Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 224: Gaining Value

Laz was no longer the young, inexperience child he used to be. Finding himself in this situation, despite knowing that the person staring at him was harboring anger, Laz barely flinched. Instead, he took a look around, shook his head and proceeded to walk over to where A'ruya was sitting down and took a seat across from her. On top of that, he even reached over to the tray of yummy looking fruits that she always seemed to be enjoying and picked one for himself before putting it into his mouth. Last time, he was offered one. This time, he just took it on his own.

Of course that wasn't the best idea as these weren't the same fruits from before.

The taste would be described as heavenly but it wasn't something that a human at Laz's realm could consume. As the energy from the fruit his his stomach and spread out, Laz got the feeling that if he didn't do something quickly, his body was going to explode.

Without hesitation, Laz circulated his energy using his self made infinity technique, causing the lava like energy to run along it's pathways. The only thing keeping those pathways from breaking down under the intense pressure and heat was the strengthening his inner body had gone through thanks to the grey fog energy Laz had worked through. He knew that if it wasn't for that, he would be going through a far more painful hell than the one he was currently experiencing.

The pathways where holding up for now, but the energy wasn't being consumed fast enough. Laz tried his best to make sure it flowed into his foundation while keeping it constantly moving, but it could only absorb it so fast. It was lava going in and still lava coming out. At this rate, his body was still going to break down.

Pushing things as hard as he could, Laz igniting the black flame hovering over his foundation while further focusing on increasing his blood flow. He noticed that the pathway his blood took was slightly different than the pathway the energy went, although it followed the same over all course. By encouraging his heart to beat faster and letting his blood boil, Laz was basically activating an inter liquid cooler while the black flame worked on taming the crazed energy at the center.

He was just barely able to reach an equilibrium.

On top of the the black limbs of the tree tattoo had spread out due to his effort, covering he entire upper body. Even the blood red moon on his chest was glowing with an unusual light as Laz madly dealt with the issue.

If anything, the person most surprised was A'ruya. She had seen Laz's actions and could have stopped him with barely any effort at all. But she wanted him to suffer a little bit due to what his disappearance meant to her. Despite her cold attitude towards Laz, he was still the one she picked. Therefore, she felt a certain sense of ownership over him and his well being. Knowing that he had somehow escaped her had made her angry even though she knew he was still alive. This was suppose to be her revenge, but instead it was a sort of awakening for her.

It was only now that she began to see him as somewhat important and worth her time.

She had planned to save him after he suffered. Not that he would die per say. But that didn't mean that his being here and things that affected him here wouldn't affect his actual body. She had no desire to see him die since she would have to save him, especially now that he was showing some value.

It's unknown exactly how long Laz spent dealing with the energy from the tiny piece of fruit, but when he opened his eyes, he noticed that A'ruya had turned away from him and was still sipping her tea as though his situation meant nothing to her.

Seeing her non caring attitude made Laz realized that she had known what would happen and just let him suffer. Although he didn't know that she would have saved him, it didn't really care at the moment either.

For him, this was just one more step towards reaching her heights.

"Well, that was fun," was all he said after having resolved the energy. Due to this not being his body, the effects of the energy that poured into him weren't apparent yet. As far as he knew, the whole experience was simply a curse, not a blessing.

"Perhaps monkey's enjoying being without clothing, but I find it rather disturbing. Please put some on," was her only response.

Looking down, Laz noticed that the only thing left covering his body was specs of ash. How he was suppose to get clothes though was a mystery. It wasn't like he had brought his pouch or anything with him.

A'ruya already knew this and simply said,

"Just imagine your clothes the way they were before."

'The way they were before?' Laz thought about it and suddenly, his clothes were back like nothing had happened.

'How the hell...?'.

"Would you like some tea as well? I promise the experience will be far more delightful..." A'ruya asked as she turned to face him once again.

"I think I'll pass. Thanks anyway."

"Coward."

"Is there a reason I am here?"

"Where were you?"

"Around. Here and there. You know, the usual."

"You think you can lie to me?"

"It's not really lying if I'm not really answering."

"You seem to think you've become strong enough to have a choice?" A'ruya's face, while still deadly beautiful, held a faint trace of anger. It was just in her eyes before but now it was clear as day.

"A choice? No. Actually, what changed is that when you grow up a little bit, some things which were foggy before become pretty clear."

