However, Meebur also felt like a different person. Even after the first few hours of the trek home, my tamer still hadn’t spoken a single word to any of us. The journey in the dungeon had proved to me that it was important to trust my tamer. That even in dire situations, he kept his cool and did what was best for his guild and his monsters. Like he had done for Frey and I. But this felt different. Something wasn’t right.
Frey walked in the front with Astrid, Meebur trailed behind them, and I was in the rear. I wanted to keep an eye on my tamer, and be there in case he needed me.
“I’m a real tamer,” Frey was saying to himself over and over. “I have my own hatchling egg!”
“Your first one. It’s very exciting.” Astrid said, walking by Frey. “Have you given any thought to the kind of monster you hope to raise your hatchling into?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure.” He said. “A part of me never thought I would get this far.”
“Well, let’s try and narrow it down.” Astrid said. “Are you going to go the traditional Artemis route and develop a Forest type monster? If I remember correctly, there should be plenty of areas to develop any kind of Forest monster in the guild’s grounds. Or you could go against the grain and nest your egg outside the guild.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’m ready to raise a monster outside of the guild. I barely survived a trip to a dungeon with two guild leaders by my side! I’m really not sure what I’ll do yet.” Frey said, not taking his eyes off of the egg. “If I could remember what type my parents raised, I’d probably go in that direction. I don’t know. I thought it’d come to me the second I became a tamer, but now it all feels so vast. I wonder what type of monster will be right for me?”
As Frey spoke, Meebur looked like he was about to say something. His body twitched, but he stopped himself from doing anything.
We continued on like this for some time, Frey and Astrid discussing hatching strategies and tips on building a first nest, and Meebur trailing behind quietly. It was nothing like the journey we had first taken to the dungeon, with my tamer happily leading us forward.
However, there was one thing that reminded me of our first journey. And that was the mysterious presence following us. I had sensed them the second we left the dungeon, but hadn’t said a word. If Meebur and Astrid noticed it, they hadn’t given any indication.
The presence felt much more distant this time. And, just like before, when I tried to focus on it, utilizing my
Astrid seemed to tense up as well. She had clearly sensed something too. However, she continued to speak with Frey casually. It was better to not frighten him.
“Well, I would highly recommend sticking to using nesting materials from the same biome you intend to raise the hatchling in.” She said to Frey, pretending like everything was fine. “Only experienced tamers mix and match between types and biomes. Save that for when you have a few more years of experience.”
“That makes sense. I think I’ll keep things as simple as possible. I really don’t care what kind of monster I get. Though, if I’m being honest, I’d love to get a snake of some kind-”
“Nid, protect Frey!” Astrid yelled out, but I was already in position in front of him before she spoke. Astrid jumped ten paces ahead and for the first time I saw her use
It was already after sunset, so the road was barely lit by the two moons in the sky. However, with my sensing skills all activated, I could perfectly see what awaited us ahead.
A cloaked figure, who had the familiar feeling of our mysterious pursuer, stood next to a second person, one who I could barely recognize. They were almost completely bound and covered in the same grey and green fabric as the cloak the figure wore. However, their eyes were still exposed, and I recognized them once I looked at them deeply.
It was Leif, the elf tamer who had challenged Meebur, and who had been tracking us on our journey to the dungeon.
And once I looked at the cloaked figure more, I realized I recognized them too. And so did Astrid.
“Shiv. What the hell are you doing here?” She asked, but did not dismiss her arsenal egg. Despite the presence being a fellow guild leader of Olympia, Astrid was not prepared to let her guard down. “You’ve been following us?”
“Yes. For some time. Even in that miserable dungeon.” You owe me for taking out most of those golems, by the way. But I suppose it was worth it to ensure Meebur didn’t do anything foolish with that wyrm of his. Can’t be too cautious these days. Especially not on the road...” Shiv said, and turned their head to look down at Leif, who was fighting against the binds as best as she could. “Good thing I ran ahead of you. This one had plans to ambush you and challenge Meebur when he had been weakened by a dungeon. We can’t have that, can we?”
“Let her go.” Astrid said. “Now.”
“As you wish.” And with a flick of their gloved hand, sending a loud cracking sound through the air, the fabric that had been binding Leif unraveled. Like wind in an updraft, it swirled through the air and recombined with the fabric of Shiv’s cloak. Leif fell forward and coughed several times, frantically working to catch her breath. She turned her head sharply to look at Shiv, but quickly shut her eyes in frustration.
“M-Meebur…I just wanted to challenge you. I need to…please, just fight me!” Leif yelled out through tears.
All of us, including Shiv, turned our heads to look at Meebur. He stood as silent as he had all evening.
