It followed Stupid through the portal with a light step, the perfect picture of elegance as he straightened his suit coat.

  He looked at me, and his eyes narrowed. He waved his hand and I gasped as the pain from the curse immediately stopped.

  He smiled slightly and stepped to the side, hands folded behind his back.

  Stupid screeched, tears streaming down her face as she sneezed a cannonball at Marcus, who had extricated himself from the rubble.

  He snarled and grabbed it out of the air with his bare hands, crushing it with little effort.

  “Predictable,” he called, straightening his robe.

  “And so the minions appear,” he turned to wink at me.

  It remained standing, taking a moment to gesture to Stupid.

  She nodded at him, taking off her name-tag and replacing it with another.

  Stupid became Assistant to the Assistant Manager.

  So too, did It replace his name-tag.

  It became Assistant Manager.

  The portal did not close.

  ____

  I watched in awe through my one good eye as Vaarg appeared, drifting from the portal.

  Now, I had felt many things towards Vaarg.

  I had felt anger, frustration, unfairness.

  I had felt sadness, defeat and betrayal.

  But I had never yet felt what I was now feeling.

  Terror.

  Vaarg floated, in all his pudgy and warty grandeur nearly 10 feet in the air as the portal fizzled shut behind him.

  On his chest, he wore his badge of gold.

  Manager.

  And for once, he did not have a mug of goo.

  He leveled a gaze at Marcus, whose smug smile faltered for the first time.

  “You have one of mine,” Vaarg rumbled, the air around him twisting faintly.

  He spoke neither quickly nor slowly.

  He spoke neither loudly nor softly.

  But we all heard him clearly.

  And he had called me ‘mine’.

  The pain from the last few days. The loneliness. The fear. It all crashed into me.

  I just looked at Vaarg and choked a sob.

  My heart exploding in my chest.

  “You… why,” Marcus mumbled. “Why are you here? You don’t care… You don’t care about anyone. WHY?!”

  I could feel him unraveling, his plans breaking apart.

  Had I anything left to give, I would have relished in his terror.

  Instead, I watched.

  And sobbed dry tears.

  Vaarg continued to float. And stare, the air slowly growing heavier.

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  “Have to get, have to run. Have to… have to get back to Master,” Marcus mumbled, backpedaling quickly.

  Vaarg rose a hand and the air compressed, catapulting toward Marcus.

  Marcus responded in an explosion of power, shadows snaking out to protect him.

  Those same shadows crashed towards me, but Vaarg blocked them with a mere glance.

  I wasn’t watching the shadows.

  I was watching Marcus.

  His robe was gone, and now I could see his tunic, emblazoned with a symbol I knew well.

  The symbol from the mage who destroyed the mine.

  The symbol I saw in the nobles home.

  A symbol I loathed.

  I felt my will to live re-ignite as I screamed at the mage, my throat collapsing from the punishment.

  “I might not be able to fight you, but there is no way you can keep me here!” Marcus screamed. The air exploded as he rocketed off into the distance.

  Vaarg watched him go.

  Instinct hammered me. He wouldn’t, he couldn’t get away. If I could move, I would have. I would have dragged myself by my teeth, had I been able.

  “VAARG!” I screamed, blood tearing from my already destroyed throat as Marcus sped toward the horizon.

  I met my manager’s gaze. Beseeching.

  He sighed.

  Then nodded, lifting his gaze back to my fleeing tormentor.

  He slowly lifted a hand —

  Only for a mug of steaming goo to materialize.

  He grabbed it and inhaled in contentment, sipping it and smacking his lips with a pleased grunt.

  I slumped, defeated.

  “I… I hate you…” I sobbed a whisper.

  Then he smirked and winked at me before raising a hand to point at a mountain.

  “Did you really think I would let him get away, Beeg?” He whispered back, his voice echoing in a way I had not heard before.

  And then I understood why Marcus fled without even trying to put up a fight.

  The mountain. The. Entire. Freaking. Mountain — slowly tore itself from the ground, the inhabitants of said mountain fleeing in a mass exodus.

  My jaw dropped as I watched Vaarg, my Store Manager, Vaarg — Collector of Taxes and Tyrant of Wages, hurl a mountain at the fleeing mage.

  I watched in stunned silence. And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to be surprised.

  Because… of course Vaarg would throw a mountain.

  The mage exploded, a small hole of darkness opening on the horizon as he sought to shield himself.

  But the mountain descended.

  Inexorable.

  Unstoppable.

  I heard Marcus wail one final, disbelieving scream before the mountain settled on top of him, casually readjusting the face of the earth.

  The land shook and the winds billowed, but It simply held up a hand and it all passed us by.

  Vaarg turned to look at Stupid, letting go of the mug where it floated to its place beside his shoulder, like some kind of smug parrot.

  Vaarg dusted his hands, as if he had lifted the mountain himself and now needed to wipe free the remaining debris.

  “Stupid, we are going home,” he stated simply.

  “It, make sure the store opens on time,” he completed with a nod.

  It bowed.

  “Yeth Boss!” Stupid saluted, promptly turning and sneezing hard enough she rocketed backwards, landing right next to me.

  Vaarg floated through without looking back, leaving a devastated and rearranged world behind him.

  “Stupid… what happened?” I croaked, the words barely leaving my throat.

  I cringed as the effort shredded what little was left of my throat.

  A choked sob quickly followed.

  Stupid, giver of Friend Fries, looked at me, her eyes once again filled with sadness.

  “It… canz you fix Beeg?” she beseeched.

  It looked me over.

  “Maybe?” He responded.

  He studied me thoughtfully for a moment.

  “But I do think you would make a fine pirate, Beeg,” he snorted, turning and sauntering through the portal.

  My jaw dropped once more.

  “Oh Beeg! You would be a super handsome pirate!” Stupid enthused, sneezing softly and causing me to levitate.

  “Stupid,” I whispered, “How did you find me?”

  “Oh Beeg,” she smiled as we headed towards her portal.

  “Old Man Mageek Store loves it when you cleans, Beeg.”

  Book One: Fin.

  There is Time

  Time measured in movement,

  Time measured in stillness.

  I live in the realm of motion,

  But write in the realm of silence.

  Book two of Gobbo returns November 25th.