Silence was something that Isaac tried to avoid to an unhealthy degree. His mind wandered, his worries compounded, his fears were imagined into existence, his lack of memories plagued him like getting lost in a maze, full of traps, while blindfolded. Whenever silence was to be had, Isaac would find ways to fill it with something or occupy his mind. While he dealt with the sentence Lenna had given him, he found his mind harder and harder to control. Life was terrifying.

Isaac lived on a razor's edge. That was where his mind was the sharpest, where his adrenaline levels were the highest, where his heart beat the hardest. But it was also more than his mind, or anyone's for that matter, was built to handle. He had been burying his traumas with his day to day life that was also littered with them. In the end, he had a bamboo forest of horrors built upon a mountain of still growing shoots.

He had died, trauma number one, that he could remember. He lost his past, his foundation, his family and all of the real memories of them, and everything he had ever known, that was trauma number two. He fought with his life on the line against creatures that he only mostly understood and then almost died to one that he didn't understand at all, trauma number three. He almost died again, shortly after the first three life or death battles and literally watched someone die and come back from the dead, trauma number four. If the little thief hadn't been drunk and after his gear instead of his life, he wouldn't have ever woken up from his first night in 'civilization', trauma number five. He braved the wilderness of the Innerworld, alone, until he almost died saving someone on an impulse. The feeling of slipping away as he bled out was something that he would never forget, trauma number six. And all of that was just within the first week or so. Mushrooms, snakes, guards, assassins, and countless others nearly snuffed out his life before he had any sort of lifeline. On and on his brushes with death went. Jallen V'Nova almost removed his entire body from existence, Fen L'Vore destroyed his heart multiple times, Tunnel Horrors almost disintegrated him alive, a mushroom flesh ball almost subsumed him, a mushroom assassin almost cut him in two and when it failed it tried to tear him to pieces while he was still reeling, Judgment almost crushed him to death with the weight of everything he had ever done wrong, Shamsha had almost dropped the stars on him. He had almost died to a Poison Bubble trap, disintegration beams, and so many more things that he had honestly lost count. If there was an award for most brushes with death in the shortest amount of time, Isaac felt like he would've won it. But that wasn't all of it.

Lenna, Isaac's one true love, had almost been taken from him time and time again. Dri'El and her own recklessness were the chief reasons for her multiple brushes with demise. Some of those were his fault, some of them were her fault, some of them were her fault for trying to take hits for him, and some of them were entirely outside of their control. Each of her brushes with death hit him ninety five percent as hard as his own. He was spending too much time in his own head to lie to himself about that number.

As hours passed by, as trees came and went, as mile markers were left and new ones were overtaken, Isaac sat with his thoughts. If he had let each event affect him as much as he felt like they should have, he doubted that he would've still been mentally intact. Existential terrors were thought about and then filed away just like everything else that he had gone through. He felt like he was organizing a stack of paperwork. One folder was for existential fears, one was for times someone almost killed him, one was for times a monster or beast almost killed him, one was for times he almost died from something inanimate, one was for times he messed up and almost died because of it, one was for times he messed up and Lenna almost died because of it, one was for times Lenna almost died and he could do nothing about it, on and on they went until he reached the one that held the times that he had actually died.

He had felt helpless. He had felt weak. He had felt like he had been thrown overboard in a hurricane at sea without a life raft. Both times he had subconsciously shoved those feelings aside and focused on the things that he could do, things he could change. With around thirty hours of silence, with only passing nods to travelers going the other direction, Isaac's mind unwound the tangled and knotted thread of his past, at least the parts that he could remember. He thought about all of the times that he was inconsistent, all of the elaborate plans and manipulation that weren't necessary and times that they were and he had skipped them in favor of a more direct approach. Finally, just a little before dawn of the morning when Lenna would finally talk to him again, Isaac took a deep calming breath and let it out slowly. His mind felt… softer, less burdened, relaxed, calm. He felt like he had not lost his edge but had simply relaxed the tension that kept the razor cord of his focus sharp enough to cut iron.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

After all that contemplation, all of the compartmentalizing, Isaac didn't feel angry anymore. He had decided, not out of anger but out of principle and for reputational reasons, to kill the pair that had killed him with their trap. He was weakened, but only for so long, eventually he would be back to full strength. He hadn't truly taken a permanent loss that was worth mentioning. Lenna, however, had. For her loss, he would ensure that they would never reincarnate, that their souls would never even make it to the afterlife, he would obliterate their very beings for the unhealable wound that had been dealt to his wife. It was no longer revenge but simply a collection of dues.

He blinked and looked around, only now realizing how long it had been and how far that they had traveled as the mountain range had grown large across the horizon. They couldn't quite see the city at the base of the mountain range yet but they would be there by the end of the day. "We are almost there." He commented and then looked at Lenna. "Do you want to use the teleportation circle in Altesia to go to the northern border? If you are still certain that the Fatebreaker is where you want to go, it would be upsetting if he died before we got there."

Lenna nodded. She glanced at him and then nodded again. Her temporary vow of silence was almost over but she would not break it a moment early, even if she had long forgiven him.

"We should get a room at an inn in Alten and check out our statuses, it has been a long time and, maybe if we are lucky, we'll see some information about our injury." Isaac offered her. "I also want to see how much we have grown since last time."

Lenna shrugged.

"Also, I want warm food. I feel like I've just been snacking on jerky for a week." He continued talking to both himself and her.

Lenna nodded in agreement. Warm food was always better than snacks, especially for someone that actually cared about her figure and how balanced her diet was.

"Once we are healed, there are people I want to hunt. Chatohsha, Morgen Ephey, and Arnold Drake." He went on. He then gestured next to himself recently and Shamesh arose from his shadow. Before Shamesh could even give the pair his customary greeting, Isaac gave him an order: "Have Phantom and Alexander look into the mage that impersonated the Thronsen girl, I want to be completely sure that Lady Jikan ended her for us. If she did not, I want her added to the list of targets of interest."

Shamesh bowed slightly even while he walked just behind them. "It shall be done." He assured Isaac and immediately started casting long range telepathy magic. Lenny was most likely wearing the ring of Protection from Divination, but his brother, James, most definitely was not.

"There were also bandits that managed to slip from our grasp due to Chatohsha's interference. I want to know if or when someone deals with them. If no one has, by the time we are to return to Safeharbor, I want to ensure that there is nothing left of them." Isaac went on. "No one should be permitted to escape from the Lord of all that is Dark. I don't care if I have to leave a negative of them in the dirt to make sure that everyone knows that they cannot escape me."

"As you say." Shamesh replied with another walking bow.

"Finally, have Maria put in a request with Stan for a black steel sword with an adamantine core. Make it an exact weight and balance match to Lenna's other ones. Once it is finished, have him deliver it to Alexander." Isaac finished.

Lenna finally couldn't keep her questions or comments to herself. "You sure had plenty of time to think." She commented. "You sound like a general preparing for war."

Isaac's glance towards her spoke of exactly how on the nose her comment was. "I am. But war is not something to be rushed. Enemies must be methodically removed so they do not come back to haunt us anymore than they already will."

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