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Ultimately, the four agreed that they would next go out to purchase Chiboom's new armor next, although Nate had something to add to this. "You mind if I stay behind?"

The three others looked over at him, confused, "Why? He already told you he can't help you right now, kid." said Zericho.

Nate nodded, "Yeah, I know, I just..." he took a deep breath, "need to pull myself together okay? This is kind of a lot to take in."

Zericho seemed confused still, but nodded anyway, "Whatever you say kid, we'll be back in a little while. Just don't let the old man over there perv on you."

Zathoom brushed off the comment, "Please, he doesn't strike me as nearly experienced enough for me to bother with."

After a few seconds, the three had left, leaving Nate and Zathoom alone. The blue imp began to look over scrolls, and waved him off, "If you're going to have some mental breakdown, please do it outside. I have work to do."

Nate sighed and removed his backpack, placing it on the ground. "I want to have a talk with you."

Zathoom looked up from his writings, "What? I already told you I can't do anything at the moment."

Nate nodded, and began to dig through his backpack, "I know, and that means I have... a new problem. A really big one, I was hoping..." he stood back up, holding something in his hand. "Maybe you could help me, I was wondering if you had magic that could copy these."

Zathoom squinted to try and get a better view, "What are they?"

Nate squirmed slightly, "Medicine."

Zathoom sighed, "Magic, at least in our world, cannot create copies of consumable items. Food does not sate hunger, nor do drink thirst or medicine cure."

Nate sighed, "Fine, Plan B. Can you cure my... condition?"

"It depends, of what nature is it?" Zathoom asked.

Nate timidly pointed to his head.

Zathoom massaged his brow, "Child, magic cannot cure ills of the mind, those are cause by spirits!"

Nate shook his head in frustration, "Fine, Plan C." He made his way over to the desk, and placed a bottle, one made of a substance alien to Zathoom, on the desk. It made a slight rattling noise as he did. "These are tablets of Lorazepam." He then produced a second bottle, and placed it next to the first one "And these are capsules of Duloxetine. I need these to treat... my condition. And I was hoping you, or someone here, would be able to help me make them, or equivalents."

Zathoom stared at Nate for a few moments, "...those words mean nothing to me child. And what is this, condition, you speak of? Should I be worried for the prince?"

Nate stood silently in front of the desk before he sighed and began to talk, in a cold, clinical voice, "I suffer from something called catatonic schizophrenia. It emerged when I was about 14, it means, without this medicine," he indicated the Lorazepam, "I go into episodes of catatonic stupor. I basically cease to function or react to the outside world. These are occasionally interrupted by episodes of the exact opposite. I'll have excessive amounts of energy and act bizarrely, sometimes accompanied by hallucinations and delusions. I can be... very dangerous during these periods."

Zathoom leaned back in his chair, looking warily at the boy before him, who now seemed to be wearing the face of a completely different person. Whereas before he was panicky, he now seemed completely sedate. No, sedate was not the right word, defeated. "And this other bottle? The uh..."

"Duloxetine? It treats my major depressive disorder, it's a side symptom, and although I don't need it, I would appreciate it if you would help me create more of it." The boy was still very cold, and almost seemed detached from the situation. "I have about three weeks' worth left of both, but I know that the chances of Zericho accomplishing his goal in that time frame are very small."

Zathoon had many questions, as would be expected, "Does-?"

"Zericho know? No. None of them do, I..." Nate shifted uncomfortably, "don't like to tell people."

Zathoon narrowed his eyes, "You said you can become dangerous? How... dangerous are we talking?"

Nate shrugged, "Like I said, delusions and hallucinations. I... hurt a couple people once, before I started my meds. Not seriously mind you," he smiled sadly, "I'm not exactly the most threatening figure, in case you haven't noticed."

"And why have you come to me, boy?" He folded his arms, "What makes you think I can help you? Many people come to this college looking to solve problems when they should be looking elsewhere."

"That's bullshit." Nate stated, suddenly angry, "I've seen other people use magic to heal wounds, and all mental illnesses stem from physical causes, even if they aren't apparent. Either help me, or tell me someone who can."

