Chapter 18: A Small Lie and the Truth

Sel watched as Mel popped open the fridge. Sorting through its contents.

“So, we have some leftover spaghetti from a couple of nights ago. Not really a breakfast item but who cares, right? We have some rice, some burritos, hmmm. We have eggs. I could cook up some of those?”

“You never cook them enough.”

“Well, it’s not my fault you like your eggs scorched! Besides eggs are better when they’re still a little runny!”

“A ‘little’ runny? You like them barely cooked at all! You might as well not cook them with how runny you like them.”

Mel sighed and rolled her eyes. Sel frowned.

“Fine, fine. I’ll cook yours a bit longer, happy?”

She thought about it. She doubted Mel could make eggs that weren’t on the wet side of soggy. No matter what she said.

“I could cook the eggs? You only have one arm, so it’ll be hard for you.”

Mel made a face.

“You just want to burn them! Nope! It’s my house, you’re the guest. I can’t have the guest do the cooking right? And I bet even with one arm, I’ll do a better job than you!”

Mel stuck her nose up and peered down triumphantly. Taking full advantage of the extra five inches genetics had chosen to dispense to her. Stupid genes.

Sel wanted to argue with the tall beanpole, but hesitated, looking over at the eggs Mel had pulled from the fridge. If she had to cook them, then… what if she messed up? She’d have to use someone else’s kitchen. What if she made a mess? Used too many eggs or broke something!? Would they kick her out? Where would she go?

She wasn’t sure what was left of the Wooden mansion, but she distinctly remembered seeing the roof smoldering under the pillar of fire. Did she even have a home to go back to? And also, there were the goblins to think about…

Best to play it safe for now.

“Fine. You can cook the eggs, but you need to actually cook them.”

Mel grinned happily.

“Yes! I’ll just pull mine out earlier. *Sigh* It’s a crime to burn perfectly good eggs but, I guess I’ll have to compromise with the unenlightened.”

Sel rolled her eyes as she sat at the kitchen table. Folding her arms and laying her head down. She watched as Mel got out a pan, butter, and turned on the stove.

“You realize that I am technically a noble, right? Wouldn’t that make me the expert on proper cuisine? Your plebian tastes can’t begin to compare to my refined pallet.”

Mel held one of the eggs in her left hand, brows furrowed. Sel was looking forward to seeing how she planned to crack all the eggs with her non-dominant hand. Shouldn’t have rejected my help, ha!

“Oh no! My poor plebian vocabulary can’t possibly compete. Sofi, um, sofitry I say?”

Mel cracked the egg and tried to open it up with only one hand. She succeeded in dropping the egg into the pan… along with the shell.

Perhaps she should have insisted that Mel accept her help. She’d forgotten that she would also suffer if Mel's egg-cracking efforts fell through. She could already imagine the crunch.

“It’s Sophistry, not sofitry.”

Mel nodded cracking another egg into the pan, this time only a few pieces of shell dropped in. Even though she was on the other side of the room, Sel could tell just how many pieces Mel had dropped by counting how many Mel fetched from the pan. Four.

“Um, Mel, do you want help? I don’t like shells in my eggs…”

Mel grabbed another egg.

“So picky. Tsk, tsk. First, you don’t want soggy eggs, and now you’re insisting you don’t want shells in them too? Tis truly a burden to have a ‘refined pallet’!”

“Mel…”

“Don’t worry, I think I’m getting the hang of this…”

The next egg had two pieces drop in.

The next, one.

And after that…

The next three went in without a single shell.

In six eggs Mel had mastered cracking eggs one-handed. And with her nondominant too!

Cheat! Mel is a cheat character! Please nerf!

Mel opened a drawer and grabbed the salt and pepper shaker, going back to the eggs, she began to season them, her back to Sel. Then in a quiet voice,

“Um, last night… with the goblins. Would you tell me what happened? You don’t have to if you don’t want to! But, I just, when I got there you were so… I thought you were going to—that is, I was worried that—”

“Sure.”

Mel fell silent. Stirring the eggs.

“So, let's see. I should probably start from when I left your house Saturday. Your mom dropped me off at the bus station. I’d hardly waited more than a minute when the bus arrived…”

Sel recounted her bus ride to the last stop, and how the road had been closed. Waiting with the police officer, the goblin chasing her, and then Sunday, when she’d loaded the barn with flammables.

She left out a few of the more embarrassing parts. Like her sword practicing in front of the police officer, or the fact that her sister had to carry her to bed. Mel didn’t need to know about those. Ever.

She skimmed over going back to school, merely mentioning Emi, and how Ophir had arranged for her to be picked up to and from school.

Then she got to last night.

Mel slid a plate of eggs in front of her. Sel blinked, looking over at the oven. When did she finish?

“So, wait, are you telling me that you climbed out of your sister’s window and onto the roof?”

