"Good job, bug." Aimon grinned at her.
"Your barrier magic is badass, sunshine." Casper bent down and kissed her cheek.
"Good job with the antidote." She found my gaze and smiled. "It definitely works."
I grinned, the feeling of victory surging through me. "Thank the spirits for that."
"We should probably stop and eat," Aimon suggested as we walked over toward the rushing river.
We plopped our asses down on the ground as Aimon went to work, conjuring fruit trees and picking them to make us bowls of fruit.
"Emperor Lloyd's calling." Silas reached up and held the back of his head, and winced.
A moment later, the emperor's face appeared in front of us. "What's the status on Matthieu?"
"We are at Hex's Pass, and we just used the antidote on three grocketts. It worked," Silas explained.
Emperor Lloyd's brows furrowed. "Why are you in the Allura Empire still when you should be in the Revivium Empire rescuing Matthieu?"
"We don't want to run headfirst into a trap. If we teleport there, we're going in completely blind," Silas explained. "Plus, we had to make sure we were up to date with protection runes and stocked up with potions."
Emperor Lloyd pinched the bridge of his nose with a nod. "I suppose that makes sense. Why don't you finish up whatever you're doing in the Allura Empire and then teleport into Matthieu's shop to get past the gate, that way, you guys can sneak into the palace and rescue him that way?"
"That is reasonable." Silas nodded, glancing at me and Fawn, who nodded her head in agreement. "We understand the need to rescue Matthieu and the urgency for it, but we need to make sure we do it safely so we do not fall under a trap."
Emperor Lloyd let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry. I think I'm letting my emotions lead my decisions concerning Matthieu, and I am still worried about the two parties that I sent to rescue him. They still have not gotten back to me. I am starting to expect the worst."
"Hopefully we can figure out what happened to them as well as find Matthieu," Silas said.
"Thank you. I will let you do your job now." Emperor Lloyd faded out.
Ever since Fawn and Silas had given into their feelings for each other, they had definitely been more agreeable on every topic, which saved the rest of us a headache.
"If Matthieu is in any way involved in this shit, I'm going to kill him," Jasper growled, his fist shaking.
"I'm right there with you, brother. I never sought murder, but there is something about being able to stop someone from doing bad things forever." Casper let out a pained chuckle.
Both Jasper and Casper sat on each side of Fawn, and Fawn reached over and took Casper's hand in hers.
"The first time I killed someone, I thought I would feel something," Casper explained, shaking his head. "I didn't. It was like everything shut off in my brain. I can switch my mindset to be completely ruthless and not feel any guilt. Is that bad?" His voice broke.
Fawn shook her head. "No, I don't think that's bad. I can actually relate to it. I have no problem slaying monsters, but when it comes to slaying mages, it was a little bit different starting out. It did bother me, but I learned to be able to shut it off like you were immediately able to do. Being able to do that is a gift, Cas. Don't think of it as anything but."
"I can't shut it off," Jasper murmured, raking his fingers through his hair and resting his elbows on his knees. "Instead of feeling nothing when I'm killing or torturing, I feel elated, and that feeling can sometimes be terrifying." He licked his bottom lip as he shook his head with a dry chuckle. "I'm fucked up, and I'm well aware. I enjoy torturing and killing, but I find more joy in torturing, so no, brother. I don't think your coping mechanism is bad."
Fawn reached over and grabbed Jasper's hand, giving it a squeeze as well. "You found my journal where I wrote about going mad. When I read through my passages, I realized that the journal was really old. I'm going to tell you the story about how I went mad."
Aimon peeled fruit with a metal-conjured knife and sliced pieces up, placing them into wooden bowls that he had conjured for all of us, but his gaze remained on Fawn, just like the rest of us.
"You don't have to tell us," Silas murmured, his gaze softening as he stared at her.
She shook her head. "It's okay, I think I need to. I went mad for the very first time because I didn't know how to let out my energy after my first death. I was killed by a lochie in Horrid Lake. It was my first monster mission. I was supposed to take down the population of the lochies in the lake. The emperor of the Lethium Empire was a sadistic man, and I slayed so many monsters that I lost count after the second week of being cursed. But I was killed far more times than that within the first week. After those deaths of lochies swallowing me whole, my untapped power built up to an insane level."
"That's a lot of power," Aimon murmured, busying his hands as he prepared the fruit.
"It was...I killed all but maybe four lochies in that whole lake, and then while I was also destroying the monster population in the empire, they tasked me with hunting down traitors in the empire's name. I reveled in all of it. I loved hunting those mages down and torturing them, killing them for no reason at all. I just enjoyed it. I would follow the emperor's orders without even thinking about it, and I caused so much chaos. The emperor loved it." Fawn wet her lips, and I could see the glassy sheen over her eyes.
My heart twisted painfully in my chest. Ihatedit, but the Lethium Empire did that to her, and I hated that she had to live with it.
