I walked into Baron Palambre’s lounge, catching him reading a book of all things, enjoying his morning breakfast. I ignored the outraged look on his attendants faces as I sat down across from him and started picking at his breakfast with my bare hands.

His clothes pristine, his hair properly coifed, perfect posture… all of it served to raise my level of irritation by an order of magnitude.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“I’m reading a book, Your Grace.”

“That’s not what I’m asking, and you know it.”

The Baron set his book on the table, pages down, as if the casual disregard for the value of such things would take my attention away from him.

“You can say it. I’m a coward. I ran and hid in my little house while the real men fought. Is that what you want to hear?”

“I don’t give a shit if you’re a coward. Fighting isn’t for everyone. It’s better that I know so I’m not counting on you in the thick of it. No, that’s not what I’m asking you.”

I continued to pick at his food. At first it was just an act to irritate the man, but I found my appetite to be a sudden roaring inferno in my stomach, the food only serving to stoke the flames further. When had I last eaten anything substantial?

“I ask what you’re doing, not because you ran away and hid from the fighting, but because you have a town full of scared people, currently being led by a guy who just a few days ago was selling his wooden sculptures on the side of the road. Here you are enjoying your nice little breakfast and reading time, while your people are squatting out in the mud, uncertain and ready to start breaking stuff.”

The Baron paled, probably only just now realizing the depth of my irritation. He opened his mouth to reply and thought better of it. Looking down at the lavish spread before him, he worked his mouth, trying to say something, but couldn’t work up the nerve. Looked like I’d need to instill some backbone into him the old-fashioned way.

I rose to my feet and dusted food crumbs off my hands, walked around the table and grabbed the depths taken man by the collar. Yanking him out of his chair onto the ground, I dragged him out into the hallway.

He yelled and struggled, even cursed at me, but I just maintained my hold on his collar and slung him back to the ground whenever he managed to get a hold of himself.

Guards moved in to intercept me as I lugged the struggling idiot along behind me. I stopped and stared at them, grim-faced. They didn’t draw weapons but seemed reluctant to just let me walk away towing the Baron in my wake. The conflict played out across their features, until one stepped forward.

“Your Grace, please allow us to escort the Baron instead of… this.”

“You have any family in town? What is your opinion on the current disposition of your friends and family currently sleeping in mud-soaked bedrolls, huddling together in fear and for protection during the night, while the Baron sits in his fancy pants and reads his little books?”

The man blanched but didn’t back down. “Please, Your Grace.”

I blinked. Got to give the man some credit, then. Loyalty was hard to come by. I let the Baron drop to the ground in a heap and stepped back to allow the guard to assist him.

“Follow me then.”

I led the Baron and his ‘escort’ to the front courtyard. Kan’on sat in his usual position, of course. He must be desperate for his breakthrough because he hadn’t even bothered to get cleaned up. He’d regret it later, when the smell did him more injury than he’d sustained during the attack.

“Baron, you will stay here in this courtyard and organize a coherent response for your townspeople. You will gather supplies, come up with a solution to house those still recovering from the effects of being enthralled, and otherwise see to the needs of your people. If I see you step foot inside that manor before sundown, I’ll beat you into a bloody pile of unrecognizable body parts, heal you, then do it again until you get the message.”

I looked at his guards, sending them an implicit message as well. They were to oversee his efforts.

“If you refuse or run away from this responsibility, which has been your duty all along, there will be no need for the bugs to kill you. I’ll kill you myself and replace you with someone more capable. Feel free to delegate. Have fun boys.”

The Baron trembled, no doubt stunned at this sudden shift in his fortunes, but I’d run out of patience for his particular flavor of incompetence. It was one thing to try and fail, but to not try at all and then sit around while people suffered… well I’d conquered most of my impulses long ago, and he was still alive, wasn’t he?

I left the Baron to his task, still trembling in the middle of the courtyard. Tracking down a servant after that little drama played out turned out to be a little difficult, but I managed to corner one long enough to get directions to where Jass had holed up.

Upon finding his room, I hesitated. I knew very well what tattooed glyphs did to a person. I’d spent a fair amount of time studying it, long ago, and even figured out a way to get rid of them more recently. Fear of seeing Jass in a state he didn’t want me to see him held me back, but I eventually pushed beyond that and entered the room.

