Mateo’s dragon tablet glows as the image of Serenity fills the screen. She seems happy, but also, uneasy.

  “Mateo, I’m pregnant,” she says nervously.

  “Yeah, um, me too,” Mateo replies rubbing his neck.

  Serenity perks up for a moment.

  “You and um, Stitches?” She questions.

  “Uh, not exactly Stitches,” Mateo replies breaking eye contact.

  “Oh, another maiden then, and whom might I ask is this maiden?” Serenity questions now turning the conversation from a friendly chat to an interrogation.

  “A friend,” Mateo says poking his index fingers together nervously.

  “Yasmina isn’t a realm walker, wait a moment, a friend?” She snipes angrily.

  “I know we broke up, but I was still a little upset seeing you with passion marks so soon after we separated and in my anger I might have,” he pauses letting off a low sigh.

  It’s funny how anger can cloud the judgement of mortals. Even after having it explained to him Mateo still felt resentment toward Serenity for taking a new mate so soon, well, anytime ever would have been too soon for him. Alas the realm of Gottes practices relationships differently than what he knows. And he did want Serenity to be happy, he just didn’t know how angry that could make him.

  “Beatrice,” Mateo raises his hand in defense as if Serenity could reach through the dragon tablet and strangle him. “I know you’re going to be upset-,” she cuts him off her pitch voiced that above the whale of an angered banshee.

  “You fucked Beatrice! Godsdamnit! What were you thinking! How drunk were you! Nevermind that it doesn’t matter, Fuck!” Serenity yells slamming a vase against the wall of her room shattering it into a thousand pieces. Serenity takes a deep breath trying to calm herself as she peers into the communication device her eyes wide with rage.

  “We’ll talk about this later, I have responsibilities and I need to hit something really fucking hard right now!” Serenity yells cutting the feed.

  Mateo lays back in the wagon taking a deep breath. Stitches enters the wagon curiously.

  “How did it go?” She questions rhetorically.

  “Seeing Natalia bring me back to life with her kisses probably won’t help after she kills me,” Mateo says with a guilty sigh.

  “As long as she doesn’t gouge your eyes out, I need those eyes back if you die,” Stitches replies jokingly.

  They both laugh nervously.

  Mateo arrives in Heroldin and is greeted by Okami and Chrissima. He takes a short bow before the air is pierced with galloping claws hurtling toward him. Dust kicks into the air as Julia the Hoaram slams into him knocking him from his feet into the dirt. She whinnies bunting him longingly with her curled horns as her clawed hooves scrape up fresh soil.

  “Calm down girl,” Mateo says patting her snout gently.

  “I’ve never seen a hoaram so excited to meet anyone, perhaps I am ill informed, and you are actually a beast tamer?” A familiar female voice questions.

  The voice belongs to Silvia Theodin. The woman that healed Mateo when he fought his first Archon.

  “I am not, I am a Voidlord,” Mateo replies.

  “Yes, I see, hoaram are creatures entwined to the void, ofcourse you would have say over them, in any case, where is the elf princess?” Silvia asks.

  “We separated,” Mateo replies.

  Silvia moves closer to Mateo removing her large cloak to reveal the body of a very attractive young woman. Mateo looks away as subtle hints of the ‘smell of moonlight’ invade his senses. It’s a fragrance not unlike the aphrodisiac Serenity wears.

  “This should make me highly attractive to you, how do you feel?” Silvia asks.

  “You are a beautiful woman Silvia, but smelling like my ex probably isn’t having the effect you intended it to,” Mateo replies.

  “Your ex, so you are no longer with the elven princess?” Silvia questions.

  “I literally just said that, are you ok?” Mateo asks now seeming concerned. Something is off about Silvia, and he cannot quite put his finger on it.

  “Is she going to punish you? Can I watch?” Silvia says seeming excited.

  “Aren’t you a lady of the lord, or whatever?” Mateo questions suspiciously.

  “What, are you going to snitch on me? Surely someone as powerful as a Voidlord has little desire to be a rat among peasants,” Silvia states moving within striking range of Mateo.

  Mateo closes his eyes concentrating on himself as he tries to ignore the world around him. Then he feels a warm embrace, and warm tears as a young woman wraps herself around him.

  “Mr. Ryusane, I need your help, the Hellbent have a small force southwest of the equatorial marshes at the Grove of Solitude, my sister Tesha has been taken by them, they are holding her ransom, will you help me?” She asks pulling down her blouse to reveal her shoulder.

  “What are you doing?” Mateo asks.

  “Showing my shoulder so you know that I am willing to offer my body to you in exchange for your services,” Silvia says turning her eyes away.

  “Offer accepted, meet me in my room in two hours,” Mateo replies.

  Mateo’s companions look about each other confused but make no comment as he steps away.

  Two hours pass like a short breeze passes through the air.

  Mateo looks up at the sky that is lit with two moons as he pets Julia’s snout. For a carnivorous nightmare horse, she’s a good girl.

  Julia rests herself in a large pile of hey as Mateo pulls an oversized blanket from his inventory resting beside her.

