Lurking Darkness

Titus Zlock, The Storm King.

***

Nothing about this was right. Nothing about this was good. Everything about it was strange. Too strange to be coincidence. And I seemed to be the only one to see it.

Roheisa Deapou. Rua Nun. Opal Blackblood. Teofila Traversini. Toril O'Connell. Lucia Pike. Zarzok. Phelaia. Ale Nicchi. Zaos Torhorn. Ash.

Eleven out of twenty students- more than half of a single party were capable of contending with Polaris' rookies and not a single one was a prospect to walk in the Light. Nor were any of the remaining nine.

Twenty students. Twenty missed chances.

After the show we were just given, I was certain of us missing an additional nineteen chances come the end of tomorrow. Twenty more would come the following days. In the end, we would be left with only one.

One out of fifty-five students.

One who would walk, only because he was born in the Light.

The turnover rate was laughable. Polaris became laughable in the eyes of others because of it. There was a time not too long ago when the mere word struck fear into the hearts of vagrants and hope into the minds of the just. But as of late, the degenerates are too often seen jesting and rolling their eyes when they hear of the light and those already walking in it shun or ostracize or blaspheme against the very brightness devoted to protecting them.

And those that did neither seemed to strive towards vehemently refusing its embrace.

While vexing, such an unfortunate reality had been just that for decades before my birth. That was not the cause of my unease.

My unease came from Maru. More precisely, Maruleans. All of them had shown an inexplicable increase in power and ability when compared to the previous years, even the ones not native to Deapou Island. Additionally, those that weren't from Maru showed considerable interest in exploring the realm post-graduation.

The reasoning was obvious. Even I didn't need an intelligence report to tell me of Amun's intention to create a guild, nor did I need one to assume that the majority of Class 999 would be joining it in a few years' time. Intelligence was only needed to determine what the purpose of his guild would be.

That purpose only served to strengthen my unease.

He wanted to do what Polaris was doing and what the Necro King once did. To explore the realms while spreading terror in his wake. As great as his progenitor was, he was not without evil. His evil was simply overlooked because of the knowledge he shared with humanity.

Amun would be the same case, I was sure.

Perhaps even worse.

And now, the Headmaster was handing the boy a young red dragon on a silver platter. Ingenious, but dangerous. A surefire way to get rid of the beast and a possible method to create a more troublesome monster than we started with.

My gut told me it was both. I had a feeling that one day, be it ten or twenty or even a hundred years from now; one day, we of Polaris would rue the day we allowed Zorrenor Knagh to convince us of this.

A few outside of Polaris knew it. A few of the Instructors knew it also. Corym and Indra and the under-elf, for sure. Elves knew every-fucking-thing, even when the world would end. They just kept the secrets to themselves.

An old saying. But a true one nonetheless.

Doyle knew it too. He was sick in the face. Avoiding eye contact with any and everyone in the room. And quiet. Unenthusiastic in bragging about his students as usual. He knew something. Or he at least suspected something. And that was worth its weight in gold.

We would have a talk later. But now, my priority lay in assessing one of the young knights I was to teach in just a few months' time.

Issac Galliard was his name. A knight to the young Prince Winston Epeth. He was a well-built one. Like Toril, but taller. Broader. Born with Shield and given Beam Magic, he was one of the lucky few to have such a balanced repertoire from the start. And he had guts. He needed work of course, but work could always be given.

It was guts and resolve that made us Paladins what we were. Issac Galliard had them in excess.

From what I've seen thus far, Vlorlyn Lagunath and Corundum had them as well, but they both lacked what it took to Smite. They were more likely to be Rangers and Barbarians respectively. Both were occupations far beneath mine in stature, so it was time to move.

With a nod, I dismissed myself from our circle and gave a subtle motion to Doyle on my way over to the other Instructors. His weariness was palpable. So much that he gave no grimaces or groans while following me to the Fey.

"Corym, Indra. Eiriol." I forced myself to bow during the last part. "A moment of your time, please?"

As expected, the wood elves exchanged a look of curiosity. But the under-elf. The Drow, she mutely snickered and sneered throughout her rise from the table and our departure from the Cap.

"You seem anxious, Zlock." She finally, mockingly said. "A rare sight for someone of your…" she inhaled sharply. "Prominence."

"Admittedly, you are correct." I took a sigh of calming. "I fear for the after of this event."

"As do we all." Doyle wearily shook his head, a maddened expression strewn about his face.

A sad sight, truly.

But I eased forward anyway, seized hold of his weakened mind by way of a single step. "Perhaps I'm missing something." I glared at the elves. "You seemed eager just a few days ago."

"Zeff was the eager one." He phlegmatically laughed. "He's been on board since the Headmaster first told us. But I'll admit it." He paused to give a deflated shrug. "I was intrigued enough to not say anything. At first. Now, I'm just… terrified."

