Titan Mage Rising: A Harem Fantasy Adventure by Edie Skye

Author:Edie Skye [Skye, Edie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spice Rack Press
Published: 2023-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Locke told them everything.

He started at the very beginning with his lost job, to the appearance of Peth, to his rebirth on Haven with a Precursor space witch in his head, to her recognizing the psy catalyst and his need to build one to save his crewmate—and possibly even to defeat Pious at all.

Now he finished his story and waited to hear their reactions. Sevas was the first to speak.

“I don’t have enough spoons for this today,” he said with an exhausted sigh. “I’ve used up all my spoons.”

Locke’s face quirked at the odd reaction. He hadn’t known what sort of response to expect from the Indy’s crew, but it certainly hadn’t been that.

“Spoons?” he asked.

“It’s a little metaphor he uses,” Rion explained. “To help us get a grip on how much he’s up to doing on a given day, relative to his pain and whatnot.”

“Sometimes the pain allows him a lot of spoons to work with,” Aster elaborated, “sometimes he only has a few.”

“And sometimes the spoons are all over the floor and I’m done,” Sevas nodded.

“It used to be forks,” Rion added. “Like, ‘Stick a fork in me, I’m done,’ but it was way too easy for him to stab people with the forks when he got overwhelmed.”

“So you have literal forks somewhere?” Locke asked.

“Spoons now,” Sevas stated. “But yes. A little bucket on my work desk, to let the hangar know how much bullshit I’m willing to put up with that day.”

“So … the psy catalyst,” Locke ventured. “Is this bullshit or not?”

“Oh, the catalyst is fine,” Sevas said with a wave. “That’s fascinating enough that I definitely have a spoon for it. I was referring to the existential implications of … all that.” He waved again to indicate the story Locke had just told. “But I’m no stranger to putting off thoughts of existential crisis, so that will be a spoon for tomorrow. Or tonight, probably. Such thoughts tend to happen at night whether I have spoons for them or not.”

“So you can just decide to put off anxious thoughts like that?” Locke said, slightly amused but mostly amazed.

“It took years of practice, but yes,” Sevas shrugged. “I control what I can because there’s a lot that I can’t.” He finished his tea, then looked up curiously. “A point of detail: you said you had to die to be reborn in a new body. In what circumstance? Would the transition work if death was spontaneous, or must it be a death planned in perfect timing with the process?”

“Sev, are you really thinking about risking actual death for the chance of a new body?” Rion asked.

“I’m thinking that I have nearly died twice in the past year, and if I can use a death to be reborn in a body that feels something other than continual pain, why wouldn’t I?”

The bitterness in Sevas’ voice was palpable, much as Locke feared it might be. He’d included the bit about his being in a wheelchair before Peth

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