Chapter 1: A Talk

Chapter 13: A Talk

’So before I start talking, I want to ask a few questions, is that okay?’ I spelled out with flames in the air.

"Yes, that’s fine, I’ll do my best to rectify the wrong of hunting you down and kidnapping you." He said.

’So you said that your daughter was afflicted with an ill condition yes?’

"Correct, her body physically can’t handle her own bloodline, which is between me and her mother, who was a tabby cat woman."

’And because of that you kidnapped me to help her. But how does kidnapping me help her?’

"I suppose it’s right you know why you went through all of that. Those people are part of an organization, an organization that wants to bring what you call a ’Soul Scroll’ into their society, as they have been cursed by the gods to not have it, and before you ask why they are cursed I’ll explain. They are part of a united nation that focuses more on technology than magic."

’Technology?’

"Uhh, where do I begin with this one? Hmm....."

He sat there for a while with his eyes closed and head in hand, thinking. A few minutes pass before he answered.

"Technology is... like clockwork, you know what a clock is?" I nodded. "Good, then you’ll understand this a bit easier. Technology is sort of like clockwork but extremely complicated, it’s like... Okay, so imagine the gears in a clock, now imagine that each one was made of a different material and had its own specific function that no other gear could do, it’s like that."

I just stared blankly at him.

"Yeah, I’m not surpriesed by that reaction, it is quite hard to understand if you don’t know anything about it. Let’s move on to the next question."

Shaking my head to get out of my stupor I recreated the lines of fire to make a new question.

’What was the reason I specifically was taken?’

"You were alone, had a Soul Scroll and we knew where you released a huge power signature which was traced and tracked back to you."

"..." I stayed silent before asking something else.

’Why did you help with this, and how exactly was your help required?’

"Well, the reason I helped, as stated before, was my daughter, she has a condition which should have been cured with this organization’s version of your ’Soul Scroll’, which should have given her the ability to cure it all by herself, but now I don’t know what’ll happen to her. As for how I helped in hunting you, I used to live in the desert before I lived in the city so I knew how to track things in what, to them, looked like nothing but pure sand."

’What about your wife?’

"She... Didn’t last long after giving birth..." That sentence hit me hard, like a rock smashing through my chest.

"..." I sat there and thought about everything he had said for a while, taking a bite out of the meat that I had been eating slowly over the course of this ’conversation’ and slowly came to a conclusion.

’I still feel hate towards you, but I know in my heart that I can’t keep hold of it for long, after all, I’m basically your daughter in this situation.’

"... How so?" He asked in confusion to what I said.

’Because my mother died a few years after my birth due to a curse placed upon her, my birth shouldn’t have even happened because of that curse, yet here I am, alive while she’s dead..." Tears started coming out of my eyes as I recalled these horrid memories.

"You can take your time, I’m not going anywhere." He said, which was comforting to hear as I hadn’t heard such words in a long time. After a few more minutes of crying, I continued on.

’Then, a couple of decades later, my father had to leave me as well, not because of a curse or something, but because he had an obligation back home.’

"What kind of obligation? And why couldn’t he just take you with him?"

’He’s a Prince of Hell, the one that razed that city.’

"Aaahhhhh... ... ... That makes a lot of sense now." He said dumbfoundedly with a blank stare on his face.

I smiled at such a reaction.

"Carry on then."

’Because he’s a Prince of Hell, one; he has to rule his part of hell, and two; I would have to die to go with him, which I didn’t want to do obviously.’

"I see..."

We sat there in silence for a while. Eventually I finished the meat that I was holding and continued our conversation.

’So, why choose me over your daughter?’

"It’s just in my nature, I guess. Minotaur’s have two sides, a violent impulse and a need to uphold just morals. I don’t know why this is the case but it is. Normally a Minotaur would let their violent impulses get to them but some, like me, don’t let that part of themselves control who they are. Because of this nature, I feel that helping you is more important than my daughter, mainly because I’m the reason you suffered."

’So how far are you willing to go out into the desert with me?’

"Until I get you back home."

’I don’t have a home, it got taken away from me shortly after father left.’

"Oh... I guess that explains why you were wandering the dunes."

"Anything else you want to ask or say?"

’No.’

"Well, I’ll be at the entrance then, watching out for threats."

With that he left to the entrance of the cave to patrol, meanwhile I needed some time to process what we had discussed. I still resent him but I can understand him to a degree. Moving off of that I went back to my Soul Scroll, which had many things that needed to be covered, mainly the skills but some other things too.

I looked back over it and realised that I had glossed over a specific line.

I wasn’t going to be permanently a mute for the rest of my life, which brought me happiness and tears to my face, at least I would be able to talk again after I think a few years. Though if I remember correctly, it seems to have gone up by about an hour or two, probably because of when I tried to speak earlier but threw up.

Besides all of that there was also the fact that I gained another skill called which feels like it’s something different to what I actually did.

Ignoring that I decide to start with something simple, my Stat Points, of which I had a hundred of, so I just double checked the conversion rate for them.

’EEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?!