A Jaded Life

Chapter 1355

Looking down at the Revenant’s severed head, I was slightly startled when I realised that the thing was still moving. In fact, it looked like the head was trying to wiggle its jaw to land on it, maybe to use as locomotion, and its eyes were still firmly locked onto me, making me think that it would love to bite my ankles, or anything it could reach. I couldn’t help but start laughing at the image; it was almost too cartoonish to be true, but here I was, with the severed head trying to bite me.

For a moment, as exhaustion made me stumble, I considered taking the head and using it as an ornament or something. Tying it up by the hair and hanging it somewhere, maybe at a door, would certainly work, and it would likely be quite intimidating. Or it could work as a living doorbell, with visitors putting their finger in the mouth, only to be bitten and scream. Still giggling helplessly, I pushed the slightly weird, overly cartoonish ideas I had when looking at the angry, severed head from my mind and focused on the present. There were things I needed to do, and then I could finally rest and sleep for a day or three.

For a moment, I considered whether to try destroying the head, and hopefully the Revenant. Maybe I could use grinders of Ice to turn the thing to dust, crush it until no part was large enough to sustain the creature’s existence, or I could try to dissolve it with Darkness Magic. Even burning it with Fire or Lightning would work, though I didn’t think I had the reserves for that right now.

However, I couldn’t help but be curious about the thing. Having the head of a creature that was still clinging to its existence, despite its body being completely lost, was rather fascinating. I wanted to study the thing, to find out what made it tick, maybe work out how it had come to be, and, if possible, weaponise the process. So, I needed to secure the thing, make sure it couldn’t come back to haunt me while I rested.

Reaching out, I tried to use a bit of Darkness Magic to drop the angry severed head into one of the cells downstairs, hoping that the head would be secure there. I wanted to study the thing, but only after resting for a while.

Sadly, the Darkness Magic was unable to latch onto the head, making it quite obvious that the thing was too powerful to be transported like this. Transporting the severed limbs, and the torso for that matter, worked perfectly, and I scattered them throughout the prison, each limb in its own cell, and the torso in another. Maybe the head didn’t need the rest of its parts, but if it did, this would slow the thing down quite a bit.

Then, I carefully grabbed the head by the hair, picking it up and minding the snapping teeth, as it went wild, trying to bite me anyway it could. Not that it had a real way to gain leverage, not while hanging in the air by its hair, but it was trying quite hard, to the point that it started to sway and twist while I was carrying it.

As I was walking, I resisted the temptation to recreate the famous scene from Hamlet, mostly because I had no idea what the actual script for that part was; I just had the image of some actor holding a skull and waxing poetically in my head. Given that I was holding and carrying a severed head, still dripping some remnant fluids, onto the smooth stone floor, I was tempted to hold my own monologue. Maybe something about the bitter fruit of resentment or arcane pride or some other dross, I wasn’t sure, though I knew I wouldn’t be terribly coherent.

Blinking, I realised I had been completely lost in thought while walking through the prison, and I had now reached an empty cell. Without thinking too deeply, I dropped the head, hearing the smacking sound of it landing on the hard ground below moments later. The thing was still making noise, so the fall hadn’t destroyed it, meaning it might be advisable to make sure the Revenant, even completely restored, wouldn’t be able to escape easily.

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Which meant conjuring enough Ice to fill the shaft down into the cell, and sealing the access tunnel, just in case. It might not be enough, but it would certainly slow it down.

Finally, I crashed onto my throne and immediately fell asleep, the exhaustion finally getting the better of me.

When I woke, my eyes were completely crusted with crud, my mouth felt as if it was stuffed with cotton, and my head was pounding, making me wonder why some dwarves were trying to mine it for gold. Trying to stand made me groan in displeasure as every part of my body, especially the shoulder I had crudely healed after fighting the Revenant. It was throbbing with pain, sending out pulses of pain with each beat of my heart, reminding me that it was still injured and needed care.

Thankfully, the rest had restored my Astral Power, though I still wasn’t mentally completely there just yet, so I readily conjured myself a mug and filled it with water before draining it. Then I repeated the process a few times, the cool liquid helping to soothe some of my issues, though I suddenly realised I had another need to attend to and headed towards the bathroom.

Eventually, after a long, comfortably chill shower, I felt a lot better. I had even taken the time to improve on the healing I had done to my shoulder while letting the water rain down on me, meaning I was in barely any pain now.

After breakfast, this time a much better prepared and cooked piece of venison, some greens and potatoes, I was back to feeling fairly good. My head was still throbbing a little; I had a feeling that wouldn’t change for a day or two, but I was confident to step through the shadows if needed and visit my towers.

But that would have to wait until I had checked on my test subjects and on the Revenant. After all, I had just slept for about two days, at least according to my time-keepers, and they might need some attention.

First, I recreated the scrying constructs that had dissipated while I slept. That way, I could check on the test subjects without showing myself and see if they were plotting something. Their needs would have to wait, though I couldn’t see any obvious issues; they were just hanging around their apartment, though it looked like Alice and Xander had become closer than expected. Maybe intimately close, I wasn’t about to investigate that too deeply, though I had a feeling Lisa would tell me all about it, in as much detail as I wanted her to.

However, while the scrying constructs manifested in the apartment only showed boring mundanity, those I created down in the cell area showed a few interesting things. One was the destruction the Revenant had wrought while originally escaping. The thing was many things, but careful or subtle was not amongst its attributes. Or maybe it had simply tried to dig through the wall in an effort to get to me. I wasn’t sure, but this would take some effort to repair.

And then there were the really interesting parts. Namely, what I found in the cells I had dropped the limbs and torso of the Revenant in. I had considered a few possibilities, from new, hopefully weaker, copies of the revenant spawning from its severed limbs to those limbs simply, well, dying. What I hadn’t expected was for the limbs and torso to start slowly turning to black, sparkling dust.

Or for the Revenant, well, for its head, to regain those parts at the same rate. The head was still where I left it, but it had regrown parts of its torso, and the arms and legs were slowly regenerating as well. Or maybe they were being shifted from one place to another, I wasn’t sure.

Regardless, I could estimate how long it would take for the Revenant to become mobile once more, so I knew I still had a few days, five or so, until it became a problem once more.

Enough time to make sure it wouldn’t be one, even if I wanted to check on my family first. They might have worried, though my absence wasn’t without precedent. The only difference was that I hadn’t warned them about this one.

Happy that things were going reasonably well, I let myself drop into the shadows, rapidly making my way towards the Nexus Tower. There, I had most of my clothes, so I could get out of my partially torn and bloody garment, and I could check on Luna.

Hopefully, she didn’t run into issues similar to mine.