Sel smiled smugly.

“Yep! I almost fell on the first try. That’s actually how I hurt my leg. After that, I went to the tree on the other side of the house to get off the roof. Unfortunately, a goblin followed me out the window. He fell, but he alerted the rest and so I had to run for the barn.”

“Wait, isn’t that the tree that you were planning on climbing last—”

Ahk!

“When I got to the barn, I climbed up into the loft and got all the goblins to follow me. I then pulled the doors closed behind me and then lit it on fire. I escaped through the window, but unfortunately, a few of them followed me out. And you pretty much know the rest from there.’

Mel gave her a suspicious look but didn’t push any further. Grabbing a fork, she dug into her eggs. Eating the slimy soggy things with gusto. Sel glanced down at hers to find that they were, surprisingly, not as wet as she was expecting. Mel had kept her promise.

She was glad that Mel hadn’t questioned her further. She didn’t want to admit that Mel had been right about the tree. It hadn’t been strong enough to hold her weight and—”

A soft playful voice interrupted her train of thought.

“Well, it sounds like you had quite the adventure. It’s not every young girl who can brag that she’s taken out a whole goblin tribe.”

Sel sat up in her chair like she’d been struck by lightning. Back straightening and posture correcting from laying on the counter. Turning around with her hands folded in her lap her eyes opened wide as she looked towards the stairs.

“Ah, um, sorry ma’a—Mrs. Quinton, I didn’t know you’d come upstairs and…”

She stopped realizing that not only was Mrs. Quinton sitting in the living room behind her, but also Mr. Quinton. How long have they been there? Were they listening to my story? What did they hear?

“I-I was just having some eggs and… I’m sorry, I should have asked before getting them. Um, I—thanks for letting me stay last night and…I— “

“Nonsense! We were happy to have you over! Don’t even think about the eggs. You’re free to take anything from the fridge, and if you can’t find anything there, just let me know and I’ll cook something up for you. You’re both growing girls and it's important you not go hungry!”

“Y-yes!”

Sel sat there frozen. Waiting for... something.

“…You can eat your eggs. You don’t need to mind us. You can just go back to your talk, no need to be formal with us.”

“Yes!”

Sel turned rigidly back to her eggs and grabbed the fork with one hand, the other still placed in her lap. Stabbing a small clump, she brought it up to her mouth placed it in, and chewed slowly. Then swallowed. She then repeated the action.

“It's good that you’re both here, I needed to talk about—” Mr. Quinton started, before being interrupted by Mrs. Quinton.

“We just wanted to let you know that schools been canceled today, though there’ll be a big announcement this evening, so make sure that you’re ready for that. We’ll leave you both alone to eat your breakfast. I just remembered that me and Jhon had something to talk about downstairs. We’ll be a while, so don’t wait up for us!”

She grabbed Mr. Quinton’s arm and started dragging him towards the stairs.

“Honey, do we really need to talk right now? I really do need to speak with—”

“Dear, I love you very much, but sometimes you’re less aware than a doornail.”

“What? A doornail? I’ll have you know that I just got six of the noble houses to pay—”

“Honey, you’re digging the hole even deeper. Bragging in this situation is very cute, but it’s not really helping your case. You can tell me all about the sleazy deals you made downstairs, but you’re not going to interrupt those girl’s breakfast. Or I’ll—”

The voices faded as they descended the stairs till they couldn’t be made out.

Sel looked down at her eggs then up at Mel who had a resigned look on her face.

“Um, do you think your mom would mind if I—”

“No, I’m sure she wouldn’t, but continue.”

“…if I got some ketchup?”

Mel got up and grabbed a cup from above the sink and started to fill it.

“Sel, what did my mom say about the fridge?”

“I’m sure she was just saying that—”

“Sel.”

“…That I could take anything from the fridge.”

“So, do you need me to grab it, or can you?”

“N-No, I’ll get it.”

Sel ran to the fridge and grabbed the ketchup from where she’d seen it, and retreated to her seat. She noticed that Mel had finished the majority of her eggs. Sel grimaced. She was making her friend wait.

Spreading a small dollop of ketchup over her eggs, Sel started taking large bites, trying to finish quickly.

Mel finished her eggs and put her plate and fork to the side. Grabbing the glass of water and taking small sips as she waited for Sel to finish.

“So, what should we do now? My mom said there was an announcement later, but we have a bit of time till then. I wonder if the announcement is about the pillar of fire? Seems weird that they’d cancel school just for the two of us.”

Sel paused. Letting her fork rest on her plate. What should she do now? Before the whole goblin fiasco, she’d figured she’d just keep living. Remembering she’d been the Demon Lord hadn’t really changed anything. She’d go to school, play with Mel, go home, take classes, and that had been the extent of her plans. Sure, she’d hoped it would help her learn magic, but the new memories really hadn’t changed much.

