Chapter One Hundred Thirty: ‘Thy persistent shadow...’

This wasn’t how he’d planned it. Ibai hadn’t intended to leave Hector and Uncle Mel and everyone else behind. He’d meant to grab the Elroy kids and quickly get them out of danger. They were obviously the most vulnerable. It only made sense to help them first and then go back for the others.

But the Monster was bloody fast. Each time Ibai teleported, Gohvis was less than a second behind.

But it was more than that, too. After the first few jumps, Ibai noticed Gohvis’ soul in the void, not because it looked particularly different from any of the others, but because it was the only one that was clearly moving. Toward them, no less.

It was almost like the Monster knew where they were going, like he could sense their location even while they were teleporting. In different circumstances, Ibai would’ve liked to stop and ask him.

But after what must have been the thirtieth jump or so, there was a change. Emiliana Elroy shoved her little brother and sister out of Ibai’s shadow.

Ibai didn’t realize what the girl had done until it was too late. They teleported away, leaving Shenado and the children behind.

Ibai’s first impulse was to go back for them. But when he saw the Monster still following, he understood. So he fled into another teleport, pulling only Emiliana and Chergoa along.

Soon, he stopped even paying attention to where they ended up after each jump. He only watched the void for guidance--the souls suspended in it, the ethereal surfaces of buildings and of the ground, of the planet itself. He had to minimize the delay between teleports as much as possible if they were to have any hope of escaping.

Faster, faster, and faster still. He tried not to worry too much about the fact that it didn’t seem to be working, that the unrelenting soul actually seemed to be getting slightly closer after each jump.

And then Ibai felt a giant hand around his neck. Everything had stopped moving, he realized. His muddy shadow dispersed, revealing the jet black dragon-man in front of him. Chergoa was already in Gohvis’ other hand.

Well.

This was unfortunate.

Ibai wanted to say something, but the Monster’s grip on his throat wasn’t allowing it.

“Please stop,” said Emiliana, sounding exceptionally calm, given the circumstances. “I’ll go with you quietly, if that’s what you want. Just don’t hurt him. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

To be honest, Ibai was a bit surprised to hear her come to his defense like this.

The Monster locked gazes with Ibai.

Never had the aberration seen such demonic eyes. He’d never really believed it was possible to stare into someone’s soul, but with the way Gohvis was looking at him, he was beginning to have doubts.

In fact, he was starting to think it might be possible to look at someone to death.

After a few more moments of flirting with oblivion, the Monster’s huge hand loosened slightly.

Ibai wasn’t sure if he should say anything now. There were plenty of questions running around his head, but he probably wasn’t the one who should ask them, considering Gohvis could still snap his neck at any moment. It’d be best to let Emiliana and Chergoa handle things. There was no reason to gamble with his life here.

Could be fun, though.

He decided to risk it.

“So what do you want with her, anyway?” he said, having to choke through some of the words.

Gohvis deigned not to answer.

He supposed he should’ve seen that coming. It was fine, though. He’d gotten plenty of practice with people like this recently. “Want to play a game? I spy with my little eye--”

The Monster’s grip tightened back up, and the words stopped coming out again.

Emiliana decided to speak up again. “You obviously do not want me dead,” she said. “For now, at least. So what do you want from me?”

Gohvis’ tail snaked around her and scooped her up off her feet, but the giant lizard man did not answer her question. Instead, he simply crouched down low and stayed there for a moment.

Ibai wondered what he was doing, but the inability to breathe was becoming distracting. Thankfully, Gohvis loosened his hold again, this time deciding to roll Ibai up under his arm like a newspaper. Ibai didn’t get another chance to speak, though, because he saw the Monster’s huge legs become suddenly even more so. In one beating pulse, they grew by maybe a third of their previous size.

And then Gohvis jumped.

The ground flew away from Ibai’s vision at rocket speed, and he very nearly lost consciousness, even with his muddy shadow protecting him. Still, he did catch sight of the mushrooming cloud of sand that Gohvis had left behind.

Through the disorientation and roaring wind, Ibai had a difficult time following what was happening, but after a fashion, he did notice Emiliana. The poor girl was as limp as could be. The sheer force with which they’d left the ground had probably been enough to break every bone in her body and rupture most of her organs. He wondered if she was unconscious or simply dead. There was a fair chance that her brain had been turned to jelly.

It was a bit humbling to know that he would be in the same boat right now if not for his shadow. Humbling--and exciting.

Also, they were still ascending, Ibai realized. Was this really the power of a single jump, or had Gohvis grown wings and started flying? Both seemed equally likely.

Oh, but back to the shadow--he found it surprising that it hadn’t protected him completely. He knew that it wouldn’t shield him from soul-empowered damage very well, but what were its physical limits, he wondered? Come to think of it, he’d never really thought to test that before. Why not? That kind of experimentation could have been super fun.

Hmm. He supposed he’d just never had much occasion to. He’d always thought the shadow was basically perfect. The idea that it actually had some kind of impact threshold hadn’t really crossed his mind.

Maybe it didn’t even matter. Clearly, the threshold was pretty high. A proper experiment would mean that he’d have to do something pretty extreme.

Like what?

