"The land of Halus was once ruled over by three deities. Alos of Life, Oros of Death, and their father, Mintras of Fate. The three deities lived upon the Pale Shore in a realm separate from ours, creating both our world and its inhabitants from the very same elements that made up their own. Their creations gained sentience eventually, so the father- Mintras, tasked his children with governing the world of life that they all worked hard to create. It is these two deities that we worship, as they have brought both strife, hardship, evolution and prosperity to the people of this world. With the good comes the bad- but with the bad, comes more good."
Mother closed the prayer book and looked at me from across the table. "We, the Drakar, were one of the few races blessed with both the sentience, and the power to carry out the will of the Twins- it is up to us to always be pure of heart, because our actions reflect the deities we worship."
I peeled away from her eyes and looked to the floor. My legs dangled off the wooden stool, and my dirtied feet were littered with now sealed cuts and scrapes.
"He was the one who pushed me though, Mother."
"That doesn't matter in the slightest." She chastised. "Look at how you are now, holding a grudge against the young man. The fight is over, Tallox, and you really injured that boy. I understand that you were acting in self defense, but there comes a point when defending yourself turns into attacking another. Do you think your father would be the Guardian of Oros if he refused to learn restraint?" She sighed and rose from her chair. "He will be home when the sun goes down- you are free to roam the village until then, and I want you to return with a better attitude. This conversation is not over."
With that she turned away from me and resumed her work at the clay countertop which made up a majority of the kitchen. Our hut was small for three people, and was yet somehow the largest in the village- with a matted down dirt floor lined with cobblestone around the trim of the walls. Two holes in the adobe by the door constituted our front windows, and now that the sun was going down, the primary light source became the several lanterns we kept hanging around our space.
A thin curtain made up our front door; its worn threads drifting slightly in the breeze that wafted in. Doors were not needed in my village, as there was nothing to steal. We had all that we needed to live comfortably, the gods made sure of that, but their assistance stopped there. It was up to us to govern our own people, in addition to making use of their generous gifts.
I slipped through the curtains and made my way down a stepping stone path. I managed to avoid all cracks in between the unevenly placed stones, a little game I played with myself when my family made their way for worship.
There was only an hour or so left of sunlight, so I decided to make my way to the temple, where my father would be in prayer. My father was a large man- tall, with broad shoulders and a tan complexion; his brown hair was always kept short and his beard trimmed. He wasn't just the Guardian of Oros- for Oros didn't need a guardian. His true responsibility lay in being the Chief of our village, leading our whole village in prayer during mass, and teaching others how to act for the Twins. My dad was a beacon of zeal, the ideal worshipper, and the favorite servant of the god of death- Oros.
The sounds of children laughing in the distance was only overshadowed by the smells of dinners cooking in each household. Our hunters had returned from their most recent expedition a few days ago, their boons having provided us with enough food for the next several weeks. It was Oros who told them where to go, and following our God's words, they discovered a coven of monsters. Orcs we could use to till our fields, and large dire wolves we could skin and eat, amongst a handful of others.
I looked over to the right, several hundred feet away at the large cage we kept them in. Right next to the cage was a group of children- throwing rocks at the beasts inside. Even from here I could see the mindless brutes shy away from the stones, all while keeping their hungry eyes fixated on the littlest of the group harassing them.
"Hey!" I shouted as I made my way closer. "Stop that- they're already captured! Don't be cruel!" As I approached, the children looked at me with a flicker of nervousness before sticking their tongues out at me. The biggest one of the bunch tossed another rock into the cave.
"Or what, Tallox? You gonna beat us up like you did Donek?" The ringleader raised an eyebrow.
"There's no honor in fighting people who harass helpless opponents." I chewed the inside of my cheek. This kid was going to make me lose my cool.
"Ah yes- honor, which you have plenty of." The kid turned his attention back to the beasts inside the cage, picking up another stone from the base of the cage. "Get lost, daddy's boy."
"The teachings of the Twins states that to harass something that can't fight back is tantamount to murder." I recited from my father's sermons. "And murder prevents us from returning to the Pale Shore to sit with Mintras."
