by shukyou
If he saw one fucking bug, he was going to kill himself. One single fucking bug. An ant. Ants were bugs. Weren’t they? Fuck. He was regretting every decision he’d ever made. Everything was moving. The ground was wet. The mud was staining his shoes. Everything was wet. Why was it fucking wet? Why did everything even vaguely connected to the Sylvan Kingdom have to be wet and dirty and slimy and full of goddamn fucking bugs—
The guard wasn’t there one moment and was the next. She appeared as a breeze blew through the branches, shifting all the patterns of shadow and sunlight. Zil, with great dignity, did not shriek with alarm. He hated nature so fucking much. He waited for the guard to give some kind of greeting, or perhaps a warning, but her leaf-green face was impassive. By the Howling fucking Stars, she was going to make him say it. He took a deep breath. “Zilarioth Full-Cloudborn, of the First Fayn of the High Elves of Brightglade, Bloodbound to the Crystal Throne, Heir to the Waning Crescent of–“
“I know who you are,” the guard said, sounding unimpressed.
Well, thank fuck for that; she’d just saved them at least five minutes of formalities. “Fine. You-know-who-I-am requests an audience with your Prince Liliune.” Zil folded his arms across his chest, trying to look imposing in his bespoke suit, which was admittedly difficult to do while barely coming up to the guard’s shoulder and also being on high alert in case a fucking bug decided to land on him. “Unless you want me to read you his résumé first.”
The skeptical look on the guard’s face didn’t go anywhere. What, was she upset because she’d been set to guard the last remaining wooded wilds of the Bay Area? She should be grateful she was meeting him. It was probably enrichment for her. It’d keep her brain from turning back into a tree trunk, not that it seemed to have progressed far in the first place. Good help was hard enough to find on a mortal timeline; on an immortal one, practically impossible.
The guard took in a deep breath. For a moment, Zil was afraid she was going to ask him to wait there, and he was wavering on pitching an absolute fit or just turning around and leaving the way he’d come in, fuck everything. But no, as she exhaled, she stood aside. Behind her was a well-worn path that hadn’t been there before. At least she’d had the sense not to let her foolish stubbornness go on too long. He wished this ancient magical territory had an app. He’d give her two stars.
Zil spared a single haughty nod of acknowledgment as he walked past her and into the Green. He hadn’t let a single wrinkle of worry show on his face this whole time, and he wasn’t about to start now. Unless there was a bug. Then all bets were off.
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Read the rest of this story in the full issue, Shousetsu Bang*Bang Issue 121: The Great Outdoors
Everyone! Stop what you're doing! This is me! This is my story! I wrote it! It is about a little guy who is the fucking worst! Scroll back up! Read that excerpt up there! Don't you hate him? Don't you want to know what he's up to? Sure you do! Click this link! Read the rest of it!














