Chapter 243: Absolute Power
When Zyl came back, Mercury was in the process of trying to cut a cake with his rijn.
This, of course, was difficult. He'd gotten good at making platforms from it, or blunt force, but hammers weren't exactly useful for cutting things. The same went for
He definitely could have just used
Despite these misgivings, Zyl was, in fact, splashed with white frosting as he opened the door.
There was a long silence, and then both of them broke out in laughter. Zyl quickly licked his lips. "It's good cake," he praised.
"Shame it's going to waste."
"What?" the dragon cocked an eyebrow. "You haven't learned time magic yet? Can't you rewind it back into place?"
Mercury laughed, again. "Tragically, I find myself incapable. But it shall only be a matter of time. You see, there is a future in which I do learn it, then it should retroactively affect us, and the cake shall restore itself!" He posed dramatically.
Nothing happened.
With another laugh, Zyl quickly incinerated the bits of frosting on his face and in his hair, then swept Mercury up in a swift hug. "Whoa," he said, laughing. "You feel a bit heavier."
"Ah, that's the steel nails I've been eating."
"The what?!" Zyl laughed some more. Then, he shook his head, a wide grin plastered on his face as he ran a hand through Mercury's supple fur. "You're ridiculous," he said. "And I missed you very much."
Mercury smiled brightly. "I missed you, too," he said. For a few moments, the two just hugged each other, Mercury making liberal use of his ghost hands.
Then, after some time, Mercury broke the silence. "So, what've you been up to?" he asked.
Zyl smiled, just a faint bit. "Boring things, all in all, though some greatly amusing ones, too. I've grabbed a few things from the mansion to take to here. And, of course, administration."
"Administration?"
The dragon rolled his eyes. "The most boring, dreadful stuff. Nobles wanting to broker trade deals with me rather than Unbar's merchants. People trying to get me to join their families to strongarm other nobles into giving up land… politicking. Dreadful, I tell you."
Mercury snickered a bit. "Oh, I can only imagine how horrible you felt. What, did the marriage proposals not measure up to standards?"
Laughing, Zyl ruffled Mercury's fur. "Sasasasa! No, none of them did. I'm, after all, taken, and I don't think we've discussed an open relationship."
"I'd prefer to keep it closed," Mercury replied succinctly.
Zyl nodded and smiled. "Entirely okay. I think I'd prefer that, too."
"Very well then," Mercury espoused. "It is written in stone. Until the end of the world."
"Come now, surely we can outlast a few worlds, at least," Zyl winked. "Or maybe you plan on repairing all the fabrics of all realities?"
Mercury laughed. "Hahaha. Who's to say, Zyl? With a dragon by my side it feels like the sky's the limit."
"I wouldn't be opposed to a date in a balloon," the dragon flirted.
"Deal," Mercury said instantly. "I'll even get us another cake."
"Can we afford that?" Zyl asked with a bemused smirk.
"Why yes!" Mercury said happily. "I have taken on missions from the seeker's guild again, and upgraded my license to B-rank! It's a little low for what I can do, but well, rating me higher against metaphysical threats only made little sense. And a physical B-ranker can still break my bones."
Zyl nodded, slowly. "Reasonable," he said.
"I also am now doing actual blacksmithing work for real people," Mercury said happily. "Selling nails was getting old, but now that I can 'hear' the metal properly, I'm making axeheads and hammers, that kinda stuff. And a lot of fittings," he added. "Hinge-parts, pins, reinforcements. I've even been called to do on-site work."
"Impressive," Zyl praised.
Mercury smiled. "It's nothing super special, but it's stable."
Again, the dragon ruffled his fur, in what was slowly becoming a habit, apparently. "I'm glad to hear it, really," Zyl said. "Money isn't much of a worry, since neither of us particularly need shelter anymore, nor do I exactly need food, but, well. It's still nice," he said with a smile.
