3-16 Adherent of wrath

The journey of the three continued in silence. It was too quiet for Aedan’s liking. It wasn’t that he disliked the quiet. Quite the contrary, he enjoyed the quiet providing his shadow was his sole companion. However, Aedan continued his steps without minding the awkward silence as much as he could. Though he had an inkling of what caused the silence, this was a circumstance where knowing the cause was not enough to treat the problem.

Eventually, the awkward silence was broken by one of them after curiosity took over.

“M-may I be so bold to ask as to where we’re going?” Lilian asked with a trembling voice. Along with Nivia, they trailed slowly behind Aedan’s steps through the sea of trees. They didn’t question his lead at first but after hours on end of a walk seemingly without end, Lilian felt that she just had to ask.

Aedan’s pace came to a halt as he looked over his shoulder and offered the Dryad a perplexed glance. “Why the sudden polite manner of speaking?” he asked.

“Are you seriously asking that?” Nivia returned the question with a glare.

“Nivia, don’t speak to him like that,” Lilian chided.

“Why? Because he’s a Dragon?”

“Have you forgotten what the elders have taught us?”

“I did not,” Nivia shot back. “They taught us Dragons are a menace. They pillage lands for their personal gains and none could fight back. Since no one could fight back, they keep doing it.”

Aedan laughed dryly as he heard that. “I can’t speak for the other Dragons but I personally don’t do that— anymore.”

“Anymore?” Nivia questioned. “So you’re admitting that you were once as juvenile and despicable as the story tends to depict?”

“Nivia!” Lilian rebuked.

“I seem to have garnered your ire. I don’t recall doing anything that would raise anyone’s ire.”

“Have you heard of the stories of your kind?”

“More times than I wished?” Aedan retorted.

“Then you should know why. Your kind does whatever they want even if it’s at the expense of others’ well being just because you knew no one would challenge you.”

“Well then, on behalf of all my incredibly distant relatives, I apologized.”

“This isn’t something an apology could mend.”

Aedan sighed. “You know, I thought you already know what I am. Colour me surprised when I noticed how shocked you were.”

“I did suspect you to be some rare mythical being in disguise, but to think you’re a Dragon out of all possibilities. And what were you planning, living a mundane life as a Dwarrow, what do you get out of it?”

“Peace and quiet but… we all can see how that's turning out at present.”

Nivia’s gaze narrowed. “That’s a tall tale.”

“The truth gives no shit about what others think.”

A vein popped on her forehead.

Lilian immediately moved between Aedan and Nivia. “That’s enough, Nivia. He saved our lives. It’s rude to doubt the one we’re indebted to.”

“After what we’re taught about Dragons, you’re going to trust him?”

“We’re also taught to not judge a race basing upon the action of a few.”  She then turned to Aedan. “Forgive her for her imprudence, Aedan. And also, I beg your pardon if the change in my demeanour offended you.”

“Just cast aside what you have heard about Dragons. They’re mostly the doings of the immature brats. The adults don’t meddle with other races. They don’t pillage lands as it lacks the challenge.”

“I-I see… It’s just… even to us Fae, Dragons are literal legends. Even some of the Elders have never laid their eyes on a Dragon. It’s hard not to be in awe in the presence of a legend.”

“Okay… now this is uncomfortable. Just treat me like you would a close friend or the very least a close acquaintance, please. I’m not one for titles and I certainly do not wish for my travelling companion to treat me like an individual on a grand pedestal.”

“As you wish— I mean, of course, Aedan.”

Aedan smiled. “Thank you, Lilian.”

“Ugh...” Nivia groaned. “What are these flowers blooming around the two of you…?”

“So… where are we heading to?” Lilian asked.

“Not sure where this path is leading but I’m following a trail of bloodlust.”

“A trail of bloodlust?” Lilian blinked. “Bloodlust from whom or what?”

“A vampire.”

“Another one?”

“And you’re telling us that now?” Nivia barged in with a deep scowl.

“Well, I didn’t think you would still be following me considering you have already outrun your pursuers.”

“That’s beside the point,” Nivia retorted angrily and her scowl deepened further.

“Well, don’t blame me for not telling you then.” Aedan shrugged.

“I didn’t even hear anything around us.” Nivia sniffed the air. “I don’t even smell anything. Are you playing the jester with us?”

“I doubt you would smell or hear anything. She hid her tracks well but bloodlust isn’t something that could be smelled or heard. It’s something you feel.”

Nivia glared at him dubiously, unsure if the insult was laced on his words. “Wait, she? You can even tell its gender apart?”

