Realm of Monsters - Chapter 581: A God’s Wrath
Chapter 581: A God’s Wrath
Silvana muttered to herself and paced in a circle. Her feet had made a small path in the powdery snow after countless steps. The cold winds of the mountain blew past her, sending a chill through her body. She shivered and pulled her fur cloak closer over herself.
She yearned for the warmth of a crackling fire and a steaming cup of tea. The Celestial Shrine was only a short walk away, the acolytes would have happily accommodated the high priestess’ needs, but Silvana did not dare leave her goddess alone, not at a time like this.
Evenfall lay sprawled on the mountainside below, the fortress’ walls were well fortified, and Vulture Woods acted as a powerful natural barrier. The Ebon Lords would find the fortress hard to breach. Still, as Silvana peeked out from the cliff’s edge, she could see small crowds of refugees trickling into Evenfall. The fortress was erected to protect their people’s most sacred temple, the Celestial Shrine. It was never meant to be a functioning city, at this rate, Evenfall wouldn’t be able to sustain everyone seeking refuge.
The fall of Lunis had displaced the goblin people and cut off all supply lines to their armies still fighting in the hills of Dusk Valley. Silvana had been trying to figure out a way to get supplies to their armies, but now she worried if they had enough for all the refugees.
Silvana, Lunae, and a few others had barely escaped Lunis as the Ebon Lords burned her people’s home to the ground. The Shaman and Mother Elects hadn’t chosen to stay and fight to their last breaths.
If rumors from the refugees were true, then the Warrior Elect had been killed by Ebon Lord Ravellan soon after he opened the city gates.
Good riddance, traitorous bastard, Silvana sneered at the thought.
But the Warrior’s death brought her little comfort. The Elects were all dead and the people now looked to the Silver Mother and their goddess for help.
The goblin’s eyes were drawn back to the hot springs behind her, hidden in an alcove, near the mountain’s top. A plume of steam floated out from the small cave. Lunae had sat in the hot waters for hours, without moving or saying a word.
Silvana’s heart broke at the thought of her goddess. Lunae had been practically comatose since they had fled the city. The Mother Moon couldn’t help them. Silvana felt as if she was floundering in the Ebon Sea, struggling to stay aloft.
The winds suddenly howled as a crack ripped through the air. Silvana stumbled back and fell on her backside. The air warped around the spatial fracture as it expanded, revealing utter darkness from the other side. Silvana narrowed her yellow eyes and tried to peer past the darkness. Giant translucent branches stretched across the dark horizon, each filled with swirling shadows and small streams of color.
A tall figure emerged and stepped out of the darkness and into the snowy cliffside. The spatial fracture screeched like a thunderstorm and abruptly snapped shut, leaving Silvana alone with the dark stranger.
The ethereal shadows receded from the stranger and revealed a familiar face. In one hand he held a staff and with the other, he reached down and offered her a hand. “Are you alright, Silvana?”
Tears welled in the corners of her eyes. “My lord, you’ve returned!” she cried out in relief.
“Why are you crying?” Stjerne gave her a light-hearted smile. He grabbed her shoulders and gently pulled the goblin to her feet.
“I’m just happy,” she cried.
“Heh, is that right?” He dusted the snow off her cloak and gave a cursory glance at his surroundings. “Evenfall? I tracked Lunae’s soul here, but why are you two in this place anyways? I thought you both would be in Lunis at this time of the year.”
“A lot has happened since you left,” Silvana mumbled.
Stjerne raised an eyebrow. “Where is she?”
Silvana pointed a clawed finger to the hot springs behind them.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be alright,” he gave her a wink, then walked into the alcove. The steam gave way and Stjerne found Lunae half-submerged in the hotspring, knees pulled up to her chest, arms curled around her legs. Her silver skin was bare, her long white hair the only thing covering her. “This looks nice. Mind if I join?”
“…Where have you been?” Lunae muttered without looking up.
“Busy.” He placed his orichalcum staff down, then sat at the edge of the springs and dipped his bare feet in the water. “…My mother is weakening. A few days ago the Realm Bridges fell apart. It’s chaos out there.”
“…I know.”
“Little escape’s your sight.” He leaned back on his hands. “Did you look at what’s happening beyond these lands? It’s not just the Ebon Realm, the Null Realms are all in utter turmoil.”
