Chapter 65. Kraken.

"Ow," Tyler moaned pitifully after crawling his way back into a semiconscious state. He sat up with a start then winced after the sudden motion caused his skull to throb with an intense, lingering pain that was unlike any he'd ever experienced before.

It hurt so much…

Over the course of his short life, Tyler had heard stories of men being struck so hard in the head that they were marred with pain for the rest of their lives. Had that been what happened to him? This headache hurt so much! It filled him with a raw and terrible throbbing that matched his heartbeat and seemed to grow incrementally worse with every breath he took.

It was as though a piece of hell itself had been liquefied and poured into his ear.

Just what had happened to him?

After a few minutes spent quietly rubbing his temples gradually acclimatizing himself to the pain, Tyler's memories began to return to him. Friendly Jim, the leader of the Royal Bay Hobbs, had approached Tyler earlier in the week with a smile and an offer of work.

He wanted Tyler to collect a past due payment from an arrogant young customer named Aidan Van Theron. Apparently, Aiden was the second son of some important noble household from out west who'd developed a taste for glee powder but was behind on settling his debt.

"It'll be an easy bit of collection, my boy, nothing to it at all," Friendly Jim had assured Tyler. "This pampered little rich boy won't be anything compared to you. You've done some real hard living, haven't you? You're a man of the streets, just like myself, yeah? Just shake him up a little, convince him to make a payment. Can't have him forgetting his debts to the Hobbs, now, can we? You do this for me, and I'll owe you a favor, my friend."

The idea of a bigshot like Friendly Jim owing Tyler a favor was far too tempting for him to refuse. So, he agreed very quickly and set off to collect what was owed, certain that he'd have no troubling fulfilling Jim's request.

Things hadn't gone according to plan.

Instead of getting the money, what Tyler had received in its place was a merciless beating at the hands of Aidan and two of his family's vassals. Friendly Jim had been completely mistaken in his assessment of what that snot had been capable of, and Tyler had paid for that error with pain and blood.

Still, where was he? When the haze left his vision and his senses finally returned to him, Tyler realized that he still didn't know where he was. Wait, wasn't this a dance hall? He thought he recognized it.

Wasn't this the crystal cave, a popular social hub for people his age, where the differing social classes came to dance and play and partake in other pleasures away from the sight of those in authority?

Something had happened here. Something terrible.

But what?

His first clue came when he tried to stand up and slipped on a puddle of something that made the floor dangerously slick. When he brought his hand before his eyes, he saw that his palm had been stained red.

"W-what the hell?" he whimpered.

Death surrounded him. It enveloped him. He breathed it in. He tasted it. There was blood everywhere. Among the bodies were strangers he didn't recognize and quite a few that he did; regulars at the club, acquaintances, a few friends, and a few enemies as well. They were all gone now. They'd all been torn into pieces and now existed as ragged chunks of flesh and fluid that covered the entire hall.

It was impossible to determine exactly how many bodies there were surrounding him.

It was a maddening sight. An instant invitation to close his eyes and wait until he awoke from this nightmare, far from this place of horror, safe in his bed. When he eventually realized that he wasn't dreaming, and that he'd have to make his way home past all these ravaged corpses, a kind of mania possessed him, an urge for a traditional form of salvation with which to protect himself.

"Oh…oh, by the gods may my wayward soul be redeemed, I repent oh radiant one for all my sins, please forgive me!" Tyler prayed hysterically as he heard footsteps slowly approaching him.

Whoever it was…whatever it was that had done this, it was coming to finish the job. Anything that could slaughter so many people by itself would be beyond Tyler's power to resist. He instinctively knew that he stood no chance of escape, so instead of making a meaningless attempt to flee or resist, he turned to the teachings of the temple that he thought he'd abandoned years ago.

If ever there was a moment to seek the protection of the gods, then this was now it!

"Please saaaave me!" Tyler cried out as he felt the terrifying presence getting closer and closer.

"Hey, you wanna get some breakfast?" Everly asked him after politely waiting for him to finish. Tyler turned to see a girl who appeared slightly younger than he was, standing behind him. She was dressed in the uniform worn by female students of the Royal Academy.

She was covered in even more blood than he was.

Soaked in it. Like she'd gone swimming in it.

"What?" Tyler asked in confusion. "Do I what?"

"Breakfast. Food. Morning yummies. I'm starving," Everly said to him impatiently. "Man, I feel like I just killed a bunch of people who pissed me off and the only thing I got out of it was a healthy appetite."

"You're…you're hungry right now?" Tyler asked her incredulously.

