Ruth sat on the edge of his unmade bed, feet firmly on the ground as he stared at the wall. Sleep had not come. The things he had seen playing over and over again in his mind. The grim look on the faces of the individuals around him. The silent tableau made sense now that he understood why they were all gathered. Everyone had gathered to watch the death sentence being carried out. Because that was what it was, the execution of future potential and freedom. Ruth understood now. Anyone who reached godhood was immediately shackled.

For what purpose? Control? Power?

Ruth felt the hate start swelling up inside him. It surprised him a little. He was feeling so empty after a night full of tumultuous emotions.

In the past month, Rush had slowly been sending him images of the chains around Merriweather’s soul space. They differed greatly from the small chains that Rush had discovered surrounding their own. Rush had speculated that the chains were binding them in some way to Tamara. Ruth had quietly shown the soul shape images of when he had shouted out his foolish words, asking for Tamara to make the decisions for him. Rush hadn’t said anything more on the topic and they had both let the conversation about chains on their soul space die.

A conversation that had abruptly become relevant again after Ruth had shared his experience with Rush of the night before. He remembered the quiet desperation in Meizhen’s red eyes as she cast her gaze wide. Now he imagined that the eyes were slitted and golden.

Ruth’s internal clock quietly ticked forward. He stood up and walked to the door, pushing it open. Near the wall, where he would not be hit by the door swinging outward, Rush raised his head. Golden pupils focused on Ruth for a moment before drifting past him to look at the room.

Ruth closed the door before Rush could see the extent of the damage. Chunks taken out of the wall, pieces of furniture stabbed into the ceiling, the floor, the frame of the bed. Books torn and ripped from their bindings, pages scattered along the floor and the bed.

Rush glanced away and pretended that he had seen nothing. He stood up, stretching slightly, the swift twisting of his neck making a series of snapping pops. It had not been that long at all but Rush was now easily three times the size he’d been when he had appeared to help Ruth with the Cannibal Pixies. With his head held up at attention the tips of his horns were almost at waist level for Ruth.

He was, Ruth decided, the size of a young adult wolf. In a way, he also resembled a wolf. His snout was a bit broader, he had scales instead of fur, and his tail trailed behind him but off the floor in an alert manner that kept the rattle from dragging. His horns were also growing thicker, keeping pace with the increased mass of his neck and head as he grew larger. Okay, maybe he didn’t look like a wolf at all except for the intelligent eyes and the size.

Rush fell in behind him, talons clicking on the floor as he walked. Ruth knew that he could wade through the air but chose to walk. At the edge of his awareness he felt the creature more clearly than he had before. He could sense that Rush enjoyed the sounds of his sharp nails clacking against the stone and tile.

He was also beginning to become aware of scents that Rush detected that he did not. The smell of bread, of tea, and of books dirtied by dust and time.

Ruth walked to the table where Sikes sat. The Durvgar was predictable in that he always chose the same seat, always read a book while he waited, always had his favorite cup for tea set in front of him with the spoon angled just so. Ruth sat in the chair that was set slightly ajar from the table without hesitation. His eyes watched Sikes even as he heard Rush settle down behind him. He could feel Rush watching Sikes, Ruth, the door. It surprised Ruth to note that he could also feel that Rush was keeping a large majority of his attention focused on something far away.

That would probably be the children.

Ruth felt a wave of warmth at the thought, a result of thinking of the children and having Rush notice. Rush was intimately aware of his thoughts and feelings now. Their connection grew more profound as time passed.

It was even stronger after his tantrum during the night.

The explosion of anger he had felt at realising that he was on a direct path to slavery. The helpless feeling he got when he was trying to work through his feelings, and then his body had decided that was the exact moment for his power to push forward once more. As if the universe were telling him directly that he was fucked. Every step forward was a step toward the inevitable.