Zathoon snorted, "Please boy, everyone knows that mental illnesses are brought upon by spirits sent from the underworld to torment their victims. Where did you learn your craft? Although I hesitate to call you a healer, even one in training, if you can't use magic!"

Nate steamed for a moment, "You wanna go there, motherfucker?" As he bent down and dug into his pack, Zathoon prepared his magic for whatever weapon the boy pulled out, and as such, was surprised when he pulled out... a large book, with the words 'Anatomy and Physiology' emblazoned across the front "You wanna go!?"

Zericho was still in the market district about an hour later, Chiboom and Zinoe in tow, with Chiboom wearing brand new armor. Instead of her old, worn leather cuirass, she now had high quality chainmail. She had been glad to obtain the new equipment: her old set was starting to fall apart on her, and she was afraid what might happen if she got into a serious fight with it. That said, her satisfaction at obtaining the new gear was somewhat subdued. Both she and Zinoe were somewhat worried about Nate asking to be left behind, and although he didn't show it, she could tell of Zericho was slightly worried on some level too.

"Alright, lady, you have your armor, so I expect you to dive in front of any arrows that head my way. Got it?" Zericho drawled casually. They had actually gotten a very good deal on it, considering the quality and protective enchantments that had gone into it, and Chiboom was now reasonably protected against any spell or bolt that an Incubus or Succubus could throw at her. Fortunately, she was also female, and as such the armor designed for her gender was designed to actually cover her body protectively, not decoratively display nudity like typical male armor forged in the Impire.

It seemed that her intuition was correct, because Zericho was acting more moody than usual, and didn't seem happy about having left Nate behind after dashing his hopes and... whatever it was that he'd done to upset Nate in the first place. Fuming to himself, the Imp prince missed the fact that several of the people they passed had glanced at him and begun whispering to their neighbors in a spreading wave. Zinoe noticed, however, and soon deduced the cause of it.

"My prince? A word, please." Zericho glared at him, half expecting him to scold him again, but Zinoe looked serious. "The people worry. This is a time of turmoil that tests our unworthy souls, and it is now that many seek guidance." He gestured to some of the worried faces around them. Zericho looked around, seeing for the first time the fear and concern that the citizen's of the Impire wore so nakedly, and then snorted.

"Fine." He flapped his wings to gain altitude, and then shouted loudly at the masses. "Attention, all citizens of the Impire! I am Crowned Prince Zericho! I order you all to assemble at the center of town for a royal address! Spread the word!" With that, he landed and continued sauntering forward, smirking at Zinoe, who smiled back.

He glanced at Chiboom,"Don't worry about the pricetag on the weapon you choose, lady, just pick the one you fall in love with. Hells help the one who has to haggle with me today..."

Back at the college, things had become a bit... hectic. After pulling out his textbooks and showing them to Zathoom, the elderly imp had called in all of the institution's top scholars. They were all immensely intrigued with Nate and, more importantly, his books. In particular, the head of the school of healing arts, a pale gray imp named Xarcal, was practically on top of the human as the boy nervously read and explained every bit of the book.

"This doesn't tell us how to solve the more difficult mind-breaker spells." Xarcal grumbled, but he was listening very intently as Nate spoke, and a magical quill and roll of parchment was floating next to him and taking down Nate's every word. He was loath to admit it, but if any of this was true, it would explain many mysteries that they had been trying to solve for years. He was more resentful that a strange human pup who was younger than the youngest student had suddenly appeared with all these answers. His apprentice was really going to be sore after he worked his frustrations out tonight.

"Okay, well, first, what does a mind-breaker spell do? That's not clear from the name, you'll..." Nate sighed, tired, not used to being on the receiving end of so much attention or talking so much. "You have to be a little more specific, I mean, God, the workings of the brain specifically could easily fill three of these textbooks! This is more of an introduction than anything, and if I wasn't already interested in that field..." He trailed off, hoping that soon he would be able to end this and steer the conversation back to his concerns.

He was also occasionally having to switch over to another group of imps who were browsing over his chemistry textbook; in particular, their head alchemist was having a field day with that, still stuck on the page with the periodic table.

"Wait, are you positive that there are this many elements? Because before now, we thought there were maybe 15 at best!" Nate grumbled as he trotted over and explained the properties of some of the more simple elements.

