Realm of Monsters - Chapter 700: Confrontation Part 2

Chapter 700: Confrontation Part 2

  “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.”

  “Mom.” Aurelia’s eyes darted around. 

  “Auri, step away from him,” Nalindra insisted, while keeping her gaze on Ivory, Jahn, and the hunters followed her lead. “He isn’t what you think he is.”

  “Oh?” Ivory mused.

  “What is that supposed to mean? Do you know him? What are you even doing here, Mom?” Aurelia asked.

  “I’ll explain everything, just come over here,” Nalindra spoke in a steady voice.

  Aurelia glanced at her lover, her hand clutching his shirt. “Ivory? What is she talking about?”

  “I’m not quite certain, but I’m sure we can clear up this misunderstanding,” he said in the same nonchalant voice he always used.

  “Silence!” Nalindra snapped. “Do not dare poison my daughter’s mind with your lies. I know what you are, Ivory. It doesn’t matter what shape you take, I’ll never forget those eyes.”

  “Ivory, what’s she talking about? Ivo—?” Aurelia glanced at him, but his smile was gone, replaced with a cold, calculating expression. “Ivory…?”

  He dropped his arm and stepped past Aurelia. “It’s been a while, Nalindra. I’m glad that you remember me. You were so young back then.”

  “I’m not that little girl anymore.” Nalindra hefted her spear and pointed it at him.

  “No, you’re not,” Ivory said.

  “I’m not afraid of you,” Nalindra said.

  He smiled, but it was not his usual charming smile filled with mirth. It was the knowing smile of a being whose eyes reflected eons. “Good. Your namesake did not fear me when we met, and now, it seems, neither do you.”

  “Ivory, you’re scaring me. What is going on?” Aurelia pleaded.

  He spared Aurelia a glance, then shifted his attention back to Nalindra.  “Your daughter and I have a gift for you. Auri has been working very hard, for a very long time, all for this.” He reached into his fur cloak and held up a vial. A golden liquid sloshed inside, refracting the last rays of sunlight. “A cure for your disease. I finished it only recently.” He extended his hand and offered her the vial. “You’re welcome.”

  “I want nothing from you.” Nalindra slapped the vial away with the butt end of her spear.

  “No!” Aurelia rushed after the vial and fell to her knees, scrambling in the snow in search of the elixir. “Mom, he isn’t lying! This medicine will save you.”

  “I know,” Nalindra replied.

  “Then why—?”

  “Your grandmother once made a bargain with this ‘Ivory’ to save the lives of Holo’s Shade and in doing so, she doomed our family to be plagued by this monster. I will not sacrifice anymore lives for the sake of my own.”

  Tears formed in the corners of Aurelia’s eyes. “Mom, please…”

  “I’m sorry, child,” Nalindra replied, her voice steadfast.

  “I see, you really do not intend to accept my gift. How unfortunate,” Ivory nodded to himself. “This, however, does not invalidate your mother’s pact, Nalindra Veres.”

  “What pact!?” Aurelia yelled. “I don’t understand any of this! What is going on!? Please, tell me!”

  Ivory gave her a reassuring smile filled with his usual charm. “Everything is going to be fine, Auri.”

  “Then tell me the truth,” Aurelia whispered.

  “I have not forgotten the bargain,” Nalindra announced aloud. “The life of a Veres descendant would be forfeit to you. If it must be, then let it be my life.”

  Ivory clicked his tongue and shook his head. “If you remember me, then you know why you are wrong. The bargain stipulates a descendant of Stryga, yes, but of my choosing. I have found my chosen and it is not you.”

  “My daughter and I did not make this contract. My mother is dead,” Nalindra said.

  “And yet, the pact remains,” Ivory said.

  Nalindra gripped her spear. “You cannot have her.”

  “As I told your mother the day you and I met, ‘No amount of words or swords would stop me from claiming your daughter if she were the one.’ And your daughter, Nalindra, is the one. Aurelia is mine.”

  Aurelia felt her heart drop as a chill ran through her body. “Ivory, this is all a lie, right? A nonsensical story like the ones you always make? Tell me you’re lying, that this is just some complex joke you and my mother came up with. Ivory, please!”

  He glanced at her, his eyes cold. “I told you, my name is Mortem.”

  Aurelia paled and began to tremble. “No…”

  “Jahn, grab your sister,” Nalindra whispered.

  Jahn hurried to comply, but Mortem stepped in the way. “Auri isn’t leaving with you.”

  Nalindra leaped at Mortem and stabbed her spear down on his back. He turned on his heel and snatched the spearhead in his hand. The sharp edge dug into his skin but did not penetrate it.

  The other hunters moved in unison, each one moving like an arrow. Suddenly, they had surrounded Mortem and struck him from all sides, but they did not stab him. Rather, their spears brushed past his limbs, and tightened around him, locking him into place.

  “Jahn, take your sister and go!” Nalindra shouted.

  “Auri, we need to run!” Jahn tried to pull Aurelia to her feet, but she just sat in the snow, stunned and confused. Jahn grabbed her by the waist and threw her over his shoulders. 

  “No, let me go! Mom!” Aurelia yelled.

  Jahn took one last glance at his mother and fellow hunters before running from the cliff edge.

  Mortem glanced at the direction they ran and a wall of stone erupted in front of them, blocking off any exit from the cliff top. Jahn started to climb, but the stone was unnaturally cold, chilling his hands even through his gloves. He cursed under his breath, but forced himself to hold on and climb, one slow step at a time.

