Punishment

My head was throbbing with a familiar pain when I awoke the next morning. The sweet taste of the wine from the previous evening had soured into a foul and sickly flavour. I groaned as I slid out of my bed, the room span for a short while and I felt lightheaded at the sudden motion, but I quickly recovered my senses and got dressed for the day. I felt awful. The familiar regret that accompanied the morning after a night of drinking hit me and I opened my window to relax in the morning breeze. As I looked out of the window, I felt that I would throw up and leaned over, readying myself but the sensation eventually subsided.

I trudged out of my room and saw the others sitting and eating, Sybil looked equally hungover though Korin and Rayall were frustratingly chipper and showed no sign of being affected by last night. “Morning” I groaned, receiving a grunt from Sybil as I lowered myself into a seat and began picking at the food. My stomach was growling, though it seemed that food only served to upset it further.

A door opened and I turned my head, Cleo and Sara were coming out of a room. The two girls blushed as we saw them both, their night-time escapade worn plainly on their faces. They were dressed in fresh clothes, though Cleo’s shirt seemed to bulge around her chest from wearing one of Sara’s shirts that were too small for her bust.

We grumbled some more, ignoring the upbeat moods of Korin and Rayall, and ate the food though left most of it on the plates. At last we dragged ourselves back to our feet and pushed out of the door, walking down to the training hall. I wasn’t sure if we would survive the day.

“Oh, this is going to be fun” Orion said with a smirk as he saw our weary and tired faces. “Looks like you’ve all had a good night, you can see what that kind of fun can do to you when you’re on a contract.” He added as he drew his blade and pointed it at me.

I groaned and staggered forwards, taking one of the training swords from a barrel to the side. By the time my duel with Orion was completed I was a bruised and bloodied wreck. It seemed that he went harder on me than usual, hitting me with more **** and cutting me deeper with the steel. My sluggish attacks did nothing and were more useless than usual as he easily knocked them aside or evaded them. By the time we had finished, I had the need to excuse myself to the bathroom so that I could regurgitate what little I had eaten in the morning.

When I returned to the training hall, it looked as though the others had experienced a similarly painful fate. They were lying down and nursing their welts, even Cleo and Sara barely had the energy to heal their own wounds.

We continued our training with lessons from Astrid, it was a less sickly activity without the physical exertion, though it seemed that the effects of the **** had limited the amount of mana that I could draw upon. My aim when using my abilities was also greatly reduced, with one lightning bolt that was meant to land on the wall instead sparking off of one of the crystals. I received a lengthy admonishment for that misuse.

With our magical training and our sword drills complete, we were dismissed for lunch. At that point, my hangover had begun to subside, and I was able to keep more food down than I had in the morning. It also helped that we were served with a stew that was far easier to keep down. With lunch over, the day continued to move at its frustratingly slow pace, and we journeyed to the library for a lesson with Anoir.

“I have taught you about most of the common monsters that you may encounter as an adventurer, it is up to you to remember the information and use it to your advantage” Anoir started the lecture. “There are, of course, other monsters out there that you may come across, in the time that we have together I can’t teach you about them all and this week we will focus more on strategy rather than monsters. Because of this, I am giving you all a Bestiary” she said as she raised a small stack of books and laid them out in front of each of us.

The book was a red tome bound in leather with golden lettering reading The Bestiary with the graceful depiction of a dragon beneath in the same gold. “The Bestiary contains information on every species of monsters that have been discovered, including their appearance, their strengths, their weaknesses, their habitats, everything that is known about them. I’ll let you have a read through it today and begin on the strategy training tomorrow, I doubt you’ll finish it during your time in the Citadel, but it will become an invaluable tool as an adventurer”

A chorus of “Thank you” went up from each of us as we fingered the leather covers and opened the tome, carefully flicking through the pages and admiring the beastly images. Unlike some of the others that I had seen, this book seemed to have a sense of value, as though it was worth a small fortune in itself.

“Go on, I’m sure you want to get to reading it. I’ll be here if you have any questions about the monsters” Anoir said as she took one of her own books to begin reading. We began to leave the table and find our spots in the library, Cleo following Sara to her seat and sitting next to her as they each read their books. I couldn’t help but feel a bit concerned about her, she seemed to like Sara greatly and I was worried that Sara saw what they did as simply something fun. “Aucus, wait there a moment” Anoir said as I rose to find my own spot in the library.

I turned to her, stopping halfway from leaving. “Yes?” I ask as I go back to the table and stand beside her.

