Omen: 15, 20

  ‘Damn, look at that Omen!’ Adam smiled to himself. ‘How an be so lucky?’

  Once Adam was able to doff his children, he tio plete his m routine. Gurot sat beside the half elf o was time for breakfast, the boy pig up slices of his banana to eat, making a mess over his face, his hands also growing sticky.

  “Do you like your salya?” Adam asked, wiping the fruit off the boy’s face he was done. Gurot only smiled shyly in response, before Adam picked him up to hug him tight. “How this be? Gurot, my boy, how you be this cute?”

  “Stop it,” Jirot called out, pointing up to her father. “My daddy.”

  “Yes, yes, that’s right,” Adam replied, letting out a rge smile.

  “Adam,” called a familiar voibsp;

  ‘I wasn’t that ge, was I?’ Adam thought, before following the Elder out. Zijin didn’t take the half elf towards his estate, this time leading Adam though the various tunnels of the Iyr.

  “We will rent to you the plot of ween the rivers,” Elder Zijin informed as they made their way. “You may use it as you please, but the Iyr reserves the right to resd the offer when it pleases.”

  “Please give me a month’s notice so I resettle the others.”

  “I ot promise you such, but we will try.”

  “I guess that’s good enough…” Adam wasn’t sure he could press the Iyr.

  “You will pay one hundred gold monthly for the nd, one hundred gold monthly for each shrine you require for business,” the Elder informed. “We will also offer to assign some Iyrmen to assist with safeguarding the business at the price of one Basic on seasonally, or one Greater on yearly.”

  “When you say seasonally, is that four seasons?” Adam asked. “Does the Twilight Month t as a season?”

  “Four seasons.”

  “Ah.” Adam nodded.

  “We have already formed a pn for the fort, and will reveal to you most of the secret rooms within. The payment for the fort shall be takehe course of many years.”

  “How much?”

  “The cost of the fort is typically tens of thousands of gold, but we would be willing to accept five Greater ons, or thirty with the first pluck of a Greater entment.”

  ‘First pluck?’ Adam thought. ‘Oooh!’ “So it works?”

  “It does.”

  Adam go the side, noting how his XP had increased by a hundred. ‘Oh. I see.’ “Nice. So, what, about ten days of enting this month? We were pnning leaving by the end of the month…”

  “I have faith you will return and repay such debts,” Zijin stated, causing Adam to smile. The Elder led Adam though the tuowards a rger shrine, oh a simir set up of six stoanding in a circle.

  Adam gnced around, noting a door set withione. “Where does that lead to?”

  “Nowhere, at this moment,” Zijin replied. “There is rock behind it.”

  “Okay…” Adam decided against asking more about the topic. “When you say you want the first pluck, do I have to pay for the gems used during the first pluck?”

  “No.”

  “Thank you.” ‘Phew.’ Adam was gd to had saved five hundred gold for each Greater on.

  “You may ent here from now,” the Elder stated. “Yic will not work within this area, but you will be able to ent. The Iyr’s magic will guide you back when you are done.”

  “Just what is…” Adam shook his head, letting out a defeated sigh. “Never mind.”

  Elder Zijin smiled, bowing his head before he left the half elf be. As the Elder left, he thought of what else he could do to make sure Adam would remain safe before he retired.

  Adam ented passively within the shrine, creating several Basic magical ons which would be aued throughout the year. He o create a few so he could adventure in peace. ‘No one would believe I was the Enter if I’m showing my face around while the ons are being aued.’

  Meanwhile, Elder Story met with someone who was long thought to be dead. The figure long thought dead appeared to be a young woman, with dark blue hair, nearly bck, which parted around her horns, and her eyes were blue and silver. She sat opposite a small snake, whose body was entirely red, as though it were made of blood.

  “It’s been a while,” Umbra said, staring at the one known as Elder Story, though she khe figure by another name. “I heard my father caused you trouble.” Umbra blinked upon the response she heard within her mind. ‘Right, father said she was shy.’

  “You don’t have to be so polite, I know how my father is.” Umbra poured them cups of wine, slowly sipping her own. “If you’ve returned from the Higher Realm, it must be because you had to assist one of mine?”

  While the pair had their versation, in the Higher Realm, the two Emperors also spoke. Emperor Shama had intruded himself into the court, and with the dismissal of the court, the pair shared cups of tea. They were on the fifth cup when Emperor Shama finally decided to speak.

  “You have a boy, don’t you?” Emperor Shama asked.

  “I have many boys,” Emperor Iskar replied.

  “There was a boy by the name of Bael,” Shama stated, thinking back to their first meeting.

  Emperor Iskar let out a sigh. ‘Of course he would want to speak of that troublesome girl of mine…’

  Emperor Shama’s thoughts fell back to the event which had occurred withi few years, withi couple of turies.

  “Hoi hoi hoi,” Gabba ughed, throwing a rock down towards one of the isnds, f the warriors statioo panic, trying to deal with the robsp;

  “Gabba, you shouldn’t cause so much trouble, even if this is the Outskirts,” Gubbu, Gabba’s twin brother replid.

  Gabba, the rge earth giant, tio chuckle, reag down into the earth of the sky isnd, slig it with his fingers as though the earth was made of butter, before f it into a ball. “Rex, brudda, it is not like either of the Emperors will e and-,”

  “You wicked fiends!” came out a shout, and standing atop the nearby hill was a…

  Little girl?

