[Job] Shadow of the Beast (Akeya/Solmar)

Job Details:

As was the case most of the time the library was quiet with few lifeforms present. One might think this was the reason for the lights all having been turned off, but the matter of the fact was that one of the few people utilizing the place currently preferred it that way. Where others would find themselves blinded she always found the dark to have a kind of clarity to it.

In front of Akeya one of the reading tables was covered by three scrolls, each one carefully laid out so they parchments didn't overlap and hinder the reading of each of them. The dragoness was leaning over the table as her emerald eyes moved between the different texts without a pause, comparing the notes that each of the scrolls contained after already having read each of them several times.

Despite being a dragon (or perhaps because she was a dragon) Akeya could be found in the library so often that it was practically her room in Onyx Moon's guild hall. She had a small room somewhere tucked away where technically she should sleep whenever she became tired, but more often than not she just made herself comfortable in one of the corners of the library and resumed her research once she woke up. This of course also meant that her interaction with the other guild members was often found lacking as their paths in life often didn't include many trips to the library. If she wasn't in the library Akeya was training or out on a job, with the occasional trip to somewhere as a way of broadening her horizons and enjoying herself with something different than the beauty of literature.

This day however she definitely was focused on research for the sake of her job. Onyx Moon, with its front as the West Fiore Trading Company, was deeply tied with nearly all the trading routes in the known world. Ships were nearly constantly arriving and departing from the harbour, heading to and from destinations close and far. Because of this it was the first guild to receive news about a request from the Principality of Veronica. The people living in that seafaring nation were apparently beginning to reach a state of public panic as they kept talking about how it was almost time for the Storm King to rise up from the depths of the sea. It not being the first time for Akeya that people were worried about something dangerous emerging from the abyss the dragoness didn't waste any time searching the library for information on the creature.

The three scrolls in front of her were the fruits of her research, the three pieces which contained the most detailed information about what the Storm King might be. Despite that she still couldn't find out what kind of creature it was: it looked like it was entirely unique, impossible to assign to any known species.

The scroll on the left was a collection of mythological tales and folklore from Crescent Island and its surroundings. This scroll contained information about the cycle of destruction and quiet that the Storm King underwent every fifty years. Of course the myths included some suggestions that this was part of the natural cycle and a way to wipe the slate clean every fifty years, but Akeya hadn't been able to find any evidence suggesting that the Storm King really was anything more than some strange creature which had become too big and too powerful.

The scroll on the right listed dangerous creatures known throughout the world, with suggestions of their origins, behaviour and how to deal with them. Whoever wrote the scroll hadn't known what the Storm King might exactly be, but their instruction for how to deal with it had been clear: keep track of its territory and make sure you're not in its territory around the time that it wakes up. More helpful was the information that the creature did in fact have a territory, and that you didn't have to worry about it aimlessly wandering from one side of the world to the other over time.

The scroll in the middle was the retelling of a story of someone who claimed to have seen the Storm King. Not up close of course, because as the story quite vehemently stated the Storm King was permanently surrounded by an intense storm, strong enough to uproot the biggest trees and carve out hillsides. That did make any information from the scroll somewhat suspect given that the teller could only have observed the Storm King from a distance, but if the details were correct the Storm King was definitely some kind of physical creature with magical powers, and not some kind of magical embodiment of storms.

Of course the information on the scroll also stated that it could fly, swim, walk on land, and while it usually just moved about without clear purpose whatever ended up in its path ended up flattened and ripped apart. So while there was nothing saying that the creature couldn't die there was plenty to suggest that it wouldn't die easily.

Gathering up the scrolls and putting them back where they belonged the dragoness left the library, bandages wrapping around her body to conceal her appearance as she went to accept the mission to take care of the Storm King's ascension. Whether she would do that by killing it or forcing it back into the water would depend on what she'd find there.

WC: 914
TWC: 914/25,000

Strolling about as he usually did, Thagirion had made his way from the mainland towards an island out in the ocean. Having ventured around the mainland for some time now, there were a good amount of places that he had already seen, at least to some degree. While most of these places had way more to offer than he had seen, part of the reason why he had come to it in the first place was to find new restaurants, diners or vendors offering new takes on food he had eaten before, or food he had never even heard of. As it were, sampling new things was one of the only things that Thagirion considered worthwhile in this world of mortals. As a being that had been around when the universe itself had not even formed yet, he had been on the frontlines, fighting those beings that would see the empty and dark void filled with the light of creation.

