Basil the Bunny removed the knife from Brin’s stomach.

Myra’s shirt repaired itself immediately, and the black cloth barely showed the wetness of his blood.“Go to your room.

Don’t give Hogg any sign that something is wrong,” said Basil.“What about sound?”“Don’t worry about that.

We can talk.”Brin didn’t waste any time.

He didn’t look to the left or right.

He casually went to his room and closed the door behind him.

Basil didn’t follow, but when Brin looked up he saw the bunny already on his bed.“Let me explain how this is going to be.

We’re going to play some games.

If you lose, you get cut.

If you win, you still get cut,” said Basil.“That doesn’t sound very fun,” said Brin.

“Shouldn’t I be safe if I win?”Basil tsked and shook his head sadly.

“How were you raised? Games aren’t about winning or losing.

It’s about having fun! And don’t worry, I’ve been cutting children for a very long time.

I’ll be careful and make sure not to slice anything important.

As long as we’re having fun.

But if you don’t do what I say, then maybe I won’t be so careful.”That was it? They were just going to play a bunch of sadistic little games? What was the point? If Basil made good on his threat and killed Brin, Hogg would hunt Awnadil to the ends of the earth.

Why would she take that risk? The only thing he could think of was spite.

Basil had tortured Bruna’s son for messing with her plans.

Now this was Brin’s punishment.The stuffed yellow rabbit started hopping around Brin’s room.

He snapped the curtains closed and then checked in the drawers and under his bed, searching for something? Checking for more visible eyes, most likely.It gave Brin a few seconds to think.

How was he going to handle this? Back on earth he’d heard that if you were getting kidnapped, the most important rule was to scream and fight.

The best chance of escape was right after you’ve been nabbed, while you were still strong and still generally in public.But that was on earth, with earth rules.

Basil was something like level 60 if he remembered correctly.

There was no doubt in Brin's mind that he could cut him in half before he let out more than a squeak.If this really was a punishment, then there was a good chance he would walk away from this.

He just had to endure it.“What are you looking for?”“Toys,” said Basil, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.

He stood on top of Brin’s dresser and opened the top shelf.

That was where he kept some spending money.

Fifty gold; the rest was in Hogg’s Sofa of Holding.

“Where did you get all this money?”“Hogg gives me an allowance,” said Brin.

He had no reason to let this thing know about Lumina.“That’s bonkers.

This is too much money for a child.

Do you mind if I have it?” asked Basil.“Sure.

Why would I mind? I’m just a–”A sharp prick announced Basil’s knife, piercing his chest and scraping one of his ribs.

“Don’t get sarcastic with me, Aberthol.

It’s not funny and it’s not fun.”Brin had been going for childish innocence, but obviously he’d put a little more bite in the statement than he meant to.

He’d been taking this lightly.

It was hard not to, when your opponent was a little stuffed rabbit.

He grit his teeth and forced himself to look contrite.

“Sorry.”“It’s forgiven!” Basil said, his sewn mouth beaming with a smile.

“See how easy that is? But back to business.

Where are your toys?”“I’m thirteen years old,” said Brin, then quickly followed up with, “But that doesn’t mean I don’t have cool stuff! Here…”Thinking quickly, he reached under his bed and pulled out his collection.

“This black sword is from the first undead I ever killed.

This nail is the first thing I ever made with metal, and this,” he held his old iron knife up triumphantly, “is the first knife I ever made!”Basil eyed it critically, “It’s not very good.”“Like I said, it was my first ever.

This is the first glass knife I ever made,” said Brin.

He held up the glass knife that he’d made by painstakingly sanding it into form.“That’s a little better, but nothing like my knives,” said Basil.“You should see what I can do now,” said Brin.

“Can I see your knife again?”“This old thing?” Basil showed Brin the knife by stabbing it into his forearm.

Brin winced, and grit his teeth, making sure to show nothing on his face.The knife was pretty thin and a foot and a half long, no doubt so that Basil could stab people who were taller than him, which was everyone.Brin felt the beginning of a plan take shape.

He called on [Summon Glass] and the magic responded with an ease he’d never felt before.

The glass sprang into being in nearly exactly the shape he wanted, and it only took a little bit with [Shape Glass] to make it perfect.In under a minute, Brin produced an exact replica of Basil’s knife, in glass.“Careful…” Basil warned.“Of what? Are you afraid I might accidentally cut you?”Basil snorted.

“No.”Brin tossed him the knife.

“For you.”Basil caught it in his other paw.

There were no fingers or anything; things that Basil wanted to grab just sort of adhered to his paw.“I bet it’s way sharper than your other knife.

I don’t like getting cut with dull blades.”“Well who would?” Basil said with a smile.

He stabbed Brin, deeply this time, into the shoulder.

Brin hissed in pain as Basil twisted the knife around a bit.He couldn’t keep going like this.

He was going to break.

Tears entered his eyes, and a scream crawled its way up his throat.

Only a titanic effort of will let him shove it back down.

He couldn’t do this.

He didn’t have a high pain tolerance; that was why [Scarred One] was so tempting in the first place.But the [Scarred One] was still a part of him, wasn’t he? He still remembered what it was like.

He still remembered how he’d acted, who he’d been.Brin threw on the personality like a mask.

He felt his mouth spread wide in a nasty grin.

He wanted to laugh.

And why not? The first chuckle came low and dark, like a cough, but then it erupted into a bout of reckless cackles.The pain was still there, but it was fine now.

It would just make him happier, angrier and crazier until this was over.Only then did he think to check Basil’s original knife with [Inspect].

Masterwork Longdagger.

Enhanced by a master smith for sharpness and durability.