Devourer

I looked down at the girl below me, she was still clearly in shock as her gaze followed me as I moved around the room. She probably thinks that I can’t see her unless I face her. So I turn to her and she flinches as she looks back down at the floor. I let out a small laugh at her reaction as I moved over to Cecilia who was restraining the pair of guards with her magic. 

We were currently in our base, it wasn’t really a tomb anymore. It was starting to look more like a base of operations. Cecilia has been fiddling with the controls of the place and now there were many more amenities built into the structure. Now there was a refrigerator for the food I… “borrowed” from a supply wagon, a common area for Cecilia to relax and there was even a swimming pool.

I approached the two trembling guards just as Cecilia finishing restraining them, they are now strapped to a pair of chairs that Cecilia brought back from her prison. 

“You have a plan?” I asked as I looked at Cecilia.

This was a good opportunity, which was why I even agreed to this whole thing in the first place. Cecilia’s knowledge of Averlon is extensive but she has been out of touch with the city for four years. She needs to know the current events so that she can formulate a plan for her to get back into the city.

“As of now it’s simple, we ask them to talk, if they don’t we hurt them. As long as they don’t die I can heal them.” Cecilia said in earshot of the guards and they visibly flinched at their words.

“So we ask first…” I replied with a smile. 

At those words I let out a laugh, simple, I like it. I slithered over to the guards and I leaned down until my face was inches from his face. I opened my mouth and exhaled onto one of the guard’s faces and I saw him shut his eyes as he began to hyperventilate. I know my breath smells like blood which in this case can prove useful.

Then I growled and bared my teeth as I opened a mouth as if I was about to bite his head off. I snapped my jaws shut an inch from his face and the guard screams as the smell of ammonia started to rise up from his body.

“Why are you so afraid?” I asked as I let out another laugh.

“Are you afraid of death? Afraid of what will happen in the next life?” I asked as I turned my head to the other guard.

Cecilia has told me about the dominant religion in this world. The Church of Heaven, the religion believes the Seraphim are servants of God. The members of the church believe that the Seraphim protect them and guide them on the path God intends. When they die they are judged by the angels, those worthy are allowed into heaven and reborn as angels. Those that are unworthy are sent to hell and reborn as demons to suffer eternally in the searing pits of hell.

“Do you fear that final judgment? All your deeds laid bare? All your sins punished?” I asked as the pair began to sob as they started to contemplate the end of their meaningless lives.

“Tell me do you think you are worthy to be allowed through those gilded gates?” I asked with another laugh.

“I offer you a reprieve. I offer you your lives, postpone that judgment, a chance to become worthy. In exchange, you tell us whatever we want to know. Cooperate and just might survive…” I said as I backed off. 

The pair of guards nodded frantically and Cecilia smiled as she approached. She then began to question them, they answered freely. I could tell they weren’t lying they were spilling everything. There were a few interesting points in the line of questioning though…

“You said bandits attacked those villages?” Cecilia asked a little surprised.

“Yes… that’s what the reports said…” the guard stammered in reply.

That was odd, I’ve combed pretty much every inch of this forest. As far as I can tell there were no bandits left nearby. I found some abandoned camps though as if the bandits all packed up and left. My best guess would be that word of my presence spread and all the bandits panicked and left.

“Which villages?” Cecilia asked a little disturbed by the news.

“Wheaton and Heathstead…” one of the guards replied.

“Hmmm…” Cecilia muttered as she turned away and walked into her room. She came out with a large scroll as unrolled it on a nearby table.

I looked down and saw it was a map of the surrounding region. It was a rather local map, with only the locations around Averlon. I could see many icons showing the various city-states, I realized that these city-states seemed to hold rather small pockets so the territory. 

Wait a minute I remember seeing a village close to the edge of the forest… that’s Hearthstead?

“Friend, didn’t you say that you ran into a few more bandit camps?” Cecilia asked.

“Yeah but they were abandoned, my best guess is that they heard about me and were spooked,” I replied.

“I think it wasn’t bandits… Lily, do you know anything that Hearthstead and Wheaton have in common? Besides the obvious things.” Cecilia asked as she turned to Lily. 

Lily paused for a moment as she furrowed her brows trying to think. We waited patiently for her to recall then I saw her furrowed brows relax as she turned back to look at Cecilia.

“There was this adventurer team that was formed from our two villages recently. If I recall it was just over a year ago.” Lily said. 

“Adventurer team…” Cecilia mutters as she looked at me.

I know what she is thinking, if that is the only thing that links the two villages then it might have something to do with the adventurers that first found me and opened the tomb. I can still recall something that the last woman I killed said, the one that translated that tablet for me. She was praying and muttering a name before I killed her... Sophia…

“Does the name Sophia ring any bells?” I asked as I looked at Lily. At those words, I saw her eyes widen in recognition.

“Yes, she’s the younger sister of one of my friends that became an adventurer. Her name is Alisa, she was studying magic to become an adventurer… why?” Lily said as she gave me a look.

“I think your friend Alisa was part of the adventurer team that… woke me up.” I lied as I didn’t want to reveal that I was only about a month old.

“Woke you up? Then where is she?” Lily asked.

“I killed her. The first thing I saw when I woke up was a member of her team trying to swing a sword at my head. They tried to kill me, they tried their best, but it wasn’t good enough.” I replied calmly.

“You… killed her?” Lily stammered.

