Realm of Monsters - Chapter 699: Confrontation Part 1

Chapter 699: Confrontation Part 1

  Corvus Morrigan poured over an array of books in his candle-lit study. Lady Bellum had dismissed him an hour ago to deal with her own matters, the principal of which seemed to be her daughter.

  The marvel and profound implications that gods could even have children were not lost on Corvus, but he was never one to bother his betters with such questions. He’d find the answers on his own as he always had.

  Knowledge was power. Corvus had learned that at a young age, when everyone around him was obsessed with the strength of steel and magic. Certainly, there was power in such things, but true power came from wisdom. The understanding to know when to act and when not to.

  Anger had boiled in his chest when the upstart godling had insulted him so openly like none had dared in decades. But Corvus mustered his emotions. Acting upon the provocations of the child of a goddess was ludicrous. It would solve nothing.

  No, sometimes insults simply had to be let go. Corvus had thought such events were long past him, but he supposed not. It did not matter. He had swallowed his pride in his youth and he could do it again just the same. 

  Emotions did not rule a wise leader.

  He repeated the mantra in his mind once more, before returning back to the books at hand. Each depicted different historical accounts of the Great City of Lunis. His forebears had thrown all the castle’s books of Lunis into a vault and forgotten about them. When Corvus had taken power, he had restored them to their rightful place in the library. Knowledge was power, no matter where it came from.

  Corvus was not so foolish as to believe all the words that the priests spoke about regarding the goblins. Orcs of Murkton claimed goblins were weak and stupid and therefore they deserved to be conquered and slaughtered. But if that were true, then how had they built this city of wonders? 

  No, the goblins were knowledgeable. Too trusting perhaps, but they were not weak. If they had been, the Ebon Lords would have never asked the warlords Morrigan and Katag for help in defeating Lunis.

  The fact that no one in 300 years had been able to sit upon either of the twin thrones was proof enough of Lunisian’s superior magical knowledge. Until today. What had happened today in the throne room was nothing short of a miracle. Stryg Veres had sat upon the silver twin throne.

  How had the Ebon Aspirant done it?

  Corvus had no idea. Except for a single clue. A word Corvus had heard in his youth during his studies in the library, but had long since forgotten until he heard it again from Stryg and Bellum’s lips.

  Sigte.

  A Sigte bond. What exactly that entailed, Corvus did not know, but he was determined to find out. He glanced out the window at the setting sun.

  The evening was young.

~~~

  “So, what do you think?” Tauri turned her head and grinned at her beloved.

  Stryg lay next to her on their bed, limbs splayed out, eyes staring up at the ceiling. “It’s too soft.”

  “Aw, come on, you say that about every bed.”

  It was true, well, almost. His cot back in the Bloodfang village was fine. It was made of simple leathers and stuffed with dry leaves. Nothing nearly as luxurious as the bed he was lying in right now, but if he had a choice, he’d choose to be on that bed back in the woods in a heartbeat.

  “Not everything needs to be soft.” Stryg pinched the velvety comforter underneath him and patted Tauri’s pillow.

  “Too bad, we’re staying. The seneschal gave us one of the best guest chambers in the castle. It even has a room with a personal bathing pool. I’m not about to give it all up for some dingy tavern room.” She crossed her arms and turned her back to him. 

  “Well, some soft things are nice,” Stryg pulled her into his embrace and ran his hand across her shoulder and down to her hips. When his hand reached lower, she slapped his fingers.

  “No.” Tauri sat up and skipped out of bed with the grace of a warrior. “It’s been two days since we left the Dragon’s Hoard. I need a bath.” 

  “But you’ll just have to take another afterwards.” He sat up in bed and crouched, comfortable leaning on his tiptoes.

  Tauri slipped out of her clothes, leaned on the doorway, and cocked her hip in a seductive pose. “You could always join me.”

  “Maybe I will,” he grinned.

  She smirked and sauntered into the baths.

  Stryg leaped off the bed and was about to follow when he noticed the book of memories peeking out of his satchel, sitting on the bedside table. Tauri and Gale had been reluctant to let him use the book ever since his last reading on the boat. If there was a chance to read through his ancestor’s memories, it was now.

  “Goddammit,” Stryg groaned, imagining Tauri’s scarlet backside. He flipped the satchel open and grabbed the book. He plopped down in bed and channeled mana into its pages. It didn’t take long before the world went dark.

~~~

  The familiar shimmering orb of light hovered above Stryg, a lighthouse in the darkness. The shadows around him began to swirl and form what he knew was a memory. It felt odd being in this place again. 

  These were the sacred memories of Stryga that she had passed down in secret, but she was gone now. Stryg knew it to be true. He had witnessed her last memory of the book and now he felt as if he was trespassing in this place.

  The swirls around him began to take color and soon he found himself standing on a marble balcony, overlooking the city of Evenfall. The sky was dark and the streets were lined with lanterns and torches. Goblins filled the streets and even from up here, he could hear the faint sounds of their laughter and mirth.

  A festival of some sort, Stryg guessed. He glanced around to take in his surroundings and realized he was standing on the balcony of the Silver Keep. Like in the city below, a party seemed to be in full swing in some sort of grand hall.

  How his grandmother, Nalindra, arrived here of all places, Stryg did not know. But when he turned, he realized it was not Nalindra leaning over the balcony, arms crossed, gaze troubled. It was Aurelia. She looked different, younger, but he recognized her just the same.