Through the decades, his kind eventually lost the war, lost their realm of infinite darkness to the invading beings of light, got sealed away for millennia and eventually found himself awakened inside of a somewhat mortal body. With the body belonging to the elven mage Solmar, a former member of the Wizard Saints, it seemed that he could not use the full brunt of his power that was at his disposal while in his true form. Thanks to the trickery that got him sealed away in the first place, there had been no doubt in his mind that the same trickery was what got him to the world of mortals after such a long period of time. Thankfully, through months of wandering among humans in their cities, towns and settlements, as well as sifting through the memories of the former wizard saint, he got to learn many of the things that made the humans into what they were.

While there would always be more to learn, it wasn’t just the humans that he was interested in. Their creations were very interesting as well, as he came from a realm where all was dark and nothing was three dimensional, which was perhaps the thing he had to get used to the most in this world. One of the things these humans did best was how they managed to turn carcasses of other life forms and parts of plants into something much more tasty. Many of the places he had visited up until now had their own takes on food or had things the other villages, cities or entire countries did not possess, making them far more unique. Making himself into somewhat of a connoisseur, it was just one of those things along his travels that made being stuck among creatures born to die a lot more wholesome. Which brought him to the other thing he liked about the mortals that inhabited these continents and islands.

A great deal of them possessed one or various types of magic, as well as a variety of spells that allowed them to do a great deal. It was likely one of the reasons why they had managed to assert themselves as a dominant species on this planet, even though there were monsters and beasts out there that were far more equipped to rule over the planet through sheer power. Truth be told, that was part of the reason why he had come to this island in particular. Though he did not know it at the time, it was only when he arrived here and managed to orient himself that he realized he was actually on the crescent island. From old memories, he had come to learn that there was supposed to be a truly magnificent and powerful being somewhere in the depths here. As it turned out, Solmar had always been more focused on creatures that were not humans, so much so that it brought him to learn things some would sooner choose to forget.

Judging by what he had learned, it seemed that this creature had not been named by anyone as most that knew about him had long since died or simply chose not to speak about it in fear of foolish people seeking it out and waking it from the slumber that kept the surrounding areas safe. While it did not seem to be a particularly angry being, it was described as being fairly territorial and not caring about humans a whole lot. After all, what was the life of an ant in the eyes of a human being. Finding it to be a fair comparison, it was in fact something Thagirion himself could compare himself to as well. He did not care about human life much either, though he did not care about taking it either. The way he saw it, humans were great for amusement in all of their strive and struggles. That said, these struggles did make their powers in the field of magic that much more interesting to him.

Walking around the island while sticking fairly close to the shore, the combination of an ancient and powerful beast sleeping in the nearby ocean trenches, the potential for new food that had yet been untasted by his mouth and the forms of magic practiced by the local mages provided him with plenty of incentive towards staying around for a bit. Usually, if he wanted to see people he had confirmed to be mages use their magic, he would just cause some form of calamity that would force them to show it in order to protect their fellow man. But in a place like this, causing a ruckus that was big enough in scale might go about upsetting the ocean dweller, thus causing far more of a shock than he had initially bargained for. Confident as he was, Thagirion was far from stupid, so he knew better than to go around starting things that he might not be able to undo without there being a lot of collateral damage.

For the time being, he would make due just with finding the nearest dining location and seeing what it was this particular island had to offer him before he would go about setting up some kind of antics that were of a small enough scale to keep the great beast from getting upset. From what he could sense from his current position, the nearest inhabited spot was not all that far away, meaning he could probably get there in very little time if he were to head towards it straight away. Before he did though, he wanted to see a bit more of the landscape, as well as the local flora and fauna. From something that had been used to living inside of a void for untold amounts of years and had eventually been ousted from it by an invading force that wished to inhabit his home realm with planets such as the one Thagirion currently found himself on, one would most likely not imagine him to be so interested in it.

If anything, it should be raising his ire to the point where he should just go about destroying things and people alike. In truth, the thought had crossed his mind a great many times before, though he always came back to the same conclusion. Even if he managed to destroy everyone and everything, there was nothing he could do on his own that would bring back his realm to the way that it was before. Even if the entire universe was destroyed, that would just create a space filled with rubble and debris, as opposed to the sheer nothingness in which he and his fallen kin used to dwell. Being the last of his kind, instead of focusing on vengeance, he decided it would be better just to stick around until this universe came to a natural end. After all, all things in creation would end at some point. Eventually, the suns would die out, the universe would grow could or implode, and all would be returned to nothing. All he needed to do was wait.


