Friendship

'Master, how hard must you try and get rid of me?'

'It's just an instinct, not my fault you present yourself as such a large threat'

'You blew a boulder up!'

'You're sweating the details.'

It had been 2 weeks since Shadow's ultimate reincarnation and acceptance as the king of this world.

Everyone had been extremely welcoming of him and he has made friends left and right, they practically fall from the sky.

He definitely has not been lonely for the first few days, nearly died, and bickered with Lohita, both physically and verbally for the ensuing week and a half.

Seriously, this place was so beautiful and incredibly enchanting, but equally as deadly.

The number of times he almost died of boredom simply from repeating the same cycle day in and day out was horrifically large.

The only day brightener was when he got to spar with Lohita and then release his frustration out on her, via punching, when she least expected it.

He had also improved significantly with energy, revealed to be mana, manipulation, acrobatics with 6 limbs and a tail, explosive movement, dodging, blocking, attack reading, etc., etc.; he could sit here all day, listing everything he worked on for the last 12-13 days, but the boredom was what crept into his mind and haunted his dreams.

His rival, locked in an eternal struggle, desperate to win, was having nothing to do.

Realistically speaking, he's been in many situations many times worse than this, however, the complexity of this new place he was in made him so excited to explore, learn and try new things, that he couldn't fathom just sitting here and watching Lohita stare at him with unquestionable loyalty and perhaps a bit of obsession.

{There is more to life than those beautiful ruby-red eyes}

[What are you even talking about]

{Uh, Earth concept, you wouldn't get it]

[Interesting]

{You're always interested in something. Aariv, we have to go do something}

[Yes, I know, you've been complaining about it for the last 3 days, my answer is the same; I am a voice in your head and cannot take you anywhere, only direct you, if you would like to leave, do so}

{You don't have to be so sassy about it}

[You're infuriating sometimes]

{Thank you}

[It wasn't... never mind]

'Lohita, is there anywhere you could take us that does not contain killer entities ready to rip us to shreds, but, has a nice view and doesn't look the exact same as what we've been looking at for about 338 hours, 22 minutes, and 43 seconds, give or take.'

[There is no way you-]

{Do not underestimate my levels of boredom, you cannot fathom}

'Master I know of a place where could go. It's a warm lake and it's really steamy so it feels extremely good to bathe in it.'

{Oh yes, a hot spring, finally, the gods have answered my prayers}

[I'm not even going to ask]

'Take me to this hot- err, steamy lake at once!'

Shadow couldn't deliberate another second at his cave home. He had gotten so bored one day, he completely renovated the entire cave. He dug out bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and an extremely deep hole for trash, he used mana to grow plants all around the cave walls, added flowers, and even decorated Lohita with some flowers, it was never enough.

'Ok! Let's go at once, to the magical water!'

'To no more boredom!'

[What have I gotten myself into]

{Into the most joyous ride ever, where we travel the world, beat up people we don't like, and never have to worry about taxes and the IRS, life has never been better!}

[What does that even mean]

Both Shadow and Lohita began racing toward the hot spring. Shadow wasn't moving as fast as he would like since he wasn't aware of the location. But just leaving the confines of the cave was enough for him for the moment.

Lohita took a lot of paths that seemingly led to dead-ends only for her to magically find a turn that still led somewhere. It started to make Shadow wonder how isolated this hot spring really was.

He doubted anyone could just stumble upon it with the directional mumbo-jumbo they were moving through, so who made it and how?

'Lohita what kind of lake is this? We took a lot of turns up here.'

Shadow was expecting an answer like, it was something she found when she was a little pup stumbling around, but instead.

'It's my family's ancestral lake, we go here once a year to celebrate the passing of other family members and bless new ones. Although lately there haven't been any new additions so I haven't been in here with my brother in a long time, it's incredibly secluded, so threats aren't a problem, and it's wonderful to bathe in.'

There wasn't much that could startle Shadow, but that was one of the few things. He was being dragged to their ancestral lake? What if the brother finds out and he's wicked strong, his head will roll!

'Uh, are you sure your brother doesn't come here anymore?'

Just to be sure, he had to question her a bit further, this could be a scheme to get him caught red-handed by an overprotective older brother.

'Positive, it dredges up memories, and it just makes him even more upset that I won't go out and find a mate; we'll be fine, trust me, Master'

This couldn't end well for Shadow, there was just no way. He would die less than a month into his reincarnation.

He wondered if he would get a sequel.