Ultimate Level 1

“Fowl was right,” Batrire said as she spat on the ground. “That’s a load of ogre crap.”

Rakonath was asleep next to Max, his body on one side, tail wrapped around the legs of the human he was bonded to. On the other side sat Tanila, her hands gripping the metal cup she held tightly. Each finger was turning white from the force she was exerting, and the metal appeared to be losing the fight as a few indentations had appeared.

“That is disturbing news,” Aerthen stated as she frowned. Her eyes were sparkling as she watched Tanila. “To know a god has done such things to people… it makes me understand why so many of my kind dislike dealing with all of your races.”

“It’s not our fault,” Cordellia replied, almost yelling out her response. “We didn’t know.”

A snort came from the owner of the cave they were relaxing in, surrounded by the same barrier Max had first experienced. While the lava flowed and waves of heat filled the cavern, none of them suffered any of its effects, protected by the spell Aerthen had stated was a trivial ability.

“I am not saying you are to blame, child, but just know that often you carry out the wishes of others without being aware of the destruction you cause. Does a child who is sent outside to toss seeds in a field know what the one who asked them to do intends? Are they aware if those seeds will cause a plant good enough to eat to grow or if it will instead turn into a weed that will destroy food for many? Who does one blame? The child or the one who sends them?”

Their ranger started to reply and then stopped herself, closing her open mouth with a grunt.

“If the other gods don’t know, can we tell them?” Fowl asked.

“I don’t know,” Max replied. “The last time I encountered both gods, they were anxious about Thuyja arriving. With her base or whatever we want to call that was blown up like I believe it was, I would expect her to be paying more attention to this world. Even more so since her person in charge of it is missing.”

Max and the others turned toward Tanila, who had almost crushed her cup completely, both sides folded in on each other.

“What do you mean?” Max asked.

She turned her head slowly, those green eyes almost seeming to radiate with energy.

“Do we kill her? Do we torture her? All of us know we cannot set her free.”

He shrugged, only able to sigh as she held his gaze.

“I’m not a murderer. I… I ordered someone else to dispense justice on a different world, and it still eats at me. Part of me hates myself for not being strong enough to do what I knew needed to be done. The other part of me hates that I had to do it. Still there is another side of me that knows I must do something with the elf I have captured and her companions.”

Why is it so hard to kill them if they deserve it? Aerthen has been very specific about my need to kill anyone who threatens myself or you. Do I need to kill them for you?

Hearing Rakonath speak suddenly after wondering if the dragon was actually asleep or dozing made him smile slightly.

Bending over just a little, he scratched the side of his back, a soft trill coming from the majestic silver dragon.

“Perhaps I should take lessons from you,” Max told their host. “He said you have already taught him the need to put down anyone who threatens him or me.”

A chuckle came from the dragon, her red hair bouncing as her large frame heaved from the growing bellows that came from her mouth.

Aerthen shook her head after laughing for a few seconds, and then both golden eyes locked on to him.

“That lesson cannot be taught to one of your kind so easily at your age. Dragons are often alone. Very few have a mate on this world, and that means every moment we must be prepared to defend ourselves from anyone and anything.”

She paused, leaning against the wooden table Fowl had borrowed from the Faction, her oversized hands pressing against it as she towered over it.

“Do not mistake my acceptance of you and your friends as some kind of kindness I share with anyone else. Had I not sensed the mark on you, I would have attacked you long before words were ever shared. Even your friends appearing as they did almost had me react, but again, that mark you bear is like the sun now, and I cannot miss it.”

She pointed a thick finger at Rakonath’s head as the young dragon sat up, his snout facing her.

“He must learn that until he is strong enough to defend himself against various threats, there is no room for mercy. Caution is everything. If he trusts the wrong person and gets too close, they can end his life in a moment.”

A huff came from the silver nostrils, and a few pieces of mucus flew out, almost landing on Fowl’s cup.

“Hey! My ale!”

Even after that fun outburst the mood at the table felt heavy. Max could sense the acknowledgment of his healer, ranger and mage.

“I… I’ve never been that person. Even now I don’t want to become… a monster.”

“Am I a monster for protecting myself and the eggling you left me with?” Aerthen asked as she leaned back in her stone chair, folding her arms and frowning.

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“No… just… inside me has been a war… a desire to kill and consume anyone and everything. To grow stronger by doing so. Only now do I finally start to see the pain of being strong and trying to forge a course in a different direction. The expectations people have are difficult to carry. Even worse is what I know I put on myself.”

He sensed Tanila’s hand long before it touched him, and when she squeezed his forearm, he took a deep breath and let it out.