“Go on, Meebur. Answer her. It’s your duty.” Shiv said.
“Meebur, please…say something.” Frey said.
For the first time since leaving the dungeon, Meebur stepped forward and opened his mouth. As though being jolted awake, he said:
“No. I have no interest in fighting you.”
Silence filled the space between us all, as every single one of us was shocked by Meebur’s response.
“What?” Astrid said. “She challenged you, Meebur. I know this isn’t the best time to accept a challenge, but that’s never stopped you before. What’s wrong with you?”
I thought Meebur never turned down a challenge? He stopped a meeting with guild leaders to accept one!
But before Meebur could say anything else to explain why he was acting this way, he stepped back to where he had been standing before. He lowered his head, and once again stood like a statue amongst us. Without a word, Leif jumped up and ran off of the road into the wild brush beyond. I could hear her frustrated cries with each pained stride.
“I-I’ll go after her!” Frey yelled out, and followed Leif into the brush. I was happy he did so. She hadn’t looked well, and who knew what other dangers lurked around us. And something told me that Astrid and I would both be needed to deal with Shiv.
“The next words out of your mouth had better be an explanation.” Astrid said. “You know something we don’t.”
Shiv didn’t say anything, and instead locked their black and white eyes with me. I could once again sense the faint, diluted smell of a Great Beast on Shiv. It frightened me, especially when I recalled how they had used a skill to force others to obey their words. They had used it to command the guild leaders in Meebur’s meeting to sit, but I was afraid what Shiv could command me to do.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I can see you are afraid of me,” Shiv said, and with a single step they appeared right in front of me. They moved so effortlessly, it made the boss golem look like it attacked through quicksand. “But you have nothing to fear, little one. My voice can command only the untamed. And you belong to Meebur, so I have no power over you. Your tamer, and others like him, however…” Shiv said and spun around gracefully to face Meebur, “...they bow to my voice with ease-”
Shiv looked as though they were about to speak further, but instead touched Meebur on the chest. Suddenly, the feeling of nausea I had had back in the boss room returned to me, and I lunged forward to separate Shiv from Meebur.
“Well, well, well…you’ve had quite the adventure it seems. This changes everything. Hopefully, you’ll all still be alive in time for me to help. But unfortunately, this ordeal lies in your hands. While, yes, the problem of the wyrm persists, there are other terrible things at work in this country…and beyond. Good luck, wyrm. I hope we see each other again.”
And before I could strike at Shiv once more, a breeze blew by us and the guild leader of Zephyr, one of the strongest tamers in the country of Olympia, was gone.
Astrid and I stood absolutely still for almost a full minute. But once both of us were confident that we could no longer sense Shiv, we finally let out sighs of relief.
“That was a close call…” Astrid said. “What the hell was all that about? I haven’t been a leader for long, but Meebur, has Shiv always been like this?”
Both she and I turned to look at my tamer. But Meebur just stood there, his eyes looking down to the ground. The empty expression on Meebur’s face made it seem as though nothing had happened at all.
* * * *
It took me several minutes to locate Frey and Leif in the wilderness beyond the road. Luckily, I moved through the brush much more quickly than them while in my cute form.
When I found them, Frey was comforting Leif in a clearing. The elf warrior was as decked out in armor and weapons as she was during her initial challenge to Meebur at the guild. But this time she didn’t stand with the pride and strength of a warrior. She was curled up in a ball, laying in the grass.
Leif was clutching something to her chest closely, but I couldn’t see it very well. Whatever it was, it was very important to her, as she didn’t let it go for a second. Even when Frey tried to lift her to her feet after seeing me approach.
“It’s ok, you’re safe now.” Frey said as I slithered near the two of them. “Just move at your own pace. Everything’s ok.”
Even though the encounter seemed to leave Frey looking a little weak himself, he spoke with the empathy of someone who knew what it was like to be terrified. To feel small and helpless. And I understood immediately. Leif looked just like I imagined I did as an abandoned hatchling.
I slithered up towards her, intending to use my
In the seconds before she turned away from us and ran at great speed in the opposite direction, I saw two things:
I saw that the thing she was holding looked like a piece of pale wood.
And I saw the look in her eyes.
It horrified me how familiar her expression was. How that exact look had been concerning me for the better part of the day.
The look in her eyes reminded me of how Meebur had looked ever since leaving the dungeon.
It was a look of sadness and of fear, but also of emptiness. As though something had happened, something so monumental, so unexpected, so powerful, as to exhaust all other feelings within them.
