Chapter 24 #2
“That’s true, Riley has managed to push him back more than once,” Imani says.
I grimace, not wanting them to have faith in that strange magic.
“Yes, with a magic I truly don’t understand.
It’s not like I touch anyone when I come close to the Door or that man, but as soon as I’m near, that magic hits me.
The issue is that I don’t know how to use it.
It seems like the only time I can use it is when I’m pushed to my limits, and then it just…
happens,” I say as I flex my gloved hand and think about it.
Even after using that magic a couple of times, I still don’t understand what I did with it.
The first time it just like… demolished that entire building, and last time…
“Can you lock the magic into your pendant?” Lt. Lindsey asks. “Replace one of the others and then examine it and learn how to use it?”
I touch my pendant apprehensively. The first two magics I cannot lose, no matter what.
And while the third isn’t necessarily anything I need to live, the person I borrowed it from is long dead.
I could never replace it. Back when I was younger, I could achieve so much with that elemental magic.
If I replaced it, I’d never get it back.
But aside from that, the idea of holding on to a magic I can’t understand or control makes me uneasy.
“No, he will not be locking in magic that he doesn’t understand,” Torin says before I even get a chance to respond. “Magic that strong is not something to be taken lightly.”
I nod, glad that I don’t have to feel guilty over not using it when it could save them. “Yeah, I’m with Torin, I don’t want to replace anything I already have with something I don’t understand. I don’t want to accidentally kill people.”
Lt. Lindsey is quiet for a moment before asking, “What about a barrier? What if the next time the Door opens, we surround the area with a barrier?”
“How long do you think a barrier like that would hold?” Torin asks.
Imani, the only one here who can create barriers, shrugs. “I don’t know that I could do it alone, but if I found some others to help… Really, it depends on how strong we can make it. It would maybe buy us time.”
I’ve used her barriers before, but the problem with them is that they are strictly defensive. I can’t send my magic through them, so I can’t fight while using one.
“Time for what, though? We still aren’t strong enough,” I say.
“Time for a team to form,” Mickey answers. “Support. Distraction so that Riley and Torin can do something.”
I shift nervously on my feet. Just because we pushed him back last time doesn’t mean we can again. And what was the cost?
I glance at Torin’s healing chest and then down at my hands.
Torin catches Kit looking at him. “Riley, you said you did something to help me heal… how did you gain followers?”
“Well… finding followers in your world is much different than in mine. So… I used the internet.”
“No idea what that is, but it sounds sexy,” Torin says.
Mickey rolls his eyes. “Not everything Riley does is sexy.”
Torin almost looks offended for some reason. “Yes it is.”
Getting us back on track, I say, “I want to boost his followers. Let’s get a video of Torin doing something else.”
“Like?” Imani asks.
I shrug, not having thought that far. “Hell if I know… there has to be some asshole doing something in the city. You guys still have that wyvern? Let’s set it loose and then Torin can wrestle it back into a cage… with his shirt off… maybe even his pants.”
Imani and Lt. Lindsey both stare at me. “You’ve been hanging around Mickey too long; your ideas are atrocious,” Imani says.
I sigh, deciding that maybe she’s right. In my defense, my coworker for the last couple of years has been a succubus who hands out more sexual favors than library fines.
“Oh! What about that video of Torin riding on Riley’s back? You’ll both get some followers for sure then,” Mickey says.
Imani shrugs. “I mean… you never clarified that the followers had to be pure of mind.”
“I will go back through the Door to Torin’s realm and never return,” I growl.
“Might be worth it to save our world,” Imani says with a grin.
I ignore her and look to see if anyone else has a better suggestion. “Okay, we’re going with my idea. We’re going to make Torin do something.”
“What if I just call the news and tell them that Torin is here visiting the wounded?” Mickey asks. “People eat up that nice shit all the time.”
We all contemplate this before Lt. Lindsey nods. “Call them. Media coverage of our new ‘hero’ can’t hurt.”
