While my mind was racing, I followed behind everyone to Amun's room and only came to my senses after fighting to see through the darkness. Unlike the others, much to my frustration.
Squinting through it, I saw the outlines of a large pillow sitting in the corner of where the bed was in my room. But besides that, I could only see the vague outlines of the rest of them moving around as if they could see just fine.
I saw Amun's shadow settle itself on the pillow before he lit a candle for me. Revealing his gentle smile that was both off-putting, and welcoming all the same.
Now that I could see, I looked around eagerly to see that the place where the wardrobe was in my room had been was replaced with a long counter and cooking surface that stretched from the corner to the door. Besides that, it was all the same. An open floor lined with trunks and wardrobes sat between the kitchen in the bed.
A seemingly small space for the five of us huddled around a candle.
But with this change in our environment, I felt that I had to voice my concern.
"Uhm." I looked at Amun. "Are you sure challenging Winston was a good idea?"
Hearing my own words, I hurriedly held up my hands to retract my words. "I mean, I know you're strong, but Winston's barrier magic is almost impenetrable."
"The keyword in that sentence was almost." He charmingly smiled. "Don't worry about me. I just have hard feelings about bullying and the practice of slavery."
"As do I." Slate grunted in affirmation. "Abusing the weak is a sign of cowardice. And." He slammed a stony fist onto the ground. "The mere thought of claiming ownership over another is unthinkable."
"Aye." Elsgril sighed. "I was surprised to even hear a human empire still practicing slavery. Why, with enchantments and the like, there's no need."
"Yeah." Zakira cheerfully nodded. "He sucks."
"But I'm curious about you." Elsgril leaned towards Amun. "All this talk of devils and drow. Where are you from? What's your story?"
"I'll tell you all, in due time." Amun calmly bared his palms towards the dwarf before looking at me. "First, I'm curious about your story."
"M- my story?" I looked in horror at the faces surrounding me. But, like Amun's, Slate, Elsgril, and Zakira's faces were all full of warm and reassuring expressions. So I took a deep breath and began recounting the things I've kept hidden in the back of my mind for months now.
"My parents are from Epethia. An empire on Maru." I said. "Before I was born, they and their descendants were sentenced to live as slaves for stealing from the royal family. I don't know what it was. But I was told it was really important and expensive. And the royals never got it back.
"For some reason." I clenched my fist. "My parents chose to have a kid anyway. Those chose to have me. Bringing me into a life of pain and suffering. We were treated like dirt. We lived in filth and ate rotten food. And our masters would throw insults at us or attack us with magic for their own amusement. Outside of that, we were farmers. We tended to the private gardens and farms of the nobles and royal families while the commoners ate their scraps. Though we saw none of it. We starved and grew sick while the nobles stuffed themselves and wasted enough food to feed a village on a weekly basis.
"But." I sighed in an attempt to lock it all away again. "After I awakened my Cores, I was freed. Though my family is still in bondage. After that, I learned how to read and then sought out the Guild Association so that I could take the assessment. I never expected to be granted entry to the Academy." I laughed in embarrassment. "According to them, my Cores are powerful and my Well is deep. And a life of farming seemed to make me quite strong once I actually got some food in my stomach."
While the others were also quietly listening while I spoke, I held my gaze on Amun throughout most of my explanation. And in that time, I saw more expressions on Amun's otherwise uncaring face than I'd seen since meeting him. Anger. Sorrow. Disgust. And many more things. But no condescension. And no pity. Whatever it was, it was in blatant view of the rest of us as he intently listened to my words. And so, I intently shared them. Up until the moment I finished. And he asked me something I'd thought of every day since then.
"Will you free them?"
"I- don't have the power to." I stammered.
"Yet." He corrected with a pointed finger.
"No!" I slammed my fist into my thigh this time. "You don't understand! I tried! I was." I reclined onto my hands and let out a long sigh. "I was going to. I had already passed the Assessment. But I was going to throw it all away."
"But something stopped you." Slate accurately guessed.
