Chapter Text
It’s not long past midnight, at least that's what it looks like from where I’m sitting. The inn is neatly decorated with candles made of tallow. Their smell is more than unpleasant, but you are not supposed to shove them in your nose either, plus, it’s not like they are made for a soft, rose smell either. The mead is at least nice. It has a stronger honey flavour than most, combined with whatever seasonal fruits are available now. Peaches and plums are what I heard are what they have large stocks of. I would enjoy one if I weren’t wearing a metallic mask over my face. As I waited, the door slowly creaked open. A human man walks through, closing the door behind himself. He walks up to my table, a chair creaking as he pulls it out to sit down on it. He wears a fine set of clothes, most likely expensive silk from foreign lands. His face is well-groomed, decorated by a set of two blue eyes. His light brown hair gives a nice finishing touch to his head.
“Are you the one? The Black Knight.”
I spread my arms wide open, clearly showing my black armour.
“One and only.”
The man scoffs as he reaches into his jacket, taking out a light brown pouch, slightly shaking it. The metallic clanking of coins hitting each other echoes through the
tavern. He slightly stands up from his wooden chair, leaning forward, placing the sack of coins before me.
“I require… Your services, hunter.”
I tilt my head downwards, like I’m looking at the bag, while keeping my eyes on the man. Through the mask, one cannot tell where my eyes are. Well, not like they can tell much of my face regardless, but hiding your eyes at the expense of slightly worse vision is indeed a good deal. While I keep my sight on the man, I slowly loosen the silk, keeping the pouch’s mouth shut, opening the bag. Inside it lay a good handful of gold coins. I take out one of them and raise my head, looking both at the coin and the man. I finally fold the coin into my palm, closing it. I put the coin back in the bag, sealing it shut once again.
“What do you ask of me?”
The man slowly taps the fingers of his right hand on the table.
“I need you to get rid of some pain for me.”
“Go on.”
The slim waitress walks up to our table. He puts a wooden cup before the man, filling it with red wine. The man raises his cup to his lips and takes a few sips. His face twists as he lets out a revolting sound.
“Eugh.”
He then puts the cup down, looking back at me.
“Disgusting. Back to our business, shall we?”
With his hand, he points at the sack of coins.
“I need you to help me cut off some nuisance. My son has a terrible taste in women. So much so that he fell in love with a revolting being. A lower-class woman, an
adventurer at that!”
His right hand forms into a fist, which he soon uses to hit the table, causing the wooden cup to fall over and spill the small amount of wine left in it. The man lets out a small sigh as he takes out a silver coin. He looks at the waitress who comes over to clean up the mess, locking eyes. He then sets the cup onto its feet and throws the silver coin into it, before looking back at me and putting a hand on his forehead, using the table to rest his hand.
“Under older circumstances, I would care not for his love life. Sadly, it is no longer the old circumstances. I need you to go, kill her.”
He quickly shoots a glance at the gold before me, before returning his gaze.
“That is your first pay. Kill her and you will receive the rest of your money. Scaring her away is not optional.”
He presses his index finger firmly on the wooden table, causing it to tilt a bit in his direction.
“I’m tired of his insistence on a “normal” life. There is a need for people to run things, and he is actively giving those people a bad name with his acting. Do you accept
Itt or not?”
I glance down at the coins.
“I don’t condone murder…”
With that, I extend my left hand towards the sack, keeping my right hand on the grip of my sword.
“I’m just uncomfortable with gold on my table…”
With that, I put the sack away in my small leather small-bag. The man before lets out a small sigh of relief as he takes his hand off the table.
“She is a blond woman. Early twenties. Supposedly knows how to cast some ice spells. Nothing, I would expect you to give trouble. Too… Too many loose ropes, nobody likes things left up to blind fate. Just bide your time and do it once she is alone. If the need arises, you are free to… Well. Free to “accidentally” do some
collateral damage.”
