Realm of Monsters - Chapter 629: Mortem Part 3
Chapter 629: Mortem Part 3
“If you still wish for me to release the spellweaves that keep a fragment of my power within the beastkin, then I will do it. The choice is yours,” said Death.
“That’s not a choice, none of this feels like a choice,” Stryg muttered.
“Difficult choices never do. Isn’t that right, Auri?” Death turned around and smiled.
“Ivory.” Aurelia glared at him.
“Hello, darling. I’m glad to see my magic did its work. You look wonderful.”
Aurelia looked taken aback. “That was you?”
“You put up a valiant fight, despite the damage to your soul you clung to life. I simply healed the damage, you did the rest. Few have the strength to claw themselves out of such a coma. I can’t say I’m surprised though, you were always stronger than others.”
“But I wasn’t as wise back then; I trusted you when I should have run.”
Death rolled his eyes playfully, “Stop being so dramatic. You act as if I ever intended to harm you.”
“I’m not the same foolish girl, Ivory.” Aurelia narrowed her eyes. “Stryg, come over here.”
Stryg glanced at both his parents, uncertainty in his gaze.
“You can go if you’d like. I’m not holding you here. You are an adult, Stryg. You are free to make your own choices,” said Death.
Stryg turned to his mother. “Why didn’t you tell me who my father was?”
Aurelia’s steely expression cracked and a hint of love and shame crossed her face. “To protect you.”
“You’re saying my own father is a danger to me?”
“He’s more dangerous than you can comprehend. Now come over here… please,” said Aurelia.
“Since when do we hide information about the dangers around us? Ever since we were children, the Sylvan Mothers and hunters taught us the dangers of the forest so that we can better protect ourselves. So why hide the truth? Why lie to me? Why tell me my father was dead?”
“Because I was afraid you would have gone searching for him,” Aurelia admitted. “You would have been better off searching for a dragon.”
Death scratched his cheek, “I understand your hesitancy, Aurelia, I do, but—”
“You expect me to believe anything you have to say, after everything?” She scoffed.
“And why should I believe you, mother?” asked Stryg. “All you’ve ever done is lie to me and keep secrets.”
“Stryg, if you’ve ever held any love or faith in me, then trust me now. I would die to protect you, I have sacrificed everything for you, and I would gladly do it again. That man,” she pointed an accusing finger at Death, “Is a Calamity. They aren’t like anyone you’ve ever met. They were born from the malice, pain, and anger of a Primordial at her worst. That darkness, that poison, is at the core of their being. They may love, they may even be kind, but in the end, they will always, always be a Calamity.”
“She’s not wrong,” Death said casually. “But that same essence flows through his veins, Auri. He is the son of a Calamity. Would you condemn him as well?”
“He is different from you. Stryg has goodness within him.”
Death glanced at Stryg. “Do you think the people out there would agree? Do you think when all those nobles look upon you they see a ‘good’ person? Or do they see an Ebon Aspirant? A Sylvan savage? A monster? In their eyes, you will always be the darkness that they fear.”
Stryg felt exposed as if his father could see every wound and secret he hid from others.
“Stryg, you cannot trust anything he says,” Aurelia warned.
“I have no reason to lie,” said Death. “Your mother never wanted you to be like me, she’d rather hide the truth of your nature for the rest of your life even if it was hurting you. You felt lost, Stryg. You felt different, alone. You told me as much. But I also know you seek the approval of others, you always have. You pretend none of their opinions matter, yet in truth you so desperately wish to be accepted by them.” Death approached him and grabbed his shoulders, “You will never be accepted by them, because you are not one of them. That will never change.”
Stryg lowered his head. The words cut him deep, yet some part of him already knew the truth. He just never wanted to acknowledge it.
Death lifted Stryg’s chin. “The world will never love you, but they will serve you, and in time they will worship you. That is what it means to be a son of Death. The only thing left is what you choose to do about it. You can run from it, but if you choose to face it, I will show you everything.”
“Get your hands off my son.” Aurelia slammed her foot into the ground and channeled Green. The earth split between Stryg and Death, and pushed them apart like a small tidal wave of dirt.
Death raised his hands in surrender. “Very well. It is his decision, I will not force it upon him.”
“Why don’t you want me to go with him?” Stryg asked. “What is so wrong about finding out who I really am?”
“You won’t find that with him. You can’t trust Ivory. It’s what he does. He uses the truth and twists it to his advantage. He sees the things you desire the most and he gives them to you freely, or so you think. Whether you intend to or not he weasels his way into your ear, and soon enough his desires become yours. You don’t need him, Stryg. You never did. He needs you.”
Death sighed. “How am I supposed to respond to that? That I don’t need Stryg? What sort of father would say such a thing about their child? The truth is that Stryg is the culmination of a thousand years of research and planning. Of course, I need him. Without him, Ananta’s plan will be the only way to save the World Soul.”
“As if you care what happens to the chromatic species. You were born to destroy them,” said Aurelia.
“So am I no more than my purpose? Can I not choose to be more? You were born under divine contract, Auri. Your life belongs to me. Your sole purpose for living was to give birth to our son. Does that mean you have no value as a person any longer? I’d like to think both of us can be more than what we were intended for.”
“Don’t you dare pretend like you care about me,” Aurelia snarled.
Death’s expression was bittersweet. “I do care about you, Auri. That will never change.”
