Realm of Monsters - Chapter 715: …Stars Shine Brightest

Chapter 715: …Stars Shine Brightest

  The strength of Brown magic coursed through Tauri’s veins as she carried Stryg and Gale over her shoulders. The former had refused to let go of Gale’s hand even in his sleep.

  “I can carry one of them, if you want,” Nora offered as they ran down the maze that was the castle’s foundations.

  “No, thank you,” Tauri declined, keeping her eyes straight ahead. Gale had died protecting Stryg. Tauri would carry them as long as she needed to, exhaustion be damned.

  “Shit!” Veronica stumbled to a halt ahead, almost tossing a wounded Beatrix off her back.

  A group of orcs lay ahead in a wall formation, blocking off the entrance. Soldiers stood at the front with shields and spears, while several battle mages stood at the rear, already beginning to cast spells. A massive dog, eyes aglow with true magic, stood at the front. She snarled at Veronica and barked, signaling the orcs to attack.

  Veronica threw her hands up and conjured a red shield in front of her party.

  “Tauri, run the other way, we’ll buy you time!” Nora channeled blue, lightning cracking at her fingertips.

  “Shit!” Tauri clenched her teeth and ran away. She wanted to fight, to help, but she couldn’t risk Stryg, not after everything Gale had given up. “Wake up, Stryg,” she yelled as she ran. “We need you to wake up! Stryg!”

~~~

  In the dark recesses of the memory archives, Stryg lay on the shadows in a fetal position. Time had become a blur of dreams. How long had he been here? He did not know. His thoughts lay elsewhere, memories still reconciling in his mind.

  A familiar voice echoed faintly in the air. “…if you’re… need you… wake up…”

  The words meant nothing to him, but the voice and its desperation made him feel something. This person mattered to him. That much he knew but he struggled to remember why as he floated in a world of dreams and memories.

  He tossed and turned and stared up into the nothingness. He was lying flat on his back, if such a thing were possible in this place of weightlessness where there was no up nor down.

  “…wake up…” The voice called out once again in a reverberating echo.

  Stryg ran his hand across his face and noticed the dried tearstains on his cheeks. He glanced at his own palm and suddenly paused. The scar on his palm. He knew what it was. He knew how it came to be and all the pain that it carried.

  Lunae.

  It felt as if he had gone through a valley of thorny bushes, bashed against the rocks at sea, and been left out to weather a violent storm naked and broken. He thought Melantha’s training always left him worn out, but this exhaustion stretched deep into his soul and left him without strength of any kind.

  And yet there was something new forming deep inside. A feeling of pain and relief. He stopped looking elsewhere for the questions that had plagued his mind for years and instead, he searched for answers within.

  Who was he?

  He had struggled with that question for so long. He thought he was an outsider, an odd goblin, cursed as a bad omen to his village. A weak link among his Sylvan kin. A mageborn that did not belong in the academy.

  He hated all those parts of him and desperately wanted to be a part of something great. His whole life, he had struggled and worked to try to be like others, to be accepted. Somewhere along the way, he had garnered various names.

  Who was he?

  A Sylvan goblin? A member of the Blood Fang Tribe? The leader of the Ebon Tribe? A battle mage? The Shield of his Friends? An Ebon Aspirant? A Veres? The Sword of his Blood? The Sylvan War Master? An Ebon Prince? Son of Aurelia? Brother of Holo and Melantha? Son of Death? Son of Lunae?

  He had struggled with the answer for so long. He had tried to be a part of so many expectations and had felt the sting of failing to live up to them.

  But as he lay in the darkness, he realized the truth was that he didn’t need to prove himself to anyone, for he was already all of these things and he was none of them. And like shackles on his wrists, he shed the burdens off with a thought.

  The hole in his chest that he had always tried to fill was no longer empty. When he found his lost memories, he had filled the hole with them, but it had only brought him pain and bitterness.

  Like the expectations he had tried to live up to, he realized he needed to let the past and its scars go. A catharsis of fire burned the memories from his heart. He could still remember what he had lost, but it no longer poisoned his mind with pain. He looked at it from afar, examined it, and tried to understand it for what it was. A shard of the mirror that made up who he was, but it was just that, a shard, it was not the whole, and he would not let it dominate him.

  The hole in his chest was empty once more, but he did not try to fill it. He accepted it for what it was. He accepted himself for who he was. For the first time in his life, he knew exactly who he was. For the first time in his life, he felt truly free. He felt at peace.

  Who was he?

  He was Stryg and that was more than enough.

  Stryg laughed and cried at the thought, the feelings of grief, guilt, and fear pouring out of him wave after wave. Slowly, the hole within him began to close on its own, for there was no part of him that was missing. He accepted himself, faults and all. For he now knew there were those who had loved all of him, even the ugly bits he was ashamed of. And if they could love him, so could he.

  “…Wake up… Stryg… wake up…”

  “Tauri?” He recognized the voice.

  Something was wrong. She needed him.

  Stryg reached towards the sky of darkness and grabbed it. He gripped the emptiness with clutched fingers and tore the sky apart with a wave of his arm.

