8th of Samune

  The Office

  A man, neither young nor old but with a bit of grey in his wildly unkempt beard, wearing a coffee and ink-stained once white robe sat at his desk in his little used office. He stared at the paper before him, quill in hand, and looked at what he had just drawn: a new fishing lure. He smiled happily as he put the quill back in the inkwell, and ran the blotter over the drawing.

  When suddenly the door of the office opened, and a chill like the grave rolled in, then the door closed with an audible click. He looked up at the dark form before him, and asked one eyebrow raised, “What are you doing here?”

  Celestial Realm

  Bjorn slammed his fist into the hastily closed door to the god Greymore’s manor home on the outskirts of the Celestial plane. “Let me in you ass! I know what you did! We all know what you did!”

  “This is a purely religious matter, Bjorn!” The voice of Greymore sounded from within. “You are not allowed to interfere!”

  “Interfere my brown pimpled ass!” Bjorn yelled. He had chased the elven god for several miles, only missing the thin prick due to an unexpected fruit skin on the front path. “Do you want to start another race war? THIS is how you start a race war!”

  “So be it, you daft grit sucker!” Greymore yelled back. “7,000 years of peace, and you would throw it away for this…this jumped-up mortal!?!”

  Elven Lands

  Brianna held out her hand to Grendel. “Hand it to me.”

  “Yes mother.” Grendel replied. He removed an oilcloth wrapped package from his largest belt pouch, unwrapped it, and placed Maxwell’s second Boom Stick in her small hand.

  Brianna looked the weapon over, then smiled at the priest who was now wide eyed, and struggling to escape. She looked at him, as a cold smile played across her serene face. “Where is he?” She asked, digging the end of the “barrel” in behind the top of the priest’s kneecap.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  “BOOM” Went the boom-stick.

  The Office

  I AM HERE TO LODGE A COMPLAINT. The dark cloaked individual said from within the even darker shadows of his hood. I AM HAVING NEARLY CONSTANT “NEAR MAXWELL EXPERIENCES”.

  The office door opened again, and the secretary peeked in his head, “Sir? You have a visitor…Oh, I see you showed yourself in already.” The secretary withdrew and closed the door.

  The Lake

  Maxwell opened his eyes to see a skeletal fish with glowing eyes staring at him. He shook himself violently, felt the weight around his feet, and cursed. How lang has this been going on? How many times have I died? He thought as the air ran out. His lungs burned. Eventually his body gave out, and he drowned. Again.

  Celestial Realm.

  Bjorn had removed his hammer from his belt, and wound up to strike the door when he felt something from within the manor; an unnerving cold. The cold of the void. As he stared, the door before him began to grow crystals of ice, and something inside him began to freeze. As the hackles on his neck began to rise, he decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and turned to leave.

  A few steps from the door, he felt more that heard, a voice. “Something new happened today. I. Got. A. Complaint.”

  Bjorn bolted.

  Elven Lands

  Bri stood over the priest of Greymore as he sat screaming in a puddle of blood, bone, and piss, “You have another knee. Now. Where. Is. My. Husband?”

  The Lake

  Maxwell’s eyes shot open. Again. He was moving! As his head breached the surface, he took his first breath in what felt like ages. He blacked out for a moment, and when he came to again, he was staring up at his wife and son. Slowly he sat up, and took a deep breath, the fresh air smelling sweet in his starved lungs. “W…wha…what happened?” He blinked his eyes a couple times, then focused in on his small family. A family that seemed to be splattered in blood.

  Bri smiled what would have been a perfect smile, “We convinced the local priest to tell us where he drowned you.”

  Max was never able to get more of the story from either of them.

  8th of Samune - Maxwells Journal

  I’ve never been dead that long that I can remember. There was that drunken swim a long time ago, but…I don’t remember it. I DO remember this time. It was agony. I… I don’t know how long it will take before I am comfortable being around water again. At least any body of water bigger than a bathtub. I shudder at the thought…

  The Celestial Realm

  Greymore sat in his parlor, frozen. If not for being a god, he would be dead by now. IT had come to him. He shook. IT had been displeased. He shook. IT had made ITs DISPLEASURE known. He shook.

  Greymore sat there, shaking. For many years to come, he answered no prayers, no calls, and no petitions. He just sat, shook, and stared sightless out the parlor’s window, praying that the shadows wouldn’t speak.

  https://ko-fi.com/vastlisten1457

  https://www.patreon.com/VastListen1457

  https://www.twitch.tv/vastlisten1457

  https://www.youtube.com/@VastListen

  https://vast-sells.creator-spring.com/

  https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/104909/a-mixed-bag