Page 9 of Hybrid Heroics

He’d failed.

And all his failures led to the death of his comrades.

“I know this game,” I whispered, all humor gone.

“It’s not a game,” he snapped, his ire rising as my skin returned to its normal color, the glow gone.

“It is. This is the progression of what can I do to hurt someone? And it’s not going to work on me.”

“You’re too confident,” he assured me.

I turned to face him. “You’re too arrogant. You think you know me because you’ve been in my head, so you try to twist truths into lies by making assumptions based on more lies. There is no upper hand here. Only war, justice, and death.”

“You sound like Amelia.”

“And you despise her because she was always in your way. Those feelings are now directed at me. But you’ve overlooked one valuable piece of information.”

He tucked his hands into his pockets. “What’s that?”

“I’m no child. You’re trying to break down my confidence, but you’re too arrogant,” I repeated. “Adults make these assumptions about children all the time. Like taking away a teenager’s video games when not all teenagers play them… This is the same thing. You want to punish me, hurt me in some way—”

“I will hurt you,” he foretold. “When we’re nose-to-nose, there will be no games, Little King. I don’t care how inexperienced you are. I will do whatever I can to bring death to you, and I won’t hold back. There will be no more standing in my way. It might be different here and now, inside your head, but I can make you angry enough here that you make a mistake there.”

Again with the arrogance.

I wanted to revoke that earlier thought about how we could have been friends. He was getting on my fucking nerves.

No games? Who the fuck did he think he was talking to?

My mental state was a godsdamned circus.

Literally.

Chaos was life.

Pain was water. Fear was food. Battles were games.

Death was winning.

And I didn’t lose.

“For every card you play, I’ll one-up you, Alric. This game is all about wits, and you’ve been found lacking. You can’t make me angry when I am Wrath, so you’ll have to come up with a better plan of action.”

I knew I was poking the dragon, but I hoped he kept his attention on me long enough for me to finish planting my own seed in his mind.

Bamboo was the fastest growing plant in the world, though that wasn’t what I chose. I modeled my presence to spread more like an invasive kudzu, filling his thoughts with my intent.

My intent was to eat him alive. From the inside out.

Tuesday, June 23rd

Early Morning

The moment we arrived in the druids’ realm, York gasped, sinking to his knees as he hunched his shoulders. Stone and I rushed to his side while he doubled over in pain.

“What’s wrong?” the demon asked, his hands outstretched like he wanted to pull York up, but he couldn’t decide if he should touch the druid.

I held my palm over York’s arms, but he waved me away.