Blathe, guardian of the Sombest and Luzinn Forests, heard a pained cry from the human lands. A luzinn's cursed soul pleaded for mercy for his dying love. The audacity of it made Blathe glare at this proud spirit.
He stopped when he realized the luzinn was the same one he had defeated eons ago. It shouldn't have mattered, but he knew the luzinn was the strongest opponent he had ever had. The luzinn wanted to save the granddaughter of the alchemist by offering his own life. It was a complete flip from the haughty, egocentric luzinn he was before.
Not only that, the alchemist had been the only person to best him at a card game. Such a whimsical soul was hard to find.
Blathe found himself using a shadow portal to get to them before the sombest could kill them both. He grabbed them by the waists and brought them to his lair, deep in the hot caverns of the Forbidden Land.
His throne of skulls shimmered green in the firelight as floating orange and blue flames followed his every move with curiosity.
The young woman had been fatally wounded with deep slices to her neck. The luzinn with cursed hands held her in his arms and wouldn't let go.
Blathe narrowed his crimson eyes and scowled. "Enough! Release her!" Even his roar didn't make the luzinn flinch.
His towering frame was often enough to make others cower, but this luzinn showed no fear. His bravery was commendable, but stupidity was a fine line away.
The gushing crimson blood reminded him of many battles he ended. The luzinns and the sombests never liked each other. One spirit brought light, the other brought darkness. Luzinns were usually very proud and wouldn't be caught hugging weak humans. Sombests were conniving and obsessed with power. They usually manipulated humans for their means. This luzinn seemed to be a paradox, fierce and humble, yet smitten with humans. It was an interesting sight.
"Savion," the young woman gurgled. The light of life was fading out of her emerald eyes.
The luzinn wept as he rocked her. "Don't leave me, Izzy! Please!"
Blathe sighed as he cast a healing spell to keep her alive. None of this would go unnoticed by the gods. Blathe growled as he thought of contesting his father, the ancestor of the luzinns. His mother, the ancestor of the sombests, could care less of interference with the humans. There was a way . . .
As for the luzinn's curse, a drop of Blathe's blood could cure him, or burn him alive.
Blathe relayed this to them, and the young woman offered to dilute his blood to make it safer.
Blathe watched with a smile as she used the alchemist kit to mix her virgin blood with a smaller portion of his own. She brought the mix to the luzinn and had him drink it. His body flashed red before the curse was lifted, and his tired eyes finally closed. He would need his rest for what was about to happen.
The young woman approached him and thanked him for saving their lives.
"How can we ever repay you?" she asked.
Blathe stared at her emerald eyes and marveled at her wavy dark hair. "You shall be my bride," he affirmed with a nod.
She blinked. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea. I'm too scrawny, you see. Look at my arms! I have no meat on my bones!"
"Then you shall eat and be curvy for my pleasure," he purred.
"But-but my family! They need help to get through the famine and pestilence that has been wrought upon us!"
Blathe showed her on a magic mirror how the golden nugget her father sold was enough to keep them comfortable for a few months.
The luzinn startled awake when she wailed.
"What happened?" he queried.
"Blathe wants me to repay him by marrying!" she wept.
"Not just you," Blathe countered. "Both of you shall be my brides." He silently laughed at the sudden look of fear on the luzinn's face. It shifted to a dark anger.
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a guy!" he spat.
"Mmm-hmm," Blathe agreed. "A fine specimen, if I do say so myself." His bulging muscles and strong jaw didn't go unnoticed. The fiery spirit that he was born to be rose to the fore.
"There has to be another way!" the luzinn started. "I-I won't do it!"
"Should one of you refuse, the other will die," Blathe growled.
They glanced at each other before kneeling and pleading for mercy.
"Silence!" Blathe demanded as he stood from his throne. They quivered before him as he approached. His clawed feet clicked on the stones as his long, dark blue fur brushed against their sides as he passed between them. The young woman bowed her head while the luzinn glared at him.
"Name yourselves!" Blathe ordered, his fangs snapping in irritation.
"I am an exiled luzinn, Savion," one replied.
"I am Izilim Garvotti, daughter of Gosom and Elliann Garvotti."
"I have saved your lives from imminent death, and this is how you treat me?!" Blathe snarled.
"You killed Heather!" Savion blasted.
Blathe stared at him for a moment. "That sombest killed her with the same blades that cut Izilim's flesh."
