It took a few days to make all of the preparations. Lamentus grew bored and withdrew into me, this time leaving a tattoo of a broken heart on my cheek.

While I waited for the villagers to do their part, I wandered around aimlessly. Spending most of the time viewing the world through Kalli’s eyes, I watched as she fought off waves of monsters and ate bland tasting meals made out of the rice they took with them and whatever monster meat they could harvest.

Do you want to try editing something into a meal?

Kalli shook her head. I don’t know. It feels weird when you do it. I’m not sure that would come naturally to me.

Giving her dilemma some thought, a solution came to me. Kalli and I were inseparable. Sending myself to her would be a one-way trip because I could only teleport to my empire from another location in my empire. That didn’t mean that I couldn’t send her a care package.

It was also a good test for what I wanted to do next. Flexing my bond with Kalli, I folded my mana around a very large crate of food. I couldn’t help myself and started laughing when the package appeared in the middle of the Mecharriage, causing Joe to nearly crash.

He grumbled loudly and flipped Kalli the bird, a gesture obviously meant for me. Having never seen it before, Kalli returned the gesture, causing Joe to crack a smile for the first time since Stefanie died.

It took several days to prepare my plan for Stefanie because I wanted to prepare a tribute for her that was worthy of her friendship. Villagers from all over the empire visited Stefania and offered tribute to the bard. I visited Kalliville and picked up gifts from the children we had sung for to place with her.

I tended to Stefanie’s body every day, revitalizing it with mana and clearing away any signs of rot. She needed to be as perfect as possible for what I had in mind.

When everything was finally ready, Kalli watched intently as I transferred Stefanie’s body to an ornate wooden casket that the village carpenters had provided. The dark brown wooden box was adorned with carved musical notes with her microphone on the top of the cover.

The villagers loaded the casket with flowers and hand-crafted gifts before sealing it up. Her serene face bothered me. I wanted to see her trademark scowl one last time. The thought brought a tear to my eye.

Kalli was quiet as I stood in front of the casket for several minutes. After a while, she sucked in a breath of air and asked, You aren’t going to burn it right there in front of everyone, are you?

I shook my head, mustering the courage for what I knew I had to do.

What I’m about to do is even worse. I have to send her back. Back to Earth. The only way I can do that is the warp spell. That means I’ll be sending her body home. Likely to her home where her parents live. I don’t want to do this to them but if I died I know my mom would want something to bury. Some closure.

I trailed off, unable to continue speaking. I knew that what I was about to do made me the bad guy. Sending her home with a note painted a bull’s eye on me. It named me as the guy who got her killed.

Kalli, sensing my mood more than anything, consoled me. It’s not your fault. They might need some time but Stefanie’s family will thank you for what you are about to do.

Not wanting them to be shocked when they opened the coffin, I began writing a letter.

To whom it may concern,

That was too impersonal. Of course, the letter was to her parents.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Koegel,

That part sounded acceptable. I needed a way to break the news gently. “Your daughter has died” didn’t seem like a good choice of words.

I sat there in agony losing the battle with a scrap of parchment.

Wendy would have been much better at writing this than me.

Kalli watched my struggle and suggested, Tell them that Stefanie was your friend and you cared about her. Let them know she was loved.

Her voice broke and she stopped talking. My eyes began to water as I composed the letter.

Dear Mr. And Mrs. Koegel,

My name is Melvin Murphy and I am a friend of your daughter. She recently joined us on a quest to another world. It breaks my heart to inform you that due to an unfortunate event, she has passed away.

I am returning her body to you to ensure she gets a proper burial among her loved ones. The only spell I know to do this is the warp spell, so I apologize if this appears in your living room. It was never my intention to cause any additional grief.

The coffin and the items placed with her were handcrafted by the people who have come to love her as we do. I am truly sorry for your loss and will visit in person as soon as we return to Earth.

Sincerely,

Melvin Murphy

When I finished writing, I realized that my tears had dripped on the page as I wrote, smearing the ink. I was about to throw it away when Kalli stopped me. I think you should use that one. They should see that you also feel the loss.

I looked down at the letter, repulsed by my tears. Tucking the letter under the microphone on top of the coffin, I wrapped the entire thing in mana and willed it to send Stefanie home.

With a swishing sound, it vanished and I was left with nothing but an immense sense of loss. Just wanting to be alone, I teleported back to Mount Wendy. The villagers there were surprised to see me but otherwise paid me no mind.

It took me a lot longer to fall asleep that night. Kalli was not pleased. She glared at me when I arrived and said, “You made me wait for you. I was worried you weren’t going to show up again.”

Hugging her, I explained, “I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I needed you but I couldn’t fall asleep.”

Kalli smiled, cradling my head in her arms. “I’m here for you. Just don’t fall asleep on me in here again.”

I thought about that as Kalli dreamed us up a comfy couch to relax on. “You know, the man on the throne might know if there’s a way to get Stef back.”

She played with my hair and said, “You said something about a man when you woke up. Was it a dream or was it real?”

I shrugged and held up my hand with the ring on it. “I don’t know. It started as a dream and should have been a dream but this ring followed me out. If it’s real then the man on the throne and the, um, other people should be real too.”

“Other people?” Kalli asked in a puzzled tone. “You didn’t mention other people.”

I closed my eyes, trying to picture the room again. “Yes. There were women. Lots of women. The man sat on a throne with two women standing next to him. One of them fed him while the other fanned him.”