1348

In the shadow of a tree near the cost the air shimmered, light and dark warping and twisting until a figure stepped out of the miniature distortion. Wrapped in bandages and with no discernible features, they hid their identity completely to the extent that even their gender would be unknown to the outsider.

Akeya walked out of the shadow of the tree and looked out over the beach where soon the Storm King would be surfacing.. or at least would be heading towards. It was still a question what kind of creature the beast exactly was, and whether it was truly capable of flight. If it was then redirecting it could become an even bigger issue, as flying things had a habit of going wherever they pleased, especially if they were so big that they could ignore the weather. And in this case they were talking about a creature which controlled the weather, so all bets were off on how you were supposed to steer it away from the island and the people that lived on it.

The fact that Akeya didn't care much for the lives of others was irrelevant here. She had a job to do.

Folding her arms she considered her approach. Her magic didn't allow for terrarforming or large scale constructions, so she couldn't just create a big barrier and hope that it would discourage the Storm King. Most likely the creature would just go straight through anyway. The only thing that was working in her favour here was that the monster was supposedly not very aggressive and didn't have any real destructive tendencies: it just so happened that it was so big and powerful that its mere presence was enough to cause trouble for everyone in the area.

But that meant that a possible solution was to create a better path for it to follow rather than trying to block the path it would normally walk. Or fly. Or swim. The point was that if you gave it a better alternative it might just go for the path of least resistance, even if it could easily take the harder path if it really wanted to.

If the Storm King had been openly hostile towards everything it encountered things would have been different, as in that case she would have no choice but to resort to more drastic measures. She still wasn't entirely certain what approach she'd take, but at least she had a variety of options.

But first of all she'd have to find out where the Storm King currently was. Once she knew its location she could start planning the route it would most likely take and figure out how to respond. With some luck it was far out at sea, deep below, and she could get by with using light and dark to confuse it and make it head in the opposite direction until it was tired and fell asleep again.

The wind picked up as she stood there, tugging at the ends of the bandages that concealed her identity. There was nobody else here, so maybe her disguise wasn't necessary... except it was easier to just keep it on just in case. It would be rather awkward if she got so careless as to just reveal her true identity just for someone to show up who she'd happened to overlook. If that happened she might have to kill and hide their body, which would just be the beginning of a list of problems a mile long. Even if you made someone disappear perfectly people would remember them, and Akeya didn't have access to magic that allowed her to smoothly remove someone's entire existence out of the minds of others. She wasn't even sure if magic like that existed: there were legends about that kind of thing, but to make it as if someone had never existed was difficult. The average person already had more of an impact on reality than they realized, so if you were talking about removing their existence what you were really trying to do is explain away all the things they did that changed reality.

As she briefly pondered this she noticed the magic presence of another powerful entity. She turned her head sharply, but she could already tell that it wasn't the Storm King. For one thing the aura had nothing to do with storms or the sea. Another thing was that the trees were still standing there instead of being rudely ripped out of the ground and launched into the distance. Or just ripped into small pieces. Storm gales were merciless.

Instead she saw a humanoid figure walking along the beach, heading towards the nearest town if her memory of the geography of the island was correct. He was alone, but walked with a certain kind of confidence you could only find in people who knew that they could look after themselves. There might be fools who believed that they could look after themselves only to be rudely awakened from that delusion, but those that knew it for a fact behaved differently. It was hard to explain, it was something you had to become aware of yourself.

With her disguise on Akeya was confident that at least this stranger wouldn't recognize her: it was specially made by the researchers of Onyx Moon, designed to completely obscure the identity of the wearer on the physical, magical and spiritual levels. In a world where magic was rampant a big organization like her guild wouldn't neglect to take into account the fact that some people had ways of perceiving the world around them beyond their five senses.

So it should be fine to ask him what he was doing here... she didn't think he was in any way connected to the Storm King, but he was powerful enough that she couldn't just dismiss his presence.

As Thagirion made his way along the coast he'd see a figure completely wrapped in bandages walk up to him, the loose ends of the strips of cloth swaying lightly in the breeze that travelled across the sands of the shore. They didn't emit any hostility, but they were clearly guarded. Once the bandaged figure was close enough they would speak with a monotone, emotionless voice.

"What is a man doing, walking along the beach by himself? The Storm King will arrive soon." Here on the island everyone knew about the Storm King, and the destruction its presence brought. If this man was a native he should know what was going on here.