The children rolled their eyes, their ringleader tossing the rock into the cage and hitting the nearest orc in the head- causing a drop of blood to fall.
"Tallox, stop preaching already, we know the scriptures." The ringleader turned to make eye contact with me. If my memory served me right, he was a child a year younger than I by the name of Gallor. He was a scrawny boy with blond hair, whose eyes were mixed matched in color due to an ailment he suffered from as an infant. One that was cured by Alos of life if I wasn't mistaken.
"Can it be murder if the beasts aren't intelligent enough to know they're alive?" Gallor looked me in the eye- he was playing a dangerous game disrespecting the scriptures.
"It doesn't matter, Alos said it herself- all life is precious- that is the decree." I stepped forward again.
"Tallox, think about it like this," Gallor walked forward, and placed a hand on my shoulder. "What if one of these monsters escaped and killed your mother- what would you do?"
"I-" I couldn't finish my sentence, because saying anything more would prove him right. But seeing through me, Gallor smirked.
"I thought so. These are beasts, Tallox. No different than animals. They are not intelligent- which means they can't be held to the same value as us. Don't you agree?"
I looked between each of the boys in Gallor's posse.
"No, I don't. They are still alive, and that means something- It certainly does to the Twins."
"Such a buzzkill." Gallor shoved me back before looking over his shoulder to the rest of the boys. "Let's get going."
I watched in silence as the boys walked away, up the stone pathway I had just descended- cresting over the hill and out of sight in only a few moments. I turned to the monsters in the cage- many of whom stared into the distance with blank, mindless expressions covering their faces.
The orc that Gallor threw the rocks at scratched the site on his head, staring around at the other monsters in the cage, yet remained still- unable to move around freely due to the low hanging roof of the cage.
"I'm sorry for the unneeded cruelty." I looked between each of them. "How terrible it must be for you to have been taken from your homes…" I watched them, hoping for a reaction, but alas there was none.
Truth be told, I felt bad for the monsters. They were scary at first glance, but there was a sort of innocence to them that I felt we preyed upon. It just didn't seem fair to me. They didn't know who, what, where, or why they're here, and yet they are nonetheless. To be used like tools, or eaten and torn into for materials. It just didn't seem right.
I was pulled from my thoughts by a peculiar sight. In the middle of the pack of monsters, I could see the dark face of a large black wolf staring forward at me. I tilted my head to the left, my eyes widening when the beast mimicked me.
"Wait," I walked up to the side of the cage. "Can you understand me?"
The wolf watched me closely, its dark eyes refusing to leave. Its gaze didn't feel predatory; there was something more, something akin to recognition. It made its way through the crowd, and approached the bars of the cage, sitting only a couple feet away from me.
"You can understand me, can't you?"
The wolf's tail began to wag. The butterflies in my stomach grew. If this wolf was intelligent, that would mean that I was right, and Gallor was wrong. I put that thought to the side, besides being petty it served no purpose. The true marvel of this situation was sitting right before me. I sat down on my side of the cage and crossed my legs.
I wonder if it can converse with me…
"If you can understand me- blink once for yes, and twice for no."
One blink.
I laughed out of excitement, the butterflies turning into pure giddiness.
"Are you a boy?"
One blink.
Ok, so it needs a boy's name…
After a moment of thinking, I lit up. "How about I call you Valorium? You need a name- does that work for you?"
One blink.
"Ok then, Valorium, are you scared?"
Two blinks.
"What, why not?"
Valorium cocked his head to the side and watched me with a wagging tail.
"Oh, yeah, my bad." I held eye contact with the wolf for a few moments. "Are there more of you? Intelligent monsters, I mean."
One blink.
"Are there any here right now?"
Two blinks.
"So you're alone… I'm sorry."
Valorium's tongue fell out of the side of his mouth as he panted, the bright pink sticking out against the backdrop of his obsidian fur. The beast's fur was beginning to blend into the area around him as the sun went down- his golden eyes becoming more prominent with the passing seconds.
Taking note of the diminishing light, I turned back to the wolf with a large smile.
"It's getting late, I should probably go. Do you want me to come back tomorrow?"
One blink.
"Ok then!" I stood up and brushed myself off. "I'll see you tomorrow then!"