He gives me a wink. I give him a small nod.
“Anything else I should know?”
“Hm…”
The man thinks to himself before taking up a more serious posture, putting his hands and fingers together.
“You see. There is a more elegant reason why I sought out your services, assassin.”
I can safely roll my eyes at the word “assassin” as the mask hides my face. He continues.
“My son’s lover has decided to go on an adventure. Not far, around an hour of walking. It would be fine, had she not chosen the Grey Cave…”
I can’t help but form a firmer grip on my sword. The Grey Cave. A set of caves, hollow tunnels, and an endless pit in general. The cave is not dangerous, but it has its own set of dangerous tendencies. The biggest problem is in the hands of the Silver Clan, who are not kind to people they didn’t invite… Or the people that refused to pay them. The monsters there are not the worst thing.
“And you felt no need to tell this beforehand?”
The man smiles nervously.
“Sir Corvin, heh.”
He extends a hand for a handshake. Quite awkward since one should stand during a handshake, especially a lord such as himself. But whatever. I take his hand and shake it.
“The Black Knight.”
Corvin’s awkward smile grows. He seems to have expected a name exchange or at least my first name. Unluckily for him, trading your name in a field such as this is… Not necessarily wise. Corvin reluctantly continues.
“I did not really think it was that important to mention. “
I can’t help but glare at him. He realises his mistake, but remains collected and calm.
“Very well. She did not go alone. A good 30-40 people went along.”
“Well. That is certainly a handful.”
“Aren’t you the best in the region?”
I look upwards, at the ceiling, seeing if the answer to life’s greatest questions may be written there. As no such thing is there, I look back down. Corvin reaches back into his pocket, taking out another small purse. This time, he throws it in front of me, like a butcher does with bones to dogs. I slowly extend my hand, putting the coins away.
“Satisfied?”
He asks, leaning back in his chair.
“Yes.”
“Good. Get to work. Liberate me from this… Pest.”
Corvin stands up, walking out the door. The innkeeper grunts under his breath as he speaks with our waitress. Nothing can be made out of their conversation; they don’t raise their voice, most likely on purpose. I’m left with the thought process of: How in God’s green fuck am I gonna kill a girl surrounded by 30 other people? I could just take the money…
I quickly glance at my pack with the two pouches of gold coins. Bagh. It takes years to build a reputation and a single move to ruin it. If I run with my tail between my legs, I’ll never wash it off. Words spread fast, faster behind the backs of authority. I could hand the gold back, refuse the task, but that would be even worse. Stealing is one thing, cowardice is another.
I stand up, throwing a gold coin onto the table. The innkeeper looks at it from his place as the waitress comes and takes it. I nod at him, and he nods back. I turn to walk out of the building, pushing the wooden door open. Outside, crickets chirp and the wind slowly howls. Birds have long gone to sleep, not much to see outside. I glance around, my eyes scanning for any danger, but there is none of it. I begin to walk the dirt road leading to the Grey Cave. An idiotic motion to go there. Whatever you may find there is not worth the time it takes to get them out. Adding the moderate danger and the money needed to… Lubricate the right people to let you in, and it is a really expensive action.
After around fifteen minutes, I arrive at the cave. There are, weirdly, no guards. This place, at least the entrance, usually holds guards. “Guard” is a kind term; they are mercenaries. Soft to blows, but also cheap to replace for those who actually own this cave. But now, there is no one. The torches burning at both sides of the entrance of the cave are unguarded. With that many people going in, perhaps they asked for some guides?
I place my left hand on my sword and slowly and silently unsheathe it. With my other hand, I remove the lower part of my mask, freeing my mouth. I take out my canteen and remove its cap. I take a few sips of water before putting the cap back on and reading myself. With a quick click, the face armour is united once again on my face. I slowly make my way towards the mouth of the cave. An endless void, even with the bright torches fighting with all their might to illuminate the area. I stop at one of the torches, reaching my hand out to it. I have to pull and twist it a bit to give in, but after a few seconds, it comes off the wall, breaking the small piece of metal in the shape of a circle that was made to hold it in place. The circle lands without sound into the grassy ground beneath my feet, only to be most likely to be
forgotten and hidden for decades to come.
