Mythran's Master Of All

The Chancellor didn't say anything, and Ren sighed.

“It's not that hard of a question.” Ren said. “Look, even if you don't want them to return, the least you can do is send me seeds, food, and building supplies, so I can give them someplace to actually live.” He sighed. “The tents are nice for camping, but you're not supposed to live in them.”

The Chancellor looked at his two guards, at the infuriated Librarian, and then at the contempt on the Sage of Ages' face.

“Fine.” The Chancellor said, and pointed to the Librarian. “I appoint you as the Ambassador to the...” He ground his teeth together. “...refugees.”

The Librarian gasped, and put a hand over her heart. “But... what... what about the Library?”

“I'll have the guards bring everything back.” The Chancellor said. “Keeping all of this secret by removing the source of the information was... a little short-sighted of me.”

The Librarian didn't tell him that it wasn't short-sighted of him, it was just plain stupid. Lara on the other hand nodded agreement, and the Chancellor looked at Ren.

“I suppose you'll want a written guarantee that I won't send anyone else out to finish the job?”

“That won't be necessary.” Ren said. “By the time you can get another platoon gathered together, I'll have this place so well defended that all you'll accomplish is the very swift deaths of more soldiers.” He smiled. “Plus, the Sage of Ages is right there. She's the best guarantee I could have that you'll keep your word. If you were going to lie about sending more troops here, everyone in the whole world would know about it tomorrow.”

The Chancellor looked like he was going to explode from anger, and Ren pointed at him.

“Before you decide to send someone here to shut me up, just so I won't say anything about what happened here today; you should know that I'm an Adventurer.” Ren said. “If you do somehow succeed in having me killed, I'll only come right back.” He smiled and bared his teeth. “Then I'll come for you.”

The Chancellor stood there and stared at Ren for a full minute, then nodded.

“People will hear about this battle. It's too good of a story not to spread around.” Ren said. “As long as you keep your end of the bargain, I'll keep your true motivations to myself.”

“Agreed.” The Chancellor said. “You can discuss the details with the Ambassador.” He said, paused for a moment, then spoke again. “You truly are the Dreaded Foe.”

“Only to those that cross me, or piss me off.” Ren said. “Good day, Chancellor.”

“Good day.” The Chancellor said, looked at Ren for another moment, then turned around and walked away. The two Guardians of the Land that were his bodyguards, followed him as he left the Library.

*

He forgot the Far-Seeing Mirror. Lara thought, amazed. It's one of the Giant Kingdom's treasures, and he left it!

“It's nice seeing you again, Lara.” Ren said. “Even under these circumstances.”

Lara turned to look at him, and it was like he was standing right in front of her. I have such an urge to hug him. She thought. It's just a chat window, but... “You just saw me yesterday.”

“Do people get tired of seeing the sun every day?” Ren chuckled, and then saw her hand move a little, like she was trying to stop herself from doing something. He stepped forward and put his hand on the spot where hers rested.

“Are you really going to kill the leader of the platoon?” Lara asked, and kicked herself mentally. She really didn't want him to answer that question.

“Cover your ears, Lara.” Ren said. “I believe the dwarves are taking care of that right now.”

Lara looked down at her hands, she could move one, but she couldn't move the other. If she lost contact with the mirror, the spell would end.

“I can't. I... I have to keep touching the mirror.”

Ren nodded and took out a wand. “Just a second.” He said and stepped out of view. Lara looked at the landscape and saw two of the Ballistas.

He made more of them. Lara thought. No wonder the giants were defeated so easily.

Ren stepped back into view with a sad smile on his face. “I'm sorry you had to go through this.” He said, and Lara stared at him.

“Me?”

Ren nodded. “You're really only supposed to be an information broker. You shouldn't be mixed up in the middle of all of this.”

“Oh, Ren.” Lara said. How can he guess how I feel so easily?

“I can't promise you won't have to get involved again.” Ren said. “But, I can promise that I'm going to do everything that I can to protect you.”

“You... don't have... to...” Lara said in a soft voice, and started to blush. No one's ever said anything like that to me before. She thought. He's so sweet.

“I know I don't have to.” Ren said. “I just like seeing you blush.” He grinned. “You look so cute when you do that.”

“Ren!” Lara exclaimed, and her face turned a deep red.

“There it is.” Ren chuckled. “Now that I've embarrassed you in front of your friend, I should work out the details of the supplies I need.”

Lara nodded and moved aside, then the Librarian grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote down the things Ren needed. After about 10 minutes, they had worked out that there would be several shipments of actual food first, with some supplies mixed in. They would be delivered to the border of the giant's lands, and Ren would come to pick them up at noon 2 days from now.

