of ice attack to rip these ASSHOLES APART!.. the magic I’d built up started draining away.
The handcuffs on my wrist progressively began heating up to a painful level with the more magic I pushed out.
After less than a few seconds I had to reign in my aura just to stop the effect before they started outright burning through my skin!

“Target confirmed, and contained. Moving to evac point.”
The man with his gun aimed at my head moved slightly and gestured down the hallway.
“Lady’s first..”

I glanced down at Sarah’s unconscious body, the anger still bubbling away inside me.

John growled low in the back of his throat but he still couldn’t move.
If it wasn’t for my stupid blood wards being so powerful he could have DONE something by now!
Why did I design them to work against his magical signature alone?

I could have geared them to block all magical signatures but mine.. not that it probably would have helped here.
These SWAT guys don’t come across as mages to me.

“Hannah, don’t.”
I shot John a warning look which surprisingly shut him up.
With one final glance between him and Sarah I sighed.

“Protect her.”
His face scrunched up angrily but he didn’t say no.
His eyes stayed focused intensely on me.

I turned to walk down the hallway ahead of the SWAT guy.

Behind me I could hear John growl low again.
A second later there was the sound of a gong going off and I could hear him bouncing along the street outside.

DAMN IT JOHN!
Why couldn’t he just listen to me!
I HAVE a plan!

..Admittedly it’s not an entirely ‘good’ plan but it’s still a plan damn it!..

“Keep walking.”
He nudged me in the back with his gun, making me stagger a little as we approached the stairs.

With grunts and waves of his gun he led me through the house to the backdoor.
For a moment he paused and brought his radio up to his helmet.

“Alveres, Pedro report in. Are Maxarimus and the spare contained?”
His radio crinkled with static for a moment.

He tensed and brought his gun up a bit tighter to aim at my face.

“Reporting in, Maxarimus is contained, the spare is unconscious.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding.

While on one hand it would have been nice to know Max had done something useful by now, at least he’s not made things worse.

“Okay, we’re going for a walk little Lady.”
He waved his gun towards the door and I reluctantly went outside.
We ended up marching through the forest to the right of the golf course.

There’s nothing out here, he’s literally leading me into the middle of nowhere..

“So.. who did I piss off this time?”

If in doubt, talk like an idiot until they spill something they shouldn’t.
It’s surprising how often that tactic works.
The only thing that works better is seduction but like hell I’ll be able to pull THAT off with this annoyingly young looking body..

He grunted and didn’t slow his pace in the slightest.

“You’re with the government, aren’t you? I knew I shouldn’t have put ‘cleaning demon blood out of my jacket’ as a work expense..”
He didn’t crack at all from the joke, not even a twitch.

It would help if I could see his face but those masks are full coverage.
I have no idea how he can even see where he’s going!

I almost missed a step while looking over my shoulder at his face.

His gun jabbed into my back and he let off a grunt.
I’d been a bit too busy to focus on it before.. but thinking about it.. that grunt doesn’t suit him..

As in.. the grunt doesn’t match the voice he’s been using to speak..

To test the idea partly forming in my mind I let my wrists go limp and awkwardly eased my shoulder back until my hand came into contact with his crotch.

He didn’t even miss a step on contact.

Holy crap.. that’s GENIUS..
I mean honestly, completely genius!

Why didn’t I think of that?
With enough of them I could have finished so many missions with a lot less hassle then I used to have!

I’m pretty sure now that he won’t react, as long as I don’t stop walking.
I just need one last test..

Sadly, I’ll have to go for the kill here.
If I’m right it won’t even phase him.. if not.. well, he DOES have me at gun point.
Let’s not forget that, its self-defence at worst.

Counting my steps I took one slightly further forward than normal to keep a relatively even pace.

My foot swung back and impacted with his crotch so hard it went momentarily numb.
As I turned into my next step my handcuffed arm’s swung up and caught him in the throat with my balled fists.

He didn’t even twitch from it!

His gun jabbed lightly into my back and he grunted, giving me another push to start walking again at a steady pace.
I quickly moved to keep ahead of him but my mind was going a mile a minute.

..Holy crap..

Someone did it, someone actually DID it.
He’s a Golem!
They made a Golem that can be controlled, to some degree, remotely!