"Oh? Do tell..."

"You need me. You may not care about me, but the only reason I am still alive is because you need something. So yeah, I don't know much of anything. The last time we talked, you mentioned not understanding humans. Well, let me tell you something about us that you will never understand. We are stubborn creatures but we can adapt easily if we have to. Sure, some people are so amazingly dumb that the only reason they are still alive now is because they are just lucky. But that's not all of us. And besides, right now, since there is nothing I can do about you, I have had plenty of time to think about what this, you and me, are. And the conclusion I came up with is that the you wouldn't have anything to do with me if you could avoid it, therefore, you need something. But you are still deciding if it's something I can give you. That's why you've yet to lean either way. As soon as you do though, I will either be loved or killed. Since there is only one path in front of me, might as well enjoy the ride."

These were Laz's true feelings. The last time he had met with this person was back before he had fought with Brian. That meeting revealed a lot of things to Laz and got him thinking. Before that, she was simply some nameless goddess of death who apparently wanted to toy with him. And fine, whatever. But after the last time when she told him her name, he understood that she needed to build a relationship with him for her own reasons.

Laz never thought of himself as smart, but he also wasn't stupid.

"You humans much have been so much simpler to deal with back when you thought the sun was a deity and monsters roamed your lands."

It suddenly struck Laz as strange though. Based on what she just said, that means that A'ruya and here people were here... around 500 B.C. But when they talked about it before, she made it seem like so much longer ago. Laz couldn't help but think there was something off about it.

"Ok."

"Anyway, I just brought you here to see if your fine. You can go back now." Strangely, after interacting with Laz, A'ruya didn't really feel anger anymore. Nor did she care what happened to him. If she narrowed down her feelings, then she was just relieved he was ok.

She would have summoned him sooner, but she had been busy as of late.

"That's it? No yelling? No... threatening my dog like existence? No evil plans to rip me limb from limb to quench the bloodlust in your heart? None of that?"

"What exactly do you see me as?"

"You don't know?"

"I don't really care."

"Then why did you ask?"

"You're beginning to make me angry."

"Real shame, that."

"Just leave..."

"You're not going to violently kill me to get rid of me?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Well, not really. but is there another way out of here?"

With that question, A'ruya pointed at an ancient looking door in the trunk of the tree. Laz had seen it before, but it was always closed so he never really thought about it.

"You mean I can just go through this door?" He asked, skeptical.

"Yes."

"Then why..."

"You'll know once you walk through it. But since you are older now, it's best if you deal with it yourself."

"Ok..." Laz started walking to the door, intent on leaving. Just before he turned the vine like handle, he heard A'ruya behind him.

"Whether you believe it or not, I am not your enemy. In fact, we will one day have the same goal. Also, I'm not sure if it's coincidence or not, but where you are right now is where something large and dangerous disappeared a long time ago. It's either going to be a blessing or a curse if you find it, so be warned."

Laz wasn't expecting much from this meeting as he viewed it as checking in. But now he got a piece of info that confirmed that where he was is probably where the thing that he was looking for is.

'What did she mean by large and dangerous though...?' Again a question without an answer. Laz had way too many of those.

As Laz opened the door, he saw that behind it was a blank space of looming darkness. It almost looked like the little bit of light within was being dragged to the center and collecting into a hole. Since he didn't know what it was, he wasn't afraid and stepped in.

The pain hit him all at once as his body started feeling like it was being ripped apart. Just before his mind gave way to the pain, he disappeared and the door closed by itself, leaving the fairy like beauty alone.

...

As Laz opened his eyes, he felt entirely conflicting feelings. His body felt stronger than ever while the words at the bottom of the foundation started lighting up. These were the continuation on what he had read before. By they were different and he couldn't make them out entirely. On top of that, his head felt like he had been hit with by a train and he could barely stop himself from shaking.

It finally occurred to him, after he had settled down and the pain lessened, that going through that door felt more like true death than even dying at her hands.

'Maybe she killed me all those times before so that I wouldn't feel the pain of travelling?' It was a crazy thought, but it almost seemed to make an insane bit of sense.

Taking stock of the room and checking the time, Laz noticed that only a few hours had passed since he had gone to bed. It seemed like going to direct route, while painful, was much more time friendly.

Now Laz had to figure out where this thing was that he was suppose to find.