* * * *
When Frey and I returned to Astrid without Leif, she was immediately concerned. The wilds beyond the road were a dangerous place, and the elf tamer hadn’t looked to be in the best of conditions after encountering Shiv. But there was nothing to be done. She had run away to be alone, and that was how we would leave her. If she wanted us, she knew where we’d be.
Astrid took charge setting up a camp, and getting Meebur some rest. Frey gave him some water and fullfeed, but he ate them mechanically. I tried to get close to my tamer, to be near him throughout the night, but he rolled over on a bedroll and wouldn’t look at me.
Something happened in that dungeon…and I need to find out what. What is occupying your mind?
If Astrid heard what I thought about Meebur, she didn’t say anything. There was a lot for her to think about too. Shiv had made it clear that they were extremely wary of my presence. That they wanted to do what they could to stop the Prophecy of Hoardsholt. Was that why Shiv had been following us, and trying to keep Leif from interfering with our journey? It seemed odd that they would protect us, when it felt like all Shiv wanted to do was destroy me.
Despite my
The next morning none of us saw any trace of Leif or Shiv, and completed the last leg of the journey home without issue. And without much conversation.
It was Frey who was able to coax Meebur up and get him moving. He barely registered anything Astrid said. And he continued to ignore me.
After hours of further hiking along Ratatosk’s Highway, we were met with the comforting view of the great tree of Artemis. The city looked as peaceful and comfortable underneath the massive tree as it had when we left. I was very happy to be back after my first dungeon adventure. But Meebur didn’t seem to feel any excitement. Whether he was just tired from lugging the bulk brace, worried about Leif’s next challenge, nervous about Shiv’s actions, or concerned about what Frey had asked him in the dungeon, I couldn’t tell.
I had hoped that once we were back at the guild, we could take some time to relax and unwind. My first journey to a dungeon had been quite the whirlwind. And both Frey and I had ultimately gotten what we had gone there for. Frey immediately wanted to begin caring for his hatchling egg, and I wanted to bask in the new memories I had unlocked and figure out how to help my tamer.
But Meebur had other plans.
Once back in the entrance hall, we tried to get Meebur to sit down and rest, but almost immediately, Meebur seemed to come alive again. He quickly approached Violet. She was arranging new bouquets of flowers by the bar and initially greeted him with a smile. But she could tell something was off and her face soon became stern.
“Tell Gregory I need a guild meeting immediately.” Meebur said, speaking the most words I had heard from him since leaving the dungeon.
“What’s wrong? I’m sure we can round everyone up, but-”
“Immediately.”
Meebur didn’t wait to hear Violet answer, and turned to move through the large doors into the guild enclosure. Astrid and Frey were so taken aback, they didn’t register what was happening and Meebur left them behind in the entryway. Violet looked at us all with concern as she chased after Meebur, but we shook our heads. We didn’t know any more than she did.
Meebur worked with Violet and spent the next little while rounding up everyone he could find. Gregory was the first person he sought out, and then he made his way to a central location.
After only several minutes, Meebur was standing on a raised platform outside the training area. Gregory was ushering in his new recruits, with Hodi and Lucus arguing about the interruption to what I assume was another of their fights. Braum, Cherry, Jewel, and Nanna were there too.
“What’s this all about? You know, every minute I’m not in the shop, is a minute of profit I’m losing.” Nanna said, fanning herself with a few slips of paper money to let everyone know just how much profit she had already made.
“Will it? If we’re all out here, there’s no one left to buy anything in the shop…” Jewel said, raising an eyebrow at Nanna and her fan made of cash.
Meebur silently tossed Nanna the bag of new escape buttons from his place on the platform, so Nanna quickly perked up.
Ultimately, every member of the guild I had met up to this point gathered together. Many seemed nervous. I could hear the concern as they wondered aloud when Meebur had ever called a meeting like this. It was hard to make out everything that was said as so many were whispering, but to the veteran members, the only time they remembered this happening was when Meebur had appointed Gregory as his viceleader many years ago.
So, this kind of thing isn’t normal…
“No, it’s not,” Astrid whispered to me. Both of us were sitting on the edge of the platform’s side. “He didn’t even call a meeting like this when I left the guild.”
Meebur cleared his throat and the group of tamers quieted down.
“I am not going to waste any time explaining my reasons or my thoughts on this, but I have decided,” Meebur paused and took a deep breath, “for the first time since becoming leader of this guild, I am going to appoint an official apprentice. Should something happen to me, this person will take over as guild leader in my place.”
The audience of tamers were dead silent.
I could tell they didn’t know whether to cheer or cry.
“What the hell is he talking about?” Astrid whispered to me. “Leaders only ever do that…when they’re planning to retire.”
PATREON
Patreon to read the entirety of Part 4!