  Her hair was dark, near bck, cut short, her bangs c her forehead. Her eyes blue and silver eyes were filled with the kind anly an emperor could have. She wore the attire of a warrior, though it had been sized to fit the little dragon child, who was no doubt only twenty years old or so, only a few years older than a baby, her horns still growing.

  Gabba turo his twin brubbu, the rge earth serpent, and exged a curious look with the tiny girl, who stood defiantly atop the hill. “Who are you?”

  “You wicked, no, you punks! I am, I’m Emperor Hadda!” the little girl excimed, her stance widening as she gred at the pair in front of her. “Who are you, ya, ya punks?” the girl stuttered, trying to speak properly improper.

  “Hey, kid, how you dare to say that man’s name?” Gabba asked, still crushing the earth together, f it into a tiny pebble. He felt his body cool at the thought of the figure known as Emperor Hadda, that crazy old man. He felt the heat against the back of his neck, but thought nothing of it.

  “You brat, why are ya staring at me that way?” the girl asked, before narrowing her eyes, her lips f a smirk. “You wanna fight?”

  “It’s dangerous here, kid, you should leave,” Gubbu said, slithering his way along the earth towards the tiny girl atop the hill.

  “Are ya gonna run away from a fight?” the girl g to be Emperor Hadda asked, smirking cheekily towards the pair.

  “Kid, you better watch what you say?”

  “If yer a coward, jus’say so,” the girl stated, tilting her head upwards as she smirked at the pair.

  Gubbu turned his head to look towards his twin brother, the earth giant who stepped towards the girl to tower over her. “Little girl, you have to watch what you say. You’re lucky we’re kindly folk, otherwise you’d find yourself in trouble.”

  The girl inhaled deeply as the shadows loomed over her. “It’ll take too long if you e one by one, so both of ya, e at me together.”

  The earth giant’s body fshed red hot as he reached down towards the girl. “Little girl, you should-,”

  “Young man, why don’t you step aside?” a voice called from behind Gabba, the stranger pg a hand on the kneelih giant’s shoulder. He was an older man, adorned in the fi of battle garments. His forehead was tattooed, a colle of four dots in the tre whied a diamond.

  “Who do you thi-,” Gabba began, before his entire body fshed red hot, embers tig across his skin.

  Gubbu remained frozen still, staring at the stranger who had appeared. No, he was ner, for who in these realms didn’t know who this figure was?

  The little girl stared up at the older man. “Just who do you-,” she began before she gasped, her mouth f a tiny circle in shod excitement. “So you’ve finally e, ya punk!”

  “Who might you be?” Emperor Shama asked, allowing the pair of earth elementals, criminals who kept causing issues iskirts, to leave.

  “I’m Emperor Hadda, and I’ve e ta beat ya!” the girl excimed fidently.

  ‘…’ Emperor Shama couldn’t believe he had rushed away from his duties to e and find one of that bastard’s brats messing around in his territory. He could imagihe mess right now thanks to his sudden disappearance, including from all those annoying fools who kept begging him to do something about the tiny issues they couldn’t handle.

  “Little girl, you-,”

  “I’m not a little girl, I’m Emperor Hadda!” she shouted, daring to cut off the Lord of Fmes. She raised her fists up, ready to fight. “e on, ya punk! There’s no way yer gonna run away, are ya, Shammy boy?”

  “…” The Emperor undid the bde at his side, which floated to one side. It was a on which could mate of the greatest in the Higher Realm, and was all but extin the Lower Realms. “You two kids should head on out of here.”

  Gabba exged a look with his twin brother, the earth serpent, before they stared at the pair, the Emperor and the girl. ‘What?’

  “ht has begun earlier this tury,” the Emperor informed. “Let them know not to disturb us.”

  Emperor Shama recalled the mess they had made over the week of their fight. The little Emperor Hadda o take breaks now and again, and would sometimes break character to speak of their great grandfather, before the pair would return back to fighting. It had been the most difficult fight to date, for the old Emperor did his best to look fshy, destroying the floating isnd all along the week.

  It had ended as Emperor Hadda’s win, though it had paihe Lord of Fmes. ‘I should have beaten up those two brats who made such a mess.’

  Emperor Iskur stared at the man who was his grandfather’s match, w what he was thinking about. He assumed it was the time when his daughter had caused such a mess withiskirts retly, although she had left for the Lower Realm not long ago, no doubt making a mess there too.

  “Bael, wasn’t it?” Shama asked. “He took the name of that old fool while he was making a mess in the Lower Realms.”

  “Her name is-,”

  “Emperor Iskur,” Emperor Shama dared to interrupt the boy. “Do you know the single sign which makes an empire great?”

  “A happy popuce?”

  “You are close,” Emperor Shama admitted, though he thought back to the past. “It was something a crazy old woman once said.”

  The words which Emperor Shama stated flooded Emperor Iskur’s mind with the memory of the first time he had met his grandfather. When he was a little boy he had caused so much trouble due to the fact he never got to see his mother and father. The pair had appeared to tell him off, and though it had left him a blubbering mess, through his blurry eyes he saw the Emperor for the first time.

  He wasn’t sure what the old man had said to his father and mother, but he was sure the Emperor had berated them. It was then he picked up the boy, with such a wide smile on his face, something which had shocked even the boy since he had never seen such joy before.

  “Children should dare to dream!”

  I miss Lord Strom.