“…And?”
“And?” Stjerne cocked his head to the side. “There has never been anything like this since the Sundering. The rebellion has left the Scarlet Realm in ruins. The collapse of the Realm Bridges only amplified the damage by severalfold.”
“So you just stayed there, putting out fires? Good for you.”
“That’s harsh, did you miss me that much?” he winked.
“…Why are you here now?”
“Do I need a reason to come visit my lovely wife?”
She scoffed but said nothing, her head still bowed.
Stjerne furrowed his brow. “Lunae, look at me.”
After a long moment, she slowly looked up. There were dark bags under her red-rimmed eyes. Stjerne waded into the water, not bothering to remove his clothes. He scooped Lunae into his embrace and sat in the water, pulling her close to his chest. “What happened? Tell me.”
Lunae swallowed the lump in her throat. “Solis… he… He tried to stop all of this from happening,” she whispered, her voice trembling with every word. “But he… He used an ancient artifact… it was dangerous, he could have killed thousands… I needed you. You could have stopped him.”
“What are you saying? Lun—”
She looked at him and her broken expression made his voice trail off. Even now he could sense the sun god’s soul among the living. He was alive, that much Stjerne knew. But Lunae’s eyes told a different story.
“Where is Solis…?” he asked.
“We imprisoned him,” she broke into tears. “I betrayed him. He was my Sigte and I betrayed him.” Her shoulders shook as she sobbed.
Stjerne held her close in his embrace. They stayed like that for a long time, until her cries died down and her voice became raw.
“Where were you?” she whimpered. “I needed you.”
He sighed softly into her hair. “Melantha’s rebellion has spread across the Scarlet Realm. …It’s grown beyond my control. I cannot be in every battle at once.”
She growled at his words. “I have been tolerant of your bastards all these years. I cannot bear you any children, so I have let it be. But this— Melantha is different. You favor her.”
“She is the most powerful of my children.”
“No, that’s not it. You actually loved her mother,” Lunae snarled. “And your love for the daughter has made you hesitate. You could have ended the rebellion before it began. If any of your other bastards had done what she did, you would have ended them. Yet you let Melantha live.”
“And now the Realm is burning, I am aware,” he said, with a rare trace of weariness in his voice. He kissed her forehead, “That doesn’t matter right now, I’m here.”
“Nothing matters anymore,” she muttered.
“Um, pardon the intrusion, my lord and lady?” Silvana called out hesitantly from the edge of the alcove.
Stjerne waited for Lunae to respond, but when she didn’t, he spoke up. “Silvana, what is it?”
“A messenger just arrived. He says that the Ebon Lord Ravellan’s army has left Lunis and is now marching to we know not where,” said Silvana.
“What are you talking about?” Stjerne asked. “Lunis? There was an army at Lunis?”
“My lady didn’t tell you?”
Stjerne glanced at Lunae, her silver eyes were dim, and whatever strength she had once held in her gaze had been smothered. “Silvana, tell me what happened.”
“After the Realm Bridges stopped working the orc warlords that were stranded attacked our villages in the outskirts. When we sent out our army to stop them, Holo’s Shade betrayed us. The Ebon Lords sent an army to attack Lunis while the city was exposed.”
Stjerne’s expression darkened. “Lunae, do me a small favor. Conjure an orb of ice for me.”
The goddess sighed and slowly lifted her hands out of the water. Trickles of water rose up between her hands for a moment then fell back into the pool.
Stjerne narrowed his eyes at the sight. A titan’s power was directly connected to their emotional state. How broken did she feel to be unable to manifest even a sliver of her magic? “Lunae couldn’t defend them, could she?”
Silvana shook her head sadly. “No, my lord.”
“What happened to Lunis?”
“The city is gone.”
“…I see,” Stjerne said quietly. He leaned down and kissed Lunae. “Forgive me, I’ll be back.” He gently slipped from underneath her and stood up. “Silvana, keep my wife company until I return.”
She bowed. “Always, my lord.”
“Ruin,” said Stjerne, and the staff flew into his hand.
“Where will you go, Death?” whispered Lunae.
He paused in his steps. “They dare attack my wife in her home. There is nowhere I will not go to find them.”
