To Kill Gods or Die Trying

Sess Jabin

"I'm calling in all my favors," Essej states bluntly.

We stare at him. Really? Essej has a habit of doing extremely nice or helpful things for people, then comes back asking for his "favors" to be repaid. As much as I hate it, you would still owe him big time, and you can't really refuse. He did help me find the parts to my new sword and brought me to this one player who was a blacksmith in real life to build it.

"What do you want, Essej?" Margot groans.

"Yeah, seriously. I'm not gonna accept your charity if you keep this up. I never need your help," Mack adds. Essej sits down at our booth where we feast on red-bills for everyone, thanks to Cecelia's secret spot. He leans in close like no one else is supposed to hear. "So some guy was looking for work for payback favors, so I had him help me on one of my quests for a new armor set. The guy definitely delivered. He's a Beastmaster—a good one too. But now he's calling in his favor. He wants help on his—whatever he's doing. So, Ben, Rachel, Mack, I'm calling in my favors. The rest of you guys, I'll save for next time."

"This guy..." Mack mutters.

***

We laugh hysterically. This is gold! I clutch my strained diaphragm as tears brim my eyes. My legs are weak from all my energy being exhorted into just laughing.

"It's funny cause Essej said guy," Mack wheezes. We laugh even harder. I fall to the ground, gasping for air through screams of laughter.

"Are you dudes done?" the kid asks.

"I just thought you'd be... a little older," I snicker. We begin laughing hysterically again.

"Sorry about my friends. They're—something else," Essej apologizes to the teenager.

We begin walking to the Lavalands section of the Wildlands. What this kid is up to there, I have no idea.

***

"I've gotta ask kid. How, like, old are you?" Rachel asks as we leave the Capital's walls and into the hellish biome.

"I'm old enough," the kid replies with a smirk.

"D-did you just, like, flirt with me?" Rachel asks taken aback. We laugh. Smooth.

"I'm Wood-rank Beastmaster Sess Jabin. About to hit Copper soon," he brags.

"Big whoop, us too," Mack replies unimpressed. "Oh really? That's, cool broskito!" Sess exclaims.

We exchange looks. What the hell is a broskito? Am I already at the age where I don't understand what kids these days are talking about anymore? Jeez... I thought it'd be a lot longer before trying to decipher the gibberish of the younger generation.

"So, what do you have us doing? You never told me," Essej asks. "I'm here to get a fire fox egg," he replies. We jump a thin stream of lava onto more black rock to avoid taking damage. Its heat radiates up as we pass over it. I have limited experience in the Lavalands so this is all new to me, more or less.

"But why do you need all of us? You said bring a few guys, but-" "Broseph. You've gotta kill the momma," Sess explains annoyed. "How big is this momma?" I ask.

"Let's just say that you better have those combat guides in your system, my dude," he replies.

We make our way through the Lavalands, climbing small volcanoes, using obsidian rafts to cross rivers of lavas, and avoiding the dangers primarily being nonother than lava—only dangerous because Mack continually plays with it, and when his MP runs out, he can no longer control it and it rains on us.