'Should you be out at play and suddenly hear a drum, make certain you take everyone around you and run.

The small green children have come out to play. To murder and kill; to torture and slay.

Should you be in deep woods and see the plants start to writhe, find a place of pure stone and be certain to hide.

The tusked warmongers have gone on patrol. To slaughter the weak, and battle the bold.

Should you hear clicking when out in mid-dark, light aflame your torch and never cease your bark.

The darkest of elves have risen from their caves; to slaughter the old and take the young as their slaves.

Should you be in mid-day and witness the sudden fall of night; do not run, scream, hide, or fight.

Smile politely; stand tall like the ox; for the only way to live is to give respect to the Nox.'

'When They Come.'

***

Peter Boyd.

***

While my mind was racing, I followed everyone to Amun’s room and only came to my senses after fighting to see through the darkness within. Unlike the others, much to my frustration.

Squinting through it, I saw the outlines of a large pillow sitting in the corner of where the bed was in my room. But besides that, I could only see the vague outlines of the rest of them moving around as if they could see just fine. After disappearing for a bit, I saw Amun’s shadow settle on the pillow before he lit a candle for me. Revealing his gentle smile that was both off-putting and welcoming all the same.

Now that I could see, I looked around eagerly to see the place where the wardrobe was in my room had been replaced with a long counter and cooking surface that stretched from the corner to the door. Besides that, it was all the same. An open floor lined with trunks and wardrobes sat between the kitchen in the bed. A seemingly small space for the five of us huddled around a candle. But with this change in our environment, I felt that I had to voice my concern.

“Uhm.” I looked at Amun. “Are you sure challenging Winston was a good idea?”

Hearing my own words, I hurriedly held up my hands to retract my words. “I mean, I know you’re strong, but Winston’s barrier magic is almost impenetrable.”

“The keyword in that sentence was almost.” He charmingly smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I just have hard feelings about bullying and slavery.”

“As do I!” Slate grunted in affirmation. “Abusing the weak is a sign of weakness and cowardice. And.” He slammed a stony fist onto the ground. “The mere thought of claiming ownership over another is unthinkable.”

“Aye.” Elsgril sighed. “I was surprised to even hear a human empire still practicing slavery. Why, with enchantments and the like, there’s no need.”

“Yeah.” Zakira cheerfully nodded. “He sucks.”

“But I’m curious about you!” Elsgril leaned towards Amun. “All this talk of devils and drow. Where are you from? What’s your story?”

“I’ll tell you all, in due time.” Amun calmly bared his palms at the dwarf before looking at me. “First, I’m curious about your story.”

“M- my story?” I looked in horror at the faces surrounding me. But, like Amun’s; Slate, Elsgril, and Zakira’s faces were all full of warm and reassuring expressions. So I took a deep breath and began recounting the things I've kept hidden in the back of my mind for months now.

“My parents are from Epethia. An empire on Maru.” I clarified. “Before I was born, their parents were sentenced to live as slaves for stealing from the royal family. I don’t know what it was that they tried to steal. But I was told it was really important and expensive. And the royals never got it back. They were enslaved as kids. But for some reason.” I clenched my fist. “My parents chose to have a kid anyway. Those chose to have me. Bringing me into a life of slavery for a crime committed by someone I never met. We were treated worse than dirt. We lived in filth and ate rotten food. A good day was when our masters would throw insults at us. Otherwise, they'd attack us with their magic for their own amusement or beat on us for 'practice' with their weapons. Outside of that, our only job was labor. We were farmers, mostly. We tended to the private gardens and farms of the nobles and royal families while the commoners ate their scraps. We starved and grew sick while the nobles stuffed themselves, grew fat, and wasted enough food to feed a village every tenday.

“But.” I sighed in an attempt to lock it all away again. “After I awakened my Cores, I was freed. Though my family is still in bondage. I.. I'm not sure I want to see them again. I didn't see them again. I sought out the Guild Association. They taught me how to read and write, then I took the assessment. I never expected to be granted entry to the Academy.” I laughed in embarrassment. “According to them, my affinity cores are high tier and my Mana Well is deep. And a life of farming seemed to make me quite strong once I actually got some food in my stomach.”

While the others were quietly listening while I spoke, I held my gaze on Amun throughout most of my explanation. At that time, I saw more expressions on Amun’s otherwise uncaring face than I’d seen since meeting him. Confusion. Understanding. Anger. Sorrow. Disgust. And many more things. But no condescension. And no pity. Whatever it was to come across his face, it was in blatant view of the rest of us as he intently listened to my words. And so, I intently shared them. Up until the moment I finished. And he asked me something I’d thought of every day since then.