"Either Amun will kill the dragon or he won't. Either way, it could prove a problem. If he chooses to disregard the materials a-"

"He won't." Doyle chuckled wryly, cutting me off. "He's shown too much interest in them to just outright kill it. He- he told me if he were to ever meet one, he'd try talking with it."

"Kill first ask questions later is a viable strategy for a necromancer." Eiriol heckled again. "The grave has been dug either way. The Necro King's ire has been stoked by the Wooded One pitting his great-grandchild against the same kind of beast that devoured his son. It is but a matter of time until he learns. In the meanwhile, the Grandchild with either talk with the beast and let it go, kill it, or enslave it.

"But what will you do in either case?" Her smile was more cunning than that of any devil I had ever faced. There was a primal joy in her seeing us stressed.

There would be a time when I could smite those her kind freely. And that time would come soon. That I swore.

For now, however… "I will speak with the Headmaster. Convince him to reconsider. Or, at best, to allow Lance to fight the beast instead."

"Bah!" Eiriol boisterously laughed as if she'd been waiting for this moment. "Your prodigious Candle Boy is far too weak."

"I beg your pardon!?" I turned, sighing through my teeth.

"And pardoned you are!" She snorted without hesitation. "Even light fades with distance, and Polaris has stretched its Light thin, has it not? I suppose that's to say your coveted light is no longer the power it once was. The irony is like wine to my lips." She paused to give me a demeaning smirk. "The light is so focused on keeping the tradition that it's been blinded to the coming tide."

"Eiriol!" Corym sneered before I could. And he did so with an intensity that almost churned like a raging tempest.

Curious.

The Abbot, however, ignored him entirely. She only kept smiling at me while her head lazily shook from side to side."I will not help you, Titus Zlock. I will not help your pretentiously self-righteous masters in Polaris. I will not help the Wooded One. My task is to teach without bias and watch what becomes of the world."

"Your task, eh?" I stepped towards her. "Given to you by whom? The Spider Queen?"

"Your mind is without wisdom, yes, but are your eyes without color?" She spat. But she was right. The violet jewels of her eyes were a sign of her lack of devotion. However.

"Then-"

"You will learn in due time." She knowingly grinned with unbridled smugness. "Now, scurry along, child. Get as much work done as you can before nightfall. We know you humans have hard times traversing the night. So afraid of the dark, you creatures can be."

For a moment, my mind went blank. My sense of time lapsed and returned to deliver me centimeters away from Eiriol's brow, sneering through my teeth. "I will see to it that you are destroyed before I am gone from this place."

I turned about and left before I attempted to try at that moment.

But of course, her mocking voice trailed behind me like spider silk carried by the breeze. "You are welcome to try at any time, child. But you'd first need to have your masters remove the strip of leather you parade around like a scarf."

The leash be damned.

Evil has lingered here for far too long.

It was time it be purged.

***

Doyle Wolfgang.

***

"Oh, gods. How did it ever come to this?"

With Titus missing, Eiriol turned her snidely remarks and knowing grins to me. The only victim left. "It has always been 'this,' Wolfgang. Even if you were unaware of the fact. Unless of course, there was never a time you found yourself unafraid of his magic and sorcery?"

"Yeah." I felt myself distantly sigh. "No matter how much I tried to deny it, I saw it. I mean- he killed a fucking unicorn!"

"He WHAT!?!"

"I... I shouldn't have said that."

"Well, the damage is done." Eiriol smiled at both Indra and I. More so at her, though, even though she continued speaking to me. "Do not fret, Wolfgang. If not Amun, Polaris will set its sights on another. Take this one." She motioned to her screen. And reluctantly, I followed to see the small but hulking figure I expected to see. And only then did she continue. "The Bodhi Tree offers no courses for Clerics, Sorcerers, and Warlocks. What would be the child, Zlock's, reaction to a patron of the God of War roaming the south if Amun weren't doing it also? Do you not think he would be wary of him?"

"I'm sure he is already." I sighed.

"As are you." She immediately quipped back.

"And for good reason!" I snorted. "Any Warlock to the God of War is troublesome. doubly so for a Destroyer! Triply so for one who made their pact before evolving! And as far as I understand, you all think Amun is much worse?"

"Potentially." She coyly shrugged.

"Okay, then let me rephrase my question." I sighed. "You said change is coming. You think Amun will be the one to bring that change?"

"Oh." She scoffed in disappointment. "Look around you and ask yourself that very question, child. I know he's the change-bringer. As do you and everyone else. The change is here already. It's only now that the ripples have wafted into your lives that you've begun to take notice."

"Well then." I sighed after a few long moments. "I guess the only question to ask is. What- what is he? Is he even drow?"

"Undoubtedly." Eiriol proudly stated. A strange occurrence, considering their culture. "His pedigree is of the highest order. Still, he is more."

"What, like some super-elf?"

"Ask him yourself." Eiriol heartily laughed. "Or, wait until Polaris and the Headmaster forces the Devil to reveal his nature.

"If he doesn't decide to do it first."