That night, during dinner Kazius, Alice, and even Eve told Damon all about themselves. Of course, Eve had a lot less to tell than the other two… While Azanor simply talked, but refused to elaborate on anything, especially his past relation to Zelphar.
It had been a lively and fun dinner. The Svinfant surprisingly reminded him of really good quality steak, surprisingly enough. Then again, perhaps Damon was simply a good cook. Still, Despite the quality, after the long day, Kazius appreciated the large portions more than anything.
Despite how great dinner was, there was one person missing. Caleb did not join in for yet another meal. He rarely came out of his room. It seemed that when he did, he would simply pick up food and go back to his room after a quick hello. It did not seem like he had anything against Damon, but that did not change how distant he was.
Kazius was very curious about how Caleb felt about how Damon was treated by Luna and The Tribe… He could have defended him at least once, yet he never seemed to be around during such conflicts… Other than stress his disinterest in becoming Chief and reaffirming Damon’s position, he did nothing else.
Then again, at least he did not act like Luna… And Kazius had not seen him interact with Luna… So perhaps he required the benefit of doubt… So, Kazius refrained from asking any questions on the matter.
Once dinner finished, they headed to bed.
When the next day came, Kazius simply laid on his bed, thinking for some time.
Kazius was curious as to how Damon intended to train them with the mountains. His thoughts were going all over the place.
‘One of the mountains is even on fire… Are they special? Damon says Vind lives in Mount Cyklon… Is climbing them just that much of a challenge that it makes you stronger? Or are they just special so climbing them makes you stronger? Then again… Judging by the kind of wildlife around here… Perhaps the environment really has a way of challenging you.’
Kazius kept thinking to himself. After all he tended to just lay there for a bunch of hours now that there was no need to keep watch. Ever since his powers awoke, he only needed about 4 hours of sleep… So now he had nothing to do other than be alone with his thoughts. The others were not up so he needed a way to pass time.
Alice needed her sleep… Eve was an Elf so it was not far fetched that she needed about as much sleep as Alice… Then there was Azanor…
If Azanor needed less sleep as well, he did not show it even once during their entire journey. He had his eyes closed the entire time.
Did that mean Demons needed about as much sleep as Humans? Did other Monsters need less sleep? What about no sleep at all? Did Shadow Fiends need sleep? He was a mix after all… The fact that only he needed so little sleep left Kazius not only just bored when he woke up, but it also felt a bit isolating.
‘Even a Demon needs almost as much sleep as the others…’ Kazius thought to himself, unsure of why it bothered him.
‘He is pretending to sleep.’
At this, Kazius’ eyes would widen, fully awake now thanks to the actual response he got to his internal thoughts. His face wrinkled in worry. Unlike the choir of murmurs that Kazius was growing familiar with by now… This voice was a single one… And it sounded closer, WAY closer. While the murmurs were distant, this whisper was almost as if it had been spoken directly into his own ear.
Most disturbing of all, the voice sounded like his own but with a chilling deepness to it.
‘…Hello?’ Kazius decided to ask in his head, his thoughts racing with anxiousness.
Thankfully… There was no response… Or perhaps it was worse that there was no response?
‘I must be imagining things… I guess there is an easy way to check though… I could always just ask Azanor if he has been pretending to sleep this whole time… And now that I say that to myself… I can already hear how creepy that question sounds… So, no… Maybe I won’t ask that…’ Kazius thought to himself as he finally sat up.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Still shaken from his experience, Kazius reached for the necklace in his pocket… The one with his name carved into it… He had not reached for it in some time… Then again, since he had his friends, he had felt less of a need to seek comfort from an inanimate object… But it was still almost like a grounding force… Even if his origin did bring some questions about why and who left it with him.
“Kazius? Everything alright?” Alice asked, her hand reaching for the one that was not in his pocket, startling him. He was so deep in thought he had not realized she had woken up.
Had he been thinking to himself for that long? It didn’t feel like 3 or 4 hours passed… But the sun was out, peaking through the curtains in the room… So it seemed like indeed he had been thinking to himself for a while.
“H-Huh?! Oh, sorry, Alice… My mind was somewhere else…” Kazius admitted as he studied her.
“Good… Morning… How are you feeling?” He followed up.
Alice stared at him in concern getting up and heading over to him, leaning in a little to study him.