I take my entry into the cave and begin walking. The cave is wide enough for six or seven people to comfortably stand side by side. There are torches here and there. Some are lit, some are not, some seem to have been broken off, as if someone tried taking one off in a hurry. I stop for a second and kneel to one of the already extinguished ones. I poke the charred cloth-wood with my fingers. It is still moderately warm, so it didn’t happen hours or days ago.
“Hm.”
This is all the sound I can make before I stand up and continue the walk. Something is… Off. For a party that size, there is a great amount of silence. I’ve been to larger parties, but this is something else. No guards, to top this wonderful, many-layered cake of mystery. Gradually, the cave becomes brighter and brighter. From what I have heard, I’m reaching the middle of the cave. As I do, my steps, accompanied by the cracking of the flames of the torch, gain a new friend: A heavy-hitting sound. Finally, I walk into the area. They consider it the middle part of the cave system. It is a large place, a good few houses wide and tall. Its top has a dome shape, where the light comes from, from where exactly, beats me.
The place was… Not what I was expecting. The details were correct, but for some reason, they never mentioned a pile of corpses scattered around the place… Suppose now I know why there were no guards. The dead range a lot. From age, to equipment, to the level at which they can even be recognised. Guess being a pile of red stain will make burying them a bit hard.
I also once again hear the hitting sound from before, this time it's accompanied by a loud “Agghhh”. I turn my head to see a knight in expensive armour. His helmet is missing, so I can clearly see his brown hair and white skin. That is the smaller details, but my eyes immediately freeze as I realise what he is hitting. Dark purple scales, long tail, two sets of wings. My God, is that- No. No, no. I’m simply mistaken. Wrong. Incorrect. My peasant background must mean I’m unaware of something that looks similar to a dragon. Of course, naturally. It’s not like it's huge, like the old legends said they are, it's small… As small as dragons get. The knight raises a mace, hitting the dragon’s face, sending it to the ground. It breathes heavily, trying to slowly back away. He raises his mace again, slamming it down, which knocks the dragon off its feet, causing it to fall. It tries to raise its head, but it quickly falls back onto the ground.
The knight lets go of his almost broken mace, picking up a claymore off a dead comrade. As he does, he catches a glimpse of me. His lips twitch as he glares at me.
“Wh… Who are you?”
He strengthens his grip on the sword.
“I thought all of t- DID YOU RUN AND HIDE?!?!”
I open my mouth to speak, but from the corner of my eye, I notice a girl. Blonde, early twenties. Dead. Good, good, less work. I turn to leave, as my job here is done. As much as I would love to take a piece of that dragon’s scales, claws, and bones, I think I might be lacking the equipment for that.
As I walk, I begin to hear running behind me. I turn, only to be met by the knight, having raised his great sword above his head and run up to me while I wasn’t looking. I reach for my sword, but before I could even get halfway, he already strikes. A loud metal shattering fills the room. I stop and slowly blink. The sword has shattered into two. The lower part, still in the knight’s hand, who glares at it, is confused and scared. The other, upper part, was stuck in my metal face cover. I slowly reach my face and grab the blade that has been almost lodged into my face. I have to wiggle and carefully pull, but it comes out easily. Running my hand on the blade and feeling it, it is a cheap one. One of those you get for 18 or fewer copper coins at the weekend sale, barely outside of the town. I let go of the blade, and it falls
onto the ground with a “Ding” sound. I walk up to the knight, who is still in shock. I place my left hand on his left shoulder.
“Mistakes were made on both ends.”