I walked back up the hill and back to my house with feelings of elation. I felt justified in my defense of the beasts, and who knew- it may lead to a future with us living with them as opposed to against them.
***
The night went quickly after my interaction with Valorium. My dad returned home at the same time as me, his mood quickly souring after hearing of my fight earlier that day. But the anger from both of my parents was short lived, and not long after, the three of us sat in the humble lounge- my mother weaving a new curtain for the door, and my father reading the scriptures of the Twins.
"My love," My father looked up at my mother from his tome, his tenor breaking the tranquil silence that had overcome us. "What might you be doing next week?"
My mother thought for a few moments. "Nothing too important. Why?"
"Oros came to me in a vision earlier, he will be descending from the Pale Shore at the end of next week."
My mother looked up and stopped what she was doing. "Oros is returning to Hallus?" She looked away. "That is… both exciting and foreboding."
My father nodded in agreement. "All the more reason to ensure he is in a good mood." He looked back down at his book. "I fear that without his sister to keep him in check, he might claim the lives of several Drakar- we must ensure we have sacrifices ready."
I looked at my dad from across the room. "Father, you don't mean to sacrifice Drakar, do you?"
He shook his head. "No. The monsters we have acquired down the hill will be used instead- should Oros ask for lives. But if it is the lives of Drakaries he wants then there is nothing I can do." He clenched his jaw. "Not ideal, but his word is our command."
The monsters in the cage are going to be sacrificed to Oros? That would mean Valorium too…
I waited for a few moments before retiring to the hammock that served as my bed. I stared at the adobe ceiling, which the darkness made seem infinite in depth. The crickets outside provided enough ambiance to weigh my eyelids down as I had a final thought.
Should I have told them about Valorium?
I fell asleep that night conflicted.
***
The next week went by in what felt like seconds. Every day I would complete my lessons before returning to Valorium at the cage. In this time, I learned that he came from a forest far from the Denevek Mountains the Drakar called home. But because he was mute, there was a lot of reading between the lines; for the most part however, the two of us understood one another well.
We always made sure to keep our conversations between us. Should the Drakar have found out about Valorium, it would only create controversy, the resulting drama potentially leading to the premature deaths of the monsters in the cage, in addition to my own exile.
The Drakar were a loving species, but only for the things they could understand and appreciate. Intelligent monsters would be the antithesis of everything we knew as a people. It would mean that the decrees of the Twins were misunderstood and misinterpreted- so much so that it would shatter our way of life.
These revelations weighed heavy on my mind for the entirety of the week. Both of my parents could sense that something was wrong, but it was obvious that they didn't know the severity of just what it was that I held so close to my chest.
Finally the day of Oros's descent came.
My father and mother could be seen at the clay countertop- the light of the dawn sky filtering in through the porous curtain that my mother had since finished weaving. The two spoke quietly with one another- just out of earshot- until they noticed my attention.
"Tallox, my boy." My father quickly turned away from my mother, a look of surprise covering his face. "Why are you up so early?"
I looked between the two of them, furrowing my brow to make my suspicion apparent. "I couldn't sleep. Why are you both talking so quietly?"
My mother broke down into tears, and my father placed his hands on my shoulders.
"Tallox, Oros returned to me last night, and he told me that he decided who was to be his sacrifice."
I already knew where they were going.
"Me?" My voice was small.
My mother turned away- obviously hoping that her direction would protect me from the volume of her sobs. My father looked me in the eye, the sadness within his own locked behind his otherwise stoic demeanor.
"I must admit, I feel conflicted." He began. "My son was requested by Oros himself, yet I do not wish for you to have lived such a short time. If I had my way, I would take your stead, but Oros's words were absolute."
His lips began to quiver, as his voice cracked from finally letting go of all the pent up emotion.
"I'm sorry, Tallox. I'm so sorry."
***
The day seemed to move slowly after that. I was allowed to roam the town, and do what I wished before our midday meal, but nothing seemed to remove me from the oppressive anxiety that assailed me. I had few friends throughout the village, so I inevitably made my way back to the monster's cage. Valorium perked up as I approached the bars, and took a seat.