~~~

  Stryg opened his eyes. He was lying on the stone cold floor. His eyes met Tauri, her expression filled with disbelief. She was sitting on top of him, her hands holding his shoulders.

  “Stryg!” Tauri broke into a smile and placed her forehead on his chest. “You’re awake,” she laughed in relief.

  “Tauri,” he rubbed his hand over her back. “What’s wrong…?” When he tried to move his other hand, he noticed he was holding Gale’s hand. Her fingers were stiff, cold. She lay next to him, bloody makeshift bandages wrapped around her chest and abdomen. She wasn’t breathing.

  “Gale?” Stryg whispered.

  Tauri rolled off him and touched his forearm. “I’m sorry.”

  Her apology was drowned out by the sound of lightning and the barking of hounds nearby. They all fell on Stryg’s deaf ears. He scrambled over to Gale and brushed his hand over her cheek, “Gale…?”

  “I’m sorry, Stryg. She’s gone,” Tauri whispered.

  A stray lightning bolt crashed past overhead. Tauri turned her head and looked at the battle unfolding in the hallway behind them, but Stryg didn’t notice any of it. His focus was entirely on the woman lying still in front of him.

  “We need to go, Stryg,” Tauri shook his arm.

  “No,” he muttered. “She’s not gone.”

  “Stryg, she has no heartbeat. She stopped breathing minutes ago. …I’m so sorry.”

  “No…” He glanced at his right hand, still gripping Gale’s. His claws had dug into her skin, leaving her veins dark where they pierced. He could feel her still. Even now, as her soul tried to leave for the Soul Chasm, he was holding her back, keeping her here. All he had to do was let go and she would disappear.

  “No.” Stryg raised his left hand and clenched his fist so tight until his claws drew blood. He tore the bandages off Gale and held his left palm over her. The dark ichor dripped and soaked into her wounds.

  “What are you doing?” Tauri asked.

  “Refusing to let go.” Stryg channeled chaos and chromatic white mana both at once. Blinding light flared across his left hand and poured into Gale’s body.

  The ichor sizzled over the vampire’s wounds and the healing magic slowly knitted the flesh back together. The wounds remained but they seemed to be on the mend. Yet there was no heartbeat nor breath.

  “Stryg, she’s already gone,” Tauri whispered. “You can’t heal death.”

  “I am death.” Stryg grabbed Gale’s forehead and dug his claws slightly into her scalp. “I am not letting you go. Not now. Not ever. Awaken, my Chosen.”

  Blue light flared at his fingertips and Gale’s body seized up and her chest rose as if struck by lightning. Her blonde hair turned pale white and she gasped a sudden, deep breath. Gale fell back down, panting. Her eyes slowly cracked open, revealing a single lilac iris where there had once been scarlet.

  “Stryg…?” Gale winced as she shifted. “You came back for me?”

  “I wasn’t going to leave my Shadow in the darkness,” he smiled.

  “It’s not possible…” Tauri stared in disbelief, eyes wide as saucers.

  Nora flew down the hall and skidded off the stone, landing in a tumble in front of them. She groaned before doing a double take. “Stryg? Gale!? How are you—?”

  The largest dog Gale had ever seen came running down the corridor, eyes flaring with purple light. She leaped at Nora, maw wide. Stryg snatched the beast by her spiked collar. The dog snapped at his wrist but her fangs couldn’t break the skin.

  Stryg looked at the almost-rabid creature curiously, noting the true chromatic magic behind its eyes. “Huh, I see.” He tossed the dog into the wall and her body splattered in a mess of blood and viscera.

  The three women stared at the gory sight, stunned.

  “Um… Was he always that strong…?” Nora whispered.

  Gale slowly blinked. “I don’t think so.”

  “Stryg, are you okay?” Tauri asked.

  “Yeah.” He rolled his shoulders and leaned back and forth on the balls and heels of his feet. “I feel lighter.”

  “That’s— good…?” Tauri said. There was something different about him. A calmness? A sureness? She couldn’t quite tell.

  Veronica came stumbling into the hall, Beatrix still on her back. “We got the last of the soldiers. Lucas is looking for another way out. We need to go before more show up— Lord Veres, you’re awake? Holy shit, the vampire lady is alive! What happened to your hair?”

  “My hair?” Gale ran her hand through her locks. “Wha—? Why is my hair white?”

  Stryg cocked his head to the side, his pointed ears twitching. “Our pack is still fighting elsewhere. Belle needs help.”

  Nora paled. “They must have found them, too. We split up. We hoped it would throw the orcs off, but I think those dogs found the others anyway.”

  “How far are Belle and the others?” Gale asked Nora.

  “Not far,” Stryg replied. He raised his hand and the Sigte scar flared with power. The wall split apart in front of him and the walls beyond began to shift and open, forming a clear path ahead of them.

~~~

  Gelris staggered back and slammed into the wall behind him. His hands gripped the stone for balance. He patted his own chest and looked down at himself, and sighed in relief. His dog familiar’s pain was the briefest of moments, but her pain had   

  Corvus spared a glance at his huntmaster. “What is wrong?”

  Gelris licked his dried lips and swallowed. “We have a problem.”