Wrath's Virtue

Borr walked down the corridor with two first year students trailing behind him.

The first, a short beastkin boy with black and white patterned hair and small, round ears like a badger, walked energetically.

The second was a brawny Northern boy with brown hair.

Borr walked ahead. "You'll be chopping meat. There's already an upper class student handling most of the job inside. All you have to do is assist. You can handle that, right?"

The badgerkin puffed up his chest. "Hunting is a part of our life, Old Borr. Butchering is nothing."

The Northerner simply nodded. "Whatever the task, we can handle it, Instructor Borr."

Borr glanced back at the two of them. "What's inside might be a little different than what you're imagining."

The two boys looked at each other, confused, but Borr had already turned his back to them.

They continued forward, and sounds began to drift from up ahead.

First, the rhythmic sound of THUNK... THWACK... THWACK... heard. The sound of a cleaver striking bone.

Then, mixed with that sound, came a girl's laugh. Clear, but filled with an eerie cheerfulness.

The two boys exchanged another look.

"What's going on in there, Tamer Borr?" Northerner asked.

"There are two people who have already started the work. No need to worry, kids," Borr said, though his voice lacked conviction.

Borr arrived at the massive wooden door of the processing area.

He paused, his hand on the handle. He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. "The other one seemed maniac as Nyx. Let's see how things are going in there," he thought.

"Aren't we going in... Elder Borr?" Beastkin asked tentatively

Borr wrenched the door open with a grinding sound.

They craned their necks and what they saw first was color.

Red was everywhere. Splattered on the floor, clinging to the walls, smeared across the hanging tools.

Then sight arrested them.

Nyx was moving over the carcass as she worked. With every stroke of her cleaver, she let out a laughter as she sliced yet another massive bone.

Her face and apron were entirely smeared with blood, but her eyes sparkled with joy.

On the other side, Aurelion was working, silent and more methodical. His face was painted with a bloody smirk focused purely on the task. His movements were less chaotic, more precisely. Every cut was clean.

Borr looked at the lizard carcass. A large portion of it was already perfectly dismembered.

Nyx turned her bloodied face toward the new arrivals, her cheerful smile widening. "Aurelion, look! Your friends came to help."

Aurelion wiped some of the blood from his face with the back of his hand and looked at the pair.

"That badger and the Northerner... I think one of them could do fire manipulation and the other earth in class," he thought, and then he straightened up.

He pulled the cleaver he had embedded in the beast out and rested it on his shoulder.

"Welcome, friends. Come on in and help us out,"

Borr stepped back and placed a heavy hand on each of the boys' backs.

"This Northerner is Gunnar, and the other one is Flint. You'll tell them what to do."

"Of course, Uncle Borr! You two, come on over here," Nyx chirped.

The boys hesitated.

Flint whispered to Gunnar, "Are all the elves here insane? That Aurelion isn't normal, and this girl doesn't seem normal either."

"How should I know?" Gunnar whispered back.

"You're the one who insisted on taking this task."

"Come on kids, move already" Borr said, giving them a firm push forward before leaving the room.

"Elder Borr, wait!" Flint called out.

"Weren't you going to show us what to do?"

As Borr left, he raised a hand without looking back.

"Nyx will show you what to do," he said and closed the door.

"Alright then, grab your cleavers,"

"What?" Gunnar exclaimed in shock.

Flint grabbed Gunnar's head and pushed him down, and the two cleaver flew over them.

After they hit on the ground two boys looked back at the cleavers.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to kill us?" Flint shouted.

Nyx looked confused. "What's the problem? I gave you your cleavers. Aren't you going to work?"

While the two boys were at a loss for words, Aurelion spoke up.

"Not everyone is as ready for this kind of work as we are, Nyx. They'll learn in time. Don't push them too hard and break them at the start. Otherwise, they can't help you honor these beasts."

"Right... you're right, Aurelion," Nyx said.

She quickly approached the boys, and as they flinched backward, she grabbed them by the arms and pulled them up.

"Alright, I'll be a little gentler with you," she said.

The boys nodded, forcing strained smiles onto their faces.

She pointed to the dismembered parts of the lizard. "Now, put these pieces of meat on the cutting table, and then I'll show you how to chop them."