Planar Tiefling: Ruth (Level 20) (Unskilled Tiefling/Lord Rush) (Lightning Specialized)

★Skills - [Minor Poison Resistance] [Fitness] [Lightning Affinity] [Spirit Bond] [Endurance] [Toughness] [Fury] [Pain Resistance]

★★★★★Skills - [Inherited Memory: Dragon] [Inherited Memory: ????]

5 of 5 spell slots

Languages: Draconic, Under Common(Evil Races - Mastered)

★★★★ Limited Electrical Immunity

Mana / Regeneration Rate: (20/20) (3HR)

★★Lightning Ward (Mana Consumption 3, Upkeep 3)

★★Lightning Chain: (Mana Consumption 3)

★★★Lightning Wings: (Mana Consumption 4, Upkeep 4)

★★ Shock: (Mana Consumption 2)

★★Thunder Struck: (Mana Consumption 10)

★★Magnetic Field: (Mana Consumption 1, Upkeep 1)

★★★★★Devouring Plasma Wave: (Mana Consumption MAX) Effects: ???

Lord Rush: ★★★★★ Innate: SHAKE SHAKE

The skills that had appeared should have been exciting. Hard work yielded solid results. His body remembered the pain of the past month and rewarded him. It was fascinating in a way. When he was a dragon he had known nothing of skills. It had been outside of his toolkit, so to speak.

It should have been a great moment. An accomplishment and a step toward being strong enough to throw Tamara from his path and be on his way.

He once again imagined the helplessness of Meizhen’s body language. Remembered the whispered words. She didn’t want to ascend.

And yet, she couldn’t stop it.

Sikes cleared his throat. The small sound causing Ruth to truly focus on the man that he had been staring through as he thought. “Shall we begin?”

This exercise felt pointless. Ruth had been on the cusp of whatever milestone level twenty signified for a day or two. He not only felt smarter, everything was much clearer than it was before. Poisoning Ruth every day had never been about teaching Ruth caution. Sure, it probably had been beneficial in honing Ruth’s caution and paranoia, but Sikes had never once given Ruth the impression that he was being taught how to avoid being poisoned.

Now it was obvious. Sikes was just teaching him another important lesson. Trust only yourself. Understand that if someone really wants to hurt you, they will find a way. You can only rely on yourself.

“No need. The game is over.” Ruth stood, clasping both armrests of the chair as he rose with his naked fingers. Sikes raised an eyebrow questioningly, a knowing look on his face.

The expression faded when Ruth stood up and continued to stare at him. Sikes narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Ruth’s hands, and then nodded jerkily in understanding. “So it seems. You now resist the poison?”

“Yes. It’s a shame I never did win.”

“You were never meant to win,” Sikes said dryly, a half-smile crossing his lips. “I was just ordered to poison you until you got something useful out of it. Poison resistance?” There was a hint of greed in the question.

Ruth smiled and tilted his head. “Don’t have skills yet?”

Sikes frowned, replying tersely. “Not yet.”

“Enjoy your tea,” Ruth walked past the seated Durvgar, patting him on the shoulder. He felt the man stiffen under his touch, no doubt expecting some sort of duplicity or attack. Rush fell in behind him as he left the Archives and started toward the docks in Under Arch.

Ruth hadn’t done anything to Sikes.

It wasn’t in his nature to torture like some he could mention. Sikes wanted power and knowledge. Denying him both was more than enough to settle the grudge Ruth felt against him.

Rush pulsed a quiet thought of disagreement behind him.

Ruth rolled his eyes. Maybe Ruth had put Sikes from his mind, but the bloodthirsty anger that had just flared up behind him meant that Rush still had some ideas…

“Petty much?”

“Pretty much,” came the immediate reply.

*******

CAN READ? READ THIS!

LORD RUSH AND RUTH - LEADERS, PROMISE TO PROTECT AND CARE FOR

LUCKY - CHANCE - BOOKER - SAMMY - DIANE - PIPER - FREDDIE

IN RETURN FOR LOYALTY.

