WW Chapter 79: Bodyguarding’s More Boring (Patreon)

After that initial crashing contact, the blade holding Ezra’s axe back didn’t waver, even though, by every reasonable assumption, it should have been blown away. The infernal—no, illiar—was actively using an aura shroud, so he was at least a Pseudo-Knight.

Unsure of how to react, Ezra looked back and forth between Jhas and Adonis. Once Ezra stopped pushing on the axe, Jhas was happy to pull back the blade and smile at the human man. Now that Ezra was actually looking, he could see plenty of differences between Jhas, an illiar, and the infernal demon. Yes, both had skin with cracks in it, with the skin between the cracks glowing. However, an infernal burned like a fire fought to escape from under its skin, while Jhas, standing in front of him, glowed like the sun was setting behind the clouds. There was nowhere near the same kind of appearance between the two of them.

The infernal was like a fire given flesh, while, if Jhas was any indication, illiar seemed to have some natural radiance.

Now that he’d put even a little bit of thought into what he’d been doing, Ezra felt himself blush in embarrassment. Obviously, the man with hair, clothes, and walking around calmly inside of the Duke’s home wasn’t a demon hell-bent on destroying the world.

“I’m so sorry,” Ezra said, pulling back his axe and stowing it back on his hip. “As Adonis here asked, I’ve never met an illiar. I’ve never seen a naga either, so if there’s a possibility of me meeting one of those around here, I wouldn’t mind a warning before I make a fool out of myself again.”

“Who would’ve guessed you were so twitchy,” Adonis said, shaking his head and remaining surprisingly casual despite now no longer being just the two of them.

“Twitchy is one of the best qualities a good bodyguard can have,” Jhas smiled at Adonis. “Better quick to protect you than slow to notice danger.”

As he said it, the man stepped forward and offered a hand to shake. Ezra nodded and reached out to take it. Jhas’s hand was surprisingly soft, considering how wooden his skin looked. Even so, through the leather of his glove, Ezra could feel the textural difference between the rough “wooden” skin and the cracks. Also, Jhas’s hand was warm enough to feel through the leather as well, and the grip was extremely firm, though gentle.

“As you have already learned, most people call me Jhas, though my full name is Jhasuza al’Thultisse,” he said, pulling his hand back and looking into Ezra’s eyes. “I have been in service to the House of Brayton for the past one hundred years, primarily focused on teaching divine magic and swordplay to the scions and descendants of the ducal house. I am pleased to make your acquaintance, new guard.”

“Ezra Soldier,” Ezra replied. “Ezra is fine, and I again apologize for the sudden attack.”

“No apology is necessary for a bodyguard to react to the appearance of an unknown. You saw a stranger holding a weapon inside of a room where your charge was due to enter. At the very least, suspicion was required, and a reaction such as the one you gave is appropriate. I am simply grateful to see that the replacement found for Mikhail is no coward.”

Ezra smiled as he stepped back, looking at Adonis as the younger man fought to catch his breath.

“I guess I should say that I’m glad to see you’re willing to do your job,” Adonis said, staring at Ezra.

“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here,” Ezra shrugged. “Now, isn’t it time for you to actually get into whatever you should be wearing for your sword training?”

Adonis glared at Ezra for that reminder, but the Adept didn’t care if the other man was angry that Ezra had remembered the reason for being there.

“Going off of the strength that he just showed, we shouldn’t count it as a surprise that your bodyguard is willing to remember practice,” Jhas smiled at Adonis. “And he is right, you are not wearing your protective attire. Go, prepare yourself.”

Adonis nodded, turned, and walked to a door on the opposite side of the room from where Jhas had come out. Ezra followed after him, and the young man scowled.

“I can dress myself.”

“Yes, you can,” Ezra smiled, still continuing forward. “I still  have a duty to make sure that there’s nobody in the room before you go in there and undress all alone.”

Adonis didn’t disagree, slowing down and allowing Ezra to step in front. Then, pushing open the door, Ezra peeked in and saw the small dressing room. Maybe three meters square, there were three wardrobes along the wall, and nothing else.

“The one on the far right is mine, the one on the left is Hector’s, and the one in the middle is Hera’s,” Adonis explained. “Now, do you have anything else you need to look at, or can I prepare myself for my least favorite part of the day?”

“Go right ahead,” Ezra said with a smile. Then, he stepped back and let Adonis into the room. The door closed heavily, and then Ezra was left alone in the room with a man he’d called a demon.

“You’re young,” Jhas said as he set a pair of training dummies up in the center of the room. “Not yet twenty, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Seventeen,” Ezra confirmed. “The stories say that illiar are immortal. Is that true?”

“Not by any true definition of immortal, no,” Jhas refuted, continuing the work of preparing the room. “Yes, my people are physically timeless. Yes, our bodies are unaging. However, the illiar remain mortal.”

Ezra squinted at Jhas, who smiled in response.

“I was asking if you get old, though.”

