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Chapter 17:

Arthur\'s Point of View

Hollow Forest

"Gonna have to be a little more specific." Was my reply to her.

"Ayda! Are you okay?!" Typhon asked worriedly as he helped her to her feet.

Cassidy supported her from behind to make sure she didn\'t fall. "Careful now." Ayda stood and shook her limbs as if studying herself. "Somethin wrong?" The redhead inquired.

Looking herself over, she frowned. "It doesn\'t appear so, which is what\'s so odd about this situation." Then she looked back at me. "Again, what did you do? I feel stronger than I did when we were fighting!" She then looked at the Elf who transfered my energy into her. "You used him as a magic donor, correct?"

"He was the only viable candidate." The Elf replied.

Ayda\'s head whipped right back to me. "Fascinating. Your magic is a lot denser than mine!" Hovering around me, I rolled my eyes as she wanted to touch me but refrained due to the blood covering me. "What did you go through to make your magic so thick?!"

Moving away from her, I started walking as I spoke. "I\'ve no idea what you\'re talking about." A smirk appeared on my lips. "That did sound a little naughty though. Be careful when speaking. People might get the wrong idea."

Stepping in beside me, she matched my pace as her hands lit up with an aura, and she ignored my sexual comment. "I feel stronger than ever! Granted, I did use my magic very irrationally against you, but this is incredible!"

Cassidy and Typhon fell in next to us. "Is it really that special?" Typhon asked.

"Ah think we should apologize for that misunderstanin first. Before gettin swept up into some new rant about somethin or another." Cassidy answered. "Special or not, we gotta make things right."

The Elf ignored Cassidy, much like she did with me, and continued anyway. "It\'s new, which makes it incredible! No one that transfers over magic and completely refills the recipient usually ends with less than stellar results. In most cases, some have even died! This, on the other hand, feels like I\'ve been rejuvenated, and you don\'t even seem to have noticed your missing magic!" Rubbing her body in a very inappropriate way for a librarian, she continued. "What\'s the secret!? What did you do?!" Ayda asked excitedly.

"It amuses me that you think I would answer any of your questions," I told her as I came to a stop. "You, and your little group, attacked me, remember?" Giving an annoyed look to their shocked ones, I gestured to myself. "Now, if you\'ll excuse me, I need a bath to get all this blood off of me." Looking back at one of the groups of Elves, I spoke to the Guards. "I\'ll be up the mountain once I\'m clean."

"That isn\'t necessary, Sir." That one generic Elf guard informed me. "You can clean up at the Temple." I didn\'t listen. "Sir?"

Walking off, by myself, I headed towards the Reed Farmstead. Figured it\'d be easy to borrow the hose quick and leave. As much as I loved the thought of traveling up the mountain covered in blood, I figured it\'d be a bad idea. A few of the guards ran up to me, and some even tried to stop me by standing in front of me.

Coming to a stop, I gave a cold glare. "If a single one of you gets in my way, I will hurt you." Was all I said.

One of the Elves held up his hands in placating gesture. "Sir-"

He began, but I walked past him, and shoulder checked him as he tried to touch me. This sent him sprawling out across the forest floor. Cassidy ran up to me and looked up at me but said nothing. The other guards were put on edge from this as well. Not that any of them would do anything about it. Not after my little rumble with Elincia.

"Ya want ta wash up at the farm?" Cassidy inquired.

"All I want is to use your hose if you don\'t mind." Was my response. "My armor may have gotten rid of most of the blood, but I can still feel my undershirt and pants are soaked. In a very mushy feeling. Not fun."

Sighing, she rubbed the back of her neck as she cringed from the details. "Not at all. If you\'re willin ta forgive me for that incident back there. Was tryin ta help ma friends."

Eyeing her for a moment, I nodded. "It\'s fine. At least you tried talking."

"Phwah!?" I heard Ayda gasp in irritation from behind. "I tried talking to you as well!"

"But you\'re not a redhead!" Was my reply.

Typhon, Ayda, and the guards all stood there dumbfounded as I left. "It\'s not really because Ah\'m a redhead, is it?" The redhead asked, worried about my reasoning.

Chuckling, I put my hand on her shoulder and shook her lightly. "No. You have running water."

Cassidy looked less than impressed. "Really?" Was her dull question.

"Also, no." Nudging her more playfully, I answered honestly. "You actually tried to apologize after the fact and make things right," I told her while we walked. "That, and unlike Ayda, you actually tried talking before the fight really started. Kine swooped in, got his ass kicked, and you kept a tempered disposition. Not something I would expect given it was your friend I injured."

The farmer shrugged. "Kine\'s always been like that. Quick ta misread the situation."

Quirking a brow at her, I gave her an amused look. "This coming from the same woman who attacked me after finding blood after she got home?" Cassidy blushed a little and pushed me, which made me chuckle. "I\'m just saying. Pot, kettle. Did you even check the house after finding the blood?"

"Leave me be! Ah said, Ah was sorry!" She shouted, embarrassed.

Chuckling, I took a playful punch from Cassidy. "Anyway, it wasn\'t until after I had almost all of you taken care of that Ayda calmed down and became more mischievous in trying to save all of you. She\'s a good friend, but once Floyd and you were taken care of, Ayda should\'ve known better."

"Ayda\'s stronger than most. She got that freaky librarian knowledge and can put it ta use. Mark ma words, none of us expected ya ta get the better of us." Then she looked down and kicked at the dirt. "Priestess Elincia included."

"I bet." The mirth could be heard in my response.

