NOVEL WEB Ch.56 – A Sip of Tea and a Piece of Lore
POV: Tamara
“I am not from this world,” Yveene began to say, taking a few sips of her tea, “I am from Earth, a planet from which Aradra is also from, if that is her real name.”
“A core guardian and a wild monster traveled through the veil between worlds??” Luchael asked in a perplexed tone, “I know many claim that there are worlds beyond Tala, but I have never heard of monsters that can cross the void between them.”
'We weren't monsters when we were in our world...' Tamara thought, lowering her head.
“In that world we were not very different from what Helen here looks like. We were human, just like her,” Yveene replied with a nod to the templar, “I don't know how your friend got here, but I got here after being burned alive in the public square.”
Helen turned pale, “what have you done that was so horrible to deserve a punishment like that??”
Yveene smiled bitterly, “I knew how to use herbs, berries and roots to cure some infections and illnesses, I suppose.”
Luchael straightened his back, “but that's what I do! Do the [Healers] on your world want even more control over who receives healing??”
“Earth is a classless world, at least not in the way you understand the concept,” Yveene said, “however, when I died, one of the entities you venerated brought me to this world by promising me a position of prominence in her ranks.”
'I have a feeling I know where this is going...'
“Apparently the so-called Divine Court is much less cohesive in its purpose than it appears, because what this entity called Zelrotha was doing, she didn't have its approval.” Yveene continued to explain, the expression on her face seems a mixture of anger and defeat, "at first they wanted to eliminate my consciousness so that they could send at least my vital essence back, but then they decided to discuss the matter and allowed me the possibility of being reincarnated as a monster.”
Helen and Luchael turned their heads towards Tamara, 'my story didn't develop the same way, but...' she nodded a few times to confirm however that yes, that was more or less what had happened to her too.
“The reincarnation went without problems and for some time I decided to live a life as normal as a monster could be, only at a certain point I began to feel primal instincts boiling inside me,” Yveene sighed, “in the beginning I didn't even notice it, but soon I started to lose control, I knew I was still myself, but somehow I was starting to become something else.”
That information was also correct, but that was something that she had begun to notice even better during her days in the mountains: at the beginning Tamara had justified the greater simplicity with which she was able to kill the monsters and feed on them by the fact that they were not truly sentient and that she needed them to level up quickly, in reality there was also a third reason that was pushing her down that path... pure and simple bloodlust.
The Sleepy Swamp dungeon core had warned her, yet the account of a person who had already been through it had a different weight on her, arousing a growing sense of urgency.
“The soul of the monster I chose to reincarnate as was much more powerful than mine, probably, not even your entities… your gods, knew what they were doing at the time, the fact is that I quickly became a problem for this world.” Yveene drank what was left of the tea in quick gulps, “they probably would have found a way to destroy me that didn't involve them descending on Tala, if I hadn't been lucky.”
Helen, who had remained silent until then with an expression that grew more and more annoyed as Yveene continued to talk about the gods, took a deep breath, “and that's where I guess this dungeon comes in.”
Yveene nodded, “I found this dungeon by pure chance and took refuge inside it. When I found its dungeon core, it spoke to me and offered me to become its core guardian.”
“Enough with this bullshit!” Helen thundered, slamming the cup on the table with such force that Tamara was surprised by the cup's resistance to impacts, "gods working behind the backs of other gods... humans from other worlds reincarnating as monsters... dungeon cores that can speak and choose their core guardians… do you think I'm stupid??”
“Helen…please…” Luchael whispered, “at least let her finish explaining.”
“If Aradra could talk, I have the impression that she would tell you a similar story,” was Yveene's simple response, “the dungeon cores are alive, only that they are deeply dormant and do not awaken except in certain situations. Your gods made them this way.”
Helen's face turned red with fury, Tamara somewhat expected it given her rank within a religious order.
Yveene smiled, “yes, dungeons in the past were creatures second only to what you call gods, beings that were then recycled to become the dungeons and monsters of this world.”
