Realm of Monsters - Chapter 725: The Goddess of Victory

Chapter 725: The Goddess of Victory

  “Who is this priestess?” Bellum asked.

  “Her name is Catherine, but people already seem to be calling her the Servant of— another peculiar individual, let’s say.” Lunae glanced at Stryg, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you, oh Winged One?” 

  Stryg looked up at her, the perfect face of innocence. “Nope.”

  “Is that so? This priestess has amassed a small but ‘enthusiastic’ group of followers,” Lunae said. “She is leading them to Stjerne’s temple. Which would be difficult due to the recent flood. It’ll take days before the water levels return to normal. Most orcs are stranded wherever they are, but not your priestess. She has a retinue of powerful undead paving the way through the water. Even now, she rescues more stranded orcs, adding to her cult following. I must say, Stryg, you have chosen your first priestess well. I’m impressed.”

  “That means a lot coming from you. You used to always complain about anything I picked,” Stryg said.

  “That’s because you used to always pick up poisonous mushrooms and berries.” Lunae brushed his hair with her fingertips. “I’m glad to have you back, Little One. We have much to discuss when I return.”

  “You’re leaving?” he asked.

  “Only for a little while. I need to rally my armies and begin dismantling this city’s defenses and opposition. Until then,” Lunae picked Corvus up by the scruff of his tunic, “I will be taking this one with me. Though his time is short, it’ll be good for his people to see what has happened to their precious warlord.”

  Corvus grimaced as Lunae carried him like a ragdoll, but he voiced no complaint. The man’s eyes were dull, the fire of opposition gone. Lunae leaped off the castle’s roof and disappeared into the river-filled streets below.

  “Are you alright, my lord?” Gale walked over to him.

  Stryg looked her up and down, noticing the way she held an arm over her waist. “I should be asking you that.”

  “I can’t say it doesn’t hurt,” Gale chuckled, then immediately winced. “Okay, it hurts a lot.”

  “That’s because you were stabbed a bunch of times,” Tauri said. “And then Stryg poured his own blood into you. You should have seen it. His blood was quite literally boiling as it festered in your wounds.”

  “It wasn’t festering,” Stryg frowned.

  “Yeah, well, whatever it was, you saved her,” Tauri wiped a tear from her eye.

  “Are you— Are you crying over me?” Gale asked.

  “Shut up,” Tauri sniffed and walked off back to Freya and the others.

  Gale watched her go with a wry smile. “I never thought I’d see a Katag over me.”

  “Yeah, neither did I. I feel like I’ve missed a few things,” Stryg said.

  “I told you to stop reading that damned cursed book,” Gale said.

  “It’s not cursed.”

  “Oh, my mistake. Forbidden-magic-created-book.”

  “Forbidden for mortals. Which I realize now I am not, huh. It still feels strange to say that.” Stryg stared at his own hand and slowly curled it into a fist.

  “For being an immortal, it sure didn’t do anything to stop that book from giving you headaches.”

  “The book wasn’t causing the headaches. My brain was simply trying to reconcile its loss of memories.”

  “Wait, what? What are you talking about?” Gale’s whole countenance suddenly changed and she looked around for threats out of habit. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” Stryg placed a reassuring hand on her forearm. “Turns out I was missing a pretty big chunk of memories from my life before Sigte died.” Stryg paused, “Actually, he’s not dead. And he’s not a he.”

  “Okay, now I’m confused.”

  “I’ll explain everything later. The important thing is I remember everything. A lot of it is still jumbled, but I’ll sort it out eventually.”

  “So long as you’re okay. You are okay, right?”

  “I’m okay. For the first time in a long time, I’m actually good.”

  “Phew,” Gale sighed dramatically. “In that case, can we seriously talk about me? Like, what is all of this?” She gestured to her snow-white and her face, “Callum tells me my left eye is purple now? How did that happen?”