Now though… she knew those memories weren’t complete. There were goblins running around. She’d opened her origin, albeit accidentally. She might not even have a house to go back to anymore. So much had changed. It really didn’t feel like only four days had passed since she’d woken up with memories from another life.

What did she want to do now?

She wanted answers. Why had the goblins been in the woods when everyone said they were extinct? Why were there holes in her memories? Why was the hero in her memory different than the Hero Xander? And how she was going to survive with her origin…

“Sel?”

Sel blinked, looking up. Ah, that’s right. She needed to answer the question.

“I think I’m going to apply to the Emporium.”

*Pffff*

Sel watched with dismay as Mel choked on her water, sending it flying across the table and soaking her eggs.

“*cough* *cough* Wha-? I was talking like a board game or something? Ah, sorry.”

Sel lifted her fork up to eye level and examined her eggs. Soggy.

“I guess we could play a card game or something. We never finished our last one.”

“No, no, no, you can’t change the subject like that! You said you were going to apply to the Emporium? Why—? Can you even do that!? Don’t you need a recommendation, and magic, and like a ton of money? Ah! You don’t need to eat that!”

Sel paused, the soggy eggs halfway to her mouth.

“But I’m still hungry and you shouldn’t waste food.”

“I can just cook you some more—No! Don’t change the subject! I know you’re doing that on purpose!”

Sel ignored that last comment and took a bite from the eggs. She regretted putting ketchup on them now. The water was making it run.

It was rather simple, really. Sel had always dreamed of going to the Emporium. Where magic was taught, and legends walked! All of the greatest Adventurers started there! People who would leave the Central Continent to explore the wilds. People who ventured through dwarven ruins, fought in the wilds of the Wilderness, and worked out treaties with other nations! Two years ago, she’d had to give up on that dream—and others—but now…

Mel had listed everything you needed to get in. Magic, connections, and money.

She had the first. The most insurmountable obstacle already hurdled over by a twist of fate! How hard could the others be? Surely not as hard as facing a group of goblins, or surviving ‘certain death’. Mr. Quinton had mentioned something about nobles, too? Maybe that could help.

Additionally, there might also be answers to her questions there. Questions about her memory, the Empire, and the hero. With so much to gain, how could she not apply?

“I think we could do it.”

“That’s…”

Sel looked Mel in the eye.

“So? Do you want to apply to the Emporium with me?”

Mel scowled back.

“Are you talking about college? Because that might be doable. There are scholarships for that, but we’d have to work really hard for the next four years to get in.”

She gave Mel a small smirk.

“Nope. I’m talking about High school. Four months from now.”

“It’d actually be six months. Don’t forget summer break.”

Now it was her turn to scowl.

“You know what I mean! So, are you in?”

Mel opened her mouth to retort then shut it. Frowning.

“Are you serious about this? You’re not just doing this for fun right?”

Sel nodded.

“Then we should talk to my dad first. He’s actually gone to the Emporium. He went during his college years but he’d probably know something about getting in earlier. Then we could actually figure out what our chances are. If he thinks we can do it then…”

Sel grinned

“So, does that mean you’re in?”

Mel sighed, finishing off her glass of water.

“Finish your eggs Sel. And don’t say it like that! It sounds like you’re asking me to do something criminal! We’re just applying to high school, how big a deal could it be? It’s just the most exclusive high school on the planet! That’s all. Can’t be harder than fighting a bunch of goblins, right? I mean what could happen?”

Sel smiled and fell upon her soppy eggs with gusto! Not even caring for the water anymore. She had a goal! An objective! And this time, she’d be venturing towards it with a friend. Sure, it was a little impulsive. But still, it was better than just waiting around ignorant and waiting for the goblins to come and get her. Or the nobles, or her family. It felt… good. To be moving.

Belle Quinton dragged her husband down the stairs. Leaving the quiet kitchen behind.

She’d felt horrified as she quietly listened to Sel tell her story. A tale of goblins and violence that no thirteen-year-old should ever have to deal with. Even now she felt cold fear surge through her at the thought of whaot could have happened.

Mel had told them the story last night, about how she’d arrived and found the goblins surrounding her friend and the ensuing scuffle. She wasn’t sure how much the two girls knew about goblins, but the very thought of the atrocities those vile creatures could have committed against the girls made her want to punch something.

The story had also been rather… interesting. If the pillar of fire, the green goblin blood, and Sel’s injuries hadn’t supported the story she might have thought it exaggerated, or entirely fictitious. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole barn thing. She was glad that the girl had made it out okay but burning other sentients—even goblins—alive was something she didn’t want the girl to experience.

“Care to explain now, why I’m dumber than a doornail?”

She sighed. Looking back at dear, oblivious John.