THAT’s how they got through the ward stone!

Golems don’t have intent.
An ill-intent ward can no more stop a golem then it could stop a flower or the wind!

He’s a golem.. a big, lumbering, stupid golem.
Like Darren, like Lurch.. only BETTER..

He seems life like in his movements.
The other two did as well.

The little voice trick is what threw me off, whoever’s controlling the golems must have at least three people manning the ‘mics’ somewhere.
It can’t be far, the range on those sorts of charms isn’t great.
His walking pace is even too so the golem is the one controlling movement but it seems like his reactions to things are slightly delayed.
..That could be useful to know at some point..

======

We carried on walking deeper into the forest around the nearest mountain to home.
As we walked I tried to gather together everything I’d noticed so far.

I know golems..
I know enough about golems to use this to my advantage.

Judging by the reactions I’ve gotten so far, or more specifically HAVEN’T gotten, they don’t have visuals at least.
They can hear me and can vocalise somehow, possibly by an enchantment on the helmet.

The helmet is probably filtering sound for the golem too, if it was me I’d put a muffle charm on it.
That way only sound directly inside the helmet would be clear to the golem’s ear.

Something this advanced, you wouldn’t want to set it to one owner in case the owner died.

The only way to do THAT would be to make sure that the only clear voice it can hear is from its controller.
They’re able to send the controllers voices out from the helmet, it stands to reason they would be able to send it inside the helmet too, with only a little extra effort.

What else..

They knew when I stopped walking on several occasions.
How did they work that out?
You can’t enchant golems.

The only way they could tell I’d stopped, aside from sound, would be..
The gun?.. The suits?

Something ON the golem must be enchanted to give some kind of feedback.
If they’re smart, it will be aura related.
Even non-mages tend to have a magical aura if they’ve been around magic enough.

I would be a beacon with my magic like this, John would be a pretty close second too.
After the amount of time she’s spent around me, let alone her own adventures with magic, Sarah should be pretty visible as well..

So they’re giving the golems rough directions and relying on the golem’s vision to help them fulfil the commands, meanwhile they’re tracking our positions and listening in.

They don’t need it to be more complex than that.

Even a basic golem like Darren managed to walk prisoners from one point to another.
The others only have to keep Sarah and John at gunpoint until they have me where they want me.

They divided us quickly, made us have to defend each other and drew us into a standstill.

Really clever.. we completely fell for it.
Not that we could have done anything differently even if we HAD seen the ruse for what it was.

“Hey big, tall and silent. We there yet?”
Naturally he grunted.

Got to love golems, they’re nothing if not consistent.

“So.. who’s in charge?”
He grunted.

“It’s not really the government is it?.. because I swear I got told that mage’s don’t have to pay taxes.. I can’t quite remember who told me that, but I’m pretty sure it’s not my fault.. so you shouldn’t be able to.. ya know.. sue me or anything..”
He grunted again.

Well, he’s just a barrel of laughs isn’t he..

“What’s your designation?”
..Grunt..

It was worth a try.
That’s a default command most Golemancer’s leave in to any golems coding.

The trees were finally starting to thin out.
I could just make out some flickering light in the clearing ahead of us.

It looks like I’m about to meet whoever’s running this gig anyway.
After all this, I hope its someone interesting..

Not that I’m looking for hassle or anything but.. this golem stuff is really impressive, a good switch-out that I’d heard would be near impossible to pull off in real life.
I’d hate to think that whoever came up with it was just some two bit thug with money..

Magic’s magic after all, it’s interesting, to me at least.
Finding people who are INVENTIVE with magic.. that’s been surprisingly hard for me lately.
Even with most of my incarnations blocked off, I know too much about magic.

People, mages specifically, tend to get used to things.
They settle into a rut, become comfortable with their own little domains and get stuck in the petty games of mortal life.

Just because awakened mages aren’t technically mortal, that doesn’t stop us from falling into the same traps as well.

If anything, awakened mages can be worse.
They get stuck in patterns of traps.
Repeating their mistakes, their goals, their lives over and over again to varying degrees of success.

I like to think I’m not like that.

My disagreements with my past-incarnations help in that regard.
It gave me the initial distrust I needed to see through a lot of the bull-crap Arista has been feeding the other incarnations for millennia.