“Yes, I can. I am a Dragon, after all,” he boasted with a grin. “I have years to hone my senses in addition. Of course I can do something like this at the very least.”

“You’re unbearably vain,” Nivia muttered.

“Perhaps,” Aedan responded.

“Why are we following a trail of bloodlust?” the Dryad asked.

“She’s heading east, which is where I would be going even if I’m not following her bloodlust. Second, she bore the scent of the vampire I just killed. Third, she went past us without giving us so much as her slightest attention. She obviously served the same master as the vampire I killed and yet, she ignored our presence. Curious, wouldn’t you say?”

“It makes sense actually,” Lilian said. “Apparently, there’s a woman out there who shares the same goal as us.”

“And you have met this woman, I presumed?”

Lilian nodded.

"What sort of person is she?"

“Unpleasant lady, that’s what she is,” Nivia chimed in. “She attacks anyone in her sights. If it wasn’t for her, those thugs wouldn't have caught up to us.”

“I recall correctly, you were the one who wanted to meddle with her,” Lilian pointed out.

“Oh, shut up,” Nivia huffed with her arms crossed. “I just thought she could join our cause. It would be easier if we had more people.”

“Sounds like a jolly fellow,” Aedan remarked.

“You sound interested.”

“I am. My instincts are telling me it would be a fateful encounter.”

“You took an interest in a woman you haven’t met simply because of your instincts’ blabbering?”

“I trust my instincts.”

“I'll take it back,” Nivia said. “You’re not unbearably vain. You’re just simply unbearable.”

“Since we’re now in the clear of pursuers, you’re free to run along now. No need to follow me anymore. With that said, I fare the two of you well in your journey,” Aedan bade and took off in the direction they had been walking towards.

“Come on, Nivia. Let’s follow him,” Lilian proposed.

“Are you serious?” Nivia asked in disbelief.

“Sephrodia Valley is this way. We would be going in the same direction anyway. It doesn’t hurt to have a Dragon as our travelling companion considering whose wrath we have just incurred.”

Nivia groaned and sighed. “Fine. We’ll follow him but only until Sephrodia Valley.”

Lilian nodded with a giggle. “As you say, Nivia.”

And so, the two ran after Aedan.

****

The vampire, Claudia, lept a good distance away from where she stood as Aera’s fist turned the ground into a vast crater of around a hundred feet in diameter.

“What a monstrous strength,” Claudia remarked and took a sniff. “But you don’t smell like someone who’s higher than the level of forty. You’re around the level of twenty, maybe on the higher end.”

“Levels mean nothing to me,” replying in a brief manner, Aera kicked off the ground and threw herself at Claudia.

The vampire gracefully dodge to the side with a sigh and an exaggerated exasperated gesture. “You have strength but it’s no use if you don’t have precision. We have been at this for quite some time now. Will you ever learn?”

Aera swung her backhand at Claudia but to the vampire, the feral attack was all too easy to see through. Claudia dodged the backhand by a hair’s breadth with a grin to show her absolute confidence.

“You’re fast but far too slow to the eyes of a vampire,” she said and retaliated with a palm strike into Aera’s abdomen.

Aera absorbed the strike with a wince and immediately launched a counterattack by swinging her fist wildly.

Claudia deflected her feral retaliation with a scoff and sent her tumbling across the ground with a straight kick.

Digging her fingernails into the soil, Aera forced herself to a stop. With a growl, she once again lunged at the vampire with reckless abandon. Her fist barely made contact with Claudia’s face but the vampire herself easily swung a kick to her jaws. Aera was about to go tumbling but she had gotten used to the vampire’s strength and she held her ground.

“What!?” Claudia blurted out in surprise.

Aera countered with a haymaker.

Claudia was too astounded to respond appropriately and she could only block Aera’s fist with her arms crossed. She instantly regretted it. She could feel her bones cracking against Aera’s strength. She thought she could keep her feet planted on the ground but instead, she was sent flying through the air. She flipped a few times before crashing into a tree.

“What was all that boasting for…?” Aera asked with sincerity. “I expected iron but you’re even softer than the rocks I have destroyed.”

Blood spurted from her mouth as Claudia struggled to retort. Even getting to her feet was tasking. Indignance wrought her face as she refused to accept the damages Aera was able to do to her. “Preposterous!” she snarled. “How are you this strong!?”

“I don’t know...” Aera said. “Perhaps my goddess is incredibly generous. Without her assistance, I would not have been able to spill so much blood. Is this what she wants...?”

“What are you babbling about?”

“What am I babbling about?” Aera gave a look of confusion with her head tilted. “Do you believe in gods’ work?”