“No. You asked if my race is immortal. Undying. I have personally known hundreds who have died.” Jhas’s voice was even as he said it, even as a hint of emotion colored his words. “If your question was instead if I could die of old age, I would have answered that there is only a credible history of two individual illiar who died of causes that could only be called advanced age.”

Ezra went quiet at that, trying not to make an impolite ass of himself again, but also already finding Jhas to be exhausting. As the wood-like man’s work came to a conclusion, he turned and looked at Ezra again, a smile coloring the corners of his lips.

“If it happens that you have other curiosities regarding my people in general or myself specifically, I am happy to entertain them. I recognize that, for someone such as yourself, even the beastkin must be quite foreign, to say nothing of the Naga’s and illiar. Do not hesitate to adhere to your own ideas regarding propriety. Don’t worry about being impolite, I have purposely invited your queries.“

Something about the way that he invited questions seemed formal, but Ezra wasn’t sure what it was. Instead of worrying about that, he asked, “So how old are you? How old are the oldest Illiar in history?”

“I did mention that there are only two reputable tales of illiar who died of old age. Those are the original Principio, Inkotala shi’Sallah and his companion Larahia sah’Fitel. Given that they were, according to the histories, well over one thousand years old at the time and possibly as aged as twice that, I would say that we can estimate an individual illiar’s lifespan to be at least twelve hundred years. As for myself, I have seen two hundred and twelve summers.”

“Damn,” Ezra blurted out, unthinking. The humor that Jhas looked at him let Ezra hope that he hadn’t offended the man for a possible second time, but Ezra couldn’t help but start apologizing. “I just thought that someone hundreds of years old would maybe look older than the prime of their life.”

“There is no offense intended nor taken,” Jhas shook his head. “It’s always refreshing to speak with those who are honest regarding their education, intentions, and impressions. You had additional things to ask me, so do not hesitate to continue.”

“Well, the only question I really have left is about something you already said,” Ezra asked, getting to something that Jormun had been pestering him to ask. “You said that you train in the use of divine magic, but I can tell that you have a shroud. You’re at least a Pseudo-Knight, but you can also cast magic? I’ve only heard that it’s nearly impossible to do that, that developing your inner world while also doing whatever you need to learn to cast magic is like fighting against yourself.”

“It is not impossible.” As he said it, Jhas seemed to smile. Evidently, this was a question he was more prepared for. “However, the effort of broadening your inner world while also reaching out to touch the divine is exceedingly difficult. My understanding is that, of the three paths to power, the development of the inner world and acquiring the ability to wield aura is the simplest to pursue in tandem with any other. Sorcery and the divine are diametrically opposed, if I understand it correctly.”

“Why is it that aura works better with being able to cast magic?” Ezra asked. “I don’t really get what you’re trying to say.”

“Instead of me simply giving you an answer,” Jhas said, standing square in front of Ezra, “tell me about how you became able to sense aura and then use it.”

“I first felt aura coming from a fire, then in other things. Once I can feel it, I could move it and bring it into myself. Once it was inside me, I could push it out to do a couple different things, like to strengthen my attacks or to make me move faster.”

“That is very similar to the path of most who walk along the path of Knighthood,” Jhas nodded. “For those who walk the path of sorcery or the divine, they must connect with the natural world or with the divine world established by one of the gods. There are similarities in these paths. Tell me what those similarities may be once you have learned them.”

Ezra allowed himself to think about it for a second, but just as he was about to respond, Jhas turned, looked at Adonis, who had stepped out of the room, and gestured for him to begin training. The young man nodded, took one of the rapiers from where it hung on the wall and fell into a stance.

“I could’ve answered the question already,” Ezra grumbled as the illiar trained the almost painfully uncoordinated Adonis.

It was not a question of if you could see the similarities, Jormun said. This wasn’t intended as an opportunity to show you that you need not only ask questions but can instead find answers yourself.

“Since I don’t know anything about magic, I can only ask questions.”

And only so many questions as were necessary were answered.

Ezra didn’t disagree with that, and the conversation died as he thought about how it seemed like the three paths all started the same. Then, aura took whatever existed out there, whether it was divine or natural, and then strengthened the self. It made sense that some of the progress made as a Knight might carry over to the others. But Ezra didn’t really care to learn magic, so instead, he just watched as Adonis, for the fifth time, had his stance corrected from a weak one to a strong one. Ezra would correct him, but the man with two more centuries of experience than him was far better suited for the task. 

Leaning against the wall, for the first time, Ezra got a peek into how boring bodyguarding could be.

***

“That will be all for today,” Jhas said as, dripping sweat, Adonis stepped back from the training dummy. 

“Thank you,” Adonis answered, stepping  back and wiping his face with a handkerchief. 

The two exchanged pleasantries for a short while as they cleaned up, and Ezra heard Adonis’s stomach growl. Going off of that, Ezra was surprised to see that his charge wasn’t too excited for dinner. Only time would tell why.