--BELATED donation bonus (day 5/7, page 3/3)--
Hector shrunk away from Haqq’s gaze and flushed with a touch of humiliation. He knew that there were probably servants out there with abilities that were naturally more powerful, but he didn’t think iron was that bad. Perhaps he’d been mistaken, though. Haqq was the expert, after all. He looked to Garovel, who was visibly irritated.
‘We weren’t trying to impress you. We just wanted confirmation. That being said, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t insult my friend for no apparent reason. And by the way, iron is far from useless.’
Haqq gave a throaty laugh. “I suppose in relative terms, yes, you might be able to find some semblance of value in it. But when you find yourselves faced with real monsters, iron will not be enough to save your unremarkable lives.”
‘Wow,’ said Garovel, louder now. ‘I fucking hate ability-snobs like you. Power doesn’t make the person, you moron. You’d do well to remember that, lest you have someone teach it to you the hard way.’
Haqq seemed to dismiss the notion.
‘Garovel is correct,’ interjected Sazandara. ‘Haqq, you should apologize for insulting them.’
Haqq’s expression soured, and he pulled his shoulders in. “No. They wasted my time. And so did you, for that matter. You know I have more important things to be doing.”
‘Apologize. Now.’
“Or what?” said Haqq. “You will release me? Because I insulted a couple of strangers? Be serious.”
‘They are no longer strangers. They are allies now.’
Haqq exhaled another laugh. “Allies? Why? Because they’ve decided to help Asad on his fool’s errand? Please. I could not care less about their circumstances if you paid me to ignore them.”
Garovel had heard enough, it seemed. ‘Let’s go, Hector. We got what we came for.’
‘Please wait,’ said Sazandara. She tapped Haqq on the head, and the man immediately dropped to the floor, unconscious. She floated closer to Hector and Garovel. ‘I am deeply sorry that Haqq is such an insufferable twat. Frankly, I wanted Asad as my servant, but I got stuck with this social cataclysm of a person, instead.’
After a moment, Garovel relinquished a nod. ‘It’s fine. I understand. The apology is appreciated, though. Thank you.’
‘Allow me to make it up to you.’
Garovel paused. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Follow me.’ She floated away from Haqq’s body and guided them into a deeper room where the walls were completely filled with lockboxes, as if they’d suddenly walked into a bank vault.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
This is the second page I put up in the last hour. Careful not to skip the previous one, folks.
ReplyDeleteWait. Reapers can just do that? I was not aware of that.
ReplyDeleteAnd Haqq is not gonna be happy when he wakes up.
Hector should draw a dick on his face.
With a red-hot brand!
Made of iron.
Don't look at me like that. Physical humour loses its morally ambiguous edge when the recipient is a virtually immortal servant capable of regenerating any wound.
The bonus page thing has me completely and utterly bewildered.
ReplyDeleteHaqq is a dick
It's like we're in prison, and the donation bonuses are cigarettes, distributed occasionally as per the whims of a capricious and occasionally malicious guard. Sometimes, when we're on our best behaviour, he'll promise us more cigarettes for a week. And then that two-faced double-dealing bastard gives us some, and hangs the rest from a string on the ceiling, just close enough to the bars that, with enough huffing and wheezy puffing, we can make them sway slightly - even brush them with a fingertip. Then, when we're really desperate, he'll give them to us, one by one, just enough to bring us back from the brink. For this, we hate him, and yet we need him. GIVE US MORE, we beg. MORE, PLEASE.
ReplyDeleteClear enough?
You really shouldn't be so surprised. It was established early on that Reapers have direct access to their servants' brains. That's how they're able to give them super-strength, block pain, and sustain their mental functions even when they lack oxygen. From the first chapter:
ReplyDelete‘It has to do with your brain.’ Garovel tapped a long phalanx bone against his bare skull. ‘Rather
than having to rely on blood and flesh for all of its energy, your
brain now relies entirely upon me, largely because I now inhabit your
brain, so to speak. But, in terms of this physical world, your brain is
now self-sustaining. Even if, say, you bleed to death or your heart
stops beating or you even stop breathing, your brain will continue to
work just fine.’ The reaper paused again. ‘Of course, it’s not
quite as simplistic as it sounds, since the brain is a pretty
complicated piece of a equipment. I did have to numb all sorts of
signals that might otherwise fool your brain into thinking it needs to
shut down due to a lack of blood or glucose or what have you, but you
don’t really need to worry about all that. I’ve got everything covered.’
Hector, don't be depressed! Iron is a great power! Imagine! A soul empowered railgun!
ReplyDeleteThere is just a fatal flaw in that plan: he can't control electricity / magnetic fields. And those are essential for a railgun, cause the iron inside the coil is just to amplify the magnetic field. That magnetic guy (forgot his name) from Abolish would be able to make it with iron bullets but without the rails, since he can already control magnetic fields.
ReplyDeleteBut if Hector were to team up with someone who can control electricity he might be able to pull it off haha :D
he doesn't need the rails, once he learns the velocity asoect of his powers...
ReplyDeleteSo, does hector get a death glove too? Or some power armour? That is designed to be imbued with an element?
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Than he can just fire off iron bullets as he pleases. Might be as fast as a railgun, might be as fast as a conventional gun. But first he'd need to master that ability. ^^
ReplyDelete"cataclysm OF a person"
ReplyDeleteGot it, thank you.
ReplyDeleteJesus, suddenly I love Sazandra so much more.
ReplyDelete