Realm of Monsters

Half a dozen servants hurried around the dining table with silent steps and placed dish after dish of steaming food over the mantle. One of the valets walked into the room with a bottle of red wine and walked to the head of the table where Lord Krall sat with his wife.

“Some wine, my lord?” the valet asked.

“I’ll have half a glass,” Krall said cheerfully.

“Yes, of course. And you, my lady?”

“It’s a little early for me, thank you,” Evelyn said, though she did not look at the valet; her focus was on her daughters and the young man sitting across from them. 

Stryg sat between Feli and Maeve, though he paid little attention to either of them, or the Katag sisters in front of him. In fact, he paid little attention to anyone at all. Instead, he busied himself eating slabs of seared meat drizzling with melted butter and roasted potatoes sprinkled with various herbs he did not recognize, though he certainly liked the flavors.

“I’ve seen it countless times already, but your appetite never ceases to amaze me,” Maeve muttered with a mixture of awe and disgust.

“I know right!” Elena said excitedly.

Her mother shot her an irritated glance.

“Ahem, I mean, the food really is wonderful,” Elena nudged Tauri’s arm, “Isn’t that right, sister?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah,” Tauri mumbled. She kept glancing at the door, though she had yet to touch her food.

Elena worried for her sister and wondered what had happened. Usually, Tauri was bubbling with life and a fiery glint in her eye. But now she seemed withdrawn and tense.

“I take it the food is to your liking, Stryg?” Evelyn smiled warmly.

“Mm,” he mumbled and kept eating.

Feli glanced at Elena and smiled, but it did not reach her eyes, “Have you two met before?”

“Huh?” Elena swallowed her food before speaking, “Oh, um, yeah, kinda.”

“Funny, he never mentioned you,” Feli said.

“Ah, well, he probably wouldn’t remember me…” Elena mumbled.

“Why? Was the encounter that unremarkable?” Feli asked.

“Eh?” Elena said.

Maeve coughed loudly and looked around the room, “My, where is everyone? Usually Callum, Freya, and Lady Ismene are here by now. Even Mister Cornelius wakes up for breakfast.”

“They won’t be coming,” Sylvie said from the end of the table. Several plates of food were scattered around her, half of them were already empty. She was the only one at the table whose appetite surpassed Stryg’s. It wasn’t unusual for her to eat three or four times the food than the others.

“What do you mean they aren’t coming? My cousin wouldn’t skip a meal, he was raised with manners,” Maeve frowned.

“I don’t know,” Sylvie shrugged. “Something about them not wanting to be stuck between a rock and a hard place? I really didn’t get it, but I wasn’t about to miss a meal.”

“Because you have manners?” Elena smiled.

“No, because I’m hungry. You think this giant body runs off sheer willpower? Not a chance,” Sylvie swallowed another spoonful of honey porridge and began humming happily to herself as she ate.

“Well, what about Gale? Surely she wouldn’t have just ditched breakfast?” Maeve asked.

“She ate earlier. I think she’s outside training with Lysaila,” Feli said.

“Of course, she is,” Maeve sighed to herself. She suddenly shook her head and smiled at Elena, “So, how were the roads to Undergrowth? Hopefully, your trip here was less bumpy than ours.”

“The roads were somewhat muddy from the rain, but I’ve traveled through worse. Honestly, I was more worried about a dragon attack than anything.”

“A dragon attack?” Krall looked up from his food.

“Yeah, there are a bunch of merchants talking about it,” Elena said. “They say dragons have been seen roaming Dusk Valley and Glimmer Grove. And the sightings have only gotten more frequent these last few weeks. Most of the time the dragons are spotted high up in the sky, but sometimes they fly down and attack… they leave nothing but the dead behind.”

Maeve frowned, “I heard some reports from my men, but I didn’t really think…”

“They’re real,” Tauri said quietly. “We were attacked by one near the edge of Glimmer Grove.”

“What!? Seriously!? Tell me everything!” Elena said excitedly.

Evelyn glanced at her disapprovingly, “Darling, this isn’t really a suitable breakfast topic–”

“The dragon attacked and several dozen men and women from the Hunter’s Guild,” Sylvie spoke up in a reminiscent tone.

“Oh… Oh…” Elena grimaced.

“I thought we were all going to die,” Tauri chuckled grimly. “Then a beam of moonlight fell down from the sky and struck down the scarlet beast.”

“No way… Divine intervention? Lunae saved you?” Elena muttered, wide-eyed.

Tauri nodded, “I saw it with my own two eyes–”

“Tauri, stop teasing your sister with those embellishing lies,” Evelyn said curtly.

“I already told you, it’s not a lie,” Tauri frowned.

“Enough!” Evelyn yelled. “We are all gathered here to enjoy a nice, warm meal. Not to hear your silly stories!”

“It’s not a lie,” Stryg spoke up coldly. “I don’t know what that silver beam of light was, but I saw the dragon fall from the sky… I saw it die.”

