Aurea Erinys: The Golden Queen

Verum Apex

I have just finished roaring with Vekalia, the Admiral nowhere to be found. He probably ran.

I grab the lower half of Rigen, and Vekalia grabs his upper half. We walk his body out, into a small clearing above the house.

We begin digging, me using my wings and arms, and Vekalia using whatever she has with her.

We begin to lower his body into the hole, slowly placing it. I can hear Vekalia's tears pattering across the snow. My hearing's improved quite a bit, huh?

We begin to pile the snow and dirt back on, Vekalia looking for a gravestone.

She places one at the front, large as a person.

Here Lies Rigen

The Hell Wolf

May Your Soul Rest Forever In Peace

Vekalia kneels in front of the stone, letting her tears fall. I rub her back, running my warm, scaled palm against her soft flesh.

She turns, bringing me into a hug. I can feel her tears dripping on my shoulder, down my back, before melting from my body heat. Despite the cold, I can still melt water.

I hear a whimpering growl from behind me. I turn, and Barioth is in front of me, head bent to the floor in what seems to be a bow. He's... praying to me?

I approach him, scratching him behind the ear, hearing him purr while leaning into my hand. "Don't pray to me... I'm not one of you... I'm still a human at heart, not monster."

He looks at me, quizzically, before pushing me down, licking my entire head.

"Fine, fine! I get it! I'm one of you now!" I'm laughing while speaking, his relentless affection making me smile.

Vekalia is giggling, laughing at our display. "She needs some love too, okay?"

He stops moving for a moment, before going to Vekalia and repeating what he did to me, the dracophage bugs parting for him.

"haha! Stop! It tickles!" She's on the ground, getting a face full of barioth slobber.

Cute. He's like a big kitten. So, I wonder... why is he here? Did he hear our roars and come to check it out? I doubt it, I would expect them to fear it, not be intrigued... but he did stop and bow to me, maybe my new status ranks me so high on the totem pole that barioth listens to me.

"Well, I suppose we should go get some food, right?"

Barioth looks at me for a moment, before nodding.

"I'll take that as a yes, big guy."

While we walk further down the mountain to find some big game, Vekalia speaks up. "So, what're we gonna do?"

"Well I've been thinking, we kill them all."

"what?"

"Like, the entirety of the commission, hunters, researchers and all."

"okay, but why?"

"Well, why have we been sent out to kill so many monsters?"

"To protect us and others?"

"well, yes. But that only holds true for the biggest, like Fatalis or Alatreon. But, we really could've avoided them if we wanted to. We hunted them for sport, not for survival."