The Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 2)

The Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 2)

…

As the ship flew over the Strait of Helena onto the shores of Lord Trelawney’s lands, I read and considered the curriculum that he handed me.

To put it frankly, it seemed insane, and when I looked at Alice, she concurred with eyes wide with disbelief.

“My lady, I think we should turn around and accept the Guild Leader’s offer.”

“…Time does not permit us that luxury, Alice.”

“My lady, this schedule is insane.” Alice bluntly spoke to me, and frowned at her, but she ignored the small gesture to stand her ground. Both of us were in guest rooms on the ship and both of us were dressed in evening gowns. With our hair down, no makeup, and no fanciful dresses, we were nearly identical. With a few charms and artifacts on her person, Alice could easily look like me and fool would-be assassins by risking her own life to protect mine. She oversees my safety, she is my protector, and I trust her implicitly. “If this curriculum is true, you’re going to be spending eight hours of your day killing monsters, learning in the evenings for two, and then doing nothing else but sleeping and eating for the rest of your days.”

“It is for fifteen weeks, and I have two days off after every five. There are also weekly checks on my strength and ability.” My father and brother drilled numbers and theory into me and my sisters, just mother had our brothers learn etiquette, dance, and even cooking. House Argelia nurtured talent, but if also espoused having a solid foundation of courtly life. So, I knew from a single glance, that my father would kill for the paper I held in my hands now. It was, quite frankly, a training method to turn noble scions into warriors of legend. “I cannot refuse this, Alice. This is the only way to gain power quickly and try and save our empire.”

“Damn the empire, my lady. It’s done nothing for you. We can grow strong in a year, return home, and protect it. With two more able warriors, my father and brothers can hold the line without fearing internal dissidents. That’s enough.” Alice came from our most esteemed knightly retainers. A branch house of our family from our founder’s brother-in-law. They have been our staunchest allies even in the darkest days of our house. For many centuries, her household has cultivated great talent and warriors, and this latest generation was no exception. “House Argelia has withstood much worse. We didn’t risk our lives for people who betrayed us, my lady.”

I was about to answer when there was a knock on our door, then came an offered summons from Lord Trelawney.

A ‘preview’ of his offer.

Alice’s stare my way told me to not oblige, but my answer was to stand and move towards my wardrobe.

With a sigh, my best friend moved to help me get dressed.

Grumbling, she helped me without a hint of hesitation.

…

The ship flew a tower’s height above the roiling ocean waves. High enough to evade most seaborne monsters, but not so high that it would cause undue stress upon the hull. Flying high, after all, was only done when necessary. The night sky was clear and the moonlight was so bright that I could see the dark seas below with ease. The ship’s deck was empty save for Lord Trelawney.

Alice came forward to my right without a word, willing to lay down her life for me without question, when Lord Trelawney spoke with the booming voice he had when encased in his armor.

“Princess, glad you’re here. You’re just in time for the show.” There were no pleasantries or similar words. Only an acknowledgement of my presence, then a gesture towards the horizon where the stars met the sea in the distance. “Put some power behind your eyes. You’ll see them. Or, at least, I think you should.”

He challenged me without a care, but I obliged and looked at where he pointed while empowering my gaze.

I almost recoiled at the sight.

There was a swarm of monsters coming our way. Halfway between reptile and fish, they had such large fins on their sides that they looked like wings. Their bodies were serpentine and long, covered in silver scales that seemed to glint in the moonlight, and in their passing the seas briefly turned into churning ice before being swept away. Their jaws were long and elongated, vaguely like an alligator’s, but narrower and filled with sharper teeth.

“Those are called silver darters. They hunt in pods of over thirty. You must’ve wondered why I have a four-winged ship. They’re the reason why. These vessels are the only ones that can fly high enough after sighting them to evade them. Smaller ships don’t cut it. They just smash through the hull, then eat everyone and everything that isn’t wood.” When I ceased empowering my vision, my eyes were wet and tired, but more importantly the pod of ferocious monsters was close enough that I could see their approach with my regular gaze. I felt fear rise from the depths of my stomach, especially as Lord Trelawney gave no command of the ship to lift. “When we’re flying back to bring you across the Strait, I want you to be able to deal with a pod at least as big as this one in a few minutes.”

Lord Trelawney proceeded to vault over the rail and momentarily fell downward.

Then, the ship rocked, and a blazing star was born atop the ocean waves.

He sped through the air faster than cannon shot. The air cracked around him and his speed increased to the point waves formed in his passing. In mere moments, he reached the pod of monsters, wreathed in power, and smashed through them. Like a knight resplendent in the heaviest armor, after gathering enough speed and magic to charge, he broke apart the pod of monsters. The foremost of the creatures was eviscerated and destroyed, turning into naught but slivers of pink flesh and gore, merely by striking the breastplate of his armor.

The rest of the creatures scattered, roaring load enough to drown out the subtle thrum of the sea waves beneath the hull, and I found myself gripping the railing as I strained my eyes to see the battle unfold.

The charge broke the formation of the monsters, as loose and instinctive it was, and he took advantage of their shock. Using his body like a weapon, he surged at his foes and bodily slammed into them, tearing through them with ease, or sending them flying broken upon contact. When he decided to strike with his fists, the force of his punches sent the innards and flesh of the creature flying the opposite end of where his fist struck. All the while, he stayed above the tumultuous waves of the dark ocean, in control, and without fear.

Nothing out there can hope to stagger his step, let alone do him harm.

He reached us without minutes after destroying the last of the monsters, despite the ship never having slowed since his disembarking.

Towards Alice and myself, he tossed a monster’s heart, crystallizing already, into a core as its powers coalesced turned flesh to crystal flush with power.