All around him, Imps were swarming as they discussed, argued and squealed over the waterfall of revelations that Nate was unleashing upon them. The problem was that when Imps got excited, they got 'excited', and as Nate tried to juggle the tasks of translation, explanation, and calling attention to his actual problem, he would begin to notice that more and more Imps were looking at him with sly expressions. More than once, a hand would graze him, and several times he noticed someone's loincloth tenting up. He tried his best to ignore it, but it was hard enough when it was just Zericho making really crude advances, never mind a dozen people. Thankfully, at least Zathoom seemed to keep the same level of interest in him that he did earlier, which is to say, a purely academic one.

It wasn't that he hated attention, it's just that he could tell that these imps were only interested by what they could get out of him--somewhat the same as Zericho had--and that if Zathoom had bothered to breach the subject of his condition with them, they would all be acting far differently. Honestly, it was the same as back home, on the rare occasion when he got close enough to be someone's friend, he eventually had to broach the topic of his illness, and it always ended the same. It just happened that instead of friendship, Imps only wanted to fuck, an abrupt transition, but one he now understood. Still, because they remained ignorant of his condition, they continued to show gratitude the only way they knew: flirting and bribery. An indigo Imp of scrawny build and long claws flapped up to his face and smiled at him, eyes glowing faintly to make himself seem more appealing.

"Hey, kid... Knot, right? Listen, if you wouldn't mind giving my department a private tutoring session, we could make it worth your while... You want a belt that will let you fly? How about an amulet that lets you see through clothes? We- AH!" Someone had grabbed hold of his tail to yank him out of the way, and a dark green Imp quickly took his place.

"Nevermind him, Knot. The Alchemy Department is where dreams come true! _Any_dream..." He wagged his eyebrows suggestively, and gestured broadly. "I mean it. You want another set of arms? Done. You want a nice set of wings? Easy! Or maybe you dream big, and you'd like to-" He was gesturing downward, so it was fortunate that he never finished that sentence. Zathoom had noticed Nate's peril and flown up to stand above the Alchemy Imp before simply stopping flying entirely, landing on top of him and holding him down. He glared at the other Imps and spoke sternly.

"He. Is. Off. Limits. Honestly, you have students for this kind of thing, you shameless harpies!" He snapped his fingers imperiously at a light blue Imp bedecked in spectacles who seemed to be draped in random medals and bangles. "Zalla. I need your help. He's named his price for this knowledge, and you're going to help me give it to him." The light blue Imp looked briefly excited, then downcast when Zathoom's glare assured him that it was not what he was hoping.

"Alright, Nate, what you were asking for can be done. In theory. But it won't be easy, and we can't be certain of success, not time window we have. Do you still want to try?"

Nate nodded, "Yeah. Who knows, maybe with what I know we can up the chances."

"Maybe. The plan is to use these..." He snatched the bottle of pills from the Imp that was curiously examining it. "...And copy their effects onto a jewel that you will wear. It would hopefully be the same as casting their healing spell on you, but..." He trailed off with a shrug. They had copied the effects of non-magical items before, but this, Zathoom assumed, would be far more delicate. "It helps that they're your personal possession. Do you have any jewel we could use for the focus? Anything metallic and relatively precious will do. Even a silver belt buckle." In the Impire, this wasn't a problem, but looking at the raggedly-looking human, he was aware this was a bit of a tall order.

Nate considered this for a moment, then began to dig through his backpack, "Well, it isn't exactly a precious jewel, but it's a pretty personal possession." He pulled out a keyring, but there was something else attached to it, he pulled it off and handed it to Zathoom. It appeared to be an old bracelet with a small sapphire embedded in it. "It's a gift from an old friend who moved away. Sapphire is my birthstone."

Zathoom eyed the small gem a bit dubitatively. It was barely large enough to act as a focus point for a spell, but it could work, or at least better than if the bracelet had no stone in it at all. "Alright, now you'll have to help Zalla here with the spell. I know you can't cast, but if you can help him get down the exact detailss of what these here," he picked up one of the bottles, "do for you, that should help."

Nate nodded, and began to walk off with Zalla, before turning back to the group of imps still crowding over his textbooks, "Be careful not to damage those, okay? They cost me a lot of money!"

