Chapter 287: Monsters & Pie

Tauri stared at the blue goblin, “Whenever I look at you I just see another arrogant prodigy going through the academy… I sometimes forget what you were like when you first arrived. How much you had to go through… I wouldn’t haven’t been able to do it.”

Stryg stayed quiet, his mind filled with memories of the past three years. So much of it seemed like a blur now.

Tauri chuckled to herself, “You were so small, so unsure of yourself. Sometimes I wonder, what changed? What happened to that timid goblin boy?”

Stryg unconsciously clenched his chest where a spear had once been, “He lost what mattered most.”

Tauri blanched with embarrassment.

Stryg noticed her shame and for some odd reason, he felt a small pang of empathy for the orc whom he had resented.

Stryg shrugged his tense shoulders and grinned wryly, “I always thought of you as that annoying orc teacher who was friends with my master… I guess I sometimes forget there is a person beneath that irritating face.”

Tauri looked at him oddly for a moment, then she broke into a half-hearted smile, “Is that so…?”

“...Mm…” Stryg reached out and grabbed another loaf of bread to munch on.

Tauri bit her bottom lip and stared down at the kitchen countertop, “...I really am sorry… for what happened at Widow’s Crag… for the death of your classmate Clypeus Gale.”

“He was more than my classmate… he was my brother,” Stryg glared at her.

“...I know… I just… I never meant for anyone to get hurt that night. None of us did… ” Tauri sighed. “I know that doesn’t change what happened… I was so angry that night, I thought we had a chance to kill the man who took Aizel from us… I encouraged Loh to go chase after the warlord Marek after we thought the students were safe…”

Tauri clenched her trembling hands tight and spoke with a shaky voice, “In my blind desire for revenge I placed the death of a terrible man over the lives of my innocent students.” Tauri looked up at him, tears in her eyes, “I failed you as a teacher, as a mage of Hollow Shade, and as a Katag. My job was to protect and I failed… I failed all of you… and I’ll regret that for the rest of my life.”

Tauri placed her hands and forehead on the countertop and bowed to Stryg, “I know you’ll never forgive me and I know I’m in no position to ask anything of you… but please, do not let your resentment for me bleed into your marriage with my sister. Elena is innocent, she is a good person who deserves more than to reap the burdens of my mistakes.”

Stryg sighed and placed his half-eaten bread aside, “...I don’t know your sister, I don’t know if she is a ‘good person.’ But I do know what revenge tastes like; to be consumed by it so completely that nothing else matters. Every time I think of that night on Widow’s Crag I can hardly feel anything else but rage… Loh and the rest of you thought the students were safe and you took a gamble you never should have. But if I had a chance to kill Clypeus’ killer… I honestly don’t know if I would have acted any differently.”

Tauri slowly looked up, a glint of confusion in her amber eyes.

Stryg chuckled glumly, “That’s just it. I hated what you did, but I understand why you did it.” His face darkened with anger. He paused and took a painful shivering breath, “But I don’t understand why you all lied to me about it. Why did you let me think it was all my fault? You let me believe it was my fault! Why!?”

Tauri licked her lips and swallowed hard, “It was an order from Lord Noir.”

“...What?” Stryg frowned.

“If House Veres and House Gale were to find out that we had failed to protect Clypeus, one of their own, then they wouldn’t have believed anything we would have said, no matter the reasoning. Vayu, Loh, and I were on that escort team. We’re all scions of one of the Seven Families. House Veres would have thought Clypeus’ death had been on purpose. Lord Noir thought it best if a student was blamed instead, a student he could protect without raising any suspicions, and without inciting infighting among the Seven. And after the other students thought you had led them to the wrong cliff…” Tauri looked at him with shame, “You were the best candidate.”

Stryg slowly sat back down and closed his eyes in thought, “So… you’re telling me, Lord Elzri Noir chose me on purpose so that he could stop some Houses from fighting?”

Tauri shook her head, “We would have had a full-blown civil war on our hands while fighting Marek and the valley tribes.”

“And what’s to stop that from happening now?” Stryg stared at her coldly.

Tauri shrugged weakly, “Nothing… You deserved to know the truth. Whatever you do with that truth, well… it’s in your hands now.”

Stryg turned and looked out the window at the morning light seeping into the kitchen, its warm rays touching his cold skin. He sighed, “All of this to prevent some war…”

“...And the monster,” Tauri whispered.

“What did you say? Monster? What monster?” he asked suspiciously.