"Hey," I looked at the wolf, who panted from the heat of the sun beating against the metal cage. "How's your day going?" I watched him for a few seconds- not expecting an answer, yet still disappointed from his lack thereof.
"My father told me I'm going to be sacrificed to Oros tonight." The words sounded far away. "But I'm not ready to return to the Pale Shore." I brought my knees to my chest and hugged my legs to hide my tears from the wolf. Valorium walked up as close to the bars as he'd ever been, and leaned against the cage.
Accepting the gesture, I reached in and stroked his black fur. Despite having been locked up for over a week, it was remarkably well groomed. The tufts of his hair poked through the cracks of my palm while I dragged my hand along its soft surface. Even though he had been around the orcs and other various monsters, there was no scent other than that of his breath, which smelled of the scant food we threw into the cage.
Just then the thought occurred to me.
We didn't give them much food.
I looked to the other beasts in the cage- all of whom were notably skinnier than the wolf in front of me. One of the orcs inched forward- his mouth salivating at the sight of my arm, but Valorium snapped his head at the monster, his brilliant white fangs bared in a low, threatening growl. The orc immediately backed down.
I pulled my arm from the cage and looked at the wolf. "Have you been eating all the food?"
One blink.
I looked at the other monsters, all of whom cowered away from the wolf, until yet another realization came upon me. There were noticeably a few monsters missing.
"Are the other monsters scared of you?"
One blink.
Why?
My stomach dropped as I stood up and stepped back. "Should I be?"
Just then, I could hear my father crest the hill- his breath short.
"Tallox!" He ran down the path towards the cage. "What are you doing here?"
I turned to face him. "I- uh, was just looking at the monst-."
"Do you even know what time it is?"
I looked around, the surroundings much darker then they had been before I touched Valorium.
What just happened?
My father continued to chastise me as he pulled me up the hill. "Your mother and I have been looking for you for hours!"
But I was only here for a few minutes….
I looked over my shoulder back at the cage- making eye contact with the black wolf, his yellow eyes staring back at me. Before I crossed out of view, I only saw him blink a single time.
***
"I swear, Father! All I did was touch the wolf- something isn't right here!" I yelled back at my father who paced back and forth in front of our front door. Through the window I could see the sun beginning to set, and Oros's altar beginning to glow a bright iridescent hue that symbolized his coming descent from the Pale Shore. My mother looked out the window and held a cloth to her eyes to wipe her silent tears. She hadn't said anything since my father and I returned home.
"I don't want any excuses Tallox- you promised that you'd be back by lunch! We can't even say goodbye properly!" My father's voice cracked, and he took a minute to compose himself. "It's time for us to get ready."
I fell silent as my father wrapped me in a pristine white toga- used for ceremonies such as this. Wooden sandals slipped onto my feet, and my bare skin was painted in red lines with the blood of monsters from the most recent hunt. A lei of clay beads was draped around my neck- intricate designs adorning each individually.
My father wore a version of my outfit, as did my mother, and before the sun was below the horizon, the three of us were ready for the walk to Oros's altar.
We exited our home to the sight of the entire town lined up on each side of the dirt path- everyone dressed in the same white toga and beads, but with different designs on their lei's- denoting their status and job in the village. My mother cried silently behind my right side, and my father walked behind my left with his usual stoicism- forcing himself to be emotionless as he struggled to balance his duty to his god, and his duty to his family.
The entire village walked behind us in silence as we made our way to the altar- the procession taking the scenic route through the hundreds of huts and homes, before eventually making its way past the monster's cage. We were moving much too quickly for me to get a good view inside- but there were even less monsters than before, and Valorium was nowhere to be seen.
What? Where'd he go?
I looked around for any sign of the wolf, but before I could see anything, the procession had made its way past the cage, and was finally on the path to the altar, which sat just under a small cliff that overlooked the entirety of both the village and Oros's temple.
The hundreds of wooden sandals clattered against the stone path, as the iridescence of the altar grew brighter. After only another few minutes of walking the space I would die came into view.
It was a large circular clearing in the woods. The polished white stone was inlaid with gold trim along its edges, giving depth to the circular platforms that were centered around a giant crystal pillar- in front of which stood a quartz archway. In the middle of the quartz archway lay the god of death- and our patron, Oros.