“Sit down” she said as she pushed out a seat near to her, “I think I have something on your Lilith”

My eyes widened at the prospect and eagerly go to the seat that she had pushed out, “What is it? Do you know who she is?” I asked, practically forgetting about the book that I had been so excited to read moments before.

“I should tell you that nothing is certain, it’s just what I think based on the information you gave me” she said cautiously. I nodded my head, ignoring her comment and just eager to learn more. She sighed, “It sounds as though she participated in the thousand wars, I’m not sure on which side, perhaps neither side” she started to explain.

“There was a text that survived from that time, it was a part of a geological survey. It detailed an account of a golden eyed woman who was able to still a volcano that was on the verge of eruption. Given the size of the volcano it is likely that it could have scorched half of the world, the power that that would take…” she trailed off in awe, “I can’t even imagine”

I stared at her, “How? I never heard about anything like that before”

She shook her head, “I don’t know, it was called Mount Caritton in the account, but I have never heard of such a place. It is possible that the name has changed over the years. I’ve never heard of any ability that an adventurer could possess that would have the power to still a volcano, let alone one of that size. If she is still alive and you are getting visions from this woman, then she could very well be the most powerful adventurer to have ever lived” she said. I nodded my head, I knew that Lilith was powerful but had never heard of any use of her power before, it was humbling.

“What about the adventurers that could use all of the abilities?” I asked, quizzically, “Could she have been one of them”

“Possibly” she said, “Though what I read said that there were two enemy armies near the mountain at the time. It is likely that there would have been one such adventurer among them, and yet they did not do anything to stop the volcano. I think she is more powerful than them” she said and paused in silence, letting the weight of her words sink in.

“You should be careful Aucus, I don’t know what someone with her power wants with you, but I would wager that it isn’t good”

I nodded my head slowly, still thinking about what I had learned. It seemed I would have even more questions for Lilith. Would they ever stop coming? “Thank you Anoir” I said at last. “For finding all of this for me, it means a lot”

She gave me a smile, “No need to thank me Aucus, I had fun doing the research” she said, “besides, it is my job to make sure you are equipped to survive as an adventurer”

I smiled at that, and she let me go to read the bestiary that she had given to me. It was an interesting read, there were so many monsters that I had never heard of before, that weren’t even mentioned in the over text that we had been learning from. I spent my time focusing on the water monsters like River Serpents, Krakens, Sirens, and Leviathans. I didn’t think I would be likely to come across many monsters like them, being so far from the sea and unsure I felt too comfortable with the idea of being surrounded by so much water without any land in sight.

With our time in the library coming to an end, we met back up as a group and decided to struggle on through our hangovers and train some more. We walked through the opulent hallways of the Citadel to the gardens, finding our usual spot and beginning to train.

I was practicing some more with my water lash, focusing on giving it more stability and allowing it to move in a smooth stream so that it could become faster and more powerful. I had told the others about my water lash ability after they had seen me use it in the trial at the end of the first week. After a while my mana was beginning to drain and I decided to take a quick rest, going over to Sara who was doing likewise.

“Are you going to do anything about Rothurk whilst he’s in the Citadel?” I asked after a moment of silence, “I’ll help you if you want”

She shook her head, “No its not the time” she said after thinking about it, “don’t get me wrong, I want to more than anything. But no, I can’t. He’s too well protected here, there are guards everywhere and there will be an investigation if a noble turns up dead” she explained. “I’m angry, I want him dead, but I’m not stupid”

I grunted my agreement at that, “You’re probably right, I’ll help you whenever you need it though” I said, reiterating my promise to her. She smiled at that, “Maybe when you’re trained though, I don’t want you to die”

She smiled again and gave me a soft punch in the arm, “Thanks Aucus” she said at last, “thanks”

We sat together in silence for some more time before I saw her watching Cleo and spoke again, “So… you and Cleo, huh?” I said, seeing her cheeks turn a rosy colour at the comment.

“It was just a bit of fun” she said awkwardly, “she’s pretty cute don’t you think” she added as she looked at the buxom blonde

I looked her way as well, “Well yeah, but I didn’t realise that you saw it too” I said with a little smile.

She smirked at that, “Relax Aucus, I’m more than happy to have some fun with you too” she said in a seductive voice, making me excited at the idea.

I swallowed and composed myself, “Just be careful with her Sara, I think Cleo really likes you” I said at last. I looked at the way she kept on looking back towards Sara as she trained, “It looks to me like she might want more than some fun” I said.

Sara looked back towards Cleo and furrowed her brow in thought, “You think?” she muttered to herself.

Feeling my mana restored, I went back to my training and continued to use my magic for another hour or so before we returned to out rooms for the day. We didn’t drink again that night, having learned a valuable lesson the night before.