  Despite being stuck in the spear hold, Mortem did not try to escape. He simply watched Jahn climb ever so slowly. “I don’t understand. Why do you all struggle against that which is inevitable?”

  “Because unlike you, we have people we’re willing to live for, to die for,” Nalindra glared at him.

  “Your daughter is happy with me, something she hasn’t been in many years. Why would you try to take that away from her?” Mortem asked.

  “You manipulated her, that isn’t happiness. It’s a lie. She doesn’t know the real you, only the facade you showed to charm her.”

  “Ignorance is bliss, Nalindra. If Aurelia is bound to be mine, why would I not try and make her happy? Charm her? Win her heart? Or would you rather this all be some obligatory affair? You’d have your daughter be miserable?”

  Nalindra shook her head. “You just don’t get it. My daughter could never be happy with you. Because you are not a person. You are just a thing from an age long forgotten. A remnant of something that should have disappeared long ago.”

  Mortem narrowed his eyes. “Disappeared? The dragons once tried to eradicate my species and erase us from history. They tried to kill this planet and its Soul, but the Soul endured. And from her, I was created. Perhaps you are right, I am not a person. I am eternal. I am the end that all people must find. And I have grown impatient.”

  Chaotic elemental energy swept through the air as Mortem released his contained aura. Nalindra and the hunters dropped their spears and fell to their knees, wheezing for air. Aurelia shouted as Jahn seized up and the siblings tumbled down the wall and crashed into the snow.

  The hunters’ bodies began to spasm uncontrollably. Their voices came out in hoarse rasps and they coughed up mouthfuls of blood, staining the snow red. Nalindra’s vision swam, chaos intoxication filling her body with pain and nausea. It was worse than when she had experienced it as a child, far worse. 

  “I will be taking Aurelia,” Mortem turned and walked away.

  “N-No…” Nalindra wheezed. In the midst of the vertigo, she spotted her children in the snow, several meters away, unmoving.

  Memories of Aurelia and Jahn playing through the grove near their village as children flashed through Nalindra’s mind. Laughing. Smiling.

  Nalindra gritted her teeth and a low roar erupted from the back of her throat. Needles of agony pricked at her limbs as she slowly forced herself to stand. Her lungs burned with every breath and her vision swam from side to side. Yet her heart was steadfast as life force surged through her every vein.

  Mortem seemed mildly surprised. “How?”

  Nalindra dug her foot in the snow and underneath her spear, and flipped it into her hand. In the blink of an eye, she swung her spear in a wide arc, before following up with three quick thrusts.

  Mortem evaded every strike. “A mortal’s body is incapable of enduring the chaos permeating the air. The more you struggle, the quicker the chaos will poison you, especially in your condition.”

  She charged at him, her spear glowing with life force.

  He batted the spear aside with the back of his hand. “Your mother was the exception. You are not. Your body cannot keep this up.”

  Without losing her momentum, Nalindra spun on her heel and drew her sword, and slashed down on his neck.

  The sword struck his throat, but it did not cut. Mortem watched her, every single breath she took laboured. Sweat covered her skin and her eyes were bloodshot. But her gaze remained focused, unyielding. 

  “Why? Why fight me? You cannot win. So why hasten your death?”

  “You still don’t get it,” she said through panted breaths. “You have no idea. The lengths a parent would go for their child go beyond death itself.” She gripped the hilt of her sword tightly and pushed the blade against his neck.

  “I have no intention of harming your daughter, but she is mine and there is nothing you can do to stop that. Try as you mortals might, you cannot go against death.”

  “I…” Nalindra staggered and collapsed, her eyes growing dim.

  Mortem sighed, “I did warn you.”

  A blast of lightning struck him in the back. He bent forward slightly at the impact. A hole was scorched into his cloak and garment, but his skin was unscathed. He turned back and broke into a smile. “There it is.”

  Aurelia stood, panting, hand outstretched, electricity crackling from her fingertips. “Get away from my mother.”

  “I knew it the moment I saw you,” Mortem smiled wider. “Your body’s innate ability to withstand vast amounts of chaos is greater than even your grandmother’s. You can even cast chromatic magic within my field of chaos.”

  “I said get away from her!” Aurelia channeled Blue. She threw bolts of lightning at him one after another until her arms burned and her heartbeat grew weak. She fell to one knee and gasped for breath.

  Besides scorch marks on his clothes, Mortem stood unharmed. “Auri, I can save your mother, you need not worry.”

  “I don’t trust anything you have to say!” She yelled, tears streaking down her face.

  “Trust that I care for you.”

  “I don’t believe you!”

  Mortem scratched his cheek, “I don’t think you understand how unique you truly are, Auri. There have been other mortals born with natural resistance to elemental chaos, but none nearly as resistant as you. Coupled with your prime colors and magical talent, you are singular. And through you, we may just yet be able to save this world.”

  “I don’t care about the world.”

  “Auri…”

  “I trusted you. I fell in love with you!” Aurelia bit her trembling lip and glared at him. “You hurt my family. I am going to fucking kill you.”

  Mortem exhaled and gave her a wry look, like a parent watching their child play in the mud. “Auri, you cannot hurt me.”

  “But I can.”

  A pillar of moonlight fell from the skies and struck Mortem, swallowing him in its divine light.