《Mirefall》Chapter 14 - Questions
Advertisement
We wait as Pash leaves to ready herself, returning with a magnificent pole-arm and and armored head-to-toe in gilded plate covered in ornate Morovani motifs of knotted vines and blossoms. It's a challenge at first just to take my eyes off her.
the High Steward insists we take a lift to get up to the main grounds.
"It's a very long way, Dhajia, I really don't think you want to take all those stairs. And besides, I don't have the time."
I clamp my eyes closed as the lift trundles up its shaft. This is no skylift—it's cramped and windowless. At last we reach the top. The instant Pash opens the door for us, I push past her to get through it.
We're in a long, curving hall, lined to one side with arched windows that look out onto a forest. Everything is made with bricks of slate-gray stone, quarried from Grail's Edge itself. Lanterns set with blue-green emberstones hang between each window, and on the other wall decorative stained glass inlays are lit from behind. I study them as we pass. Their opulently stylized panes depict the Legends and their Sentinels—giant creatures of living stone and incredible power from an age so long ago no one's quite sure when exactly it was.
I slow, practically drooling over the one depicting the Sentinal called Ahvorand—pictured striding over a forest on legs taller than any tree, crystalline antlers refracting rays of sunlight into a halo about its head.
Then the Steward tsks at me to hurry up, and I do, reminding myself I can always come back here without her. Every now and then we pass a guard doing his or her best to imitate a statue. Some are normal humans, and some are very obviously beast-eaters. Though they're rigid and quiet, their eyes follow us. After a short time we come to a heavy wooden door with iron fixtures. Pash opens it, and I step out into the cool outside air. Nightbirds whoop and call to one another from the dark canopy.
Advertisement
I've seen plans of Grailhold, read the books of its history. The hall we just exited was the innermost wall, and this is the Wildgrove. I'm reverently quiet as we walk the path that winds up and through the shadowy trees. It's said that this bit of forest has been here since long before the first bricks of the hold were laid. Some even believe that the first wall was initially built here not as the beginnings of a fortress—but as a means to safeguard this place, these trees.
I recognize the hoot of a ghostowl somewhere nearby and pinpoint its ember a heartbeat later. Then the trees part, and rising overhead is a great stone tower—lush with creeping vines and cascades of wisteria. Warm light spills out from its windows, and stony likenesses of the Sentinals ring the walls, peering down at us.
"Welcome to Shkah Toan. Home to all Heirs for the duration of the Turning." Steward Andris declares as my new guardian opens yet another door for us. It means "heart's tower" in Old Morovani. We enter, skirting around a low stone wall encircling a spring that bubbles up from the floor. We take yet another lift to get to my chamber. When we arrive, my luggage is already waiting for me at the foot of a big four-posted bed.
I look around, smiling as I recognize my mother's handiwork. I may not be staying in this room for long, but she's decked it out especially for me anyway— filling it with paintings of animals and the flooded forest back home, dark colors, and soft things for me to run my hands over.
Steward Andris gives me a quick tour around the chambers, showing me the washroom, the balcony, the dumbwaiter and the bird hatch.
"Please order yourself some dinner and get to bed quickly," the Steward says. "You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."
Advertisement
"Will any of my parents come to see me tonight? I kind of really need to talk to them." I ask, sitting down at the center of my luxuriously plush bed.
"No, Dhajia, I'm sorry. They can't tonight. But you'll see them all in the morning for breakfast." She gives me her clockwork smile again then turns, dips her head and takes her leave.
It's the answer I expected, but I'm still not happy about it.
~*~
I swallow a large bite of herb-crusted honeyfish, looking over at my guardian where she leans against the wall to the side of my door.
"Pash?"
"Yes?"
"What was that, when Thrallin tasted my blood?"
She pauses in her reading and looks up at me. In her full armor, she reminds more than ever of a magnificent metallic statue. One that smirks and opens doors and likes to read.
