But for a Slime

Joe found the direction of the conversation unnerving, and found himself growing concerned, “Why are you telling me this?”

“Protect the libraries, Joe. The Karnagur and Sylnarvion clan… they are gone. Protect the libraries. I cannot give you the points, for they will curse you, but the libraries come with

“Garnedell, why are you doing this?” Joe asked with some panic but was unable to turn as the tsunami of beasts washed against his bulwark.

“Joe, please. Listen. The libraries come with the points. You cannot keep the points. Do you understand? They are a curse.”

“Garnedell!”

“Joe. Release the points.”

“Don’t give them to me, Garnedell! I’ll only give them back!”

Garnedell chuffed, “You cannot, Joe. I refuse their return.”

Joe panicked, worry swelling then freezing when Garnedell continued speak.

“I, Garnedell Sylnarvion, Patriarch of clan Sylnarvion, bequeath my points and the Sylnarvion and Karnagur clan libraries to Joe McConnell, first of Absence. He is their sole heir and sole protector. Use them well, Joe. But wait until you are at least a Lord or even a Ruler! Don’t use them before. You will likely destroy yourself. They were poorly made as Taglisea’s library was poorly understood. Live well, Joe. Live well.”

Joe’s panic skyrocketed and he tried to turn to look at Garnedell but the monster wave pressed against him and kept him away. At the same time, a swell of mana and power erupted within the dungeon and lots of things all happened at once. Mana points swelled into existence by a multitude so vast Joe couldn’t grasp what he was looking at. Two massive yet identical constructs formed, coming into existence from a fourth dimension. The appearance of the mana swamped up and pressed outwards, stunning the monsters for just a second and Joe took full advantage of it, obliterating six or seven of them before stepping back to hold the small gate framed by his spark killers. With that, he was able to pause a bit and take a look to the side at Garnedell.

He felt relief swell through him when he saw Garnedell looking up at him with a soft smile, huffing slightly and chuckling. Seeing him OK calmed his heart but he still pretty much ignored everything and stared at Garnedell.

“Why?”

Garnedell said nothing and just watched Joe with a soft smile. Joe found his attention pulled away by the massive surge of mana, mana points, and power. The constructs seemed to come ‘into him’ somehow in a way he couldn’t understand. And when Joe looked closer, he realized they appeared to be constructs made out of actual mana points. Joe frowned, looking closer but then felt a massive swell of points swamping to cover him and he shuddered under the swell. The mana points predominately came as massive constructs of cubes, spheres, planes, and various other shapes with the points connected to one another in odd ways. There were not many shapes; only about thirty or forty, but they came in massive sizes compressed with an incomprehensible number of points. Free floating points proved to be the smallest, with only a dozen or so of them. Joe stared around in wonder at them all, almost forgetting he was surrounded by a wave of monsters entirely bent on his death.

That brought him back to the moment. He took a quick breath and twirled rapidly in place to look at the monsters that were just coming towards him. So… slow! He leapt forward, swimming through the air like it was molasses even as the monsters moved slower. He swept down the corridor with ease, taking advantage of his hyper awareness to kill as many as he could before he sprinted back down to Garnedell, his perceptions suddenly snapping back to real time speed.

He sped around the corner and looked back down at Garnedell, “Why?”

“Release the points, Joe. They are not yours.”

“But why?”

“Joe. Release them.”

Joe frowned, “Tell me or I’ll not release them.”

Garnedell chuckled, “I will tell them when you release them. The curse is… powerful and … it’s bad. Release the points quickly, Joe.”

Joe frowned, “I gift the points Garnedell gave me back to Garnedell with the Sylnarvion and Karnagur clan libraries.”

Joe felt a massive stir begin then die, stillborn, and Joe frowned, wondering what had happened. He pondered, struggling to find an answer and Garnedell interrupted him.

“You can’t, Joe. You can’t. It’s a protection of the libraries.”

Joe narrowed his eyes, “Why?”

“Release the points, Joe. Or I will die when the curse hits and you cannot defend yourself against the monsters. Do it. Quickly!”

Joe cursed, angry at Garnedell for probably the first time, “You little punk! I release the points Garnedell gifted me.”

And that was enough. All the points that were free floating evaporated from his control, the constructs in three dimensional shapes broke apart like so much confetti then washed the dungeon in a wave of incredibly dense and pure mana, swirling outwards in a wash that almost blinded Joe but somehow still left his physical sight unimpeded. Huh… mana inside? The other mana points in one or two dimensions simply broke apart without any wash of mana, their points freeing from each other. The points remained in place for a time before suddenly speeding away so quickly Joe almost thought they simply disappeared. Joe breathed deep and looked down at Garnedell.

“Why?”

Garnedell laughed, “You can defend them much better than I can.”

“But … mana points, Garnedell!”

Garnedell turned away, then turned back to stare up at Joe with soft and pain filled eyes, “My duty to my clan, Joe.”

Joe grimaced, angry, “And their duty to you?”

“Given. I’ve lived this long.”

Joe scowled, angry, “They stole your life from you.”

“You do not stand by your clan?”

Joe grimaced, clenching teeth before sighing, “You’re a brave kid, Garnedell. I’ll make this up to you… somehow.”

A tear welled up in Garnedell’s eyes and he angrily wiped it away before chuckling softly, “I know you will, Joe.”

Joe started to kneel down beside Garnedell before the angry growls of monsters swelled again and Joe looked up to see the monsters at his makeshift gate again. Joe cursed, a deep anger burning through him as he instead turned to the monsters.