With that, I turn my right hand, allowing a small dagger to draw. With a single move, faster than he could blink, I stab his neck and retract my blade. He drops the sword and puts both of his hands on his punctured throat, falling onto his knees. I can hear a squeaking sound as air enters the freshly made hole with each of his breaths. His legs twitch as he rolls around and opens his mouth to scream, but nothing comes out. I turn toward the dragon. Seems like it used up all of its strength. I could try, but I’m not paid for this… But the reward would be most grand.
I turn my body, fully glaring at the being. Could my sword even penetrate its scales? It’s a fine sword and all, but from what I recall, it takes a lot more than that to pierce a scale. Blunt objects would do better, like a hammer. Maybe one of the-
I turn my head towards the way I came, the entrance path. My ears slowly begin to pick up footsteps, heavy footsteps. After a few seconds, three men come into view- Corvin with two heavily armoured knights by his side. They immediately stop as they see the sight. Corvin’s face slowly morphs into a shocked expression. Eyes wide open, mouth slightly open. The knights, on the other hand, remain statue-like, unmoving and expressionless. Where one would gag and look away, they look at the dead like it was just a casual walk in the night. One of them turns to the other and whispers something to him, causing the other to look down, close his eyes, and try his best not to smile.
Corvin finally spins out of his shock, his lips shaking.
“What… WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!”
I turn to look at the dragon, confused. It’s gone… The fucking lizard is gone. I turn my head back towards Corvin. He is glaring through me at something behind me. I turn my head and look. The knight from before. I can see his eyes from here. Empty. Life has left his body, and he is no more.
“S… Son.”
Corvin’s voice cracks as he speaks. He closes both of his eyes and takes a few steps back, using the cave wall to hold himself up, barely keeping himself from collapsing.
“Kill him.”
That is the only thing that leaves his mouth. The knights shrug, unsheathing their swords. I take a few steps back. As I do, more knights come into view, five or six, hard to tell. They look at Corvin, then at the advancing knights, and then they unsheathe their swords too. Two of them are crossbow men, and they aim. I turn around and make a mad dash towards the cave system, leading deeper into the cave. I hear the two crossbow men fire, both missing. The others rush after me, but I manage to keep my distance and run deeper and deeper. Taking random paths with each split, I manage to lose them. I stop to take a few breaths, taking out my water flask to drink. I once again remove my face cover and drink.
The water is cool, hitting just the right spots after such a chase. I put the flask away and put my face cover back. I sit down on a stone and begin to breathe. This, this was not the plan, far, far from that. This was supposed to be a moderately challenging kill and go mission, not… This. With that, a stone crumbles behind me. I stand
I
up and reach for my sword, but a crossbow bolt flies above my head.
“Fuck. GET HIM!”
The crossbow man screams. I turn to run again, only to be hit by a crossbow shot in the back of my right foot. It causes me to stumble and fall at the edge of a cliff. I look down, and below me is a running river. I look back at my enemies. They are rushing forward, and the crossbow man is busy reloading. I take a deep breath and roll over, off the cliff. The fall is like an eternal torment. I can feel each second. Each blinking. Each breath. And then I fall in. The cold water immediately invaded my
armour and skin. After that, there is nothing.
……
My eyes burst open as I lay on my stomach. I begin to cough and am forced to almost rip my mask off, so I can get air, while I cough up water. I can feel my eyes slowly let out tears, which mix with the cold water of the river. I look around. Nothing. Nothing around here is really visible due to the darkness. I reach down to my shod leg, slowly running my hands over my feet. The arrow bolt has broken off, but only the part that was sticking out. I can feel the painful injury. I can feel blood, I can feel the inflation and the warmth, even after having been in such cold water for a bit. I try to stand up, only to immediately collapse and fall back down. My leg burns with pain, and I’m out of energy. I slowly glare at the never-ending darkness. My eyes do their best to adjust, but that only gains me a few inches of visibility. I try to reach out for my bag, but it is nowhere near. It was most likely lost in the water.