“Did you really not see how uncomfortable you made her? She was eating her eggs like a robot, and she was stuttering like a bad cassette player! You heard her story! What she needs now isn’t to be interrogated, but to relax for a second. I know you’re excited about whatever deals you made with the nobility, but some things are more important.”

They reached the basement which was a mess covered in papers and books. Different piles of reports and old research papers lay scattered around, displaced from their storage boxes.

It had been an exhausting night, with calls all over the district coming in. The local hospitals weren’t equipped to deal with breaks, and it seemed that every practitioner in the state had been knocking down their door for advice. Weird origins and breaks that hadn’t been seen in a hundred years appearing with shocking frequency.

She still felt a little groggy from the whole thing. The few hours of sleep not enough after the hours spent going through dense papers.

The arm she was dragging stopped, nearly toppling her over. Two hands grabbing her shoulders and spun her around till she was looking up at her husband.

“Look, I know you aren’t happy about the whole situation, but I do need to talk to the girls. Mel had a linkage break! That’s nearly unheard of! Selina was right there next to her, so there’s no telling where her break could have occurred! With the injuries she had last night it could be a cancerous or malignant one! Or something even worse! I understand that you don’t want to push her right now, but—”

She pushed the arms off her shoulder and gave him a stern look. He took a deep breath and stepped back, giving her space. John had a tendency to get a bit overexcited about some things and forget himself.

“I get it, you need to talk to them, but it doesn’t have to be right now, right?”

His face showed a conflicted look as his gaze swept the room and all the papers and documents that lay scattered around. Turning to her, he finally responded.

“No. It doesn’t have to be right now. Even in the worst-case scenario, the Greater Health potion should mitigate any symptoms for a while. We might not even be able to diagnose where the break occurred until the effects wear off. I can also call Mr. Hendrickson. I’ll tell him the rest of her story and then if he has any other questions he can talk to Selina.”

She gave him a tired smile. They had both been up late and neither of them were really thinking straight. They were both frustrated and she needed to remember to not let the sleep-deprivation do the talking.

“Thanks, and I’m sorry I assumed the worst. I know you just want what’s best for the girls but when I saw how scared she looked at the table I just… I don’t know. I hate how scared of us she is; it’s been two years since the divorce and she still seems so fragile.”

Selina’s father was a monster, and she’d never really forgiven Alice either for what they’d put their daughter through. She understood it. But couldn’t condone it. The man had been intent on ripping the family apart and Alice had done what she thought was necessary for the Wrath family.

Selina had merely been collateral damage. A kid caught between the destructive clashing of a political marriage turned sour.

“I also got a bit… carried away. I spent all morning dealing with scummy nobles and wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have. I also got excited when I heard confirmation that the police officers refused to respond to Selina’s phone call. The nobles are frantically trying to cove up the whole situation and when I saw weakness… I got carried away.”

She rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sure why her husband enjoyed fleecing nobles so much. Long had she wished that he could pick up a regular, mundane hobby, like cars, sports, or golf? But no, it just had to be blackmailing and collecting favors from the nobility. There were surely worse hobbies to have, though.

She just couldn’t think of any.

“It's fine. We were both at fault here. Go make your phone calls and I’ll grab the girls after they’re done with breakfast. Then we’ll both sit down and talk to them.”

Heading towards her office she snatched some papers that she still needed to go through. There was still a lot to do. A call had come in last night about a diaphragm break, and while historically it was possible to survive such a thing, nobody was really sure on the exact process.

It was, tricky. She needed to find a way to keep the kid breathing for three months while he recovered from the break while also ensuring he didn’t get pneumonia during the recovery period. It also wasn’t clear just how bad the break would end up being. If his diaphragm only partially stopped working she could give a very different treatment plan compared to if the diaphragm was fully paralyzed.

She was just glad that her girls had gotten less severe muscle breaks and Mickey had gotten a pretty harmless bone break.

This whole thing was a disaster, but it could have been much worse. With a sigh, she sat in her office chair and began to skim through the old papers looking for answers.

After cleaning up the table and packing away their breakfast, they walked downstairs to find Mel’s dad. Sel tensed as the door swung open.

“Mom! Dad! Me and Sel wanted to talk to you about something. Are you busy!?”

“No, you can come in! Your dad also had something to talk about, so this is perfect!”

Sel glanced around examining the walls and the furniture. She didn’t often venture down into Mel’s basement since it mainly held her parent’s offices and bedroom. Still, she’d been down here enough that it wasn’t unfamiliar.

There were large bookshelves filled with thick books and anatomical diagrams on the walls. A large tv was bolted to the right wall opposite a couch that took up the middle of the room.

Although nothing big had changed there was one small difference that was very apparent. The room… was a lot more cluttered than usual. Papers were strewn across every surface some even laying in large piles on the ground. Sel wouldn’t say it was messy—because she was too polite—but…

Well not like I can really criticize anyone on keeping a clean house right now. Mine probably doesn’t look much better after the goblins came through.