The Imps glanced at one another, and a few wondered if Nate knew just how rich he was going to be if this information turned out to be genuine.

The town was abuzz with excitement and nervous anticipation. Their Impire was under direct threat from demons, and now their prince was in their own town, buying armor and strolling around like nothing was wrong. Rumors flew wildly, about how the prince was going to surrender to the demons, about how the orc lady would escort him to the orc leaders where he would raise an army, about how she would instead lead him to seclusion to wait for an uprising to return him to the throne, about how he was already carrying his successor, and this whole thing was just an elaborate ruse by his father to make the next prince a more worthy heir. Now a hush fell over the crowd as Zericho flew down to the fountain they had gathered around, waiting with bated breath for what he had to say. Zericho landed on the edge of the fountain at the center of the town square, and casually dropped his loincloth to the ground. He made the act seem both easy and sensual at the same time, as he slid his tail free and unleashed his admirable assets to the crowd, who nodded appreciatively. This was, after all, the Impire and it would take much more than some casual nudity to surprise them. Nudity was the traditional uniform of the Impire officials in the old days, and it was the old days that Zericho wanted to remind them of now. He walked around the circle of the fountain, letting everyone see him, and notice how completely calm he was. Even when the very heart of the Impire was under assault, the prince gave no sign of being rattled, and the fear of the crowd faded to curiosity and confusion. When he was certain that he had their attention, Zericho flew to the top of the fountain and spread his arms.

"Who are you? Who are we?" He asked of them all, looking down as though he expected an answer. They murmured uncertainly, and he balled his hands into fists and his tail went straight with indignation.

"Whores! Sluts! Harlots! Vermin! Pests! Weaklings!" He snarled to the open air, and continued before their new shock could fade. "Was that not what they called us? Were we not the despised, the gutter trash, the unclean?" He pointed to the prostitutes in the crowd.

"Did the 'civilized' races not scorn you? Look down on you with contempt, merely because you did not fit some ridiculous, arbitrary standards of what you did and did not do with your bodies? Were you not despised, only for practicing the noblest, oldest profession in the world? Were you not spat upon, forced to live in the outskirts of the town and be visited in the night by those who spoke against you during the day?" The younger prostitutes had never experienced such discrimination, but the older whores nodded grimly, their eyes distant as they relived those indignities. He pointed to the Imps that flew nearby.

"What of you? Lowest of the low! Weakest of the damned! Unnatural and vile down to our putrid souls! They heaped such insults and more upon us! Used as mere toys and expendable resources, we were less than trash to the demons!" Many of the Imps were old enough to remember those dark times, recall brothers, friends, fathers and sons they had lost to the demons' casual abuse, and it made their eyes burn bright with resentment. His own eyes blazed green as he used a spell to magnify his voice and protect himself from growing hoarse.

"And now?" He demanded, throwing up his hands, encouraging the crowd. "Here, in the Impire? What are we? A people!" He screamed to the heavens, his emerald green aura visible as his proved the potent magical might of his bloodline. "Not cringing scavengers! Not desperate outcasts! We, the cursed and despised, have forged our own kingdoms, our own empire! Our Impire!" The crowd began to call out excitedly now.

"Our Impire! Our home! Where we can live and work and rise above the lowly destiny they tried to force upon us! Where the harlot may walk with their head held high, proud that he is in such high demand! Where Imps may fly free, not fearing the net or arrow that strikes them down as though they were animals! Where we may create our own fates, and proclaim our right to exist to the entire world!" The crowd roared along with this proclamation, and then he let his hands fall and his eyes narrow.

"...And now, now when we have made this place a jewel, now when we have built sturdy homes and flat roads and our orchards have born bountiful harvests..." He turned slowly and gestured to where he estimated the castle lay. "...They wish to take it away. To push us back down, to make us ashamed and cringing pests that they can control. When the sweat of our brow built this Impire, they come to offer this final insult, this last indignity! They presume to take it away from us!" Now his furious bellow was echoed by the incensed crowd, who were stomping their feet and screaming insults at the invading demons. Courtesans unfurled spiked fans, and Harlots slapped riding crops into their hands, and Whores twisted their whips in tense hands.

