“Do your basic tamer training with my deity snake monster and a guild leader from another city hovering over your shoulders.”

  Those weren’t Meebur’s exact words, but it was likely what Frey heard. “An unexpected request” doesn’t begin to describe what Meebur was asking of Frey. It would have been a massive undertaking even without learning that I was more than just a cute snake monster.

  “And feel free to share what you learn with Nid. He can understand perfectly. He was once human too!”

  That news had caused Frey to pass out for a few seconds.

  While Astrid was fine with working with Frey, she became pretty angry with Meebur for disclosing to him that I was not only a deity monster, but a reborn human as well. But, in Meebur’s opinion, it wouldn’t be possible for Frey to help properly without knowing what we knew. Frey and I were, in Meebur’s eyes, very similar. We were both starting a journey, and facing brand new things every day. To my tamer, Frey was the perfect person to open up to.

  And after the initial shock faded, and Frey stopped passing out from fear, he accepted the request to help me learn about this world.

  I have to hand it to Frey. He’s a lot more capable and willing than his initial scaredy-cat persona led me to believe.

  It couldn’t have been an easy adjustment, but Frey took to keeping an eye on me much better than I expected. The fact that Astrid, a leader who used to be a member of Artemis, was sticking around seemed to fluster him much more. But with me having so much to learn, no other way to communicate, and Meebur having a lot to do as leader of the guild, Astrid and Frey were the perfect pair to help me.

  My dynamic duo!

  “Your what?” Astrid asked, scanning my thoughts.

  Nevermind.

  “You really should pay attention. I know you're a monster, not a tamer, but it would still be embarrassing to know the least amongst this group.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Frey asked, looking back and forth between Astrid and me on his shoulders.

  “Nothing.” she said, sighing and resting her head on her hand. “You should pay attention too.”

  Astrid stared at Frey briefly, but turned to look away from him. She had initially been frustrated at the thought of sitting in on beginner training, but when Meebur had told her Frey would be the one helping me learn more about this world, her demeanor changed.

  “Is he…?” she had asked Meebur.

  “Yes. He’s Freya and Odell’s boy.”

  Apparently, that was all she needed to hear to warm up to the idea.

  Is it simply a feeling of responsibility for him, since he lost both of his parents when he was young? I thought while looking at Frey. Or do Meebur and Astrid know more?

  “It’s not something for me to share,” Astrid leaned over and whispered to me.

  Oops, I forgot you were reading my surface thoughts. Sorry, I was just curious.

  Astrid shook her head slightly. No reason to apologize, was what she meant. Being curious of the people and the world around me was why we were here, after all. But discussing Frey’s parents was obviously not her place.

  The three of us were inside the guild tower’s second floor, in a room that reminded me of classrooms from my past life. The specifics of what I actually learned in those classrooms didn’t come back to me, but I did recall how much I disliked them. Memories of feeling out of place and incapable rushed back to me the second I entered. Luckily, these classes felt nothing like those. There was a lot to learn in this world, and I was enjoying every bit of it. We were first given some lessons on history and geography to better understand the country we served and the environments new tamers would be raising monsters in. But the most important lessons for the new recruits were the ones on what it meant to be a tamer, and how best to care for their monsters.

  Gregory was at the front of the class giving one such lecture on the duties of a tamer. There were almost a dozen new recruits, including Frey. Most of them were paying close attention, and trying to avoid eye contact with either Astrid or me. I couldn’t tell which they were more intimidated by. Considering my reputation (as the leader’s giant snake monster masquerading as a little cutie), no one questioned why a monster was attending classes. But I understood why it might be me that was making them nervous.

  “The duties of a tamer are very simple,” Gregory continued, “and yet, they are so often forgotten in favor of finding the biggest, strongest monster possible. We do not do that in this guild.”

  The more I learned about the Artemis Guild, the more I respected it. It wasn’t just Meebur who took his job as leader and tamer seriously. Everyone treated their work the same. And with strict instructors like viceleader Gregory, who could blame them?

