Ysevel, Athar, and I returned to Narin with Balgrim and his small scouting party.
We walked silently, considering the gravity of what we'd just observed, as well as the fact that Balgrim had seemingly known where it would show up.
How much do you think he really knows about that thing? I asked Ysevel with a subtle nod toward the druid. It's hard to say. Athar doesn't trust him at all, and after seeing that, I don't blame him. I just don't know what to do about this, she sent back with a mental sigh.
I couldn't have agreed with her more. On the one hand, he was acting very suspiciously, even without Athar's warning, but none of us truly felt we had any definitive proof. But on the other hand, it was almost like knowing something was wrong, but you had no way of proving it to anyone, or you'd look insane.
It was frustrating, to say the least.
Even with that at the forefront of our minds, we continued on our way back to Narin, where we found the others already waiting for us in the main hall.
"What are you all doing up this late?" I asked them, but Irun was the one to raise his hand. "In my defense, I thought Athar had disappeared again," he sighed. "It also doesn't help that no one here explained where any of you were," Mom added with a curled eyebrow, though I knew her comment wasn't only aimed at me.
"These two lads followed us out to investigate a creature that has been terrorizing the land to the north," Balgrim stepped forward in our defense, surprising the three of us who'd gone with him. "Oh? A shame we weren't informed," she replied, not believing his lie for a moment since I'd felt her tugging on our connection for information.
"Y-Yes, well, I simply didn't think it was going to be worth it to wake everyone up for that thing," Balgrim stammered under the weight of her gaze. She held it for a few moments, shifting her gaze to the rest of us briefly before landing her eyes on him. "Nope, I don't buy it, so you'd better spit it the fuck out," she said, taking a few steps toward him. "W-Wait, Siraye, I didn't me-..." his voice cut off as she grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air.
"Listen here, shitling, I've played this game long enough to know when someone is bullshitting me, and right now, my eyes are stinging at the stench. So, are you going to talk, or do I have to resort to more extreme measures?" she asked, her eyes flaring with mana as she lifted him a bit higher.
Don't kill him yet, he may be helpful to us, Kalia sent with a half-step forward. I won't, but I need him to stop beating around the bush, and fear is always a good tool to use, Mom sent back, though Ysevel and I already knew why she was doing that.
Balgrim's eyes darted around the room, searching for any way out of his predicament. However, since it was still so late at night, only a handful of guardsmen were in the hall, and none of them dared to get close to her. "A-Alright, you w-win," he managed weakly as he raised his hands in surrender, prompting her to drop him like a sack of potatoes.
He coughed and rubbed his neck when he landed, his lungs desperately reaching for any air they could. "Go on, then," Mom said, glaring at him imperiously. He coughed one last time before getting back on his feet, still rubbing his neck that had red finger marks near his trachea.
"You're still the same old brute, just like before, so I don't expect you to understand," he said venomously, but she maintained her composure much better than I would have, were it directed at me. "This creature we were investigating only shows up when the orbs of Leech mana are large enough for it to take notice of, though we've only ever seen them at night," he began, prompting Kalia to tilt her head and start prodding our connection.
"From what we've learned, it not only consumes the mana, but it takes it on as its own; almost as if it gained a consciousness from doing so," he continued, though Mom merely raised an eyebrow, while the others looked on in horror at the mere thought of it.
"What did it look like?" she asked plainly. "I think he can answer that," Balgrim said, jutting his thumb toward me, signaling he was done answering her questions. Everyone's attention turned to Ysevel, Athar, and I, prompting me to step forward.
"This creature was unlike anything I've ever seen or even read about in the bestiary at Codrean, with skin that seemingly melted into the darkness surrounding it, and a large, gaping maw in the middle of its stomach," I began, noticing Kalia and Devyr beginning to shift uncomfortably.
"Wait, are you saying that this is an entirely new breed of monster?" Ed asked, appearing out of one of the hallways that lined the main hall with Meliss right behind him. "I think so. Either that, or it's been here since long before the Great Partition, and these orbs have seemingly woken it up," I replied, though I wasn't sure of it myself.
"What happened when it consumed the orb, then?" he asked, walking up to the rest of the group. He, unlike everyone else, was still in sleeping attire, rather than his armor.
Who the hell woke him up and told him to come here? Athar sent me through a mental transmission, though he only did so whenever he knew he could control his alternate's thoughts. Beats me, though I suspect Balgrim's guards had something to do with it, I replied briefly, returning to Ed's question.
"It was like the creature was made for doing just that. When the orb was consumed, the mana flowed from its stomach up to its empty eye sockets, but somehow, it saw me and grinned," I said, seeing the creature's unnerving grin clearly in my head.
"That should be impossible," Kalia spoke, surprising everyone who didn't know she could. "W-What the…? I thought you took a vow to be mute until your vengeance was completed," Ed said, genuinely surprised, as both he and Meliss forcibly blinked a few times.
"If we find that creature, it will be, though it seems none of you here know what it is," she said, taking a few steps forward.