“Will you free them?”

“I- don’t have the power to.” I stammered.

“Yet.” He corrected with a pointed finger.

“No!” I slammed my fist into my thigh this time. “You don’t understand! I tried! I was...” I reclined onto my hands and let out a long sigh. “I was going to. I had already passed the Assessment. But I was going to throw it all away.”

“But something stopped you.” Slate accurately guessed.

“It was… lightning,” I said, seeing the flashes of that day replay in my mind. “Magic. A kind unlike any I felt before. It covered all of Maru’s skies in roaring lightning. It made me feel so… small. So weak. It was the only reason I changed my mind.”

“The lightning is inconsequential.” Slate waved his arm through the silence. “The fact of the matter is, you had many chances prior to and after that moment to enact your revenge. But you did not. That speaks volumes.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Also.” Amun leaned over the candle. “You never answered my question.”

“I already told you.” I sighed. “I’m not strong enough.”

“I’ll tell you this.” Amun smiled. “Violence is the most basic answer to the question: ‘How?’ It is the simplest and quickest method, and the one most prone to failure.”

My mouth opened and closed repeatedly as I tried to make a response to no avail. Thankfully, I didn’t have to try for long. As Amun quickly broke the silence again. “ What Cores were you given?”

“I have four Affinity Cores. For Inferno, Tornado, Mountain, and Flood Magic.”

“You have four advanced elemental affinities?” Amun squinted in apparent confusion. I began preparing myself for the insults, but then he surprised me with his words. “That’s fucking amazing.” He chuckled to himself, beaming wide.

“The magic o' mountains. That's indeed impressive.” Elsgril scratched his beard with a blank look before eventually adjusting his posture with a deep groan. “Since we're doing a show and tell and you clearly have a lot to tell.” He nudged Amun. “I’ll keep it simple. My clan originally hails from Maru. We were artisanal masters. But, some time ago, my ancestors ventured through the portals to settle in Nonus. But I wanna make it known that we are not a part of the families of light. We live underground. Near the Dark World. Since then, we’ve become more fighters than crafters. But we still practice as a way to remain tied to our roots. That’s why I came here.” He proudly thumped his chest. “To learn the secrets of my ancestors and rekindle the Silverforge.”

“An admirable goal.” Amun grinned a curiously wide smile before turning to Slate.

“My people are originally from Nonus, near the White Wall. In the uncountable ages since then, my ancestors have migrated over and through Betrarth, and entered through the Betrarth portal to enter Nonus once more.” He quickly explained. “The boundary of Betrarth, Nonus, and the Steam Line was where I was born, where the portal leads. I was raised with the herd alongside my companions here at the Bodhi Tree. Only, we began disobeying the teachings of the elders as we grew older. Instead of following the herd across the lands and into battle, we sought knowledge. That cost us our names. As punishment, we were given the names of the rocks and gems we most appeared like. Still, we persevered. And our punishment was banishment. With nowhere to go, we ventured to the human territories. Soon after, we learned others of our kind had ventured through those lands before. And soon after, we learned of this place.”

“So then, it’s safe to assume that you’re here to learn how to use magic?” Amun asked.

“That would be correct.”

“Well, you came to the right place.” Amun shrugged his brows before turning to Zakira. The annoyingly cheeky girl with the blood obsession. "What about you?"

“What about me?” She shrugged. “I’m a vampire! My name is Zakira.”

“Yes.” Amun groaned. “Where are you from? What can you do?”

“Well.” She cheekily droned on. “I’m from Vagua. I was… sort of, kind of, disowned from my family and banished to the First Layer of Hell. And then.” She droned the word on again. “I went through the portal and arrived on Nonus and they were like: ‘Hey, are you going to the Academy?’ And I was like. 'Yeah. Sure.'” She wagged her finger at us a few times before finishing her rambling with a dreamy sigh. “And now I’m here!”

“Wow!” Amun gasped in false admiration. “You have such a way with words.”

“Thank you!” She curtsied. “Oh yeah!” She bounced back a moment later. “I’m a full-blooded vampire with Bloodstring Magic. And I’m 15 years old!"

“Okay.” Amun chuckled wryly to himself. “How did vampires survive for so long without the blood of humans?”

“Before the portals opened?” She asked with mild interest. “Some of us drank demon blood.” She simply shrugged. “Well, those of us who were strong enough did. It makes us, like, really strong and powerful and stuff.”

“That’s interesting,” Amun mumbled to himself, nodding in ways that made it hard to tell if he was being serious or not.