The procession made its way into the clearing- the entire village filling in and standing upright as Oros watched me with something akin to lust. He was a beautiful man, with dark skin- the color of tree bark and brilliant light eyes that glowed with the magic of the Pale Shore. He too wore a white toga, but instead of red lines being painted on his skin- his body was adorned in white stripes, turning his very body into a tapestry of light and dark unlike any other. Beautiful white teeth shone as his deep tenor sounded out.
"My beautiful servants," The god proclaimed, "I do so appreciate the welcome- my journey from The Pale Shore has been tiresome indeed."
"Great Oros, you flatter us with your presence." Everyone around spoke up with their head falling to touch the ground.
The god raised a hand, silently commanding everyone into silence. His iridescent eyes fell onto me, and for a moment I forgot how to breathe.
"You, child." He spoke softly. "What is your name?"
I shook as I opened my mouth to speak- glancing at my father who nodded his head- not out of reassurance, but out of pious duty to his deity. It was safe to say that my father chose his god over his child, and this was a command.
"Tallox… Tallox Androse."
Oros watched me for several seconds. "I assume by your attire, that you will be accompanying me to the Pale Shore tonight?"
I gulped and nodded.
"Do not fear, child." Oros shifted and leaned forward. "Death is not the end, just as life is not eternal. When you become one with the Pale Shore, you will be used by my sister to bring life back to Hallus. You will be gone, but you will come back." Oros squinted his eyes. "I do hope that brings you comfort."
Oros rose to his feet, and the village around us fell even further into their prostration.
"Drakar. All life- including both me and my sister- exists in a balanced cycle. Without life there cannot be death, but it is important not to forget the truth can be said about the inverse."
He looked at my father. "Chief, do you know why I requested your son to be my sacrifice?"
My father shook his head- his emotions choking him. Oros placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's because my father willed it. Your son has been marked by Mintras; the dragon touched by fate."
My father paled as his eyes widened.
"Forgive me, lord. But what does that mean?"
Oros raised my father's head by placing his fingers under his chin.
"It means that your child is destined for calamity." He said. "My father has seen it, and he wished to protect Hallus- before the balance is upset."
My attention faltered as his words washed over me. A child of calamity? Destined to bring ruin? None of that made sense; I had no aspirations to bring harm, and even if I did- it was against the way of the Drakar. The only ones who were allowed to harm were the hunters, and that was for the betterment of our society.
A rustling in the bushes grew louder by the second,but for whatever reason, I seemed to be the only one that noticed. My attention was reeled back in when I felt the god approach me.
"Join me, Tallox. Come to The Pale Shore." Oros held out his hand.
I began to reach my hand up to grab his, but stopped as the rustling in the woods evolved into a piercing howl. Oros flinched as the shriek reverberated through the area, and in the moment he hesitated, a fearful expression crossed his face.
"What was-"
Oros's voice was cut short by something that blurred out of the woods, and the sounds of gore filled the oppressive silence that followed. I turned my head to see the familiar fur of a black wolf.
"Valorium…" I watched with wide eyes as the black wolf doused itself in the god of death's blood- ripping out Oros's throat with his now blood stained fangs.
The wolf snapped its gaze to me- a feral hunger filling its eyes as it swallowed the god's flesh. For several moments, the entire village watched the wolf consume Oros, ripping and tearing flesh from bone until there were only morsels of the god left.
The black wolf shook itself dry of the god's blood, before turning to the entire village, his body glowing as his eyes filled with divinity.
"Dra-kar." Valorium sounded out, his voice deeper than any I'd ever heard. "For too long." The wolf whimpered as he began to grow in size; going from three feet, to well over fifteen in length. His fangs enlarged to fit his new mouth, and his fur grew even darker- seeming as though it drained the very color from his surroundings.
"For too long, you have slaughtered my kind." The giant black wolf continued. "We were nothing but animals to you." His eyes were filled with hatred as Oros's blood fell from his mouth. "Now it's time you were hunted." Valorium howled once again, but something felt different about this one- it felt magical. The village erupted into pandemonium as Valorium howled, with everyone running as fast as they could back to their homes as fast as they could.
