Book 2: Chapter 70 (1/2)

E parked the car beside all his other cars and sighed as he stepped outside.

“What’s wrong, E?” Sheryl asked. She had taken the form of a red rock that sat on his right shoulder. Her legs dangled near his collarbone while her arms held onto him, keeping her in place. “You sound upset.”

“Worst drive of my life,” E said. He turned around and stared at the car with Sheryl. Lindyss and Erin were fighting each other in the backseat with Vur stuck in between them. And behind the car, attached by a hook, there was a giant wagon with a dragon sleeping on top of it, her head tucked underneath her wing. “I’ve done my best to forget about it, but these last two weeks were more stressful than my whole time as king.”

Sheryl grunted in agreement. “Are all humans like my contractor?” she asked. “The world’s a very scary place if they are. No wonder why Az never left the volcano.”

“No,” E said. “If every human was like Vur, then dwarves wouldn’t be the race in power. You just happened to contract with the most abnormal person in existence.” He glanced at the rock sitting on his shoulder. “Regretting it now?”

“Nope!” Sheryl said and threw her arms into the air. “I’m almost a volcano elemental already. There’s so much mana inside of his body, it’s amazing. I’m evolving a hundred times faster than I was inside the volcano. I think Az forbade us to contract with people because he was afraid of us advancing past him. But he died and has to restart as an ember elemental, so ironic, isn’t it?”

“You treat death pretty lightly,” E said. “He was your clan master, right? Shouldn’t you be a little more upset? I’d be upset if my people didn’t care one wit for me after I died.”

“Death is just a new beginning,” Sheryl said. “Sure, some memories are eaten, but you get to pick which ones you give up.”

“Eaten?” E asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Sheryl said with a nod of her rocky body. “Eaten. Like how you eat berries, the Wisty eats memories. You meet her every time you die.” She paused and put a finger to the crack which represented her mouth. “Oh, but you wouldn’t remember meeting her. I heard she eats all of your memories if you’re not an elemental or fairy.”

“Huh,” E said. “This is my first time hearing about this Wisty. What does she look like?”

Sheryl tilted her head. “An octopus?” she asked and furrowed her brow. “With millions of billions of legs taking souls all the time. That’s also why it takes so long to come back to life. The queue takes forever—unless a living person helps you skip it. We call that the fast track.”

“And all of this is real? You’re not making this up?” E asked. “I feel like I should’ve heard about this before considering it answers the question of what happens when you die.”

Sheryl rolled her obsidian eyes. “Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘elementals and fairies are as trustworthy as farts during a stomach cramp’? It’s up to you whether you want to believe me or not about the Wisty.”

“You stupid apple-shaped elf! Why are you so hateful!?” Erin’s voice rang through the air. A second later, the car burst into pieces as Lindyss turned into a hippopotamus. Vur tumbled on the ground, rolling to E’s feet. He spat out a clump of grass as he sat up and looked around.

“Can’t you do something about your aunt?” E asked as he offered his hand to Vur. Sheryl hopped along his arm and melded back into Vur’s shoulder, disappearing into the yellow runes. Vur grabbed E’s hand and stood up.

“Do something? Why?” Vur asked and tilted his head. “It’s been forever since Auntie made a new friend.”