“Almost free little lady, keep walking.”
The golem didn’t twitch.

Now I know what I’m looking for its pretty obvious that he’s not the one talking.

“I’m walking big guy. You’re the one slowing us down..”
The golem grunted but his operator didn’t bother to answer me properly either.

The trees are even thinner.
The light source seems to be some kind of torch or electrical light.
There’s none of the flicker I would expect from a candle or open flame and I doubt the light from a fire would be this visible during the daytime, even if it is pretty overcast today.
..that’s something, they aren’t going to sacrifice me straight away at least..

This should be fun!
It almost feels like doing a mission again.

It helps that John is with Sarah.
As weird as it sounds considering our recent history, I know I can trust him to protect her in any way he has to.

“Pick up the pace big guy, I’m not getting any younger.”

With a, slightly forced, happy laugh I jogged ahead of the golem.
It seemed to stumble slightly in something close to surprise but picked up the pace to follow me again.

======

“FIRST!”

Everyone in the clearing, and there’s a lot of them, looked at me like I was some kind of idiot.
The Golem came to a lumbering stop behind me.

After a moment’s pause it drew its gun again and aimed at my back.

“You’re just a sore loser, ain’t ya big guy?”
He grunted.

I’m not sure what I was expecting.
Golems don’t care about things like competition.
They don’t care about anything, that’s what makes them brilliant as servants!

“I just want it on the record that I won our race!”

My cuffed hands swung around, finally focusing on the one short man in a suit standing among a crowd of taller men in suits to my left.
“You, your my witness, I beat your golem in a race. You all suck and I rule, got me?”
He gulped and shot a nervous look around for help but no-one else would look at him.

Perfect.
If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, blind them with bullshit!

“You should be happy, as the official witness to my victory..”
My face darkened into my most menacing look and I cracked off a broken giggle worthy of Theodora.
“.. you’ll be the last one I kill.”

The whole of them.
Every single man, woman and miscellaneous among them flinched.

THAT was satisfying.

It’s a total bluff.. obviously.
I’ve got nothing up my sleeves right now.
If I could get out of these cuffs maybe, but currently.. not so much..

“Pretty nice setup you got going here.. there’s got to be, what? Fifty of you.. all for little old me?..”
My grin turned sharp, like Max at his smuggest.
“I’m touched. I always like a party, who do I get to gut first?”

Thank you Fena for THAT line.
I never realised how unsettling it is to hear someone say the word ‘gut’ in this context before she started talking about it yesterday.

“You, I’m going to call you.. Paula.”

The little man in his big suit flinched when I pointed to him.
He opened his mouth, probably to argue that point but I steamrolled over him easily.

“Paula, who’s in charge around here? I demand to know who has the AUDACITY to attack me in my own home with third rate golems like some kind of coward.”
The little man’s eyes shot around to everyone desperately for help but they were all pretty much stunned into silence.

It’s surprising how effective acting like you know what you’re doing in a no-win situation can put people on the wrong foot.

I’ve had it done to me a fair few times, but over the years I’ve learned to use this tactic to my advantage too.
I’ve literally learned from the best.. my enemy’s..

“I’m waiting Paula!”
The little man actually gave off a frightened squeak this time.

“I’m in charge.”
The deep voice to my right set me on edge instantly.
That’s not the kind of voice that comes from someone who’s easily intimidated.

I turned to the voice and cringed a little at the sight of him.
He’s old, most of the thinning hair on his square jawed head has already turned grey.

His thick moustache quivered with suppressed anger.
His beady little eyes under his bushy grey eyebrows were fixed completely on me.

I’ll admit, the army greens service uniform he was wearing helped make him look a little more intimidating too.
The medals proudly displayed on his chest didn’t help either.

“At arms!”

The previously floundering group of fifty odd assorted security, soldiers and general staff moved like a wave to reach for their weapons.
They mostly consisted of concealed pistols and, for the more military looking people, fully automatic rifles.

In the space of ten seconds I went from one rather dumb golem aiming at me with a rifle to an entire clearings worth of people.
“..well.. crap..”

Even little Paula had reached into his sock and pulled out a dainty pistol of his own.