  “Mom?” Stryg whispered, but his voice did not reach her. This was a memory, nothing more.

  Aurelia swished a chalice of wine in her hand and stared out into nothingness. “What am I even doing here?” she quietly hissed.

  With a deep sigh, she placed the chalice on the balcony, and turned to leave. “I’m sorry, Vi.”

  Vi? Stryg thought. Virella? The Silver Mother? Or was she even the Silver Mother yet?

  “If you’re not going to finish that, do you mind if I do?” a lighthearted voice called out from above.

  Aurelia jumped, startled at the voice, and looked up.

  A young man, dressed in loose pale clothing, sat atop one of the castle’s spires that loomed over the balcony. 

  Aurelia stared at the stranger, confused, “How did you—?”

  Without a word, he jumped off the spire and fell down. Just as he was about to crash horribly into the balcony, he twisted his body midair and landed softly on the railing. Like some sort of acrobat, he walked atop the narrow railing, and stooped down and picked up Aurelia’s chalice.

  He looked different, but Stryg recognized his lilac eyes. A cold feeling of realization shivered through Stryg’s body. This was it. The moment they had first met.

  “You’re the intruder…” Aurelia muttered warily.

  “Visitor,” Death corrected.

  Stryg watched in stunned silence as his mother and father spoke. Aurelia was guarded and dismissive. Death was relaxed and open. The memory was soon over and Stryg found himself desperately wanting more.

  The familiar orb of light reappeared above him and the scene washed away into another. This time, Aurelia was sitting at a table with a young Virella, the two best friends were looking at some sort of magical schematics?

  Death soon appeared and Stryg watched, transfixed as the scene played out before him. Time seemed to fade away as Stryg witnessed memory after memory of his mother and father spending time together over the span of a year. At first, it was small snippets, a few minutes. Then it was hours and then finally days.

  They seemed— happy? 

  The thought tugged at something in his heart and Stryg felt a lump form in his throat. This was not the Death that had laid ruin to Stryga’s army. This was not the Death that had terrified Nalindra in her youth. This was a charming young man who seemed to care for nothing save for Aurelia’s happiness.

  The memories faded away once more, but this time Stryg wasn’t by his mother’s side, rather his grandmother’s. Jahn was reading a letter from Aurelia to Nalindra as she lay in bed. Stryg hardly recognized her. Where once Nalindra was hale, an exemplary paragon of might, now she was thin, her bright teal skin a sickly pallid blue. Her body was wasting away from a disease Aurelia had mentioned in her memories with Death.

  Something suddenly caught Nalindra’s attention about her daughter’s letter and she sat up. 

  “Mom? Are you alright?” Jahn asked.

  “Lilac eyes…” Nalindra rolled off the bed and fell to the floor on all fours. “My sword, hand me my sword!” She grabbed the bed for leverage and struggled to her feet.

  Jahn rushed over in a panic and helped steady her. “Mom, what are you doing?! You can barely walk, you need to rest—”

  “My sword, Jahn! NOW!” she snapped.

  “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

  “Gather the greatest hunters in the tribe and tell them we head out to Evenfall at once.”

  “But why are we—?”

  Nalindra spun around and grabbed Jahn’s shoulders tightly. “Look at me! We cannot waste a single moment. Your sister is in mortal danger. I’ll explain everything on the way. For now, fetch me my sword and spear.”

  Jahn swallowed and nodded.

~~~

  “What’s on your mind?” Ivory asked Aurelia

  The two sat together on their favorite spot, a cliffside near Evenfall, overlooking the snowy mountains. The sun was settling in between a pair of mountain peaks, dyeing the sky a warm orange.

  Ivory sat with his spread legs hanging over the cliff. Aurelia sat between his legs, her back resting on his chest, his arms wrapped around her waist, comfortable in the knowledge he’d never let her fall.

  “I was thinking that after we visit my village, we could see those mountains made of sand,” Aurelia answered.

  “Oh, you mean dunes? But those are in the Aurous Realm.”

  “I know.”

  “You mean…?”

  Aurelia shrugged in his embrace. “It’s finally done. You synthesized an elixir to heal my mom. She’s going to be okay. All these years, I’ve been trying to help cure her and now we can.

  “After we give her the elixir, I thought we could take a break from all of this.” She gestured to the scenery. “I thought about the stories of your travels and how nice it would be to see something beyond Vulture Woods and the Rupture Mountains.”

  Ivory settled his chin on Aurelia’s silver head, wisps of hair tickling his nose. “And I would love to take you and show you how vast this world truly is.”

  “Then it’s a date?”

  “It’s a date.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “Good.” She snuggled closer.

  “Aurelia! Get away from him!” Nalindra shouted.

  Aurelia scrambled to her feet, startled. “Mom? What are you doing here?”

  Nalindra, Jahn, and a small group of hunters from her village stood a dozen paces from the cliff edge, knees deep in the snow. Nalindra was breathing heavily and she leaned on her spear for support.

  “Mom, you shouldn’t be here. Jahn, why did you let her climb up all this way? You know she’s not well! And what are you all even doing here!?” Aurelia demanded.

  “Auri, please, listen to Mom,” Jahn whispered.

  Aurelia frowned, her brother seemed— scared?

  “This must be your family,” Ivory slowly stood to his feet and dusted off the snow from his pants. He wrapped his arm around Aurelia’s shoulders and smiled, “Good evening.”

  “Get your hands off my daughter.”