As I glare, I slowly close my eyes. I had an alright run, nothing to cry over. Now it is just a matter of whether I pass on to my afterlife from freezing to death or from the injury. Then again… I die here. After all of my life, twenty years of work, all gone. At least the last five years of my life were… Acceptable. Mother dead at eight, father at fifteen… God really dealt me bad cards.
As I lay there, accepting my fate, a soft light slowly hit my eyes through my closed eyelids. I slowly open them, only to be met by two tall men in hoods and cloaks. One of them has his right hand extended, from which a soft ball of fire burns, slightly above his palm. They look at each other and nod, before the man who was doing nothing until now crouches down to me, extending his left hand and putting it on my forehead. With that, my head falls on the soft moss of the ground, as my eyes are once again covered by my heavy eyelids.
……
After a while, my eyes once again slowly open. I blink a few times, adjusting to the moderate light of the room. I lean up, examining the place. I’m sitting in a comfortable, wide, and unorthodoxly long bed. The room is white, with a hint of pink coating the walls, along with jewels, golden engravings, and God knows what else. In the far right of the room lies a large wooden wardrobe, with a large window next to it being hidden by a set of silk curtains. As I glare, I snap back to reality and quickly throw bright green blankets off myself. My foot is healed. Not just with bandages or such, but the injury is gone. Nowhere to be found, as if it never existed. I slowly get out of bed, my ears picking up a conversation behind a great wooden door, separating the bedroom from the outside world. I hear a male voice, a rough one.
“So, is the vermin awake?”
It’s followed by another voice, more gentle and playful.
“Ohhhh~? Is someone in a bad moooood~?”
The other man scoffs.
“No. I simply see no point in Father sending us to fetch this insect. We could have spent that time doing other things, much, much more useful things.”
“I see. Somebody is jealous that someone is getting his excellency's attention~.”
My ears begin to pick up what sounds like soft purring.
“Bah! You are living in your own world.”
With that, the door’s handler turns, and the door opens. Through it walks a large dragon in humanoid form. He wears a set of light brown noble clothes, which hide most of his dark blue scales. He looks at me, his eyes glaring with disgust. He waits for his comrade to walk in. A noticeably shorter feline anthro. He is around the same height as me, slightly taller, but not outrageously like the dragon is. His purring stops for a second before resuming, even more loudly.
“Ahhh~ I see you have awakened.”
The dragon, face emotionless, walks out of the room, speaking only while he passes behind the cat.
“Sadly.”
With that, he left the two of us alone in the room. The cat smiles as he puts his right hand on his heart and bows.
“My name is Wurmser. It is of the highest honour to be in your presence.”
He then straightens himself. His brown eyes shoot at me like a set of knives.
“I do hope you have found our accommodations highly pleasing.”
He moves his left hand, motioning from one corner of the room to another. I try to find the most elegant-sounding words, with little success.
“Uhm, y-yes. They are acceptable.”
The cat slightly raises his left eyebrow, his whiskers slightly twitching.
“I’m satisfied to hear that you found our guest room fine. I have been sent to give you these.”
He snaps his fingers, making a servant come into the room and hand me a set of fresh clothes.
“Your old rags were ill-fitting for such a situation. I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty to note your body details~.”
I glance down at the clothes, doing my best to ignore his comment. They are a set of black clothes, made out of soft silk, and have small engravings of flowers, stars, and birds. I look back up at Wurmser, whose tail slowly runs from left to right. He gives me a small smile as he takes a few steps back, allowing me to change. He runs his eyes over the room before turning back to me once I finish.
“Please follow me.”
“Hold on, I have some questions first.”
“Oh, I’m sure you do~. Sadly, no time for that.”
With that, he motions, slightly more forcefully, for me to follow him. Between him politely asking and him dragging me, the choice is not difficult to make. The two of us begin to walk, side by side.
“May I ask a few questions?”
