Chapter 115 - Bad To Worse... And Then Some (1/2)

Laz thought that passing out would be a good thing. And in some ways, it was. He no longer had to think and instead, he could just rest. Sadly for him though, his body wasn't going to leave him alone and neither were his dreams.

Passing out usually meant the end of pain, but in Laz's case, even in that darkness, he could feel it. The constant churning of his internal energy ball with the explosive bits of power it kept shooting off kept hitting him, even when he couldn't open his eyes. In the darkened dream realm, he felt like he was floating while constantly being pelted by fiery rocks.

And to top it all off, he kept seeing memories of Kat floating by.

The time they spent together.

The time they trained together.

Her cooking.

Her smile.

Her laugh.

Compared to the pain in his body, the pain in his heart was much worse.

But he endured it, he had to. He had no other choice. And he wasn't about to give up here. Especially now that there was someone he had to kill. So no matter what kind of pain came his way, Laz endured.

Had he not been so focused on what was going on around him, Laz might had noticed a particularly small green light off in the distant of his subconscious, one that was actively monitoring him. Of course the light knew that he would never notice it hence why it didn't bother to hide. If it did, there would be no way he would ever notice it. At least not at the level he was at right now.

In the outer reaches of Laz's internal darkness, the light hovered and watched, but didn't move. Nor did it make any sort of attempt to communicate. That small green light was nothing more than a wisp of a very powerful being's spiritual sense. Feeling the pain that Laz was enduring on multiple levels, it had made it's way over through the connection that they share. Although it was a bit surprised at first at the growth of the young man, it was still within the realm of normal for the being. Laz's growth was, after all, nothing special among her people.

It's was Laz's nameless master that had enslaved him, checking in on him. The reasons she was doing this were things only she knew and things that Laz might never know. He didn't know that he was slightly important to her. At least, he might be. Laz was marked with her symbol after all, the blood moon behind the black leafless tree, and because of this, he had to perform to her expectations. Currently, her expectations were incredibly low for him and she was looking for others to carry her banner as well. Strangely though, she couldn't find others to suit her taste, so to speak. This somewhat puzzled her.

'I wonder why he stood out? And why I can't find another like him? These humans are far too weird to understand in a short amount of time. And the time we have is running a bit short..'

'Sigh.”

The blue hair princess couldn't help but feel a bit sorry. She was getting pressure from her elders for her lack of personal. Her sister's had already found many candidates that suited them, but she wasn't able to do the same.

'Whatever. It isn't as though there is no time... He's growing well though, for his people. And it looks as though he will get through this too. Did he think that power would just come without pain? Jumping a level like that and moving around like there was nothing to it. He's just lucky he didn't die. Still, I probably should have told him a bit more so he would be ready. Ah well, the pain will do this little monkey good. It will teach him a bit about life...'

The sexy princess' internal dialog finished up as she notice his body stabilize. It was time for her to go and for him to wake up.

...

The room was a bit different and yet a bit familiar. As Laz moved a bit, he felt the weirdly smooth silk sheets against his back while the soft velvet blanket was keeping him warm. There was no light on in the room.

'Where the hell am I? Some sort of hotel?' The first thought that entered Laz's head was that this wasn't a room he was familiar with. As he started to move though, he felt something a bit heavy on him start to move. Letting his eyes adjust for a minute, Laz was able to see a pair of eyes staring at him while the soft, black snout rubbed against his face.

”Vivi...” Of course Laz was able to recognize her right away.

”Arf...” Vivi gave a normal, animal like response before raising her paw up and patting Laz on the head. Then the patting became a bit slower while Vivi looked straight at Laz. Although he wasn't totally sure, Laz felt Vivi said, 'It's good that your ok. But don't you ever scare me like that again...'

”Yes mam,” Laz just blurted out without thinking. Getting up, he stretched his legs a little only to find that his clothes had been changed. Looking down, Laz saw a pile of stuff at the end of the bed including his knapsack, helmet and jacket along with his thermoses filled with both the nectar and pond water he had stored in his place.

”Ok Vivi, what the hell is all this and more importantly, where is this? It kind of reminds me of somewhere but I can't quite remember...” Since Vivi was the only one in the room, Laz naturally asked her. Vivi just shook her head like Laz was a fool and pointed at the door. Laz, taking the hint, walked over and opened it while Vivi laid back down.

”Oh? You're awake? Guess I win this bet.”

”Shut up old man, no one wants to hear you gloat.”

”Good Morning... well, evening anyway. How are you feeling?”

The three people who greeted Laz were natural Grandpa Crowe, Bill and Grandpa Chu. The three old men were sitting around on large, fluffy black couches that all three seemed to find very comfortable while playing cards. As Laz glanced around the room some more, something came back to him.

”Is this...?”

”Tony's place? Yeah. We brought you in here when we found you outside a few days ago.” Grandpa Crowe informed him.

”A few days?”

”Yep. Four days to be exact. Didn't realize we were playing bible bingo here but whatever,” Bill grumbled, somewhat unhappy about losing the bet. The old men seemed to be their normal selves, but Laz got the feeling that something was wrong. Standing there and looking at them, they all seemed to be a bit stiff, even while relaxing.

”Is there something up?”

”Told you this wasn't going to work,” Bill said, sitting back. Grandpa Crowe also sat back and started rubbing the bridge of his nose while Grandpa Chu walked over.