Like falling out of the sky and hitting the ground at terminal velocity? Would the shadow protect him from that? He could test that right now, if he wanted. He could teleport out of Gohvis’ hand and just let himself fall. It’d be easy.

Nah, that was a bad idea.

Wasn’t it?

Yeah, an awful one.

But maybe...

Nah. The Monster might just catch him again anyway. Somehow.

But, fun?

Bah, he should stay with these three. That was what a responsible person would do.

Wasn’t it?

Ah, hey, they were descending now. So it was just a jump, after all.

As they neared the ground again, Ibai could see the edge of the desert--or of the sand, at least. The barren landscape stretched on for a while yet, but he could see more green on the horizon.

They hit the ground again with the force of a bomb, and just as before, Ibai lost track of what was happening. When his senses returned, he expected to be in the air again, but that was not that case. Instead, he found himself staring at the ground as it rushed past.

The Monster had resorted to running, Ibai realized.

And it was surprisingly enjoyable. Even dangling under Gohvis’ arm like this, the ride wasn’t bumpy at all. The Monster’s gigantic footsteps were so nimble that it felt like being carried along a rail line, curving smoothly up and down the long stretch of foothills in front of them.

At least, that was what Ibai imagined it felt like. He’d always wanted to ride on a train.

Ibai saw a cliff ahead. Approaching fast. Too fast, actually. Gohvis didn’t intend to go around it, did he? Nope, he was accelerating toward it, Ibai realized.

They surged forward, faster still, and tore through the cliff like wet paper. Ibai barely even felt it, too.

Then there was more running. Lots more running.

Ibai ended up contemplating the subject of that cliff for a good long while, though. Gohvis hadn’t even raised his hands to punch through it. The guy had literally parted solid rock with his face. Plus a ton of momentum and inertia, but still. What was even the point of doing that? Certainly, the Monster could’ve jumped over it with ease. Was he just showing off? Or did a dozen meters of solid rock really mean so little to him that it genuinely felt the same as running through open air?

Agh, he wanted to know so badly, but there was no way Gohvis would answer a question like that. Ibai could see it now. He would ask, and then Gohvis would just give him that silent look that made him feel like he might die horribly in the next few seconds.

Eh, maybe he’d try asking later anyway.

As the landscape changed around them, Ibai began wondering where the Monster was taking them. If nothing else, it seemed apparent that they were leaving the Sandlord’s territory, but that wasn’t exactly surprising.

After a spell, his old nemesis finally arrived.

Boredom.

He shouldn’t just teleport out of Gohvis’ grip right now. There was no reason for it. That would be a very stupid thing to do. And he wasn’t stupid. He was responsible.

But supposing he did... what would Gohvis do? Would he just leave him behind? Would he chase Ibai again? Hmm.

Anyway, it was a bad idea.

But... this was taking forever. And he was so bored. It had been like three minutes since an interesting thought had occupied his mind. That had to be some kind of personal best. Really, he’d done an amazing job holding out this long.

So he teleported. To his left, he jumped through the void and waited to see where he would end up.

He felt freedom. Tumbling through the air while utterly disoriented, and the resulting rush of excitement brought him back to himself.

But then it was gone. Before he could regain his bearings, before he could even touch the ground again, he felt the Monster’s arm there, having reacquired its hold over him.

Ibai didn’t understand. When he actually DID regain his bearings, he was precisely where he had been before--tucked snugly under the Monster’s left arm.

But. But.

Had he not teleported? No, he was sure that he had.

So he tried again.

He jumped. He saw the flash of mud, the void, and felt the freedom.

And now he was here again. Somehow, Gohvis had caught him. Just that quickly, Gohvis had caught him.

Another question Ibai wanted an answer to. If nothing else, though, it gave him something to ponder for a good long while--so long, in fact, that his brainstorming was interrupted by the realization that the Monster’s pace had finally begun to slow.

Ibai looked around, searching for any kind of clue about where Gohvis had brought them. The sand and barren desert had been replaced by craggy rocks and equally barren highlands. A steep valley lay ahead, and Ibai could see its narrow central path branching off in a dozen different directions, seemingly offering a variety of routes up to higher ground.

Ibai felt his feet touch ground as Gohvis plopped him down.

“Flee now, if you want,” said Gohvis with his two voices. “I will not chase you.”

Well, now Ibai didn’t feel like it. He was much more interested in learning what Gohvis wanted with the Elroy girl. He’d been more interested in that all along, though admittedly, it had slipped his mind a bit when boredom reared its ugly head.

Ibai wasn’t sure if he should say any of that, though. So far, the Monster didn’t seem to appreciate talking very much. More information gathering was required first, Ibai felt. So he just kind of stood there, waiting.

Gohvis didn’t seem to like that, either. “I will not give you this opportunity again. If you do not leave now, then you will be staying with me indefinitely.”

Ibai shrugged. “Okay.”

“Make me chase you one more time, and I will not bother capturing you alive.”

Ibai felt shivers run down the length of his body.

Huh. Weird.

“I understand,” said Ibai. “So what do you want with her, anyway?”

Gohvis’ tail finally set Emiliana down. Rather than answering Ibai’s question, however, he held Chergoa near the girl’s limp body. “Revive her.”

The reaper hesitated but did as she was told.