  Stryg scratched his cheek. “I actually don’t exactly know. Your body was dead. The only reason you weren’t was because I was holding onto your soul. I didn’t want to let go. So, I sort of healed your body and threw your soul back into it.”

  “Just like that? Is it that easy?” Gale stared at him, eyes practically shining. “You can just revive people.”

  “No and I didn’t revive you. Your soul technically never left your body, it was just displaced because I kept it from leaving. But it wasn’t enough. Even when I put your soul back in, you didn’t wake up. I had to imbue some of my own blood and power into you. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but it did. Thankfully.”

  Gale held up a lock of her white hair. “So, you can imbue people with your power?”

  “No, not like that. I know gods can have Favored Ones. Like what you and my mom have with Lunae. It’s like a blessing of sorts. I don’t really know all the details.”

  Gale nodded. “Lunae has told me a bit about it when she charged me with protecting you.” 

  “Right. What I did with you was nothing like that. I Chose you. And no, I don’t really know what that means either, just that you’re alive. And that’s good enough for me.”

  “Not to sound ungrateful—I’m happy to be among the living—but aren’t you a little curious about all of this? I know Lunae told us she’d talk about that stuff later, but you don’t know anything else? Like, they say the High Priestess Calantha Ashe is the Chosen of Bellum. Maybe that has something to do with it?”

  “Lunae told me I was her Chosen before, but I’m also her son, and I share Sigte bond with her, so I’m still not sure what it all really means.”

  Gale wrinkled her brow. “Wait, you have a Sigte bond with Lunae? And when you say son, do you mean like how she’s the Mother Moon to all goblins? Or how she’s your step-mom?”

  “Yes. And I mean, she is my step-mom, I guess, but she’s also my mom, mom. She raised me.”

  “Okay, now I have way more questions.”

  “We have a lot of catching up to do,” Stryg said.

  “Mom, I’m sorry, please stop!” Belle cried as the goddess of war dangled her in the air by holding on to just her ear.

  “I should tear a hole in your ear and stick an enchanted bell on it. Maybe then you’ll remember to trigger the signal spell when you’re in danger? You stupid little girl.”

  “I was busy trying to protect my friends! They’re the only friends I have,” Belle whimpered.

  Bellum stopped and sighed, before lowering her daughter. “I know. But you can’t put yourself at risk like that. You’re all I have left.”

  “I’m sorry,” Belle bowed her head and made her best chastened expression, with a quivering lip and all.

  “What would your father think if he saw you like this?” Bellum tugged at her daughter’s tattered, bloodied clothes. “He must be worried sick about you.”

  “He’d probably say, ‘Wow, I’m so impressed you managed to sneak out right from under my nose?’ I mean, you gotta admit it’s pretty cool I slipped past the Order twice, right?” Belle grinned.

  Bellum gave her a flat look and flicked her on the nose, hard. Belle’s head snapped back and she fell onto the ground, rolling as she held her nose. “Ow! Bu– Why?! Argh, it hurts! I think you broke it!”

  “It’ll heal.” Bellum turned on her heel and headed toward Stryg. “Baby cousin, a word, if you please.”

  Stryg glanced at Belle, still rolling on the ground. A chill ran down his back. “Um, sure.” He leaned over to Gale and whispered, “Whatever happens, don’t attack Bellum.”

  Gale raised her hands in surrender, “Trust me, I wasn’t planning on it.”

  Bellum directed Stryg to the roof’s edge, out of earshot from the others. She sat down, her legs dangling off the edge, and patted the spot next to her. Stryg joined her, a small figure in comparison. His head didn’t even reach her shoulder. He waited for her to begin, though he kept his eyes on her hands in case he had to jump.

  “…I wanted to thank you,” Bellum began.

  “Oh.” Stryg blinked. “Um, you’re welcome…?” Why she was thanking him for getting her daughter almost killed, he didn’t know.

  “If it wasn’t for you, I think Lunae would have killed every last soul in this city.”

  “Oooh. That.”