"Father!" I shouted over the shrieks of despair and sadness, but no matter what I said- his eyes were locked on the body of his god. He stood there for several moments- watching in despair before falling to his knees. I looked around for my mother, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Mother!" I shouted, my eyes tearing up from fear.
In the background, the village's hunters could be seen growing in size- their draconic forms becoming apparent as they grew both wings, and scales. Valorium, refusing to allow them to attack him, pounced first- tearing the arms off one of the hunters within seconds, before finally sinking his teeth into the dragon's throat; killing him. His eyes grew brighter with every kill he accumulated, and he managed to consume several dragons before the rest were able to take off from the ground.
"Cowards!" The black wolf shrieked. "Finally we can fight back, and you fly away?"
We?
I looked back to the village as he finished speaking, just in time to see a large flaming boulder fly up from the direction of the village- clipping the side of one of the flying hunters, who let out a roar of pain as it's burning wing shattered and he plummeted back to the ground for Valorium to consume. The wolf grew larger with every kill, and before long, he was over twenty feet long.
The sounds of screaming and despair echoed from the village, and smoke began to rise- darkening the night sky even more.
"Feel my despair, Drakar!" Valorium jumped up, shattering the ground from the force of his hind legs, managing to clamp his jaws around the throat of one of the flying dragons. The wolf pulled the hunter back to the ground where he ripped out his throat as well- bathing himself in the spurting life blood of the dragon he consumed.
I ran to my father and tried to shake him from his stupor. "Father! We need to go!" No matter how hard grabbed him, or shook him- nothing could pull his attention from the dead body of Oros. "Dad, please!"
Just as Valorium finished off the last few hunters in the sky, he towered over the trees in the forest. The wolf walked up to the side of the cliff and watched out over the destruction that was happening all over.
"Leave none alive!" The wolf shouted from his perch, before setting his sights on my father. "Especially that one."
As he finished speaking, a tree behind us shattered and one of the caged orcs walked forward, his eyes focused on my father, who sat still- catatonic.
"No!" I rose to my feet and stood in the monster's path, but even that was short lived as the monster wound up its arm, which began to glow with magic.
What? Monsters can't use magic!
"But not that one." Valorium's eyes watched the orc wind up his punch as his eyes flicked between me and the magical monster. Following the wolf's command, the monster cancelled the spell in its fist, and instead struck me with the full force of his natural might. My left eye immediately exploded from the force as I was catapulted several dozen feet away, rendering that side of me blind and broken.
I screamed in agony as my body refused to move when commanded, and I was forced to watch Valorium climb down from his perch, and confront my still catatonic father. In the distance, I could see magical fire roaring throughout the village, the small glimpse provided by the path of destruction caused by the orc harrowing as I finally found my mother. An orc several hundred feet away could be seen picking her up while she kicked and screamed, silencing her by twisting her head around like a corkscrew.
The people inside the adobe huts could be heard burning alive, as the magical fire persisted through any attempt to be doused. Monsters of different sizes ran freely throughout the city, eating children in front of their parents, before slaughtering the adults and dragging them away. Even closer than that, the agonized screams of Gallor were cut short as the scarred Orc he threw rocks at, plucked his head from his body.
In that second, it occurred to me that everything my species lived for- every truth and ideal we strove to maintain in the name of the gods, it was all a lie. There was no benefit to forgiveness- everything the Drakar taught and preached was wrong.
The only true retribution involved murder.
My shock, fear, and sadness were born again as something else- something dark. Fury grew within my soul, tainting everything- filling me with only the singular emotion of total, unadulterated rage. And as I stared at the black wolf confronting my father, I made eye contact with him just before he tore my father's head from his body. The giant wolf stared back, his stygian fur darkened with the blood of all those he slaughtered.
I clenched my jaw so hard I could feel my teeth crack from the pressure. With my one eye, I watched the wolf, and I made sure he watched me.
"Valorium!" My words seeped from me, poisonous, and saturated with hate. Right before I lost consciousness, I hissed a single sentence. One so full of rage, it was questionable whether it came from my mouth or my soul- but no matter where it originated, I had never meant anything more.
"I will drink your blood!"