I turn to Torin. “Don’t say anything ridiculous, okay? Just… be yourself…” I pause. “Don’t be yourself. Be someone else. Be…”
“Like me,” Mickey says.
“Not like Mickey.”
I untie one of the leather fastenings on Torin’s shirt then hesitate and untie another… and then one more.
“Is he going to be naked?” Imani asks.
“Have you seen this chest?” I ask as I tilt him toward her.
Imani eyes him and then helps me undo one more. We stare at the barely shirted man and nod approvingly. “Let’s go visit some people.”
“Tommy, can you go get us some stuffed animals and flowers?” Mickey asks while he digs into my pocket and holds out my credit card.
“Yes, sir,” Tommy says, and off he goes.
Once everyone else leaves the room, Torin and I walk back over to the man in the bed, and I set my hand on him. That strange feeling invades me again, as though there’s an emptiness… a void beneath my touch.
“Do you feel that?” I ask.
Torin comes over and sets his hand on the man’s chest, right next to mine. He’s quiet for a few seconds before looking up at me. “What do you feel?”
“It’s hard to explain… but like a void of some kind. Maybe an emptiness?”
He slowly lifts his hand before shaking his head. “I can’t feel those things. All I feel is a human clinging to life.”
My eyebrows must be furrowing because he puts a finger between them and kind of presses them up.
“Would you allow me to lock you away in my realm with me?” Torin asks.
I glance at him. “You know this world would fall to ruin without you.”
“Yes, but I will fall to ruin without you.”
I watch him for a long moment, but before I can say anything, Joy peeks in.
“The news station we leaked information to is here.” She stuffs a plush cat toy in Torin’s hands and sends him into a room of a young girl.
The girl seems extremely excited and Torin uses his charisma to quickly win her over, as he does with every other person he stops in to see.
Once we head out of the hospital, the news crew stops us.
A woman rushes to the forefront. “The god who saved us all. Do you have some time to speak?”
“Of course,” Torin says, dragging me with him.
She introduces herself and then rambles on about what a hero Torin is.
“I couldn’t have done it alone,” he tells her.
“He’s modest too,” the woman says with a smile, immediately enamored with the god. “Can you tell us a bit about yourself? This mystery god who has come from another realm to save us?”
“Sure, sure. Let’s see. Ah!” And then he gestures at the spot next to him as a blue swirl of magic twists around and Quill crawls out of it, and I question why this is now switching to Torin bragging about his evil mount.
“This is Quill. He’s such a darling. And this is Riley.
My two favorite things. Riley is very feisty, but that’s the way I like him.
He enjoys reading, especially books with lots of di—”
“Ha… let’s focus on you,” I say, wondering how the hell we’re going to get followers when we just have Quill, who has started trying to eat my hair and even gets a big mouthful which he tugs on.
“Ow, stop!” I yell when the monster pulls harder. The beast won’t let go, tugging it while I try to bat him off.
“Quill, I know you like him, but you can’t eat him! We’ve already gone over this!” Torin says in Shaarunen as he tries to defend me from his carnivorous mount while the cameras keep on rolling.
And that is how the first interview with Torin, God of War and Love, goes.
“Well, that was a shit show,” Imani grumbles as I rub my head to make sure all my hair is still attached.
“What was?” Torin asks. “I thought it went well.”
We all stare at the god who has no idea what he’s talking about.
“I’m forcing you to ride escalators for the next hour,” I say.
“No, thank you.” He swings up onto Quill’s back.
“Torin, meet me at my house,” Mickey says, slipping him the address before he’s carried into his car and disappears.
“I’m terrified,” Torin announces.
“I know where he lives; why did he give you his address?” I ask, perplexed.
Quill reaches back and eats the note out of Torin’s hand. Torin shrugs, grabs my arm, and hauls me onto his beast that bolts after the car Mickey’s in.
My cries for help are nothing to be proud of as I’m dragged off, likely to my death.