Realm of Monsters - Chapter 626: Panic

Chapter 626: Panic

  The crowd was deathly silent as they stared at Aurelia. A smile of awe covered the faces of every Gale and Veres servant present. It was Elise who recovered first, she turned to the crowd and raised her arms high, “All hail, Ebon Lady Aurelia Veres!”

  The crowd broke into cheers and chanted Aurelia’s name. She seemed uncomfortable with the attention and seemed caught between trying to appear stoic or glaring at all of them.

  Mort clapped and cheered with the others. “Your mother is incredible,” his voice was drowned out by the crowd, but Stryg’s sharp ears still caught it.

  “She is.” Stryg beamed with pride.

  Mort stared at him for a long moment, then broke into a smile. “Follow me.” He didn’t wait for an answer and left.

  Stryg wanted to witness his mother’s victory for a little longer, but Mort’s mysterious arrival tonight had him too curious not to follow. Stryg weaved through the crowd and spotted Mort at a distance entering the gardens that connected the Veres and Gale manors.

  The cheers of the crowd faded into a faint noise the deeper Stryg ventured into the gardens. He suspected there was some sort of sound-dampening enchantments etched into the walls and floors of the garden. The Veres and Gales wanted to be at peace whenever they came here.

  “That was quite the showing back there, you were right, Aurelia is strong.” Mort stood in front of a water fountain sculpted out of four statues, depicting the Ebon pantheon. As per usual, the gods were depicted with masks, save for Caligo, whose face was shrouded by a cloak.

  “Who are you? If you don’t mind me asking,” Stryg added the latter part hastily. The last thing he wanted was to offend an unknown powerful entity. He had already made that mistake with the dragons, Lunae would beat him if he did it again.

  “Curious, are you?” Mort winked.

  “I mean no offense, it’s just, I’ve never known Lunae to have a lover. It’s a little—”

  “Refreshing?”

  “I was going to say odd.”

  “Hm, well, how long have you known Lunae for?”

  “Um, not long. Maybe two months?”

  “Well, there you have it. Not odd at all that you haven’t met me. Then again, I haven’t been around recently. Been busy.”

  “Busy with what?”

  “Oh, magical things.” He teetered his hand back and forth.

  “Are you some sort of legendary, powerful mage? Like Holo and Melantha?”

  “I have been called as such, once or twice.”

  “Then are you,” Stryg took a step forward, “a titan like them?”

  “Are you?”

  “I, uh, I think so?”

  “You think? Being a titan isn’t a question to be answered with uncertainty. You either are the old blood of Vesir or you’re not. There’s nothing more to it.”

  “Oh, I see.” Stryg glanced at his pale blue palms, and closed and opened his fists.

  “So, which is it? Are you a titan or are you not?”

  Stryg met his eyes. “…I am a titan.”

  “Hm. Good. You must have many questions about what that means for you. I imagine Lunae and your sisters have done an excellent job of informing you all that it entails.”

  “Not really. I mean, Melantha has been training me for a few weeks now. I’ve learned a lot but there’s still so much I don’t know,” he admitted with a hint of frustration.

  “Would you like to?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I could show you. How to control the Astral Light so that you never hurt anyone you care about again.”

  “You can do that? Holo and Melantha told me all they can do right now is teach me how to suppress it.”

  “Oh, you could do so much more. There is no reason to wall off your innate gifts. I could also teach you how to form a deeper connection with that orichalcum spear of yours.”

  “How did you know about Svartna?”

  Mort tilted his head to the side, “I can hear it. Can’t you? Svartna has been asleep for a very long time, but now that it has found you it has awoken in full and does not wish to be left alone. Rather, I think it wishes to kill. Aggressive little thing.”

  “You got all of that from here? I can’t hear anything.”

  “I could show you how. I could show you so much of what this world has to offer for someone like you.”

  “Could you teach me? About my powers?” Stryg asked eagerly.

  “How to control your powers? Yes. But to know the full extent of your abilities, well, that’s something you and I will have to discover together.”

  Stryg furrowed his brow for a second. “You said you were a titan, what kind of titan exactly?”

  “I didn’t say I was a titan, you simply inferred it to be true.”

  “But you are, aren’t you?”

  Mort walked around the fountain, admiring each sculpture. “I am so much more. As you can be. Given time.”

  “Who are you?”

  “The only one who can teach how to truly master your abilities.” Mort glanced at Stryg and grinned. “Relax. You look as if you’re in danger. I would never hurt you. Nor will I force you to do anything you do not want. I am here simply to offer an invitation.” 

  “What kind of invitation?”

  “To come and visit my home. There you will understand everything you wish to know.” As he spoke, Mort walked over to him.

  “Who are you?” Stryg whispered and took a step back.