"I ask you then... what should we do? Should we... Give it to them? Run away and hide? Beg them to let us pretty please have this last slice of self-respect? This very last parcel of hope?" The crowd snarled their disapproval and Zericho smiled grimly. "Then perhaps... we should tear them down?" Furious agreement met this question. "Rip them apart?" Another snarl. "Send them screaming back to hell?!" The cheer that met this last question was the loudest yet, and Zericho raised his arms and smiled smugly at the crowd.

"Don't forget." He pointed at the crowd, and it felt to each one of them that he was pointing at them specifically. "Don't forget what they have done to us. What they tried to do. What they are trying to do. Show them the folly of trying to steal our future from us. Show them the might of those they cast aside. Show them..." His body blazed with eldritch light and green clouds formed overhead, crackling with emerald lightning. "The power... of the IMPIRE!" The only thing that approached the deafening boom of the magical thunder was the roar of the crowd below.

Nate sighed, "No, look okay, the Lorezapam enhances the effect of GABAs at the receptor and... you don't understand any of this do you?"

Zalla looked up from his notes, blushing, "Um, well I'm getting the gist of what you're saying." Honestly, he was still disappointed he wasn't going to get to fuck the human, but he supposed all this learning he was doing while helping him would almost make up for it. "I think I should be able to enchant the gem to get it to work on that GABA stuff you're talking about."

Nate stood over the blue imp, trying to read his writing, "Okay but remember, the potency of it is important: too powerful and it'll knock me right out, too little, and, well, it'll just do nothing."

Zathoom then walked in, "Have you made any progress, I'm doing my best to hold them off, but those damn vultures are clamoring for you again. Apparently they reached the part in one of those books about genitals."

Nate rolled his eyes, "Of course, is there any member of your species that isn't so sex obsessed, that they make Hugh Hefner look like a eunuch?"

Zathoom shrugged, "I have no idea who that is boy. But the short answer is no, did the prince not tell you our origins?"

Nate shook his head, it had never crossed his mind to ask about much anything really, he had just wanted to get home as fast as possible. "So... what are they, the origins that is."

Zathoom sighed, "To be honest, we're more of a footnote in this realm's history, than anything. To give you a short version, in the beginning, there were two beings, one ruled over the Immaterial, souls and such, and the other the Material, which is self-explanatory. They had a feud over who was more important, the Lord of the Immaterial claimed that since he created souls, he was more important, the Lord of the Material claimed that without him, the souls would have nothing to experience; it's more complicated than that obviously, but that's the basic gist of it. Anyway, they created armies to fight for dominance,the Lord of the Immaterial the holy forces, the Lord of the Material the demonic forces. Imps, were created to be the grunts of the demonic forces."

Nate grimaced, "Yikes, nice to know where you stand on the totem pole. But, what does that have to do with sex?"

Zathoom snorted, "The subjects of the Material god were made devoted to material, or worldly pleasures obvisouly. What is the one pleasure this world offers above all others, that you wouldn't be able to obtain as a spirit?"

"I've never been one, so I couldn't say, but I'm guessing the answer is supposed to be sex."

Zathoom laughed, "I find it surprising you never asked; considering how well you're taking to the environment at our college, you seem like a naturally curious soul."

Nate squirmed uncomfortably, "To be honest, part of me is still afraid that this is just one huge hallucination I'm having; and that I'm actually in a hospital with an IV drip of sedatives to stop me from running off shouting nonsense at the ceiling." He scratched his head awkwardly, "It's... kind of hard to be curious with that at the back of your mind."

Zalla interrupted any further awkward conversation, "I think I've got it!"

Nate and Zathoom looked over to see Zalla holding up a new bracelet, made from what appeared to be iron, with the old gem set in it. It seemed to... glow, when Nate viewed it from an angle. "So you think it should work now?"

Zalla nodded enthusiastically, "Yep, I mean, I might have to do a little calibration, make sure I get the um, 'dosage' right; but otherwise it should be fine."

Zathoom looked at the pale blue imp suspiciously, "Just so you know, if this doesn't work as you say, I'm giving you a serious demerit."

Zalla gulped as he handed the bracelet to Nate, 'serious' obviously meant it wouldn't be the fun kind of demerit (and what the fun kind was Nate didn't want to know).