Wurmser doesn’t turn his head towards me, but his mouth turns to a tiny, barely noticeable smile.
“Of course~.”
“Where am I?”
“In his majesty’s home. Mansion of the king of kings. God of all of the Earth.”
I wait for him to finish. He throws around a few other fancy titles. Some sound like what children would come up with while playing, trying to one-up each other.
“He is the most merciful, Ambrius. King of dragonkind.”
Well, that explains a few things. Wurmser elegantly spins towards my direction and stops.
“You, little fragile porcelain of a being, have earned his attention.”
With that, he runs his fingers across my chest.
“So weak. So easy to bend~.”
He quickly retracks his hands as he catches himself. He shoots me another smile before tilting his head towards a great wooden door, engraved with gold and jewellery.
“You know, I always felt that it was a bit underwhelming. What do you think?”
With that, he walks up to the door, but before he could get too close, two heavily armoured guards walk out. They are much taller than he and, well, a lot more armed. One of the guards raises his arm to stop Wurmser from going closer.
“Wurmser, his excellency did not order your presence.”
“Ohhhh, but he has~.”
The guard looks at me, then at Wurmser. The guard's grip on his weapon tightens as he glares. The other guard takes over the role of speaking.
“Very well.”
He then slightly leans forward, firmly pushing his right hand’s index finger into Wurmser’s chest.
“Keep this worm on a tight leash or I will.”
Wurmser just rolls his eyes, which noticeably irritates the two guards, but other than a grunt of disapproval, they say or do nothing. With that, one of them pushes the door open, allowing us to walk through. As I pass by, the guards say something under their breath. The room is a throne hall. The way leading up to the golden throne is decorated by grand marble pillars, and the windows are decorated with stained glass. From flowers to birds to trees, a single piece of this room could most likely be enough to feed a whole family for the rest of their lives, if sold.
On the throne sits a humanoid dragon. His scales are light blue, his clothes are adorned with jewels, and on his head lies a crown, with a huge, pure diamond in the middle, easily the size of my fist. He is not looking at us, as he has his eyes closed, reaching over to a bowl full of grape clusters of all colours. He reaches over, grabbing one. He raises his head and simply lets the grape fall into his mouth, swallowing without chewing. Wurmser forms a fist with his left hand, putting it to his mouth and fake coughing. This catches the king’s attention.
“Wurmser.”
“Your excellency.”
He takes a step away, making me clearly visible.
“As your orders mandated.”
The dragon slowly taps his fingers on his throne’s armrests, glaring at me, almost into my soul. He then snaps his fingers, causing one of the guards to come in.
“Get me my children.”
The guard bows and leaves. While the door remains open, through that split second, a male human servant enters with two horns at his forehead, poking towards the sky. Suppose he is not as human…
He has a fine, silver plate in his right hand, with many bottles of alcohol on it. He has his left hand behind his back, forming a fist. As he walks past Wurmser, he uses his tail to grab a bottle off the plate. He quickly removes the cork and begins downing the battle. The servant places the plate on a table and begins to walk out. As he passes Wurmser, he exclaims,
“Alcoholic.”
Wurmser just shoots a quick glare before returning to his bottle of joy. With that, the door opens and closes.
“Crown Prince. Her Highness.”
I turn and see two dragons. If one wasn’t enough, let’s hope three is. Wurmser finishes the bottle and puts it on another table, taking a few but quick steps away from it. As the two dragons pass by, he bows, but it is clear that he only does it out of formality, and the bow lacks the precision or length he gave to the king. After they finally get far enough from him, he walks back to me.
“This will be a show, I’ll tell you that much.”
“A good or bad one?”
He shoots me a smile.
“I’ll leave it to the guest’s discretion.”
Even from here, I can smell the strong wine breath he has, causing my nose to twitch. We both turn back towards the throne, where a conversation is going on between the family members, sadly too silent for me to hear. Finally, all three turn towards us, and the king speaks.