She’d have to figure out some way to go back in the next couple of days. Sel wasn’t really sure what she was supposed to do now? She’d stayed at the Quinton’s tonight, but would they let her stay longer? Her family wasn’t scheduled to be back for at least a few days, and she didn’t really have any other clothes here either… huh?

The door on the left—which led to one of the Quinton’s offices—opened and out came Mrs. Quinton.

“Ah, sorry for the mess! John’s been busy the last couple of hours. He’s the only expert on treating magical maladies in the region so he’s been getting a lot of requests with the events in the forest. Anyway, how was breakfast?”

Sel watched as Mel’s face took on a smug look.

“It was good! I cooked up some eggs for me and Sel. I had to crack them open one-handed but other than that it was fine.”

Mel’s mom frowned.

“I don’t want you using the stove while your arm is recovering. You could push the pan off of the oven if you aren’t careful. Next time get me, or your dad and we’ll help. Or ask Sel if she feels confident.”

Mel’s smug expression vanished, replaced by one of righteous outrage. Expecting praise for her ingenuity in the face of adversity, she’d instead gotten scolded!

“But Moomm! It wasn’t that hard! I only got a few shells in and I even picked those out! It’s not my fault my arm got hurt, and I already cooked them today without burning myself! It’s not fair!”

Mrs. Quinton shook her head.

“We can discuss this later. Your father has something important to talk to Sel about, and you should be there too. He’ll be out in just a minute. He’s got an important phone call he’s making so both of you need to keep your voices down.”

But I haven’t even said anything? Sel thought, feeling much aggrieved. It was Mel that had been yelling, not her. Still, she didn’t say anything. Whining was childish and pointless, anyway. She did have something to say, however, so gathering her resolve and making sure to speak quietly she began.

“Um, Mrs. Quinton, we also had something to talk to… Mr. Quinton about. We wanted his advice on… something...”

Sel lost her nerve as she watched Mrs. Quinton’s face light up. Her eyes focusing on her like a cat watching a mouse scampering across the floor. Ready to pounce.

“Of course, sweety. Me and John are always happy to help. If you need anything feel free to ask us, okay? And if you want to talk about what happened last night, we’d be happy to listen to anything you want to tell us. There’s no shame in asking for help, okay?”

Sel wasn’t sure how to respond so she nodded. Anything to escape the cat’s attention.

An awkward silence seemed to fill the room. Nobody knowing what to say.

“Well, Selina, I forgot to ask this morning, but you aren’t hurting anywhere right? A Greater Health potion should have fixed you up, but it's good to make sure that there weren’t any… complications.”

Blinking she looked down at herself, feeling her left side and patting her left arm. Neither was aching at all. Her leg which had been unable to hold her weight yesterday was now perfectly fine. She tapped her foot experimentally, but there wasn’t anything weird about it. It was just a leg. Which was good. It’d be weird if it were anything else.

Indeed, the only thing that hurt was the aching in her chest that had been there since she’d first woken up. Not that there was anything to be done about that.

Ah!

These weren’t her clothes! She was pretty sure these were Mel’s pajamas, which explained why they were hanging a little low on her feet. She hadn’t even noticed until now!

Her face felt hot as she realized what had happened. The logic falling into place. She hadn’t been wearing these clothes yesterday, she was wearing them today. She did not remember putting them on. Conclusion: Someone had undressed her! How embarrassing!

Sel looked up to see Mel and her mom giving her a concerned look. She couldn’t look at them though. In all likelihood, both of them had been the ones to undress her. How shameful.

“Is something wrong? Selina, you’re not looking well?”

“I-I’m fine. Nothing hurts. I just noticed that I was wearing Mel’s pajamas.”

Mel’s mom smiled. “Ah was that what you were concerned about? You had me worried there for a second. Yeah, these were the only clothes we had that could fit you. We threw away all of Mel’s old stuff since we didn’t have another girl to pass them down to. I hope they’re not too uncomfortable.”

She shook her head. That wasn’t the problem here.

Mel gave her a suspicious glance. Until a knowing look came across her face.

“Mom, that’s not what’s wrong. *giggle* Sel doesn’t mind the clothes. Her face is red because she’s a terrible prude!”

Sel eyes widened a fraction before she schooled her features again. Though she could do nothing about the rising heat in her cheeks. Why are my cheeks so pale. Why!? She knew. Knew that despite her poker face, her cheeks were a bright red.

Mel’s mom looked puzzled. “What does that have to do with—” She trailed off blinking.

“Haha! It’s because you undressed her!”

Sel’s face felt like it was going to melt off as she gave Mel a glare. Her gaze not lasting long as it fell to Mel’s shins. Ah, if only Mel’s mom wasn’t here. She sat quietly burning, imagining the satisfaction that would come from her foot connecting with the monster’s shin. I’ll remember this Mel! My revenge will not be simple!