Nate looked the bracelet over cautiously, inspecting the dull gray inset with a single spot of deep blue, when he tuned it just right, it gave off a dull glow . After a few seconds of inspecting it, he turned to Zalla, "So I just put it on? That's it?"

Zalla nodded, "Yup, no need to take those pills of your after this!"

Nate grumbled as he put the bracelet on, "We'll see."

Zathoom and Zalla both stared at him with bated breath for a few moments, before Zathoom broke the silence, "Well boy? Do you feel any different?"

Nate shrugged, "No, but then again, if this is supposed to be like my pills, it'd make sense that I wouldn't feel any different. Right?"

Zathoom sighed, "Yes, you have a point. There are two ways I can see us going about this, either we increase the gem's charge while you wear it, and see at which point you start feeling something."

Nate shook his head, "That'd be a bad idea, if you increase it too fast it could kill me, best situation has you increasing it until I pass out, and lowering it from there."

"Well, then the other option it to wait."

Nate sighed, "Yeah, I know. In that case, as soon as my symptoms start to set in, I down some of my pills and figure out what went wrong." He looked down at the bracelet, "I hope this works."

Zericho looked up at his green bodyguard, who seemed fixated on her new weapon, "You're sure that was the one you wanted? Cause if you change your mind, I'll make sure that merchant has a full refund return policy, I don't want you protecting me at anything less that your full ability."

Chiboom flipped the axe over. It was, quite frankly, a work of art. She knew enough about smithing to know how much work had gone into the instrument. Unlike most of the weapons on display at the market, this one held no intricate carvings, no inset gems, nothing that set it apart from a normal axe. Nothing, at least, to the untrained eye; Chiboom could tell right away it was made from very high quality steel, and talking with the merchant selling it, she learned it had all the essential enchantments that she would need. To someone interested in the flashy wares the rest of the market held, said enchantments would sound boring, but they improved the axe's durability and its ability to resist dulling nearly tenfold. In the middle of a battle, they could save her life. "Yes. It's fine."

She still hadn't really stopped inspecting it, Zericho noticed, but he shrugged it off, "Whatever."

The prince wandered over to the shop owner, a chubby faun with curly horns who had been secretly pleased that someone who had such obvious appreciation for fine weaponry was inspecting his wares so lovingly. When he saw the prince approaching, however, he geared himself up for battle.

"Greetings, your highness. I cannot tell you what an honor it is to know that one of my humble weapons will be helping you regain the kingdom. And it is with great respect that I must humbly ask for 7,000 docks."

Zericho pretended he was shocked. "What? What is that? I'm sure I didn't hear you correctly. Are you actually charging us to save your hide from the demons? Do you plan to offer deals as the Incubi try to penetrate their way into the city? Maybe a fire sale when they set this district ablaze? I should just demand it for free just for the audacity of trying to scam money from your saviors, or simply order you to fork it over, but since I am am nearly as benevolent as I am handsome... 2,000 docks. You may kiss my feet in gratitude."

The shopkeeper smiled, for the fight was only just beginning. "Prince among princes, your presence illuminates my shop with your beauty! I shall surely sprinkle perfume to honor your visit. But perhaps you forget that we humble peasants must charge for the labor we provide. To take less than it is worth would steal food from my children's mouth! But because of my love for you and for our glorious Impire, I ask for only 6,500 docks, though it breaks my heart to do so."

Zericho idly inspected one of his rings. "It seems to me that theft is not an occupation we encourage. And charging outrageous prices for some shiney bits of metal is no better than holding me at knifepoint and demanding my coins. But I'm willing to offer you not only a royal pardon, but a few more docks to set you on the righteous path. 3,000 docks, and the honor of touching my tail."

The shopkeeper made a show of wringing his hands in despair, and Zericho appreciated him going the extra mile. "But good sir! Can you not consider the blacksmith, who toiled long and hard upon that fine weapon? The mage who laid the layers of spells beside the smith, bringing that work of art to life? What am I do say to them? Surely as artisans they can gain some consolement from the knowledge that their work was appreciated by such a fine warrior, but how will that pay for future crafts? For them, I beg you, a pittance of 6,000 that I may give the lion's share to them."