“You're the one who saved my daughter. Correct?”
The female dragon puts a hand on her face, looking away, and her eyes fail to hide embarrassment, with a mix of hate. She crosses her arms, her dark, black scales reflecting the light of the room.
“Ugh, Y-yes.”
He seems unfazed by it, before shooting a quick glare at his daughter.
“We would like to apologise. Our action was ill-fitting for dragons, and my daughter had no right or orders to be there and kill. We once again wish to apologise.”
She turns back to face her father.
“I did what had to be done! How long will we tolerate their invasion?! Answer me!”
Her voice echoes through the room, causing one of the guards to peek inside. The brother just quickly shoots the guard a toothy grin, causing him to retreat. With that, the king sighs.
“Lilith. My dear. You know that we are better off like this. Keeping to ourselves avoids conflicts. Conflicts that would draw blood. Too much blood. When will you see that this is a better alternative than anything else?”
Lilith whispers under her breath.
“You will never understand, Ambrius.”
With that, the two of them look back at me.
“I wish to extend my warmest thanks for saving and sparing her. We have seen the aftermath; We believe you are due some compensation.”
At the word “Compensation,” both children’s eyes shot wide open. The dark blue scaled one step forward, drawing his claws.
“I’ll give you compensation, here it is.”
He raises his hand, ready to strike, but Wurmser casually walks between us, smile still on his face.
“Out of my way, cat!”
He spits the word “cat” with hate and venom. I take a few steps back, ensuring a safe distance between me and him.
“Lucian, my dear. I advise you to stand down.”
Smile still on his face, but with a different meaning, like the bow before, lacking respect. As if he were daring Lucian to attack. Wurmser then slowly tilts his head towards the left, looking behind Lucian, towards King Ambrius.
“Son. Stand down.”
“Bu-”
“I’m not asking again.”
After he said that, Ambrius slightly leaned forward in his throne and formed a fist with his left hand, which he raised. Lucian glares back at Wurmser, then at me, finally turning back towards his father, walking back to him like an obedient dog that has just been scolded. Soon after, a servant comes in, the same horned one from before, carrying a large sack in his right hand. He places it down before me, and with that, the bag falls to its side with a metallic sound. I kneel and open the mouth; Gold coins. I look up at Ambrius, who gives me a soft smile and nods.
“I also have another gift, which I hope you will accept with grace.”
Everyone turns towards him with confusion, and even Wurmser raises his eyebrows slightly.
“I have been thinking…”
He stands up from his throne, taking his grand crown off his head and placing it on the throne, before walking past his children, up to me. He is even taller than I expected, around 8 feet at the very conservative, low end. He looks back at Lilith.
“Lilith, my child. Come here.”
Lilith’s deep orange irises are filled with confusion, but she reluctantly walks over. We glare into each other’s eyes. Her deep red pupils, just like his father’s eyes, glare into my soul. Ambrius finally speaks, breaking up the silence.
“My child. It is high time you learn that humanity is not our enemy and that what you have done today is unacceptable.”
She noticeably rolls her eyes at that. Ambrius’s expression becomes more serious.
“Just because we are immortal, it doesn’t mean we can act like this. Our immortality is but a grain of sand in the desert of time. After 436 years, I thought you would see reason. Suppose you took after your mother in that regard…”
There is a brief second of silence, a calm before the storm type of tense time, ready to erupt at any given signal.
“That is why I think it is high time you got married. After much consideration, I think this human would be the best candidate.”
As if a fine porcelain was dropped, every glare at Ambrius.
“WHAT?!?”
“D-Dad?”
“Your excellency?”
I’m left with no words to choose from. My mind tries to think, but my mouth refuses to follow. Ambrius, ignoring everyone else, takes another step towards me, almost knocking Wurmser off his feet. He then extends his right hand for a handshake.
“Do you accept, mortal?”