Monster King

Chapter 25 - You're only human

He wiped his tears away and cracked a smile.

"Oh that story." He hummed and leaned back. "Well, your Aunt Boa had the great idea of trying to rob my castle. She heard about my guitar and thought stealing the king of deaths guitar would be cool. So, the wonder twins snuck in and barged into my room. Unaware that I'm nocturnal."

I tried to fight it, but I couldn't stop the laughter that was bubbling up. 

"What? Seriously?" 

He nodded and laughed to himself.

"Yeah, she saw my Nintendo and sparked a conversation. I playfully joked if she could beat my Mario score. I'd let her and her sister out alive. And her victory, sparked everything.."

A soft smile rested on his face, and for the first time ever. He seemed content. Which honestly made me smile. Yeah, this was the man mom told me about.

"Two, why did the light guardian curse our family?" I asked.

His content smile slowly faded and he spat out a heavy breath. 

"Well to prethis. I am the youngest Guardian to date. Freyr had beef with the last Guardian of Death. She never told me about it, but she did say she'd miss him the most. However, I have no idea how that equated to him hating me."

"Wait, what? You guys weren't born like this?" 

He blinked a few times and shook his head.

"Oh no, we were chosen. The story goes that thousands of years ago we had the goddess. A woman of light, who loved the earth and all things in it so much, that she created guardians to help protect it. She'd pick her chosen people and bestow the powers onto them. And we can pass them down as we please to our offspring or someone else who shows true love for the domain. I was chosen by Libitina. The first Guardian of death. However, only me and the guardian of art are second generations."

I nodded.

"Wow…that's like a fairytale."

He nodded.

"We also can have ceremonies to create a new Guardian as we see fit. However, we'd have to all agree it's needed and that the person fits."

"I see, that's why you all have so many kids…" I mumbled. "But anyways, back to the curse."

He grumbled.

"Right..umm so the already established hate was there. Then there was the girl. A mortal woman who stumbled into the forest. Long story short, she chose me over him. And he wasn't happy about that. Which caused the genetic curse. Your mother's and I curse is different. That was done by the guardian of love. A job he did for Freyr."

"What? That's so petty? Are you kidding!?"

"No, he doesn't like losing. So if he loses, we all lose. That's how he works." He sighed.

"I see why Nick wants to kill him…" I mumbled.

"He thinks he really is a god. We can never punish him either, because he supports everyone's domains too well. Plus he's the best effect on lessening human interference. So, they hesitate to punish. Especially since he only effects me…"

I wonder…

"You didn't make her cheat, did you?" I asked.

He glanced away. "Maybe I wasn't the saint here.."

"You’re an idiot…so you are at fault."

"That was a long time ago! I made mistakes, I'm still making mistakes. You all shouldn't be punished for that. Especially after all this time.." 

I took a breath. Dial it back, the act had to have been a long time ago. Even if he did wrong, Freyr is still being petty.

"Anyways, I've had my turn. So about Casey, right?" I asked.

He looked surprised, but nodded.

"As I was saying before. I don't know how I feel about it. I'm happy for her, but I'm a bit jealous, I guess."

He nodded."How come?"

"Well, she's…. She's supposed to be my bestfriend. Me and her against the world. I've never…not found her attractive either. It just feels like. I've let a chance go, ya know? Then again, I don't think I ever wanted it to happen. Because she's also like my annoying sister. It's complicated…" 

My dad chuckled and sat back, clearly enjoying the softer topic.

"I think I got the picture. You like this dynamic you two had. Knowing somewhere deep you wanted more, but preferred where you were. And now that the idea of a chance seems to be gone. It can hurt."

Wow…that was actually right on the money…

"Is my soul that easy to read?" I joked. 

"No, I just know my own flesh and blood." He replied. 

I looked away . 

"That was super cheesy, old man."

"Hey, we've got plenty of women here who'd love to date the prince of darkness. Just say the word. I've got a mermaid with your name on it."

I chuckled. 

"As tempting as that is. I think romance needs to be a distant dream for me right now. On a more important note, my friend Molly. Could you teach me that materialization thing? I want to help her out."

My dad sat back and nodded.

"Sure, will start with that tonight. If you keep coming for the next few weeks. We should hit all the basics. Shadow crawl, corpse summoning. Your soul connection is already better than most, so will just refine it a bit. Then I'll let your sister take over from there."

"Did you say shadow crawl? And corpse summoning!?"

He nodded. 

"Cool right? You can summon the dead to help you out. Your brother Cyrus is the best at Shadow crawl and summoning. He'd probably be a lot of help. I'll introduce you."

"Can you…explain why I have so many siblings?" I asked. "Like, I get the whole having an heir thing, but-"

He sighed and rubbed his face. 

"To be honest Nyx, I just, I wasn't right in the head.  Prior or after your mom. The curse made me avoid dating for a while. Then, I stopped caring and made a lot of mistakes. I love your siblings to death. But, I wasn't the best person. The same could be said after your mom as well. But things are looking up now." He said with a smile.

"I'm glad, I'm starting to realize. That even if you're the guardian of death. You're still only human."