WC: 1,090
PWC: 2,004/11,000
TWC: 3,352/22,000

Wandering the beach, his senses struggled to pick up whether or not someone was coming his way or not. Under normal circumstances, there would not have been any need to question whether he sensed someone or not due to the sheer accuracy of his senses. So when a person covered in bandages was making their way into his line of sight, it seemed to him that someone had been going through a great deal of trouble just to make sure no one would be able to sense their approach. Instinctively utilizing his sensory spell when his passive sensory perks had been bypassed, there was really no way to hide from his mind’s eye. What was odd however was that this person had managed to move under the figurative radar made up from his natural magic sense and his nose. Luckily for him, unless they were invisible and weightless, there would always be a way for him to find out whether someone is on his tail. Because of his physical and spiritual make up, Thagirion did not possess magical power in a way that could be sensed by your average human mage.

It was like looking at a demigod: they looked mortal, though the full scope of their power could not fully be grasped by mortal means. The same could be said about Thagirion. He looked plenty human, though his magical powers were linked directly to his origin in a dark universe, unbreached by the light and free from creation. There, he was merely part of the primordial void, more or less existing that way for thousands of years. To say that he existed for millennia was neither a lie nor an understatement, having existed here before the universe as people knew it these days had been birthed. In that sense, someone trying to hide their presence from him entirely was quite funny, though it was a very solid attempt to be certain.

“If I told you I was merely taking a walk on the beach, I imagine you would most likely not believe me or take my word for it. Most people do not believe me when I say these things, even though I am being quite truthful. It must be something related to my tone or the way I am saying it… something to think about at a later time..”

While the former was most certainly directed at this strange appearance, the latter was more or less a mental note to himself, albeit spoken out loud. So many humans believed that he was being sarcastic, even though he was merely being blunt about his actual dealings. He had no reason to lie to them, because if he was doing something he did not want to share with someone else, he would merely tell them to vacate the premises or get rid of them entirely. To Thagirion, it was truly just that simple. His intention was not to sound mean or degrading, though the fact that he did not really care about his tone with someone who was trying to sneak up on him was not something he was trying to hide.

“That said, I came here because I heard stories about an ancient behemoth that has lived in this part of the world for a very long time. It supposedly slumbers in the oceanic trenches, so actually seeing it might not be all that easy. Still, I had hoped to get a glimpse of the beast before I return to the mainland.. though it’ll have to wait until after dinner.”

Divulging enough of his plans to this wrapped up person, it might again have sounded like sarcasm coming from behind his lips. But as things were, his main reason for coming here had been to get a taste of the local cuisine that could not be had anywhere on the mainland. These kinds of islands that were separated from the rest of the world by vast quantities of water usually had their own native dishes made from something that they were able to acquire in abundance. In a place such as this, that was likely some kind of landlocked bird that was only found here due to evolution, some kind of fish that could be found in large numbers in this particular area, a type of vegetable or kelp or maybe even some interesting and new kind of fruit. Whatever it might be, it was the one thing that interested him more than the ancient monstrosity resting beneath the waves, though they were very close to being evenly matched in his mind. Depending on what this mummy wanted from him, checking out the local town was next on his list.


2130

The man's response helped confirm that he was not your average person. Most people would be slightly unnerved by Akeya's disguised self, as a figure completely wrapped up in bandages to the point of even their gender being undistinguishable was rather creepy. This man, however, treated Akeya with as casual an attitude as if she was merely another wanderer. Not directly a concern, since she wasn't here to trade blows with the man, but it was worth remembering for further analysis.

She didn't give a physical reaction when Thagirion stated that he was just walking along the coast, a pastime that many people who lived on islands enjoyed. It definitely wasn't outside of the realm of possibility, although it was rather unusual given the circumstances... and the fact that this person was anything but normal. He could be speaking the truth, he could be covering something up... he was busy bemoaning the fact that nobody ever believed him, but that could be part of the lie.

"If you are speaking the truth you have picked an unfortunate time for your walk. As for why others may have trouble believing you, I cannot say. Maybe you give the impression of always having a deeper purpose behind your actions." He certainly had the air of someone who kept his thoughts to himself even as he was conversing with others.

The next words that came out of the man's mouth made her blink, although her disguise hid that physical reaction as well. He was intentionally seeking out the Storm King? She was doing it because there was a job to be done, but she'd have thought that anyone who didn't have business with the titanic entity would rather stay away during the time that it was awake. Did he want to test his strength against it? He didn't look like the type to brawl with monsters just for fun... Strange.

