"so let me get this straight, you long-lived, at least possibly immortal!" Sam nodded, eyeing another glowing jar to make sure that it wasn't cracked or anything. "so many of your stories are now a lot more credible, you know that, right! all the things you said don't sound possible for a 14-year-old, but someone you've lived longer than that it makes more sense."
Sam nodded again putting another glowing jar in the box that was going to take them all back to the stars islands. They would arrive without a crack, or Sam was going to rage. These were very important to him.
"What did you think of my stories before then?" he asked, started casting protection spells on the box.
"Well, a part of me doubted them, but at the same time, you were so capable that they seemed possible. Definitely thought you were doing drugs int some of them." sam wasn't sure if he should laugh or not. "you know what I'll give you that, but i don't do drugs. Most of the time." the only kind he took were medical or of his own creation.
He didn't trust someone to try and cheat him, cutting the drugs with something else. which would result in someone getting cut. " so what is exactly your plan for these souls? You're not going to bring anyone back to life?"
"Natale, that's funny; you don't bring people back to life. Not easily nor for this many," Sam knew death wouldn't like that. he didn't want to fight any manifestation of death more than once. There were all scary mother fuckers who you couldn't actually kill or seriously harm. "no, it more simple than that; first, I'm just going to make a shrine. So I can speak with them more in the future."
"Second, while I can't bring anyone back to life, I can grant them new bodies to help me fulfill some promises." and just to spend some time with them. Hug them without dipping too far into his ghostly power.
Natale sighed but promised to receive them and make sure they were in good shape before they needed the call. Sam headed straight for the post office; he might have threatened the guy. He also heavily bribed them. Excessive definitely, but Sam wasn't going to take the chance.
"Ah, I guess that's the last thing," walking through the street, he noticed many things. That he was probably subconsciously ignoring. Changes that couldn't have happened in only a few years, wear and tear in certain palaces. Especially a heavy weather stature. Sam remembered being brand new when he first visited.
"so much time," once again, it was swept away by emotion, grief, and guilt, to name a few. But better prepared for it this time, he held a breath and then let it out. he couldn't drown, not after learning how reckless he apparently was. 'I need to do some much now,' he thought. Being a lord would keep him busy for the foreseeable future.
But now he had a whole lot of personal things to take care of. Promises he could still keep. Revenge he might have to take. He wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen; would he lose more people? Would he make new friends? He didn't know, and it kind of excited him.
The reason Sam had spent so much time traveling, apparently several hundred years, was because he loved adventure. Seeing new places and meeting new people was always interesting, especially in comparison to his birthplace.
"I'm going to miss the calm of the past few years," but he would treasure every memory. While making use of everything he learned," I know I have the funds for it," looking at all the accounts he could remember, he told him that. They also told him how long it's been since he lasted touched them, some had markings of more then twenty years. "another marker of the passed time. No wonder I haven't touched them in so long."
"he spent an hour sitting before the stature before getting up and walking around the town to think to see the sights. Eventually, he returned to the hotel and returned to his dad, who was sitting silently. Reading something, he didn't catch the title, and he didn't care too much about it.
Instantly, his dad turned around; the raven knew what was going to be asked before his lips parted. Sam didn't answer with his choice; he just jumped onto the couch and pulled the younger male into a hug. 'okay, that's a weird thought.'
"so, how bad is it?" Natale asked," I'm more than four hundred years old."
and you're still living at home with your parents... don't pinch me." Sam didn't relax, his fingers pinching harder as his dad continued to make jokes about Sam's real age and continued to get pinched until it escalated into a wrestling match where Sam quickly pinned him. "right, alright!" natals' hands went up in surrender," I've run out of jokes anyway." sam rolled his eyes before realized the taller male.
"Look, you may be ten times my age, but you're still the feral ass kid I found in the forest, whose first reaction to seeing me was trying to fight and gnawed on raw meat once." Sam rolled his eyes; his body was strong enough to survive more than his weight in a fresh kill. though he didn't do it when other food was available." All right, I believe you."
"Oh, I'm not done," he went on a tangent, bringing up all kinds of memorable situations and moments they bounded. If Sam hadn't found it so heartwarming despite how it annoyed him, he would have left to do just about anything else," but he stayed and listened. Trying to memorize the voice and face. 'who knows how long I'll be able to see it? Of course, I could preserve his soul if Natale was okay with it.'
'my lord, your domain is lust, not greed,' the helper spoke up, and Sam cracked a smile. He knew the helper wasn't joking, but it was funny. 'so what, I lusting for the company?' the helper didn't respond quickly before saying that it was a distinct possibility. 'All right, never mind.'
"how do we break this to mom?" Sam asked after a few moments of listening to his dad's voice. Natale paused for a moment, then answered with complete calm, "With cake and ice cream." his first thought was actually wine, but he remembered just how much Sam disliked any form of alcohol. So, bringing out wine would open a different kind of problem.
'might distract her from Sam's age,' he thought with a bit of amusement. But he definitely added to the list of local sweets he was bringing back with them. At the same time, he remembered that he had yet to buy their plane tickets.
'Yeah, let's get that done,' he activated his holo device and started looking. It took only a few tries to find a flight where he and Sam would be neighbors and one at a reasonable time; the former was for Sam, while the latter was for him.