“Why would the gods do something like this if a world without monsters and dungeon outbreaks is possible??” Luchael asked resting his chin on top of Tamara's head.
“The dungeon core has spoken to me over the centuries, not as much as I would have liked, but what I was able to deduce is that your gods were getting bored with their first creation.”
“Bored??” Helen jumped up, her hand had fallen to the messer's hilt, "are you saying that the gods, including the noble God of Heroes, created dangers that again and again caused pain and death because they were bored??"
“A god of heroes needs villains to play hero against, and his interests come before those of mortals and all inferior beings.”
“How dare you talk like that!” thundered Helen, who at this point seemed to be kept from becoming physically hostile only by the fact that she had probably inspected Yveene's level and realized how far beyond her reach she was.
Tamara was much more surprised by Luchael, who seemed to listen with interest and without showing the slightest sign of aggression, she didn't know much about the leporan's opinions in the theological field, but at this point she felt able to conclude that he, or perhaps his entire race, had a very agnostic religious view of the world.
“Your entities do not treat creatures that are inferior to them as beings capable of autonomy and deserving of respect, and so does Gornowayl: we are toys, sometimes we are treated with affection, but we are still toys at the mercy of forces against which we can neither oppose nor defeat." Yveene narrowed her eyes, “calm down Helen, I guess just noticing that you can't see my level is enough for you to understand that it won't end well for you if you decide to attack me.”
Helen clenched her jaw and breathed deeply through her nose, it took her almost ten seconds before she loosened her grip on her blade.
“So… what's the point of all this? What is the point of doing what we do if in the end the gods can destroy everything we do in an instant and without feeling sorry?” Luchael asked.
“Mh…” Yveene became thoughtful, “none of us can defeat them, but we are not beings deprived of our autonomy, and if a mouse can be crushed without difficulty, an entire colony is much more difficult to keep at bay.”
The leporan didn't add anything else, the answer seemed to be enough for him and for Tamara too it made sense: if the whole world had united against the gods, the only real solution they could have taken would have been to destroy everything, which would have caused the return of boredom and therefore would have placed them in front of a dilemma between accepting to give more freedom to the mortals or, figuratively, destroy the toy box.
The core guardian's eyes turned to Tamara. “You were reincarnated as a very weak monster and therefore probably have more time on your hands than me, but the only way to retain you as your human self is to ascend or become a core guardian,” she told her before pursing her lips, “ both things have positives and negatives.”
Tamara tilted her head slightly.
“To become a core guardian you must find a dungeon that is willing to choose you as its core guardian, this is a similar mechanism to ascension, but it blocks your level to the moment you turned into a core guardian and you will never be able to exit it again.”
'No, this isn't for me,' Tamara thought almost instantly.
“The other option is the ascension. The only way to prevent yourself from becoming a chaotic creature driven half by reason and half by impulses is for you to make the monster soul that lives with you in that body able to reason, but the risk is that if you fail in that attempt, you would immediately return to the first level and lose all your progress.” Yveene shrugged, “you can reduce the risk by leveling up. The higher you level up, the more likely you are to succeed in the ascension process… I simply didn't have the time and the courage to take the risk, but if that's the path you want to take, I wish you good luck."
'I don't want to lock myself in a prison, no matter how beautiful and heavenly it may seem, I want... I want to be free!' Tamara clenched the fists of her little monstrous hands and aimed her yellow eyes like those of a mystical predator at those of the core guardian, 'I will grind even more levels and ascend no matter what the cost will be!'
Yveene smiled as if she had managed to understand Tamara despite the lizard monster's small humanoid body wasn’t really capable of conveying the same range of body language as a real human body. “Now it's your turn to tell me a little about what's happening out there, then I'll let you kill the monsters in the dungeon... I hope it takes you a while; I haven't had lunch with someone in ages!" She exclaimed giggling.