“Honestly? Do ya really need all those big hunks of metal for little me?.. I’m unarmed.”
My hands came up above my head to show my handcuffs.
“I’m also restrained surprisingly well..”

A few of the guns wavered uncertainly but after a glance at each other they tightened their stances and aimed at me again.

..So much for that idea..

Slowly I turned back to the old General guy with the deep voice.
His stupid moustache twitched in amusement.

..oh buddy.. you don’t know who the HELL your dealing with..

I’ve been in worse situations then this.
No matter what’s happening, how well these handcuffs are restraining my magic or how many guns they have aimed at me, they’re only human..
They’re just.. people.

People trying to mess with me for ungiven reasons, sure, but that just makes them stupid people.

They hurt my sister.
They came into my family home and took me hostage!

They’ve signed their own tickets, simple as that.
It’s not like it will be the first time I’ve killed someone.. make that a lot of someone’s.

I had to wade my way through a South American village’s worth of mesmerised people in order to reach the insane creature controlling them on my last mission, less than a month ago.

I have blood on my hands.
I try to not think about it like that but it’s true.

I’ve killed.

I’ve killed mothers, fathers, sons and daughters.
I’ve wiped out the human population from entire regions to save the rest of the world before.

That’s just personally too, I dread to think what some of my past-incarnations have done.
I know at least one of the ones Ellie holds back was one of the driving forces behind the crusades.

I’ve killed the evil, the infected, the deserving.. and the innocent.. just over the last few years.
I’ve.. I’ve killed children..

I’m not proud of it.
I did what I had to do to protect the world from evil magic and the shadow realm ‘demons’ that would have easily gone on to destroy humanity itself without my intervention.

The main thing.. the key point I’m getting at here.. is that I’m a killer.

I’ve been in worse situations then this by far and I’ve come out of it alive, whole.
Blood on my hands.
Deaths on my conscience.. but alive and whole.

..Which is a lot more then I can say for the other side..

Those people didn’t come for me.
Those people didn’t hunt me down in my own home!

They didn’t challenge me.
They didn’t Restrain me.
They didn’t PROVOKE me.

Most importantly, they didn’t hurt Sarah!
NO-ONE HURTS SARAH!

“General, your obviously feeling like a big tough man about all of this.”
He glared at me as if I’d insulted him in some way.
Thinking about it I probably have but I couldn’t care less.
“I’m going to ask one last question. If I don’t hear what I want to hear, I’m going to kill you.”

The hands holding guns around me tensed again, several of the soldiers shifted their footing.
It all seemed far too loud in the silent clearing.

“Who was the son of a bitch controlling your female golem at my house?”
The General’s arms tensed slightly, but he’s good, he didn’t even twitch his eyes.

It’s a shame his men aren’t quite as skilled in deception.
Almost half the people in the clearing gave some kind of indication, twitching their heads or eyes in the right direction, as a whole it was enough for me to work out what I wanted to know.

Near the back of the crowd, previously obscured by the people around them, were three people in army clothing lying flat out on some kind of slabs wearing helmets similar to the golems.

My eyes moved back to the General.

He tried so VERY hard to not react, but I know the look on my face.
I know that it’s broken better men then him.
I know.. even with this new, too soft, face.. that I look scary when I’m angry..

“I’m going to kill you General. I’m going to do it unarmed, quickly.. and the real insult is that your own men will help me do it.”
He tried to keep his face passive but I could see his hands twitch nervously.

I’ve killed people.

Over the last six years I’ve trained myself, I’ve trained my body and magic to be a weapon.
They took my magic away and thought they were safe.
..stupid people.. why do I always have to deal with stupid, stupid PEOPLE..

Everyone’s attention was focused on the General.
Waiting for his orders, waiting for some kind of reaction from him.

I wouldn’t have a better time to make my move.
A fact that I think even THEY have forgotten at this point is that THEY need ME, alive.

THEY came after ME specifically.

Whoever is in charge of this whole mess, behind the scenes, isn’t going to react well if they try to kill me.
They had their chance to do that.
They took me prisoner instead.

That puts the ball in MY court.

Before everyone could recollect themselves.
Before anyone could even realise I was moving I’d reached a full sprint.

It’s barely five strides to the General from where I started but they felt like the longest five steps I’ve had to take in a long time.

