The Unbidden: A New World (1) (Short Parts)

Part 40

Jayde's eyebrows scrunched together in a mixture of mostly confusion, but revelation. She looked at me almost as if she were waiting for me to confirm or deny Thea's statement.

"It's true," I shrugged.

Jayde immediately dropped onto the floor in a kneeling position, but I stopped her. Thea gave me a puzzled look.

"There's no need to bow or kneel before Her. She might be God, but She can't even create food for Herself," I joked.

"To think this whole time, I was in front of my creator ... Please forgive all of my foolishness and sins!" Jayde said, bowing anyway.

Thea smiled at her before granting me a scowl.

"At least someone knows when to show respect. You are forgiven, Jayde. Raise your head," Thea spoke.

I palmed my face and sighed.

"Maybe I'd show more respect if you didn't abuse your position," I joked once more.

"My position cannot be abused. Do you take me for a mortal?" She shot back.

"At this point, yeah!" I exclaimed.

Jayde stood awestruck by the smart attitude I had, and at the fact that we were bantering so casually. Thea and I chuckled at one another for a few moments. It was strange how at certain times I felt perfectly accustomed to having Thea near me and speaking to Her. The strange urges and impulses I normally had were nowhere to be found.

"This is your show, Xavier," Thea said, rotating Herself to lay on Her bed.

"Right. We have a couple weeks to decide, so I'll need time to think about it and ask my own sources. I don't want to bring us to fight something beyond my league. I failed once already," I sighed.

It would've been very nice had Thea explained the essences situation to me back then. I probably would've been killing all sorts of monsters and maybe people were that the case. Right now, however, I was behind the power curve both figuratively and literally.

"Jayde, you're fine to continue training. I didn't know we had time to wait. We'll reconvene in a week. I should have a decision by that point."

"I see ... I shall do just that then," she moved over to the door and began exiting, but stopped midway.

"Oh, I don't plan to tell anyone about the knowledge you have bestowed onto me, um... Your Majesty?" she questioned how to call Thea.

"Just Thea is fine ... Please, treat me as a companion and not the creator of the universe," She chuckled.

I waited a few minutes until after Jayde left before I departed as well. I rode to the antique shop. The ride was quick despite the heavy traffic. Upon entering, Gho nodded his head and said Vel'Nysa was in her usual spot. I thanked him and made my way to her research room.

"Ah – Xavier. Have you taken care of the things you needed to do today?" she asked casually.

She was mixing several ingredients into a large vial and chanting. When she finished, the ingredients transformed into a purple-like liquid.

"Yes and no. I have some more matters I need to discuss with you," I said as I grabbed a chair, spun it around and sat down.

"What would you like to discuss?"

"You seem knowledgeable about a lot of things."

"I would like to think I do," she smirked.

"Then, do you know much about some sort of creatures in the southwest that made their home outside some major city? What about dragons to the south? The mages in the Northeast – do you know what might be going on with that?" I loaded on the questions without hesitation.

"Hm, I might. Let me see," she left her potion bench and took a few steps over to a bookshelf loaded with scrolls and began sorting through them.

"Why such peculiar questions?" she asked without looking.

"I'm considering heading in one of those directions."

She paused for a brief moment, then continued. There was a table to her left that she set several large scrolls on as she found them.

"For what purpose do you have to go to any of those places?"

"I need to make money and become stronger."

"I see. 'Tis always a good plan to get stronger, but that does make me feel as though I would be remiss to not study you more," a soft laugh escaped her lips.

Several more minutes passed before she pulled out a final scroll and began opening them one by one. She probably remembered I couldn't read, so she took the time skimming the contents before reading out loud. It was a long, tedious process that took the vast majority of the day.

The first one we went over dealt with the creatures to the Southwest.

"What are these scrolls, anyway?"

"A mixture of records and information provided by apprentice mages in the various regions."

I nodded. It seemed she had a rather wide network of people.

"Let us see ... records of the area talk of tribes of goblins, kobold, ogres, hell hounds and other such prolific creatures. It does not seem the region has become much more inhabited since the last record I received."

Her eyes were peeled to the scroll as she read.

"Ah, here is something. A mysterious dwelling came into existence a few years ago near one of the few cities that facilitates travel through the region. It does not appear anyone knows much about it, though, as 'tis underground," she held the scroll out to me and pointed at the line of text.

I pursed my lips and smiled.

"My apologies," she gave a curt nod.

I waved my hand dismissively. The information she had was the same as what Thea knew. I'd hoped for more. Due to the immense amount of unknown, I opted to put the southwest region on the backburner. That left two major areas.

"I'll probably put that one on standby. If it's been there a few years, I doubt a little more waiting will do any harm. What about the south?"

Vel'Nysa rolled the scroll back up and sifted through the others for a few seconds before unfurling another.

"What kind of information do you wish to know? The south is a somewhat well documented area."