Normally, she'd be posted just outside of my chamber door, but I'd asked her to come in.
I have questions.
Pash frowns. "It's not something we're encouraged to talk about, but in truth, it's probably better you knew." She shuts the book and sets it aside. "Just...please. Don't speak of it freely."
I watch her, waiting. She sighs.
"There's a reason everyone doesn't just deliberately eat Mireflesh, outside of the physical changes. You'd think it's a pretty good bet, right? You don't have to worry about being transformed too drastically if you just eat a bit, and you no longer have to fear the Mire."
"Yes, I've wondered about that..."
She goes on, her expression twisting. "Once you've had it, though—mireflesh, mireblood...you never stop craving it. And the more you have, the more you long for it, and the more of yourself you lose. Thrall has had a good deal more mireflesh than I, as you can probably tell."
My expression must be horrified, for she takes one look at me and laughs.
"Wh-why would they still assign me beast-eater guardians, then? Why not just give me ordinary ones? Won't I be at more risk, with all of you around?"
I cringe at the words even as they pass my lips.
"That brings us back to the question you asked me back at the Barracks. Why we're so eager to be a part of all this. There's an herb that eases the craving, a great deal, actually. But it only grows in Morovin, and its expensive. As Guardians we receive a free supply of it, in addition to our salaries. And, ah—" she hesitates.
"What?"
"We're also the only ones who can be trusted to protect others against you, should you choose to put your new ability to any unjust use."
I take a long breathe through my nose. I'd suspected that.
I go to sleep that night, wrapped in the ridiculously soft embrace of my down mattress and blankets, my mind racing with questions—ones Pash couldn't answer.
Questions like "what was that strange, powerful ember back in the Dead City?" and "how the chasms am I going to get out of being an Heir?"
The questions chase me into my dreams.
Advertisement
Solomon's Crucible
Book one is now available on Amazon! On the day the System came to Earth, Solomon Gragg had to cut off his own hand. Then things got rough. The arrival of the System disabled all modern technology in an instant. It exposed humanity to alien life forms for the first time. Society will never be the same after we discovered just how little we knew about the true inner workings of the universe. Solomon just wants to kill all the invaders trying to take what’s his. This is a litrpg story. Chapters will be between 1000 and 1200 words each. This story updates six days a week at 1700 EST.
8 454High School DEATH GAMES
"'Why,' a woman asked me, 'would they show a movie with things I do not want to see?' She is not unusual. Most people choose movies that provide exactly what they expect, and tell them things they already know. Others are more curious. We are put on this planet only once, and to limit ourselves to the familiar is a crime against our minds." - From the Great Roger Ebert Be forewarned, this story is not for everyone. It's not even for some people. This is for just a select few who get wet from misery and excited by suffering. This is no level up, power up, let's kill monsters, op mc, fantasy land, standard litrpg garbage you find in basically every other story on this site. If the rest of RoyalRoad is shounen (which it is), then this is Gantz/Berserk. Sorry. I lied. This is darker than Berserk and bloodier than Gantz. Not a manga fan? Then how about Korean cinema? Have you heard of Kim Ki-duk? His works The Isle, Moebius, and Pieta all come to mind. Again, this is not for normal people. There's a bunch of other normal stories for normal people to read. The whole rest of the site library is for normal. This is a special section set aside for a special type of story meant for a special kind of people. If you follow or favorite this, you're telling the whole world that you're a little different. A bit twisted. I guess you could call it the BDSM of reading. Which segues perfectly into the introduction. Are you kinky? Are you familiar with the taboo? Have you ever thought about the depths of human depravity? What I'm trying to ask is, do you like fucked up shit? Do you like massacres and public shamings? Do you like watching people fall into despair, going insane, or turning into psychopaths? Do you get turned on when love is destroyed and hedonism reigns king? Well, I've got the perfect story for you! If you're uncomfortable with profanity, gore, sexual and traumatising content, then I recommend you move on. I won't judge you just cause you're a pussy. And I'm not talking about the fake labels of the other candy ass stories on this site who think their shit is morbid or even remotely disturbing, I'm talking about the shocking, offensive, real fucked up shit that you can't even use incognito mode for and you gotta install Tor browser. (You don't actually need to install Tor, you idiot.) If you love that shit or even if you're just curious, then read on. I swear it's not as bad as you think it'll be. It's much worse. - Signed with no love, Marley (written by a friend in the voice of Marley) Unapologetic, cynical, pretentious, pessimistic, hypocritical, selfish, sarcastic, passive, apathetic asshole main character named Marley. Alternate POV: Badass, intelligent, proactive, loving, nice, friendly, optimistic co-main character Sophia. This is essentially a rough draft. Grammar and spelling has been read through and fixed for the most part. If you don't like something, tell me why you don't like it. Don't just rate it low anonymously. Thanks.