Mel’s mom seemed to be at a loss for a second. Her mouth opening and closing. Her expression changing between angry and mirthful as she looked back and forth between Mel and her.

“Mel! Don’t laugh at her! Honey, there’s nothing wrong with feeling embarrassed. You know I’m a nurse, right? I’ve had to help a lot of people get dressed when they were hurt and there’s nothing wrong with that. We also had to treat your wounds too. It’s not something you have to feel embarrassed about. It was just a medical procedure—! Mel, stop laughing or I’ll have you do the dishes for the rest of the week!”

Mel quieted. Cowed under the threat of dishes. Her grin remaining. She didn’t say anything though. Thirteen years of honed instincts letting her know that pushing her luck here would have dire consequences.

Sel opened her mouth to defend herself. I’m not the weird one here! I’m not!

“I-It’s not r-right to get undressed in front of other people.”

Mel couldn’t hold herself back any longer.

“But Sel didn’t you have maids growing up? Isn’t that the same thing?”

Sel glared back. That was completely different!

“T-They didn’t—they’d just pick out the clothes! I put them on! U-unless it was—"

She closed her mouth. Refusing to speak any further. Not only Mel, but her mom was also holding back a grin. Insolence! She’d find no allies here. Her articulate arguments wasted on the two commonfolk in front of her.

Unable to meet the two hooligans gaze, she found her sight falling to the papers on the floor. She glared at one. The top reading “An Examination of Mana Expression and Common Spell Matrices in the Appendicular Muscles from Days Four to Seven Following Break”. She looked away quickly. The name alone giving her a headache. Why would anyone ever read that?

Fortunately, she didn’t have to bear the injustice of being alone with the two long. The door to the other office popping open as Mr. Quinton walked out. His gaze sweeping over the two red-headed clowns and her, his expression showing evident confusion.

“Is something… do I want to know?”

Sel looked up. Ready to intervene if necessary. She was confident she could take out Mel since her only good arm was on the opposite side. But her mom… I can’t attack Mrs. Quinton!

Luckily, it didn’t come down to that.

“Nothing important dear. We were simply asking if Sel felt pain anywhere.”

“Ah, well that’s good. Let’s sit down girls, this may take a bit.”

Sel looked at the couches covered in papers. Where are we supposed to sit?

“Hmm, Belle, would you help me move these? We can make some space here for the girls to sit on the couch and I’ll go grab two chairs from our offices for us.”

Mel’s mom quickly started grabbing the papers and putting them in a box that was off to the side. Mr. Quinton fetched two chairs from the offices on opposite sides of the room, moving some papers on the floor so the chairs could be set down.

Sel felt uncomfortable seeing the two adults doing all the work. Her desire to not let others do everything battled with her fear of touching someone else’s stuff.

The work was over before a clear winner could be decided.

Mel plopped down on the couch. Pulling her legs up in front of her. Sel tried to sit properly on the fluffy couch but quickly found it to be impractical. The fluffiness kept pulling her back to be consumed! Her legs also not long enough to reach the floor or sit back comfortably. So instead, she copied Mel, scooting back in the seat, and pulling her legs up so they weren’t sticking out over the edge.

Mr. and Mrs. Quinton sat in front of them on the two office chairs. Looking much more regal than the two of them did curled up on the couch. Mr. Quinton looked between the two of them considering before he began to speak.

“So, the most important matter is your origin, Selina. You haven’t had any pains or feelings of weakness, have you? Shortness of breath, fatigue, cramps, or headaches? Anything?”

“No. Nothing like that.” Liar.

“Hmm. We might have to wait until after the effects of the health potion wear off. If you do start to feel anything like that, let me know immediately. Sometimes an origin can be deadly.”

“Like with an important organ?” She asked. Already knowing the answer.

“Well, that is also a possibility, but I’m more worried about the injuries you suffered last night. Sometimes when you’re hurt enough, instead of your origin being focused on an organ or tissue, it can instead appear on an injury. People aren’t as aware of these since most origins nowadays are broken in a controlled environment and people look out for those kinds of problems. None of these measures were taken in this recent outburst, however, so we’ve had a couple of these crop up.”

This time it was Mel that asked the question.

“Wait! So, what would happen if Sel had one of those!?”

“Well after you recover from your break, origins tend to strengthen the organ or tissue that they are found in. When this occurs in a wound you can see a bunch of different things. Sometimes it just doesn’t heal. Others the wound can continue to grow and take over. I’ve seen a couple in the last couple of days that just bleed out constantly. Never clotting or closing as they should. All of them are tricky to treat and plan for because they usually lead to unconventional spell matrices.

That’s why if you start to feel any pain from where your old wounds are, you need to come and get one of us immediately.”