“Thank you.” Ren said to the Librarian. “I'll have a list of refugees made, and I'll give it to Lara to pass along to you.”

“I'd appreciate that.” The Librarian said. “So many people will be relieved to know their family members are still alive.”

“I'll try and ask for the names of the ones that... didn't make it.” Ren said. The Librarian nodded solemnly, stood up, and left the Library to start her duties as the Ambassador.

“Thank you very much, Lara.” Ren said after the Librarian left. “I thought I'd be sending you message after message, trying to work all of this out; and here you came along and showed me this!” He waved his arms to indicate the huge view screen. “A video chat!”

Lara chuckled. “I was surprised myself when I was asked about it.”

“It's huge!” Ren said. “What is it?”

“It's called the Far-Seeing Mirror.” Lara said. “It's also one of the treasures of the Giant Kingdom.”

“No way!” Ren said. “Is it anything like the All-Seeing Mirror?”

“The All-Seeing Mirror?” Lara asked, then shut her eyes for a few seconds. “It's... very similar.” She said. “How do you know about the All-Seeing Mirror?”

“I've got a quest to complete by the end of the week, and it's one of the rewards.”

“Let me know if you complete the quest.” Lara said. “We can talk again about it then.”

Ren smiled crookedly at her. Thanks to those memories the game showed him, he knew her well enough to know she was intentionally not telling him something.

“I'll contact you about it later, then.” Ren said, and looked up at the top of the screen. “What are you going to do with the Far-Seeing Mirror?”

“I don't know.” Lara said. “I can't just leave it here, and it's too big to take with me.”

Ren chuckled. “Only if you believe it is.”

“Wh-what?”

“When you end this call, touch the mirror, and select 'store in inventory'. Make sure you're thinking 'normal size' when you do it, too.” Ren said. “You'll be pleasantly surprised.”

Lara nodded. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Ren said, held his fingertips to his lips to kiss them, then held them out to touch the video window. Lara chuckled, and did the same thing.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Bye, Ren.”

“Bye, Lara.”

Lara took her hand off of the mirror, and it's surface became reflective again. She put a hand back on it, selected 'store into inventory' like Ren said to, and thought 'normal size'. The mirror disappeared and Lara didn't feel the weight of it. She looked into inventory and saw the mirror there. She took it out, and it was only 12 inches square, and not the 12 foot square it was just a moment ago.

He was right. Lara thought in amusement and stored the mirror. I am pleasantly surprised that it worked.

*

The video window disappeared, and Ren looked at the leader of the giants. He'd had a dozen swords jammed into him, but it hadn't killed him yet.

“Sorry... sir.” One of the dwarves said. “He's... too tough.”

Ren nodded slightly, and took out the Wand of Spanning. He cast Bridge from the ground up to the leader's neck. Once it was in place, he walked up the bridge to stand in front of the giant's face, then used the hammerpick to cut open the webbing he'd used to keep the giant quiet while he talked to Lara.

“I hope the fact that your death has eased your people's suffering, will bring you comfort on the other side.” Ren said.

“It will.” The leader said. “Now kill me and defile my corpse.”

“Excuse me?” Ren asked, surprised at his words.

“I know you little people bury your dead.” The leader said. “Every school child has heard the story of your barbaric use of bodies to fertilize your crops.”

Ren chuckled. “I don't know where you heard that.” He said. “As far as I know, it's like everything else around here when they die. You loot the body and it disappears.”

“Ah.” The leader said. “You remove all evidence of it's existence.”

“The physical evidence of the body, yes.” Ren said. “Otherwise, we'd be stepping over endless graveyards as far as the eye could see.”

“I've seen a place like that.” The leader shivered.

“Where is it?” Ren asked.

“Shargon.” The giant said.

Ren nodded, because he remembered that was where those henchmen said that Tristan had spent a bunch of time. He looked at his hammerpick and replaced the enchantment on it with Lightning.

“This will be quick.” Ren said.

“How is that going to be quick?” The leader asked. “You're going to beat me to death.”

Ren shook his head. “No, you at least should have a quick death.” He said and pointed the end of the hammerpick at the giant's eye. “I don't enjoy this... not at all.” He sighed. “But, it must be done.”

The leader of the wiped out platoon nodded, and Ren activated the enchantment.

********

“Oh my god!” Barbara exclaimed, and watched as Ren unleashed a bolt of lightning from the end of his weapon. The giant's eye burst into a pile of goo, and the lightning bolt continued into the giant's skull unimpeded. She had to cover her eyes as a torrent of blood gushed out of the now empty eye socket.

********

Ren moved the end of the hammerpick from side to side, to make sure he got as much of the brain as he could, then turned off the enchantment. The horrible task was done, and the deceased giant's head slumped backwards.