He Who Fights With Monsters 8 (He Who Fights with Monsters, #8)

by Shirtaloon

He doubted that anyone could harm Jason here, but it exposed everything that he was, unadulterated and unhidden. The fun and inviting parts. The imperious and threatening. The garden estate was beautiful and welcoming but with dark corners and the promise of terrible things in the face of transgression.

“How are you doing after what we saw out there?” “I don’t…” Clive began before trailing off, uncertain of himself. “Farrah said that you’ve seen worse.” “It’s not a contest,” Jason said. “Death is death, and horror is horror; we’ve all seen the people we couldn’t save. Counting the dead doesn’t make one person’s experience more important than another’s.”

“It’s not a traditional shakshuka,” Jason confessed. “The spices are mostly different here and the eggs don’t come from chickens. I think I’m finally getting my head around the local spices, though.” “Yeah, this is terrible,” Neil mumbled around a mouthful of food. “Give me that pot and I’ll take it away for you.” Rufus conjured a golden blade and casually sat it on the table. “Or I could leave it there,” Neil corrected himself.

Did I mention I'm super-rich?” “How rich?” “This one time, I killed and looted Dawn.” “WHAT?”

“Your eyes, as I'm sure you're aware, are very striking. When designing your clothes, I had the choice between minimising their impact to avoid clashing or to emphasise them for effect. Naturally, I chose emphasis, since why make a coward's choice for a man of courage and prestige.”

Jason, you’re our stealth scout, so you move out ahead. Sophie, you’re our speed scout, so you take the rear and flanks. Neil, you’re our healer, so try not to get stabbed.” “I’ll be fine, thank you,” Neil said as Sophie moved off in a blur and Jason vanished into the shadows. “Belinda, keep an eye on Neil,” Humphrey said. “Make sure he doesn’t get stabbed.” “I’m not going to get stabbed!” “Don’t worry, Neil,” Belinda told him. “Your safety is my third priority. Number two is keeping the snacks safe.” “Very funny,” Neil said. “Also, doesn’t Jason have the snacks?” “Scout is a dangerous position,” Belinda explained. “I’ve got the backup snacks.” “I’m not feeling deeply valued,” Neil said. “Fine,” Belinda complained. “I’ll prioritise you over the backup snacks. What did you even put in that box anyway, Jason?” “Cake sandwiches,” Jason answered through team chat. “As team leader,” Humphrey said, “I'm going to have to overrule you, Belinda. If it's cake sandwiches, you absolutely must prioritise them over stopping Neil from getting stabbed. He has to take some responsibility for himself.”

“You know me,” Jason grunted. “Bad ideas are kind of my thing.”

“It’s powerful,” Humphrey said. “Can this place contain it safely?” “It’s powerful on the outside,” Jason said. “In here, it’s nothing.”

“You are going to get us struck down by the divine hand of vengeance.” “That’s why we need to rank up,” Jason said cheerfully. “So we can slap them back if they get ornery.” Humphrey looked at Jason incredulously. “You can’t rank up enough to fight gods.” “Not with that attitude.

Humphrey looked at his friend, remembering the carefree man he met in a waiting room of the Greenstone Adventure Society. Jason’s smile was still there, but there was a heaviness to it. The smile was genuine, but Humphrey wondered if Jason would ever regain the lightness of the past. There was too much weight on him now for that. “We all take on burdens as we go through life,” Jason said. “It gets heavier for everyone.”

“No offence, Shade, but I’m not sure that a gold-ranker turning to a silver as the voice of experience is the approach for me.” “Are you so sure, milady? Mr Asano has been in a knife fight with the Builder. He has sacrificed his life to save cities on two worlds and fought whole organisations while his allies acted more like enemies. He’s travelled between dimensions and saved his own world more than once. He’s channelled forces that would annihilate diamond-rankers and remade sections of reality in his own image. He has encroached on the domain of gods. You have spent more time fighting monsters than him, yes, but he has fought them by the tens of thousands. Whole cities overrun as he desperately scrambled to save their inhabitants, knowing that he would fail countless people who would die drenched in fear and pain.”

When she asked him why, he gave her a different answer every time. She later realised that he was telling her who he was over and over in different ways, knowing she wouldn't believe any of what he said. In the end, it came down to the fact that he would rather have died fighting to save a stranger than live with condemning one.

Sophie had not treated Jason well after they met. She hadn’t trusted him or even the simple concept that anyone would do a good thing for no more reason than it was kind. She lashed out and he had taken it. From what Farrah told her, he had done the same thing again, but for a whole world. And like her, the world had lashed out.

It’s part of my territory. Outside of these walls, the Storm King rules. Inside them is my domain. Think of it as an embassy.” “Oh, so you’re not claiming to be a god; you’re claiming to be a one-man sovereign nation.”

“I have a simple philosophy for accomplishing my goals,” he said. “You look at where you are, where you want to be, and then decide if you're willing to pay the price of walking between those two points. Almost anything can be accomplished if you have the resolve, but you have to be able to see the path.”

Callum’s shoulders slumped slightly. “You used to have higher ideals, Asano.” “Yep.” “What happened to you?” “I lived up to them.”