  “Though there are ten tamer tenets to follow, which have been passed down in our country for centuries, the main thing to remember is to do what is best for your monster. We serve them as much as they serve us.” Gregory had an intimidating aura, but was actually quite good at distilling information into what was most relevant for us newbies. That way, we never got overwhelmed. “There is no better example of sacrificing for your monster than our guild leader himself. Many years ago, when I was still new to taming-”

  “So, fifty years ago?” One particularly rambunctious recruit named Jewel yelled out, eliciting a few laughs from those brave enough to do so in front of Gregory. Jewel wore a shimmering scarf and a bright lavender vest that matched their hair. They clearly weren’t afraid to stand out.

  “- our guild leader once tamed a very rare monster.” Gregory ignored the outburst and continued. However, his own monster, Corinth the Bog Bat, flew over to Jewel from a perch in the back of the classroom and gently smacked them in the back of the head with his wing. “That particular monster had become lost from its kind. Meebur and his monster trained, fought, and lived together for many years. But one day, Meebur found the rest of the monster’s flock. They both knew what they had to do, but it was still difficult. Meebur released his monster so that it could be with its own kind.”

  There were several murmurs amongst the recruits. I could hear as many comments admiring Meebur as there were confused statements.

  “How could you let a rare monster go so easily?” A few people were asking.

  “Once you tame a monster of your own, you’ll understand how easy it is to do what is best for them.” Gregory said to the entire class, not singling out anyone in particular. I was beaming with pride to see how much the class of recruits admired my tamer. I could have easily been reborn into this world to someone who didn’t care about me, but I was lucky enough to be paired with Meebur. Who, according to everyone, was the pinnacle of tamer moral code.

  “Sir, I have a question. It might sound stupid, though…” One recruit by the name of Cherry asked. She had deep red hair, and eyes of the same color.

  “There are no stupid questions.”

  “Well…what do tamers, like, actually do? Like once they have their monsters.” A few tamers were nodding along to what Cherry asked. It was a fair question considering all of my experiences with other monsters up till this point had been battling or running from them.

  “There is no single correct answer to that. Ultimately, tamers care for, study, and utilize monsters. And we, as a guild of Olympia, use our powers and monster companions to protect and improve our country. That includes defending our cities, clearing dungeons, and-”

  “And becoming famous however we can.”

  Everyone in the class, including Gregory, turned their heads to the door. There was someone standing in the doorframe who, by the confused looks on everyone’s faces, no one knew.

  “Can I help you?” Gregory asked, putting in no effort to hide his frustration at being interrupted for the second time this class.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I doubt it,” the new person said. “My name’s Hodi. Apparently I need to attend these classes in order to join the guild.”

  Though not as tall as Gregory, Hodi had a long and lean body with jet black hair slicked back to the nap of his neck. His clothes were as dark as his hair. He stuck out his hand to shake Gregory’s, but my gut told me he did it mainly to show off the mark of the beast on his hand. He was a new recruit, yet was already marked. If his late arrival and rude attitude didn’t make him stand out, that surely would. There was only one other recruit in all of the Artemis Guild that already had a mark. And he immediately stood up to face Hodi.

  “If you’re so great, then prove it!” He said, pointing at Hodi. This other recruit with a preexisting mark had messy, dirty blonde hair that hung down to his shoulders. One side was tucked behind his ear, but it constantly slid off. Probably because, despite being nowhere near water, his hair always looked like it was dripping wet. His clothes were also ripped in a way that made me think he had spent his morning wrestling a tiger. “My name is Lucus, the future guild leader of Artemis, and if you insult this class you insult my guild. Let’s battle!”

  As though battles were an expected interruption to life here, every other student immediately moved all of the desks and chairs out of the way. Gregory sighed, but stepped back to give them space. Clearing the space left just enough room for Lucus to erect a monster arena, which illuminated the classroom in green light. As he and this Hodi person were the only new recruits who had already received the mark of the beast, everyone else was excited to see what they could do.