It was for the day after tomorrow, which gave them plenty of time to do more mundane vacation activities. Like going to the breath, buying overpriced souvenirs, and "Sam, stop fighting the local gangs!" mostly mundane things.
After a day of having fun, they finished packing and turned in for the night before the next day came, and they headed to the airport; on the way out, Sam chatted with his old friend. Giving her his current contact information. "this time i hope to stay in better contact," he told her.
They hadn't even made it to the airport when she started sending him her collection of pictures that had aero of them, followed by pictures of her family. It wasn't a big one despite the fiances at her fingertips, but they were clearly content and happy.
"you know you don't look the feral in these," Natale commented. "Well, I had been living in the city for a while, more than eight months, I think," the memories were fuzzy and chunks straight out missing. "compared to how long I had been in the forest at that time." those memories were much worse despite being more recent, which left him with questions about what he was doing in the forest.
He vaguely remembered eating something but couldn't remember its taste or texture. But he ate a lot of it, maybe enough to make himself sick at least once.
He decided those missing memories weren't too important and pushed the thought aside. Focusing on the know as they settled on the plan, Sam scrolled through the pictures. Seeing the time he missed with his friend was bitter how much he missed. How many events could he have been at? At least he thinks he could be there; his memory was patchwork.
Forcing himself calm, he decided to focus on something else, like the long list of other shit he had to check up on. Not just building but times, things he hid, and promises he might still be able to kill. 'I'm largely sure I have to kill a few things again, don't I,' unless they were already dead, it has been a while.'
He tried to look things up, but not everything made it onto the internet. Even the things that did weren't too helpful, 'no, I don't need a history lesson. I might have been there...is that a reference to me?' focusing, he looked closer and at the article. "okay, very good chance that's me," unless there was another half-dressed kid who bit a monster. He remembers biting them, not why he was half-dressed.
He might have been hot or lost the pants fitting something. This battle had been in the middle of the desert, and he lost clothing in a fight before; when people threw around powerful stone-shattering attacks, clothing tended not to make it.
The flight was a long one, with several stops to refuel or restore the magic in its protection or offensive spells. They had run into a pack of very angry pterodactyl-like birds. Sam watched as they were pushed back by the shields on the plane. They weren't the only ones that tried to hunt the plane, but they got the farthest.
The other interesting thing to happen was that the monkey children were corrupted by Sam teaching them poker and betting on candy. Sam was reasonable and didn't clean them out. Their mother gave him a death glare as the children disused betting their chores.
"you assumed, aren't you."
"I mean, I didn't do anything," Sam replied, knowing just what kind of chaos he led to the creation of. He expected she was going to be dealing with a very chaotic chore list from now on. Especially getting their children to stop betting their chores. 'I mean, it's only a matter of time before she snaps and forbids them from doing it.'
Getting off their plane, they grabbed their luggage and headed outside. To the parking garage where the car was parked, Sam took in the city air. 'yeah, that's a part I don't miss.' the city air was full. He guessed, filled with noises, scents, energy, and traces of presence. Sam has gotten used to it over the years. But that didn't match the number of years he spent in the wild.
Where the air had less in it, he spent the ride home reorienting himself to the atmosphere. And picking up a lot of residual lust than he did before. 'yeah, that's not good; the beast has definitely been up to something.'
'it would seem that way, my lord. I believe they are trying to expand their reach for your return.' Sam nodded before wakening his lust core. Reaching for the power that was clinging in the air, sensing it to the best of his ability.
'beyond just how much there is floating around, it doesn't feel any different," which was a different kind of concern. What did this kind of energy hovering around would affect? Even if the beast didn't actively use it any time soon, he didn't like the idea of it just hovering around. 'It's probably best I absorb it, though I doubt this much would be good for me.'
'I need some pebbles,' he decides after a moment. The rocks would be a decent focus for him to hold the energy for a period of time; how much time, he didn't know. He would find out soon, though; he put the matter out of his mind for the rest of the drive home.
"Hey, have a nice trip," Cora asked like she hadn't talked to them nearly daily while they had been gone. Sam rolled his eyes before hugging her, minorly checking to make sure she was okay. Knowing the beast was making a move had made him a bit paranoid; he was definitely checking on Lost later.
After throwing his luggage into his room, Sam jumped into the backyard to grab a rock and commanded the lust in the air into the rock. 'so this works decently.' the rock gained a nonviable shine to it. Sam smiled before cooking the rock and working to remove more lust from the air. 'Well, this isn't doing much,' he felt like and probably was taking drops from a pond.
'I'll have to figure out a better absorption and storage method,' taking a dozen filled stones inside, he set them in his room in a circle before lighting a candle in the middle of them. "oh," This was an old witch trick he learned, a simple one with many uses.
Right now, it told Sam these rocks had been used in witch magic, and he couldn't help but smile. "oh, there's potential here." which probably meant he didn't have to pocket a bunch of rocks. But he could draw the attention of witches. And if Sam knew anything after spending... his smile damped when he realized the gaps in his memory.
"How could I forget that time? It's when the witch core... what did the witch core do at this time?"
'Breathe, my lord,' the helper instructed. Working hard to pierce through sam panic and get him to breathe before his nails fully changed color. 'my lord, why do you believe the witch can help?' they asked, presenting a distraction to their lord.'
"Which can only create new brews if they're willing to play with new things."