As she approached, Guin shifted out of her fox form. Bowing, she greeted, “Hail, Dragon King.”
Behind her, she heard Jormund and Dawl huffing as they caught up. “Who is this guy?” Dawl asked, leaning on his knees. “Damn, that owl flies fast.”
“Shut up!” growled Jormund, putting his hand on Dawl’s head to force him into a bow. “Hail, Dragon King!” he said in a loud voice.
“That guy is the Dragon King?” The Master Hunter looked up in shock, but Jormund forced his head down again.
Guin choked down her laughter, but thankfully for everyone involved, the Dragon King seemed to find it just as amusing as she did.
“Be at ease, silly Che,” he laughed. “I am not as uptight as most guardians. I find you all rather fun!”
‘Rather fun,’ is it? For you, maybe... While she grumbled in her head, she moved to ask, “Y-Your... Highness? My Lord?”
“Just ‘Tethaigou,’ if you would,” the Dragon King told her.
“Ah - Then, T-Tethaigou,” Guin tested the name before continuing. “We have finished the tasks that Lady Reili set upon us. The poachers have been caught.”
Tethaigou smiled. “They have been punished, then, Hunter?” His sharp blue eyes fell on Dawl.
“I...” Dawl looked at the ground. “They have been... detained, milord, but...”
“But?”
“I beg mercy, milord. They are just children!”
“Euen!” hissed Jormund, glaring at him. “I thought you said—”
“I did say!” Dawl hissed back. “Because I knew you would be like this!”
“You—!”
“Those children have broken the law, hunter,” Tethaigou informed him, his face turning up into a grin that Guin did not like. “It is only right that they are punished—by you or I; it makes little difference.”
Dawl shook his head, and for a moment, Guin feared for him. But he spoke: “I am not saying there should be no punishment, King. I merely ask that they be given a chance to atone—just as I have been.” Dawl looked at the Dragon King full in the eye as Jormund gaped at him. “If that entails that my choice, or any reward I might have received, be given to them, then so be it. I was their teacher; their sin is my own.”
“Dawl...” Guin murmured in mild shock. She shouldn’t have been so surprised, she realized. This was simply who he was; regardless of the ill he had done, in his heart, he was still a good person.
Jormund, however, couldn’t seem to believe what he was hearing. “Euen, you can’t mean...”
But Tethaigou let out a loud laugh. “Master Hunter, you are amusing! And here I thought the lying pastor was going to be my favorite! Wise, Candidate—I commend you on your choice of friends!” From atop the statue, Wise cooed warmly. The Dragon King sighed. “It is no matter, I suppose. Very well. I shall leave the children alone—for now. Perhaps I shall give them a little bit of a curse, but nothing too horrible. Perhaps, I shall have its weight divided between them and you.”
While what Guin heard didn’t sound promising, Dawl’s face lit up as he kneeled, “I should be in your debt, milord!”
“Hm. Yes. Debt. Let’s start with my name, yes? Tethaigou.”
“T-T... Lord Tethairgou,” Dawl stammered, his head bowed so low that his nose touched the ground.
The Dragon King rolled his eyes. “Close enough, I suppose. We’ll work on it.” He turned to Guin and said, “Congratulations, Candidate. You have kept your promise to Lady Reili. Let us hope that you honor the promise made with the same spirit.”
“I shall!” Guin said as the Quest Completed screens came up for
“Now, for the rest of your rewards,” Tethaigou said. I guess not all rewards are listed with the quests? She thought, petting her cloak again. She figured that her cloak was the reward she had gotten for completing the quests—but they had been crossroads quests, which meant that the real rewards should be for Dawl and Jormund.
“Let’s start with our good friend, the Master Hunter of Bade,” went Tethaigou in an all-too-pleased tone. “You. You are a strange man. Growing up in these woods with Rew, you are no stranger to us—yet, unable to see us, we are but strangers to you. You must have both reward and punishment, by your own will, yet, for the love I still bear for your grandparents, my hand hesitates... Alas, there is nothing for it. Know that what happens next is of your own doing!”
The Dragon King raised its hand to his face and began muttering. His clawed hand began to glow blue. As its incantation grew louder, it reached out and pointed to Dawl.
“Hear my curse, mortal Che!” commanded the Dragon King. “Henceforth, you shall no longer be the Master Hunter of Base; nay, to them, you shall be as a stranger. Only those few whom you hold your memory in their hearts as close as you do theirs will remember. I hereby grant you the Sight you need to serve. This be my curse that will bind you to me and rob you of your Che-hood. You shall not be a servant of mine but a slave of the forest itself and a stranger to the Che-kind.”
