Solace walked through the citizens of Under Arch with barely disguised fury. The way they parted for her with their heads down, the way they forgot about her the moment she was past them, everything about this situation made her skin crawl and her fingers twitch into claws that craved violence.

Because Solace… was wearing boots, pants, a shirt, a coat, and a hat. It didn’t matter that they were white and red and complemented both her pale flesh and her striking head of hair.

I just… hate covering myself. It feels unnatural!

The scowl on her face marred her natural beauty. Solace was not a humble woman and enjoyed being the self-proclaimed number one beauty in Under Arch. There was a whole army of suitors, men and women and creature, that passionately pursued her and delighted in her favor.

The goddess was not one such suitor.

Even Merriweather had expressed her confusion with Tamara’s overreaction when they had returned to the castle. Solace was beside herself with terror, taking a good hour of being locked into her own room curled up in her bed before she trusted herself to go out and report to the Arachne with Merriweather. Afterward, Merriweather had taken her aside and, in a rare show of solidarity, told her that the fool had likely saved her life by diverting the goddess’ attention away from rage and more toward amusement.

So, I am insulted and grateful? Why must I be the one to fetch him today?! Well, if Merriweather thinks that I am overseeing his training first, then she is delusional!

Solace tugged at the collar of coat and considered removing it for the fourteenth time. Would the goddess really kill her if she wasn’t wearing a coat? Reluctantly her hand fell from the collar and went to her pocket. The memory of the body sweat soaking terror still fresh in her mind from the day before.

The door opened in front of her before she could even drop her fist toward it with the intention of knocking.

Sikes looked at her raised hand and then looked away from it toward her face without comment. It irritated Solace because the Durvgar was also apparently unconcerned with her ample charms. “The Arachne said yes, then?”

“What was she going to say?” Solace answered, angered by the helplessness in her own voice.

“Very well, I will send him to follow you to the training area. I’ve already killed him six times today anyway, and he is sulking in that ridiculous suit.” Sikes was rolling his eyes and grumbling to himself even as she shifted her feet at the doorway. She didn’t want to come in so she would wait at the door.

She could hear him continue to grumble all the way down the hallway before he was far enough gone that she couldn’t hear him anymore.

Well, at least I’ll hear when he is returning…

The thought afforded her some amusement. Even more amusement when she realized that she had been spot on. She could hear him coming and he was still muttering and grumbling under his breath.

“...we’re done, you don’t have to have that over your face…”

“Mmmphphfff!”

“Yes, it is wise to think it a trick. You are very smart.”

“Fffafaankthfuu!”

“Very smart. Yes. Mmmhmmm... Go with Solace…”

“Fftwwe esfth wowffsace?”

“Solace. The redhead.”

“Fsfswdd fun?”

“Yes… the ugly one.”

Solace looked up as the voices approached and closed her eyes. She was counting to ten. If she killed Ruth right here on the doorstep it would not only be foolish, but lethal. It wasn’t going to be her fault if he died elsewhere. In fact, maybe he should die elsewhere. Certainly at the hands of someone else. How she would reward whoever managed the deed.

Her lips curled into a smile as she opened her eyes. Ruth entered her line of sight and she had to look up to make eye contact but she didn’t lose her pleased smile. She was imagining heaping pleasure on the person that rid of her of this particular pain. Then the smile faded somewhat as she looked at him.

“You look ridiculous,” she finally managed.

Ruth had a strange fabric that seemed to stretch across his whole body. There were folds in it, imitating separate pieces of clothing like boots, pants, shirt, and overcoat… The more she looked at it though, the more the cloth seemed to shift and reflect like tiny scales. Tiny scales that were a uniform piece. As strange as his attire was that wasn’t what threw her right this second.

Ruth’s entire body except for one arm(bare for who knows what reason) was covered by the fabric. Two small holes for his nose and two larger holes for his eyes. There was no gap for his mouth even. The horns were even covered, looking for all the world like giant tree branches covered with socks.

The golden slits against black backdrop seemed to narrow dangerously at her. He muttered something at her.

Solace made an educated guess at what he’d muttered at her. “Yes, ‘tis I, the ugly one, come to collect you. Follow me, chosen fool.”

⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋

Ruth followed the useless lump of fat and soft flesh through the streets. He did everything he could not to look at her as they walked. Ruth simply didn’t understand why they had given such a hideous and malformed creature a name and let it run around unattended.

Fortunately, finding other things to focus on during their journey wasn’t hard. He surveyed everything around him with excited and curious eyes through the hood of his outfit. It hadn’t taken much thought process to make the clothes extend over the majority of his body. He still couldn’t make the darned thing cover his free arm, but progress was progress..

The streets were brilliantly lit with the multicolored reds and blues and greens of the bioluminescent moss and algae. Humans, demi-humans, people and creatures of all sizes and colorations and species walked and went about their business with their heads down.

The danger that Ruth felt from some of the creatures within the garden was non-existent here. The ‘cow’, the cannibal pixies, the goatmen, even the hatted creatures had given off more of a danger vibe to him than all the denizens of this small city did.

Ruth narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Ruth instantly distrusted this place and all the people and things within it. They lived in buildings that looked exactly like the creature that had tried to convince him that it was a house. The houses were biding their time. For what? Maybe the population was a herd or a farmable resource.

While Sikes was killing poisoning teaching him, Ruth had done some experiments on the walls of the place and found out that the building he was staying in wasn’t alive. The insidious fake houses probably allowed some of the buildings to stay here to confuse their prey.

Formidable.

“Here we are.” Solace had spoken before she stopped. It was a good thing she did or Ruth might have just stepped on her before realizing that she had stopped.

“Here?” Ruth had thought that they would be heading further into the city and then exit near the long road that led up to what Sikes had vaguely referred to as the seat of power in the Under Arch, the Arachne Castle.

“Here. Go in.” Solace was studying him while he was looking at the place she was leaving him.

Ruth didn’t care if she was looking at him or not. Even though he had a newfound respect for poison and for the fact that even if people didn’t feel dangerous they could still hurt him, he found it beneath him to think of Solace as a dangerous opponent. Besides, she was sent to fetch him.

The building if that’s what it really was…

Watching you, sneaky assholes house mimics…

...was small and only one story. A simple gate and then a small path to the door.

“The training area is through the building. It is a large open area where our… forces train themselves to be stronger.” Another voice gathered his attention.

It was the pretty one.

Just because you look like a very well put together dragon lady doesn’t mean I like you…

Ruth gave her the once over, ignoring the narrowed look in Merriweather’s eyes. Ruth narrowed his eyes back at her, letting her know that he hadn’t forgot about that time he had asked for her aid and she had snubbed him. He especially remembered it because it wasn’t that fucking long ago.

“I can’t see your face and have no idea what expression you’re making.” She was doing something with her face, baring her teeth at him. An aggressive gesture perhaps?

Ruth felt immediately angry and made a little aggravated noise in his throat.

Almost like it was being chased, the fabric traveled from the tips of his horns back to his head and down to his neck. Face and head once again bare, he pulled his teeth back in an even large show of aggression to Merriweather.

It pleased him that her face went blank.

⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋

Merriweather honestly didn’t know what the fuck to make of Ruth. Her eyes narrowed slightly, trying to decide what his shit-eating grin meant. She had been casually insulting him after he had obviously narrowed his eyes at her under his ridiculous… hat thing.

She made a ‘get on with it’ gesture to Solace, letting the redhead know she would take it from here. It was a little jarring to see the lascivious woman with so much clothing, to be honest. She did her best to keep the genuine amusement off her face as the redhead snorted and walked off.

I bet she makes it ten step-- Oh, no, two steps. There goes the coat… the pants… Hey, it’s free clothes day in the Under Arch.

She returned her attention back to Ruth and eyed him again. She didn’t like a lot of things about this situation. The first thing she absolutely hated was the fact that there was a goddess dictating terms to them and she couldn’t do shit about it. Gods and goddesses were mercurial and deadly and the best you could hope for was to get out the way.

“Take me to where I can get strong enough to kill Tamara,” Ruth spoke to Merriweather. The words used made it seem like he was asking her to do him a favor, but it was totally devoid of courtesy or the correct emotion, like he’d never talked to another person before. That really didn’t surprise Merriweather honestly. The markings from his horns and body indicated that he was a lord of some clan. Tieflings were so predictable with how they etched the horns of their youth.

“You think you can get that strong?” Merriweather asked casually. She turned so they could talk and walk as she led him to the ground.

