I lost track of the time that I have spent sitting and meditating in the training room, and even then only the overwhelming dizziness was the only reason that made me stop. After sparring with Gis and training my mind and spirit till the edge of fainting I decided that I have had enough.

This is not how my training was supposed to look – by now I should have already met an old, bearded sage living in the forest or cave which would agree on training me after I spend days on “proving myself worthy”.

Unfortunately, as for now, in my sight, there was no old sage that mastered some ancient technique living in the middle of nowhere. Plenty of old men, plenty of crazy people living outside of the city, even quite a few that indeed knew an interesting skill or two. But not a single person who would fit in all of the mentioned roles at the same time. That’s a bummer.

I shut the door behind myself and went toward the bathroom where pretty much I collapsed into wooden bathtub to which I earlier poured water. Normally, someone would have to spend quite some time warming the water on the small stone furnace-like contraction, but for fuck sake – I become a mage for sake of not waiting.

The water was hot, maybe even too much and could make every regular mortal’s skin to boil, but, then again, I have that natural fire resistance for something!

Right now, I was preparing myself to dive into nice, peaceful, well-deserved slumber. I relaxed all my tense muscles, closed my eyes, let out a deeply satisfied sigh… just to noticed something entered my bathtub.

“Damn. You always manage to pick best temperature.” Giselle purred deeply satisfied. “I thought I told the staff worker I don’t want me to be disturbed.” I said whit slightly annoyed tone “You did.” “Yet he let you in.” “He let me in? No. I let myself in. Love, I need no permission. He did his best trying to stop me though.” “I hope you didn’t hurt him badly.” “No… Not badly at least.”

This woman just does whatever she pleases.

“Anyway, isn’t the tub bit too small for the two of us?” I raised a question. The tub could barely fit one person, and even then only is a semi-sitting position. “If you would just wait a moment, we will manage to fit just… like… that…”

A sudden feeling of pleasant heaviness on my chest informed that Gis just lied on me.

“We barely cuddle lately, you know?” she pouted like an annoyed child “Unfortunately, traveling, diving into dungeon, devil banishing and monster hunting are not the best times for love and affection.” “… Still, if it was only up to me, as long as it is with you, I wouldn’t mind doing it even in the heat of battle.” “Who are you and what did you do to my Giselle? There is no way she would say something that sweet to m… OUCH!...” a quick punch “… Ok. Fine, you are a real Gis.” “You are such a mean bastard! You know it’s difficult for me to openly admit my feelings! Don’t mock me when I… When I…”

I put my hand on her head starting to gently stroke her hair.

“I am sorry, love.”

Her anger melted away.

We stayed like there, enjoying each other’s presence, sinking deeper into warm water and each other’s embrace.

“Zaaa-ri. Lanele was looking for you.”

After a few minutes of blissful nothingness, my dragoness spoke up.

“What did Kim do this time?” “It’s not about the Kim this time!...” she chuckled “… You started learning elvish, remember? At local merchants she found few books and wanted me to remind you that you are supposed to study…”

I groaned

“Why did I ever asked her for help…” “Back then you mentioned something about negotiations with elvish merchants… And benefits of casting spells in elder tongue, or something like that.” “Ah, right.” “It’s dumb to me – the spell changing its properties depending on the words used. When I have a sword, it doesn’t matter who was it forged by – elves, dwarves, humans, all that matter is skill of a the one that wield it!” “Giselle…” “Yes?” “You are carrying a huge-ass meteoric sword forged by dwarves, and refuse to use any other tool. I don’t even remember when was the last time you used your twin axes.” “I-it’s because… it’s irrelevant!” “The magic is a symbol – you need to manifest it to make it have an effect. Sometimes, the mere thought, emotion or will is enough, but the better you would… your intention, the purer the effect would be. Elvish language is very graphical. You can literally play with words. The information that humans can deliver in an essay can be given by a single sentence in elvish. I have already learned a single chant…” “SHOW ME!!!” “The bathroom is not a suitable place for that. Maybe some other time.” “Killjoy.”

I sighed one more time before stretching my body.