"It was… lightning," I said, seeing the flashes of that day replayed in my mind. "Magic. A kind unlike any that I felt before. It covered all of Maru's skies in roaring lightning. It made me feel so… small. So weak. It was the only reason I changed my mind."
"The lightning is inconsequential." Slate waved his arm through the silence. "The fact of the matter is, you had many chances prior to and after that moment to enact your revenge. But you didn't. That speaks volumes."
"Also." Amun leaned over the candle. "You never answered my question."
"I already told you." I sighed. "I'm not strong enough."
"I'll tell you this." Amun smiled. "Violence is the most basic of answers to the question of, 'how?' It is the simplest and quickest method, but the one most prone to failure."
My mouth opened and closed repeatedly as I tried to make a response to no avail. Thankfully, I didn't have to try for long. As Amun quickly broke the silence again.
" What Cores were you given?"
"I have four Affinity Cores. For Inferno Magic, Tempest Magic, Flood Magic, and Earth Magic."
"You have four advanced elemental affinities?" Amun squinted in apparent confusion. I began preparing myself for the insults, but then he surprised me with his words.
"That's fucking amazing." He chuckled to himself, beaming wide.
"That is indeed impressive." Elsgril scratched his beard with a blank look before eventually adjusting his posture with a deep groan. "Since we're doing a show and tell and you clearly have a lot to tell." He nudged Amun. "I'll keep it simple. My clan originally hails from Maru. We were artisinal masters. But, some time ago, my ancestors ventured through the portals to settle in Maru. But I wanna make it known that we are not a part of the families of light. We live underground. Near the Dark World. Since then, we've become more fighters than crafters. But we still practice as a way to remain tied to our roots.
"That's why I came here." He proudly thumped his chest. "To learn the secrets of my ancestors and rekindle the Silverforge."
"An admirable goal." Amun grinned a curiously wide smile before turning to Slate.
"I am from the northern region of Betrarth." He quickly explained. "There, I was raised with the herd alongside my companions here at the Bodhi Tree. Only, we began disobeying the teachings of the herd as we grew older. Instead of following the herd, we sought knowledge. And that cost us our names. As punishment, we were given the names of rocks and gems. Still, we persevered. And our punishment was banishment. With nowhere to go, we made our way south. Where we found the portal that leads to Nonus. Soon after, we learned that others of our kind had ventured through those lands before. And soon after, we learned of this place."
"So then, it's safe to assume that you're here to learn how to use magic?" Amun asked.
"That would be correct."
"Well, you came to the right place." Amun shrugged his brows before turning to Zakira. The strangely annoyingly cheeky girl with the blood obsession. "What about you?"
"What about me?" She shrugged. "I'm a vampire! My name is Zakira."
"Yes." Amun groaned. "Where are you from? What can you do?"
"Well." She cheekily droned on. "I'm from Vagua. I was… sort of, kind of, disowned from my family and banished to the First Layer of Hell. And then." She droned the word on again. "I went through the portal and arrived on Nonus and they were like, 'hey, you going to the Academy.' And I was like. Yeah. Sure." She pointed her fingers at us as if she were tapping on a table with her fingers before finishing her rambling with a dreamy sigh. "And now I'm here!"
"Wow!" Amun gasped in apparent admiration. "You have such a way with words."
"Thank you!" She curtsied. "Oh yeah!" She bounced back a moment later. "I'm a full-blooded vampire with the power of blood-strings. And I'm 15 years old.
"Okay." Amun chuckled wryly to himself. "How did vampires survive for so long without the blood of humans?"
"Before the portals opened?" She asked with mild interest. "It's said that we drank the blood of demons." She simply shrugged. "Well, those of us who were strong enough did. And, it's said to make us, like, really strong and powerful and stuff."
"That's interesting," Amun mumbled to himself and nodded his head.
"Yeah," Zakira mumbled in much the same way. "Those of us who were too weak feasted on the animals of Vagua. But all of us tried to stay away from demons. The Clans and Families have been at war for eons. So." She shrugged.