Savion's shocked expression quickly turned to the dark anger again. "I'll rip out his throat!"
"If I let you," Blathe reminded. "You're here with me, now. Both of you shall be my brides."
"Get lost!" Savion blurted.
"Should one refuse, the other will die. I will not repeat myself a third time. Is that clear?!" Blathe stood them up and sat on his throne. "What will it be?" He tapped his claws on the armrest, and the whole cavern was deathly quiet.
"May I ask a question about the marriage?" Izilim began.
"Ask away," Blathe allowed.
"Will my family see me again? Will they get a dowry? Are we staying in this hot cave forever?"
Blathe roared with laughter. "Yes, yes, and no."
"Why marry us? Especially me? And why am I considered a bride?" Savion blurted.
Blathe worked his jaw and took a deep breath. "My father wants both of you dead," Blathe answered in a soft whisper. "The granddaughter of the alchemist that outsmarted him, and a luzinn that is a stain to the luzinn pride."
"Is he why Heather was killed?" Savion queried.
"I don't think so," Blathe muttered. "She was his daughter and my half-sister."
Savion stared at him, dumbfounded.
"I could've been your brother-in-law," Blathe smirked. "Jokes aside, have you made a decision?"
"Can we have more time to decide?" Izilim inquired. "Over dinner, perhaps? We get to know you, you get to know us?"
Blathe grunted with annoyance.
A dinner table appeared before them, filled to the max with decadent dishes. It was a feast fit for the gods. Roasted pork, beef, and chicken simmered in sweet sauces. Fruits and vegetables were piled on plates, ripe for the taking.
"Eat," Blathe offered. "I want my brides curvy and . . . delicious."
Izilim took a seat closest to the steaming steaks and ate them without mercy. She stuffed her cheeks with bread rolls and smiled.
Savion gulped as he sat next to the pork. Its crimson skin crackled as he pulled it off and crunched as he ate it.
Blathe crossed his arms as he waited for them to finish.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Izilim asked.
"I eat misbehaving luzinns and sombests," Blathe explained. "I plan on hunting one together with you, since he's the one that killed Heather."
Savion leaned closer to him. "We can go with you?"
"We'll have to be married so you can leave this place," Blathe uttered, as if it was the most natural thing.
"Have you other wives?" Izilim started. "Are they pretty?"
Blathe frowned a bit. "No."
"This must be some sort of joke," Savion grumbled.
"Was that you in the forest when I was talking to Tholus?" Izilim started. "What was that sombest on his head?"
Blathe tapped his chin as he recalled. "Ah! That was one of my spying clones, and that meddling sombest is a gripebell. I call it a football."
Savion chuckled, but his smile faded when Blathe gazed at him and blew a kiss.
Izilim continued eating, watching them with absorbing eyes.
Savion ignored Blathe as he ate the pork belly, glancing every now and then.
Blathe's focus was solely on him until he heard a familiar voice that twitched his ears. Blathe looked through the magic mirror and noticed his mother was approaching the cavern. Her scrutinizing, crimson eyes narrowed when she stopped at the entrance to his cavernous castle. The stone gates loomed before anyone foolish enough to contest him, even the goddess of the sombests. Her violet shadow portal shimmered behind her, illuminating her short, black silk gown.
"Meddling sombests," Blathe mumbled. "Damn!"
"Where are they?" she demanded with a shrill voice. "How dare you kidnap them from their fates?! They're supposed to be mine!"
Blathe raised an eyebrow. "Even you can't step foot here, Mother. They've agreed to marry me tonight, so nothing you do can take them to hell!"
She roared in frustration before leaving the way she came. "Wait til your father hears about this!"
Blathe growled at her until he couldn't see or hear her anymore.
When he turned around, Savion and Izilim were hiding in his fur. Izilim was the first to touch his claws and study them. Her grip was firm as she placed her hand on his paw.
"What will you do on our first night?" she asked, her heart pounding.
Blathe rubbed her hand with his other paw and sighed. "I am a beast, but not a brute." Her emerald eyes enchanted him with every gaze. He was born a hellbeast to eat the outcasts of luzinns and sombests. That day when he had met Savion, he had never felt so compassionate to someone worthy of his fighting prowess. He turned to Savion, expecting a final answer.
"Will you help us avenge Heather?" Savion queried.
It brought a smile to Blathe's lips. "Of course. My word as your husband will deem it so."
Izilim and Savion glanced at each other and nodded with conviction.