“One dies,” he answered.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“I’ll die or she’ll die. What is the question?”

“I admire your simplification,” she replied dryly.

“Is it admirable?” Ruth turned his head toward her for a moment, the golden eyes almost making her shiver. There was an intensity about him that made him seem like a deep ocean… “...the strongest always prevails, the weakest dies. She does not understand so eventually I will prevail.”

Or maybe not.

Ruth watched the people sparring off to the side. Merriweather followed his gaze. Two of the younger generation. Mercedes and Louise were working on their spear skills. The occasional spell flash sounded. They were young and talented but would never be demi-gods.

Not in this place… Their timing and use of spells, limited as they are, are exemplary. Their footwork is off. I’ll go beat the crap out of them after I’m done with this… chosen.

Chosen. The word set off a strange series of emotions in Merriweather’s heart. Fury, anger, the slightest bit of fear. When she tried to direct that toward Ruth, however, it just dissolved around him as if it didn’t affect him at all. Was he powerful? Was this a con? Merriweather couldn’t lie and couldn’t be lied to, but that didn’t mean she knew all things.

The certainty behind his statement about eventually prevailing, for instance. Was he a fucking moron or just confident?

There were two more sparring areas to pass before they got to the one that Tamara had ‘specially’ prepared for Ruth, so Merriweather decided to test him with a little bit of intent.

“Look over there. That is the weapon rack. You may choose whatever you desire from the simple martial weapons,” Merriweather pointed past him and he dutifully turned his head to look where she was pointing.

Merriweather narrowed her eyes and made a fist behind her back. She raised it and imagined slamming it through the back of his skull. Only for an instant before she relaxed her fist and adopted her earlier casual stance.

Ruth turned around quickly with his brows furrowed. He stared at her in confusion for a moment like he wanted to ask her a question, but then didn’t.

Merriweather was honestly surprised. She tested him several more times before they got to the place where Ruth would spend his time. She tested him by inventing situations where she could take advantage of him and use the moment to use a skill or weapon to kill him. Every time he spun around, growing more and more agitated though he obviously couldn’t figure out why.

His perception toward hostility and intent is very high. Untrained. Zero experience. Fucking newbie.

Thus, Merriweather concluded that despite how interesting he was and how large his potential seemed to be his courage, confidence, and intelligence were all without weight.

“This is for you. This is for your… very basic training.” Merriweather smiled. She gestured to the area, schooling her expression. Despite how much she hated Tamara, Merriweather admitted that she had been waiting for this moment all day.

Say what you will, but that goddess probably knew how to piss people off better than anyone.

⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋

Ruth was glad when they reached the area where he was supposed to advance to the second stage of his day. There was something about Merriweather that made her exciting and… irritating at the same time. There were several times when he felt danger at his back from her, but every time he turned around to unleash his full power on her he found her standing there looking back at him with a calm acceptance.

Whether it was her looks or the way she made him feel, it was all edge.

Ruth was trying to think of a way to ask Merriweather to have the ugly one escort him from today onward when he realized that the area she was gesturing toward was … off.

He tilted his head and saw that ‘his’ sparring area was an area about twice the size of the other spreads of dirt that the people were using. That didn’t surprise him too much because magic was magic and took up a lot of space.

The problem was that the ground was barren. Barren in a shape of a large dragon. While the center was the largest part there were still portions that trailed off into the grass that were obviously supposed to be a tail, legs, and wings.

“Tamara must be the worst human in the history of all humans.” Ruth said aloud.

Merriweather beside him startled him by throwing her head back and laughing with undisguised mirth. He blinked and stepped away from her in case what she was doing was some sort of attack. She just laughed harder.

It was irritating, Ruth decided, but not dangerous.

No, the worst part of this situation was that their was a large wooden pole that stretched three meters upward with a sign that pointed down. The sign read, in obvious draconic scratch, ‘Ruth gets his ass beat here’. There was some script under it that was Under Common. Given how many Under Common characters were there, Ruth suspected that it said the same thing.

The aggravating part was now Ruth knew how to spell his name in Under Common, so it wasn’t a complete loss.