"Yeah. Less about the physical need and more about the emotional safety it gives at this point," Mercury said. "Home sweet home, and all that. It's nice. Having a place to come back to, to feel at ease in."
Zyl nodded. "Just so," he said. "And, well. Something to protect, right?"
Mercury tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
"Ah," the handsome dragon scratched the back of his head. "Well. It's easy to kind of… get lost in things, rights? In the search for more power, more freedom, so it's good to have something grounding you. Something to lose. I think that people who've lost everything need a home more than anything else."
"Huh," Mercury hummed. "I… I guess so. I can't really disagree at least," he said with a smile. "What's your home then?" he asked.
"You," Zyl said. "This house, Stormbraver as a city to some degree, and, of course, Unbar. Lucia, Otto, all the people I care about," he said. "Yours?"
"You, as well," Mercury replied easily. "Then my friends. Kittra and Avery, Juno and Yasashiku, all the others," he smiled. "This house and Stormbraver, too."
"A simple answer for a simple problem, right?" the dragon asked, smiling teasingly. "For most people it can be that simple. People you care about, places you live in or used to live. And yet, some people lack it. I think that's sad."
"Yeah," Mercury replied. Then, for a long moment, neither spoke. "I'm grateful I found you."
Zyl smiled, brushing a hand through Mercury's fur. He wasn't wearing his gloves, as he usually did. "I'm glad I found you, too."
Mercury laid his head in his boyfriend's lap. And the two enjoyed one another's company for a long moment.
- - -
"You didn't burn down the garden," Zyl commented at Lucia. "I'm impressed."
The priestess rolled her eyes at her long-time friend. "You truly have no faith in me."
Zyl's smile widened, showing his canines. "Yeah," he said. "None at all."
"To be fair, she did burn a chunk of plantmatter, just usually the bits that needed to be burned," Mercury added casually, enjoying the sunlight on his fur.
Iris gave a small giggle, covering her face, then clutched Lucia's arm and elbow. "My lady would never do such an undignified thing as ruin your garden, lord Zyl," she teased. At her words, Lucia very quickly got the flames that were licking at the grass below her feet back under control.
A small request from Mercury later, and the lawn was pristine again.
Taking a moment, Zyl strolled through it on the small gravel paths, running gloved hands over the flowers delicately. He smiled. And for a moment, Mercury thought he could look at it all day. But, of course, it didn't last quite forever.
They had a gazebo in the garden now, where Zyl sat down. Ruvah was in the process of creating a little contained river system for it, too, helping with soil moisture as well as atmosphere. A small project for them all to meet occasionally. Larash had worked with Yasashiku and Mercury to build a gazebo in the garden, too.
None of them were woodworkers by trade, but then again, that was fine. They had generalised crafting skills, and whenever something went horribly wrong, Mercury just asked the wood to relent and fix itself. It was similar enough to grass. Probably. Apparently.
And so, after Avery had helped paint the thing, they now had a white gazebo in the garden, with a small, circular coffee table, and a small river running by it. It was nice. They sat, they drank tea, and they chatted.
Lucia talked about reading quite a bit, working her way through a library, and Iris took up dancing, since a merchant caravan was passing through town. They'd also bought some new dresses, with many layers of thin silk. Zyl found them pretty, and Mercury found the many layers of fabric to be very loud.
They bickered about it a little, in a friendly way. Lucia only set him on fire, once, and her flames left the gazebo untouched. Zyl looked on a little confused.
"Since when has this become a habit?" he asked.
Lucia just gave a defeated smile, and Mercury broke out into a wide grin. "Oh right, Zyl. Seeing as you're rather hot, can I ask you to set me on fire later?"
The dragon blinked, somehow torn between blushing and confusion. "Wha?"
Once more, Lucia rolled her eyes. But before she could ruin the surprise, Mercury doubled down. "Oh yeah. I've taken to it. The smell of burnt fur in the morning, y'know? It's gotten rather dear to me now."