"The creature you are describing is called the Storm King, and most who know of it would stay away from it if possible. It only ever brings destruction with it, so seeing it could be considered a stroke of misfortune." The bandaged figure stayed silent for a while after that, studying Thagirion silently. Eventually the figure would speak again, its voice still monotone and without any indication towards its thoughts. "I am here to deal with the Storm King. The concern has arisen that the creature will destroy civilization on this island, so I am to find a way to divert or eliminate it. If you are interested in seeing the beast you might also be willing to aid me."

Akeya wasn't exactly fond of teamwork, but she also wasn't diametrically opposed to it. The truth was that she didn't know what exactly she was up against and could probably use the help. There weren't a lot of creatures that could survive her attacks if she got serious, but at the same time she shouldn't get cocky and assume that everything would go as planned. If the Storm King turned out to be more dangerous than she'd anticipated (and she was already anticipating it to be quite dangerous), it would be useful to have someone else around to help out.

"If you do help out you will be compensated for your efforts. There is a sizeable reward prepared for anyone who can help keep the people living on this island safe." The figure turned its head to look towards the waters. "It looks like the Storm King is yet to arrive, so you can consider the offer during your meal." Akeya believed in arriving early, and with some luck they'd have some time before the Storm King would show up.

WC: 617
PWC: 2,621/11,000
TWC: 4,751/22,000

“When you say you’ll “deal” with the Storm King, am I to assume that that means exactly what it insinuates? Because if you ask me, killing this creature that seems to be one of a kind feels like a waste. While I won’t go as far as to judge, as I am sure you have your reasons for doing things the way you do, I propose an alternative.”

Though the amount of people that actually did so was minuscule, those that knew Thagirion well enough knew exactly what kind of deal he was about to propose when he brought up an alternative. While he did not hate humanity at all as there was really no hatred inside of him at all, he did possess some very acute senses that rarely missed out on anything. As such, he had seen what humanity did to their planet just by existing. Even when going through Solmar’s thoughts and memories, it was clear that even other humans knew of what it was that they were doing. It was for that reason that Solmar had chosen to live and spend his time differently, living in the outdoors and working with local villages in order to control populations of animals and kill only what needed to be killed. Eating mostly what he killed, he also dried a lot of the meat so he could take it with him on the road, thus leading to him having to kill less in order to exist.

But he was just one person, and as much as he had tried to live differently, his sole decision at doing so did not make much of an impact on the planet as a whole. Even if he had inspired some towards doing things as he did, the sheer amount of humans that chose otherwise tipped the scales way out of balance, and that much was clear to see. So to him, the killing of a majestic creature that stood above mere humans and lived in a select, remote corner of the world seemed wrong. Him feeling things were wrong about it was not so much based on feelings or emotions at all, but rather on logic and simple observation. To kill the last of a species because of some people that had chosen to move away from the mainland and inhabit the domain of a creature far more powerful than they were was just a lapse of judgement. It was their fault for moving there, not the fault of the creature that already made his home there for untold amounts of years.

“How about we just let the thing go about his business, as I assume it’s a he based on the name Storm King. It is the last of his kind, and all the while, humans occupy more and more of the world, infesting every nook and cranny while driving native animals and plants to extinction.”

In a way, the Storm King seemed to be a lot like he was. Driven from his ancestral home as his kin were slain around him, all until there was only one of them left. He hadn’t been killed either, he had merely been locked up for millennia, only finding himself “alive” in a human body due to the devices of someone else, of something else. So to see the same thing happening here, with a creature having to be slain or driven out of his home was about enough to tempt Thagirion into outright destroying the entire island with everyone on it and everything in it. But there were a bunch of self driven reasons as to why he could not do such a thing, even if it was well within his power. He had grown strong over the years, and manipulating an island into outright disappearing was something that fell into the scope of one of his magical properties, namely that of earth magic. He could turn it into a massive swamp and just have it blubber away into the vast ocean, but as he had mentioned before, he could not do that, at least not yet.

“I say we watch as it does what it does, as it does not strike me as a violent creature. Had it been, these islands would have been massacred a long time ago. Punishing it merely for being what it is seems cruel, though the word cruel sums up humanity rather well if you ask me.”

As he spoke those words, he looked at the mummy intently, trying to see if any of his words sparked any kind of response from her. If there was a human being under all of that fabric, there was a chance that most of what he said would hit her as offensive. If she remained calm throughout all of it, he would have been given a little bit of insight into her character. It would either prove that she wasn’t human, or it would prove that she was quite in control of her emotions, which in turn would tell Thagirion something about the person he was dealing with. Those that could contain their intent and emotions were often far more dangerous than those who kept running their mouths or started making empty threats in hopes of demoralizing or frightening others. Not being the kind that dealt in such things, he was more the kind of person that wished to properly discuss all angles of the situation before really diving into a single eventuality.