"So then, the ones that don't want to fight go to Nonus refugees?" Amun guessed.
"Some." She nodded. "Most of them go to the White Wall. But wherever we go, I'm told humans like to fight us."
"Well." I cut in. For what reason was beyond me. But I did. And all the attention was turned to me. So I pressed on. "That's because humans call everything but themselves a monster. I mean, I grew up hearing stories about other creatures. I was told drow kidnap children and feed them to monsters in the Dark World. I was told vampires sneak into cities and disguise themselves as nobles to hold parties where they kill a bunch of humans and bathe in their blood. I was told devils curse entire generations of people.
"I was told to trust nothing but another human. But other humans have been nothing but unkind to me for as long as I remember. It's you all." I looked at each of them in turn. "A dwarf, a goliath, a vampire, and a half-drow-devil, who've treated me with as much kindness as my family did. But…" I shook my head in disbelief. "I don't understand. Why?"
"Because I like you," Amun said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "I mean." He shrugged. "There's also the fact that I can tell that you have good character. Also, your magical affinities are amazing. And, you have the potential to do great things. But that's unimportant. I want to be your friend."
"And I want to educate you on something." Zakira leaned towards me with a sudden seriousness that was... offputting, to say the least. "Humans fear what they don't understand. Time can bring about an understanding; sure, but the fear will always remain. That applies to everything that isn't human as well. But in terms of humans and vampires, devils, or undead. The majority of you all fear us. You hate us because of a nature we can't change. Though you have every right to. But I can tell you that vampires harbor no ill will towards humans." She paused to sink her radiant, red eyes into mine. "We don't seek to kill or slaughter humans. Why would we? Committing genocide would only leave us with less food and make the Mortal a barren place.
"That said." She shrugged in her usual manner. "Some of our kind does wish to rule humans. And, what you said about vampires is true. Blood Parties can be quite fun. But we only kill the vagrants of society. And we don't bathe in their blood."
"And the demons?" Slate asked with a curious sense of excitement. "Are they as formidable as everyone says? Humans talk as if they're at war with them, yet our headmaster and even a few students have demon blood in the veins."
"Well." Zakira shrugged. "Demons aren't necessarily good or bad, they just… have their ways. Ya know? But the stories are true. They're strong as fuck!"
"How so?" I asked.
"I'm not the best person to explain." She sheepishly chuckled, then continued anyway. "But, demons don't have a power cap. And they get strong way too easily. Like, I can get stronger if I drink a lot of blood, right? But like, blood from an elf or demon or a wizard or some shit would make me, like, super fucking strong."
"Ah, okay?" I stammered.
"But demons are different." She continued. "Emotions are their blood. So like, a lust demon would get stronger every time you look at my butt."
"But… I didn't look at your butt." I squinted in confusion.
"I know." She shrugged. Then waved her long nail in my face and smiled wide while saying. "But if you did!"
"It's like a feedback loop." Amun nodded as if she actually spoke in Common.
But Zakira simply smiled and stared blankly at him as if she had no idea what he just said. "Sure!" She beamed.
After a couple of moments of thinking it over though, it began to make sense to me. "So then Take the headmaster," I said. "As a love demon, he'd get stronger from any act of love shown in his presence. And he's part half-orc part demon. So that strengthens his magic to boot."
"Which makes him quite formidable." Slate grinned excitedly once again.
"Which explains the relaxed nature of relationships," Amun muttered over him. Causing Zakira to curiously shy away from him.
She was definitely weird. She'd only just met him, but she clung to him as if they were newlyweds. And Amun didn't even seem to care. Not that he cared about anything. But that only made the mystery behind him much bigger.
"But I'm sure it goes much deeper than that." He continued. "The love of knowledge. A love of fighting. Of blood. Or revenge. Or even a love of life. Every sentient being loves something. Even a pet rat has love for its owner. And so, his source of power is virtually limitless."
"Yeah. I suppose that's true." Zakira nodded slowly as if she were in deep thought. Only to lean to the side to latch onto Amun's arm and pull. Screaming. "Your turn!"