As the Dragon King finished, Dawl doubled over in pain as his eyes began to glow a bright blue. He criest turned to shrieks as he began to claw at his face. In both fear and shock, Guin ran over to him, putting her hand on his shoulder as he fell to the ground.
“What have you done to him?” Guin demanded to know, looking between Jormund and the Dragon King in horror.
Jormund looked at the Dragon King in alarm. “My Lord, what is this—”
“‘Tethaigou,’” the Dragon King told him with a bored voice. “Don’t worry about him. He’ll be just fine.”
“How is this ‘just fine’?” Guin shouted.
In a flash of green light, Liorax appeared from Guin’s body. He promptly landed on Dawl’s head, and as his eyes glowed, Dawl’s muscles relaxed as he slumped forward. “Master Dragon, you are far too fond of these Che-creatures,” the cat said, flicking his tail in annoyance as he sat on his haunches and bat his paw at Dawl’s hair. “This one is a worthless fool, anyway.”
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“I’ll decide if he’s worthless,” Tethaigou told him, sounding hurt.
“Ugh,” went Liorax. “You are attracted to him, aren’t you? I didn’t think he’d be your type...”
The Dragon King snorted. “This, coming from one who has taken so well to the half-Che.” Guin blinked. ‘Half-Che’?
“Of course!” Liorax said, hopping onto Guin’s shoulder and rubbing his face against hers. “Even you know how special she is! And she’s mine to look after, anyway!”
“Liorax,” Guin interrupted. “What did you do to him?”
The cat purred loudly, staring at her with wide green eyes. “Put him down.”
“Liorax!”
“Relax,” he said. “He’ll wake up in a couple of hours—and will probably faint immediately after, knowing him.”
Tethaigou coughed awkwardly. “Shall we continue? The next to receive a reward will be you, who wears my mantle,” the Dragon King pointed at Jormund.
Jormund shook his head. “I deserve no reward. I merely wished to fix the mistakes of the past.”
“Then, shall I offer you a deal?” Tethaigou grinned mischievously. “Two choices are before you now, young Jormund: Will you serve me as a Servant of the Dragon King, helping to keep the laws of the forest, or will you leave this forest and never return?”
The moment of truth, Guin thought, not at all envious of Jormund’s position.
Jormund’s knuckles went white as he gripped his spear. “Must I abandon one flock for another?” he questioned.
Tethaigou shrugged. “That is a rather singular way of thinking about it. The spirits care not about what god you believe in, so long as you fight with the balance of both worlds in mind. How you fight for your causes, whatever your causes are, so long as you seek to hold the corruption at bay, so long as you maintain the balance in the relationships of the Veil and the Che, the choice is yours.”
“It is not easy,” the pastor’s voice went soft. “But, if I may take on the role that Master Rew had intended for me to take, I would at least like to try.”
The Dragon King grinned. “Then, it shall be as Rew wished,” he said. “Your reward shall be all the power of the Servants of the Dragon King—and the knowledge kept from you all these years. My fool servant did not give his life to stop the corruption.”
“He didn’t?” Jormund asked. “But then...”
Wise flew down to the Dragon King’s shoulder. “Master Rew made a deal with the Dragon King. Back then, the young woman in the woods had been killed in her attempt to save the Spirit Stag,” Wise told them, her voice soft. Guin could see the light in Jormund’s eyes fade as she spoke. “The corruption was caused not by the death of the stag itself, but the woman’s. In its sorrow, it tied its spirit power to her soul.”
“So,” went Jormund. “That’s why she was still alive back then.”
“Master Rew saw this and knew that he had to separate her soul from the corruption, lest it suffer a terrible fate,” Wise continued.
“Melora,” Jormund choked, his face pale. “What happened to Melora?”
“Rew wasn’t sure he had enough power on his own, so the two made a deal with me,” the Dragon King said. “I would help separate the souls—if Melora swore to serve me in his place.”
Guin blinked a few times as the revelation set in. “What?” she asked. “But, Melora died! How could she serve you?”
“Death is such a relative concept,” Tethaigou grinned. “As the power of the Spirit Stag had been transferred to her, it was easy to... change her. The rest was simply her choice.”
“M-My Melora... Where has she gone?” Jormund pleaded to know.
The great owl, Wise, landed gently before the pastor and began to burn in a white flame. Taking on the form of a thin, freckled-faced young woman in a simple dress, she put her hand up to Jormund’s face. “Hello, Jormund.”
Jormund fell to his knees, reaching out to the spirit. “Lora...”
Chuckling, she knelt beside him and took his hand. “I am sorry, my love,” she said. “It was important for you to choose to become a Servant of your own volition. We—Master Rew and I—did not want to force the hand of fate upon you.”