“I am much better; I am more worried about you than me… Are you sure you’re, okay? You looked a bit pale there for a second…” Alice questioned in concern both on her face and tone as she leaned in closer.
Kazius could not help but have his face get a bit pink, her closeness making him forget about his worries for now, his heart racing for a much different reason now.
‘How can her lashes be so long…’
Snapping out of it, Kazius cleared his throat.
“I-I am fine… I promise… I think we should go ahead and go eat… Eve and Azanor don’t plan to tag along anyway… And it smells like Damon is about done cooking.” Kazius stated, changing the subject while trying to regain his composure.
“If you say so…” Alice trailed off with a raised brow, seeming to decide he was telling the truth or maybe just to drop it.
With that, the two would split to go change before meeting back up in the dining room. They wore the new clothes they had gotten the previous day.
When they arrived, it seemed like Damon had indeed finished making breakfast. Kazius realized he really must have been out of it to not have even noticed when he started cooking.
“Buahaha! Good morning! I hope you two got a lot of rest! Believe me, you will need it!” Damon laughed out in delight. He seemed to be in an incredibly good mood. Likely due to the events from the previous day combined with the fact he would get to enjoy more time with friends in one of his favorite activities.
“Good morning, I slept pretty decently.” Kazius admitted.
Perhaps too well… Maybe he should try and walk around at night for some time before bed… If he did that, maybe he wouldn’t be tempted to just lay alone with his thoughts again. He hoped to also not hear that voice again… Something about it had felt intrusive. Like hearing it had taken something from him.
“I slept good too. I feel as good as new.” Alice assured, seeming to have indeed recovered fully.
“Good! Now eat! We won’t hunt or be back until much later. So, make sure you eat your fill!” Damon followed up, plopping down two very massive servings of eggs and bacon.
Kazaius’ eyes widened at the sheer amount of food. After all, growing up with the portion sizes from The Orphanage… And now seeing this was quite something. Even as a Holy Knight, while food had been nicer by a lot and better quality, he was not used to having such big consecutive meals. This meal was even bigger than their dinner. It may seem simple, but it was at small moments like this when Kazius had realizations like this that his new freedom felt truly real. He really wasn’t in Ratier anymore.
“It looks great, thanks.” Kazius admitted, digging in. Rather than tasting bacon though, the bacon tasted closer to Svinfant than any pig bacom, likely what Damon had used to make it.
“How did you learn to cook so well?” Alice decided to ask curiously.
At the question, Damon did seem a bit hesitant to answer, continuing to eat with them.
“No one cooked for me, so I had to learn.” Damon decided to admit, his grin decreasing in size.
“No one?” Kazius questioned curiously.
“Not after I was big enough to walk on my own… I… I decided I will tell you two everything tonight. I promise. Let’s not talk about that right now though.” Damon pleaded.
Looking a bit guilty, Alice nodded. Then again, how could she have known that the answer to her question would be such an upsetting one?
Both Kazius and Alice nodded quietly at the plead.
Deciding to help change subjects, Kazius guided things towards what their training was.
“So, are we climbing Mount Ulf?” Kazius decided to ask, curious how their training would work.
At the question, Damon seemed to cheer up again, he even laughed.
“Buahaha! No Way! I will say it… I don’t mean to sound bad… But you two are scrawny. Your legs will break before you even reach the top. I don’t want my new friends dying from exhaustion… So… I want you two to be able to run up Mount Cyklon within an hour first. It is a small mountain. Mount Ulf is the biggest mountain and can be dangerous. It will be the last one we do.” Damon stated, being surprisingly adept at teaching, though also blunt. He wasn’t pulling punches. It was probably for the best though, since he was trying to avoid getting them killed at least.
Kazius would try and remember the mountain Damon called small. To say the least, the mountain was still massive even at a distance… Mount Ulf was only bigger still… Just how tall would it be up close?
‘An hour!? We’d be lucky to get up there in a day!’
“You need to get good at dodging before we move to the next mountain… You need speed, trust me…. Or the rock throwing giants in Mount Klippa will squash you.” Damon stated with a laugh.
“The WHAT?!” Alice exclaimed in concern.
“Buahaha! I did warn you this would not be easy… Believe me, it is a lot harder than you think! But you don’t have to worry! You can count on me!” Damon admitted with a laugh.
This would be an interesting training, it seems…