Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) by Brian Wilkerson Page B

condolences on his misfortune or congratulated his
recovery as suited them. Others weren’t surprised at all. “Trickster’s Choice
and all” summed up their feelings. A final group simply didn’t believe her
because Eric looked and acted far too human to have ever been a monster.
    “Maybe you’re right about not being a grendel,” Kallen
said. “They agree with you.”
    “I bet they were all The Trickster.”
    One of the statues jumped off its base and approached
Eric. It was a scorpion-style centaur. “Nonsense,” it said. “Only two or three
of them were me.”
    “Trickster! Get out of my statue!”
    Tasio slithered from within the icy creation like steam
from a kettle. Then he broke off one of the arms and stuck it on the figure’s
head.
    “There. Now it’s unique. Judges like that.”
    The sculptor chased him away with a broom. His chosen
laughed at his expense. With the pest gone, the sculptor returned to her work
and no one gave this event a second thought. It was just The Trickster making a
nuisance of himself, as usual.
    “The people of Ataidar are a tough breed,” Kallen
remarked. “It’s only those that work in the ICDMM that consider you a threat,
and only because it’s their job.”
    “I bet a few of them think otherwise.”
    Once again, Kallen took his hand into her own hand. By
now, Eric was becoming accustomed to the serenity that always followed such
contact. It was hard to think of how he got by in Threa without it. It was like
mana; something he didn’t notice he was missing.
    “A few of them are assholes. I know you’ll prove them
wrong.”
    Kallen grasped his other hand and held them both up and
together. She held his gaze and showed him her chimera eyes.
    “We’ll do it together.”
    Eric tried but couldn’t manage grendel eyes. Then he
thought of the treatment she went through in the past, and Nulso moving around,
and Lunas near his little sister. His eyes slitted.
     “I believe you.”
    Then, hand-in-hand, they continued to enjoy the festival.

Chapter 2 What Is the Dragon?
     
    In a hallway of blank stone and stainless steel, a golem
stood guard. It was ten feet tall and made of industrial concrete. Its left
hand carried a club made of granite. Its right hand carried an iron/bronze
alloy shield. Its eye gems glowed as it detected motion up ahead.
     A creature rounded a corner and bounded down the hallway.
It was eight feet tall and bipedal. Its skin was metallic, but its exact
composition evaded the golem. There was little less it could be sure of. Thus,
its onboard computer identified the creature as a grendel. The golem raised its
club and brandished its shield. The beast roared and charged.
     The floor shook with his footfalls. His roar gave mortal
men chills. The golem itself, possessing only basic sentience, felt the Universal
Dread in its eyes. The grendel cocked its right arm and the golem blocked with
its shield. Quickly shifting its stance, the grendel brought its left foot up
and kicked the golem's side, shattering it to rubble.
    “Very good, Mr. Watley,” an intercom said. “You’re doing a
better job maintaining control this time around.”
    Grendel ignored him. Instead, he focused on the door. Without
the golem, it was unguarded. He forced his fingers into the gaps of the door
and forced them apart. He stepped inside and the door slammed shut behind him.
Bars swung across them. The temperature dropped below freezing, but Grendel
didn’t care. His body could endure intense cold. He ran through the hallway
without a shiver. When he reached the far door, he conjured a fireball in his
hands and forced it against the door. The metal expanded and cracked. Then he
punched it until it collapsed.
    “Excellent,” the intercom said. “You’re providing us with
quality data, both of your abilities and your sapience despite your
appearance.”
    In the next room, ten golems awaited him. They brandished
blunt weapons like the previous golem had in addition to