I was not fine

Grass.

Grass.

Grass!

Large frigging grass. And lots of it!

When I said I wanted to know how to properly use magic- I meant using it for practice. Not while running away from a fucking snake!

HiSS!!

"What the fuck are you two doing!" I screamed. Only a groan came out.

The two? They were just standing around in the distance, along with Vivia and the skeleton, Luna.

Me? Running for my life of course.

Most monsters and beasts ran away from me after just one look at my face. A sort of primal fear. The fear of death. However-

For some god-awful reason, this fucking snake was after me. It slithered my way fast and the thing was bigger than five Burmese pythons combined! And boy did it want to chew on some bones!

"You better use some spells, or use that dagger if you want to survive. It's catching up you know," Escalor yelled.

"Yeah, I know-" The words got stuck-

Slosh- my feet got stuck-

Thud!

I fell head first.

Fuck.

Covered in mud and grass, I hurriedly turned, ripping out the dagger they'd given me. "Dark!" But was too late. The snake had already reached me and was about to crawl into me. "Thunder!"

Meager streaks of electricity coursed through the snake. It shook its head violently for a second but then hissed forward. Pissed.

'Alright calm the fuck down.' Never in the history of calming the fuck down, had saying calm down had actually worked. Till now that was… because my breath rapidly cooled, everything slowed down in almost a split second and I could analyze the situation a lot better.

The snake was just over me and it could bite me any moment now. I'd cast darkness, so it probably had poor vision. But snakes also relied on heat, so it'd get me anyway. 'Use the knife?'  

Tsk~! I carved the dagger into its eyes, forcing it to go down deeper, and maybe even pierce its damn brain!

"HISS!" it slithered back but the other eye was fine and I was missing a dagger. Whoop! It jumped in air- straight for my head.

One feet back, both hands covering my head, I braced for impact. An impact that did not come.

Because the snake fell. Or rather its head did, and blood smeared all over my face, washing away the mud, or something like that. But that wasn't my concern.

I was staring, staring at the woman who stood before me. A shadowy figure, no, that wasn't quite it. I was so out of breath, and tired, I just stopped seeing for a good minute.

'I'm breathing?' Or rather going through the motions.

"Are you alright?" Vivia asked, extending her hand to me, bending slightly.

I took her hand, lofting myself up. "Th-thanks. I'm fine."

"I honestly didn't think you'd fall over, I suppose we should never underestimate the wil- OW-" Escalor groaned.

Siarre had elbowed him. "We're terribly sorry my lord. But real combat is the most effective way to gain battle training…" Siarre said. "Congratulations on your first proper spark."

They were normal; speaking as though this was nothing but normal.

Meanwhile I stared at them… at their faces. Particularly at Vivia's. She looked kind of distressed.

But wasn't my death necessarily good for her? She'd be free and- wait, would she be free?

"What happens when a master dies?" I asked.

"The slave dies with them," Siarre said.

Oh…

***

So, imagine, you were going about your days, having a cup of tea, staring at the sunset and grinning cause you'd worked all day and could finally rest. But before you take a sip of your tea, you fall flat, and die.

All because some guy somewhere died and you weren't there to stop him from dying.

Fun world. And that kind of fun world was our world in the past, in the Middle Ages in India: if the husband died, the wife would be burned alive with him. And although our world lost that practice, this world had something worse. Basically, if the master died for whatever reason, the slave would too… and they wouldn't even be given the time to say goodbye. They'd just die.

So, about the clause that dropped their collars and made them free and all that crap? Who the fuck knew! This clearly felt like a joke!

I could understand why Vivia wasn't against me being her master rather than some random guy who'd go about dying easily.

"So, when you can manipulate this feeling to your will, your spells would flow more naturally," Siarre said, flicking her fingers. A small spark of electricity. "I'm not really gifted in thunder, so I can only produce sparks but you should be able to do much more than that. And who knows you might even pick up some new skill." They carried on as though nothing happened. Shocking but-

Escalor chopped the snake in pieces and started a fire.

Luna and the goblin skeleton kept watch while Vivia had left to scout the area.

They really carried on as though the whole thing just minutes ago didn't happen…. 'This is the norm, Sean.'

"Uh-huh…" I mumbled.

I didn't feel my breath anymore and I didn't feel the least bit tired either. But I did experience something absolutely terrifying. Something I thought I wouldn't experience again… death. I didn't know why I felt that way, but I knew if that snake reached me, I wasn't going to make it….

'I could have died…' Without living, without doing anything. I could have just died.

And Vivia would have died along with me. My summons too probably. Escalor and Siarre would have lost their case on the undead research thing and…

Everything would have ended.

So much shit was riding on me being alive. Sigh. And yet… why- why was it so easy for me to die?

"My lord?" Siarre leaned closer. "You alright?"

"I'm fine…"

I was not fine.