Kalli didn’t say anything for a while, her presence beside me a familiar warmth that I was starting to miss when I was awake. I ran my fingers through her hair, eliciting a giggle from her as she reached up to grab my hand. “Stop that.”

“But you did it to me,” I said, grinning at her.

She kissed me on the nose and replied, “That’s different.”

Every time I got quiet or seemed comfortable that night, Kalli would shake me to make sure I didn’t fall asleep and escape the dream. She ended up making out with me to keep me occupied.

I didn’t mind one bit as it was one of my favorite hobbies. That and it took my mind off of Stefanie.

The first thing I did when I woke up was to go find Esha. It turned out that she had returned to the City Under the Mountain.

I made my way over to her and asked, “What happened at the end of the battle? I don’t remember anything after I left to try to save Stefanie.”

The troll looked strangely uncomfortable when she turned to answer. I had never seen Esha display anything but confidence. “My lord. When you became possessed, the guards all fled. Some of them made their way over to where you fought that demon to rescue the boy but you dispatched them.”

“How did Raverly escape?” I asked, wondering if my armor had at least wounded the traitor.

Esha explained, “He ran away. We were unsure what to do with him and the tower was unguarded so we pressed the advantage to destroy it.”

“Really?” I balked, not believing my ears. “How did you guys manage to pull that off?”

She laughed and pointed at a group of goblins that were trying to edge their way over to me. “The goblin known as Boombrix knew just where to place bombs to topple the whole thing. Once it fell, the guards showed little interest in coming back. We went after your friend at that point but he wasn’t alone. An old man in a black hooded cape met up with him and they teleported. At that point, we tried to help you but you were too dangerous, so some of the trolls led you away and we tried to tend to Stefanie…”

The troll’s arms fell to her side and she stopped talking. I already knew what she was going to say. We didn’t bring any healers. Except for me and I’d gone and gotten myself incapacitated. My oversight had cost a valuable life.

Seeing my frown, the troll quickly said, “I am very sorry, Emperor Melvin. I should have gotten to her quicker. I humbly step down as the leader of your great army. Even now, more qualified people are arriving that can…”

I held up a hand to cut her off. “Who said I’d let you step down? If not for you, we wouldn’t have won that battle. You kept me focused when I wanted to run into a trap. I don’t know if we could have saved Stefanie but our failure to do so is my fault. You hold no blame in that regard.”

She stiffened and saluted me. “I will not let you down again.”

I wanted to correct her but she seemed pacified at the moment, so I asked, “Did you say more people have arrived?”

“Ah, yes.” Esha began. “More groups have become aware of your empire and make the journey to join. Just these last few days we have received envoys from the minotaurs, kobolds, and we even had a representative from the Eaglin race. They will be a mighty addition to the empire’s airforce.”

The thought of a squadron of fighter jets piloted by a group known as the Eaglin made me smile but I just knew it couldn’t be that easy. Rolling up my sleeves, I informed Esha, “Let’s get everyone organized so I can start to awaken them.”

While Esha went to organize the newcomers, the goblins peered over a nearby bench at me. I motioned to them and said, “You don’t have to be afraid of me. Come on over.”

A familiar-looking goblin led a pack of her friends and slowly made her way over. She looked up at me and said, “Boombrix is never afraid. She is not worthy of you, most honored emperor.”

“That not what I heard,” I said, instinctively patting the goblin on the head. “Esha tells me you blew up the plague tower.”

“Yas!” The goblin purred. “Boombrix made big boom on the naughty tower of darkness. This one makes special bombs. That she does.”

“Really?” I asked, very interested in a bomb that could take out a tower like that. “Can I have some of these bombs?”

Boombrix flashed a big toothy grin at me. “The lord emperor wants boom boom bombs? Boombrix is honored. Please, help yourself.”

She flipped her oversized bag off of her shoulder and started pouring its contents at my feet, apparently not worried about anything blowing up.

I leaned forward and selected a rather common-looking bomb. It was a round metallic ball with a fuse coming out of it. The bomb looked almost comical. Pleased with her handiwork, Bombrix informed me, “That bomb contains Boombrix’s special formula, the BoomBoom five thousand. Guaranteed to make even the most biggest nasty go boom.”

Item:

BoomBoom 5000

Components

Boombrix Fertilizer, Ammonium Nitrate, Iron, Unstable Nitrogen

Item Rank:

A

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Boombrix

I laughed and joked, “That’s some grade-A BoomBoom!”

Boombrix just laughed and replied, “Boombrix is the master of the boom booms. This is how she got the name.”

It turned out that the goblin was a treasure trove of knowledge when it came to anything explosive. I gave her the class "Demolitionist" because it seemed to suit her.

Over the following week, I dedicated myself to awakening as many as I could. Esha sensed a war brewing so she quickly recruited the majority of the empire into an even larger army.

As gods of sorrow went, Lamentus was pretty useful. The green ape was skilled at combat and instructed large groups at a time in a coliseum he had me create.

He also instructed me to create some different classes for the soldiers, so we ended up with some new ones such as Centurion, Gladiator, Medic, and Myrmidon.

As time went on, I got back into the rhythm of things and the pain of losing Stefanie slowly became a dull ache in the back of my mind. One day, I was resting after draining my mana while editing a group of gnolls when Kalli’s urgent voice filled my ears. Mel, it’s time. We’re here.