Warning: Self-harm

  His breath caught and Mouse jerked his eyes open as the croaks of frogs yanked him from slumber. He blinked awake and pulled off the tree he’d fallen asleep against. A frog croaked on his knee, and he shook it off before pulling himself to his feet. It hopped towards the field, pausing and turning just enough to watch him.

  So the frog beckoned him forward?

  He followed, sliding into the water canal and climbing through the mud and reeds into the ruined farm. Every few meters, the frog would stop, croak at him, and await his follow before leaping forward. Unlike the other frogs, busy fleeing from him, this one’s intelligence was beyond the acolytes of a Guardian.

  This one must’ve been an attendant. A smaller spirit creature that bloomed sentience in only the most loyal of followers of a Guardian. Pnendua had two themselves, following them for hundreds of years. He doubted even Taiga had met the two frogs shy of those outside their masters’ reach.

  It waited for Mouse’s approach. The moonlight peaked through the fog long enough to glisten off its slimy back before retreating. Mouse stepped beside it, and it hopped forward again, scattering a few other frogs lingering in its path. Ahead of them, the figure of the Guardian Spirit hardened as the fog dispersed between them.

  “You called for me?” He stepped forward, but just as before, the figure turned into a phantom upon approach. A wind blew through the Guardian and over him and their name melted into his heart. “Nefedjukasb?”

  He blinked, sinking his head towards the ground. At his feet, green and yellow stocks shot up around him. He flicked his gaze up, surrounded by grasses up to his shoulders. He waded a few feet forward, splitting the grasses and stepping over hard clustered plants. A root snagged his boot, and he fell.

  Mouse put up his arms to catch himself, but the grasses vanished, dread paralyzing him, forcing him to his knees. He pulled up, unable to break free. Chains wrapped over his legs and arms, sinking into the earth more and more, yanking him down with it. He pulled against it, but only futility could exist.

  The chains creaked at his attempts, laughing and sinking deeper. His boots descended into the muck. He pulled and yanked out of the mud as much as he could, but the chains did not yield. His strength melted under dread. It rattled him of effort.

  “Release me!” He cried more than he’d intended, panic and fear settling beneath despair.

  It filled him to the brim, skin crawling and ripping from the chains in agony. Dead trees replaced the grass. Dirt and thirst consumed anything alive. He choked on such unquenchable desires.

  Willpower drained from him; hope in a wasteland. His body shriveled in the chains, the dirt, the mud that didn’t exist in such parched lands, the thirst, and the terror.

  There was no recovery from such a death.

  He would die. And he would suffer before the end.

  “Kill me.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Mouse froze, a breath gasping from him. The chains vanished, the mud and croaking of frogs returned. He glanced around him, the fog loomed between he and the camp, the Guardian Spirit’s phantom stood over him again.

  Those were not his words.

  A burst of anger shook him. “I will not! Do not ask me for such a thing!”

  How could they? He just needed time. Those scholars could figure it out, right? Taiga even told them sensitive information for this exact purpose. So how could the Guardian give up before they’d even tried anything?

  “Just wait a while, okay?” He dulled his voice, coaxing the phantom. “Wait, and we’ll get you some help.”

  Chains bound him again, yanking him deep into the mud. It clenched around his legs, refusing to let him pull free. “Stop! That’s enough!”

  The croaks sang over him, and his lungs struggled against the returning dread. Mouse’s arms and legs laxed, his breath shallow. He couldn’t let this go. He couldn’t give up on the Guardian, even if they begged him like this.

  “I will not stop until I find a cure for you.” Mouse’s throat scorched with every word. “Don’t give up, please!”

  All his strength fled. His eyes slid shut as his head hit the ground. A croak made him open his eyes despite sleep clawing at him. A frog sat centimeters from the end of his nose. Its eyes studied him, twitching to the sides here and there for a better look.

  “The fuck do you want?” He grumbled at it, pulling himself to his knees.

  It croaked again, watching him without even a blink.

  “You hear your master? They want to die by my hands,” he spat. “Do something about it instead of staring at me.”

  The frog didn’t even flinch when Mouse snapped the last few words. Heat welled in his throat. “Fuck off if you’re not going to help!”

  He stuck a foot forward, kicking at it. The frog leapt back just out of reach. Untethered, Mouse rose to his feet, strength returning. The little attendant stuck a few toes out in front of itself, swiping back.

  Mouse, of course, didn’t speak frog, and had no idea whatever the fuck it meant by that. He gave it one last warning, “I will squish you if you don’t help me save your master.”

  This was idiotic, even for him. And it annoyed him further thinking about it. An attendant’s loyalty was only to its master’s whims. If that meant death, then it would follow those wishes to their end. Breathe. He did as Taiga always told him when he got angry. He still had enough frustration to smash the frog, so instead, he shot it a glare. “At least do a better job at charades, for gods’ sake.”

  He sounded like one of those churchers. He must’ve picked up the language from the humans. Who the fuck even were their gods?

  He refrained from squashing the frog.

  Mouse breathed once more before turning back to the phantom. “I will not kill you, even if you desire it of me. We’ll figure out what’s causing you to corrupt. Then—”

  Chains gripped him again, and he spun out of the way before they strapped him down. “No! Listen to me! I won’t let you trap me in your mind again.”

  The ground shook as a roar bellowed out and around them. From within the phantom, claws ripped through and crunched into the muddy earth. The frogs scattered, and the ceramic mask of the Guardian lurched towards him, freezing within a breath’s distance from his face. The furs and feathers shuddered and the mouth of the Guardian sank beneath their mask, booming another roar .

  Mouse dug his feet into the mud, shutting his eyes and turning away as pink saliva splattered his cheeks and neck. It burned and sizzled. Before he could open his eyes, quills stabbed into him. An impact to his left jerked him off his feet and sent him flying four meters across the ground.

  He pulled his arms and legs in, but not before he hit the ground, skidding across the field and rolling until grasses bent and snapped to him. They slowed his roll until he slid to a halt. Pain burst all across his body, red dripping from his mouth and leg which caught against a rock.

  Dull pain pulsed in his left arm, and he pulled it close to him with his right, cradling it and using ginger touches to feel where it broke. A flicker of movement caught his eyes and Mouse turned to see Taiga rushing towards him. But before Taiga reached him, another roar trembled the air.

  The earth shook, and brought every figure in the darkness and fog to the ground. Then screams and thunders erupted. Mouse heard his name called and he spotted Taiga just as he slipped into a crack as the earth split open.