“That was about ten minutes. You should be able to do that on our way back in twenty. We’ll have the boat slow down.” There was no grunt of exertion. No note of discomfort. Lord Trelawney stood covered in blood and viscera, until he snapped his fingers. In a moment, it all came away from him, leaving him spotless and looming over us with his shadowed visage and vibrant scarlet eyes. “Do you know how to use that thing? Consider it a starting gift.”

In his gauntlet, it had been contained in his fist, but I had to hold it with both hands. The heart of the beast was contorting and changing in my hands. It was expelling heat, steaming in the frosty sea air, and condensing before my very eyes. The valves and veins fell off, as muscle contracted and turned inward, and began to form a blood-red sphere filled with swirling power within. When it finished condensing, the head-sized heart was gone and replaced by heavy crystal orb I could hold in the palm of my hand.

I took a deep breath and closed my hand around it, ready to feed on its power, when Lord Trelawney sighed.

“No. Not that way.”

I didn’t have time to react, as metal tendrils shot out of the cloak and seized me by the neck, then I was moved over the railing of the ship.

Alice moved swiftly, two long blades coming to her hands and flitting out of her skirt, and surging towards the neck and eyes of Lord Trelawney.

They connected, ablaze with power, and flames surged onto his form, billowing outward as a plume of bright flame onto the sea… and it didn’t even singe his cloak.

He caught her by the neck with his other hand, and the limb came apart, binding her in place in metal plates.

He paid her no heed and looked at me, while I desperately tried to wrench myself from his grasp with both hands.

“The best way to absorb power and make it yours is during battle. When your blood is filled with fear, but your mind is steeled by courage. Do you feel your heart racing? Your blood thundering in your ears? The urge to scream from the top of your lungs?” Lord Trelawney’s voice drowned out the whistling winds, and Alice’s cries were muffled as metal formed a gag over her mouth. I focused on his cold voice, at the words he was saying, and finally the pressing of cool crystal on the back of my hand. The core that I dropped without thinking when he seized me by the neck came back into my hands. “You’re halfway there now. Frightened and filled with fear. Ready to piss yourself and cry like a child. Filled with stress that threatens to break you. Now… now summon the courage to grow strong, to keep fighting, and to keep killing even in the middle of battle. Take that core and consume it for power. Do it now, or let all your fears come to pass.”

A part of me wanted to scream to be brought back aboard the boat, to be put down, and to be saved.

But I screamed before to be saved by others.

And, not one soul had come.

I had held onto Alice, shared a bedroom with her since that horrible day, but now she could not help me.

I was alone again, ready to scream, beg, and plead for help, and the result wouldn’t be different.

This time, though, I summoned all the courage I had and gripped the core of the monster tightly in my fist. The grip on my neck was tight, the sensation of metal across my form was horrible, and the chill of the sea reached my bones. But, still, I poured my power into the core, forcing it into the tumultuous chaos awhirl within the smooth orb, and I dragged the power into myself. Through my fear, through my raging heart, and my desire to scream, I focused, remembered my lessons, and seized the power in my hand and felt it pass through my skin, past my bones, past my muscle, and into my true self held within flesh and blood.

Then, suddenly, I understood what it truly meant to take in the power of a monster.

When my mind is clear, when my heart is calm, all the cores I consumed were just a source of power to invigorate myself. It was like feeding my soul with droplets of water. Sitting in the middle of an arcane circle, with others modulating the power from the core, I supped upon a core for hours at a time and extracted strength from it slowly but surely.

This time, I felt its last moments. I saw a silver talent streaking across the seas with speed faster than even the pack leader. My wings felt insufficient, my instincts screamed at me to run, even while all the others gathered power to charge. My pack leader disappeared, becoming nothing but meat and blood. Then my sister and brother. I felt rage and hate, and I surged towards the silver bolt, but then there was only pain and darkness… and rage.

Rage that I would carry, that I will use, so that something else, anything else, can kill the beast that killed me and my pack.

It was like an inferno of sensation and memory coursing through me, and I realized what I was eating, what I was truly consuming and making mine.

The life of another, their experiences, and moments, crystallized into a little orb that I consumed for my own sake.

I barely noticed as Alice came to my side and helped me stand, let alone the fact that I was back aboard the vessel.

Lord Trelawney spoke once more.

“There you go. You’ve felt it now. The perfect conditions involved in taking power from those that you kill. Remember that, because you’ll need to at least try and match it for every kill.”

Alice was ready to scream and yell on my behalf, but I raised up my hand to silence her and got to my feet.

Only one, true question came to mind.

“Do they… do they all truly think and feel like that?” The death throes and final sensations of the monster were seared into my mind. It was so… so much like my own. I felt it. A massive force on my chest that wrenched out my heart. The rage and desire to kill, as well as deep primal fear. I took everything that it offered, and felt stronger, by taking its life, its soul, and making all its ever done mine. “Do they all think as we do?”

“Unlikely, they’re different from what we are, after all. However, I think when we consume them, we see through their eyes with our own feelings and sensations. They’re animals, but they can feel, and consuming their cores makes their feelings into ours. Probably.” Lord Trelawney gave a hum, before taking out another core and tossing it towards Alice. She caught it with a scowl. “You’re plenty angry enough to not need my help… and princess needed it. Even after all she’s been through, she needed the push. You’ve had a pretty good life… the last couple of months notwithstanding.”

Alice glared at him, but offered no words in contention, as he left with a wave of his hand.

My thoughts were elsewhere.

I was meant to kill thousands of monsters in just a few days and take their power for my own.

The essence of their being distilled into what remained of their hearts after their deaths.

The very core of their being… and in their last moments they will see me instead of Lord Trelawney.

Instinctively, I knew that I would take more power from them by killing them myself, and that made my stomach churn.

But not as much as the knowledge that I didn’t wish to stop.