Fates of Grenora: Return of the Night

"Are we renting another inn then, or are we going to rough it?" Pierre asked.

"The enchanter I know has enchanted tents that act like cabins. Suitable for long adventures." Evie clarified.

"We can go see him first before we go shopping for gear." She added.

"I'm assuming you'll have no trouble getting past the security check?" she asked Aldrin

He shook his head. "Not unless they have enchantments that can glean past my amulet."

"Technically, you aren't lying about anything, so it shouldn't flare up once you pass the gates."

"The Elves here are a prestigious bunch, but they are too prideful to think anything would attack them way out here, let alone face off against their enchanted defenses and sky navy," she finished.

Jared chuckled, "Lor-Vold thought the same until this bad boy right here," he jerked his thumb towards Aldrin, "waltzed through their walls unhindered."

"So you really did destroy Lor-Vold with an Undead army?" Cannor skeptically asked.

"They were already there before I even got there," Aldrin raised his hands in defense.

"He is straight up lying!" Jared laughed. "He called to them and they answered."

"Regardless of what happened and why, we have to be more careful. You are more powerful than any of us truly realize, including you," Pierre interjected, looking at Aldrin.

Evie winced. "Which is why being here among Dungeons will give you the best practice without prying ears and eyes."

"Speaking of getting past security, our story is that Aldrin is a young Lord tasked by his grandfather to tour the lands and gain worldly experience. The mounts have been in his family for generations, if anyone asks. We are his retainers meant to grow alongside him," Pierre said, looking at each of them in the carriage.

Cannor grew paler than normal. "You want us to lie to High Elves? Can't they detect lies?"

Evie chuckled, "That's a lie. They think because they have naturally high wisdom, they are higher than thou. Besides, the ones we only have to worry about are the ones that stay in their palaces and courts. I doubt we will see any of those here. Folos is just an outpost to the High Elves meant to do trade and ferry their goods back to their home continent of Uvron."

"Uvron is just a shattered continent of island chains, much like Folos, right?" Pierre asked.

"Yes," she nodded. "I thought all Otherworlders were meant to learn the basics of this world when they arrived?"

Pierre cast his eyes downward. "Not all Otherworlders arrive near places that welcome them." Aldrin answered for him.

"What-" She began

"Jared and I arrived on Imawas and immediately drafted in the Fire and Ice Giant civil war," Pierre quietly answered.

Evie's jaw tightened as she clenched her fists. "I am sorry that was your first welcome to this world." She placed her hand on top of Pierre's.

He smiled weakly at her. "Thank you. You are the first Giant we have met that didn't immediately treat us like we were nothing."

"Us Mountain Giants are a lot more accepting than others give us credit for," she tried to lighten the mood.

Aldrin looked at the exchange between the two and then deeply at Pierre, who was trying to hide the trauma that threatened to surface. "One day, when we are strong enough, we can go back and put a stop to the civil war."

"What are they even fighting for anyway?" Eddock finally spoke up.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Land, power, and pride. The usual weaknesses of Fire and Ice Giants. They have always been at war with each other, but our laws forbid us from ever truly going to war with each other. For us to do so, we have to use others to do it for us," Evie answered.

"What happens if those laws are broken?" Aldrin asked.

"Our base element's energy can never rebirth us as our souls get destroyed. Fire can't dance among the sun's rays, Ice can't guide the rivers of fate, Earth can't return to the embrace of the mother to help give life, and Air can't fill the next generation's breath." She tapped her chin. "Or at least that is what was inscribed by our Progenitor."

"Each Race has certain things that are forbidden for them to do that were magically inscribed into them by their own Progenitor. Since you are considered Otherworlders but are still Human,

I am unsure if those same rules still apply to you," Evie said. "As for you, Aldrin, we can only go based on stories, and one rule I know for certain is that it's forbidden for another Vampire to feed on another."

Aldrin groaned in response, running his hands down his face. "Great more stuff to figure out."

"Nothing worth gaining is ever easy, as they say," Evie smiled at him.

She turned her gaze back to Pierre. "I know it isn't much, but on behalf of all Giants that matters I am sorry for what they have done to you, and I will do everything in my power to help free the others that this has afflicted."

Jared thumped the carriage. "We are getting close to the entrance, lady and gentlemen. Assume the roles!"

Jared slowed the warhorses down to a trot and then to a walk once they neared. The High Elven guards were adorned in leather and chainmail. Each of them held a pike and shield with a bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to their back. If Evie was right, everything on the High Elven guards was probably extremely enchanted, despite their unassuming appearance.

"Welcome to Folos. State of business?" The guard on the right addressed Jared.

"We are taking our young Lord to Dungeon Delve per the orders of his grandfather," Jared answered. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other guard warily eyeing the warhorses.

"Sir!" the other guard called out. "These are Vampiric warhorses!"

The guard who was talking to Jared immediately dropped into a fighting stance with his pike raised. "Where and how did you acquire these?" he demanded.

"Fellas, fellas, fellas… these have been in our Lord's family for generations," Jared tried to smooth over. The warhorses were unbothered by the turn of events, but Jared knew that if they got too close to them, then he wouldn't be able to stop them from their next meal.

"Mounts such as the Undead nature are banned from the continent per order of Queen Tyviona of Dremetica. I shall ask one more time; where and how did you acquire these banned creatures?" he demanded once more, aiming his spear a little higher.

The carriage doors opened before Jared could speak, revealing Evie. "Surely you can see that they are tamed and docile creatures, unlike the myths of old," she said.

"Can we look the other way and forget this all happened for a bit of gold? I am sure this is much more than what you would make in a month," she tempted them by flashing a gold coin.

The guard briefly flicked his eyes to the coin in her hand, then back at her. "Make it four gold. Each. And we have a deal," he relented.

"The young Lord graciously accepts your terms." She bowed before producing eight gold coins from her inventory.

The guard quickly swiped the coins from her hand before waving them through. Jared gently nudged the warhorses forward once Evie climbed back into the carriage. "Sir, are we sure it was wise to let them through?" The guard who called them out asked his senior officer.

"Who cares? We became richer because of it."

"But sir! Extortion isn't the Elven way!"

"You dare question your senior officer after making you richer? Just for that, I am keeping six gold coins to myself. Here, take your two." He threw them on the ground in front of the guard.

"Report it, and we both go down. I would only get a slap on the wrist, while you would be stripped of your honor. Is that what you truly want?" He sneered at the other guard, who had yet to pick up his coins.

Aldrin listened to the exchange as something within him bristled to set things right. "You can't. Not yet, at least," Evie whispered to him.

"I know…" Aldrin released a breath.

Aldrin read the ominous message, and instead of feeling uncertainty and fear, he felt purpose. A grim determination took root within him, beckoning him forth to seize the power that was thrust upon him. Folos would become his true birthplace for his first steps into his true power of what he could do. Experiments with his abilities ran through his mind once he realized that he no longer would have to hold back. The Dungeon denizens would not weigh heavily on his mind since they weren't considered "real". Thus, his self-training would begin anew, with friends by his side, Quests to work towards, and gear to upgrade. The Vampire Progenitor would no longer be idle, running from fire to fire. It was time to make his mark on Grenora with his own hands.