“Lily, my friend here has the right to self-defense. He was attacked, what was he supposed to do just let them kill him?” Cecilia said.

“You could have just scared them off, you didn’t have to KILL THEM!” Lily shouted tearfully.

“And what? Let them run back to town and tell everyone about me? Listen I’ve been around long enough to know how you humans are. Anything that is a threat to you is an enemy, you humans would have sent more adventurer teams to hunt me down if I let them go.” I replied as I slithered close to her and brought my head close to her. She went pale as her eyes darted down to my serrated teeth.

“Friend, she is just distraught. She just found out all her friends and family are dead, offer her some patience.” Cecilia said as she walked next to Lily and placed a gentle hand on the front of my head. 

Cecilia and I cooked up a plan to make me seem like some old venerable beast from a time long forgotten. The monsters here tend to evolve as time goes on, so if I am supposedly some ancient creature then me having slightly similar abilities and features to other creatures would seem more believable. It would make me look like their ancient ancestor rather than a primordial devourer that could steal their abilities. 

“Fine, I know it is just the way you humans are…” I replied in mock grumpiness as I backed off from Lily.

“How old are you… and what is this place?” Lily asked as she starts to piece together that I am apparently some ancient beast.

“I never counted the years, I never understood you humans and your fascination with counting your years of life. I suppose it comes with your short life spans. 

As for this place, a friend sealed me in here long ago, there were hunters trying to kill me. She told me to sleep here and await one of her descendants to release me. I was surprised at first when I woke up, I thought it was a descendant of my friend that came to release me. But they raised their weapons and I thought they were the hunters so I killed them.” I replied.

“What were the people like back then? What did they call themselves?” Lily asked curiously.

“The humans back then called themselves part of the Elysian Empire. The world was very different back then…” I replied as turned away from her as if lost in thought.

“The Elysian Empire? That makes you more than 5000 years old!” Lily said in shock.

“As I said, I don’t understand your fascination with counting your years,” I replied dryly.

“Oh…” Lily replied as her curiosity starts to ebb.

“Now then as for the villages, I suspect bandits didn’t do it. I know my father and I know the protocols in place in Averlon. There’s a new monster appearance protocol in place isn’t there?” Cecilia asked as she turned to the guards.

The pair of guards nodded mutely at her question.

“So if my friend here left Lily behind in that bandit camp and she made it back to civilization, she might have clues to what my friend is. So the two of you were sent to the forest with Lily to see if she can lead you to that camp in the hopes that it might give my father some clues to what my friend is. That information is important because we are humans are squishy weak creatures so adventurers need the information to fight monsters.” Cecilia said and the guards nodded again.

“My father then somehow realized that Lily’s friend Alisa might have accidentally released my friend here into the world. So he had to get his hands on their families to interrogate them. But he can’t do so legally as they committed no crime, so he faked the attacks with some soldiers.” Cecilia said as she began to piece it all together.

“Yes, I suspect so, the adventurers that woke me up mentioned a map,” I replied.

“No doubt they were overheard, my father has a particularly competent spymaster in his employ. She was some whore who discovered that the contents of a man’s letters are worth more than the coins in his purse.” Cecilia said as she cupped her chin.

“Spymaster?” I asked.

“Sarana, that was her name. She helped imprison me, or at least I suspect so. There was little chance my father could have acquired enough Ether on the legal markets to power the cradle without arousing suspicion. 

Furthermore, someone had to build that mansion, the construction workers would have to be eliminated to keep the secret. My father couldn’t just kill them through normal means, so he needed to use more… subtle channels.

I suspect Sarana helped orchestrate the attacks on the village as well…” Cecilia replied.

“So bandit’s didn’t kill my family? It was soldiers on the crown’s payroll?” Lily asked her eyes wide as she took a shaky step back. 

“Unfortunately that seems like the most likely possibility…” Cecilia replied as she turned her gaze to the pair of guards.

“So they might have known?” Lily asked as she gazed at the guards, her gaze slowly coloring with hate.

The guards just looked at her confusion coloring their expressions.

“No, these grunts wouldn’t know, they probably heard the official story… there is one way to confirm this, however…” Cecilia said.

“How?” I asked. 

“We can go pay Hearthstead a visit, if this is true then we just got one more arrow to shoot at my father. The king of a city-state is also called Lord Protector because it is their duty to protect their citizens. That is why the citizens pledge fealty to the ruling monarch, but when word gets out the Lord Protector is killing his own citizens…” Cecilia said with a smirk.

“Rebellion…” I replied with a smirk.

“We can help you if you let us go.” One of the guards stammered suddenly.

I turn to look at the pair of pale trembling men and I look back at Cecilia.

“There are other sources of information, I already got more than I expected from some common grunts. Kidnapping a patrol isn’t difficult so they aren’t that useful… besides, I remember that ability of yours… the one that can steal memories. We haven’t had the chance to test it on anything reasonably intelligent…” Cecilia said with a cold smile as she turned to look at the guards who flinched at her gaze.

I smiled at her words and I turned to look at the pair of guards who have now gone even paler as it started to dawn on them what was about to happen. I calmly began to approach them as they began to thrash as they tried to break the magical chains that bound them.

“You said you would let us go if we cooperated.” one of the guards sobbed.

At those words, my smile widened as I let out a small laugh. I was never going to let them go, I couldn’t risk them telling anyone about me. 

I never said I would let you go

I said if you cooperate, you just MIGHT survive...