Wordless, Jormund wrapped his arms around her, sobbing into her chest like a child as she petted and cooed at him with a soft voice.
Guin hugged Liorax as she fought tears of her own.
Wise was Melora.
I thought those stories she told sounded familiar, she thought to herself happily. And Jormund became a Servant all on his own! It was sad to think that Jormund the Pale and Jormund the Celestial Paladin would never have known that his beloved wife was still alive.
“Hmm,” went the Dragon King as he looked at the heartwarming scene. “Che-kind are so very emotional. As for you, Candidate,” he said, finally turning its attention toward Guin. “This. This is all your doing.”
“You make it sound like a bad thing,” she observed.
“You appear to be a granter of wishes,” he told her. “I wonder, when will you grant mine?” The Dragon King’s eyes narrowed as he looked her over. “For now, I suppose you have served your purpose and should be rewarded. What should I give to you?”
Guin hesitated as it looked at her expectantly. Why do I get the impression that I am supposed to decline... Not that it mattered to her at this point. “All I really want is to graduate,” she mumbled, thinking that there was probably nothing left of value she could get from the tutorial anyway.
The Dragon King laughed as Guin’s hand flew to her mouth. “Is that so! I am afraid that I cannot help you with that, Candidate. No. Actually, though I asked, your reward has already been arranged.”
“It has?” Guin asked.
“Well,” he said, thinking about it. “More like the responsibility has been passed to someone else. Your reward shall be far more appropriate coming from them, Child of the Gumiho.”
Slightly stunned to hear her trait title come from the Dragon King’s mouth, Guin stared at him.
Liorax struggled out from her arms and instead took to resting on her head. “You’ve spoken to them, then.”
Tehtaigou shrugged. “I have. But their conditions were pointlessly specific. They will only meet with the Candidate during her graduation. It would be pointless before then. They say. Not me. I don’t see how it matters.”
“Everything has its time,” Liorax replied, brushing his tail against Guin’s face. Tethaigou continued to stare at Guin’s face.
Starting to feel self-conscious, Guin asked, “Is there something else?”
“Candidate,” it seemed to test the word as it spoke it. “What do you think the Grand Heart is?”
“Isn’t it a person?” she asked. “Wise told me before that the Grand Heart leads the Tenmath. They make and uphold the laws of the world... or something. Like King or Queen.”
The Dragon King snorted at her. “I don’t mean that story. Stories be damned. I mean what you will fight for—what you fight to become. This task that is now thrust upon your shoulders is our hope! Do you know what it is that rests here,” he pointed to her heart. “In this head. This soul. Surely, you must know!”
“Uhh,” Guin went as Liorax eyed him.
“...You’ve grown old, Master Dragon,” the cat spirit told him. “Impatient.”
“Perhaps,” Tethaigou’s face fell. “But to receive hope, after so very long...” he looked over to where Jormund and Melora were still wrapped in their embrace. “I seek freedom. I seek... End.”
Liorax looked at Guin with his head cocked but then looked back at the Dragon King. “Everything has its time, Master Dragon,” he said in a stern voice. “Everything has an end; it’s time. Death comes for all.”
“I know my fate,” the Dragon King sighed bitterly. “Candidate, forget my thoughtless words. Return now to your business. Graduate as you will. Wise shall see to these two.”
Guin looked between the cat and the Dragon King, unsure what to think about the conversation. Is it a tie-in to the main game’s story? She wondered.
Still, she nodded. “I will do what I can,” she told him. “Maybe I can give you a better answer someday.”
Tethaigou’s smile looked pained. “I hope I get the chance to hear your answer.”
Though Guin wanted to ask what he meant, Liorax floated between them. “If you want to graduate, we should head back to town,” he said. “You’ll have to talk to that Che-bat at the school.”
“O-Okay,” she said. “But—”
Liorax pushed her back. “Let’s go, let’s go!” Guin tried to resist, but Liorax kept pushing her.
The Dragon King waved his goodbye, saying, “Listen to Liorax. Run back now, Candidate Guin! Run back that you might graduate. Grow up well; grow up quickly. Become powerful. Become a warrior. Become a Heart and find your Tenmath. Then, after you realize who—what—you are, come back. Come back, and grant me my dearest wish, Candidate. Come back, and set me free.”
She looked back at him with mixed feelings. Why do I feel like I’ll never see him again? “Liorax!” she called the floating cat. “Give me a speed buff, would you?”
“Yes, mistress,” the cat rubbed against her face and disappeared from her sight.
Giving the Dragon King one last look, she took her fox form and sped back to the town.