Monsters were bloodthirsty killers, all the more in a mana deprived realm; but for survival they had forsaken murder and magic alike. So, rather than kill and devour their prey, they would weaken her and call chains to turn her obedient.
A whole crowd launged at the lone legged rapt.
She looked strong, but she was a rapt, a fluffy worm with legs. They did not expect a fight and therefore were more concerned with their peers' attacks. That defiance meant they came one after the other.
I was going to abide by their rules. None would die and as little magic as possible would be used. Nor would I permit the rapt to be harmed, nor would I let her be in trouble.
Earthworks! I didn't need to move. A ripple had the ceiling shake and let dust fall on the melee. Airworks! The art of sand golems. Let the spectacle start.
One rocky lizard brought his claws down on her, only to have a gust keep it at a hair's length from her frail body. At the same time dust turned crimson and covered her skin in a gash. The rapt panicked! She was trying to dodge, felt a contact and screamed.
Another! Again the gusts kept him short of his target, again dust painted a wound where he should have struck and the poor victim shrieked once more.
I didn't even need to move for all of that.
I just watched that crowd miss more and more while their target suffered, panicked, quivering from what they assumed was pain. It was fear, really, even as she realized none of those attacks even grazed her.
That didn't make the murderous crowd any less threatening for her taste.
That crowd was not so easily fooled.
A second look would have told them it was all just pretense. But I had yet another trick up my clay sleeve and that second look never came. They wanted to see the rapt weakened, their mighty attacks strike and so, against common sense, that was what they saw.
Naturally, as always there was a fine line between weakening and killing. Their nature was coming out, their maws started to drool.
"Enough! The chains!" Someone in the crowd cut it out.
A menilis hopped back and gestured to cast the sacred human art. As creatures around her let up, the rapt panted and tried to move but her shaking legs had her stumble and fall.
Silver chains surged on her, coiled on her limbs and body, then squeezed.
At that point her mind should have been broken. Instead, the real challenge was for those chains not to break. She felt their weight and clutch, let out a weak scream and fell on the ground, exhausted. It had been too much stress all at once for her to bear.
All of it felt a bit confusing for the monsters around but once more, they saw what they wanted.
"What a pitiful guard!" One mocked.
Chained beasts were bound to serve and protect the peace. She had not even raised a leg against them. But that was the least of their concerns.
The temple they stood in still reeked of death. Some had started lapping the black blood before it dried. A lot had to be done for peace to return.
And there was still one monster they did not trust.
"Where are you going?!" A greyhound barked.
The survivor of the massacre had tried to slip out while they handled the rapt, but he hadn't had time to push out a boulder and leave. Caught there, the lizard turned around with fear.
"I have nowhere to go, everyone is dead!" He pleaded.
"You think you are out of trouble?" They mocked him. "We have your scent!"
With just those words they had sentenced him. It was a tradition carried from small groups where one had a single day to prove his innocence. After that, guilty or not, he could flee or die. For him that meant chains and still the threat was as potent.
That made the lizard plunge to the ground to beg.
"Have mercy! You already caught this one, what more do you want?!"
"You prefer to be chained here and now?"
He had just seen what awaited him if he resisted. So the magnal gave up and instead pointed at her again:
"I am weak! At least give me protection!"
And the greyhound almost laughed: "Sure, take the rapt! What do we care."
What they cared about was to not be accused themselves and in that, they had succeeded. A whole crowd had agreed on the truth, so they could leave content with that, as soon as their thirst for blood would let them.
This temple, filled with death, was more attractive to them than the cantinas.
Still, they knew better than to linger. So the crowd retreated, the stragglers hurrying once they realized they were left behind and thus, vulnerable.
Head low, defeated, the magnal approached his new bodyguard. The legged rapt was still laying on the ground, seemingly unconscious.
He poked her, noticed the wounds seemingly vanishing and leapt back, fearful.
She shook herself awake, felt the chains and moaned.
"Easy, Caline." I scolded her. "You are supposed to be chained."
It would take her a lot of effort not to break free instantly. She luckily did that much and just stood there, dejected, her body drenched by the black blood on the floor.
"Come with me." The lizard cautiously told her.
She approached him and waited for that monster to move. Either the cute rapt was playing along or she was just mad at me. It felt like both.
"Who are you even... No, forget it. Let's go."
He still had fear, but his bestial eyes were scheming, had been scheming the whole time.
The both of them left that temple for the vast caves, with me following almost at their height. had the rapt flailed her tail just a bit, she would have hit my leg.
Was she really okay with this situation? When chained, she had to do everything she was told. Which was no fun. If she freed herself, she risked the whole of Utopia to turn on her.
