“The magic that brought you both here is tied to Drathnor; it has an encounter limit before the tie is released. Seems whomever, and we still don’t know the whom, used this limit to fly under our,” Ggyllum swallowed. “I mean the Structure’s radar. I think I’ve used that idiom correctly.”

  Malcolm nodded while he watched Valgrin’s jaw clinch.

  “You have to engage with him twice to cancel the binding. You’ve already engaged once and if our information is correct, you are working on going back for the second time already.” Ggyllum looked at Izzy, who nodded her confirmation.

  Valgrin’s measured tone kept Ggyllum from continuing. “And if he’s not there, we just need to find him and make sure we engage that second time, then we can go home. Right?”

  Ggyllum’s pause brought Malcolm to the edge of his chair.

  “First, we are unclear if there are more restrictions after your Drathnor encounters, they could be hidden—underneath, so to say. Second, after consideration,” the Mavvon focused entirely on Valgrin. “The oversight panel determined the potential damage of such an action to be too great to undertake at this time. Perhaps in the futu…”

  “The future!” Valgrin shot up from his chair, shouting. “This place, your Structure stole my future.”

  Malcolm slid an arm around Valgrin’s shoulder for support and to calm him down. “Valgrin has a point. Both of our futures have been changed because of, by your own admission, something that should not have been allowed. Now you're making us suffer for your mistake?”

  Ggyllum pointed at Malcolm. “You fell into a grey area, a loophole. It is permissible to bring people over just before the moment of death. It was early, perhaps, but you’d just discovered you were dying soon.”

  “Wh..what?” Izzy sputtered.

  Malcom turned to her. “In my world. Here I’m cured. I was going to talk to you about that this afternoon. Needed to tell Valgrin first, and I did then revisited it this morning to make sure all was good.”

  “We’ll have that talk once this is done.” Izzy motioned for Ggyllum to continue.

  “Thank you.” He turned back to Valgrin. “You, on the other hand, were snuck in against the rules. EverNever runs different from anywhere in the Structure and the person behind this was subtle and hid the action from us.”

  Valgrin's shoulders quaked, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge of the table. "How it happened doesn't matter to me," he said, each word precise despite the quiver in his jaw. "Fix it. Send me home." His eyes found Malcolm's, softening for just a moment. "And whatever solution you find better let us choose our own paths. If one wants to stay while the other goes—that has to be an option."

  Yellow shoulders rose and fell as Ggyllum sighed. “I do not have the permission to make that happen. Allow me to explain, though I understand if you don’t want me to right now.”

  Valgrin tore from Malcolm’s grip and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  “I think you got your answer.” Malcolm looked from the door to Ggyllum.

  Izzy started walking to the door. “He’s in the storeroom. He can’t get back in.” She stopped and turned to Malcolm. “Will he try, or is he headed upstairs and beyond?”

  Malcolm shrugged. “He’s the level-headed one. I’d be out this door and the next one. Once I got outside, I’d stomp to nowhere in particular until I realized I was lost. If Valgrin goes out, he’s probably headed to that library he talks about.”

  “Should we go get him?” Izzy asked.

  “Nope. When he gets mad, you just let him go until he calms down. He always does…” Malcolm looked over at the Mavvon, “…at least he always did before today.”

  “I need him to come back. This delay is not acceptable.” Ggyllum tapped a long, slender finger on the table.

  “Wha!” Izzy and Ggyllum shouted in unison as Malcolm slammed his palms against the table, launching himself out of his chair. His finger thrusting at the startled Mavvon.

  “You arrogant piece of…” Malcolm swallowed, pausing for a second, before continuing in a volume just under the shouting he started with. “Come in unannounced, surprising even Izzy. You act as if you own the place and we’ve been waiting for you to grace us with your presence!” He paused again, to reign in the growing volume. “Then you make this announcement aimed directly at Valgrin’s fears—with no concern for how he’d take it or allow him to process.”