Mel glanced over and gave her a strong once-over. As if just by looking she could somehow see a spot she’d missed before that was gushing blood. Nope. Sorry Mel. No blood here.

Mel looked back at her dad with a troubled expression.

“What about other origins? I’ve heard that there’s a lot of ones that’ll kill you?”

“Well, there are a few troublesome ones. But the majority of them aren’t deadly. The only ones that have a high fatality rate are the brain, heart, and liver. There are some ones that are more annoying than others, like the bladder, a lung, some of the larger arteries, and certain muscles in your throat—”

“And the diaphragm.” Mrs. Quinton interjected.

“—and the diaphragm. Among a couple others. However, these aren’t as big a problem as most people think. The reason they get so much coverage is that a lot of noble families are ‘bred’ for some of the bigger organs. Since it makes their starting origin a little stronger. Most people just break in something small like a small muscle or vein.”

Sel hoped. She felt her heart thunder in her chest. A throbbing that wasn’t just in her ears. She asked the question.

“So, what do you do? When someone has an origin in their brain, heart, or liver?”

Mr. Quinton grimaced.

“Liver… is survivable. It’s not pleasant, but it's possible. Usually what you do is have a liver transplant. The transplant takes care of the body until the break is healed and the strengthened host liver with the origin takes over after its recovered. The tricky thing is finding a donor quick enough, but if you have enough health potions you can delay long enough for it to be survivable.”

“What about brain and heart then?”

“Brain is a hit and miss. To be honest most brain breaks don’t actually kill. Some look a lot like strokes, where you lose motor function or memories. These usually go away once the break heals. Some cause insanity, some cause comas, while others cause instant death. There have been some rather interesting studies done on brain breaks. There was one individual who had half his brain break and after three months—”

“What about heart breaks?” Sel cringed for interrupting. But she had to know. She didn’t care about liver or brain breaks. She just needed to know—

Mr. Quinton stopped. Giving Sel a strange look.

“Heart breaks… are rare. Even in your Wrath family that’s bred for cardiovascular breaks you seldom see a heart break. Too difficult to break through to the mana realm. The only cases where it does occur are among individuals that have a preexisting heart problem, and the physical barrier between here and the mana realm is already weakened. Septal defects, and arrythmias mainly.

As far as I know, all of these have been fatal.”

This time, Sel had been right. She swallowed. In her chest, she felt a painful throb that accompanied the sound of her heartbeat. She sat there, barely listening to whatever else Mr. Quinton had to say. Knowing that there were only a few days left until the Greater Health potion left her system.

Thump

Thump

Thump

Thump

Only a few days left.

Glorg stumbled through the woods. His brain aching. It hurt a lot. The second small female with the shiny stick of pain had smacked him several times there, but it had gotten much worse after the fire beam of death had been choked out by the drowning sky water.

Glorg took this as further proof that teamwork was awful. He and his other five companions had all attacked the ‘small female of the burning stick’ and even with all of them she had given them quite the terrible thumping.

Then, when the small female had foolishly turned her back, and when they had finally had a chance to get their just revenge, the other small female with the red hair had shown up. This one had carried a stick of breaking. If he thought the small female with the black hair was bad, the red-haired one was even worse.

Pip was still clutching his arm which looked funny from one of the small red females blows. Wigr was hobbling from a blow to the foot. Dorg, Simp, and Kurk not much better. The red one had given them quite the thrashing.

Glorg pointed in another direction. It wasn’t the fastest route, but he knew that ahead there was something… bad.

His five fellow goblins and the chief all followed without question. The last time they hadn’t listened to Glorg’s wise advice they had run into the ‘big-top-furry-and-horned’ creature. They had barely escaped.

Now they all listened to Glorg.

Glorg had been doing some thinking. A most unpleasant task with the throbbing in his head, but still doable for one as great as he was.

Glorg’s amazing thinking had led him to the realization that the red small female had actually been going… easy on them. It was a hard fact to swallow. The fact that the worstest beating ever could have been much worse… was not a fun thought.

The evidence though was, of course, the fact that Chief had been hurt more than any of them, and in less time. Chief! The strongest of the goblins and chief of the tribe!

But Glorg knew why. He had figured it out. The black and the red small female had been trying to teach them something. And Chief hadn’t listened.

These incomprehensible beings were trying to teach them that they were weak! Their strength was nothing! Glorg and his five companions had realized this, but Chief had not and so Chief was punished!

This led him to another thought. One he should have realized much before now!

It wasn’t teamwork that had caused his suffering, but instead the unfathomable strength of the small female beings he had fought! Glorg’s instincts had told him they were prey, but now he knew!

It was in fact them who had been prey.

“When I find that female, I will rip and rip apart and eat her. I’ll crunch the bones and…”

Glorg frowned looking at Chief. He hadn’t realized. Hadn’t realized that the red female had chose to spare him. That it was by the red's mercy they had survived.