  Silvia enters Mateo’s room pulling a small note from the bed before laying back on it.

  Sorry, I’m not that promiscuous rendezvous you were meant to have. Not that I think you want that. Honestly, I made a mistake. I love Serenity, and I acted out of anger to hurt her. I got the most comfortable room I could incase you needed to think over whatever you’re going through. If you want to see the real me then I’m in the barn.

  Silvia wakes in the morning alone in Mateo’s bed. She steps out dressing herself with warm clothes as mornings in late Noviembre are cold. She heads to the stables to find Mateo cuddled up in a straw bed, a large blanket covering him and a horned hoaram. Silvia steps lightly her approach unnoticed by the two. Before she can wake Mateo a large silver furred man approaches her.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Offered yourself to the young Voidlord did you?” Okami questions.

  “I did, but he didn’t take the bate, why is he sleeping with a hoaram?”

  “Is that question about his integrity, or his kindness?” Okami replies.

  “Perhaps he is destined for a beast girl harem, I have heard he is close to the neko girl,” Silvia states.

  “He assures me he is not into such a relationship, though I do not understand why, beast girls seem to be infatuated with him, well, as much as I have researched about his interactions with them,” Okami replies.

  Mateo wakes in a barn to the warmth of Julia the hoaram as two familiar faces peer down at him.

  “Why are you looking at me like that, Julia gets lonely in the barn, Rayo told me,” Mateo says stretching his arms.

  “Good, you’re awake, it’s time you learned about NPCs,” Okami says.

  For clarification female hoaram and male hoaram are saddled in different stables unless they are meant to breed so Bolt doesn’t rest with Julia. Being that there are no other female hoaram stabled for the night Julia would have likely had to bury herself in hay to remain warm. Rayo being a flying gecko on the wall was unsettled by this and sought to deepen Mateo’s bond with her by showing her kindness in the form of physical comfort.

  After rousing Julia, Mateo dresses himself allowing Rayo to wrap himself around his collar. Okami leads Mateo and Silvia into a small shop that serves hot murky water sweetened with cane spice. They are all served a plate of chikus eggs, knotted bread, and goatveil cheese spread. Natalia quickly appears to steal Mateo’s knotted bread and cheese. The bread for herself, the cheese for a friend.

  “So, what are NPCs?” Mateo asks.

  “Non proficiency citizens,” Silvia replies.

  A rude cough*

  “Mateo, it has been some time since I have been graced with your presence, Chrissima is alight with joy at your return, that being said she made me aware that you are now Tiger rank and you have not been educated on how to interact with,” Okami snipes a glance at Silvia, “non proficiency citizens.”

  “Yeah, what does that mean?” Mateo asks.

  “NPCs are citizens that cannot gain proficiency, their power ranking usually stops around five talons, and they cannot progress past that, this is why archons are seen as being powerful since they sit at the peak of non proficient performance,” Okami stops receiving a steaming cup of murky water. He bows his head slightly and the female orcen waitress takes her leave.

  “It is important that you learn how to channel your strength to a level that is appropriate to interact with them, for instance, say a young maiden caught your eye and you two were locked in vigorous,” he pauses turning his gaze toward Silvia who is basically a nun before continuing, “courtship, you wouldn’t want to be the one that gave her death by snu-snu would you?”

  Mateo rubs his neck nervously as Silvia gives him an uncomfortably desirable glance.

  “No, so you’re saying that I can control my power level when I’m outside of combat, or like, in a safe space?” Mateo questions trying not to stare over at Silvia who is leaning forward and pressing her large breasts together with her elbows.

  “Okami, is she ok?” Mateo asks staring awkwardly at Silvia.

  “She is not, if I were you I would take notes on how the aphrodisiac is affecting her as we, researched intimate interactions between species, however, I do not believe that her consumption of the aphrodisiac was intentional, so I would ask that you take her to a healer before either of you do something you’re going to regret, not that you are a stranger to that,” Okami says sipping his sweet murky water with a rude wolven grin.

  “Who told you?” Mateo asks wincing.

  “Jade, and she was, excited, said something about,” Okami coughs, “a little Mateo.”

  Mateo stands moving around the table to help Silvia out of her seat.

  “I’ll get her to a healer and tell Chrissima I miss being smothered by her breasts, deadly asphyxiation by bosom isn’t the worst way to go,” Mateo says.

  “She’ll be happy to hear that you haven’t forgotten about her bosom, and Mateo, one more thing, Silvia is a True Apostle of Revival, be sure to treat her with respect,” Okami warns.

  Mateo nods holding out his arm for Silvia to take. She wraps herself around his arm and he leads her toward the nearest healer, Fresnar Finklefin, the first Aquanite Mateo has ever encountered.

  “Fuck you looking at me like that chum,” a strange European accent bellows over the wooden counter.

  “Sorry, never seen a um, whatever the hell you are,” Mateo says nervously cradling an unconscious Silvia in his arms.