“Yeah,” Zakira mumbled in much the same way. “Those of us who were too weak feasted on the animals of Vagua. But all of us tried to stay away from demons. The Clans and Families have been at war for, like, forever. So.” She shrugged.

“So then, the ones that don’t want to fight go to Nonus as refugees?” Amun guessed.

“Some.” She nodded. “Most of them go to the White Wall. But wherever we go, I’m told humans like to fight us.”

“Well.” I cut in. For what reason was beyond me, but I did. And all the attention was turned to me in an instant. So I pressed on. “That’s because humans call everything but themselves monsters. I mean, I grew up hearing stories about other creatures. I was told drow kidnaps children, enslaves them, and feeds them to monsters in the Darkworld. I was told vampires sneak into cities and disguise themselves as nobles to hold parties where they kill a bunch of humans and bathe in their blood. They sing nursery rhymes about your family! I was told to trust nothing but another human. But other humans have been nothing but unkind to me for as long as I can remember. It’s you all.” I looked at each of them in turn. “A dwarf, a goliath, a vampire, and a half-drow of the House of Cole, who’ve treated me with as much kindness as their friend. But…” I shook my head in disbelief. “I don't understand. Why?”

“Because I'm trying to be your friend,” Amun said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. “I mean.” He shrugged. “There's also the fact that I can tell that you have good character. Also, your magical affinities are amazing. And, you have the potential to do great things. But that’s unimportant. I want to be your friend.”

“And I want to educate you on something.” Zakira leaned towards me with a sudden seriousness that was... offputting, to say the least. “Humans fear what they don’t understand. Time can bring about an understanding, sure, but the fear will always remain. That applies to everything that isn’t human as well. But in terms of drow and vampires and devils or undead. The majority of you fear us. You hate us because of a nature we can’t change. You have every right to. But I can tell you that vampires harbor no ill will towards humans.” She paused to sink her radiant, red eyes into mine. “We don’t seek to kill or slaughter humans. Committing genocide would only leave us with less food.

“That said.” She shrugged in her usual manner and backed away. “Some of our kind do wish to rule over humans. And, what you said about vampires is true. Blood Parties can be quite fun. But we only kill the vagrants of society or those who are willing. And we don't bathe in their blood. We make it into wine.”

“And the demons?” Slate asked with a curious sense of excitement. “Are they as formidable as everyone says? Humans talk as if they’re at war with them, yet our headmaster and even a few students have demonic blood in their veins.”

“Well.” Zakira shrugged. “Demons aren’t necessarily good or bad, they just… have their ways, ya know? But the stories are true. They're strong as fuck!”

“How so?” I asked.

“I’m not the best person to explain.” She sheepishly chuckled, then continued anyway. “Demons don’t have a power cap. And they get strong way too easily. Like, I can get strong like that if I drink a lot of human blood, right? But like, blood from an elf or a demon or a paladin or some shit would make me, like, super fucking strong.”

“Ah, okay?” I stammered.

“But demons are different.” She continued. “Emotional energy is their blood. So like, if I was a lust demon, I would be super fucking strong 'cause you keep looking at my butt.”

“But… I didn’t look at your butt.” I squinted in confusion. "You're sitting down."

“I know.” She shrugged. Then waved her long nail in my face and smiled wide while saying. “But if you did!”

“It’s like a feedback loop.” Amun nodded as if she actually spoke some sensible words.

But Zakira simply smiled and stared blankly at him as if she had no idea what he just said. “Sure!” She beamed.

After a couple of moments of thinking it over though, it began to make sense to me. “So then, take the headmaster," I said. "The people at the Guild Association said he has an affinity for Love. So, would he get stronger from any act of love shown in his presence? And they also said he's only a half-demon. His other parent was a half-human half-high orc. So I would think it strengthens his manipulation also.”

“That would make him quite formidable.” Slate grinned excitedly once again.

“That would also explain the relaxed rules regarding relationships,” Amun muttered over him, causing Zakira to curiously shy away from him. She was definitely weird. She’d only just met him, but she clung to him as if they were newlyweds. And Amun didn’t even seem to care. Not that he seemed to care about anything. But that only made the mystery behind him much bigger. “However, I’m sure it goes much deeper than that.” He continued. “The love of knowledge. Love of fighting. Of blood. Or revenge. Or even loving life. Every sentient being loves something. Even a pet rat has love for its owner. And so, his source of power is virtually limitless.”

“Yeah. I suppose that’s true.” Zakira nodded slowly as if she were in deep thought. Only to lean to the side to latch onto Amun’s arm and pull. Screaming. “Your turn!”