The Burning Alchemist by Matthew S. Cox

Author:Matthew S. Cox [Cox, Matthew S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, General, Urban
ISBN: 9781950738410
Google: OnobzgEACAAJ
Amazon: 1950738418
Goodreads: 56258891
Publisher: Division Zero Press
Published: 2020-12-11T05:00:00+00:00

16

Acceptance

Operation Cupcake went off without any other complications.

Casual nudity or drug deals might not be enough to make the locals call the police, but dudes exploding does. No one paid any attention to the kid and I as we walked home. As long as we don’t physically touch anyone, make sound, or do something to attract attention, our little mind trick is fairly potent.

It’s a few hours later and I’m in bed, staring at the ceiling. Pandora’s curled up on her side, tucked against me. It didn’t freak her out to watch a guy explode. She’s not frightened at all, merely wanted cuddles. In spite of eating a cupcake two and a half hours ago, she fell asleep pretty quick. Not sure what’s keeping me up. Maybe I’m trying to savor having this quiet time with her while she’s still tiny and—relatively—innocent. Compared to the amount of time we’re both going to live, childhood’s going to disappear in basically an instant and be gone forever.

She’s going to be the only person to stay with me. Maybe Natalie will, too, if she ever figures out immortality, but people have been chasing it for… well, as long as people have existed. If anyone’s managed to pull it off, they haven’t advertised. She teases me all the time about how she needs to unlock the secrets before she gets too much older. As soon as she looks like an ‘old woman’ (meaning past thirty-five) she’s going to be jealous of me. Yeah, she’s kidding about the jealousy part. It’s going to be sadness and fear, really. Watching me stay the same as she ages is going to terrify her. She won’t know what to do with herself in wherever humans go after death without me.

Maybe she’ll end up sticking around as a ghost or trapping her mind in an enchanted item.

But Pandora? She’s going to be here.

A sudden fit of clingy possessiveness comes over me. I squish her like a teddy bear. She stirs a little, emitting a soft grunt, but doesn’t wake. It’s not an unhappy grunt. Maybe in her dream, someone hugged her. I lay there brushing my fingers through her hair, and thinking about Melisandre. I’m sure giving me an emotional support demonling was the last thing he expected when trying to make another world-destroyer. No, I’m not really worried about becoming emotionally attached to her. Melisandre is a dickhead, but he’s not (completely) an idiot. If he knows how I feel about the kid, he won’t harm her, fearing I’d blow myself up out of spite.

Can’t call it suicide really, since there is at least a seventy percent chance I’d wake up in Imbreleth as a full-blooded Shaar’nath. Not in any hurry to be ‘reborn’ though. But if I shed my human side, I’ll no longer be any threat to the Armistice… meaning no chance of destroying the physical world and thus, useless to his plans.

He’s kinda screwed either way. Forced to watch me being happy while unable to take any sort of revenge.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.