Rise of the Godking

Daneel's mind raced as he saw Alex get to the door, then pause.

A lot of thoughts came to him when he saw the man take those quick strides that showed how scared he was even more than the way he had looked when Daneel had spoken about his enemy. He considered whether to stop him by force…but after going through everything that he had experienced with the man, he grew certain that this might just be a knee-jerk reaction.

This seemed to be confirmed when Alex turned around at the door and looked at Daneel with eyes that measured and weighed what he was seeing. Daneel looked back at him with a steady gaze. He said nothing to remind the man what had transpired between them before; unsurprisingly, this looked like exactly what Alex was thinking of, because after a moment, he cursed under his breath and took a seat again.

He buried his face in his hands and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. Daneel heard him speaking to himself. He couldn't understand most of it, but he did catch a few snatches of speech that indicated that he was cursing at himself, and his fool of the brain that always got him in trouble.

Mors seemed most interested in the way Alex was reacting. The elf was even leaning forward and observing the burned man's face. He only stopped doing this when Daneel laid his own eyes on him, and after clearing his throat, the elf said, "You do not say anything about why you want to find that man, but the way you spoke of him makes it clear that you believe he is a villain, and that you need to extract some sort of revenge from him. Both of us could gather this quite easily; in fact, I don't think you really put that much effort into concealing it, yourself. Well…what if I said that these words you have spoken would send you to your death on perhaps any island a couple of teleportations away?"

With a frown, Daneel waited for an explanation. Indeed, it had seemed like a foregone conclusion that the one he was dealing with was definitely some sort of a greedy merchant whose villainy must be renowned, but now, it seemed that a twist had come in the tale.

His frown deepening, he waited for either of his companions to speak, and finally, it was Alex who looked up and said, "The Beggar King. He wants to go up against the Beggar King! Oh, fuck my fucking gut! I wish I could take it out and wring it dry! You wish to go to one of the last places that I ever saw myself going! The Beggar King's people are always ready to die for him! Just one word spoken against him can lead to a war, or worse! I heard of someone who whispered that he might not be all that good…the next day, he was found hanging from his neck at one of the inns in the King's city! You can't even hope to touch a single hair of his! It makes no sense whatsoever that he came, by himself, to wherever you're from…but still! It's madness!"

His voice was a whip that seemed to crack against Alex's face as the words washed over him. Daneel heaved when he was done and sat down. When he reached forward with his hand to drink some wine in the hope that it would calm him down, he almost snarled when he recalled that he had shattered it, and with a swift moment, the elf pushed his untouched mug in Daneel's direction while leaning back as if waiting to watch a show.

As Daneel felt the vestiges of anger leave him, he felt faint surprise due to how intense it had been. There were three reasons, and all three had combined into something that affected him deeply. The man had killed someone he had called his family, the man had given them hope, then taken it away, and the man had the key to unlocking the power that Daneel had left behind in his homeland. It was vital, no, it was imperative that he get to him and take what he needed as in a way, even the lives of the Angarians he had left behind revolved around it, so no matter what anyone said, Daneel knew that he would not shirk from this course of action he had set for himself.

He completely ignored Alex after that, but he could tell that the man was brooding over something. Finally, five minutes later, Alex finished the mug in front of him in one go and spoke after wiping his mouth to get rid of the errant drops left there.

"Fine. I've made my choice; I'll stick with it now. Mors, is it alright if I keep this charm even after we leave here?"

The elf nodded gracefully.

With a sigh, Alex continued.

"Then it is settled. We begin our journey at dawn; get some rest, because we have a hard day ahead of us, and I'll not be the one to ask for a stop, even if it fucking kills me."

With a grimace, the man got up and stalked out of the room, his transformed face set with the conviction that what he was going to do was a bad idea, but he was going to do it anyway.

As silence descended once again between them, the elf looked like he wanted to say something. Daneel looked at him, silently hinting that he should just spit it out, so with a mirthless grin, he said, "I've heard that it is rude to speak of the faults of you humans in this way…but I cannot help but notice how poorly you managed your emotions. Couldn't you have seen that he was going to come with you no matter what he said? I don't see any reason behind your outburst, except for the fact that it might have been caused by anger building up inside you from before, itself. We are in touch with the world, always, and hence, we must be aware of what we feel if we do not wish for it to come in the way of our magic. He was going to overcome his fear anyway…but because of what you did, he must feel embarrassed because of it now. Why strain the bonds that are formed with such great effort? Oh, I'll never understand it…but then again, my father always said I understand less about this than I thought I did. I guess I'll find out who's right soon…"

With a nod, Mors left, leaving Daneel alone with two empty mugs, shards of glass on the floor…and an uncomfortable feeling that he just couldn't seem to shake.