People were moving, guns going back to track on me, but they were too late.

With a push I threw my body into a flat palmed roll and launched my legs up at the Generals wide eyed face.
My legs went in like a spear, perfectly on target, as I knew they would.

Both of my feet crashed into his throat with full force.
There was a snap sound that I could feel through my legs more than hear.
The General twitched.

Before he could take in a single wheezing breath I finished my roll and dived behind his falling body.

He’s a dead man.
I crushed his larynx with that blow.

There’s no way he can get medical help in time now.. not that it’s going to be a problem in a moment.

Predictably, the moment I finished my movement and came to rest behind his falling body the gunfire started.
I could feel the impacts on his chest but they didn’t go through the other side.

It’s as I thought, he’s wearing some kind of bullet proof vest under his uniform.
Lucky that, if I’d been wrong I’d probably be about as much bullet riddled mincemeat as he’s about to be!

My small size helped keep a lot of the fire off me.
I felt a few bullets graze my skin on my arms and legs, even let off an involuntary scream when one pierced straight into my foot and out the other side.
The blood from my wounds was barely noticeable compared to the amount of it coming from the Generals corpse though.

At least three of the bullets had hit near perfect headshots on him.
It’s a messy way to show it, but this is one bad guy who’s not getting up again..

“CEASE FIRE!”

Oh thank the powers!
I’m not sure my improvised meat shield would have held up much longer under that kind of assault.

Planning my next move carefully I went to shift the General’s body slightly so I could see whoever shouted but before I could I felt the cold metal of an unfired rifle touch the top of my head.

Slowly moving my eyes upwards I stared into the blank mask of the golem.

Why golems?!
Why do I ALWAYS forget the golems?!?

“Lay down arms. We’re taking over, your unit failed in its task.”
Whoever was shouting had a strong commanding tone but it was pretty obvious from the grumbles and general noise around me, that everyone else in the clearing didn’t consider him to be their direct superior.

“She killed Fargas!”
The voices around me seemed to gain some strength from that single shout.
I could hear the guns being shifted back around to aim at me under my protective dead body.

I never said my job was glamorous but this is really going a bit too far.
Even I’VE not bathed in the blood of my enemies QUITE so literally before, this guy is gushing like someone’s putting sticky red water through a sieve at this point..

“Your men will stand down or we will make you..”
The new, commanding voice would have convinced ME at least, if I was a soldier.

These guys.. I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume they’re some kind of mercenaries.
They didn’t seem quite ready to let it all go so easily.

It’s a shame.
The General, Fargas, must have been a pretty good leader to inspire that kind of loyalty in a band of mercenaries..

Shame he had to come here and mess with me.
Shame he had to let one of his men HURT Sarah!

I don’t ENJOY killing people.. but in this case I don’t feel particularly guilty over it either.
His men killed him anyway.

..I just kicked him in the throat..

I don’t know why I’m getting so worked up over this.
I’ve spent too long out of combat maybe?

When I was running missions one after the other, I didn’t have time for all the social niceties normal people can have.
I’ve gotten too comfortable now.

I relaxed by being home, being back with Sarah and mum.
Even having John as something other than a real threat..
I relaxed.. and the moment I let my guard down they came to get me!

I’m such an idiot!

I’m the latest incarnation of ‘Arista’ to the rest of the world.
I’m NEVER going to get to relax, not truly, there’s ALWAYS going to be another threat on the horizon.

I didn’t chose this life but it’s here whether I like it or not.

“Last warning. Cease fire, laydown your arms. The Knights will take it from here.”
The guy with the commanding voice sounded cold this time.

He’s not kidding.
I don’t know what he’s going to do but this IS their last warning.

For a long second the clearing rolled in utter silence.

Then someone cocked their gun and moved.
I cringed, pulling my aching body tighter underneath my sticky, smelly meat shield.
Not in fear.. never in fear.

“Idiot..”
I’d barely said it before gunfire started going off.

After a frantic twenty seconds of blasts and screams the clearing fell silent again.

I yelped when the golem shifted its gun from my head and with one thick gloved hand he dragged me into the open by my shoulder.

It wasn’t particularly hard for him to do.
I’m so coated in blood, a mix of the Generals and my own, so much so that I virtually slid across the uneven terrain.