The boys looked at the meat, saw the hundreds of pounds of flesh, and their faces turned back to Nyx.

From the side, Aurelion added, "This is the best way you can help Nyx. If I were you, I'd get started."

Flint thought to himself, "Is he helping us or just making us work?"

Gunnar grabbed Flint's arm.

"Let's start, Flint,"

As Aurelion continued his own work, he observed Nyx, Gunnar, and Flint out of the corner of his eye.

After the meat was moved, before the two boys even had a chance to rest, Nyx picked up a cleaver and began to explain how to portion and chop the meat.

Two boys, clearly intimidated, tried their best to please her.

Aurelion, meanwhile, finished his section of the work. He looked at the remaining viscera of the creature and then walked over to Nyx and the boys.

When he arrived, Nyx glanced at the remaining parts of the carcass.

"You've already finished, that is great Aurelion. I'm teaching Gunnar and Flint how to cut. I'll help you clean up what's left in a bit."

Aurelion watched Gunnar and Flint's clumsy attempts for a moment and pursed his lips.

"They're not quite getting it, are they? Doesn't it seem like something's missing, Nyx?"

Nyx looked at Aurelion.

"Yes, but they're not experienced yet. They'll learn, won't they?" she said, turning to the boys with an encouraging smile.

Flint immediately spoke up. "Yes, we'll learn! Isn't there some improvement already, Nyx?"

Gunnar tensed the muscles in his arm, trying to make his cuts as clean as possible.

"I'm talking about something else," Aurelion said.

Nyx turned back, her curiosity piqued. "What are you talking about, Aurelion?"

The two boys also looked at Aurelion with interest.

"Don't you think they're working without any spirit?" Aurelion began, his voice taking on a philosophical tone.

"Don't you think they're working without feeling the slightest emotion for this creature they're cutting, without understanding it? Don't you think... that's very disrespectful to this beast?"

"Respect! We do respect it!" Gunnar protested.

"The meat of this beast will feed others, give them strength. Right, Flint?"

"Yes! We're trying our best to use the precious meat of this beast in the most efficient way possible," Flint added quickly.

Nyx turned back to Aurelion. "They seem respectful, Aurelion."

"All they talk about is meat," Aurelion countered.

"They're acting as if they're cutting a slab of flesh, not a Scaled Mountain Lizard. As if all that matters to them is the meat, and it doesn't matter where it came from."

"No, we definite—" Gunnar started to say, but he froze as he saw Nyx's smile vanish, replaced by an icy glare.

Aurelion watched Nyx's cold expression, and saw her hand twitch slightly at her side.

"But that's not a problem, Nyx," he continued smoothly.

Nyx slowly turned her gaze to Aurelion. "How is it not a problem, Aurelion?"

"It's not their fault they don't understand these beasts," Aurelion said.

"In fact, we would be the ones at fault if we didn't teach them."

Nyx's expression softened slightly. "We?"

"Yes, we," Aurelion confirmed.

"And that's why I have a very good idea for how to teach these two."

He gestured behind him at the remaining parts of the creature.The intestines, the stomach, the entrails.

"For them to understand the beasts, they must come into contact with what's left of them."

"What?" Flint blurted out involuntarily. He was about to protest further, but a single look from Nyx silenced him.

"Go on, Aurelion. I'm listening," Nyx said, her focus was entirely on him.

"They cannot understand the beasts without getting their hands dirty," Aurelion explained.

"That is why they should be the ones to clean up these remains. This way, they can truly gain a better understanding of the creatures."

"You're just trying to trick us into cleaning up this mess!" Flint accused.

Aurelion feigned surprise. "What? Don't you want to better understand these beautiful creatures?"

Nyx's tense expression returned as she turned to glare at the two boys.

Gunnar leaned over and whispered to Flint, "Let's just survive today, Flint."

He then took his friend's arm and began pulling him towards the pile of guts.

Aurelion watched them go, and a smirk appears in his face.

"Apologies, but I will intimidate everyone who comes here," he thought.

"I want to test my abilities on these carcasses, and I don't need anyone watching me do it."

He then turned to Nyx with a smile. "This one will be loyal. It's no problem if she sees."

"Shall we continue, Nyx?"

Nyx's bright smile returned. She lifted her cleaver.

THWACK!