Zericho stretched, showing off his almost naked body by doing so, and seemed to give that due consideration. "I am not without compassion. Even in these dark times, when I must save every dock for my journey, but lest it be said I was as heartless as those I fight to win back your Impire, I am willing to go as high as 4,000 docks, and I won't forget who armed my guard for my travels." The shopkeeper opened his mouth to counter, but Zericho went in for the kill. "4,500 docks and you throw in those knives I saw by the backdoor."

"We have a deal!" The shopkeeper agreed jubilantly, grasping Zericho's hand and kissing it gratefully, then dragging him up on the counter and kissing him more, and then it kind of went far beyond touching Zericho's tail until Chiboom probably didn't want to look over in that direction, and Zinoe picked up the knives in question and dropped the docks on the counter (with a tip, of course).

Chiboom sighed as she looked down at the glowing imp, "So, should we go now? Or wait until our prince finishes... bargaining? Because while my professional obligations demand I should stay, everything else is telling me to leave and go check on the kid."

Zinoe smiled, "Well, my sister, as much as I appreciate your concern for the young brother accompanying the prince on his journey, I have known Zathoom long enough to know the nature of his soul, and trust him with the boy."

As Zathoom monitored Nate carefully for signs of instability, he found his mind turning more and more towards what he'd been doing before Zericho had so rudely demanded his attention. Since he was an Imp, his clinical observations began to devolve into undressing Nate with his mind's eye, though he was at least polite enough to be discreet. Just as he was trying to guess Nate's approximate dick size, a tingle in the back of his mind alerted him to a new presence in the academy.

"Ah, it seems like your friends have returned, Nate. They'll be here soon. I know I've asked you quite a few times already, but how are you feeling? Everything still... clear?"

Nate looks up, his eyes distant before they focus on Zathoom, "Huh? Oh, yeah, I feel fine, I'm just... wondering how I'll breech this topic with the others."

Zathoom was not someone people often turned to for assurances, and Imps had far fewer taboos than humans did, so confessing things was not his area of expertise. "Couldn't say for certain, young scholar, but I would suggest just getting it out there. Let it sit too long and it'll fester."

"I know, I know! But..." Nate shook his head, "This is so stupid."

A few minutes later, the three others had made their way up to Zathoom's office. Zericho barged in first with an expression Nate classified as "suspiciously satisfied", and was followed by Zinoe, then Chiboom in new armor and hefting a brand new axe. "Hey guys." He waved.

"What's up kid? The old man here didn't try anything did he?" Zericho eyed the old imp.

Zathoom gave no indication that he'd been fantasizing about Nate, and drew himself up indignantly. "Now you listen here you little brat...!"

Chiboom sighed, "Feeling better, Nate? You-" She quickly noticed something new on the human, "What's that bracelet? These idiots don't have you testing out any of their stuff, do they?"

Nate sighed, and massaged his temples, "Kind of, but it was my suggestion. I've... got a few things to tell you guys. Well, you and Zericho, at least." He looked over at Zinoe with a shy smile, "Sorry, Zinoe, but, could you leave please? You said you're not going to be traveling with us, and I rather not tell someone who doesn't have to know."

If this hurt Zinoe's feelings, he gave no sign. He merely smiled serenely at Nate and rose into the air. "Let not your heart be troubled, little brother. Many things need tending to before you set off on your quest, and it is my honor to see to them." With that he swooped out of the room, and only allowed himself a small frown of concern when he was farther down the hallway.

"Okay, um... I'm kind of crazy, and before you make any jokes Zericho, I mean in the literal sense." He reached onto the desk and timidly picked up one of the bottles, "These are filled with medicine, I take it to... keep the symptoms away. But, I'm going to run out before very long, I've been talking with these guys to try and find a solution to that."

Zericho felt a rising sense of panic as he realized he was completely out of his depth. Nate was talking about something that seemed deathly serious to him. But as far as Zericho could see, it was a simple problem with a simple solution. And yet Nate spoke about it in such severe tones, and considered it a secret too important for Zinoe to know. So this was clearly something that Nate took very seriously, and the prince had no idea why. Zericho wanted to say something, but he realized that he was treading on very thin ice, and the slightest misstep could cost him. He needed to figure out what he was missing here, so he tried to choose his words carefully.

