Realm of Monsters

Chapter 595: Dinner with the Katags Part 2

  “I can arrange a meeting,” said Stryg.

  “You can?” Krall smiled, undeterred.

  “Really? Just like that?” asked Evelyn skeptically.

  “Well, Melantha is my sister, so yeah, I guess I can.”

  Evelyn and Krall glanced at each other and shared an unconvinced look.

  “Are you suggesting that you are the son of Stjerne?” Krall chuckled forcefully. He was giving Stryg a chance to explain and correct himself, but when Stryg showed no sign of doing so, he turned to his wife.

  Evelyn pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “If anything you have said is in fact true, then are you perhaps saying that you and Melantha the Saintess share a birth mother?”

  “No, Melantha’s mother was a human as far as I know. Stjerne is our father. …It feels weird when I say it out loud. Stjerne is my— father,” Stryg repeated the last word, tasting the sound of it on his tongue, oblivious to the odd looks Evelyn and Krall were giving him.

  Evelyn glanced at her daughter disapprovingly. “I think these games have gone on long enough. What are you two getting at? Spit it out.”

  But before Tauri could say anything a servant had returned. “Are we ready to order?”

  “Yes,” Stryg said casually and grabbed the offered menu. He glanced at it briefly and pointed at every venison dish. Tauri only ordered a bottle of wine, stating she had little appetite. Evelyn and Krall ordered as well, though the former seemed rather impatient.

  Once the servant had left, Evelyn spoke up. “We have indulged you two enough with your antics—”

  “Stryg is telling the truth,” Tauri whispered.

  Evelyn frowned. “What was that?” she said in an icy tone, daring her daughter to continue.

  “I said, Stryg is telling the truth. I don’t expect either of you two to believe him, I didn’t at first. In fact, I asked him to prove it to me through various methods. He couldn’t.”

  “Obviously,” said Evelyn dryly.

  “It’s not as easy as it sounds,” Stryg muttered.

  Tauri’s lips curled into a smirk. “Which is why, I looked for a way that you could. It took a while, I wracked my mind trying to figure it out, but it wasn’t until I spoke with Holo that I figured it out.”

  Evelyn cocked her eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Are you seriously trying to tell us that the goblin hybrid sitting next to you is in fact a god?”

  “Or a demigod. And I can prove it.” Tauri glanced at Krall, “Dad. Our House has worshiped the goddess of war, Bellum, for centuries, yes?”

  “As any respectable Martial House would,” he replied.

  “Right. And growing up, you used to tell me stories about Bellum.”

  Krall smiled at the memory. “You and your brothers and sisters used to sit with me next to the fire. You always wanted to sit on my lap.”

  “Do you remember what Niko’s favorite story was?”

  “How could I forget? The Serpent of the Ebon Depths.”

  Tauri nodded. “An old sea serpent was terrorizing an island deep in the heart of the Ebon Sea. The villagers prayed to Bellum to save them and one day, when the serpent attacked their port, Bellum appeared. She fought with the creature all night and by sunrise, she had slain it.”

  “The goddess sliced the serpent’s head off with her sword wreathed in black flames. After its death the village was free,” said Krall approvingly.

  “Right, Bellum killed the serpent, but it wasn’t easy for her. It was an old serpent from a past age.”

  “The largest serpent in the Ebon Realm, though from the legends I’ve heard, it was small compared to some of the sea serpents in the Azure Realm,” added Krall, almost as if an afterthought.

  “What does any of this have to do with Stryg’s supposed divinity?” asked Evelyn impatiently.

  “The serpent was powerful. Old. Bellum slew it, but not before sustaining her own injuries. Dad, you told me that when she cut the serpent’s head off, its bright red blood fell into the ocean, as did her own blood, dark and purple as deep as—”

  “—As the sea, yes. I remember.”

  “Bellum’s blood wasn’t red like ours.”

  “A god is not mortal. Why should their blood be like ours?” said Krall.

  “Exactly! Stryg, give me your hand,” said Tauri.

  Stryg furrowed his brow, “Um, Tauri?”

  “Just do it,” she whispered.

  “This should be interesting,” Evelyn smiled.

  Stryg glanced at his lover, uncertain of what to say, so instead, he simply put his arm on the table, palm face-up. Everyone here had seen him battle Sylvie during the finals of the Undergrowth Tourney. They had all seen him bleed red. He was the son of Stjerne but that didn’t mean he bled like him.

  Tauri ignored his anxious look and grabbed the knife on the table, before slicing it across his palm. Or at least, she tried to. A faint welt, a shade darker than his blue skin, appeared over his palm, but there was no cut. Evelyn and Krall gave her an odd look. 

  “His skin’s gotten tougher than I remember,” Tauri laughed awkwardly. “Stryg, let me see your other hand.”

  He reluctantly lifted his right hand and offered it to her. Tauri grabbed his forefinger and pressed the claw down hard onto his left palm until the skin broke. She slowly and painfully ran the foreclaw across his palm, leaving a thin but bloody line.

  “Ow,” said Stryg.

  Tauri’s parents stared at his hand, Krall somewhat pitifully, Evelyn clearly annoyed. Then their expressions suddenly changed into confusion. They leaned across the table, their eyebrows wrinkling at the sight. Stryg glanced down and to his own surprise, he saw his own blood; it was almost black, but in the candle light one could clearly make out the tones of deep purple.

  “Dear gods,” Krall whispered.

  “It’s not— possible,” Evelyn mumbled.

  Tauri dipped her finger in the blood and rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger. “Now, does that seem ‘mortal’ to you?” She showed her bloody fingers to her parents.