8 208In Another World with Doraemon's 4D Pocket
Cary found himself awoken in a foreign land with what he thought was a nondescript white pouch. Reaching into the white pouch, he was able to pull out an assortment of gadgets that he recognized to be from his favorite childhood show, Doraemon. With the thousands of mischievous, powerful gadgets inside the 4D pocket, Cary will take on this new world by storm! Something ridiculous I will write purely for fun alongside my main story Giantslayer As a disclaimer, I may nerf some of the most broken gadgets or even not use them at all. Doraemon was insane for a children manga (e.g. Doraemon canonically has a nuclear bomb inside his 4D pocket), some of the gadgets have the potential to end this story in one chapter. The most important factor is fun so anything that completely breaks the story might not be mentioned at all (or we will pretend they do not exist in the 4D pocket). We may find uses for those broken gadgets in the future, though. I am not particularly good at writing comedy. There will of course be funny moments (at least I hope they are funny) but everyone in this story will actually behave in a realistic(?) and serious manner. I want the serious world to contrast with some of the wacky gadgets that are available.
8 65Once Giants: The Neon Amazon
Tina Thompson has the body of a super soldier and the debts to match. With a superhuman body that requires constant nano-treatments to stay alive, Tina slums it in the favelas of São Paulo as a drug lord's enforcer, cleaning up messes too tough for regular goons to handle. When a collection run goes bad, Tina faces a choice: She can die, or risk everything on one last job. One to wipe the debts clean and fix her body permanently. But is her freedom worth the price? Fast paced and gritty, The Neon Amazon is the first installment of Once Giants, a new Cyberpunk action series. If you love kick ass heroines, wise cracking mercenaries and political intrigue set against a new global space race, then Once Giants is the series for you!CLICK TO START THE NEON AMAZON TODAY!
8 97The Song of Swords by InsaneMoonCake
In a world where Songs are Power, Jia Yuan is a young slave with simple yet big dreams. With his goal being to join his elder slave brother in the army watch as his actual fate blows up into striving to become the strongest when he wanders upon """"The Song of Swords"""" (Synopsis is by TheLeecher very sorry for my horrible synopsis) Author is InsaneMoonCake/MoonCake I have gained his permission to post this on RoyalRoadlPower Levels:Absorption (Level 1-10), Manipulation (Level 1-10), True Disciple (Level 1-10), Demi-God of Song (Early, Middle, Late),God of Song (Early, Middle, Late), Emperor of Song (False, Adept, True)Also found on insanemooncakewrites.com and http://forum.wuxiaworld.com/discussion/575
8 184Varsity Roommie
The book is about a girl called Imbaliezihle in varsity and about her love life as a Lesbian stud woman and she grows from strength to strength,but never let's go of her womanizing ways. Imbaliezihle finds herself in a very complicated love triangle as she dates her roommate and a girl in her class.The book has some Lesbian love scenes,kissing scenes and a whole lot more love kind of scenes.
8 156