“What’s there to believe in?” Claudia scoffed and spat. “Gods are a sham. Despite everything they have done, people still see them as benevolent. What a complete joke. Are you trying to tell me your god gave you this strength?”

“It’s the truth.”

“Utter bollocks. Whatever you’re trying to sell, I ain’t buying. Maybe I should show you how wrong you are to believe that your god is benevolent when I tear you from limb to limb.”

“I don’t believe gods to be benevolent.”

Claudia frowned in bewilderment. “What are you saying now?”

“If my goddess was benevolent, she wouldn’t have waited until my mother was killed before helping me. No, she is anything but benevolent.”

“Then you still pray to this god?”

“Yes,” Aera answered. “Because benevolence is not what I seek right now. If anything, malevolence is what I need right now. Malevolence that I could instil upon those who wronged me.”

“I see… You have gone mad. You're nothing more than another mad dog who seeks vengeance.” Claudia laughed. “I have put down mad dogs like you who came seeking vengeance on us before. You will just be another one among the lot.”

“That’s still too early to judge, isn’t it?”

“You think you can defeat a Pureblood like me?”

“I have not the slightest notion of what a Pureblood is and I do not care. Neither do I wish to know. You work for Marduk just like my father. You will die.”

“Threatening a Pureblood vampire?” Claudia guffawed with her head thrown back. “You’re delusional.”

“Even the ones who stand in my way would unjustly incur my wrath. I can barely tell the time. Aye, I am delusional but you are still going to die.”

“Not if I kill you first!” Claudia shouted and lunged with her claws bared. She swiped at a speed that was too fast for Aera to dodge, or at least that was what she thought.

There was no hint of focus in Aera’s eyes but she slanted her head back just enough to dodge the vampire’s attack.

“Impossible!” the vampire cried. “I don’t believe this!” She swiped again and Aera dodged her claws again.

“You’re very… predictable. Predictability... is that what it is?”

“Silence!” she barked and thrust her claws—

—but Aera caught her by the wrist. “And I was having so much trouble following your movements just before… This change… I don’t dislike it.”

“Let go, you filthy bitch!” Claudia roared and swung her claws.

Aera caught her other hand but she pulled herself in and sank her fangs into Aera’s bare neck.

Claudia’s laugh of triumph was muffled by Aera’s flesh. “Silly little dog. You let your guard down. As expected of a feral bitch’s intelligence,” she said all that but Aera only heard mumblings from her.

“Stupid am I?” Aera asked dryly and easily tore Claudia off of her. Pieces of her flesh were torn alongside Claudia's fangs but Aera showed no sign of agony at such an injury.

“W-what… Just what are y-you? How are you not feeling anything?”

“I don’t know… One of my goddess’ gifts, perhaps? But it’s useless for you to know.”

“What are you—!” Claudia’s befuddlement turned into a twist of agony halfway through as Aera tore her arms off of her.

Before her cries of agony went on any longer, Aera gripped her by her throat and silenced any noise that could escape her lips. The vampire ended up gagging on her own suffering.

“If you weren’t so reckless, I’m sure you would have killed me. Such a pity,”

“M-m-mer-c-cy...” Claudia struggled to say but Aera’s grip around her next made it too difficult.

Aera began to weep, her cheeks trembling. “Why do all of you keep parroting my mother’s last words…?”

Claudia’s eyes slowly widened at Aera’s sudden change of temper.

“Why…? Why….?” Aera’s look of sorrow twisted into a scowl of deep hatred. “Why!?” she roared at Claudia’s face before slamming her whole body into the ground. Hundreds of bones breaking could be clearly heard even among the noise of the ground turning into a crater. Blood sprouted from the vampire’s mouth, nose, eyes, and ears like a fountain.

“You don’t get to say those words...” Aera growled with her other hand raised and coiled into a trembling fist. “You don’t get to beg for mercy after everything you and your ilk have done!!” And Aera sent her fist down unto the vampire’s face, clobbering her bloodied face into a pulp of mangled flesh and bones. Each clobber sent a wave of tremor through the ground, causing the animals in the surrounding area to take off into a sprint. Even the birds flew off into the sky.

Watching from a place outside the unhinged Aera’s range of deranged attention, were Aedan, Nivia, and Lilian. The three had arrived ever since Aera and Claudia had begun their short fight. They were hiding behind a bush.

“Well… you’re still thinking of talking to her?” Lilian asked.

“Yes,” Aedan said. “Now I’m even more interested in talking to her, considering she bore a similar trace of divinity as Erin.”