The Conciege

Chapter 27: A Map

Zed found himself in the confusing task of jogging in the morning.

Ash had woken him at the crack of dawn from a sleep he really needed. She’d given him a tooth brush with a dash of toothpaste on it, and while he wondered just how much of the old world had made it into the world after the second awakening, he’d asked no questions. No one complained at a chance at brushing their teeth.

After that, Ash marched him up the stairs and into Oliver’s room where they found Oliver dr...

Chapter 26: Spellform

“So the rumors were true,” Heimdall said. “The VHF thugs are looking for the surge as well.”

“Most likely,” Jason agreed.

“Although,” Zed chipped in, “we only saw a ground rats’ nest they’d cleared out. Very effectively, might I add.”

“And I see you’re still alive,” Heimdall noted with a frown. “Surprising.”

Zed shrugged. “What can I say. I’m hard to kill.”

Heimdall ignored him and turned to Jason.

“So I was right,�...

Chapter 25: Starship Troopers

Zed’s feet hit the ground with a thud he felt go through his body.

With Jason’s orb of light illuminating everything, he noted they were in a cavernous place. The walls were of brown dirt with ridges and a rough topography.

“What kind of monster are we looking for exactly?” Zed asked, looking around. “Because I swear this is quite the artistic place. Is it intelligent?”

“We’re looking for a monster called a ground rat,” Jason answered. “And it’s not int...

Chapter 24: What Kind of Trouble We're In

Jason’s face was squeezed in an annoyed scowl as he walked. Abed had been more than determined not to say anything about who’d cleared the monster hunt. In fact, the man had had the gall to joke about giving them another monster hunt. And while Jason had roughed him up a bit, the man had said nothing.

In truth, Jason doubted he could call shoving the man against a wall, roughing up. The problem was he already had a reputation to the man. Everywhere they went he was the civilized one...

Chapter 23: Madam Shaggy

The walk out of the forest was long but not without its fun. Unsurprisingly, the trees continued to vary in types and Zed and Oliver made a game out of it, guessing at how many trees they would have to pass before they found the same kind again. Oliver had wanted to make a wager out of it but none of the others were willing to lend Zed any money—not that he wanted to make a wager—so they were left with a friendly wager of wins and losses. If there was one thing the experience taught Zed, ...

Chapter 22: Aura Sense

Zed put a little more effort in the posture for sensing aura. Oliver had already confirmed there was no point in sitting like a Buddhist monk, admitting to only trying to make him do it since he’d learned that way as well. Regardless, Zed opted for the position. He had been on the edge of something the first time. He had felt it twice now, and each time he tried to grab at it, it slipped from his reach. It was akin to seeing something at the edge of his vision only to find it absent once he...

Chapter 21: An Atlas Reference

Broken bones and torn muscles kept Zed down for a while. The team remained in the forest during that time and Zed was beginning to worry that he was keeping them from their money. After all, Chris had only taken that contract for the pay. And while he’d love to believe some love for protecting humans was a part of it, it was only if someone else had picked it. He just couldn’t bring himself to believe Chris was nice towards strangers. Then again, maybe he was looking at it from a biased p...

Chapter 20: Sometimes Running is Good

Zed watched a gaping chasm of pink flesh and no teeth open up at him, spread out on five sides like a star fish. Despite his growing urge to gag alongside the draining fear of death, he could admit it wasn’t as disgusting a sight as it should be. In fact, he had a feeling being eaten alive by a Moscovian sloth wasn’t going to be a bad experience.

Besides the slow digestion and possible liquidation, he thought, his mind struggling as his world closed to darkness.

Still...

Chapter 19: The Instinct of Anger

The fight had gone on too long. Ten minutes was not the length any fight should go on for. Zed believed every fight should be quick no matter how bloody or violent. Only wars went on for long.

In the ten minutes he’d been going against the Moscovian Sloth, he’d learned something gravely vital: no amount of force put behind his blows would make his tomahawk pierce the monster’s fur. If anything, he was more likely to break the tomahawk.

Another thing he’d learned the hard w...

Chapter 18: Mages Don't Run

“Now, the trick to it,” Oliver said, “is that there’s no trick at all.”

The team was camped somewhere in the forest, surrounded by trees and nature no matter how funny the smell. They were deep into the night and Oliver had extricated Zed from the rest of the group for their long forestalled lesson.

The night wasn’t so dark since the moon was out, bathing everything in a gentle pale blue, and they used the little light that streamed from between the little gaps between...

Chapter 17: It's Going To Hurt, Isn't It?

“Now, the trick to it,” Oliver said, “is that there’s no trick at all.”

The team was camped somewhere in the forest, surrounded by trees and nature no matter how funny the smell. They were deep into the night and Oliver had extricated Zed from the rest of the group for their long forestalled lesson.

