Free Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 by Brian Wilkerson Page B

zebra stripes is neutral. This is the territory involved in the
First War. Neutral zones are basically de-militarized. Both sides agree to stay
out of them, and if they go in, they face numerous restrictions on their
actions. One of mine is that I can only reveal myself to someone asking for
help.”
    He pointed at Eric.
    “That’s why I followed
Eric for a while; I didn’t want to miss such a rare opportunity. Because he
asked for help in an empty room, I was able to interpret that as a request to
me personally. Likewise, I could tell he was trying to invoke me, so I appeared.
Then while I was at it, I thought I’d help you by putting you in an airship.”
    “Okay, then why
wouldn’t you send me home now?”
    “Because I think you
still need help. I’ll check back later after you’ve gone a few places. Don’t
worry about losing time in your world. I’ll return you to the same moment you
left.”
    “Oh…alright then…” A
smile crept across her lips. “If I won’t lose time, then I guess I can waste it
until –”
    “You’re not telling us
the whole story,” Eric declared.
    Tasio grinned. “Then
what is the whole story?”
    “‘You are no longer in need
of help.’ You told me that before you sent me back. That’s another restriction,
isn’t it? You have to send them back when they don’t need your help anymore.”
    “It’s an ugly hassle,” Tasio
said with theatric annoyance. “I have to do strange things with reality. Time
and space don’t like it, you know?”
    Suddenly, he was on his
back and pinned to the floor of the deck, but this time, it was Eric who was on
top of him. The mercenary mage was torn between resentment and guilt. It was
hard to tell if he was madder at Tasio or himself.
    “Why didn’t you tell
me?”
    “Change is unplanned
and unpredictable. It is also often inexplicable.”
    “You couldn’t tell me. That’s a third restriction.”
    “The ways of the gods
are unknowable to man and thus the gods do not need to explain themselves to
man.”
    “The fourth restriction
is that you can’t tell anyone about the previous two restrictions. You can talk
about the basics if someone asks for it, but no more. They have to figure out
the rest for themselves. Am I right? Yes or no?”
    Tasio’s grin grew so
wide it left his face, grew arms, and then hugged Eric. He groaned at the
silliness, but at the same time, it reminded him of Aio’s antics.
    “In other words…” Emily
said. Her arms were crossed, her stance wide, and her eyes so cold and powerful
that they froze Eric. Being kidnapped and tossed into another world where your
life was imperiled on numerous occasions was scary, but she could handle that.
Learning that your boyfriend was responsible for it was worse, but she was
dealing with it and he hadn’t meant for her to come. Then she came to the same
conclusion Eric did, and realized that her life was deliberately ruined as
collateral to loophole abuse. This was done by a god who exploited her private
dream to advance his own agenda. All of the anger, sorrow, and fear of the last
month boiled over. It resonated in her eyes as the power of Evil Eye.
    “You created the portal
for me so Eric could jump through on his own. You never cared about me or my
dreams. You only cared about giving Eric a one-way ticket. You used me, lied to
me, and condemned my friends and family to a lifetime of wondering what
happened to me. Then you tried to justify it as ‘helping me realize my dream’.”
    She pushed Eric away
and stepped on Tasio’s stomach. She stepped on his stomach several more times
and he grunted in time with each. “And now you’re pitying me by pretending that
this hurts. You are a self-serving, manipulative asshole.”
    Tasio shrugged. “Yes I
am, but look how happy I made cute little Sara.”
    The girl was still
hugging Kallen’s legs. “I wanna be just like you when I grow up!”
    Tasio slipped out from
underneath Emily’s foot and arched over her head.