“So while the prospect of payment is tempting, I would prefer it if we left the creature alive if possible. If it is really as strong as people claim, it should be able to take a couple of hits as a means of “persuading” it into going somewhere else. Besides, there are still a lot of things on this island that I wish to taste, so I’d prefer it if we could stave off this inevitable encounter of the storm king versus island life for some other time. Would that be agreeable to you?”

Having provided the mummy with everything he had to say, it would now be up to her to determine how they would be handling all of this. If she wanted to go ahead and try to kill the beast, Thagirion could not honestly say that he would keep out of it and remain a bystander. As things were, he would sooner try to aid the beast in order to ensure its survival, even if it meant brawling with another mage and not getting a single penny out of the whole encounter. Obviously, he would not bring up the fact that he was rather set on keeping the creature alive to the extent that he was willing to fight over it, as that was something time would tell if it came down to it. Also, he did not wish to influence the mummy in her decision making, as there would be no point in keeping the creature alive for now if she would just kill it later. Besides, he still wanted to eat here on the island, so the two of them coming to an agreement seemed like the best possible outcome for him.


3331

Akeya had hoped that this person standing before her would be enticed by the promise of a reward, given his rather casual attitude and his implication that he was used to approaching life his own way. Unfortunately it looked like he wasn't entirely happy with the idea of killing the Storm King, so the disguised dragoness mentally prepared herself to navigate the maze of arguments that would inevitably result of him trying to convince her not to eliminate the target. While she didn't have any real motivation to kill the beast she wanted to keep it available as a possible solution, given that the job she'd accepted was to protect the people living on this island, one way or another.

She listened as the man explained his position, his argument that the Storm King should be allowed to do as it pleases and if any humans got injured or killed then it would be their own fault for living in the territory of a creature which was capable of such destruction and mayhem. Outwardly she didn't show much reaction to Thagirion's words, her mummified self just observing him calmly as he continued speaking. She doubted it would have much of an effect on him but she'd noticed that humans would often get unnerved if they were observed by someone who showed zero emotion or strong reaction to their words and actions. She assumed it was because being observed made them feel more self-conscious, as well as adding an aura of mystique to the observer.

Once he was finished Akeya turned her head towards the sea, remaining silent for several seconds as the wind pulled at the edges of the cloth that covered her entire body without revealing anything. It was clear that this person would object to the elimination of the beast regardless of the circumstances: his words conveyed the idea that he prioritized the life of the creature over that of the humans living on the island. Which was in direct conflict with Akeya's priorities: she held no love for the people living here but she considered herself a professional, and a job was a job.

She'd have to handle this carefully. She wasn't going to promise him that she wouldn't kill the Storm King no matter what, but she had to convince him that she wasn't setting out to kill it either. While killing it would make the job a lot easier she was flexible enough to accept a non-lethal approach as the preferred option, with lethal means only being used as a last resort.

Of course she could also just tell him to go have his lunch and continue working on her own but the sentiment the man carried towards humans and the Storm King meant that there was a non-zero chance he'd interfere if he thought that his interference was needed to ensure the survival of her target.

"The nature of human expansion and the effect it has on the environment matters little to me." Her voice remained monotone, steady. She turned her head to look straight at him once more, although the bandages also made her eyes hard to see. "However I understand that you do find it important, and there is some truth that elimination of the Storm King would be wasteful if it is the last of its kind... or simply a unique entity."

There was a short silence before she continued. "Yet, my task is simple: I must safeguard the lives of the people living on this island, and if possible minimize the destruction caused by the Storm King's passage. That is my highest priority, regardless of whether that requires killing the Storm King or leaving it alive. Whether that is cruel or not is also irrelevant to me." Truthfully she didn't agree with the notion that the Storm King had more right to live here than the humans: the strong lived and the weak died. Neither the humans nor she herself had any obligation towards the Storm King, so if she was capable of killing it that was just the way things were.

However she did have an argument up her sleeve (well, bandages) which should prove persuasive towards this powerful man standing before her. "You are powerful enough that your contribution would greatly increase the odds that we can divert the Storm King away from the humans without being forced to resort to lethal means. Thus if you aid me you will directly be aiding in ensuring the Storm King's survival, as well as getting paid for protecting the humans." She could lie to him and promise that she would not kill the Storm King no matter what happened... well, a bit too late for that: she'd already made it clear that she didn't have much consideration for the creature's life.