After a few steps he unceremoniously dropped me back to the ground.
I grit my teeth against the pained scream that wanted to come out of my mouth from landing badly on my wounded foot.
With frantic urgency my eyes tracked around the clearing to assess everything.
My mouth ended up dropping open a little with more than a little disbelief.

..That’s a LOT of golems..

It looks like I’ve found my mage, or at least the one in charge of all the magic involved in this stupid situation.

There’s got to be at least thirty golems.
All standing around the clearings edge.
Guns slowly smoking in the breeze.

These are REAL golems, pale lifeless skin with identical body-builder like physiques.
They didn’t even dress them, it’s kind of off putting to see them all standing there naked.. even if they ARE lacking in genitalia.

It makes sense at least, why bother making them seem normal?

These aren’t some kind of distraction tactic or hidden private army.
They were obviously here for one job.. to kill the mercenaries.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the plan all along.
If anything I probably helped them by giving a legitimate sounding reason to take out the hired help once the hard work was done.

“Lady Arista, it’s a pleasure seeing you again. It’s been a while.”
A glance at the commanding-voiced guy told me all I needed to know, mostly the fact that I didn’t recognise him in the slightest.

He’s wearing a neatly pressed white suit of all things.
His face seems young with his hair slicked back in a style that reminded me of the old man style that the Storyteller favoured before.

For a moment a cold shiver went down my spine.

It couldn’t be?
He said he would be in contact but for a man who was so good at covering his tracks this doesn’t fit!
I won’t pretend to know what’s going on in the Storytellers head, obviously, but I think I saw enough to get a good measure of him.

He’d be more likely to just send me a taunting note than go through all of THIS!

“I’m sure you’re enjoying it.. that makes one of us.”
He seemed to like my snippy comment a bit too much to be normal, judging by his chuckle.

“He said you were rather mouthy in this incarnation..”
The chill down my spine decided to go sharply cold again.

..He?.. He WHO??

“Don’t suppose this is the point that you tell me all your secret plans and who sent you, is it?”
His eye twitched for a moment but then his face lit up with another smile.

“Not particularly..”

Figures, I NEVER get the talkative bad guys.
Just for ONCE couldn’t I just have one who tells me everything so I don’t have to find it out for myself?!

The ring of golems moved in to surround us.
The commanding-voiced, white suit guy pulled a pocket watch out of his jacket and glanced at it thoughtfully.

“Can I get your name a least? I’m getting pretty fed up of jackasses who don’t even bother to introduce themselves..”
He grinned appreciatively and shrugged a little as if it was out of his hands.
“If you don’t tell me something, I’ll name you myself.. you look like a ‘Barbie’ to me.. possibly ‘Britney’..”

When in doubt, attack a guy’s macho ego.

It never goes wrong.. except when it does.
When it goes wrong guys tend to get a bit physical, in the fists and shouting way if you get what I mean.

It looks like I scored a direct hit against his ego at least.
He grimaced and stared down at his pocket watch hard for a moment.

“You can call me ‘The Handy Man’.”

My mouth was hanging open.
I could feel it hanging open but I couldn’t quite bring myself to shut it.

After a moment to posture he noticed the look on my face and glared at me.

It took less than a second before I started laughing.
What the HELL is wrong with the bad guys in my life?!

First Vlad and his cliché ‘ohh I’m a vampire’ motif.
Then Dante ‘the dandy man’ Dandes with his desiccated corpse look.
Storyteller with his ‘mysterious history teacher’ act.

.. and now this joker!..

I mean.. it’s not just me is it?..
What is it with the evil men in my life and being melodramatic assholes with the need to give themselves stupid bloody titles!

“You’re kidding right?.. that’s not even original!”

He glared at me.
I think I hurt his little evil, macho pride again.. oops.. I feel SOO bad, honestly I do..

He glanced around the clearing at all the golems.
My eyes went around as well, focusing more on the bodies of the mercenaries.. and all the blood.

..So much blood..

Oh.. now THAT’s an idea..
How would I pull it off though?

..I can’t..
I’d need a distraction at best, a miracle at worst.. and some kind of mage to give the final activation too now that I think about it..

These handcuffs are REALLY annoying!

