Chapter 104 - On the Nature of Monsters

Zeke followed Abby as quietly as he could manage, but it felt like every footfall was met with a crackling leaf or a snapping branch. How the woman managed to step so lightly and move so silently was entirely beyond him. He wasn’t completely unfamiliar with stealth – in the troll caves, he’d relied it on pretty heavily – but there was a marked difference between traversing a tunnel without unnecessary sound and doing the same in a forest, even one so sparse as the one in which they’d found themselves. If it came down to concealment, he had little confidence that he’d accomplish much.

“At least it’s not snowing,” he muttered to himself, eyeing a snowdrift in the shadow of a boulder, where the sun hadn’t melted it.

“What was that?” asked Talia, who followed close behind. “Did you see something?”

The girl was incredibly jumpy, but Zeke couldn’t really blame her.  Not after what she’d been through. His circumstances had been different, but he’d probably been of a similar disposition when he’d first escaped the troll caves. It was only because of Abby’s influence that he’d even begun to recover some sense of normality. If that was even possible in a world with monsters and giants and magic.

“Nothing,” he muttered. “Just anxious.”

Abby looked back, saying, “He’s just itching for a fight. It’s been like three days since he hit something with his club, so he gets a little antsy.”

Zeke let out a long-suffering sigh. “I am not antsy,” he said. Though Abby wasn’t wrong. He was itching for a fight – not because he was particularly bloodthirsty, but rather because he’d heard so many stories about how strong and powerful the giants were, and he’d been looking forward to seeing how he measured up. Now, he’d likely never get the chance. They’d pick through the corpses like a group of scavengers and then be on their way. The whole thing just left a bad taste in his mouth. “And it’s a mace, not a club.”

“It does sort of look like a club,” came Talia’s quiet response.

Zeke balled his fists, but he didn’t argue, mostly because they were right. As valuable of a weapon as Voromir was, it still looked incredibly primitive. The description of the mace said that it was upgradeable, just like all of his skills, but he had no idea what such an upgrade would entail. Would the mace change its form? Or would it increase in power via something more internal? Whatever the case, the questions were moot because he similarly had no clue how such an upgrade would be achieved.

But even though he knew the teasing was good natured, it still bothered him a little. Ever since he’d begun to work on his technique, Zeke had come to resent the notion that he was little more than an untrained barbarian. Certainly, there was some truth to it, but that didn’t do anything to allay his self-consciousness. The only solution, as far as he knew, was to meet the problem head-on, which was why he’d been spending every spare moment sparring with Talia or practicing the forms he’d been taught by Master Silas back in Beacon.

Zeke only wished he could speed up the process. Back on Earth, he’d always prided himself on being a technician on the field. He had practiced so much that his throwing motion, his swing, and his technique behind the plate had been absolutely flawless. That, coupled with his well-earned ability, was why he’d been a cut above other prospects. In fact, he’d always looked down on his teammates who had undeniable talent but lacked the work ethic to get the most out of it. Now, he was one of them. Not by choice, but by circumstance. And every time someone reminded him of it, it frayed his nerves a little more.

These thoughts clouded his mind as they made their way to the valley where Abby had seen the giants’ ill-fated battle against the mammoth herd, and if nothing else, it made the time pass a little faster than it otherwise would have. So, before he knew it, Zeke was kneeling beside Abby at the edge of the clearing, looking out over the valley to see the scattering of corpses. Luckily, it was cold enough that decay hadn’t set in during the couple of hours since Abby had left them behind. However, as he studied the bodies, Zeke did notice something odd.

“Is that one still alive?” he asked, pointing at a smaller giant dressed in leathers, as opposed to the furs and chainmail the rest wore. He could see the faintest misting of exhaled breath hovering before the thing’s mouth.

“No,” Abby said without looking. “She got…wait. I think…you’re right!”

Abandoning his concealment, Zeke jogged forward, covering the ground quickly. Talia’s light footfalls followed in his shadow, though Abby passed him at a dead sprint. In seconds, she was kneeling beside the injured giant – or was it a giantess? Zeke couldn’t tell until he drew much closer, and even then, the monster’s form was androgynous enough that he wouldn’t have sworn by her gender. Reflexively, he used [Inspection]:

Gerd – Level 19

As Zeke drew closer, the giantess’s gender became more apparent. And given the results of [Inspection], she was alive. Otherwise, the Framework would have listed the giantess as a corpse.

“Do you have any of those potions you got from Tucker?” asked Abby, kneeling beside the huge figure, her hand on a bloody wound.

“The healing potions? Why?” Zeke asked, a little confused. “Wait – you want to save her?”

“Yes,” Abby stated.

“Why?” asked Talia, asking the question Zeke had been thinking.

Abby looked up, seeming annoyed. “Did you inspect her?” she asked.

“I did,” Zeke said.

“And what do you see?” was her next question.

“She’s level nineteen,” he said.  “Nothing else special. She’s not even an elite.”

Abby sighed. “She’s a person, Zeke,” the blonde woman said. “Think about it. She’s only got a name. Not a generic label. Like when I used [Keen Eye] on the big mammoth over there, it called it a ‘Mammoth Alpha’. Just like all monsters. But with people, it’s just –”

“A name and a level,” Zeke interrupted.

“Does it matter?” asked Talia. “We came here to hunt them, right? If you need more justification, they’re responsible for countless deaths in the Red Wastes. She’s probably killed dozens of people in their raids.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Abby said.

