146 Aligning Time (1/2)

Amara lifted her palms towards me, her eyes narrowed, ”You imbecile...You let him live?”

I shook my head, ”Oh, hell no. We got him. I meant whoops at the explosion.”

She looked around at the destruction, ”You did all this?”

I shrugged, ”Yawm gave experience. What else can I say.”

Amara stood up, looking at my friends. I gestured a hand at Althea, ”This is my girlfriend, Althea. The birdman is Hod. He means well I guess. The lich is Torix. He's a scholar who enjoys teaching. You mentioned making a center of learning for eldritch right? He could help.”

Torix gave Amara a short bow, ”I'm at your service.”

She took a step back, ”Then where is this?”

Hod raised a hand, ”Base of Harbinger.”

Amara kept one eye on me, but she moved her other hand across the others. She frowned,

”You've created so much...It seems unfitting for one like you.”

Althea's expression turned sharp, ”And why would you say that?”

Amara turned an eye towards Althea, ”He is a destroyer, not a builder.”

Althea crossed her arms, but she stayed quiet. I put a hand on Althea's shoulder,

”You gotta think about what she's seen from me. Amara knows I killed Yawm and the followers. She really doesn't know much else.”

I turned a palm towards Amara, ”If anything, she's probably suspicious as hell of us.” I looked at Amara, ”But let me know if I'm wrong. I don't mean to speak for you there.”

Amara sniffed, her slitted nostrils opening wide. She licked the air,

”It tastes...delicious.”

Althea griped, ”Yeah, ok...She's still a bit too eldritch-ey.”

Amara glanced at Althea, and the eldritch tilted her head, ”You are as eldritch as I. So is the bird. Despite appearances, the walking corpse is the least eldritch of all of you.”

The sound of Althea's teeth biting down on her tongue. I put my other hand on her shoulder, ”Hey, you hungry?”

I looked at Amara. Her raven hair lifted up, feeling the air around her. She drooled, ”What may I eat here?”

Torix clapped his hands, ”Most members of this party must be starving. How about you all eat something that isn't rations?”

I nodded, ”That sounds good. Let's do that.”

Torix opened his status, sending several messages. He grinned at all of us,

”A cleaning crew will come up to fix this level soon. We'll be dining at Dark Coffee, a local cafe in the residential area.”

We moved down three floors into the residential area. We sat at the local cafe, rustic decorations everywhere. While not the most sizable establishment, the cozy, comfortable atmosphere was pleasant. We got our fair share of stares too.

Everyone gawked at our group. They whispered about each of us, a growing legend forming about us. I didn't pay much attention to it as we all faced one another on a black, circular table. After ordering some food, Amara kept drooling as she spoke,

”I have many questions.”

I raised a hand, ”Let me state a few facts before you start: 1st, we killed Yawm. 2nd, we're planning on killing Ajax. 3rd, we're going to leave to another planet to get rid of our unknown status and bounties.”

Amara glanced with her palms, ”Then here is safe?”

Hod nodded, ”Hod safest person to be around. Hod protect lady friend #3.”

Amara ignored Hod utterly. She sniffed the air. She looked at Torix, ”I smell other eldritch here.”

Torix raised his palms to her, ”Ah yes, the other eldritch here. You see, your kind is ordinarily unagreeable in the extreme. In order to protect us, I've developed techniques for restraining them.”

Amara snickered, her laugh like a hiss,

”Don't worry about my feelings, lich. I am not unaware of the danger my kind presents. We're not welcome here as we are. Our acceptance relies on us changing. As we have always done, we will adapt.”

Amara looked around the table, ”Are there intelligent eldritch under this keep?”

Torix nodded, ”There are a few, I suppose. I rarely let the bright eldritch live as their insidious nature is difficult to contain.”

She turned towards me, ”I want an area of my own to teach them.”

I crossed my arms, ”Are you ok with some surveillance?”

She narrowed her eyes, ”As much as you need for your comfort. I require freedom in my teaching methods, however.”

I pointed at her, ”No killing or eating people. Animals are game as long as you don't eat too many.” I looked at Torix, ”Are you ok with observing her?”

He nodded, ”But of course.”

Several waiters walked up with a trolley as I clapped my hands together,

”Then we should be good, right?”

Amara nodded. I turned towards our food, ”God I haven't had something sweet in literal years.”

They handed us pastries and a few kinds of jerky and greens. I lifted the warm, fluffy bread and chomped into it. I relished the texture and flavor. It was all soft, but varying kinds of soft. Imagine textures between water and pudding. That's what the food was like.

Even then, it was a tremendous increase in the diversity of texture that I was used too. Compared with liquid rations that I splashed on my face, there wasn't much food that was worse. All this food was the best thing I'd had since I could remember eating something decent.

After we finished our meal, Amara kept ogling everything around her. I frowned at her, ”Are you still hungry?”

She sighed, ”We are always hungry. I will suppress it. I will survive on this much food.”

Several minutes later, and her drooling ceased. As we stood up, I pointed at Hod, ”Hey, can you and your, er, assistant help Amara find a place to teach in? I think the third floor with the other students would be best.”

Hod gave a short salute, ”Hod help the beautiful lady.”

Amara stared at him in disgust. Why Hod thought she was gorgeous, I'll never know. After they left, I turned towards Torix, ”How are the troops?”

He tapped his chin with a loose fist, ”They're in high spirits. We did just destroy our greatest enemy. Now we can focus on rebuilding.”

I waved my hand,

”I don't think that's enough. Let's upgrade the legion's gear. I can spend a few weeks making enchanted gear for everyone who was a part of the climactic battle. We'll make it a medal since they risked their lives.”

Torix opened his status, writing down notes, ”Anything else we might need to do?”

I brainstormed for a second, and an idea popped into my head, ”We should commemorate the day of the battle. After a funeral service, how about we make it a holiday or something like that?”

Althea pursed her lips, ”Why would we do that?”

I raised an eyebrow at her, ”To honor the dead and make it clear that these people were part of history.”

Torix leaned back, placing a hand on my shoulder, ”That's an idea requiring some finesse. When did you think of it?”

I frowned, ”You said we lost several hundred soldiers. That's a large chunk of our population. Even if we got our job done, it doesn't mean we don't have any wounds. This is a good way of recognizing that and trying to move on. You know, make their deaths mean something.”

Torix jotted down some more notes with his status, ”You sound like a patriot.”

I shrugged, ”It just seems like the right thing to do.”

Torix pointed at me, ”So you'll be practicing that explosion technique in the meantime while I organize the upgrade system?”

I wrapped my arm around Althea's waist,

”Yeah, sure.”

Torix turned around, ”Then it's a plan. I'll make sure that Hod isn't letting Amara eat my students.”

”Hey, Torix.”

He turned towards my voice, ”Hmmm?”

I gestured to everything around me, ”You did an incredible job on the base while I was with Yawm. I can't describe to you how good it feels to come home to a place like this.”