I open my drowsy eyes. In front of my eyes is a wood ceiling staring back at me.

That means… I'm lying down? Don't know, don't care. My head hurts too much for such thinking.

And it did hurt. My head, that is. My head throbbed. The pain felt like someone had taken a knife to my skull. I pressed my head into the pillow. Squeezing his my shut, I willed the pain to go away. I focused on thinking about other things than the constant knife-like pain in the back of my head.

That is my own fault, though. I used of my Psionic energy up, multiple times, and forced it to become full by external means. I'm surprised it's this mild if you can even call this pain that.

He could barely hear the people chattering around him. It was the slap on my cheek that gave them my attention.

“-I'm actually beginning to think if you even are awake”

I could hear his voice coming from my right. I look over, but all I see I blur. My eyes were unfocused, for a couple of moments, before they finally began to work.

“I'm awake, don't worry. Just, give me a second”, I say, beginning to sit up in the bed.

“Finally! I began thinking that I would have to give you a real slap. Be glad I didn't”, Eros said, his face brightening up.

I successfully sit up in the bed, my spine making satisfying cracking noises. How long had I been lying down here?

“How long have I been sleeping?”, I ask Eros.

“Just about thirty hours, or so. Nothing to worry about. Erik also woke up a couple hours ago”, Eros explains.

That great. I just need a days rest, and I will be back to mint condition. Can't say the same about Erik, though. He damaged his Mana-Channels while casting that summoning spell. While they will heal, it could take up to a year.

My face darkens, thinking about that. While there wasn't any other option, that would have work, I still blame myself a little for coming up with it.

Well, I can't change what happened in the past. Well, I probably could with magic, but… I'm not that stupid.

“So I have a quick question”, I say.

“Which is?”, Eros asks.

“What happened after Erik and I fell unconscious? Did we win or lose?”, I asked Eros.

Eros snorted at that.

“If we had lost, I don't think we would be alive. Yes, we won. We suffered almost no casualties, caused by the enemies. With the elites taken care of, we had almost no resistance in taking the bandit base. There were a few slightly powerful bandits, like that mountain of muscle we ran from, but we eradicated them before they even could retaliate. Those ritual mages had set up a barrier that surrounded us, which would send lightning bolt straight into their hearts. While it was cool, it was as loud as the abyssal realms on new years.

We killed every bandit that attacked us, and the rest were imprisoned”, Eros explained.

Good. It would have been a shame if we lost.

“So”, Eros said. “What do we think we should do?”

“What do you mean?”, I asked.

“I mean, what should we do? After we get paid for this, I think it would be fun to travel a little. I heard from Elora that, every second month a group of mages with the Space talent would teleport out here from another city. They will take people who pay the fee with them to the next stop. I think it will be fun. I mean, we could also stay here, and try out the dungeon for a month or two. What do you think about it?”, Eros asked. He had some solid points, and we really needed to make a decision about what to do next.

“Well, I think we should-”

A servant bursts through the door, clearly in a hurry. He looks at us, and, seeing as I was awake, sighs in relief.

“If you're in the condition to it, Lord Wolfsbane would like to see you”, the servant says.

Eros looks over at me, loudly sighing in irritation.

“Well, let's go see what Erik has in store for us”

“Glad you could come”, Erik says, smiling from his sitting place.

“As do we”, Eros says.

We were sitting in the dining room, having a drink with Erik. He wanted to speak with us, but he was clearly having a hard time speaking about it. I wonder why.

“So, Jack, how have you been doing. Any injuries to speak of?”, Erik asked.

“No. Just a headache, but it will be over in an hour. How about you?”, I ask.

“Fine. Not the best, but it's okay”, Erik says.

An awkward silence quickly ensues. Nobody could think of anything to talk about. After twenty minutes of small talk, it becomes really hard to find new subjects to discuss.

Just say anything. It will only become more awkward as time continues, and nobody is gonna say anything. Just say ANYTHING.

Fine, jeez. What to say though?

“So… do you like… cheese…?”, I ask.

“What?”, Erik says,

“What?”, I say.

The awkward silence ensues yet again until Eros decides to break.

“Erik. You called us here for a reason. What is it?”, he asks his voice demanding answers.

Erik looks at him for a second, before just sighing.

“Well, I had to get to it, at some point. The matter at hand is, I need a bodyguard, or in this case two, for my daughter. With her magical abilities, she has been invited to Valens, which is one of the largest schools of the Arcane. With Monty not having any chance of recovering, for the next many months, I have no one to send with her. What I'm trying to say is this; Will you be my daughter's bodyguard for the first year. While its okay for you to do it for multiple years, if you say yes, you have to do it for the whole first year

Do you accept this offer? I promise the rewards will be great”

I look over at Eros, hoping to get his opinion. He stares back at me while signaling something.

´You're choice´

I look back at Erik, who is looking at me with hopeful eyes.

What to say?