  How did they get marks already? Meebur told Frey that those were only given out to people who successfully entered a guild.

  Information regarding “Lucus” and “Hodi” has been added to your Almanac.

  I quickly opened the menu to check what had been added, and immediately sighed from frustration and annoyance. Both entries read: “If you would like to know more about these tamers, please ask them yourself.”

  The text box in my head had clearly woken up on the wrong side of the Almanac today…

  But before I could grumble to the text box, the battle got underway. Astrid looked on with a neutral expression, likely expecting very little from two recruits, even if they had already received marks somehow. Frey, on the other hand, was watching with anticipation mixed with a dash of fear. I could sense his excitement to see two tamers in action at odds with his fear of what monsters they may unleash.

  “Go, Kichi!” Lucus said, calling an arsenal egg and tossing it in the air. A frog no bigger than me in my cute form appeared in the air and landed on Lucus’ head. Its slimy body was a random mess of yellows, green, and reds. The pattern was chaotic, looking like someone had dropped several cans of paint on it by mistake. It had a goofy expression on its face and a long tongue that hung out and covered its tamer’s right eye. Lucus didn’t seem to mind the slobbery frog’s tongue at all, but everyone else in the room, including me, wrinkled our noses at the stench. It was as though every smell from a swamp was concentrated in that one little frog. “Show him what we can do.”

  The monster, clearly named Kichi, jumped into the arena. The frog still had a happy but vacant expression on its face. Like it was about to participate in a pie eating contest, not a battle.

  Species - Kichi, the Funky Frog

  Type - Earth > Forest > Swamp

  Rank - B

  Level - 9

  Tamer - Lucus

  Status - Normal

  Skills - ??

  It would be kind of cute…if not for that smell.

  “You want me to fight…that?” Hodi said, one eyebrow raising as he stared at the dumb, little frog. He made it a point to hold his nose and wrinkle his forehead, mocking the frog for its smell. Though Kichi didn’t seem to notice at all. Even Lucus didn’t clue in that the smell was gross to everyone else.

  He must be used to it.

  “Who could get used to that?” Astrid said under her breath, hiding her nose in a sleeve of her silk robe.

  “Afraid?” Lucus said, leaning his head back with confidence, as though already looking down at Hodi.

  In response, Hodi could only laugh. It was a high-pitched, condescending laugh that clearly irritated Lucus. Something told me annoying Lucus was exactly what Hodi wanted to do.

  “Save it for a dungeon. Not that you could survive one of those…” Hodi said and with a nearly identical high-pitched laugh to the one he gave before, he left the room. The class was silent, including Gregory. Lucus was the only one who yelled out in anger, also leaving to chase after his new rival. As everyone reassembled the desks after the monster arena dissipated, they could still hear Hodi and Lucus arguing in the distance.

  So…Hodi just came in here to annoy everyone?

  “It would appear so.” Astrid said, suddenly finding the whole exchange hilarious and giggling to herself. “Meebur sure has some interesting recruits this year.”

  * * * *

  Despite that lesson nearly ending in a battle, my time learning with the new recruits continued.

  Hodi and Lucus argued every day they were in the same room. Which, thanks to Gregory's busy teaching schedule, was every day. Hodi got away with skipping out on that first lesson, but after a one-on-one talk with Gregory, he never missed another one.

  I can’t imagine what getting scolded by Gregory is like…

  Some days were spent in the classroom learning monster types, battling techniques, basic skills, creating combo skills, and the various methods and tools for hatching specific monsters. We also learned about how tamers got stronger as their monsters grew, and how simply having tamed monsters out of their arsenal eggs cost energy. The constant drain on EP from having a single monster out was quite small, but compounded exponentially with each additional monster. This was part of the reason why most tamers didn’t have multiple monsters out at any given time. For new tamers, it could cause them to pass out in minutes.