The night wasn’t so dark since the moon was out, bathing everything in a gentle pale blue, and they used the little light that streamed from between the little gaps between...

Chapter 16: Fear or Excitement

True to his words, Jason didn’t sleep that night. If he did, Zed was not aware. He had been awake before Zed had laid on the hard ground and tucked his upper arms under his head and had been the one to wake him at the rise of dawn.

To Zed’s surprise, they scattered the fire before they left the building. They didn’t just turn it out, they cleared the wood and brushed the place until it was hard to tell it had been used. When Zed asked why the thoroughness, Ash’s response had bee...

Chapter 15: Write Away Then

Zed waited patiently for a reaction. The look on Jason’s face said he took the information in strides. Oliver was as shocked as a cat finding out it had just been neutered. Skepticism was Chris’ middle name. And Ash, well, she looked like she’d just bitten into something nasty, not rotten but sour.

“So, amnesia?” Jason asked after a while. “That would explain a few things.”

“Amnesia is the one where you forget everything, right?” Zed asked.

Jason nodded. 2023-07-22 01:30:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 14: Attribute Mage

Zed swung down his tomahawk once more. The shrike was dead but his anger was barely satiated. The sharp end of the weapon bit into its flesh once more as it had done countless times with a squelch. He ripped the weapon free and spat to the side. His spittle came out bloodied.

“We’re going for a monster run,” he muttered, angry. “Join us if you’d like. What a load of B.S.”

The shrike lay dead at his feet and he stood over it, an almost defeated victor. He abandoned his ...

Chapter 13: Wreck It Shrike

“Good morning!”

Oliver’s voice reverberated through the house even though he hadn’t even made it down the stairs. He hit the ground with an enthusiastic thud having leapt the last few steps. When he landed it was with a deep breath and a stretch.

“Who missed…” the rest of the sentence died in his mouth. “What’s he doing?”

Ash was seated in the living room, occupying the couch Zed had slept on. She thumbed through a novel with a cover so faded the name was...

Chapter 12: The Berserker

Sassan smacked the barrel of his gun hard, the sound it made as whatever had jammed came free, grating at his ears. The weapon had served him well in the ten years since he’d received it. Still, he couldn’t help but acknowledge it had grown too old and too worn, and still, he kept it. It was always what ended a personal feud. And it was about to end another.

Everyone he knew well enough had told him to do away with it. To abandon it because it wasn’t good for him. They’d always ...

Chapter 11: Confused Eyes

“When’s the next test?” Jason asked Greg.

“If I may,” Zed interrupted. “What’s this test about?”

“Every important job role has a test,” Oliver explained. “Just to be sure the person is qualified for the role.”

“And if, say, I want to be a farmer?” Zed asked.

“Then we’ll need to talk to Heimdall, again,” Ash answered. “And I doubt he’ll let you anywhere near the farms. In case you didn’t notice, he doesn’t like you.”

Zed...

Chapter 10: A Specialization Has To Be Magical

Zed basked in the warm light of the sun. It was truly nothing special, but with all the blood washed away there was an appreciation for it. That, and the gentle touch of breeze on his skin came together to birth a gentle bliss.

When they’d left their subtle meeting with Heimdall, Jason had dropped him and Oliver off at an almost rebuilt home. It still had a wide hole in the roof on the south side but a house tour gladly given by Oliver showed steps had been taken to keep things like t...

Chapter 9: Heimdall

“How’d it go?” Heimdall asked.

Zed had followed Jason and the others into the building and they now stood inside a pristine house. It looked like the generic suburban home. A nice flight of stairs that led up the house. The living room on one side with a backdrop of the kitchen and a small dining with high stools.

Where they stood, though, was in the small corridor some part of Zed’s memory thought of as the waiting room.

Heimdall stood in front of them, a mass of a ...

Chapter 8: Wit, Determination and A Charming Personality

“Who’s idea was it to give people powers again?!”

Zed ducked behind the truck as the ground shook from another boom. Oliver was laughing beside him, standing freely in the open with Jason’s gun trained on the fight ahead of them.

Another boom shook the ground as Jason dodged an attacked and tossed a ball of light at the monster. It struck its head leaving a charred mark as it burst into a small explosion. Zed turned to Ash, hiding beside him. Unlike him, she showed none of...

Chapter 7: Make A Bet

“So tell us, Zed. What brings you to this part of the hell hole that is this world?”

They were seated back inside the house in the room the creature and Zed had been in last. None of them seemed very bothered by the gore of a chopped off limb and pools of blood. Zed had thought his victory over the blob was an impressive enough feat but was beginning to think he might’ve been wrong.

Chris sat cross legged in front of him and he stood with folded arms over a blood stained blu...