  “It must be some sort of trick. An elixir or something…” said Evelyn, though there wasn’t much strength in her words. 

  As she spoke, the dark blood on Stryg’s palm slowly trickled back into the cut, before the wound knitted itself back together in front of their eyes. After a few moments, there was nothing left, only unblemished soft blue skin.

  Tauri poked Stryg’s hand. “Oh, look at that. I don’t know of any elixir that can mimic powerful White healing spells of elemental life magic. Actually, I don’t know of any healing magic that reabsorbs lost blood either.”

  “How…?” asked Evelyn, with a tremble in her voice.

  Tauri smiled smugly. “Dad already told you. ‘A god is not mortal. Why should their blood be like ours?’” 

  Evelyn said nothing and only stared at Stryg, a trace of fear in her eyes.

  “It is an honor to have you in our presence, son of Stjerne,” Krall said meekly and bowed his head.

  Stryg didn’t know how to answer that. He didn’t even know why his blood was purple. Since when had that been? And though he knew he healed faster than most, this level of healing was unbelievable. The only time his body had healed anywhere remotely as fast was when he had fought the—

  “—The dragonbane,” he whispered.

  “I’m sorry, what was that?” Krall hurriedly asked.

  “Oh, nothing.” Stryg glanced at Tauri, who was still bathing in her triumph over her mother. “Um, I came here tonight to discuss my relationship with your daughter and the incident the other night at your home.” He bowed his head, “I am sorry for the trouble I caused. I wasn’t exactly myself.”

  Krall raised his hands and shook his head frantically. “No, the fault was ours, please think nothing of it. I was trying to teach my heir how to handle unexpected situations. I should have stopped him before things got out of hand.”

  Evelyn nodded and swallowed hard, “Yes. My husband is correct. House Katag takes full responsibility for that night. We would not dare blame you for such a thing.”

  “Right…” said Stryg slowly. “Well, as to my relationship with Tauri; I know you think she lied to you about us, but she never did. We only began sleeping with each other after we left Undergrowth.”

  Tauri snapped back into reality at his words and blushed in mortification. “Stryg, don’t say that to my parents.”

  “Why? It’s the truth,” he replied.

  “That doesn’t matter,” she hissed. “You don’t talk about those kinds of things in front of your parents.”

  “What? Sex?” Stryg cocked his head to the side. “They’re not children, they had sex to have you. Literally half the Night District is dedicated to men and women offering sex for coin, but talking about sex itself is somehow problematic? Your people are weird about the strangest things.”

  “That’s because they’re differe— Ow!” Tauri winced as her mother reached over the table and slapped her across the head.

  “Please, ignore my daughter’s ignorance. Cultures are different, but ours must seem quite barbaric to the culture of the gods. Only a fool,” Evelyn glared pointedly at her daughter, “Would dare tell a god what is and what is not forbidden to say, lest they wish to be smited off the face of the Realm.”

  “Mom, that’s not what Stryg meant—”

  “Be quiet. Who are we to judge how gods view the world?” said Evelyn.

  Krall nodded. “Indeed.” 

  Stryg didn’t really understand what they were getting at, but they seemed amicable enough, at least more so than a few minutes ago. “I mean no disrespect, but I was hoping you could annul my engagement to Elena and accept my counter-proposal to marry Tauri instead.”

  “None taken,” said Krall hastily. “We came here tonight with such an intention.”

  “Really?” Tauri asked, surprised.

  “Your father believed it was the best course forward, for both our Houses,” replied Evelyn. She stopped and looked at Stryg uncertainly, “Forgive me if I am being disrespectful, but are you actually a part of House Veres or simply their patron?”

  “Patron?” Stryg asked.

  “Their patron deity,” she clarified.

  “Oh, no. My mother is a Veres. I am Stryga Veres’ heir by blood.”

  “Then you are young? Not an ancient deity?”

  “I’m almost 21. Among the Sylvan I am considered an adult,” he said proudly, but then his expression turned sour. “Lunae and my sisters call me a baby, it is— annoying.”

  Evelyn held her hand under her chin and narrowed her eyes in thought. “I suppose it makes sense, gods are ancient. To them, you must seem like a ba— Ahem. Young.” 

  “I have so many questions,” said Krall.

  Stryg sighed. “So do I.” 

  “We’d be grateful for whatever answers you could give us,” said Evelyn.

  “I’ll answer what I can.”

  Evelyn and Krall shared a look before the former spoke up, “I suppose the most important question is as an Ebon Aspirant and demigod, do you intend to become the god-king of Hollow Shade?”

  Stryg blinked. “God-king?”

  “Because if so, House Katag will gladly pledge their allegiance to the cause,” added Krall.

  “I never really thought about it,” Stryg admitted.

  “We were already prepared to support you through our alliance, but your divine blood changes everything,” Evelyn muttered. “A new god of the Ebon Pantheon has been born.”

  “I’m not part of the pantheon—”

  “A god who is an Ebon Lord and the War Master of the Sylvan. How many Houses would pledge their allegiance to such a being? The one who would lead the Realm to a new age. Hollow’s Shade would rise in power. Even the other Great Cities would bow to such power.” Evelyn was beginning to understand why Elise Veres had decided to support Stryg instead of trying to usurp him. He wasn’t an obstacle in her way, he was the path towards power.

  “I don’t intend to reveal my heritage to others,” said Stryg.

  “Of course, not until the time is right,” Evelyn said understandingly. “Do not worry, my lord. We would never reveal your secrets.”

  Stryg wanted to say more but then the food arrived and his stomach rumbled as he lost himself in the delicious scent of venison.