  Malcolm watched Ggyllum’s face scrunch up, eyes squinted and lips pursed. Izzy stood off to the side, arms folded over her chest. Malcolm couldn’t decide if she was angry or bemused. The silence in the room became oppressive.

  Malcolm took a deep breath and continued. “I don’t know why everyone around here treats you with such awe. I’ve seen little more than a self-important, arrogant…um…creature. Neither Valgrin nor I asked to be here and those in charge seem to be unconcerned, nor willing to help in any way.” He stared at Ggyllum until yellow eyes broke the stare and looked to the ground.

  “Now that I’ve said what needed to be said,” Malcolm took a step towards the door. “I’m going to go find my friend and make sure he’s okay.”

  “Depends on you definition of okay.” Valgrin’s deadpan voice came from the back door to the meeting room.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Izzy grunted. “How?” As everyone spun around to face him.

  Valgrin nodded toward Malcolm. “When he escorted me down here through your room and secret stairs, I noticed and remembered the patterns he used to open the doors. One lap of running up the stairs and back down were enough for me to rein my anger in.”

  Ggyllum clapped his hands, “Good we…”

  “Shut up! Everything Malcolm said a moment ago stands true, you pompous wast…”

  Malcolm screamed as a flash of yellow hit his chest. His body flew from the chair, stopping abruptly with his head bouncing off the wall behind him. Yellow fingers pinned him against the wall, feet dangling inches off the ground. He heard Valgrin grunt when he hit the wall next to Malcolm.

  “Wha…” the fingers tightened around Malcolm’s throat, cutting him off.

  “I have taken all I will from you.”

  The Mavvon’s eyes were glowing red as it floated in front of the pair. How did he? His body is still in the chair. Sharp teeth flashed as Ggyllum snarled, a yellow-green viscous fluid dripped from fangs that hadn’t been there before.

  “Ggyllum! Stop that!” Izzy shouted.

  “It has been enough.” The Mavvon growled, “I grow weary of the abuse without hearing the reasoning.”

  Valgrin’s strained voice gasped out, “You coulda started with that. Though you’ve been given the reasoning.”

  Malcolm tried to shake his head in agreement. Ggyllum’s grip tightened, preventing Malcolm’s head from moving and his lungs from filling.

  "Put them down. Now!" Izzy's fingernails dug into the rubbery flesh of Ggyllum's arm, leaving white half-moons that quickly regained a yellow hue.

  The Mavvon's head rotated toward her with a wet clicking sound, pupils contracting to pinpricks in pools of deep crimson. A vibration started in his chest, rattling the glasses on the table. Malcolm's throat constricted under the pressure, his warning coming out as a strangled wheeze. Before Izzy could step back, something whipped from Ggyllum's side—a blur of sulfur-colored movement that caught her mid-chest with the force of a baseball bat, sending her sprawling across the floor tiles.

  “Close!”

  Malcolm slammed his eyes shut when he heard the warning. The bright light pinked his eyelids. The fingers around his neck twitched with the bright light, but didn’t relent.

  “Now, drop my friends or I’ll burn a hole in your head.” Skwilly managed a threatening growl.

  “I have no quarrel with you, priggy.” Ggyllum replied.

  “You have hurt my friends, so I have a quarrel with you. Drop them now or else.”

  “Control your self Ggyllum.” Izzy added to Skwilly’s threat. “Please! You are better than this. Take control.”

  Ggyllum shuddered, glaring at Izzy. His body quaked with a more intense convulsion. Malcolm watched the Mavvon’s eyes fade back to a familiar yellow, the fangs retracted as the face floated back to meet up with Ggyllum’s torso. The fingers relaxed, but stayed in place.

  “Let them go,” growled Skwilly.

  “I am in the process of doing so. I apologize for my loss of control. I have not reverted to Suigna state for many years. Such a challenge has been absent from my life for a long time.” Ggyllum lowered his captives to the floor, then his fingers and arms retracted to his seated body.

  Malcolm rubbed at his neck. Should I say thanks or cuss the asshole out?