VALUE LOYALTY ABOVE ALL ELSE.

Ruth read the message near the door with some amusement. It wasn’t his first time reading it, but it still made him smile. It also made him smile when he looked across the warehouse and saw that there were neat little rows for what he would have described as ‘nests’. Piles of blankets and pillows with little trinkets or belongings scattered around them. They were all situated around a larger nest in the middle of the room. The place where Rush had taken to using when he was here.

Rush padded eagerly past him and into the room, teleporting the last few meters to the center of his ‘throne’ as he spread himself out and laid down. He rested his head on his front arms and gazed out across his small kingdom. The children were out now, but Rush had a way to keep track of where they were.

Rush had marked their immature soul spaces with a sign so he could find them. In a much… kinder way than Tamara and Arathan had done to their own soul space. Rush held no chains or bonds over them. Even the contract at the door was simply an agreement between them. Rush was adamant about it. He insisted that Pipren, Merriweather’s soul shape, and he had talked about it for a long time and this was what he wanted.

“Chance comes.” Rush rumbled quietly. “I call. We test. We look at chain.”

“Okay.” Ruth looked around the room and felt a bit exasperated. “Do I just stand here? Do I get a chair? How about a throne behind your nest?”

Rush closed his eyes and then opened one of them, giving Ruth an amused and knowing look. Fortunately he decided not to make anything of it. “Okay. Will get.”

“I like the room. I like that I’m on your list too.” Ruth admitted. This place… was nice. Even without the good feelings he was receiving from how Rush felt about this place. It was a little cold inside, but that was unavoidable with the way the air came off the lake.

“Do you want a big throne? A shiny throne? A teeny tiny throne?” Rush ignored his comments, choosing instead to talk about Ruth’s request.

“You fuck. I knew you couldn’t leave it alone!” Ruth laughed helplessly. “I just wanted a place to stand or sit you smarmy shit.”

Rush peeled back his teeth and bared them in a very pointy-toothed smile.

Ruth was spared from whatever teasing he was about to receive when a little girl skipped through the doorway and into the room. She turned in a quick twirl and made a wave toward the wall, a sort of half-salute acknowledgement, before twisting around and scampering to the middle of the room where she fell down in a heap within arms reach of Rush.

“I think I heard you! Did you want me to read one of the books?” Chance’s voice was breathy and fast, excited and impatient in a way that Ruth was coming to associate with children.

“Mm. Yes. It is important to read me books.” Rush nodded sagely, the one open eye now fixated on Chance in a doting manner. “Chance is good. Good Chance. Not like that dumb dumb, Lucky.”

“He’s getting better!” Chance tried to defend her brother but her eyeroll led Ruth to believe she also thought her brother was kind of a ‘dumb dumb’. “At least don’t call him that. I think it hurts his feelings.”

“Feelings do not hurt.” Rush corrected.

“People have feelings, and people hurt,” Chance narrowed her eyes, seemingly taking a stand.

Rush eyeballed her for a moment longer, and amazingly(to Ruth at least), decided to let her little rebellion pass. Instead, he covered his snout with a clawed hand and coughed into it. A decidedly human action, Ruth noted.

“Chance will close her eyes and wait,” he said patiently.

“Okay!” Chance didn’t seem to care too much about what was going on. “For how long?”

“Not long.” Rush looked at Ruth and made a slight nod.

Ruth walked over and was rewarded with a smile from Chance as she looked up at him. He had brought bread rocks once and they had immediately won over all the children. The hard bread with the meaty sauce in the middle a small price to pay for loyalty. Children were fucking weird and easily bribable, Ruth had decided.

As Chance continued to look up at him and bare her teeth… Ruth decided this one was okay, at least. He just hoped she didn’t grow up to be scary like Poppy the healer

Then Chance closed her eyes and waited. She didn’t seem worried even though they hadn’t really given her any sort of talk or explanation on what they’d be doing.

