Grimoire - Vol 1. Revelation of Rakshas

21 - She's Gotta Be Kidding Me, Right?

Now I'm wishing that this was the last stupid decision I'll ever get to make in my life.

We have been walking for 6 hours...or for 30-40 minutes, I don't know. I tend to exaggerate stuff for dramatic purposes when I'm nervous but I like to think that it's the feelings that count.

I thought my kidnapper simply wished to take me to some back alley, talk things out, threaten me here and there, and possibly even maim stuff to further persuade me to keep my mouth shut. Heck, maybe even take my money. Who knows what goes in the rotten minds of dead mages.

But surprisingly, she refused to speak to me. The only voice that came out of her mouth were the directions to follow her—'walk faster', 'don't walk so near to me', 'don't walk so far from me', 'can you just stop doing that weird eye twitching thing? It's getting on my nerves.'

The audacity of this woman to say that I am getting on her nerves!

She's been dragging me through dirt paths and gravel roads without any explanation!

This is why I hate dead souls. This is why I don't believe these powers of mine are some gift from god. No gift should have to make me deal with this crap on a daily basis!

Calm down, Aarav, let's not lose your calm. Just remember how much you love to have this pretty little head stuck on your body.

...Yeah, that self-talk did not calm me down. Infact, I think just by thinking of beheading, my eye has started to twitch even more. Further angering the magician walking on thin ice with me.

I can't help it. We all deal with nervousness in different ways. I happen to twitch in places.

"You mind telling me—"

"No."

"So you're just going to stay—"

"Yes."

"Okay." She loves to chat, doesn't she?

But then, after a few more minutes I asked the questions again and this time she answered!

Sort of...

"You'll know when you'll know"

"We'll get there when we get there."

"We are going where we need to go."

I don't know who taught her English but they clearly made no effort in teaching her how to answer questions properly. Not that she spoke badly. Infact, she spoke it very fluently.

...Why do I contradict my own points? Now I'm really thinking about whether I'm a masochist.

Do you know what talking to her reminded me of though? It was like talking to a monk or a wise old magician...which I guess makes sense since they are one. Kind of.

Eventually, I just gave up on asking any straight questions since I was not getting any straight answers.

With nothing else to do, and since we weren't really taking up a scenic route to our mystery destination, my eyes naturally wandered over her.

Not in that way, you lusty monkeys!

I wanted to deduce stuff. Like you know, Sherlock Holmes.

She wasn't particularly tall but not too short too. Definitely taller than her friend, or even Naina. She seemed to be in a fit shape too, which made sense considering her line of work. Can't really fight demons if just 5 minutes of running gets you out of breath.

She had a tattoo——a band of two black parallel chains circling around her forearm. Wonder that signifies. A gang membership thing? Sign of being a professional dead mage?