A low fire smoldered in a nearby fireplace and on a low, lush bed in the corner Jass laid, silent. I found a stool nearby and pulled it over to the bedside, trying not to cause a racket.

Jass had aged overnight. He’d donned the mundane driver’s clothing he’d worn before, hiding the evidence of his condition. If I hadn’t seen him last night with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe that man and the one in front of me were the same person. He looked so mundane in comparison.

The glyphs had sucked what looked like ten years out of him in only a matter of hours. I sighed. What a waste. Not of power, that wasn’t too hard to come by, at least in relative terms. It was a waste of character, for I had no doubt in my mind that Jass deserved admiration, in more than one way.

He’d escaped servitude as a disposable weapon, slummed it as a driver with good grace and humor, protected those in need at the literal cost of his own life. It made me unreasonably angry, that someone like him had been brought down to this state. On the other hand, would he really be him without his experiences, even the shitty ones? Depths take philosophers, and me with them.

I realized that Jass had woken and stared back at me as I stared at him. I didn’t bother saying anything, my face an open book. I sat there contemplating the choice I would present to him. A hard choice, no doubt.

“Don’t look at me like that Dash. We are all the sum of our choices. I made my choice. I reap what I sow,” Jass rasped out, his throat sounding like he’d smoked a pipe for ten years as well.

Reap what you sow. The words resonated in my mind, stirring up a memory I couldn’t quite grasp. A dizzy spell took me away for a second before I regained my equilibrium.

“I don’t know much about Malass. What do you your people say about the Deep Gods?”

“’My people,’” Jass snorted, then a coughing fit overtook him.

He took a second to collect himself. There wasn’t any embarrassment or shame in his demeanor, just fatigue.

“All we have is all anyone has; just old stories that are too cryptic to mean anything. ‘My people’ twisted them into a means of creating those like me. One of the oldest stories, the ones they use to justify us, is that the Deep Gods choose people for three trials. If you pass your trials in life, then when you pass beyond life, you’ll be welcomed as a hero, among other things. They make us take trials, to become like me. They make us want to be this way.”

I’d expected as much. Brainwashing, especially with magical assistance, was a nasty practice. Three trials though, that rang a bell. I needed time by myself to focus on all the shit that happened to me. I’m sure clues were hidden just at the back of my mind. I remembered the presence clearly now, just the words still fuzzed out in the back of my brain.

“I can remove them for you, you know. The glyphs.”

“That’s a nice thought, but it’s impossible. It’s not just my skin. They’re bonded to me. You’d have to remove all my skin and severe the bonds at the same time, then somehow keep from dying of shock.”

“I’m aware. I can do it.”

Jass went still, saying nothing, just looking at me. I could see his thoughts fall into turmoil through his eyes, churning my words over and over. It was cruel, what I’d offered him. He’d probably gone his whole life believing that there wouldn’t ever be anything he could do about it. Now that a choice presented itself to him, he needed to chose which side of the double edge blade to cut himself with.

“What would be the point, now? It’s a fool’s choice. Either choose to remove them and no longer serve as food for my own power and become near powerless, or keep them and continue to cannibalize myself, not even for power, but just to keep the glyphs from consuming me altogether, dying a slow, but accelerated death.”

“I didn’t say it was a good choice, just that you have a choice.”

“I’d be powerless. And alone.”

“I could teach you. It’s unlikely you’ll ever be as strong as you are now, but you’ll not be weak. Nor alone.”

“No, there is no choice to make. I’ve much to atone for. I’d rather live a brief life and be capable of helping others instead of a longer life as an empty shell, with no guarantee I’d ever be anything more than that.”

I sighed and drew up a healing rune, followed by a refresh rune and poked them with my power to get them going. I unleashed them onto him, watching as they took hold only for the glyphs to greedily suck up the resulting influx of vitality. I could hear the difference in his breathing, though, and the lines around his eyes eased a bit. The runes could only do so much with so many glyphs latched onto him.

“Not making a choice is still making a choice, you dunce.” I patted him on the shoulder as I got up to leave the room.

“Leave it to you to strip me of choosing not to choose,” Jass said around a chuckle. He trailed off, leaving only that sorrowful smile and haunted eyes.

I nodded and closed the door on my way out, making my way back to my own room for some rest and meditation.