While she remained calm and controlled on the outside on the inside Akeya was tense. She wasn't scared, or emotional, but she knew that there was two ways this could go. Her expectations and plan were for the man to decide that the best way to achieve his own goals was to join forces with her. But there was also the possibility that he would decide that it would be easier to attack her and guarantee the Storm King's life by removing the only entity on the island capable of hurting it. His power was difficult to measure, and her disguise also obscured her own... He carried himself as someone who knew that he was powerful, so it wasn't unthinkable that he'd consider himself strong enough that he was confident he could take her.

She looked completely unaffected on the outside but someone with good eyes would see that her stance was perfectly balanced and that her feet were parted and at an angle with one another. Her stance wasn't hostile, but if he acted she would be able to react.

WC: 982
PWC: 3,603/11,000
TWC: 6,933/22,000

“Do not get me wrong, it is not human expansion or the environment that bothers me. If all of humanity were to die out in an instance, I wouldn’t bat an eye or lose a moment of sleep because of it. What bothers me is that there are still thousands, maybe even millions of things that I wish to still experience myself, things that I wish to taste.”

In a moment of honesty, he made it quite clear what his intentions were, as he really had no love for any human beings in particular. Sure, there were a bunch that he had as of yet because they seemed interesting and were worth checking in on every once in a while. But the vast majority of humanity existed out of people that he had never met before and therefore did not know personally. To this extent, there was really no reason for him to feel bad about any of them being erased, at least that was how he saw it. Being pragmatic was something that came natural to him after all, as he did not possess a soul of his own, meaning he did not possess any emotions like most humans and some animals did. This made a lot of things much easier for him to process, though it also made a lot of the decisions humans made seem entirely irrational to him, while a person who had any actual emotions might be able to understand things better.

“But that said, it seems that you are quite set on me aiding you in your endeavors, maybe because you’re afraid I might stab you in the back if you decide to kill the beast. A wise decision, as it would be entirely likely that one might attempt to do such a thing, though I harbor no such intentions.”

While those words would likely offer little to no assurance of his acts, namely whether or not he would aim to attack her when she was busy fighting the storm king, he felt that merely stating it carried at least some weight. To most humans, simply stating that they were aware of the situation while bringing up the thing that they fear might transpire in the worst case scenario. Judging by the kind of person that he was though, or rather by the kind of thing that he was, ending someone while their back was turned was not something one should be worried about. If he wanted to get rid of someone, he would get rid of someone by making them cease to be. That was one of those things his magic was capable of after all, and one of the things he had used a bunch of times, if not mostly by accident. With that kind of power, putting someone out of His misery was not all that difficult, though the person he was speaking to had no way of knowing this. And as such, they had no real reason to believe him when he said that he meant them no direct harm.

“As I doubt anything I’ve said so far will have done anything towards dissuading you from believing I might stab you in the back or otherwise try to kill you, I promise that I will work with you towards directing the beast away from the island and those that inhabit it. If my word alone is not enough to believe, believe the fact that I might be interested in that money you offered, as well as the fact that there is still a lot on this island that I plan on eating before the king destroys it all.”

Again making an effort at dissuading the woman from believing he might pose a threat to her, Thagirion figured that this time, things might just be different. Offering his word and at the same time making it clear that he was also interested in the bounty while also having a horse in this race, namely the food this island yet presented, he felt more reassured in that his attempt might have been taken seriously this time around. Looking towards the water after he spoke, he could both feel and see ripples coming out from the ocean that were slightly more powerful than the ones that had been coming before. These somewhat larger waves might not mean a whole lot to some people, but to those who were attuned to it, or those that might have lived on the island long enough to know what it meant, it was clear that the beast was most likely in the process of waking up. Becoming more and more restless to the point where it would inevitably wake up, Thagirion could only wonder as to what that might mean as some waking-up struggles were enough to literally make waves.

“Regardless of my intent, it seems you might not have a whole lot of time left to decide after all. It does not take a magic user to know that our honored guest is in the process of fully waking up, and making his way over shortly after.”

A statement that could be considered as provocative, it was in fact just Thagirion’s manner of speech. He had no need for such human methods of taunting others, especially since his goal was not to provoke in any way. No, the goal was for them to be able to work together towards protecting the island’s inhabitants, the food they would make for him once they knew about how he was going to be responsible for saving their lives, as well as the payment that would be coming his way once all of this was seen through to the end. While on the subject of money, now that he was starting to understand the meaning of currency in this world, he obviously wanted to know what kind of sum he might be expecting for such a tiresome task. He imagined it would be quite something, as one could not just turn to your average mage and ask them to try and turn away or kill such a powerful being. This train of thought was also what had led him to believe that this person he was dealing with was also no pushover.