"Aren't you?" Everly replied. "Man, with all that panicking and begging for safety you did last night, I bet you burned off like a million calories through screaming alone. It's so easy for boys. I'm jealous."

"You, you're Everly aren't you? Everly Skolder?" Tyler asked the girl after finally recognizing her.

They were in the same class, but she was a silent, miserable thing. Like Tyler, she was illegitimate, but unlike him, she had no friends, no connections, no one to help her. A particularly nasty upperclassman of theirs named Kelsie had turned her into a chew toy. People were taking bets that she'd either drop out herself or be forced to leave due to injuries.

Tyler had thought she was pathetic. Just another pretty mouse lost in the jungle that was life at the academy.

He'd apparently been mistaken in his assessment of her.

"Dude, yes," Everly said with a roll of her eyes. "How are you still having trouble with my name? You and I have been hanging out since yesterday," Everly said as she reached down to pull him to his feet. Tyler was startled by the strength of her grip and how easily she got him to stand. As though he could offer her no greater resistance than that of a small kitten.

He couldn't.

"We have?" Tyler asked her.

"Yeah, remember? You'd just gotten stomped by those meanie upperclassmen, and you were bleeding all over that dirty alleyway," Everly said as she hopped onto a table and regarded him wryly.

"You saw that fight?" Tyler asked her with no small amount of embarrassment.

"Uh, I wouldn't exactly call what I saw a fight," Everly answered with direct, brutal honesty. "More like a one-sided massacre. Dude, I could practically feel your pride evaporating with each hit you took! I mean, I don't like using gendered language to describe stuff like this, but brooo, you looked like such a bitch! I kept hoping you were conserving your energy for a surprise counterattack or something, but nope! You were exactly as bad as you looked! The bitch vibes rang true! Your ass got juuuuuumped."

"It was an unfair fight!" Tyler said angrily. "If they had the guts to face me one at a time, things would have gone differently!"

"Tyler, if a fight was unfair, that just means the winner was a better strategist than the loser," Everly said frankly. "Picking a fight with a Duke's son was about the dumbest thing someone like you could possibly do. But at least it let me know how stupid you are, so now I can tailor my expectations for your behavior accordingly."

"Skolder, what happened here?" Tyler asked her.

"What happened here? Jeez, your pretty little head is even emptier than I realized," Everly said with a giggle. "Well, Tyler, what happened was that I felt sorry for you, so I got you on your feet. Then I asked you for your story and you told me all your dreams and ambitions and I thought you were kind of cute, despite being such an idiot, so I decided that you and I should go on an adventure! "

"What kind of an adventure?" Tyler asked dimly.

"An adventure of discovery!" Everly replied. "I took you to my room, you put your hand on my ass, I reattached it an hour later once I was satisfied with your groveling for forgiveness, then we made out for a while, then afterwards we came here so you could collect your money and get some payback on the guys who humiliated you."

"You…ripped my arm off?" Tyler asked her.

"You were being handsy without permission," Everly said mildly. She then hopped off the table and gave him a warm kiss on the lips. "But why dwell on any pointless incidental details. The only thing that matters is that you won! You got the payment from what's his face—"

"Aiden," Tyler said, still surprised by her unexpected kiss.

"Terrible fucking name," Everly muttered under her breath, before saying, "You got the payment from Aiden and you decisively silenced any potential witnesses from snitching on you with their little tattletale faces and pointless screams for help, and now you're going to go turn in your quest! Congratulations, Tyler, you're now the scariest thing on the streets! This is how reputations are forged! Everyone's going to think you're a bloodthirsty psychopath!" she finished cheerily.

"Where is Aiden?" Tyler asked fearfully. "Where did he go?"

"Do you believe in enlightenment?" Everly asked him. "The monks would say he's in all things now. Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say he's on all things now. They can probably get him off with a lot of vinegar and some rigorous mopping."

"You killed him too?" Tyler squeaked.

"Me? I didn't kill anybody!" Everly smirked. "I'm just a girl. Don't blame me for your crazy misbehavior, you bad thing. Stop being crazy, crazy!"

"Everly, please, by the gods, they'll lock me away. Then they'll hang me. I don't want to die!" Tyler said, whimpering once more. "Please, you've got to clear this up!"

Everly frowned, disappointed by this display of weakness.

"Jeeez, Tyler," she replied. "I gotta tell you, this sort of wishy-washy delta male behavior makes it difficult for me to respect you. Didn't I already say that you've won? Today, you not only earned a badass new rep, but you also have me on your side!"