“Gis. Get off me.” “Nope!” “Gis. I have a things to do.” “What things?” “Thingy-things. The boring stuff. Meeting with potential suppliers, checking the market, ordering someone’s assassination. Y’know, the regular. Later on, I may indeed meet up with Lana.” “Riiight. Fine… Zari can I ask you a question?” “You just d…” “If you answer me with again you will earn a punch.”

She silenced me in a split of second.

“Of course you can, love.” “When you would find some time, do you mind… I mean… It’s that… Uh.” “I have no idea what’s going on, but as long as you really want to do that, I am fine with that.” “You don’t even know what I want to ask, idiot!” “But I know that you are the one asking it. That’s enough.” “… idiot.” Despite of what she just said, I could feel how happy I just made her “… I wanted to ask if in the nearest time you don’t have any official meeting? Like, officially-official.” “All the time I am getting these. Refusing all of them thought.” “Invitations for banquets? Parites?” “Yeah. Since the time I appeared on Blackwood’s party I have heard that my appearance became someone symbol of status. You know . I hate boosting nobles' ego. I hate almost all nobles, that is. So each time I receive an invitation, I am throwing it to the fireplace.” “Would you… have some invitation from the family you don’t completely hate?” “Why do you a… wait, don’t tell me you want to… But why?” “Oh, I just nicely ask you if you could! If you don’t want then nobody forces you! For fuck sake! Don’t question me like that!” “No. It is important to me! What is your motivator! Last time I checked you didn’t love all these rich bitches either! So what does this even has, that is so tempting to y… Giselle, just don’t tell me you want to wear a formal dress again…” “WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT!? I am a lady, you know?! I may love armors and simple, easy clothing, but from time to time even I want to…” “Fine.” “… and just so you know, even though you are saying no… Wait, what?” “Fine by me. In my spare time, I will check all the letters that came, will even bring them, so you could decide where you want to go.” “But… you just said…” “I just said I want to know your motivator so I could pick best option. I should deal with it by the end of the day, is that fine with you?” “But… you hate these parites, so I thought that you would refuse and…” “Giselle.” “Yes?” “I may hate the parties, but I love you. That should be enough of a reason.”

She turned around hiding her bright red face from me.

“Don’t say that so casually!” “So how you want me to say that? In a poem?” “Pff. Sure. Try me.” “Giselle…” “What? No, no you don’t. Don’t you dare!” “From the depth of my heart, from the bottom of my soul,

I swear my oath of endless love to you.

I may have piles of gold, an access to knowledge possessed by few,

But it all means nothing, if I don’t share it with you.

The beauty of moon, of thy nymphs and the lands,

All fade into nothingness compared to grace you have.

Giselle, my love, know this one thing.

The heavens may fall and the oceans may go dry.

But my love, to you, never shall die.”

She was looking my deep in the eyes. Embarrassed. Paralyzed. She had no idea how to behave. Her hands and lips were trembling, her cheeks no longer were just red – her whole face was crimson as if she was suffering fever.

But her tail betrayed her real feelings. It wasn’t just twitching, it wasn’t even waveing with such ferocity that whoever would approach her now would surely be knocked unconscious by the mere strength of the blow.

“W-why would you say that?! Y-y-you fiend! What kind of sorcery is this?!” she started babbling. “Me? Casting magic? No, Gissele. I may be magician, but you are then one that charmed me in the very day we met.”

She was opening her mouth and closing them over and over again. She clearly wanted to say something for the pure sake of talking, but her mind was blank.

I got a little bit closer to her and embraced her closely.

“Giselle. I have told that to you numerous times, but I will do that again. When we met, I have completely lost my faith in mankind. To me, everyone just wanted to use me, everyone was dull, evil with hidden intentions. Everyone who would find about who I was and what I did would react with shock, they would stop seeing me as an individual, as a person, instead, they would see me either as monster or tool. Jericho for first few weeks was watching me closely, Marika, Mrogul, Loki, and everyone else would freak out… But you… You showed me that there are pure, innocent beings out there, these that would judge you by your actions instead of the label that was given to you. You gave me the hope that I lost. I wanted to give up being human. To seek for the vengeance. To make a new world to my liking, even if that meant burning the current one to the ground… Yet now, I don’t want to change anything in this world, because it is a world you are living in. Giselle. I. Love…”

I kissed her. Gently. With an innocent passion. For a moment or two before parting our lips.