  Valgrin took care of it for him. “Thank you for releasing us, but I don’t feel very thankful, all things considered.”

  “Understood. You own some of the originating situation.” Ggyllum nodded their direction.

  “No, we don’t.”

  Malcolm tensed at Valgrin’s reply, holding his breath as his friend continued.

  “You came in and made your announcements without consideration for the impact. You even stated you had reasons. That would be a good place to start when you’re telling someone news that you know they don’t want to hear. I know, for a fact, you have sent people home to Earth…where I want to go.”

  Malcolm watched Valgrin for a second, then went over to help Izzy.

  “Shouldn’t have let you get access to the library.” Ggyllum smiled. “And that was a joke. Yes, we have sent some back to Earth before. In one case, the person was a hermit and hadn’t been gone long enough for anyone to notice. The most recent one became such a problem to the other side they agreed to allow him to go back. Which is what I was, or am, suggesting to you. Become a thorn in the side of the Bleeding Tree organization.”

  “Before we get into that,” Malcolm interrupted. “What just happened and did you all understand Skwilly?”

  “They understood me. I gained the ability to speak in common tongue the last time I leveled up. Just didn’t need to use it before now. And didn’t tell anyone, you’d be surprised what people say when they don’t think you’ll understand. Didn’t tell you so you wouldn’t have to worry about reacting in a way that tipped my hand. Also gained a refined light beam that might burn a hole in softer targets. I’ve practiced a little and it may or may not burn a hole, but it’ll get hot and cause damage.”

  “So your threat to burn a hole in me wasn’t one you could follow up on?” Ggyllum asked.

  “I’d have tried, and you’d have noticed—but yes, I doubt I’d have burnt a hole through you.”

  Malcolm chuckled. “Well played, Skwilly, well played.”

  Ggyllum turned to face Izzy and Malcolm. “As far as what happened, you and Valgrin angered me to a point I let my Suigna state take over. It is a more primal hunter, defender, that Mavvon can shift to. Most of us have spent years learning to control it, but it can flare in times of emotional stress or life-threatening situations.”

  Izzy coughed, drawing everyone’s attention. “Ggyllum, if you ever lose control like that again and threaten my friends. Mavvon or not, you will not be welcome here. It pains me to say that, but I’d make the same to anyone else who attacked people under this roof. Yelling, arguing are all okay, but physical threat is not. I know you showed some restraint. Valgrin and Malcolm are both still alive, so thank you for that.”

  With a slow nod of his head, Ggyllum acknowledged Izzy’s comments. “Again, I offer my apologies. I have learned today that I must be more vigilant in training my control.”

  “Apology accepted. I’m sure I speak for Malcolm as well as myself. We should have been a little less accusatory and angry with you and allowed you to explain before reacting as I did.”

  Malcolm nodded his agreement. “Fully agree with Valgrin.”

  “I must be going soon, so I’ll have to leave you with a broad explanation. There is an agreement between the Bleeding Tree people and the Sahomma, which is us. Earth is one of the neutral territories and we can harvest, within rules—but we aren’t supposed to send anyone back. Breaking that rule would give the others an opening to exploit. Same would hold true if they break one of the stipulations of the accord. Something neither side desires to do without some huge payoff. And sorry, but returning you is not a payoff that warrants allowing Bleeding Tree an opening to exploit.”

  Keep calm, Valgrin. Malcolm watched his friend struggle with his control. Not relaxing until he saw Valgrin’s shoulders sag.

  “You keep bringing up this Bleeding Tree thing. I know you said you have to go, but at some point soon, you need to explain this to Malcolm and myself.”

  “I would agree.” Ggyllum paused for a second, then a huge smile broke through. “Especially if you’re going to become such a problem for them, they’ll agree to send you home. That will be fun to be involved in.”

  And suddenly the chair Ggyllum sat in was empty.

  “I hate he can do that.” Izzy grumbled.

  Valgrin grunted his agreement. “I also hate that it feels like we’re, or at least I’m, getting played.”