To emphasize her point, Everly gave him another, longer kiss. "I like you, Tyler. I mean, you're a weak piece of self-important trash with brittle pasta in place of a spine, but that's okay. You've got a nice face and you're smart enough to know what'll happen if you ever dare to cross me. There are successful marriages built on less stable foundations than that."

"You want to marry me?" Tyler asked her in astonishment.

In response, Everly laughed at him.

The tone of it…was hurtful.

"No, Tyler. No, I don't want to marry you," she said with a slight wheeze after she caught her breath. "Heh, no offense buddy, but, uh, I have options. Honestly, I just want to kill some time while I figuratively wait for some water to boil. Your life is a pathetic joke, so I thought I'd play with it for a bit. It's still a win for you, though! I'm going to make you into something special. Rejoice! You're going to be my new project!"

"Yeah? Is that right?" Tyler said angrily. "Well, what if I don't want to be your project—"

Tyler was laying on the hall floor with his face being forcefully pressed into the open wound of some dead person's torso. He was drowning in guts. He was literally drowning in someone's viscera and blood. The foulness of it was in his nostrils and mouth, gagging him, tormenting him with its noxious taste and stench.

This was how he was going to die—

Suddenly, he was back on his feet, but his toes were dangling on their very tips, barely touching the floor beneath him because Everly had a firm grip on his neck and was staring at him coldly.

"Tone," she said to him with a raised eyebrow.

"What? What?" Tyler asked desperately.

"Watch your tone when you speak to me," Everly repeated. "Tyler, this isn't a partnership, and I don't make requests. I tell you what happens, and then it happens, the end. I'm looking for acquiescence not agreement. So, keep your little outbursts to yourself and just do as I say. All right?"

"Yes! Yes! Anything you say," Tyler quickly agreed.

"Good," Everly said with a perky smile. "But remember to always, always speak respectfully when you address me. If I ever need to remind you of this, it'll cost you a finger. After that, it'll be an eye. And from there, if you still haven't learned, then I'll have to get creative."

Everly leaned forward to whisper into his ear.

"Do you want to see what I can come up with when I'm being creative?" she asked him.

"No," Tyler to with closed eyes. "No, no, I don't, I really don't."

"Aww, puppy," Everly said affectionately as she leaned in close to nuzzle her nose against his. "Don't be sad! I still like you! Just setting the rules is all. You're going straight to the top, Tyler. My boy is going to be the coolest kid in school! Men will envy you; women will desire you, and everyone will fear you. Even the high nobility won't cross you, not once I'm done crafting you into the man that I want you to be."

"R-really?" Tyler sputtered.

"Hell yeah!" Everly said eagerly. "You're going to own this town, Tyler. OWN IT. But how long you'll keep it depends on how well you remember that I own you. Okay?"

Tyler nodded quickly and said nothing else. Obedience. Nothing less than absolute obedience would preserve his life; he realized this now. Did she want a dog? Okay. That was perfectly fine! If his lady required a dog, then a dog is what she would get!

It was better than the alternative.

This hall of horrors was filled with the alternative.

"I'm so glad you're quick to catch on," Everly said with a squeal of joy. "Now let's go get cleaned up! And then breakfast! Oh, I'll have Carter whip us something up. He's got such clever little hands, makes French toast like you wouldn't believe!"

"What's a French?" Tyler asked as she led him by his hand to a door that had appeared in the middle of the room.

"Doesn't matter!" Everly replied with a wink. "I'm taking you to my Memory Palace by the way. My other selves are going to love you! L-U-V! I guess I don't mind sharing if it's with myself. But hey, you better remember which Everly brought you to the dance, buster!"

The closer they came to the doorway, the more Tyler wondered if he'd died and was being led into hell for his sins.

It was true that he'd been a petty thief. A little tyrant who let his father's position as county sheriff go to his head. He realized now, in this moment, that his aspirations of leading a life of crime were the pretentious fantasies of an ignorant child. He should have done as his mother asked of him. Study hard, do well, and find a lord to serve.

Instead, he'd wasted his opportunities to better himself. He thought that coming to the royal academy would make him a shark among the minnows.

But now he found himself in the grip of a Kraken.

How could this possibly get any worse? Tyler asked himself.

Then he stepped through the doorway and found himself standing before a dining room table laden with sumptuously prepared foods that smelled wonderful and looked even better.

At that table were seated three more of Everly. They all looked up at once and stared at him.

"Guess who's got a boooooyfriend?" said the one who held his hand.

I am absolutely fucked, Tyler decided on the spot.

Behind them, the door slammed shut.