  This lesson, in particular, made me think of Meebur. How was he doing, considering I wouldn’t ever be able to rest in an arsenal egg? He should’ve been showing signs of exhaustion, but not once did I sense that in him. It was honestly a big testament to my tamer’s strength that having a constant energy drain (named “Nid”) wasn’t affecting him.

  This isn’t what Gregory intended to teach me, but the lesson is clear: deity monsters really aren’t meant to be tamed…

  Most of what we learned, however, didn’t make me feel guilty for existing. Which I loved!

  Some of our lessons, like making nests and identifying monsters in the wild, were put into effect out in the guild’s fields and enclosures. All in the hopes that when they got their marks, they would be as prepared as possible to hatch and raise their first monster.

  Most lessons ended with new recruits chatting about which monster they hoped to hatch first.

  “I want a Docile Dove. Wild ones used to wake me up every morning back home with their gentle songs.” Cherry said after class one day. “What about you, Jewel?”

  “Oh, I’m aiming for a Gutsy Goat. 100%.”

  “Impressive! Isn’t that hard to hatch?”

  “Yeah, but nothing compared to that Funky Frog. How’d you manage to tame one, Lucus? No offense, but you don’t seem like the genius type.”

  “Oh, well, that’s a long story…” Lucus was very outspoken, always raising his hand to answer questions, even when he didn’t know the answer. But when it came to talking about his past, how he got his mark, and the origins of Kichi, he always clammed up.

  It was the main thing he had in common with Hodi. The late addition to this round of new recruits didn’t tell anyone anything. Not even where he had lived before coming to Artemis. He didn’t really speak much, except to argue with Lucus. But when he did ask questions in class, it was always on topics that the others were afraid to discuss.

  Such as the day we learned about the dark side of taming.

  “The connection between tamer and monster is sacred. But that doesn’t mean it’s always perfect. When you tame a monster that isn’t willing, for example, the connection hurts them. Tears them down. Corrupts them and turns them into someone they aren’t.” Gregory said one day in the second floor classroom. “That’s why many tamers hatch their own monsters, rather than risk harming a wild monster that wasn’t truly willing to be tamed. But if your monster, even one hatched by you, ever seems worse off for having been tamed by you, it’s your responsibility to notice and take appropriate action. Even if that means releasing them.”

  “What if we tamed, say…a person? Not a monster.” Hodi asked, with every other student going dead silent the second the question left his lips. Shiv had joked about the same thing, and Meebur and Astrid responded with just as much surprise and horror as the recruits now did to Hodi.

  “You shouldn’t.” Gregory said.

  “But-”

  “No.” Gregory stood up, shocking many at the sternness in his voice that seemed to shake even his desk. “Let me make this clear. I won’t lie. Yes, there are some places in this world that think it is justified to tame a person. To force them to obey commands from another. But this place is not one of them. The number one tamer tenet is to respect freedom and not allow ‘care to turn to control’. We care for monsters, we don’t control them. One of the pillars of Olympian society is every being’s right to exist freely. If that were to change, this country would fall. And our guild will not be the catalyst for such a fall. Ever.”

  Hodi fell silent and turned his head down. He couldn’t look anyone in the eye, ashamed to have asked such a question. But I’m glad he did. Better to ask and learn than to wonder and live in ignorance.

  That was the only class where Lucus and Hodi didn’t break out into an argument. It seemed everyone was a little shaken at the discussion of this taboo act. But all of them now better understood the power they would soon hold.

  The power to control another being.

  It made me feel fear for the first time since becoming the Withering Wyrm. If Astrid sensed my fear at learning of the position I was in as a tamed monster, she never said so. Just as I tried to respect her feelings regarding leaving the guild in the past, she seemed to be respecting my path in accepting my position as a monster in this new life. The memories of my past life were so fragmented, that my new life as a monster was all I really knew. I had never questioned whether being tamed was right or wrong. It simply was.

  Though this didn’t make me regret my pairing with Meebur, it did give me a new perspective.

  This world seems far more dangerous every day I’m here…and that’s coming from a giant snake monster.