  Anastasia’s eye activated. Anastasia’s eye allows its user to observe a target and gather information about them. Natalia has a similar ability, but she is pretty lazy and probably hasn’t told you about it or given you access to it, she can be that way sometimes. She is a mischievous pixie after all.

  Fresnar Finklefin: Aquanite, aquatic beast men like to set themselves apart from land based beastmen and have gained the title ‘Aquanite’ for this reason. Fresnar is one of the more communicable aquanites of the Sharken peoples. A tribe of sharken that exhibit large mouths with rows of teeth and a shark tail, but otherwise seem humanoid, including multicolored human like hair and a fleshy dermis.

  “Sorry, never seen someone with a shark tail before, anyway, you a healer?” Mateo questions holding Silvia in his arms.

  “Yeah, what you want with the girl, not trying to fix a mistake are you, because I ain’t that type of healer,” the shark tailed man Fresnar replies.

  “She’s been affected by an aphrodisiac, is there anyway you can cure it, I don’t want to leave her to her own devices, she’s not herself and she’s also under the protection of the god of Revival,” Mateo says.

  “Vignare’s teeth, this is an Apostle of Revival, bring her in, bring her in, hopefully we can reverse her affliction before Revival brings a reckoning down on our heads what were you thinking giving an aphrodisiac to lady Revival’s chastised?” Fresnar questions pulling him into the healing center.

  The building itself is three stories tall made of a stone base built upon by clay and wood. The colors on the wall are all warm as is the lighting, giving off a feeling of calm. Mateo places Silvia on a cot in a medium sized room where Fresnar is frantically flipping through tomes.

  “I didn’t give her the aphrodisiac, I’m not sure where she got it honestly, my ex, lady Everbold, wore a similar perfume, though the scent is different, it had the same effect, only not on the user,” Mateo says rubbing his neck.

  “Lady Everbold, the elven princess, who the hell are you?” Fresnar questions.

  “Mateo Ryusane, is she going to be ok, I kinda had to hit her pretty hard to knock her unconscious,” Mateo says nervously.

  “Don’t worry about how hard you hit her, as long as you didn’t defile her lady revival won’t bring down the Doujin of Undeath upon us,” Fresnar replies.

  “The Doujin of Undeath?” Mateo questions.

  “Nevermind you that, I think I have the perfect cure for her ailment.”

  Fresnar opens a cabinet and pulls a few bottles of strangely colored liquid from it before examining Silvia. He pours one of the bottles onto what resembles a piece of cotton and rubs it on her head.

  “Ellen, Ellen get down here we have a lustful patient,” Fresnar yells.

  “Coming father,” an exasperated tone replies from upstairs.

  A few moments later a young woman with a shark tail and multicolored hair dressed in what would be school attire in Mateo’s realm steps down the stairs seeming irritated. She gives Mateo one look and sighs.

  “Does your wife know?”

  “Wife, what, I’m not married, what are you talking about?” Mateo replies.

  “Good, I’ll eat her afflictions, and she should return to normal,” the girl states placing a palm on Silvia’s head.

  Her hand glows letting off a brilliant iridescent light.

  Ability activated, Consumer of Afflictions.

  The girl steps back holding her wrist as her eyes turn toward Mateo, before colored with disdain, but now filled with desire.

  “Ellen, return to your room,” Fresnar demands.

  “But father, I want him inside me, he is powerful, let me consume him,” Ellen says her eyes alight with hunger.

  “To your room child!” Fresnar demands.

  Ellen’s eyes gloss over returning to a state of mild irritation and she returns to her room.

  “My apologies, my daughter has the ability, Consumer of Afflictions, she can consume the afflictions of her target transferring them to herself, it is useful for a healer, but also dangerous, when she consumed your companion’s affliction she was afflicted with it for a few moments, though she did not desire you intimately, she did see something in you that she wanted, anyway, I must attend to my daughter, I trust you won’t be so foolish as to take advantage of an Apostle of Revival while she recovers from her afflictions,” Fresnar states before taking his leave.

  After a few moments Silvia opens her eyes and sits up rubbing her head. She seems confused and distraught.

  “Silvia, are you ok?” Mateo asks.

  “I was communing with Fate when, he gave me a vial, Avarice was with him, why was, wait, I wanted you, I desired you, did we,” she presses her hand against her voluptuous bosom hesitantly, “have you soiled me!” She cries.

  “No, nothing like that, I brought you to a healer to cure your afflictions, you were under an aphrodisiac, do you remember anything else, you said something about a sister being held by hellbent to the southwest,” Mateo questions.

  “Yes, Sister Tesha is being held by the Cult of the Immortal Father, I can’t imagine how they might be defiling her, touching her in places that are not meant to be touched, violating her-,” Mateo grabs her shoulders shaking her.

  “Calm down there sister, why is the Cult of the Immortal Father holding her, what is Southwest of the marshes?” Mateo questions.

  A heavy unsettling presence fills the room, and an unwelcome guest appears before Mateo with a crooked and vile smile.

  “Because that is where the first seal lies,” Dios answers her gaze both lustful and deceptive.