"Have… have you become an arsonist, Mercury?" he asked, confused.
At that, Lucia's palm met her face. "No, you dunce," she groaned. "He is trying to comprehend fire. Nothing else."
Iris' face was lightly flushed, and Mercury broke out in laughter. "You have no shame," Zyl sighed, embarrassed.
"What's a bit of teasing between friends," Mercury said, smiling. "But yes. I've been trying to understand the essence of fire. And metal, but I've succeeded with that. So it's just fire left."
"I see. That makes more sense," Zyl said. "I, uh, are you sure? I don't want to hurt you."
"He'll be fine," Lucia waved him off. "You could hurt him if you really tried, but he's tougher than he looks."
Mercury smiled. "I am. I've got a body strengthening Skill, a ton of vitality, and a few regeneration Skills to boot. I'll be okay. And I'm very adjusted to fire by now."
Zyl hummed thoughtfully, then gave a small smile. "If you say so. I'll do my best to be gentle."
At that, Mercury laughed again. And, once more, Lucia smacked her face. Iris busied herself pouring more tea and rapidly changing the topic to something more shared. What the future might hold for them. Goals and aspirations, as well as duties.
Iris was plenty happy to continue in her work as a maid, for one, and was pleased levelling her skills related to it. Sometimes, well, she needed to stab a few people, but nothing too troublesome came about. Times were relatively peaceful, for now. Though she was sure they would not remain like that forever.
Still, with bishop Nemo no longer causing too much trouble, there weren't any pressing issues. Avery could easily handle the occasional rifts - though Mercury was quite keen on diving one, too. He was curious what arches were like now that he had a little more practice in dealing with realms and dimensions.
Were they like the fae realm? On the verge of collapsing and barely holding together? Like his dream? Why did they hold creatures and make them more aggressive? Maybe they were more similar to the domains of the sins, like Gluttony, which he's, somewhat ironically, devoured.
He shook his head. Those were big concerns for later days. For now, he wanted to comprehend fire, get better at enchanting, and improve his skills with ihn'ar, maybe even tackle the next veil. Magic and
Lucia, for her part, was quite happy with just helping out in the community. It was quite necessary, since the whole "priestess" stuff often got a little draining, so having some parts of her life where she didn't need to be a paragon was good for her. Reading helped, but spending time with people outside of church was nice, too.
She even helped around construction sites occasionally. Her high level came with a reasonably high strength score, even if it wasn't her focus, and she gave archery lessons occasionally.
Mercury, for a moment, considered attending. It feels like he would be rather good at using a bow with his
Which still mostly consisted of him staring at her as she slowly swung her sword and went through stances. Was he learning? Probably, definitely. Was it the most efficient way to go about things? No, but then again, he had four minds, so watching her with one and practicing magic with the other three seemed reasonable.
Zyl was happy to treat this time back in Stormbraver as a holiday. He wanted to do some more painting, of flowers, and maybe eventually of people. "Oh, the merchant caravans have brushes, actually," Iris noted.
Instantly, Zyl stood up from the table. "Really? Where?" he asked. After being pointed in a direction, he promptly sprouted wings and flew off.
"Does he realize they're staying in town for a few more days?" Mercury asked.
Lucia just shrugged. "Let him be impulsive. It's not like he got to enjoy many hobbies before now."
Mercury just nodded, thinking that was fair. And so, they sat and chatted for a little while. When Zyl came back, they took to playing card games for a bit, before the others left again. It did make Mercury think of the board games he still remembered back from earth, and he considered reinventing at least a few of them.
Well, they had a variant of chess, of course. But maybe he could make some kinda city-building or forestry games. Certainly none of the capitalism inspired ones. Then again, the pseudo-feudalism here was not much better, either. And Mercury couldn't even really fix it, cuz then what would he do? Elect himself as lord and make decisions?