"So... did you have any luck?" He asked, feeling that was a safe enough question.

Nate brushed a hand through his hair, "Well, kind of. This bracelet might work..." It was clear even Nate wasn't sure about the idea.

Zericho still felt lost, so he kept going. "Okay... and... what happens if it doesn't work?" He only had a hazy idea of what 'crazy' meant, and since it involved someone laughing maniacally while doing something ill-advised, he just couldn't picture Nate like that.

The human sighed. This was actually going a little better than expected to be honest, and it was strangely uplifting to see Zericho be serious for once. "Well, I still have three weeks worth of my pills about. So... we can just keep working to find a solution I guess." He smiled weakly, the weight of the situation obviously taking its toll on him.

"Are you gonna stay here and do that?" Zericho couldn't help but feel strangely disappointed with the idea that Nate wouldn't be joining him, even though they had mostly just argued since their journey had begun.

"I...I don't know." Nate said, hesitantly, "I guess if I have too. I'd be kind of a burden otherwise, wouldn't I?"

Chiboom wasn't too sure about how to feel; on one hand, although she liked Nate's presence, this meant he would be further out of harm's way, on the other, a selfish part of her dreaded accompanying Zericho alone. She eyed the bracelet suspiciously. "So how long until you know whether that thing is working?"

Nate held his hand up to the light, "Well, I took my pills last night, they start to wear off after about 24 hours. So we'll know tonight."

Zericho was trying to think of a way to phrase his question that wouldn't make Nate mad, and he wasn't at all certain he could succeed. "So, if it doesn't work... what happens? I mean, if you don't take your medicine?" He kept expecting Nate to spill whatever horrible aspect of this that the prince was missing. Nate had a problem, Nate took medicine to fix the problem. Why did this seem so troubling for the human?

Nate sighs as he tries to think of a simple way to explain it,"Well, it's called catatonic schizophrenia. I... well I switch between being really hyper and verging on nonsensical, to well, catatonia: I basically sit there, staring at a wall." Nate realized that this hardly covered anything about his condition, but it would take hours if he went into the details.

So Nate would switch between just being completely still and acting... crazy. Okay, that made much more sense. Zericho was almost perversely relieved to at least understand why Nate seemed to think this was so serious. He was still not quite sure what one would say to make Nate feel better, however. Comforting sick people had never been part of required interactions for him.

"Does it... hurt?" He hazarded, giving some hint to the depths of his ignorance.

Nate shook his head, "Not... really. I mean, I can hurt myself, yes, when I'm hyper. As well as... others. I get hallucinations, y'see." It seemed that the two didn't appear completely put off by what he was saying, well Chiboom wasn't, but Zericho was still a maybe.

The prince tried to picture that in his mind and just imagined Nate running around in circles until he ran into something. He couldn't decide whether it was sad or comical. "So... if you did go with us, and this Charm did fail, we'd just have to tie you up and carry you?" He blithely ignored the fact that he was obviously volunteering Chiboom for that chore.

"I... guess?" He hadn't really thought about it like that, of course, he was busy picturing... worse scenarios. That was a relatively tame outcome.

Chiboom shook her head, not really able to picture Nate in the state he was describing, "Now hold on, let's see if this thing actually works before we start talking about tying the kid up, okay? Especially with you guys around."

Zericho shrugged, but now his mind had turned to thoughts of Nate in bondage gear, and that was certainly a pleasant alternative to trying to guess what Nate was like when he was less stable. It seemed that Nate had underestimated the eternally horny mindset of the Imps.

Zathoom decided to speak up. "The orc is right, we accomplish nothing by speaking in theoreticals at this point. The best course of action is to observe."

His Royal Brattiness was vaguely aware that he was still expected to do something as Nate's... friend? So he approached him gingerly and patted him briefly on the leg. "Uh... it'll be fine, okay? Even if it doesn't work. We'll figure something out." It was odd, but just trying to offer support like this was making him blush more than bearing his body to the entire town.

Nate smiled at Zericho's awkward attempt to provide comfort, he wondered if it was genuine... he hoped it was, it would be nice to have a friend if he was going to be stuck here. "Thanks, Zericho."