Chapter 28: Numb

Nathaniel: 

What am I doing? Playing house with two people, who can destroy the world? Prophecies are no laughing matter. I don't want to have to kill Givontair and Erik, but can I trust them?

Givontair has been with his fate for 100,000 years. He knows how to show some self-control. But Erik is young. He has lost so much. What if he snaps? 

When I see them coming back, I quirk an eyebrow at the small ball of white fur in Erik's arms. They reach me, and Givontair clears his voice. 

"We need to give you some ground rules, if you wish for us to be together," a part of me is in pain, that Givontair has picked Erik over me. Aren't we soulmates? What does that mean for our future? "You will say nothing more of contracts. If you want to keep being with me, and to have Erik's adoration, then you will trust us." 

Do I want those things? I barely know the two of them. They have a bond forged between them, seeing as they have both been marked by a prophecy. What am I to them? Do they even want me around? I voice all this, and Givontair's eyes narrow at me. 

"How could you be so dense?" He scolds me. "Do you think that being someone's soulmate is a fickle thing? And Erik looks up to you. He wants to be a necromancer, just like you!" 

A cold shiver runs down my spine. If I allow myself some time to ponder, I can see the undead hordes which will descent on the living. The last thing I want for Erik, is for him to learn necromancy. 

"I won't be teaching him," I say. 

Erik looks at me with sad eyes. Yet, I don't bulge. 

"It is for the best, if he just learns to be a healer," I say. Givontair looks at Erik then, as if sizing him up.

He moves so that he can stand before the boy. Slowly, he kneels so that they are at an eye level. The tiger cub whips its tail at Givontair, which makes him sneeze. That seems to make Erik giggle. 

I look at the boy, who was chosen to exterminate life on this world. Nothing about Erik suggests that he is going to do it. In fact, he looks harmless. 

Wasn't Ajax harmless too, before his prophecy promised him a crown? What of Abraxas the Pride Demon, who was destined to take over the underworld. A war that spilled into the realm of the living? 

"It will really be for the best, if you know just how to wield weapons, and how to heal," Givontair says. I can see from the stubborn line of Erik's jaw, that he wants to argue. "Look, kiddo, being a necromancer is not something one chooses lightly. It takes a lot of self-control, to not turn into a Lich. Something you don't have, at your age." 

"I can find the slavers that left mom to die, and bring them to justice, if only I had a horde of undead," Erik argues. My blood freezes in my veins. The boy wants revenge. It takes very little, to make a prophecy come true. 

"You will travel with us, and we will hunt them down," I don't like the way Givontair is speaking. I clear my throat, and the dragon shifter turns to me. His eyes are narrowed, and there is almost no adoration for me in them. "If you refuse to help, then don't even think I am your soulmate. I have lived for 100,000 years without one. I can live the rest of my life without you!" 

My own eyes narrow. 

"So, we are only soulmates when it is convenient for you?" I snap. I stick the shovel I have been using in the dirt, and get out of the grave. "Perhaps it will be good for you to remember, that I am a human being. With feelings, and pride." 

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"So is Erik," Givontair counters. "And he needs me more, than you need me." 

Those words are like a dagger in my heart. I ball my fists by my side. 

"Do you even hear yourself, or do you blurt out whatever it is you seem to think?" I ask the dragon. What was I doing, trusting that a dragon shifter will leave everything behind, just to be with me?

 Of course, just about everyone is more important than Nathaniel. He is the friendly neighborhood necromancer. Practically wearing a collar, with a leash coming out of it.  

Erik looks between us. He places the tiger cub down, and then comes to me. 

I stare the boy down. He is the reason why my mate wants to leave me. Soulmates are so rare for necromancers. I should have known that mine won't be human.

 Now, that I decided to look pass that, my mate decides to play babysitter to someone who can destroy the world. More than that, Givontair is a ticking time bomb. 

"Don't be mad," Erik says, as he sits in my feet. "We are not monsters, Nate. You, as a necromancer, should know that." 

His words make me think. Yes, necromancers don't have prophecies hanging around them. Yet, we are also not the chosen of Harika. As soon as we raise our first target from the grave, we become cursed. More than once, people have suggested contracts to me. Not once did I accept. In the end, I don't want to die. 

"You can pack as big of a punch against the world, as we. More than that, you can do bigger damage because you will only need to raise everyone from the graveyards of the world, to destroy it," Givontair says, his eyes still narrowed. 

"If you can accept us, we will accept you. Unconditionally, and with great joy," Erik says. I look down at the boy, and then at Givontair. I don't want to lose them. 

"If either of you feel like slipping over the edge, you tell me, ok?" I ask. I can't judge them by different standards than I judge myself. 

Erik looks at me expectantly. 

"And you will help me find the slavers?" I am glad that he doesn't ask for necromantic lessons. 

"They will be brought to a judge," I say. The boy brightens up at that. If he doesn't want their death as strongly as I thought he did, then there might be hope for him yet. 

I glance at Givontair, who is still looking at me with distrust in his blue orbs. I bow my head, and mumble an apology. 

"I am sorry, for thinking you unfit to control yourselves," I tell him. Erik hugs me then, and the tiger cub latches on my boot. Yet, Givontair doesn't move from his spot. Nor does his face soften. 

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