  Mort stepped closer until he was within hand’s reach. He smiled, his eyes flickering into a shade of lilac. “You know who I am.”

~~~

  Melantha and Holo sat at their table in the grand hall, both of them surrounded by a dozen empty mugs and glasses. The scent of alcohol filled the air. Yet neither of them was backing down. In their hands, they held a glass of wine. Lunae watched them from the head of the table, her arms and legs crossed, a somewhat bemused look on her face. “You two really aren’t going to give up?”

  “And admit that this kid can drink more than me? Not a chance?” Holo barked with laughter.

  “Right back at you. Can’t let old grandma here beat me,” Melantha smirked.

  “Hey, that’s a low blow. I’m not that old,” Holo frowned.

  “Out of the three people here, you’re the only one with a grandchild,” Holo looked pointedly at Unalla lurking at the edge of the table.

  “I just wanna see Grandmother drunk at least once,” Unalla shrugged bashfully.

  Holo clutched her heart as if she had been shot. “Don’t call me that! It makes me sound old.”

  “But you are old, Grandmother,” said Unalla as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  Melantha cackled with laughter and even Lunae had a hint of a smirk.

  “Fuck you, drink,” Holo grumbled and downed her glass.

  Melantha finished her drink between laughs. “You’re gonna lose, old hag.”

  “I’m not old. I’m not even half as old as Lunae,” Holo pointed at the goddess.

  Lunae narrowed her eyes. “I’m not old. I’m glorious.”

  No one at the table decided to argue with that, or perhaps none of them wanted to anger an ancient moon deity this close to a full moon.

  Holo cleared her throat and decided to shift topics. “Where did everyone go anyway?” 

  “While you were both drinking they left to watch Lady Veres duel against some vampiress. I was going to go but, I can’t leave now that it’s gotten this far,” Unalla gestured to all the empty mugs and glasses.

  “You’re not missing much, Aurelia will defeat her opponent without much trouble anyway.” Melantha poured herself and her sister another glass of the delicious wine.

  “More like kill the woman. Sylvans don’t fuck around,” said Holo.

  Lunae grunted in agreement.

  “In that case, it won’t even be a fight. Aurelia will kill her quickly,” said Melantha.

  “Is she really that strong? I overheard some nobles saying her opponent was an expert duelist, ” noted Unalla curiously.

  “Seeing as Aurelia is an Ebon Lord I doubt her opponent will give her much of a fight,” Holo said offhandedly.

  “Wait, Aurelia is an Ebon Lord!?” Unalla’s eyes widened to saucers.

  “Holo.” Melantha glared at her.

  “Oh, shit, were we not supposed to talk about that? It slipped my mind.” Holo winced and glanced at her once more empty glass. “Must be the wine. I feel a little dizzy. This is really strong stuff.”

  “Yeah, I feel it too,” Melantha admitted. “Honestly, I haven’t felt drunk like this since—” She paused and stared at the wine bottle. The label was faded and the lettering was too hard to make out. “Where did you say you got this bottle again?”

  “I didn’t,” Lunae replied.

  Melantha turned to her sharply. “When did he give this to you?”

  Holo sobered up at her sister’s words. “This is from Father’s collection?”

  “Uh, what’s going on?” Unalla asked uncertainly.

  “Lunae, when did my father gift you this wine?” Melantha asked again.

  “He only opens these bottles on special occasions…” Holo’s voice trailed off.

  Melantha paled. “He’s here, isn’t he?”

  Lunae sipped at her wine but said nothing. Her silence was enough.

  “Where is Stryg?” Holo asked.

  Melantha jumped to her feet and sprinted to the door.

~~~

  The Gales formed a wall to stop the throng of nobles from reaching Aurelia. Every single one of them was eager to introduce themselves to the Ebon Lady. Some part of Aurelia was already regretting revealing her powers, but it had to be done. She needed to create a buffer between Stryg and all these snakes. Let the nobility focus on her. If she could protect her son from all the politics she would, until he was wise and strong enough to stand on his own.

  “My lady, are you alright? Maybe we should go inside?” offered Gian.

  “Uncle Gian is right. It’s best if we address all these nobles at a later time, at your own pace and discretion,” advised Elise Veres.

  “I for one think you should address them all at least once. Affirm your position,” said Evelyn Katag. The Gales had let her and Krall past the barrier.

  Along with one other. Lady Isolde Ravelle wore a smile so wide that it was obvious even behind her dark veil. “Might I say you were incredible, my lady. Truly remarkable.”

  Aurelia sighed. “Elise is right. I don’t want to face these sycophants right now. Let’s head inside. Gale, where is my son?”

  Gale didn’t bother turning around to address Aurelia and her scarlet eyes stayed firmly on the crowd. “I’m looking for him, my lady. I lost track of Stryg after the duel. I thought he’d come running over to you, but I don’t see him anywhere in the crowd.”

  Aurelia rubbed her temples. “You should find him quick. That boy has a terrible habit of getting himself into trouble. Ever since he was little he always somehow managed to slip past everyone and wander into the forest.”

  “Into Vulture Woods? By himself? As a child?” Evelyn gasped.

  Aurelia nodded. “Since the first days he could walk. It didn’t matter how many guards I posted around the village. He always got past them. The guards always made stupid excuses, too. They heard a rustle around the corner. The wind got in their eyes. They saw a bird and looked up just as the toddler walked past them. Always one excuse or another. Useless, the lot of them. They didn’t even know he was gone until it was too late.”

  “How did my little cousin survive in the forest all alone?” Elise asked, she tried to feign interest but her eyes betrayed her.

  “Same way, I guess. He was too small for any beast or monster to notice him. The luckiest, stupidest child in all the village,” Aurelia shook her head, but there was a small smile on her lips.

  “He must have been a handful,” Evelyn mused.

  “You have no idea. There was this one time he—” Aurelia spotted Melantha in the distance dash across the courtyard in a blur and into the gardens. Something was wrong. She had never seen Melantha panicked.

  Aurelia turned to Gian, her expression hardened. “Take me to the gardens, now.” 

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