And it would be easy. So easy. Even their spirit probes wouldn't dare to look around Master's own quarters. And there are flaws with voice-deactivated drones for guards. They can't die, they're innumerable, they're really difficult to vanquish...unless you are still a trusted servant of their Master's.
And ohh...there isn't even a struggle. The guards salute me as I drift past, a trusted familiar with all of them. Nobody takes any notice as I slither through the gates as a fugitive and give a sad little smile, knowing that I'll never have any need to enter them again.
I will find Whisp. I will regain the soul that he gave to the humans. I will not let him destroy himself like this. Surely he still has a self, somewhere, elsewhere - that self that I loved so much. I would go to the ends of the worlds to find it.
But the ends of the world do not require me to come back to this castle. No, I have done my job here...a job that surely no one will forgive me for.
Farewell.
* * *
"She killed Master?" the Jiraf ejaculated, in aghast disbelief.
The sobbing spirits only moaned more, wailing their anguish to the skies. "We didn't think she would go even further! She expressed human rage by murdering Terri...we didn't expect her to be strong enough to oppose Master!"
"And you left him virtually unguarded?" exclaimed the Jiraf, too outraged to let the grief sink in.
It was the Master who had rescued them all from starvation, or abandonment, or loss of magic, or other evils. It was the Master who had been so strong over the years, treating all his spirits as his equals and protecting them with his life, standing up to even powerful mages who were only targeting his lessers. It was the Master who would halt his entire company to stop and rescue hurt dragonfly from getting crushed, and yet could win the Sun and the Earth in a duel to the death. It was the Master had risked himself over and over for them, and never once had he implied that they should feel indebted to him; never once had he forced them to do a single thing. It was the Master who had been so chivalrous and absolutely undefeatable in the old days, but had found his powers dwindling as the humans manifested the kingdom and had eventually fallen to relying heavily on his spirits to sustain him - which, of course, they'd done with eager gratitude. But it had only taken one young JiiaÏ to slay him. He was not immortal like them; now he was dead and there was nothing they could do. Oua had killed him and each and every one of them would not rest until they'd hunted her down and given her what she deserved.
"Is - is he really?" the Jiraf said finally in a lame voice, rendered weak by the very thought of her Master dead. "Can no healer save him?"
"We've tried everything!" bemoaned the spirits. "Oh, Master, Master, Master..."
"Then I guess we've just got to be devoted servants still and avenge his spirit," the Jiraf said finally, unable to hold back the tears.
"Yes! I will kill that JiiaÏ!" shouted one spirit, and raucous agreements burst out from the entire queue of creatures sobbing at the gate.
An unbeatable search party was organized, the clever water JiiaÏ was on her way, and the hunt began.
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