Mages of Rubia ✔️

Ch7

"They're going to kill me, aren't they?" I ask Ravana.

He seems annoyed, because I forced my lucidity into my dreams and pulled him here.

"What did you think they would do? It's not like they can just put you into retirement. You're stronger than most of them."

"Were you watching Azarius when he spoke with the High Elder?"

He runs a hand through his hair. "He seemed pretty sold at their words."

"I knew this would happen."

"You need to leave, Lief. It's too soon for me to see you down here. Aside from your consciousness, I mean."

"I don't want to leave."

"But what you want to do is foolish."

He's right. And it's not like I'm not guilty at the thoughts I've been having, my prospective alternatives. If I were thinking of simply killing Aza, I'm sure Ravana would approve, but...

"You wouldn't make a very good tyrant," he says.

Right. The idea of taking over is foolish. Not to mention incredibly dangerous.

"Leaving is your best option. I can help you."

"How?"

"If you summoned me and let me out of that little room, I could get everything you would need to go back to the continent. I could take you there."

"And what happens when we get there?"

"We find you someplace to live. I could stay and protect you as long as you needed."

There's a desperate note in his voice. I try to rub my headache away. Why do I have a headache in a dream, anyway?

"I don't need your protection. And I have to stay. If only to figure out what's missing."

"It isn't anything important," he tells me, "Your safety, however--"

I stand, moving away from him. "Is none of your concern!"

He's silent a moment. "You don't trust me, do you?"

"Why would I?"

"You did before. What is it? What changed?"

I pull the necklace Mom gave me out of my pocket, showing him the designs. "Did you know my father?"

"No! Well, we never met. But you know I've watched your colony."

"How did he know the designs of your horns?"

"He was a psychic, Lief. He had visions of the future. He knew all of our possible futures while you were still in the womb."

I steady my breathing. Why am I breathing unsteadily in a dream? And why did he say "our"? Our possible futures. There has to be a future for me seperate from his, surely.

"What future did he see, that caused him to make this?"

"I don't know. I can only hope it was a good one."

"It was one with you in it. He saw you."

"What does it matter?"

"You shouldn't be in my life that long. You barely qualify as a patron, logically--"

"Logically, you would try to get rid of me? You can try, I suppose, but I'm not leaving of anything other than my own accord."

I feel my lips curling to a sneer, and try to supress it.

"Curb your threats, Lief. One way or the other, you need me. I'm the ony way you're getting out of this alive. And if you want to stick around and solve your little mysteries, that's fine. You can put it off as long as you please, but once you realize you need me, I'll be there."