Realm of Monsters - Chapter 701: Confrontation Part 3

Chapter 701: Confrontation Part 3

  A pillar of moonlight fell from the skies and struck Mortem, swallowing him in its divine light. A gust of cold wind radiated from the pillar, sending chills through Aurelia. The cold seeped into her bones and she collapsed in the snow, her every breath burning from the chill.

  A shadow fell over her and with her darkening vision, Aurelia looked up at what seemed to be a frost wolf. She had seen a few of the sacred wolves from a distance before, but this one was almost twice as large with white fur as pristine as the first snowfall.

  The moonlight dissipated and a deep crater was left in its wake. A man stood hunched over at the epicenter. It was not Ivory, no, Aurelia did not recognize this being. His skin was as blue as the evening sky, his hair was starlight, and his eyes radiated a mesmerizing power. His face was of carved beauty, unnatural, divine. His every movement was slow, measured. And when he straightened, he stood over four meters tall.

  Ivory’s words echoed in Aurelia’s mind. ‘My name is Mortem.’

  She had not believed him and had taken it as another one of his fanciful stories. Now, she wondered if any of them had simply been stories.

  “That was unnecessary,” Mortem dusted off shards of ice clinging to his shoulders. 

  “Unnecessary?” The frost wolf leapt at him. Mortem didn’t move as the massive wolf fell upon him and dug her claws over his chest. Dark purple blood splattered over the snow and the air seemed to drop significantly in temperature. Finally, the wolf stopped in her rampage. Her shoulders heaved, from fatigue or anger, Aurelia did not know.

  Mortem blinked slowly and looked up at the wolf. “Ow.”

  “Was that unnecessary, too?” The wolf bared her fangs.

  “I’ve missed you, too, Lunae.”

  “Have you now?” the wolf snapped at his face.

  “Enough,” Mortem caught her maw in one hand and pushed her away with a well-placed kick. “You’ve had your fun.” 

  He rose to his feet and Aurelia realized that deep gashes stretched across his chest weren’t deep at all, they had hardly torn through the skin. Mortem ran a hand over his uninjured jaw, “For a moment there, it seemed like you actually wanted to hurt me.”

  The dark purple, almost black, ichor tore away from the snow and seeped back into his open wounds, before the wounds closed over, leaving not even a blemish behind. Mortem rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, unfazed. “So, what game are you up to, really?”

  “You think this is a game?” Lunae growled.

  Mortem cocked his head to the side. “I assumed it was. You’re not getting back at me for hardly visiting this past year?”

  The wolf’s form faded away into cold mist before reforming into a silver goddess, a head shorter than him. But where his eyes were a pale lilac, her eyes were burning silver. “How dare you?” she glared at him.

  “Did I miss something?” Mortem furrowed his brow.

  “No, I was the one who missed what was happening right underneath my nose,” Lunae glanced at the goblin girl lying in the snow.

  “Aurelia? I thought we had an understanding,” Mortem said.

  Lunae gave him a dry look. “So did I. We had a mutual understanding, Death. I am unable to give you children of my own, so I have always looked the other way when it came to your dalliances. You desire children of your own and I have always been— tolerant of them. I respect your way of things and I let you do as you see fit within your domain. So when the fuck did you think you could intervene in my domain!?”

  “Intervene? Aurelia may be a goblin, but that does not mean she falls under your domain. She is the blood of Veres and I have had my eye on her lineage for some time now,” Mortem replied.

  “You think this is because she is a goblin?” Lunae scoffed.

  “Then what? I don’t understand.”

  “You should. I have never had any interest in the women you spend time with, Death. Rather, I always turn my Sight away from it. So imagine my surprise when I noticed your exhibiting of power on my mountain, all for the sake of not just any girl, but a priestess sworn to me. Aurelia may be the granddaughter of a woman I despised, but Aurelia has dedicated her life to making amends for her family’s sins. Her life is mine to do with, not yours.”

  “Stryga Veres struck a divine bargain with me three centuries ago. A descendant of my choosing would be mine,” Mortem said.

  “Then you should have claimed Aurelia before she swore her life to me.”

  “She was too young back then, her abilities hadn’t even manifested yet.”

  “That’s not my problem. Nalindra has a son. Wait and see if his descendants have any promise. As for Aurelia, your interest in her ends now.”

  Mortem gave a wry smile. “It isn’t that simple.”

  “It is.” Lunae’s silver eyes swirled with red as the moon bled and turned a bright scarlet.

  Mortem stared for a long moment at the full blood moon, as if weighing his next actions carefully. “Darling, I can tell you are enraged at the situation, but fighting will not help the situation. As I said, it truly is not so simple. She is with child.”

  “What?” Lunae spun around and looked at Aurelia, who was shivering in the cold, half-conscious. She narrowed her scarlet eyes and frowned. “The life has barely begun to form, but it’s there… a boy.”

  “That child could be the answer to the problem that has plagued my siblings and me for thousands of years, the responsibility given to us by our mother.”

  “The World Soul. Aleirune.” Lunae muttered.

  “Precisely.”

  “And what if the child is not what you hoped him to be?”

  Mortem crouched next to Aurelia and caressed her cheek. Warmth bloomed in her body and she sucked in a deep breath as her forest-green skin regained some of its color. 

  “Then I will have her bear me another child,” Mortem said.

  “You assume she will survive a single childbirth. Most mothers of titan children who are not titans themselves die in labor and the mothers that survive do not live for long,” Lunae noted.

