Snippet #2486697

Jarrod's eyes slowly opened as he sat up in his bed. He let out a long stretch instantly remembering how uncomfortable he had been last night. As his brain was brought back into the reality of being awake he instantly jumped as he saw Malaficus looking at him through a mirror.

"God......ugh between you and ARI my hearts going to give out one of these days", Jarrod said annoyed.

Jarrod then recalled just how seriously pissed off he was at Malaficus for burying his ship. Jarrod hopped out of bed and pointed a finger at the man.

"YOU!........YOU BURIED MY SHIP!......I mean seriously who does that! .......your lucky I wasn't on a job when I came here Malaficus!.....I'm a smuggler! There could have been people in my ship", Jarrod shouted furiously.

Malaficus simply let Jarrod vent then simply stated that Jarrod would get his ship back after he had freed Malaficus. Jarrod just grunted and woke ARI as he muttered quietly to himself.

"Bah.....stupid stubborn old sandman.......goes and buries my ship.....your lucky I don't just leave you in that prison", Jarrod muttered.

After Jarrod had gathered his gear the three of them took off into the desert. They had been walking for a few hours before Malaficus started having to wait for Jarrod to catch up. Malaficus made a comment about forgetting that mortals were susceptible to heat, dehydration, and fatigue.

"Yeah must be nice to be made of sand eh", Jarrod said with a grunt.

"Actually Jarrod I believe you are correct.....just as I am immune to such things so is he because it is not his real body just an avatar he uses to communicate.......you clearly have a design flaw Jarrod", ARI stated.

"ARI", Jarrod said.

"Yes Jarrod", ARI said.

"Shut up", Jarrod said.

After a long day of walking through the desert Malaficus finally decided they should make camp. Jarrod looked around and saw there was nothing but sand for miles. He then turned to ARI and smiled at her.

"Little help here ARI", Jarrod said.

ARI immediately flew towards the ground and deposited a green gelatinous substance. The substance was extremely flammable, but could burn over the course of twelve hours. Jarrod took out his lighter and after touching the flame to the gel it instantly ignited. Jarrod smiled at Malaficus.

"Magic is good and all, but I'll stick with technology any day", Jarrod said.

Malaficus stared into the fire, before asking Jarrod if he thought Malaficus was a monster. Jarrod raised an eyebrow and Malaficus quickly said that he hadn't read Jarrod's mind and instead just guessed by the way Jarrod looked at him.

"Can't honestly say that I don't.......you don't get to wipe out a whole planet and go without earning such a title", Jarrod said.

Jarrod listened as Malaficus told him that he had been around long before creation itself was and how time had no real meaning to him. Jarrod crossed his arms and stared the old man down.

"Then someone who has been around as long as you should have known better", Jarrod said.

Malaficus went on to explain how torturous it was for a being with no concept of time to be forced to endure time. To an extent Jarrod could understand Malaficus' s point and felt sorry for the man. Malaficus continued saying that he admitted his actions were unjustified, but that being stuck on a rock like this was much harder once one has known heaven. Jarrod un-crossed his arms and motioned for ARI to come to him. As ARI landed on his lap he began checking her systems to make sure everything was working properly. While he worked he looked up at Malaficus.

"Well I'm not much of a religious type Malaficus so heaven seems like a long shot for me......but I said I will help you and I will......so as long as you hold up your end of our agreement as well as dig out my ship......you don't have to explain yourself to me......we have a task so let's do it", Jarrod said offering a smile.

As Malaficus poked the fire he asked Jarrod to tell him about the world's beyond Blackrock as his sight didn't reach beyond Blackrock. Jarrod hadn't actually been to many world's other than his home world, but Jarrod saw no harm in telling him about the two he visited besides Blackrock.

"Well I've been to Cryo.....now that is almost more of a hell hole than this place..... it has a constant winter and is pretty much a frozen wasteland.......but aside from Cryo I was born on Arastel the home planet of the Isirians....my people......Arastel was......it was really something.....it was a beautiful world......A defining achievement of a civilized age in Isiria they called it. .......it was a perfect to place to live.....it had problems like any place, but the problems didn't do much to lessen the appeal of it.", Jarrod said clearly recalling fond memories, before his face hardened.

"Then the Aschen came into the equation..... When we surrendered to them we then had to follow their laws.......The Aschen are notoriously xenophobic.....they certainly wouldn't like a sand spirit like you..... anyway I......disagreed with their whole concept of condemning anything different so I did what I could to help non humans...... Eventually I was both caught and turned in by own family.......so because of that I will likely never see Arastel again", Jarrod said.

"I think I'm done talking tonight", Jarrod said and laid down deep in his thoughts.