Chapter 40: Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes

"Make him stop. This isn't funny, Gaia." I yelled out after my tired body started showing first signs of being at its breaking point.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm having a lot of fun." It seemed like Gaia had no desire to get me out from this situation.

"It's been 30 minutes already. Don't you think it's enough?" I sounded angry, and it wasn't only because of Gaia. I also got irritated at my current body, with its endurance letting me only ask for help.

Surprisingly, I didn't hear any reply from Gaia, so I quickly gazed in her direction, knowing that I don't have a lot of time to spare before unavoidably being hit in my back.

What I saw was a malicious grin telling me Gaia thought of something more to torment me.

With this idea in mind, she put her finger on her chin and spoke in a annoying way. "I don't, but if you really want me to save you from Earthguardian, all you need to do is say 'Please Gaia help me'.

"Is that all it takes? I only need to say please?" My voice didn't sound right, but Gaia didn't take a notice of it and proceed to continue having her fun.

"Exactly. And you should be grateful, I always could have asked you to beg." Her grin widen and with it my joking nature started to vanish.

"Beg? Don't you think you're taking a step too far?"

"That's why I only asked you to say please... But I think I will change my mind. Hearing you beg will be a lot more fun. Go on, Adder. Beg me to help you."

Hearing her words made me stop in my tracks and look her straight in the eyes. "I will never do that, Gaia. I won't beg for your help and I will rather get hurt, than do so." It was like my whole demeanor changed when she asked me to beg her for help.

This time my change didn't go unnoticed by Gaia, as she realized I wasn't joking anymore. I stood my ground, while Gaia opened her mouth to speak her next words, but before she was able to do so, my unavoidable fate hit me.

When the collision came, the branch hit me on my back, stabbing one of its smaller parts in my left shoulder. Despite the pain and blood loss I experienced in this short amount of time, I knew it gone easy on me, as none on my bones were broken.

"Thanks, Earthguardian." While addressing Eathguardian, my words were sour, but they also had a slight amount of gratitude in them. After all, he could have easily killed me if he followed his wish from the start.

"Why did you stop?! You knew it will end like this after you do! Why couldn't you keep running? Or just say please like I asked?" After Earthguardian moved his branch away from me, Gaia took his place, blaming me for everything that happened.

"In some sense you're right. I could have begged or say please when you asked me to do so, but like I said, I would rather get hurt like I did now, than do those things." While replying to Gaia, I placed my hand on my back to see how serious my bleeding was.

(I survived worse.)

"Why not? What's stopping you from doing so? Is it your ego?" Her last question sounded like an insult.

"Ego, pride, whatever you call it could be a correct word in this situation. It indeed affected my choice not to beg you for help."

"Why? Is it more important than your life? Ego? Really?" Gaia clearly thought of my choice as a stupid one. (And maybe she isn't wrong.)

"Not exactly. Ego is a part of me, just like my humor is. It affects my choices like any other emotion does, but without it, I wouldn't be complete. I can be prideful, and I can make stupid choices, because of that, but it doesn't mean I will simply die over it...I just don't want my last moments to be me, begging for survival. It's not how I view my end." My sentence showed Gaia my resolve and let her see some of the principles I live by.

"So you admit that your ego is worth more than your life?" Gaia wanted to make sure she understands what I said.

"Sometimes there are things that are worth more than your life. Ego can and can't be one of them. It all depends on the situation and individual, as everyone's pride is different. Sometimes it just isn't worth it."

Gaia nodded at my words, but I could see she didn't fully agree with them. (Over the years, my opinions changed a lot, and they still are. In that time, it often didn't come as a surprise that some of them were considered weird and unusual. I'm used to it at this point.)

"Satisfied with the answer I gave you?" After explaining why I did what I did, I let sournes be heard in my tone. After all Gaia was the one who send Eathguardian my way, even if she only meant it as a joke.

"Yes, I'm. How about you?" Gaia's answer came out awkward, as she didn't knew how to continue our conversation.

I dismissed her words and looked down on my white shirt, with half of it now tinted bloody red. (Time to deal with it.)

Then I took my shirt off and looked at my injury not covered by it. It was a hole, leaking out blood onto my back.

"Do you need help?" I heard a hopeful tone asking me a polite question.

"Do I need to beg for it too?" I knew my behavior wasn't exactly mature, but I couldn't help it after what happened.

"It was a stupid joke, ok? You don't need to be so salty over it." Gaia tried not to make a big deal out of it.

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

"Well, I don't feel like I won anything." She let her head down, showing the guilt for her actions.

(Why am I so soft hearted for beautiful women?) I sighed loudly and said with a calmer voice. "Don't beat yourself over it, Gaia. You can help me."

Just when those words reached Gaia's ears, I saw her raise her head with a huge smile on her face.

"Thank you, Adder. I knew you will forgive me." Her proud tone make it seem like there was no other possibility.

"You planned that, didn't you? I'm sure you were smiling the whole time your head was down." I couldn't help smiling on my own, as young Gaia truly was one of a kind.

"I won't deny that, nor will I confirm."

"Is that so? Leaving me wondering if you really were sorry for your actions?" My words had no saltines in them, they showed that I returned to our previous, joking selves.

"I guess it looks like it." When Gaia finished saying those words, she moved behind me, suddenly turning all quiet.

"Is everything alright? It's so unlike you not to talk." I looked over my shoulder and saw Gaia intently staring at her hand, which had blood on its finger tips. Her expression was one of fear and disgust.

Knowing that her head was full of thoughts leading to a dark place, made me turn around and grab the hand which caused all of this. Then I brought it down, hiding it from her sight.

"Was that blood? Your blood?" When Gaia came in contact with my blood, realization of what happened kicked in. It was like her perspective drastically changed, making her understand the damage I received from Earthguardian in an instant.

(Was she not aware of what happened? Half of my shirt was bathed in blood, but it seems like she realized the gravity of the situation just now.)

"You seem surprised. Why is that?"

"Are you playing dumb? You're profusely bleeding and you act as if nothing happened. I knew your shirt was covered in blood, but I thought it just quickly soaked through it." Panic overwhelmed Gaia.

"I'm used to it, so I didn't make a big deal out of it. I didn't know it was so bad." I genuinely didn't care about the injury I received. It was one of many I dealt with, while being in the Kingdom of Udela.

"Didn't make a big deal out of it? Are you kidding me?! You could have bleed out while we were joking around moments ago. How do you think I would feel if that happened? I'm responsible for you getting injured in the first place." Gaia's panic transformed into a fit of rage.

"I..."

"Shut up and let me heal you. And when I'm done, be sure to hear a lot more of what I have to say. You won't go home without me teaching you a lesson today."

I didn't know why, but Gaia's reaction as well as her words made me feel warm inside. And with this warmth, I smiled and carefully hold Gaia's hand, while she used nature magic to heal my bleeding wound.