  “That is where Aurelia is unique. Her natural resistance to chaos is unmatched among mortals.”

  “Even with natural resistance to the poison that is forming in her womb, she is a prime mage. The childbirth will take a heavy toll on her. There will most likely be some level of permanent damage to her health, if not outright death.”

  “I will take measures to prevent such an outcome. Of course, I would have to be present at the boy’s birth.”

  “Which is why you’re keen to stay by my priestess…”

  “Precisely,” Mortem nodded.

  “You’re right, it isn’t that simple… Death, I have only one question.”

  He glanced up at her. “Tell me.”

  “Do you love her?”

  “What?”

  “I have never cared for your interest in other women because I was the only one you loved. But then she came along— a human of all creatures.”

  “Lunae, I—”

  “Don’t lie to me, Death. I can see it in your eyes that day. The heartbreak when she died. You loved her. And because of that love, you were soft on her daughter, in a way you’ve never been with any of your children. Melantha was your favorite and because of that weakness, you did not strike her down when she rebelled against you. You couldn’t kill her, even now, you let her roam free.”

  “What does Melantha have to do with any of this?” Death asked in a cold voice.

  “Because of your inability to kill Melantha, she led a rebellion that sparked a war that engulfed the Scarlet Realm. Over a million people dead, hundreds of years of your research and experiments gone to waste, and your precious city laid to ruin, all because of your inaction. So, I want to know, do you love Aurelia? When she dies, will her love carry on to her child? If the day comes when that child decides to go against all your plans, what will you do? Will you let the Ebon Realm burn as well?”

  “I will not let your home realm burn, Lunae.”

  “Do you love her?”

  Death looked Lunae in the eyes. “No.”

  “Good. Despite your disrespect in claiming one of my priestesses, I will allow you to stay in Aurelia’s life for now.”

  “Thank you. I don’t intend to stay. I will return for my son’s birth.”

  “And if he isn’t all you hope for?”

  Death shrugged. “Then I will take my leave either way. Aurelia will live a relatively long life for a mortal. There will be plenty of chances to try again. Best to let her body recover for a decade or two.”

  “You’ve endangered the life of my priestess once and yet you assume I will let you try again.”

  “Yes. I suppose I did.” Death stood up and sprouted a pair of silver wings. “It seems I’ve overstayed my welcome. Apologies. Farewell, my dear.” He snapped his wings and shot into the night sky.

~~~

  The sound of a crackling fire aroused Aurelia from her dreams. She woke up in an unfamiliar bed and shot up, before instantly regretting it. Pain burned across her back and she bent over with a grimace.

  “I would stay in bed if I were you,” said Lunae.

  Or at least, what Aurelia assumed was the moon goddess. This Lunae was much smaller, the height of a goblin, with long snow-white hair that reached past her feet and spilled across the floor, yet it somehow stayed immaculate and clean.

  “Are you, Lunae…?”

  The dark-grey teenager crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, 

  “Who else would I be?”

  “Forgive me, your divine eminence,” Aurelia tried to bow.

  “Lay back down before you hurt yourself.”

  Aurelia did as she was instructed and carefully lay back down. “So it was all real…” she mumbled to herself. By the time the white wolf had shown up, Aurelia’s mind had begun to swim in and out of consciousness. She had hoped it had all been one terrible nightmare.

  “My tribe. Are they…?” Aurelia’s voice caught in her throat. She couldn’t work up the strength to say the words aloud.

  “Your mother and brother are resting a few rooms down. You’re in the Celestial Shrine, in my personal wing of the temple. As for the hunters that accompanied your family, they’re dead. Chaos intoxication.”

  “Chaos… Is that what Ivory—” Aurelia clenched her jaw. “I mean, Mortem, did?”

  “Yes. Mortals are not suited to withstand exposure to the element of chaos. Fortunately, you and your brother have some resistance to it, you in particular.”

  “And my mother?”

  “She does not, but she is strong. Her body withstood more than most. Her hunters, on the other hand, could not.”

  “So it all really happened then?” Aurelia whispered to herself, as if asking a second time might change the answer.

  “Yes.”

  Aurelia felt tears burn in her eyes. She ran a hand across her abdomen. “I’m carrying that monster’s child.”

  “That monster is a god. You would do well to regard him carefully.”

  “Forgive me, my lady.” Aurelia went to bow, but remembered her pain and thought better of it. She settled for a small nod of acknowledgement instead.

  “You should rest. You took quite the nasty fall when your brother lost his grip on the wall. You’re suffering from severe mana burnout as well. And the godling forming in your womb will only weaken you in the coming months.”

  Aurelia bit her lip and turned away from Lunae. She did not want to let the goddess see her cry. “I should have never trusted him.”

  “Do not blame yourself. He is very persuasive.”

  “No. I was a fool. That’s all. It won’t happen again.”

  Lunae sighed. “Child, if he wanted to, he could have you warming his bed tomorrow night, and you’d be grateful for the chance.”

  Aurelia turned back and glared at the goddess, eyes puffy and red. “What? No, I’d never.”

  “Death— Mortem, is very persuasive. He is the most beautiful of the gods and one of the eldest and most cunning. There is not a mortal woman he has ever failed to seduce. What I’m trying to say is that it was not your fault. You were no fool. You were simply mortal. Do not blame yourself.”

  “Thank you,” she mumbled. Aurelia’s eyes suddenly widened, “My mother’s elixir!”