Chapter 934 - 933 - Bakome
The next day came quickly. Yet, as he and his companions were getting ready to leave, a commotion happened.
Erik stood inside his room. Or rather, his room in the palace. In front of him floated the portal that would take him inside his dimension, arm stretched out. He was alone, except for Alice, who sat on his shoulder.
Although his adopted, eleven-year-old daughter was growing bigger by the day, she also had the blood of naturally stocky wereverines flowing through her veins. Considering Erik’s massive form, she’d still be able to sit on his shoulder for years to come.
She was humming happily, overjoyed at the prospect of adventure. Meanwhile, Erik’s hand glowed dark blue, and the portal disappeared. All his other travel companions—Naeku, Aster, Runa, Leila, and Seraphina—would stay inside the dimension for now, while Elora was occupying her personal space in his soul—a place she’d barely left since regaining her ability to do so.
Technically, Runa and Leila weren’t exactly travel companions, though they would be coming with. They were still using his training space to break through, and only fate knew if they’d finish before he returned to Enkare Nkai.
Naeku, too, was now secluded in the training room. Though she’d broken through already, she was now focusing on fusing her two affinities. Fortunately, this would likely only take a fraction of the time her breakthrough took.
In fact, everyone was training right now. Aster was doing so with a devoted smile, desiring more strength to serve Erik better, while Seraphina was doing so with an annoyed scowl. The power-hungry yet independently stubborn vampire jealously eyed the reservoir of Elorium in the centre of the room. Though she was allowed to nip from it occasionally, everyone else in the room had priority over her.
A fire burned in her eyes. What that fire meant, only she knew.
***
"Let’s go!"
As soon as the portal disappeared, Alice was rearing to go. A big grin split her face. "I’ve barely been outside the city since we arrived here!"
Erik raised a finger to retort, but Alice cut him off. "Being in your dimension doesn’t count, and you know it!" Her voice was a grumble. Her eyes narrowed.
He raised a second finger, but Alice wouldn’t let him speak. "No, those few battles you’ve let me participate in don’t count, either! They were far too few. I always had someone guarding me, and..."
She fell silent for a moment. Pouted. Then continued. "...I mean, battle isn’t everything..."
This time, Erik’s eyes widened. He glanced at her. Words tried to leave his lips, but Alice wouldn’t let him. "Shut up!" she growled. "Do you think I like what you and my moms have done to me?! Just goooooooo!" she whined. Swinging her legs, she pointed at the door impatiently.
As the good mount he was, Erik snickered and did as ordered.
Yet, just as he stepped out the door, he halted again. His ears perked up. There was a commotion near the throne room. Alice, still too far away to hear anything, raised an eyebrow.
Before she could ask the question, a voice entered Erik’s mind—which he immediately relayed to Alice. "Erik? I know you’re about to leave, but you might want to deal with this first..."
The voice belonged to Astrid. He’d already had his goodbye with her and Emma—both at the same time, inside his bedroom, in fact—so he hadn’t planned to see her again until his return. Emma, especially, had already returned to Maghradi.
Hearing this, Alice stared at him intensely. Her desire was clear. Still, Erik smirked apologetically and started making his way to the throne room.
"Uuuuugh," Astrid groaned, rolling her eyes and leaning back. "We’ll never leave..."
As they got closer, Erik’s senses quickly sketched him a picture of what was happening. "Oh...? Interesting..." he murmured.
Moments later, he entered the throne room. Honour guards lined the sides of the room—as they often did—Ankhur sat on the throne, Astrid stood a few steps to his side with a playful look in her eyes... and in the centre of the room, down the steps of the throne, stood a muscle-bound human.
He was an older man with dark skin, a bald head, and a long black beard reaching to the middle of his bare chest. As was the case with Erik, this man clearly had some kind of issue with shirts. Standing in front of the throne, he looked at Ankhur with begrudging respect, yet also stubborn defiance.
Yet, though he stood tall and his body was sculpted like that of a strongman, he remained a human. An Arcanist. Presumably, even the scrawniest of Runebound would beat him in arm-wrestling.
Or so would be the expectation. The truth would have to be ascertained... especially because this man was a third-ranker.
Before Erik entered the room, tension among the second-ranked honour guard was palpable. They were just there for show. They could see the human was not in a good mood, and if it came to blows, they could resign themselves to the role of collateral damage.
But that tension quickly drained away after Erik’s entrance. By now, Erik had a reputation for being unbeatable. They didn’t doubt his presence would keep things from escalating.
All eyes swivelled in the direction of Erik and Alice. "Well, well. This is interesting," Erik smirked, stepping inside, hands casually in his pockets. "I’ve seen you before, have I not?"
"There you are," the man grumbled, his voice low. Almost threatening, but not quite.
Ankhur frowned. "Show respect, Bakome. Your breakthrough does not entitle you to speak however you wish."
Bakome glanced at Ankhur unwillingly. "His self-proclaimed emperor title does not give him the right to take whatever he wishes, either!"
Unsure what this was about, but also somewhat indifferent, Erik barked a laugh and spread his arms with a wide grin as he approached. "Haha! That’s true! That’s very true! But you’ve got it turned around!"
He continued approaching and thumped his chest. "The title I gained through strength, and my right to take what I wish comes from the same place! The things you say are only related insofar as they come from the same place, my friend."
He continued approaching. Bakome scowled. Suddenly, he was forced to make an immediate choice: fight or flight.