“You killed my mother, you fucking monster,” Aurelia hissed.
Stryg froze. “What did you just say?”
Death shook his head. “No, Nalindra let herself die. I tried to save her, I even created an elixir to cure her disease because you asked me to.”
“Tried to save her? Is that what you call stabbing Ruin through her chest?” Tears burned in Aurelia’s eyes and the sight of it broke something in Stryg.
Before Stryg even registered what he was doing, he charged Death and threw a right hook at his face. It felt as if he had slammed his fist into a wall of orichalcum. His father’s face remained unblemished, he hadn’t even budged. Whereas Stryg heard the distinct sound of his fingers breaking on impact.
Death glanced down at him, patient and calm. “If you give me a chance to explain, I think you’ll feel different about the incident.” He gently grabbed his son’s wrist and looked it over, “And you’ll spare yourself the pain. Your fist isn’t as tough as you think.”
“How about mine!?” Melantha burst from the fountain and socked her father from the side.
Death went flying backwards for a moment, before his feet slammed into the grass and slowed him down, leaving deep grooves on the ground. He smiled with a scoff and rubbed at his jaw, noting the bit of blood on his lip. “Finally getting serious, are we?”
Melantha had discarded her human appearance and was now standing in her true form, a titan looming over 3 meters tall. Her hair was the same silver-white as Stryg’s and her skin was a shade bluer. Light poured out of her lilac eyes, like a mist trailing behind her. “This is for my mother.”
Melantha’s words hit Death like a hammer. He stopped and for the first time, Stryg saw a genuine look of surprise and pain on his face. Holo suddenly Flickered behind Death in her true form and slipped her arms underneath his own, pinning him.
Melantha whispered under her breath and her orichalcum sword flew to her hand as she charged. Chaotic energy surged across the blade and in one quick motion, she drove the blade into Death’s heart, narrowly avoiding Holo behind him.
Death sagged forward before a pair of great wings burst from his back and pushed the women away in a gust of wind. He grabbed the naked blade still lodged in his chest, ignoring the edge as it cut through his palm, and yanked the sword out. The sword jerked from his grasp and flew back into Melantha’s hands.
“Cheeky,” Death smiled. The dark purple blood over his pale chest was sucked back in as the wound closed shut in the blink of an eye.
A black shield flew into Melantha’s other hand before she moved faster than Stryg had ever seen her. The garden was torn apart as Melantha attacked, with Holo Flickering back and forth whenever she saw an opening. Death stayed mostly on the defensive, dodging and blocking where he could. His wings acted like a barrier whenever Melantha’s sword drew too close.
Suddenly, Death slipped past Melantha’s shield and landed a punch on her sternum. She staggered back and retaliated with her own fist, forcing him back.
Death had seemed so overwhelming when Stryg had seen him deal with Melantha and Holo the first time. He was still just as fast and strong, but Melantha’s and Holo’s limits had seemingly disappeared. Their true forms were in a different league, able to keep up with their father’s every move.
Motes of colorful lights began to appear all around their battle. The air grew frigid. Stryg stared at the mesmerizing display. Even from a few paces away, he could feel it. They were pure, concentrated motes of chaos given off from the battle. He reached out and touched one, it tingled.
He saw another single mote slowly fall down like snow and touch a shrubbery. The leaf crumpled apart as if its fibers had been torn in a million directions.
Fear filled Stryg’s chest. “Mom!” He sprinted to Aurelia and did his best to cover her body.
“Stryg, we need to leave!” Aurelia shouted over the fighting.
But there was nowhere to go. With every strike between the gods, the ground shattered and the plants were ripped from existence. The gods moved so fast that the entire gardens were quickly becoming a battlefield.
Death broke away from the fight and made some distance from his daughters. A wide grin was on his face. “It’s been too long since I’ve had a proper battle. Unfortunately, this human form is pushing its limits. How about we even the odds a bit? Ruin.” A black staff shot out from a window of the mansion and landed in his palm. “That’s better. Shall we?”
Holo and Melantha glared at him and responded with their own silver wings spreading across their backs.
“Enough!” Lunae roared. Her voice cut through the battle, and the goblin and four titans turned at the small petite woman walking towards them. She grew taller with every step as frost-mist trailed behind her, quickly covering the entire gardens, obscuring it from sight. “You will not destroy Stryg’s home. Death, you have said what you came for. Now let them be. ”
Her husband looked at her with genuine warmth and relented with a sigh. “Very well. I will leave. Stryg, my invitation stands. When you wish to learn the true extent of your powers and how you fit in this world, come find me. I will be waiting.” A coin spun into existence in his hand and he flicked it over.
Stryg caught the coin on reflex and looked down at it. One side was gold with a frown, the other black with a smile. It was the same as the ebon mask artists had always painted on Stjerne in all his depictions.
“Melantha, Seren, take care of each other and your brother,” said Death.
“As if I’d do anything different,” grumbled Holo.
Melantha only glared at him, her hands tightening around her weapons.
Death smiled softly. “You may hate me, Mel, but you are still my favorite child.” A tear in space appeared behind him and he stepped backwards into it. He glanced at Lunae one last time and winked, “Goodbye, love.”
The tear closed with a crackling sound like thunder. He had disappeared as abruptly as he had arrived. Melantha and Holo slowly turned to Lunae, eyes wide. “Love?”
“Damn you, Death,” Lunae muttered.
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