“So in terms of payment for this task, how many figures are we talking?”


4387

Akeya would have raised an eyebrow in response to the man's claim that he had no interest in the lives and deaths of the humans, if it weren't for the fact that a) it wouldn't be visible underneath her disguise, and b) even if it was visible it would get in the way of the image she was projecting of an enigmatic entity. Granted she wasn't sure how successful she was in keeping the man standing in front of her guessing about her true nature, but that wasn't reason to give up. She didn't gain anything from giving away any data she didn't have to provide after all.

Well, that aside, it seemed that he wanted her to believe that, while he didn't care for the safety of the humans, he might be willing to help out for personal gain. The disguised dragoness was willing to believe that: whatever this person really was, one thing you could almost always rely on was that people had selfish motivations. These selfish motivations didn't have to be evil or harmful to others, but they were focused on the benefit of the self.

"From my understanding the cities established on this island rely on tourism for a large portion of their wealth. As such they are unlikely to damage their environment to the extent that you would lose out on the many things that you would still want to experience in this area. After all, tourism relies on providing something that you can't attain in other places, so anything which is unique here is worth preserving to them for their own benefit."

If this man understood the value of selfish motivations then this should help convince him that he didn't have any reason to let the humans die. It might not be enough to convince him to help but at the very least it would be an additional argument for him to not interfere.

"It's true that I am considering the possibility that you would become a hindrance to the execution of my plan if you aren't convinced to aid me instead. Given the amount of power you wield it is a risk worth considering even if the chances are low." The bandaged figure tilted its head ever so slightly. "And as you can probably imagine, saying that you won't interfere is in itself not enough to make the risk disappear."

Lying was easy. People often would complain that lying was difficult because of some reason or another, but so far as Akeya could tell the main reasons why humans and similar creatures found lying difficult were twofold: the first reason was that as social creatures clear communication within their group was important for survival. The second reason was that they'd convinced themselves it was difficult. Neither reason was good enough to trust someone's word.

However as much as Akeya hated to say it she didn't have much of a choice. Eliminating this man would most likely be more effort than it was worth, especially since she might not be able to finish the job before the Storm King arrived. While she thought herself powerful enough to handle the Storm King she would rather not make things difficult by expending large amounts of energy beforehand and losing out on the opportunity to prepare herself. So despite her paranoia she'd have to give this man some measure of trust, or at least enough to let him help out.

She remained silent for a while longer as the man made another attempt at convincing her that he wouldn't betray her or stab her in the back. It looked like she didn't have much of a choice here. It was technically her desired outcome in all of this, but she would have preferred to achieve this on her own terms. "Understood. Together we should be capable of successfully protecting the human settlements from the Storm King even without harming it." By herself leaving the entity alive might be difficult, especially since her powers were actually designed for hunting and killing. She knew how to disable her enemies without killing them, but the stronger they were the harder it became.

"Of course if we are to work together it would help if I had a basic understanding of your abilities. As for the reward... The humans are offering a reward of 155,000J for every person who aids in keeping the Storm King at bay. There's a bonus reward of 40,000J in case we successfully kill the Storm King and prevent the settlements from suffering any damage." She looked towards the water, where the waves were slowly growing bigger. "Given the circumstances we won't be aiming for the bonus reward, unless your insistence on keeping the Storm King alive is worth less than 40,000J." She highly doubted that this would be the case, but she had been wrong about people before. Greed was a dangerous thing, and even people who seemed to be above it all might turn out to have a weakness for something very simple and mundane such as money.

But it was true that they didn't have much time left. She could sense that something immense was beginning to move underneath the waves, something far down but powerful enough that even from the bottom of the ocean its movements were causing the water to stir. And above the waters the winds were picking up, the trees that lined the beach swaying as a breeze turned into a gust. The wind grabbed at the bandaged figure's cloth without finding purchase, sending the strips fluttering without actually removing Akeya's disguise.

Akeya slowly walked towards the edge of the water, eyes narrow underneath her bandages as she mentally prepared herself. Dissuading the Storm King from travelling across the island and destroying most of the things living on it would be... tricky. Especially since direct attacks might just infuriate it and she didn't think it would die easily even if she herself and her newfound companion were to combine their powers. "Can you fly?" It would probably be best if their first contact with the target was out on the sea, away from the island. If they waited until the Storm King had reached the beach then they'd already failed.

WC: 1,040
PWC: 4,643/11,000
TWC: 9,029/22,000