“I figured we could point Jason at it and stand back.” “Is that a good idea?” “Probably not. But remember that when the Builder wanted to stop us and Jason wanted to stop the Builder, Jason won. If he's determined to do something, I'm not sure he can be stopped. It's just a question of how much damage he does in the process.

“Please find my son.” Jason pushed the hood back to reveal his face. “I’ll do my best, Lord Amouz. And my best is pretty bloody good.”

“She told you that?” “She and I spent an amount of time together over the last few days. I am a very good listener, although I do not believe that I excel at comforting others.” “That,” Baseph said, “is an accurate assessment.”

“Something inside you is screaming that it can win if you want it enough. But it can't. Believe me. I've been through this and worse. Every person you can’t save will be a scavenger gnawing at your gut and there’s nothing you can do about that. You save the ones you can, regret the ones you can’t and let them drive you to get stronger. Then, the next time, you can save more.”

If Jason's time on Earth had taught him anything, it was that if you let the darkness take hold of you, it wouldn't stop pulling you down.

Jason narrowed his eyes at Clive. “How much did Dawn tell you?” he asked. “Everything,” Clive said. “She knows you, Jason. She knew that sooner or later, we’d be having a conversation like this. She needed someone to remind you that, like it or not, your life is more important than that of a couple of dozen people. If anything, the moral choice would be to use these people as a distraction that lets us escape. Or even just you. You told us what you came back to our world to do, but you left out the part about how important that specifically you are. About what happens to your world if you don’t survive to finish what you came here for.”

At this stage, Mr Asano lives or dies by the will of those of us who stand with him and his stubborn refusal to die, no matter how many times the cosmos sees fit to kill him.”

“Do you think Jason’s going to be alright?” Travis asked. “Of course he is,” Gary said. “He’ll come out, say something smug and have some ridiculous new soul power. That’s what always happens. I tried mourning him once—total waste of time. Turns out he just went off to visit his mum.”

“I don’t strictly hold that gods are more powerful than me,” Soramir clarified. “They simply operate on a different paradigm.”

Everyone pulled themselves up a little straighter in the presence of the diamond-ranker except Farrah and Humphrey. Farrah had spent months travelling with Jason and Dawn, while Humphrey had been standing straight in the first place.

“Let me get the scones while you whip the cream,” Gary said. “I always end up with cream in my fur.” “Bro, what did I tell you about licking the bowl? Use a scraper, not your face.” “What’s wrong with my face?” Gary asked. “People love my face.” “It’s pretty big, though. Huge face, small bowl. It’s not tricky to see where you’re going wrong.”

“Travis, you know how Jason got in those last days on Earth,” Farrah said. “That’s what happens when you obsess over the job. You have to learn to let go of the things you can’t do anything about, and sometimes even the ones you can. Otherwise, it’ll hollow you out until you can’t help anyone. Even yourself.”

“I understand ramifications of what’s at play here. I understand stakes and challenges. At this stage, a rogue counterfeit god tops out at ‘not great’ on my personal threat scale and I’ll say this again: I’m a silver-ranker. Yes, I’ve been dragged into situations where I was the only one there to stand up and do the job, and I’ve buggered it up a lot. But I did it because I was the only guy who could or would. But this time, there are other people who can and will. People who aren’t just some silver-ranker, and I am just some guy this time, Carlos. I’m not the guy, which is a refreshing change. I loved the idea of being the hero right up until I was.”

But that bond is forever. Colin and Gordon accepted that bond the moment it became available.” Jason nodded. “I can sense them. I’m a little concerned that Colin and Gordon jumped in so quickly. I didn’t have the chance to discuss it with them.” “They are young. Headstrong, like you. Loyal at any cost. Also like you.”

“I do not know, Mr Asano. I’ve never had a familiar. And as for why I did not accept the bond—” “No,” Jason said firmly, cutting him off. “I know you might feel awkward when the others accepted the bond and you didn’t, but you never have to explain yourself to me. With everything you’ve done, you’ve earned more gratitude than I’ll ever be able to pay back. Even if you choose to not return, the next time I summon a vessel, that’s okay. You’ll still be my friend and that’s the only expectation I have of you.” Shade stood in silence for a long time before finally speaking. “You do not have to pay me back for any gratitude you feel, Mr Asano. Friends do not count favours.” Jason grinned.

What is it that he wants me to know, and why you don’t want me to know it?” She smiled. “The things that make you useful also make you trouble.” “I think you just titled my memoir.” “Or your epitaph.”

“But I want to use the bottom action.” “Well, you can’t.” “Why not?” “The rules.” “Since when do you care about rules?” “I care about rules when it matters,” Jason said. “This isn’t some king or great astral being nonsense that isn’t important. This is a board game.”

Dawn stood and moved next to Jason’s chair. “Still having lunch with Sophie, Belinda and Farrah?” Jason asked her. “And Taika.” “Taika? I thought it was just going to be the girls.” “He’s very gossipy.” “Are any of the rest of you?” “Belinda said that’s why we need him.”

“You said the other world,” Carlos pointed out. “You didn’t say it was your world.” “Home isn’t where you’re from, Carlos; it’s where you go back to.” “I suppose it is.”