“Ah, I see…” Evelyn smiled forcefully.

“I’m just glad you’re all safe,” Krall said.

“Agreed,” Tauri said.

“I mean, not everyone, a bunch of people died,” Sylvie said lightly. “I’d hate to be a part of the Hunter’s Guild right about now, I’ll tell you that much.”

“Miss Sylvie, your match is coming up tomorrow, isn’t it?” Evelyn asked.

“Yeah! I’m up against that Murkton girl. I think her name was Joanne or Jean or something.”

“You mean, Diane?” Evelyn said dryly.

“Yeah, that was it!” Sylvie snapped her fingers.

“And how do you feel about facing a swordmaster? Nervous? Scared?” Evelyn asked.

“Not even close,” Sylvie smirked.

“Anyone without a healthy amount of fear for a weapon master is foolhardy,” Tauri noted.

“There are only three things I fear and none of them is a girl named Diane,” Sylvie said.

“Then what do you fear?” Elena asked curiously. “I’ve seen you in action back in the academy. You destroyed every opponent you fought. What in all the Realms could scare you?”

“The first one is easy,” Sylvie said. “My loss of freedom. I know what it’s like to have no control over your own life and it’s terrible, believe me.”

“That makes sense,” Elena said wryly.

“And the others?” Stryg asked quietly. “What are you afraid of?”

“Hm, the others are gonna cost you,” Sylvie smirked. “You gotta tell me one of your fears first.”

Stryg stopped earring and looked at her thoughtfully, “I’m afraid of losing my tribe.”

Maeve and Feli looked at him, surprised. They had never heard him be so open in front of anyone outside the tribe.

Sylvie stared at him, without moving. She seemed the most surprised of them all.

“Ebon Hollow? I never got a real understanding of who exactly is part of your tribe,” Evelyn said with interest.

“I already answered your question. Now it’s your turn,” Stryg said.

“Fine,” Sylvie sighed. “...My second fear is that my mom will never wake up again.”

“What? Is she… in a coma?” Feli asked.

Sylvie shook her head, “My dad uses his magic to help her as much as he can. She has her waking moments, but they’re brief and sometimes she’s not all there,” Sylvie shrugged uncomfortably.

“My own mother grew very sick before she passed. I know what it’s like to…” Maeve bit her lip, “I guess what I’m trying to say is, you don’t have to talk about any of this if you don’t want to.”

“I do, it’s only fitting,” Sylvie said. She glanced at Stryg, “This one lies often, but when I asked you a question just now, you didn’t lie. I can tell. So, your turn.”

Stryg nodded slowly, he had never seen Sylvie so calm. Her voice felt heavy, a pain buried deep within. And for the first time, Stryg felt as if he saw her, truly saw the giant girl hiding behind a facade of a smile. He didn’t know what to say, so he simply spoke the truth.

“When I first chose to become a mage I did it because I wanted to impress my tribe,” he muttered.

“That’s sweet,” Elena smiled. But as she looked into his lilac eyes her smile fell. There was no happiness behind those beautiful eyes.

“You mean the Blood Fang Tribe,” Sylvie guessed.

“...I wanted to be worthy of them,” Stryg sighed, “but I never was. I thought that if I became a powerful mage, then maybe they might accept me. But if I’m being honest with myself, I really don’t know if they would accept the person I’ve become, and I’m scared to know the answer.”

Tauri looked at him for the first time at breakfast, her expression indiscernible. She opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it, and stayed quiet.

“Wow, I’m sorry, I never knew that,” Elena said sympathetically. 

“How would you? You’ve hardly spoken a sentence to each other,” Feli noted with a side glance.

Elena winced, “The feeling still stands though…”

“I say you go find your old tribe and you challenge all of those savages to a couple of duels,” Krall said. “Show them who you really are. I guarantee they’ll take back every word they’ve said to you.”

“They’re not savages,” Stryg glared at him.

“Krall didn’t mean it like that,” Evelyn said.

“Right, sorry. I’m just not a fan of people who judge others by the strength of their muscles,” Krall shrugged. “When you're standing on a battlefield, you don’t care who it is, a commoner or a lord, the one willing to put their life on the line for their comrades, that’s the one I want by my side. Loyalty, not power, is everything. Your old tribe should have known that.”

Stryg blinked, he had never thought of it that way. Nor did he ever think the 7 ft hulking orc would say it that way either.

“So what is your last fear, Miss Sylvie?” Evelyn asked. “I think we’re all dying to know.”

Sylvie took a deep breath and sighed loudly, “I’m afraid of the dark.”

“The dark?” Elena giggled, “Are you serious?”

“That’s a bit anticlimactic,” Feli muttered.

“You’d be surprised how profound the dark really is,” Sylvie said solemnly.

“Is that right?” Evelyn laughed lightly. “How about you, Aspirant? Are you afraid of the dark?”

“No, but I’d be a fool to say I wasn’t wary of it.”