“Give me a moment, Garnedell. Be right back.”

He stalked towards the beasts and began to wipe out the monsters in a fit of passion, bitter anger coursing through him at the fact that Garnedell had done something really stupid. Gotta have a way to fix this, right? I can fix this! Yeah… something I can do… Really must be something!

Joe began killing monsters again and he did so in peace for a time before Garnedell began again.

“Joe?”

“What!” Joe replied with some anger, still frustrated over what Garnedell had just done.

Garnedell took a deep breath, sighing, “Joe. You are too nice.”

Joe blinked at that, surprised before a soft grin came to his face and he chuckled, his anger retreating under his humor, “Yeah. But you like me nice.”

Garnedell’s reply was quick and harsh, “You were lucky with me!”

Joe’s grin remained, although it turned sardonic, “And the others.”

“Zilnek.”

Joe grimaced and fell silent, his anger returning, but Garnedell didn’t let up, “Kilniara? Gwenvair? I didn’t understand before… so possibly they have some excuse as you were very vague and confusing, but… well… maybe not Gwenvair. She is actually quite noble.”

“Kilniara is not that bad.”

“How many times did you tell her no.”

Joe fell silent at that before sighing deeply, “She was just being persistent.”

Garnedell paused at that before begrudgingly acknowledging the point, “Maybe. But…”

“Asking for what you want isn’t a bad thing, Garnedell.”

“Maybe, but not taking no for an answer is …”

Joe interrupted, “It’s annoying at worst. Unless someone deceives or pressures. But just asking… nothing wrong with that.”

Garnedell sighed at that, turning the conversation back to his initial point, “You may be right, but I also am right. You are too nice.”

Joe paused at that, fighting the anger as he continued to fight the monsters, these ones proving rather easy and not requiring much from him, “Garnedell. No one’s really bothered me.”

“Because you are dangerous, Joe. Very dangerous. They fear you, but we are in a small city in the middle of nowhere. You have not seen the evil here. Nor power!” Garnedell sighed and shifted topics, “I… I truly did not believe your claims… not for a long time. To live as you live is a fool’s dream, Joe. And no fool could live long if they did so as you do. This world will destroy you, Joe.”

“Where’s this coming from?”

“You truly believe in kindness and … you cannot do this, Joe. You will die or… you cannot do this, Joe.”

Joe frowned, thoughtful but remained silent and Garnedell continued.

“You will not listen. I know this, but please at least remember this and consider these words before you do anything else in the future, Joe. There is so much you do not understand. I wish the world could be friends as you believe, but... I wish... I wish I had understood your friendship so much sooner. Maybe I could have helped with so many things... but Joe... this world... ”

Garnedell fell silent after that and Joe found himself completely disagreeing with Garnedell but too busy to have a philosophical argument; especially one that required very careful thought, so Joe fell into a rhythm. He felt some relief when Garnedell fell silent, no longer speaking but it didn’t help. Joe found himself stewing in his own anger as Garnedell shifted silently on the cloaks behind him. Joe fought on, minutes turning to hours as he struggled maintain their defense. And despite his anger over Garnedell’s foolishness, he still stepped back and pressed a foot in every ten minutes or so to flash out a heal, the wash of it rushing out of him and into Garnedell.

His stamina continued to fall, and he fought on in silence, at first a bit too angry to speak with Garnedell, then calming and simply falling into a rhythm to clear the monsters out. Time passed in an odd series of phases. He fought then retreated to recover slightly, then fought. Pushing back against the beasts to give himself a small respite to allow his stamina to recover. Then he pushed back hard to give himself just a tiny bit extra to step aside and wash his mana down into Garnedell with his heal. Once his stamina fell quite low, he swept out his Presence in a wash to freeze the monsters for a time while he sat down in the corridor to rest and recover his Stamina, taking that time to also throw in another heal for Garnedell. Then he would stand and do it all over again.

Despite that, he wasn’t maintaining. His stamina depleted faster than he could recover and he recovered less and less each time. It was slow, very slow, but it still deeply concerned Joe. The next time his stamina bottomed out, he pushed his Presence out once again, and this time instead of rushing out to kill the monsters, he immediately sat down, hoping the little extra time would allow him to recover his stamina or even at least just maintain it. His stamina recovered slowly, and Joe struggled not to stare at it, seeking to focus on anything else.

Joe sighed with some relief when he saw his stamina recover to about his previous levels. It was sixty three, right? Sixty three? Or… not seventy three… what was… Exhaustion clawed at his mind and he found that using his Presence left an ache in his mind that grew with each use and left him growing grumpier with each time. He could have pushed a bit more but wanted to check Garnedell once again and then end his Presence before he got too great of a headache.

He stepped to Garnedell and pulsed out a heal then frowned. Somethings not … Joe checked out his mana and found enough for at least one heal and quickly flashed a heal out again. He waited tensely for his mana to flow, but nothing happened. His eyebrows knit as he sent out another heal, but once again, nothing happened. No… no! Is there a limit? A number of… Joe quickly wrestled with his thoughts before sending a heal into himself. His breath caught when the mana flooded from him into a heal which washed across him in a soothing wave, dampening his headache. Joe looked back at Garnedell with wide horrified eyes. No… no!! No! Joe dropped his head to Garendell’s chest, his head turned so he could press an ear just above his heart. He waited. He waited patiently. He waited a long, long time. He heard nothing except for a small plinking sound of a plastic card falling from what once was Garnedell’s wrist.