“… You.” “Zari.” “Yes?” “You are not going anywhere today.” “What? Why? What happe…”

She pounced at me forcefully sealing our lips. Her hands locked behind my neck pulling me closer.

The pure warmness slowly started turning into something different, far less pure. The desire of each other’s presence slowly, yet passionately turned into a more lustful need. Warmness turned into a spark, spark turned into fire, and fire into a raging inferno of carnal need. The heat made us thirst for one another, and source of our relief we could only find in each other’s lips.

Kim was taking a stroll across the city. He learned to both love and hate this new order build by “sapient races”. On the one hand – it let you specialize in your best traits – hunters could focus on hunting, craftsmen could focus on crafting, on the other hand – it made these people instincts grown dull. People would stop looking for perfection in other areas, which could led them to be shortsighted. Narrow minded. Lazy. Weak.

For Kim, perfection was manifested only by a creature that excelled in every field when it was needed. Do you need to fly? Then grow wings and better lungs. You don’t have to fly? Then wings are enhanced wings are wasteful – consuming too much energy without any use for them. Only perfectly adapting to new situations for a time of performing a task was perfect. Everything else was pointless.

But, one thing he had to admit. Food – he knew no place where he could find ice creams growing.

“USELESS MONGREL!” a loud scream could be heard from one of the back alleys, followed by whizzing sound ending with a crash, and then scream of a woman.

Allured by the sound of violence, Kim moved into the bottom alley

“I am sorry! I am sorry! Please! I beg your forgiveness, master! AAH!” another whizz, another crash, another scream.

Kim got a new, nice view of the scenery. A man, dressed as rich merchant was hitting a woman in a rags with a whip.

“Do you know what did you just do?!”

Next to them there was a cargo cart partly filled with bottles of whiskey. One crate was lying smashed on the ground.

No detective was needed to understand what happened. Though, crates with bottles appreard to be heavy. This small, weak, famished girl could barely lift the crates. It was more than obvious that this was bound to happen. Why did he hired such a weak woman to lift the crates?

“DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT WILL COST ME!?” “Please! I will find a way to pay up!” “PHA! Maybe as a whore! And it’s not about the money, stupid sub-human! I had the commitment to fulfill! My clients also has clients! I didn’t just lose money! I lost respect! Renown! No one wants to deal with a merchant that can’t deliver a cargo!”

Another sound of a whip slashed the silence.

Interesting. The woman was not human. Had bit longer nails, her eyes were bigger and had deeper color, oh, and yes, her ears were looking like that of a dog. Hybrid? Chimera?

Chi-me-ra? Kim – e – ra? She was like him? She was like brother Zari? They were not as lonely as he thought?

The woman curled covering her head and started whispering something that man couldn’t hear. But Kim could. He perfectly heard what she was chanting. It was something that humans called a prayer.

“… And find me, oh master, of flesh and bones, you proudly carrying the name of a mortal, effortlessly scratching the wall of dreams without knowing the sins…” another scream made her lost her chant for a split of the second “… bring me the strength to defeat thy foes. Give me the fangs to feast on their corpse. The man, the beast, the god of all. Claim this world as a lawful lord. You, who are a bird, you, who are a snake. You, who are every being you ever yearn. Come in your glory. Come in your rage. Turn this world into an ember, and …”

Another scream.

“… this is my, another voiceless cry. This is my, another hopeless cry…” “What did you say?” the merchant heard the last part “… I know these words! You are one of those who worship that devil? Tha! Let’s see if it comes to help you! YOU! USELESS! MUT!” with every word he delivered another blow. “… who would give a damn about some disgusting sub-huma…aaa! AAA!”

His scream disturbed what he wanted to say. Why he was screaming? Because someone started tearing him apart.

When pieces of his body were finally scattered across the whole alley. Kim approached awe-struck demi-human and with nice, reassuring smile asked.

“Tell me some more about the god you worship.”

Oh, actually, the smile appeared to be nice and reassuring only to a lone woman. Because it actually was a smile of cruel monster which was about to commit carnage.