Ruth looked at Rush and nodded. Then he closed his eyes and tried to send his mind toward their soul space. Ruth was entering Elsewhere.

**********

It was easier now. Ruth saw his soul space and found Rush immediately. The creature himself had teleported here. Ruth actually didn’t know if Rush could project his mind here and leave his body in Under Arch. He was about to ask when Rush nodded toward a small green ribbon that was hovering near their soul space.

"Press."

Ruth went over and pressed a finger down on it. Moments later he felt Rush guiding them through the Elsewhere. A few moments was all it had taken to appear in front of Chance’s soul space. It worried Ruth with how easy it had been. If you knew where to look it was that quick? His avatar shivered, a cold feeling washing over him at the thought of how exposed his soul space felt now.

Rush walked over to the soul space and nodded, confirming that this was in fact the place they were supposed to be. The soul space itself was tiny compared to his, and Ruth felt like he could probably take two or three giant steps and be completely through it at the widest point. It wasn’t exactly a sphere… either. More of an oblong shape, like a root vegetable. There was no discernible shape in the middle of the dimly lit space. Chance seemed to be some distance from awakening anything of that nature.

“Why does she have chains?” Ruth asked with no small amount of confusion. Chance’s soul space was immature in every way. There was absolutely no reason to chain it as far as he was concerned.

“Don’t know. All loyal subjects also have the tiny black chains. None are awakened. It keeps their space small and restricts mana from coming in. Had a thought. Checked it last night when we talked about the golden chains and the oaths.” Rush sounded wary now, casting a mournful look at Ruth. Rush felt impatience and anger coming from his companion. Someone was fucking with his retainers, and there was nothing that Rush hated more than someone tooling around with them.

Ruth had a suspicion he already knew what Rush was talking about. “Let me guess, everyone in Under Arch has the chains?”

“Yeah. Even the small ugly babies.” Rush didn’t really like babies. They weirded him out for some reason.

Rush and Ruth stared at the small black wiggling chains in silence.

“Well, babies can’t make oaths? How is it done?” Ruth ran a hand over his hair in consternation.

“Could find a baby being born and watch?” Rush sounded opposed to the idea even as he was suggesting it. “Maybe parents do it?”

“All of them?” Ruth frowned.

“Maybe it is this place?” Rush suggested. “Freddie read a book about Under Arch and the Arachne castle. This creature named Wilkeena is lord of this land, or so the book says. Freddie says she doesn’t know if Wilkeena is a real thing or not. She doesn’t know anyone that has seen her. We know she is real though, right?”

Ruth grunted in response. Wilkeena was a real thing. From conversations with the castle guards, Merriweather, even half-statements from Tamara revealed that the Arachne Wilkeena was a very real creature, even if she didn’t make her presence known.

“She is supposed to be gone or something now.” Ruth sighed, and then finally shook his head.

Rush seemed to come to the same conclusion he had and spoke the thought both of them were having. Wilkeena was unimportant at the moment. “Irrelevant.”

“Yeah. Can you break it?”

“Can’t break chains,” Rush said in frustration. “Keep trying the chain on our space. Too hard. Tried to gnaw it away but it heals faster than I can eat it. Tried to eat the one around Pipren’s. Same thing. Worse. Also, tastes bad.”

“These are smaller though. Can you chew through them?”

“Pipren says no one can chew through chains,” Rush repeated, shaking his head. “Now we know they are soul oaths… if a god can’t escape chains…”

Ruth went quiet for a moment. “...just try these.”

Rush turned his head and stared at Ruth. Genuine concern began to appear in his golden eyes. Rush hesitated as he considered. Not because he didn’t want to try, but what it meant if he failed.

It meant that there was no hope. Everything Rush had heard about soul chains from Pipren and his own experiments on their soul space, including the experience that Ruth had just had, indicated that there was nothing they could do. They would simply have to avoid being chained in the future. Avoid it at all costs.