“You’re not alone. We’ve said it countless times,” she informed him. “Aerthen is right. Just because you do what must be done doesn’t make you a monster. Even I… I had to see that my father was right. The day I did what I did to that assassin was the day I committed myself to do whatever it took to keep you safe.”

Her words broke his heart as Max saw how her face looked absolutely calm. No emotion, no twitch, not a single muscle moved that gave any clue she might be holding back.

It’s almost like she is just reading off a baking recipe…

That is because she is completely committed to you even when it’s not a life and death situation. In the heat of battle, you are the monster. When that rage wears off, your conviction fades, and you struggle. She does not. Being a princess taught her a long time ago the lesson you are still learning.

“She’s right,” Batrire said quietly, spinning her mug in her hand on the table a few times. “After I almost died and you saved me, I knew I would do whatever I had to in order to keep you safe. Once I finally worked through all those fears, all those moments where I couldn’t wait until the last minute and ask what if , I told Fowl that if push came to shove, I would kill my own kind for you.”

A tear started to form in Max’s eye, and he reached up, feeling the moisture that seemed so foreign in a place surrounded by flames and lava.

“Max…”

He turned to see Cordellia frowning at him after having said his name.

“I… I had nothing before you all. Sure I had the Faction, but my groups were splintered, broken, and no one really was willing to put their life on the line for others. That is why I struggled to commit at first. Part of me wondered if the four of you would leave me behind to die if things got too bad. And then…”

She sniffed, using her thumb to catch the tear that had escaped.

“You did what only you can do. Every day you told me not just in words that I was worthy of protecting and that I was family. Not once did I ever sense you would discard me as others might. For that reason I, too, would gladly kill any elf, human, or dwarf that threatens my family.”

Tanila’s hand squeezed harder on his arm, and Max saw Fowl simply nodding, his gaze fixed on the mug in his hands. Only his Sonar skill allowed him to feel the tears that ran into the dwarf’s beard.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It took two more before he could finally speak, the words he wanted to say, held back by a wall he had erected since the start of all this.

“I… Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for telling me this. You’re all right. Even Bob.”

A collective chuckle came as he grinned, breaking the tension that was so thick one could almost cut it with a knife.

Bobbing his head, Max squeezed Tanila’s hand with his and then freed it from his forearm and started to stand.

“It’s time for me to do what I need to.”

No one said a word as his chair made some noise moving across the hard rock of the cavern, and after pushing it back in, he gave Rakonath’s head a scratch as the dragon turned to follow him.

“Stay here. You can watch, but I don’t want you to get close.”

I understand.

Taking a few steps, Max readied himself, hardening his expression, a frown forming as he committed to what was coming next.

“Aerthen, are you willing to dispose of a few bodies?”

The stone chair the red dragon was sitting on grated against the floor as she stood.

“For you I can either let you put them in the lava, or you can allow Rakonath to eat them. It would do him good to have a fresh kill.”

It took great effort to hold back the shudder that wanted to run through his body.

That… seems almost worse than what I had imagined.

Does it? You had originally thought she might eat them. Why would it matter which of them does it? Remember the conviction they are talking about. That eggling needs to grow, and you are providing for him nothing more than a meal. It would be the same as if you brought a cow or sheep and gave it to him.

But they’re—

Simply meat. Beings which have chosen the wrong side. In a battle, do armies care if the birds eat the dead of those they faced? Does the general feel bad that the wolves or other animals come and pick clean the bones of those who they struck down? No. You must be the same. Everything that stands against you must make not just you but your new companion stronger. I’m not sure how it works for them, but Aerthen would not say this unless there was a reason.

The purple door appeared as Max used his skill.

[ Dimensional Space ]

“Rakonath, I’ll bring them back so you can eat them.”

Thank you for helping me grow stronger, Max.

Hearing those words strummed a cord inside him. The reminder that only in death had he grown stronger. Bob was right, and he knew it. A year had passed, and so many had died to his hands. Each death was a step to becoming strong enough to protect those around that table. To protect his family back at the Faction house.

As the purple door started to swing open, Max smiled.

Thank you for your friendship and advice. I can’t promise I’ll do everything right, but I’ll try to make sure to not repeat these mistakes.

Through his bond Max felt a small chuckle coming from Bob.

Now is the moment your enemies will learn to fear you, Max. When a man is committed as I feel you are right now, they shall learn to way the costs of going against you.

As the door finished opening and light flooded the room of the space he controlled, a body rushed toward the opening, and Max had his weapon out and pointed toward the opening.

“You’ve made a mistake,” he growled.

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