“...The reason we weren’t able to come to your rescue when you encountered Marek… the reason why only three people out of an entire squadron of master mages survived that night… was because we encountered something.”

“Some kind of beast?” Stryg asked carefully.

Tauri shook her head, “I don’t know what it was. It changed its forms like water swirling in the ocean… Lord Noir called it The Monster in the Dark.”

“You’ve met her too?”

“Too?” Tauri frowned. “You know about the Monster? And her? The Monster we met sounded like a man, but we never saw his face.”

Stryg nodded in thought, “The stories said that the Monster could change its appearance. To me the Monster looked like a goblin woman…”

“Wait, wait,” Tauri shook her head in confusion. “You actually saw the Monster and you survived? How!?”

“She… she wasn’t trying to hurt me,” Stryg muttered slowly, his memory gradually returning. “She saved my life that night at Widow’s Crag.”

“The night at Widow’s Crag? Wait, is that why it left before finishing us off?” she muttered. Tauri stared at Stryg strangely, “The Monster went… to save you? Why?”

Stryg suddenly recalled the letter Tauri had given him a couple of days ago.

‘If you are ever in need of a true friend

You need only look into the shadows

~Your dear friend, Ann’

Stryg slowly turned his gaze to a dark corner of the kitchen, where the sunlight did not reach, “I… I don’t know.”

The kitchen door suddenly opened and the head chef walked in, a wheel of cheese in one hand and a blueberry pie in the other. “I brought back one of those pies you seemed to like – Oh? Young mistress, I didn’t know you were here, I would have brought another pie from the larder.”

“Morning, Nana!” Tauri smiled wide. “No worries, I just came for a snack before going out on my morning run. Besides, I think there’s more than enough pie for both–”

“It’s mine!” Stryg quickly snatched the pie away and hissed at Tauri.

“I stand corrected,” she said wryly.

“The boy loves food, he’s taken a special liking to my pies,” the chef chuckled.

“If you like pies, just wait until you try my sister’s,” Tauri said.

“Hm?” Stryg looked up, his cheeks stuffed with pie.

Nana sighed wistfully, “It feels like it was yesterday. Little Elena used to sneak into my kitchen when she was no taller than the table. I remember her little pudgy hands trying to reach aimlessly over the countertop, hoping to grab one of my pies.”

“She used to always have pie crumbs all over her face,” Tauri giggled.

Nana nodded, “Finally, after getting tired of Elena eating all my pies, I decided to teach her how to bake some of her own. Turns out the little munchkin had a knack for baking and sheer perseverance to go with it. By the time she was a teenager she could bake better pies than even me.”

“You’d like her or at the very least your stomach will,” Tauri winked.

Stryg licked his blueberry-stained fingers, “So I keep being told.” He abruptly jumped off his seat and headed for the door, “Thank you for the food.”

Tauri winced as he slammed the door shut behind him. “Was it something I said?”

The chef patted her shoulder, “Nope, I just don’t think he likes you very much.”

“Oh, on that I’m quite certain.”

~~~

Ophelia Thorn stood on a stage at the center of the arena, in front of the coliseum’s crowd of thousands. The white cloak Blossom wrapped around her shoulders snugly, its white petals shifting with the breeze.

She closed her eyes and smiled, simply enjoying the chants and adoration of the crowds. They cheered her family’s name as she raised the Selection Vase above her head with both hands.

“LADY THORN IS ABOUT TO DRAW THE NAMES OF OUR FIRST CONTESTANTS OF THE DAY!” Jane Stemme yelled in anticipation from the Herald’s Tower.

“HOPEFULLY WE WILL FINALLY GET A CHANCE TO SEE OUR CITY’S BELOVED CALEX THORN!” Mark Stemme shouted eagerly.

Ophelia ignored the heralds’ announcements and glanced at Stryg, standing at the base of the stage with the rest of his teammates, black cloak drawn over his face. She smiled coldly, I gave you your chance, Aspirant.

She reached her hand into the jade vase and pulled out a black marble with a golden sigil number etched into its surface. “Hollow Shade’s team member Number 2, Stryg of Ebon Hollow.”

The boy’s teammates patted his shoulders and wished him good luck. Stryg on the other hand simply straightened his back and glanced at the other teams lined up a few paces away.

Ophelia reached back into the Selection Vase and pulled out a scarlet marble. She raised it high and made a show of staring at the golden etched sigil, “Murkton’s team member Number 2… Beatrix dai-Morrigan.”