“I walk in and I am challenged?” Ruth didn’t truly understand the concept of sparring from a practical point of view. Academically there were images in his head of two people, or sometimes more than two people, fighting. What confused him was the idea wasn’t to kill your opponent unless it was a specific kind of sparring. Since accidents often happened, or as his head said ‘as swords are blind’ sometimes people died anyway. So you weren’t supposed to kill your opponent but you could kill them, or they could kill you but they weren’t supposed to kill you.

Fucking lunacy.

“Yes.” Merriweather nodded. “I’ve arranged an opponent for you.”

“I only have to do one?” Ruth was honestly surprised. The morning had sucked with the training Sikes insisted upon. He had expected the afternoon to be similarly torturous.

“Sure.” Merriweather was giving him a strange look.

“Is… there deception here?” Ruth was now examining the patch of dragon-shaped earth skeptically. This was too fucking easy.

“Nope. Jeanne is going to spar with you. I’ve told him no weapons. You are free to use whatever you want. If it gets too dangerous I’ll step in and save you. We have Millydee assigned to you as your personal healer. She will be more than adequate for most injuries, and I’m told you’ll be very sturdy.”

“Whatever I want?” Ruth was blinking rapidly, sensing the closing of a trap. He just couldn’t figure it out. He had killed several of these jokers easily at the front gate. From what he’d seen they used sticks and rocks to fight each other.

“Ruth, don’t overthink it. I’m responsible for your safety,” Merriweather stepped closer to him and he resisted the urge to jump back. She reached up slowly and dragged the metal talon from her gloved index finger gently down his cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

Ruth grabbed her wrist and tried to move her arm away. His eyes widened slightly as he watched her burning blue eyes remain placid. He couldn’t move her arm at all.

His eyes turned into narrow slits as he prepared to use a spell on her. Before he could, she released him and started walking off to the side. Ruth watched her go and considered striking her in the back.

Strong.

Ruth blinked again and then walked straight into the sparring arena, forgetting Merriweather for the moment. There was only one true enemy.

Tamara.

...and this thing that just walked into the sparring circle shaped like a dragon would have to be a suitable thing to punch until he got to that particular bump in the road.

⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋⇋

“Hello, I am Jeanne…” The man scratched his head and glanced to the left at Merriweather. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to be doing. Merriweather had given him unspecific instructions when she’d told him to just hurt the new guy. She’d shaken her head when he’d tried to inquire about it and told him he could go talk to the lady that showed up in the morning without any warning and burned a whole new sparring area into the ground with her mind, producing a large sign from nowhere and then leaving all in the span of half a minute.

Ruth was an impressive figure. He was as tall as Jeanne was but the way he stood casually with a three meter difference made Jeanne feel no pressure at all. His stance was, as the cliche villains in the puppet plays like to say, ‘full of openings’.

Jeanne ran his hand over the stubble of his goatee and then over his close shaved head. He cast a glance at Merriweather again, hoping for some sort of last minute encouragement. To his dismay he saw that she was giving him an irritated look. It was the kind of imperceptible eye narrowing she gave right before she barged in on a training and beat the fuck out of you.

“Let’s start then, eh?”

“Anything I want.” Ruth stretched out his hand casually to Jeanne.

Magic. Okay, let’s see what you got. I heard the story but--

Jeanne blinked as he watched Ruth’s face transform from calm and superior to panicked and alarmed.

Your magic don’t work? Not my fault.

Jeanne moved forward after punching a fist into his open hand. Ruth was staring at his own hand like a moron when Jeanne’s right hand probed into his gut. The Tiefling bent slightly but not as much as Jeanne would have guessed. Ruth was looking at him now. The horns on his head were fucking huge. Jeanne started to have doubts about whether or not this was a good idea, him being alone with Ruth in this small area with no armor and no weapon.

He had the doubt for about four seconds. Then Ruth leaned forward and tried to grab him by the shoulders.

Jeanne simply lowered his stance and centered himself before punching for real.

This time, Ruth flew backward almost a meter and landed on his butt. He actually bounced once before coming to a stop, his face a comical expression of stunned, angry, and out of breath.

Jeanne narrowed his eyes as a thought occurred to him. He looked over to see that Merriweather was staring dispassionately at Ruth, a telling lack of empathy on her face.

This guy doesn’t know what the fuck he is doing. Sorry guy… it’s gonna be a long day for you.

Ruth: VI

Sikes: