Realm Lord
Chapter 85: Stories of the Roses

Chapter 85: Stories of the Roses

Arthur woke up to the sounds of dim voices, not clear enough for him to hear what they were saying but loud enough to rouse him from his troubled slumber. His eyes fluttered open, vision hazy with the remnants of sleep as he stared at the ceiling above. For a moment, he simply lay there, taking a deep breath as his mind still fluttered with images of his nightmare that were slowly fading away like morning mist, leaving behind only a vague sense of unease and loss.

The morning air—if one could even call it "morning" in this timeless place—filled his lungs as he closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to dispel the lingering shadows of his dreams. With considerable effort, he lifted himself up from the heavenly softness of the mattress, letting out a deep yawn that seemed to echo in the spacious chamber. He stretched his stiff arms above his head, feeling the satisfying pop of his joints as his muscles relaxed.

Rubbing his blurry eyes with the heels of his palms, Arthur’s vision gradually cleared to reveal Aziel and the rest of the group conversating on the other side of the room. The faint glow of lanterns cast shadows across the stone floor, illuminating their animated faces as they huddled together.

Aziel was speaking energetically, his hands gesturing wildly in the air as he recounted what appeared to be quite the tale to Lara and the rest of her exploration group. They were listening intently, their faces a mixture of awe and disbelief. Lara, more so than the others, was leaning in with wide eyes and a smile on her face that screamed tell me more, tell me more. It was a stark contrast to her serious demeanor from the previous night.

Arthur turned to hang his feet off the bed before getting up, his beaten and torn up boots making a soft thud against the stone floor. A pleasant sense of physical well being washed over him as he stood.

’Gosh, I haven’t felt this good physically since entering this realm,’ he thought with mild surprise. Arthur felt refreshed, his stomach was full from the previous night’s meal, his wounds were healed thanks to Lara, and he had gotten to sleep on a real bed instead of hard ground. The luxury of it almost made him forget the dangers that lurked beyond the room’s heavy wooden door.

Trying to push his dream to the back of his mind, he made his way over to the group. Their words started clearing up as he approached, the excited chatter becoming more distinct with each step.

"Then I got hit by fucking lightning!! I’m serious, it was crazy," Aziel exclaimed, his hair seeming to stand on end just from the memory. "I got all supercharged and stuff!" He spoke like a giddy little kid. His eyes were alight with enthusiasm.

Upon noticing Arthur approaching, Aziel turned his head, a grin still plastered across his face. "Morning, Arthur," he greeted, gesturing to the others. "They wanted to hear more about the rose field and our journey through it, so I’m telling them how awesome I was." His pride was palpable, chest puffed out slightly as he basked in the admiration of their new allies.

Arthur raised an eyebrow, scanning the captivated faces of Lara’s team. "Why so curious about all that?" he asked, his gaze finally settling on Lara, who almost looked just as giddy as Aziel. Her typical composure had given way to an almost childlike fascination.

"Are you kidding me?" she replied, her voice pitched higher with excitement. "You have to remember you’re talking to an exploration unit. You guys discovered, explored, and survived an undiscovered area of the realm and even encountered unique, never-seen-before corrupted monsters." Her eyes sparkled with scholarly passion as she spoke, her hands clasped together tightly. "There’s nothing more I would want to hear about, really. This is exactly the kind of information we’ve been risking our lives to gather!"

Arthur couldn’t help but let out a small giggle at her enthusiasm. "Those monsters have really never been seen before?" he asked, finding it hard to believe that something so terrifying could have remained undocumented until now.

Lara nodded vigorously, "Yes, if I had to guess, they’re probably unique to the rose field..." Her expression grew even more excited as she continued, words tumbling out rapidly. "Now enough about that—I’m curious about these roses... You’re telling me they carried corruption and even tempted those in their field like they were living things? And you guys saw an abomination that roamed that field?"

She practically bounced in her seat, her composed researcher’s demeanor completely abandoned. "Do you even know how rare that is!? He had the ability to bring back the dead!? That’s so cool!" She leaned forward, eyes wide and imploring. "Please tell us everything!"

Arthur scratched the back of his head, smiling awkwardly at the unexpected attention. "S-sure," he managed, somewhat taken aback by the transformation in Lara’s personality. He couldn’t decide if this enthusiastic scholar or the serious tactician from last night was the real her—perhaps she was both.

Moving closer to the group, Arthur took a seat on the floor, crossing his legs beneath him. The stone was cold against his torn apart clothes, but he hardly noticed as he and Aziel went on to tell them everything they knew about the field of dead roses. They took turns narrating their harrowing journey, occasionally interrupting each other to add forgotten details or correct exaggerations.

Arthur explained how it seemed to be sacred ground to some sort of god of nature, describing the temples and the drawings within them. He told them about the dead monks. He detailed the grim hounds.

His voice grew quieter when he described the nightreavers. And finally, with a tremor in his voice that he couldn’t quite hide, he spoke of the reaper himself—the abomination that commanded the dead.

Arthur did not spare any details... well, besides anything to do with Luke. The pain was still too fresh, the guilt too heavy. He still was not ready to talk about that, and he probably never would be. Each time the narrative approached those events, he would skillfully redirect, focusing instead on the landscape or the creatures they encountered. If Aziel noticed these omissions, he was kind enough not to comment.

But finally, their conversation ended, and Lara and her group were more than satisfied. They had been writing down notes and nodding along excitedly throughout the entire recounting, occasionally interrupting with clarifying questions or gasps of astonishment. She was acting very different than the calm, serious, and stoic person she had seemed like yesterday, but Arthur didn’t mind, enjoying this version of her much more. There was something refreshingly honest about her scholarly enthusiasm that put him at ease.

But eventually, after talking for what must have been hours, serious topics were brought up once again. The lanterns had dimmed and brightened several times during their conversation, almost like mimicking the passage of time in this timeless place. The mood in the room shifted palpably as Lara’s childish look faded back into that of a stern leader. Her spine straightened, her shoulders squared, and her expression settled into one of focused determination.

"All right," she said, her voice taking on the commanding tone from the previous night, "it’s about time we talk about a plan." She gathered her notes, organizing them with practiced efficiency. "First off, if we’re gonna be working together, we need to know each other’s abilities, and our strengths and weaknesses..." She paused, her gaze sweeping across the assembled group before settling back on Arthur and Aziel. "I’ll start."