Yes, the black hair was destruction, the red hair was mercy. Both necessary to enlighten their poor insignificant selves! And yet, Chief did not understand.

Chief was not worthy of being chief.

Still, Glorg hesitated. Chief’s wound still dripped blood, but it did not seem to weaken him. Chief was weakened with only one arm, but Chief was chief for a reason. He was bigger and rounder than other goblins. Fatter and stronger.

But that didn’t change the fact that Chief was not worthy.

Glorg stopped again. His new sense telling him that something strong was heading their way. Something they could not defeat.

Glorg pointed in another direction, and the rest of the group hobbled after him.

Before tonight, the goblins had been the strongest in the forest. None was stronger. The brown leaping creatures, the green slimy ones, and the small chitinous creatures no match for them.

Now… now it was different.

The goblins were weak. And only by embracing this teaching could they survive. The forest was no longer theirs. Other, stronger beings now roamed it.

Glorg pointed again in another direction.

“Stop! No more running! I am the powerful Chief! I will walk circles no more! We are strong! We fight! We win! No more walking!”

Glorg frowned. Looking at Pip, Simp, Kurk, Wigr, and Dorg. All five who had jumped from the burning box with him. All five who had seen the red female’s power and received her mercy. They understood! He could see it in their eyes! Yes! The truth! We are weak.

Glorg would give the Chief one chance. Just as the red-haired female had given them one chance.

“Chief, we are weak. Not strong. Must walk around. Go straight no good. See truth.”

Chief looked at him stunned. Glorg waited. Wondering if his profound speech had brought about enlightenment. If Chief would accept the red hair’s mercy.

Or if he would receive the black hair’s burning destruction.

“You not listen to Chief! You must be punished! Punishment is Death!”

Chief had chosen. Now when Glorg spoke, it was not to him who had chosen destruction, but the five who knew the truth.

“If we go straight. We die. Black hair will come and burn us. Go around. Then red hair give mercy. No listen to Chief. Chief not worthy.”

“What talking about! Chief worthy! Chief biggest and fattest! Worthiest!”

They understood.

All six of them jumped at Chief at the same time. Railing their fists at him and beating him. Glorg knew the fight would be tough. But they would prevail.

Or Glorg thought it would be tough.

Pips blow was wreathed with fire. Kuk had glowing silver claws extend from his hand, Dorg’s blow seemed to hit much harder sending himself and Chief flying back.

What!?

“Wait!”

All of them stopped and looked towards Glorg. Waiting for explanation. Why stop?

Glorg thought. Head still throbbing. Were they not still weak? Had Glorg been wrong?

No.

Glorg was not wrong. They were weak. But they knew they were weak. Hence, they were strong. By following the teachings of black and red, they had found strength in their weakness. The two females had lifted them up!

“We are weak! But know weak, make strong! Red and Black guide! Follow the teachings! Become strong! Chief not understand! Chief say strong, but really weak! Not guided!”

Looks of wonder crossed across the five faces facing Glorg. Yes, they understood.

Enlightened.

Glorg turned to Chief who was still lying on the ground, groaning. Blood still flowing out of the wound on his arm. The flow steady. Strange.

Why had red left Chief, who did not understand, alive? Why would red in great wisdom let this unenlightened go? And why did she leave such a peculiar wound that did not heal or kill?

Glorg reached out to the blood and brought some of it to his mouth. Tongue darting out to taste the green blood.

Foulness.

It was disgusting. Every instinct in Glorg’s body told him to expel the poison. To not let the desecration in.

But it was too late. Glorg had already swallowed.

Glorg watched fascinated as the wounds on his body closed. The pain in his head fading. The many aches and hurts, the burns and scratches, fading away.

Chief moaned, thrashing.

This… This was red’s mercy.

“Drink of chief! For he weak! Take in weakness! Become strong! Red give us chance!”

The others followed.

Glorg watched as the others tasted of Red’s mercy. Pip’s arm remarkably straightening out. Wigr stopped hobbling. Kurk, Dorg, and Simp also healing.

Every drink however made Chief weaker.

Chief’s fatness faded. Muscles shrinking as Chief thrashed. Every drink made the six stronger. Every drink made Chief weaker.

This, this was the judgment of Black. Chief had not understood. So, know Chief was burned!

“Judgement of Black! Chief not worthy! Chief not weak. Chief not understand!”

The others nodded. Pip started it, but the others soon followed.

“Weak!” “Weak!” “Weak!”

“““WEAK!”””

Glorg was happy that they understood. But now was not right. After drinking of Chief, thinking had grown much clearer and now Glorg understood.

The forest had changed. The goblins would have to adapt, embracing their weakness. They would wait. Grow in understanding. Become strong through weakness. Till they were weakest and strongest!

Then they would teach the new beings in the forest. The truth that Red and Black had taught them.

Everyone is weak.