If there were even slightly less effective I could pour magic out freely and ignore the consequences.
As it is the best I could do is mist the area around me with my aura for a moment before it dies out and I lose a hand or two.

I never thought I’d see the day when I really wished John was here!

He could do it.
The distraction AND the activation.

For some stupid reason I actually paused a moment after that thought, hoping against hope that he would come running out of the trees to my rescue.

It’s a stupid idea.
It didn’t work anyway, there’s still no sign of him..

Let’s face it, I’m far from being ‘damsel in distress’ material.

I mule kicked a guy in the throat while handcuffed a minute ago.
You don’t see useless storybook princesses doing that kind of thing.
John’s so far away from being a knight in shining armor too, it’s not even funny!

..That doesn’t stop the fact that I’m kind of disappointed he didn’t turn up when I wanted him to though..
What’s the point of having a stalker if he’s not there when you want him to be?!
At this point, I don’t care if he’s had this sudden change of heart and wants to be my best-est buddy John again, what’s the point of it all when he’s not here and I’m going to die or get kidnapped or worse!

I can’t think WHAT could be worse but there’s ALWAYS a worse in these situations.

It’s not fair!
Other mages don’t have to put up with this crap!
It’s always me!

“What are you planning to do with me? Why did you come here in the first place?”

The idiot in the white suit, calling himself ‘the handy man’ smirked at me casually.
“I said I wouldn’t bother telling you all our plans, he’s right, you really ARE impatient in this incarnation aren’t you?..”
He cocked his head to the side thoughtfully.

“Such a fiery personality too.. he certainly noticed that as well..”
A growl rumbled at the back of my throat.

“WHO THE HELL IS ‘HE’?!”
The handy man flipped his pocket watch out again and glanced at it without batting an eye, as if I hadn’t said a word.

“DON’T IGNORE ME DAMN IT!”
His eyes cut up to stare at me and he smiled.

“Very fiery personality, I can see why he’s interested in you.. aside from the obvious..”
With a casual flick he flipped his pocket watch closed and looked up into the sky.

I could just vaguely hear some loud sound echoing across the clearing, it was muted as if coming from far away like hearing a helicopter in the distance.
Following his eyes I could just make out a speck in the sky coming towards us, slowly getting bigger as it came nearer.

The outline was unmistakable.
A wide heavy looking body, wings that shouldn’t be able to carry its obvious bulk..

“Looks like our rides here. If you would be so kind Lady Arista, I need to restrain you for the journey. It will take but a moment.”
He started walking towards me.

My eyes shot from him to the bulky beast making its way towards us and back again.

He’s serious.
He’s going to take me and fly off with me on the back of a bloody Gryphon!

That DOES it!

Screw my pride!
Screw my clever plans and ideas!

I’ve got nothing left.
I can’t DO anything!

I can take down a normal person in hand to hand combat but this guy’s a mage!
I can feel it!

The moment he gets close enough all he has to do is cast a minor paralysis charm on me and I’m doomed!

If I had my magic I could stop him.
If I had some backup I could escape him.
If.. If.. IF!

Too many IF’s, not enough solutions!
I run, he’ll catch me.
I fight, he’ll stop me.
I..

Damn it!

This does NOT make me the damsel in distress!
I REFUSE to accept that I’m the damsel in distress!

..damn it..

I slowly paced away from him as he followed me at an equally slow pace.
I’ve got nowhere to go, and he knows it.
He’s enjoying my reaction to that fact.

With a deep breath I did the only thing that was left for me to do.
If this works.. I’m not sure if I’ll be happy or annoyed honestly..

“HELP!”

He glared at me.
He obviously doesn’t like me screaming.

Maybe his poor little ears don’t like the sound..
Well tough luck asshole!

“HEEEELLLPPP!!!”
He lunged for me and I threw myself to the side, just out of his reach.

“HELLLL-”
My last yell cut off sharply with a cough as a wave of heat and what smells vaguely like sulphur filled my lungs.

The world suddenly exploded with fire.
I could hear a near continuous series of pops all around me.
Guns started firing from the golems around us and above all that noise.. there came a sound..

My heart soared from hearing it.
The echoing responses that came afterwards made me feel ten.. no, a thousand times better!

Oh you little bastard..
You glorious.. GLORIOUS little bastard!