I woke up with a guttural groan from a dry throat. Despite sleeping for at least half-day (I wasn’t sure how long I was out after returning from my lovely meeting with the gods), I still felt like hammered shit. My body still ached with pain all over.“Rummy! You’re awake!” Emma shouted excitedly as she kissed me on the cheek. I felt some moisture from her eyes. Sigh, I’d been an uncool husband. I’d made my future wife upset with my recklessness.I groggily said. “Sorry to worry you, love. But I’m alright. Just a bit injured.”“Hah!” Skera dismissively chuckled from outside the cart. “You were unconscious for one and a half days! I was just about to pronounce the Knight’s Last Rites for you!”Dang, 36 hours? I wondered if it was the result of this Dream Pull thing, or it was because of the near-fatal injuries I’d sustained. Either way, was my hearing off, or did Skera offer to bury me like a real Knight? Emma glared at her friend. “No need to ruin the romantic moment, Skera!”“Althou
With a leather saddle and crude stirrup in my hands, I casually walked into a freezing wolf den. 2 beta female wolves glared at me, but did nothing else. Guess they were still warming up to the idea of humans being more than just a happy meal to the pack. Freja, the Champion she-wolf, merely turned her head towards me for a glance before lazily turning it back.All of the female wolves were nursing their pups. All 10 of them. Man, given the reproductive speed of this pack, they could potentially overrun the entire ecosystem, humans included. In the Wilds, most of them would die due to malnutrition or predators. But since Pridwen provided a safe haven for them, not to mention enough fish for the whole pack, those 2 natural population controls no longer applied. Well, based on my shoddy biology knowledge, I knew that the wolves from my old world reproduce once a year via the estrus cycle, and that only the alpha male gets to do the deed. So if the wolves from the pack followed this cyc
A/N: There's a less lemony version of the chapter on RR if that's what you prefer *** “You did it, Rummy. You really did it!” Emma said as tears freely flowed out of her lake-blue eyes. I puffed up my chest and smugly smiled. “Of course, love. When I promise something, you know I’ll deliver on it sooner or later.” “Shameless boasting aside, I do want to thank you for the work you’ve done. Without you, there would be no Pridwen.” Tali joined in as she opened the doors to her office (after enough people have individual houses, we converted one of the longhouses into a City Hall). The 3 of us entered her office. It was a simple office with a depressingly plain table (Cut me some friggin’ slack! Carpentry wasn’t my specialty!) and 3 bookshelves and 2 drawers placed against the walls and corners. Compared to her old office back in Carnwennan, this place was a shabby downgrade. The room itself only had 1 window, so the lighting was pretty bad, especially during noon when the sun was dir
Skera and I were waiting at the door of her office when she opened the door. “Come in! It’s so nice when the three of us can just sit down and enjoy what little tea we have left.” Tali cheerfully said.“My Lady, a simple brute like me has no right to waste your precious tea! I shall stand guard instead!” Skera stiffly replied. Sigh, the tomboy in her was as strong as her sword swings.“Oh come on Skera, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying something feminine once in a while with your friends.” I dismissively said as I gingerly walked the chair in her office. My husband sure gave it to me last night. I could still feel some of his warmth inside of me. Whew, the very memory of my wedding night got me a b
“And this concludes my presentation on the long-term security threats to Pridwen and my plan to neutralize those threats.” I said in my best professional tone. “I imagine you have a lot of questions for me, so please ask away.” Skera raised her hand. “I’ve got one- are you bloody insane!?” Fair enough, I supposed. After all, I did just tell her that on top of our probably-hostile Elven neighbors who could summon hordes of mana-beasts straight to our doorstep, we were in direct conflict with the Imperial Pantheon that she worshiped for most of her life. I wryly smiled. “I wish.” I walked towards her. “They are coming for us, Skera. Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same.” I’d always wanted to say that line from that classic movie from my old world. Skera, however, did not share my enthusiasm for the quote. “So what upcoming threat is so terrifying that the Pantheon thought it was necessary to send you memories of a foreign world? And why you? If anything, you’re the wor
As I ended the meeting, I gave Rummy my “please stay after the meeting” look. He raised his eyebrow and nodded.“I’ll catch up with you later, wifey. We’ll do our daily questions then.” Emma gave me a smug look before nodding and departing with Skera. Soon, it was just the two of us in the office. A nervous tensionI fidgeted my hands before speaking. “Thanks for staying, Rummy. I have a question for you.”“OK. Shoot.” He nonchalantly answered. The way he casually assented sure didn’t help my nervousness. But fortunately, I had prepared an important question as a preamble.“These… memories you were given. Did they contai
“Ugh…it was disgusting.” Emma sniffled. “I felt so… soiled, and helpless…” Tears continued to leak out of her eyes as she cried into my chest on our bed. Sigh, I really shouldn’t have asked about her distaste for BJs. I mean, I could’ve guessed why she didn’t like it, but me and my curiosity just couldn’t leave well enough alone. And now my wife was crying while confronting her tragic past in the Galahad household. Stupid Rummy! Stupid! “Wifey, you’re so brave for sharing your past with me.” I kissed her salty cheek. “You didn’t have to go through this pain for me… I’m really sorry for bringing it up.” I said apologetically. “No, it had to be done. These people are all dead and they no longer have any power over me.” I nodded silently. As sorry as I was for triggering her past trauma like that, I was glad we got to have this conversation. After our talk, I felt even closer to her. Maybe true intimacy wasn’t all about baring your bodies and putting the P in the V, or claiming her
Authors’ notes: This was an excerpt from the journal of Imperial Prince Avalon of House Artorius. ‘Why me?’ I sadly thought to myself as I walked toward the darkness within my mind. This pitch darkness could only mean one thing- I’ve been summoned to meet with the Imperial Pantheon in the Hall of the Round Table. I should feel honored- after all, not just anybody gets a summoning from the Pantheon. But it is likely that they have a quest for me- a quest that’ll probably send me far far away from Caliburn and waste months of my life on some seemingly-pointless errand. For a prince in the middle of jostling for position in the Succession, being absent for that long is disastrous. There are over 42 legitimate Imperial Princes, and I am confident that at least half of them are more competent than a hunting dog. Why choose me, Honored Ancestors? Why? After waiting in the darkness for a while, a light suddenly shone on me and the 15 members of the Pantheon. I knelt down and placed my ri