  “My aunt wasn’t always like this, you know. Titan culture is quite violent, we have been ever since the Sundering, but Lunae would have never wiped out an entire city. I might have, but never her.”

  “You?” Stryg looked at her curiously. “Belle told me you hated needless killing.”

  “I guess Lunae isn’t the only one who’s changed.” Bellum smiled in reminiscence and rubbed the back of her neck. “You could say I was more rigid back in the day. I was young, only a hundred or so, a child, really. I saw the way the Ebon Realm was, a hundred factions led by warlords and Ebon Lords, each one willing to hurt anyone and do anything to be the only one left standing. I hated all of it. So I set out to change it.”

  “How did you do that?” Stryg asked.

  Bellum chuckled, “War. The Ebon Realm was quite different back then. Lunis was the only city-state. There was no Frost-Rim, nor Undergrowth, only small scattered villages and towns in the mountains. The Great Artificer, Parathyan, hadn’t been born yet and so there weren’t any chrome gates, only nature’s realm bridges. Yet few outsiders ever found their way through those bridges either. The native Ebon species—vampires, goblins, and drows—were the only real population in the realm, and most of the former two lived in the mountains.

  “Some of the drows and vampires had fled the mountains and migrated to Dusk Valley to get away from all the fighting. My father took them in and protected them from the wild animals and magical creatures that lurked in those plains. Those people would eventually become known as The Keepers of the Dawn. But you know them now as the Valley Tribes.”

  “Solis was their patron…” Stryg murmured. If their god had disappeared, it only made sense that their people would decline. “Leave it to Hollow Shade to destroy what was left of them.”

  “Yes. As for Lunis, my father helped my aunt found a refuge for the goblins of the realm. But all of this happened centuries before my time. By the time I was born, Lunis was a place of peace and beauty; the rest of the realm was nothing like it. I grew up in Lunis and I treasured it for what it was. And I wanted to replicate what my father and aunt had done. So, I went to the Rupture Mountains. I was a sun wolf in the snow with no idea what I was doing. I found a pair of disputing warlords and demanded they cease fighting.”

  “And they did?”

  “No, they tried to kill me. So I killed them. The vampires that served the warlords were amazed by my power and pledged their fealty to me. I then changed their towns for the better. I implemented laws, gave them education, medicine, and brought them a few goblin mages to even teach them chromatic magic. I thought it was enough, or at least a start. It wasn’t. You see, other villages grew envious of what they had and attacked.

  Bellum laced her fingers together in a tight grip, “I returned to find my two villages burned down. I hated the ones who had done it. I gave in to my rage and I slaughtered all of them. It didn’t matter their age or if they were innocent. There was only ruin and ash when it was over. Word spread of what I had done, but instead of reviling me as a monster, people worshipped me.

  “In my misguided youth, I grew to believe I had done the right thing. So, I took new villages under my wing and formed the first inklings of a unified people. And anyone who tried to steal or hurt them, I would destroy. As time went on, I decided it wasn’t enough.”

  Bellum breathed into her clasped hands and a fire bloomed within, like a small forge. “My mother was a Fire Giant from the Bronze Realm. Even before Parathyan, the Bronze Realm was known for their skill in the forge. My mother used to tell me that sometimes to fix something, you had to first destroy it, so that you could melt and reforge it anew. I decided the only way to stop all the fighting was to wage a war so great that it would encompass all the Rupture Mountains. I would kill all who opposed me and from the ashes I would forge a city like Lunis.”

  “Frost-Rim,” Stryg said.

  “Not quite. No, that came later. First came carnage. I carved a path through town after town, slaughtering all who opposed my dream of unity, of peace.” Bellum chuckled bitterly and shook her head, “How foolish I was. Yet at the time, I thought I was right. My people believed in me. They called me their goddess of victory, their goddess of war, for I knew not defeat. Until one day, on the snowy slopes of a ruined village, I encountered a sight I did not expect.”

  “What was it?”

  “Your father.”