Mela led them out of the house. Nox followed, his jaw still tight from the humiliating display of power he’d just been on the receiving end of. The crowd of dark elves was still gathered, their hostility still clear.
As they walked down the path, the god chat, which had been silent during the confrontation, popped into his vision. Of course, they wouldn’t miss a chance to kick him while he was down.
[Baron Von Cynic] Oh, dear. ’I could kill you before you even blink.’ And then he got shut down like a misbehaving child. The second-hand embarrassment is exquisite.
[Trickster God Hermes IV] LOL, that was brutal! He went from super-scary-dark-lord to a dizzy toddler in like, two seconds flat. She didn’t even break a sweat. 😂
[Lord of Carnage] Pathetic. All that power and he can’t even stand up to a real opponent. He let her get in his head.
Nox felt his own thoughts leaking out, a wave of pure, unfiltered annoyance. ’Oh, shut up. All of you.’
Auraelia’s private message appeared a moment later, her text box a much more welcome sight.
[Auraelia, Goddess of Resilient Sparks (Private Chat)] Don’t listen to them, Nox! Fena is an Elder, she’s probably been using mana since before your great-grandparents were even born! It’s okay that you’re not as strong as her yet! You’re still learning! 💖
He dismissed her message with a mental nod of thanks. The other gods were right about one thing, though. The display had been pathetic. But they were wrong about how he felt. He wasn’t embarrassed. He wasn’t defeated.
’This is awesome,’ he thought, a slow, dangerous grin spreading across his face. The ache in his body was a dull throb, but underneath it, a fire was being lit. He had just touched a mountain.
He had felt its sheer, immovable weight. And all he could think about was how he was going to learn to climb it. ’So this is what real power feels like. I’ve got a long way to go.’
The feeling was intoxicating. He had a new goal, a new benchmark. Get as strong as that old elf woman. Then get stronger.
They reached another house, this one a little smaller and set apart from the others. It looked sturdy, but the windows were high and narrow, more like slits in a fortress than windows in a home.
Mela pushed the door open. "You will stay here," she said, her voice formal. She pointed to a stack of clean blankets and a bucket of water in the corner. "You will be brought food twice a day. Do not attempt to leave."
Liesa, who had been trailing behind them with a sour look on her face, stepped forward. "And don’t think about trying any more of your cheap tricks, human," she sneered. "My mother is not as patient as I am."
He just looked at her, his grin not fading. "Yeah? Your mother also didn’t get her dagger shattered by a ’cheap trick’."
Her face flushed with anger, and she opened her mouth to shoot back, but Mela put a hand on her shoulder. "Enough, Liesa. Let’s go."
Mela gave Nox one last, unreadable look before pulling her sister out of the house. Valeria was already gone, having vanished as silently as she had appeared. The door closed with a heavy thud, and Nox heard the sound of a thick wooden bar being slid into place on the outside.
He let out a long breath and carefully set Serian down on one of the blankets.
"We are prisoners," she said, her voice quiet.
"Yeah," he replied, stretching his arms above his head, wincing as his sore muscles protested. He walked around the small room, his eyes taking in their new cage. "But they’re giving us a place to sleep and free food." He looked over at her, his eyes bright with an energy that seemed completely out of place. "And I’ve got time to train."
She just stared at him, her brow furrowed. He had just been completely overpowered by the Elder, and now he was acting like he’d just been given a gift. She didn’t understand him at all.
And for some reason, that made her smile.
He walked over and sat down on a blanket across from her, the small space of the house feeling both like a cage and a strange sort of sanctuary. He glanced at her leg, which she was holding carefully, trying not to move it too much.
"It still hurts," she admitted, shifting a little to find a more comfortable position. "But the poultice Fena gave me... it feels warm. I think it is helping."
"Good," he said, leaning his head back against the wall. They sat in silence for a minute, the only sound the faint, distant noises of the elf village outside their barred door.
She watched him, scanning his whole vibe. "You are not angry," she finally said. "We are prisoners, and you were just... utterly defeated. Yet you seem almost pleased."
He let out a short, quiet laugh. "Pleased isn’t the right word." He looked at his own hands, flexing his fingers. "But I’m not angry either."
She tilted her head, trying to understand the strange logic of the human boy in front of her. "Do you regret it, then?" she asked, her voice soft. "Coming into this forest? Following me into all this trouble?"
He looked up, and his eyes met hers. They weren’t cold or distant. They were burning with a low, intense fire she hadn’t seen before, not even in their fights.
"No," he said, his voice completely serious. He leaned forward a little, a small, genuine smile appearing on his face. It was a smile full of a dangerous kind of excitement. "Before I met that woman, I thought I was getting strong. I thought I was a big shot after taking down a few monsters and scaring off that mercenary."
He shook his head, his gaze distant for a second. "But that? What she did? She didn’t even try. She just erased me." He looked back at her, his eyes bright. "Now I know what real power looks like. I know how high the mountain goes."
He leaned back against the wall again, a look of profound satisfaction on his face. "So, no. I don’t regret it at all," he said, his voice dropping to a near whisper. "In fact, I’m glad we came."
Serian just stared at him, a slow smile spreading across her own face. He was an impossible, reckless, infuriating human. And she was starting to think that was exactly what she liked about him.