It didn't sound so appealing anymore. The fae were already too much with pretty much having bullied him into getting a plot of land, but that had been somewhat necessary, even if it technically made him almost head of something like a thirteenth court.
Gently, Mercury shook his head, discarding the thoughts again. Life was silly like that, there were always more things to do, after all. But, then again, plenty of them were fun to do.
Chronagen was also bizarre that way. When he had to fear for his life, it was rarely institutional or anything. It was just people taking a dislike to him. There were no passports or bureaucratic legal systems; if he wanted to leave somewhere he could just walk away.
With his Skills, all he needed for food was a bit of greenery, and he didn't need shelter, either. No sickness or anything. So, he had the essentials covered, and needed to find fulfillment in other ways.
And, as he had shown before, that fulfillment came from helping people, to some degree. There was something nice about just making things for the sake of making them, like crafting a few hundred nails. But there was also fulfillment in seeing and helping them be used in making someone a home.
That was what he wanted to do, at least for a little while. To practice and improve his skills at making items, for others and for himself. With the magic to assist him, being able to split his mind four ways, and being able to control a hundred hands at a time, he could effectively learn to make anything he needed.
Maybe it was time to consider becoming vegetarian, too? He didn't need for much, so requiring other creatures to die for his pleasure felt a little weird. Something to consider, at least.
After heading home, Mercury took a shower, then quickly dried his fur off by simply requesting that the water slide off him, and it did just that. He still shook himself a little, then watched it all run down the drain and, just for fun, cast a freezing spell.
It was kind of funny. Zyl had a habit of longer showers, but whenever they ran out of hot water in the reservoir, he would just put his hand on the pipes and solve the problem. He just went and heated the metal until the water was boiling.
Mercury found those kinds of tricks endlessly delightful. They'd gotten supernatural powers, mostly through blood, sweat, tears, effort, and some amount of luck - though that was also an ability here. And now, Mercury used them for the silliest things.
Cutting cake with his mind. Heating up shower water. Drying himself off. Making sure the mattress was just the right temperature. Climbing up roofs and enjoying the view. Diving into lakes to see the fish. Sneaking up on his friends and scaring them, just for fun. He used
When he needed to make someone a gift, he could use
There was a saying that absolute power corrupted absolutely, but Mercury didn't think that was necessarily true. Despite how inhuman he was these days, the fact that he thought four parallel thoughts, that he never slept, that he could walk in between the gaps of reality and see the void that eats away at the world…
He was, at the end of the day, just some guy.
Just a person, trying to do his best to live happily.
He read books, he grew flowers, he laughed with his boyfriend, and he hung out with his friends. They played games, they chatted, they were sad and they were happy. They went swimming in the lake, they built sandcastles, they ate food.
Everything was so mundane. Mercury had powers, yes. He could, reasonably, wipe out a city. Hell, back on earth, he doubted a tank could have killed him. And despite that, despite the fact that he could level building, could literally break a person apart by reducing their reality to nothing at all, he didn't do that.
There wasn't even the urge to. His power, which was most certainly absolute compared to a lot of average people on Chronagen, was used in ways that just made him happy.
And that was what they were meant for, at the end of the day. To increase his own happiness, and that of those he cared about. That was all it was needed for. Nothing else.
He took a deep breath, enjoying a ray of sunshine coming in through the window. Slowly, the sun was setting, and dusk approached. He closed his eyes, though his mind kept working. He didn't need to sleep, so he instead moulded the cold and the dark, weaving and practicing.
Not because he intended to use it, not because he wanted to create undeads or become an assassin or anything like that… but because it was fun. Because he wanted to understand it, to see it, to share it. To make fun magical displays for kids, to see the world a little differently, to understand it all a little bit better.
Mercury practiced in the safety of his house, listening to the powerfully beating, dragonfire filled heart of his lovely boyfriend. Because magic was awesome, and he loved it. And that was enough.