Cassidy became quiet as we walked back to the farm. After a few more minutes of walking, we exited the Hallow Forest as dawn was starting to peek over the horizon.. A few Zugal could be heard flying overhead, but I paid them no mind. Likely keeping an eye on me to see if I would truly go up the mountain. It did amuse me though that they were doing this. Whether it was out of respect for their Priestess whom I defeated, or if they were ordered by Arceana, I was unsure.

"Can Ah ask ya a question, Arthur?" Cassidy inquired once we got back to the farm.

Turning on the hose, I took my armor off. "What\'s the question?" Ayda had stopped following us and teleported away at some point, which was nice.

"Who are you?" The redhead\'s question seemed to get the attention of the Zugal, who landed on the roof to listen.

My top half had been removed, and I set them down to start washing them. "Does it matter?" I asked back.

"A little," Cassidy said honestly. "There ain\'t no one who can fight one of the Priestesses like ya did. So, there\'s gotta be somethin yer not tellin us."

"Look, Cassidy, I\'m not anyone you need to worry about," I told her as I ran my shirt under the hose, and red just flowed from it. "If I\'m being honest, I\'m just passing through. The Priestesses are none of my concern, and neither are your boys up on the roof." Standing and wringing my shirt out, I flapped it once. "So, don\'t be concerned with me or about me."

"That doesn\'t answer ma question." Cassidy replied in an unsure manner as she crossed her arms.

Putting the shirt back on was annoying cause it was still wet, but it would work for now. "If you must know, I\'m nobody, nothing, and certainly not your problem." I said as I took off my grieves and pants, which made Cassidy turn around with a small blush and look of disbelief. "I did a favor for your brother. It\'s the only reason any of you are putting up with me. I get it. Don\'t worry though, I\'ll be leaving soon."

"What\'d\'ya mean?" Cassidy asked with a hand covering her eyes.

"Why would I stay here? From what I can tell so far, the guards are a bunch of dicks," I began and looked up on the roof, which had three Zugal glaring down at me. "Yeah, that includes you fuckers!" I continued as I washed my pants. "Not only that, but there isn\'t anything here for me. Been in confrontation after confrontation, and I really don\'t feel like living that kind of life again."

Wringing out my pants, I put them on still damp. Moving onto my armor was next. Thankfully, whatever my sword did to the blood on it, my armor did the same. The blood was all gone, but it did feel wrong to be wearing it and not wash it. It\'s part of the reason why I washed it ever so lightly.

"I\'m dressed," I told her as she turned around. "Don\'t worry, though, Cassidy. I never get what I want, so I\'ll likely end up stuck here for some stupid reason or another."

"Yer one of those pessimists, ain\'t ya?"

"Guilty."

Sighing, Cassidy moved to the house. "Let me tell Grandpa Ah\'m takin ya ta meet the Priestesses, and we\'ll get a move on. Sound good?"

I shrugged. "Whatever works. I\'m expecting a trap of some manner when we arrive, so let Austin know I might not be coming back."

That got her to stop and turn back to me. "Ya think they\'re setting up a trap?"

Pointing up at the Zugal on the rooftop, I replied. "The bird people won\'t leave me be, so I\'m assuming they were ordered to keep an eye on me."

"Arthur, don\'t ya think yer bein a little paranoid?" After a moment, she added as she looked up at the Zugal. "And racist?"

"I don\'t see why they would be following me around." Then I looked back up there. "Unless you guys are up there to crow for some odd reason," I shouted up at them and then looked back down to the redhead. "I\'m going to stay on guard."

"You don\'t like Zugal or something?" One of the guards on the rooftop asked angrily. "Or are you racist in general?"

I shrugged as I didn\'t bother to look at them. "Not really racist. Just pointing out flaws in everyone and everything. You boys still aren\'t cawing!"

At this point, I heard a few steps and wrestling. Looking up, I saw one of the guards flapping around as he was trying to come off the roof, but his companions stopped him. The very definition of \'hold me back, bro\' at its finest. Chuckling at that got Cassidy to frown. Of course, the one guard eventually calmed down and glared daggers at me.

"You think humans are so much better, or perhaps you\'re just like the snobs in the upper rungs who think Elves are superior to every other race!?" The guard asked angrily.

"Not at all. I fucking hate humans too." I said earnestly, which got everyone present to look at me stumped. "Elves lost their novelty the moment I met Ayda. So, fuck them too. Don\'t know about the other races, but I hate Humans, Elves, and Zugal equally. Fuck all y\'all."

Not really knowing what to say to that, Cassidy merely shrugged. "Alright then. Ah guess that settles that. Once Ah let Grandpa know we can get a lift from the guards up the mountain." She informed me.

"What do you mean?" I asked immediately after she said that.

"They\'re goin ta be flyin us up. Ferrying is the right word Ah believe." The redhead explained.

"You mean the guards I\'ve been insulting for the last five minutes?"

Pointing at me with a smirk, she chuckled. "Those exact ones! Ah\'ll be back in a moment."

One of the guards chuckled. "It\'s good to know you hate everyone and not just Zugal. Don\'t worry, we won\'t drop you."

"I liked it better when each of you thought I was racist against Zugal." I replied without looking up at them.

"Don\'t know why." The same guard replied. "I don\'t care what you do, but you might want to tone the hate for everything. Might put a real damper on the upper rungs."

Another generic guard spoke quickly. "Or, here me out, have him be racist to those entitled-"

Cutting the guard off, I shouted up to them. "Sun\'s coming up boys. Ca-caw, bitches!"

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We officially got over 500 Power Stones! Thank you so much for the love! This is the extra chapter I promised! They will always come out on Sunday if we hit our goal! We did great and everyone got super excited! If we hit 700 Power Stones this week, I\'ll release another extra chapter!