Rodentia Adventures

EPILOGUE 2: FOR REAL THIS TIME!

Jerin rubbed her scarred paws together, cupping them to her snout, breathing into them. Faint, white vapors leaked out from between her fingers. The mouse let out a sigh of relief. Sure, it may have been naturally colder these days, but not this cold. It was clear that this unnatural chill came from another source, in this case the large creature standing directly behind her. Her expression in no way soured as she turned to face the massive beast. 

"Well, well, little mouse... how unfortunate for you, to encounter-" it said in a low, throaty voice. 

"Hi there!" she said, a wide smile upon her face, happy to see anyone within these increasingly lonely lands. 

"Um, yes, hi. As I was saying, how unfortunate for you to encounter I, Glacius the Tempest, most fearsome of the great elemental emperors. Worry not, child, your end shall be swift, and the first of many." 

The dark lord was covered in shimmering fur, closer to blue than white, and bearing a closer similarity to narrow crystals rather than hairs. It's eyes are bright lights of ocean blue, gleaming through a mist of snow and tiny pellets of ice which floated around the form, the sleet growing thicker with each breath, behind which transparent blue fangs were barely visible. 

"Uh huh." Jerin said, calmly. She held a large sack of weapons, assorted tradeables, and, of course, well knit imitations of organs, flesh and other assorted body parts. While she did still have her fancy red and black outfit, even if it didn't looking quite as bright red or fancy anymore, it wasn't ideal for traveling in. Instead she had opted for a sort of plain, brown prospectors garb. "You're new here, right?" she said, still smiling. "Nice to meet you! I'm Jerin! Um, how should I put this... you should probably go home, and quickly." 

The dark lord laughed. "Is that a threat? And what will happen if I refuse? Are you going to hurt me?" 

Jerin shook her head. "Nah, I don't really like hurting people. Never have. Still, this place isn't safe. I see you've got a collar, so that means you probably have a family nearby? You should really get back to them." 

"You are a fool." the creature snarled. "I'll destroy you, and that pitiful city of your will soon follow." 

Jerin sighed and shrugged her shoulders, removing the large metal hammer from her back, just as the dark lord lunged forward to swallow the lone mouse with a single bite. 

He didn't see the attack coming. In an instant, the hammer smashed him between the eyes. The strike didn't hurt at all, at least not until it did, at which point the hurting just wouldn't stop. A tremble traveled through his entire body, from nose to tail, as he froze in place, no pun intended. His eyes welled up with tears, as her lowered his head, eyes squeezed shut, tiny cubes of ice tinkling onto the ground beneath him. He squeezed his paws tight over top his nose in a desperate yet useless effort to pressure the pain away. After what felt like an eternity, as moments of intense pain always do, relief finally came, albeit from an unexpected source. 

"Ohm... ohm... ohm..." Jerin said, pressing her own hand over top the crossed paws, her own eyes shut. 

"What-what are you doing?" It sniffled. 

"I'm healing you. Does that feel better?" 

The silvery blue dark lord was about to scoff, but then realized that, yes, it did indeed feel better. It gave a quick nod in response, still sniffling, head turned to the side, eyes still closed, avoiding the gaze of the small mouse. 

"Good. Like I said, I'd hate to have to hurt you." she said. 

Similar to in her youth, Jerin had a rather liberal definition of what exactly qualified as 'hurting'. Drawing blood, crippling or killing counted as hurting, of course. Virtually anything else, so long as the victim maintained its general body shape after being hit, was fair game.