So if he tried and failed, right now, Rush was afraid of it being too much for Ruth.

“I’m not so weak. Do it.” Ruth said quietly.

Rush moved to the edge of Chance’s soul space. He snorted, looking slightly tickled when the space started to shift toward him like it recognized his presence in a dim way. His amusement vanished as the chains immediately clanked as they pulled the space back in place.

Rush momentarily forgot Ruth was there. The soul shape seemed to be enraged by the sight of the chains strangling Chance’s soul space.

“EAT YOU!”

Rush sprang forward and red light burst out from his body as he clasped the links of the chain with his talons and bit down. Energy immediately sparked out from the chains and started whipping the small scaled body.

Rush froze. This was new.

It didn’t matter. The pain on his body as the chains began to resist only seemed to excite the small creature.

“I EAT!”

******

Chance opened her eyes, startled at the sudden heat and discomfort she felt in her body. Breathe! Couldn’t breathe. No air. Not enough air. She fell to the side as her chest began to heave up and down. The panic in her eyes increased and sweat started to break out on her skin.

She tried to reach out toward Lord Ruth, fingers clasping desperately at the hem of his clothes. His eyes were closed and he made no motion. It was like he couldn’t feel her trying to get his attention.

Chance looked around for Lord Rush but couldn’t find him. His large nest of blankets was gone.

Then something felt broken inside of her.

Her eyes went wide, fluttered, and then closed. She slumped to the floor, fingers still curled in a desperate claw as she held fast to Ruth’s clothing.

********

“Mm. Smells different.” Lord Rush peered down at Chance. When Ruth had returned to his body and Rush had teleported back they had both been a bit surprised and dismayed to find that Chance was crumpled into a sweating ball on the floor.

Rush had formed a hand from aura and gently pinched the edge of her tunic, carrying her to her spot among the nests of blankets.

An initial check had shown that she was breathing easily and was just asleep.

Both of them had been quietly relieved. They had, very possibly, forgot to check on her when they were experimenting in the Elsewhere.

“How long until she wakes up?” Ruth asked, scratching his head. After everything that had happened over the last day, he didn’t really give a damn if he missed afternoon combat practice or nightly theory with Tamara. That didn’t mean he really wanted to just sit here and stare down at Chance.

“Dunno.” Rush replied, shaking his head.

“Aren’t you the human expert?” Ruth scrunched up his face in disappointment.

“One month. Learn many things. Language best part. Know many ways to tell you to go fuck yourself!” Rush hissed angrily.

“Language...” Chance opened her eyes and sat up, eyes looking sleepily around the room. “Why is everything so bright?” Her eyes fell on Lord Rush and her eyes suddenly went wide with delight. “Oh wow! You’re so super red!”

Rush moved forward slowly after sharing a concerned look with Ruth, turning his head to peer with one eye at Chance. “Explain.”

“You have this pretty red light coming off you, like when it’s cold outside and you start to work real hard.” Chance made little wiggly fingers across her arms, trying to explain the steaming phenomenon to them.

Rush looked at Ruth and found that the Tiefling was already staring at him. They shared a look of growing excitement. The chain had been destroyed and Chance didn’t explode or die in some horrifying way.

Chance looked between them, and she started to smile too. “Why are we happy? Hey! Hey, what happened?”

“GOOD CHANCE. CHANCE IS GOOD!” Rush began to roar. He teleported around the room in short bursts. There didn’t seem to be any particular destination in mind. He looked like he was going to start crawling up the walls.

Ruth picked up the girl and began to twirl her through the air even as he hopped around. His tail thrashed wildly in all directions.

Chance was a little concerned as she observed the behavior of the two. It was possible that they had both been exposed to some bad food.

She decided to enjoy the attention for the moment.

Everything was a little bit brighter than she remembered. Breathing was easy too. Even when he twirled her around she had no trouble taking big lungfuls of air. It was nice.