My Second Life Is A Heroic Power Fantasy 207 Return To Reality

"Yes, I do bet. Now begone, little pest!" He roared, hurling his ma.s.sive frame forwards and downwards with blinding speed. His body twisted like a top as he wound up, before throwing the entirety of his speed, force, and weight behind a haymaker aimed at Frumpkin's shiny bald head. Eleanor covered her head and ducked for cover as the blow collided with the little man's head with a deafening thunderclap of sound.

Rawgh'faz drew back to examine his handiwork, and fell into a fit of choking disbelief.

There, standing in the middle of the floor looking very bored was an entirely unscathed Frumpkin, who yawned lazily as he looked up at the towering creature in front of him.

"I gotta say..." Frumpkin said, finishing his yawn. "I kinda expected to actually feel something from that. But apparently you're even weaker than you look." He looked down at a small device on his wrist and added, "you have three seconds left."

Rawgh'faz stood there, seemingly unable to process what had just happened.

"...Aaaand that's zero." Frumpkin said, looking up from his wrist.w.a.tch. "Toodle-loo, you mis-shapen freakshow." And without a single bit of ceremony, he casually stepped forward and flicked Rawgh'faz in the kneecap. The blow struck with such overwhelming force that the shaman rocketed down the vast length of hallway out of sight almost instantaneously. In one moment, the shaman was standing there. Eleanor blinked, and the monster was gone without a trace in a tremendous sonic boom.

Frumpkin dusted off his hands and spit where the shaman had just stood a second before. He walked over, and offered Eleanor his hand.

"You good?" He asked, helping her to her feet.

Eleanor dusted herself off, and looked down at the little man.

"I supposed so. Thank you." She said, inspecting herself to make sure everything was in order. Once she was satisfied, she looked down the hallway where Rawgh'faz had flown past only moments before.

"So what did you do to him? Is he dead?" She asked.

Frumpkin shook his head.

"No no, I just sent him on a little trip around the Hallway. It actually loops. With as hard as I sent him flying, the whole trip should take him..." he paused, glancing down at his wrist.w.a.tch again, "about five minutes, give or take."

"But why help me? Aren't G.o.ds supposed to be impartial or something?" Eleanor asked.

Frumpkin laughed.

"I can be partial to whoever I d.a.m.n well please. I just can't keep being partial to the same person, if you catch my drift. Consider this one a freebie. I think you've been through enough at this point." He said. "Still have no idea how either of you ended up here though. Imma have to look into that. It shouldn't be possible. Either way, you're welcome."

Eleanor looked around.

"What is this place?" She asked.

"I don't have a fancy name for it, so I just call it the hallway, honestly." Frumpkin said. "It's used to keep the Respositories for everyone. But you don't need to worry about that. It doesn't affect you."

He took a few steps and stopped, crossing his arms behind his back.

"He's crossed heaven and earth to get to you, Eleanor. I hope you realize that." He said.

"Who?" Eleanor asked.

"Jack. It's all he's been able to think about since the moment you were taken. And right this very moment, he's in the village center right fighting for his life to save you. " Frumpkin said, walking back to her.

Eleanor's heart leapt into her throat. So he was her for her after all. It seemed almost too good to be true.

"He's here? Really?" She finally managed to get out.

"Yes. He is currently fighting the Shaman's abomination as we speak. And, if I'm honest, he is losing. I'm afraid before the end of all of this, he is going to need your help if he is going to make it out alive." Frumpkin said, a bit of the humor fading from his face.

An image of the horrifying thing Rawgh'faz had summoned flashed in her mind, and the thought of Jack in his strange foreign clothes and pudgy body facing off against something of that size seemed completely impossible to imagine. He would be crushed, no matter how hard he fought.

"But I can't help him. Rawgh'faz has me in thrall in his bedchamber, and until I figure out a way out, I won't regain control of my body to be able to help him." Eleanor said. "And I've been trying to find my way out for a while now."

Frumpkin waved the thought away.

"Ehh, don't you worry about that. You've quite literally stumbled into a place you shouldn't be, and as a result I have sole jurisdiction to decide when, where, and I how I return you back to where you came from. So, I'll leave it up to you- You wanna go back in his head, or back to your captive body outside of his head?" He asked.

"You'd do that for me?" Eleanor asked, unable to stop her heart from pounding in her chest.

"What? Send you back, free of any illusions and able to act in reality under your own volition like nothing ever happened to you? Of course. Is that going to be a problem?" He asked.

Eleanor ran up to the little man, sweeping him up into a giant hug as she spun him around and around.

"Thank you, Frumpkin! Thank you! Thank you!" She said.

"Hey, hey, it's no big deal. ...Now can you put me down?" He said as she squeezed him tighter and tighter.

Eleanor set the little man down, and he proceeded to brush himself off and clear his throat. He looked at his watch again.

"Rawgh'faz has got about three more minutes before he finishes his...o...b..t of the hallway. As soon as he makes it back here, he and I are going to have a little chat about how he knows of this place. Once that's done, I'll be sending him back. So when you make it back into your own body, might I suggest you don't take long in getting yourself free?" He said.

Eleanor nodded, her expression determined.

"Of course."

"Alright then." Frumpkin said, cracking his neck. He wiggled his fingers. "Hold on tight!"

"Wait!" Ellie said, stopping him.

Frumpkin dropped his hand.

"Yes?" He asked.

"If something happens to your body while your mind is apart from it, and your mind tries to return to it, what happens?" She asked.

"You mean, if your body's dead when you try to go back to it? Well then your spirit will just be stuck in whatever place you're currently existing in with no way back." Frumpkin said, a faint smile cracking on his face as he seemed to catch the drift of what she was asking. "Otherwise, if the body's still living, you'll wake up in whatever state the body is in. So if it were tied to a chair in the middle of a burning building when you returned, for example... " He trailed off, and shrugged suggestively.

"Got it." Eleanor said. "Okay, I'm ready now. And thank you again. For everything."

Frumpkin looked a little sheepish.

"Ehh, don't mention it. Now, without further ado...."

The little man raised his hand, and with a flash, she was gone.