Maybe she, like me, was asking herself the better question.
That magnal was taking us along the hanging bridge and into a tall tunnel. From there he picked a smaller gallery where few if any beast wandered.
Digging never stopped in those caves, mostly as monsters sought monster shards and other valuables to trade. Those paths then turned into lairs, then merged into new caves.
Until then, though, they were abandoned sections where feral beasts could roam free.
Interesting.
There was no need for him to explain himself to a chained beast, but he did anyway, turned to the legged rapt and started to talk.
"You must wonder what we are doing here, don't you?" And he had a sour smirk. "No, of course, you are mindless... It's not my fault you are like that! It was me or you!"
And he groaned.
"Now it's both."
I was dead certain that the chains were not working on the legged rapt, yet she simply kept following without a word. That left me kind of admirative.
"It wasn't you, right? Who killed everyone? You won't suddenly get free and kill me, will you?"
The magnal was reliving those moments, shook his head and pushed ahead.
Lucky those beasts whose hearts so easily forgot the weight of such times. As long as he kept going, the past could not catch up.
"They expect us to catch a killer? I want to stay as far away from it as I can! You and me we are going to hide! They won't find us and even if they do, it will be too late anyway!"
He turned left, the rapt after him, me after the rapt. This gallery was a bit old, its ceiling already pushed up by the tremors. There were no burning rock to lit this space, only dim crystals that glowed at our passage.
It spooked him: the crystals were not meant to do that. But he could also tell how strong the rapt seemed to be and just tried to ignore it.
Finally, the lizard reached a den and entered it, quickly followed by us both.
Inside, a single rock burned at the center, fighting with the shadows on the walls for dominance. Two greyhounds rose from their sleep at his approach.
"What's this?" One barked, unnerved. "You bring the guard?!"
"No no no!" The magnal hurried. "She obeys me!"
"You idiot!"
Yes, that greyhound was right. Also, that greyhound was wounded. The rocky lizard had scars running on a whole flank, quite old. His crimson mane betrayed his age.
But yes, he was right. The guard protected the peace: they obeyed no one.
"Get her out before she gets us all killed!"
"No, look!" And the lizard turned to his new companion. "Roll on the floor!"
She cocked her head, then fell and rolled obediently. Actually she was putting a bit too much energy into it. I suspected she found that fun.
"Do guards do that?"
"... No, no they don't."
"Right? I told her I would go into hiding and she just followed! We are fine!"
Oh yeah. There was some good sense under that chitin and scales. A chained beast would have probably turned on him.
Sadly for them, they were still wrong. Even if those chains could not control her, they were still chains. Which meant other guards could pretty much tell where she was. Keeping her here could only bring them trouble.
But the greyhound only knew so much.
He sighed, looked at the rapt that still rolled on the ground and shook his head.
"You both reek. What happened?"
"Before that," the magnal gestured for his guard to stop, "tell me: if I find someone, I can be part of the ceremony, right?"
"That's what Mandale said." The other greyhound, who had lain down again, confirmed.
"Why?" The first shot back, almost jeering. "You found one?"
The magnal gestured again for the rapt to come to him and she obeyed. His silence made the greyhound realize.
"Her?! You want to bring her to the ceremony?!"
"You said to bring someone, I did! And with how much magic she has, I say she counts for two!"
"Watch it!"
No matter his reluctance, the greyhound seemed to have nothing to oppose. His anger was more for that miserable beast who had, against all odds, found... someone.
I had already guessed for what.
There were many cults of Kaele, in other words, many beliefs surrounding humans. One of them was that the humans' haven was open to beasts who served those humans well in the realm.
The ceremony he was talking about was to join the humans.
Both greyhounds departed. They would arrange for her addition to the ceremony while he would wait for their return in the den. She watched him lay down near the fire.
"The ceremony is two days from now. Maybe three. We have to hide until then. You understand?"
She was bravely not reacting to his words.
"They won't go after us here. It will be fine! And then, we would both be blessed."
The magnal was looking at the flames again. His flanks were scrawny, like most beasts. He licked his lips and let his gaze lose itself in the blaze.
A lifetime of pain weighed on his next words.
"I have served Kaele my whole life. The humans will accept me in their midst. I will be happy. We will be happy. You believe in Kaele too, don't you?"
The rapt still did not answer. She was truly admirable in her act.
His own eyes had something of a desperate folly so common these days in the realm. Eyes that knew and refused to see because all there was to see was misery.
"If you too believe, you will join us among the humans. You don't have to be just a sacrifice!"