“Evidence suggests otherwise,” was Talia’s retort. “Jotuns kill people. That’s who they are. You say this one’s a person, like it makes some sort of difference. It doesn’t. They’re still an enemy of humanity.”

“Some people would say the same about you,” Abby said, her voice carrying despite the fact that it was little more than a whisper.

For her part, it took Talia a moment to process what Abby had said, but when she did, her eyes soon found the ground. Her shoulders slumped, and her head hung low. A soft sob escaped from between her lips.

“Talia, I’m sorry,” Abby said, rising. “I didn’t mean –”

“No,” Talia said, the word coming on the heels of a loud sniff. “I know what you meant. I’m a monster, right? Maybe I’m under control for now, but…b-but it’s only a matter of time before I lose it. It might not happen soon, but eventually, I’ll give in to my nature. Just like those Jotuns.”

“That’s not what I was going to say,” Abby pointed out.

Talia looked up, her eyes flashing. “Then say what you mean,” she said.

“Just because Gerd is a giantess doesn’t mean she has to be our enemy,” Abby said. “We can coexist. She’s a person, and her race doesn’t define her.”

“Hundreds of years’ worth of history would disagree,” Talia stated.

Left unsaid was whether she was talking about her own situation or the giantess’s. Either way, it was a compelling argument. While the actions of a group of people – or monsters – weren’t always reflective of its individual members, it would be naïve not to use them as an indicator of what to expect. And in the case of the Jotuns, all evidence suggested they were a warlike people who held fast to a culture of raiding the defenseless villages of the Red Wastes. The real question was whether nor not they were willing to condemn a potentially innocent person to death, based solely on the actions of her kin.

“We’re helping her,” Zeke said. Certainly, he had zero issues with slaughtering a monster population, but dealing with people was different. He needed to hold himself to a higher standard. However, that didn’t mean they had to be stupid about it. “But we’re going to restrain her and take her back to the cottage, where I’m going to interrogate her. If she says the right things, we’ll set her free. But if not…”

“Do you think that’s fair, though? How would you act if someone took you captive?” Abby asked.

Zeke sighed, running his hand through his hair. “I have no idea, Abby,” he admitted. “This is all new ground to me. I’m just playing it by ear.”

“I still think we should just slit her throat, get the experience, and go on our way,” Talia stated. “None of you knows what it’s like to fight your nature. I do. And I know how hard it can be. Her nature is to kill people like us, and I’m not willing to trust that she’s going to be able to resist.”

Zeke had to acknowledge that Talia had a unique perspective on monsters and monstrous people; he'd seen first-hand how difficult it was to break her away from her instincts. More than once during their sparring sessions, she’d lost control, and what had been a friendly practice session had become something far more dangerous. She’d even used skills on him once or twice. He didn’t blame her. He knew just how much she struggled against her nature. However, while he didn’t really blame Talia for losing control, he couldn’t deny that it was a powerful influence on her. Would it be the same for Gerd, the giantess, though?

“We can’t just kill her in cold blood,” he said.

“I’ll do it,” Talia replied. “I’m already a monster, so…”

“You’re not a monster, Talia,” Abby insisted.

“I know what I am,” was the undead girl’s response. “I feel it. The hunger. The need. The desire to just give in and let it take me over. You keep saying that I can master it, and maybe that’s true. But whether or not I keep it under control is irrelevant. It doesn’t change what I am.”

“I’m not –”

Zeke interrupted, “Look – we can have this discussion later, okay? I can’t think this is a good place to have this debate. I’m sure there are scavengers around, and I really don’t want to get into a fight right now. Let me just loot these things, then we can tie up the Jotun and take her back to the cottage. Any objections?”

Talia looked like she wanted to say something, but she refrained. Abby said, “Nothing from me.”

Zeke sighed, wondering what he was going to do to mend the growing rift between the two. If it was just a difference of opinion, that wasn’t a big deal. It was even natural. For example, he and Abby didn’t always see eye to eye, but they managed well enough. However, if it went deeper than that, it could easily fester into something much more dangerous to their fledgling group.

And Zeke wanted it all to work. He was perfectly fine making his way through the Radiant Isles with only Abby for company, but that didn’t mean it was his goal. He liked Talia, and he wanted to help her find her way. However, if it came down to a choice, he knew which one he’d make.

These thoughts enveloped his mind as he knelt beside each of the Jotuns, looting them of their valuables. And their toes – a curiosity he’d chosen not to question. In addition to their armor and weapons, he was also rewarded with a handful of crude coins, a few gems, and a few vials of their blue blood. The moment he’d finished, he moved onto a pair of mammoths, and he was happy to find an elite beast core for his trouble. Otherwise, he only got a couple of hundred pounds of mammoth meat and a few massive skins that he hoped would make good blankets. By the time he finished looting, the Jotuns had begun to disintegrate.

Pulling a rope from his spatial storage, Zeke set about binding the still-unconscious giantess’s limbs. He had no notion of how strong she was, but the rope was enchanted for increased strength. After Abby had bought it back in Beacon, he had given it a bit of a workout, and even with his strength, he was unable to break it. So, he could only hope that the giantess would be similarly impotent.

Abby finished pouring a potion down the giantess’s throat, which she swallowed reflexively. When she stood, Zeke asked, “How long until she wakes up?”

Abby shrugged, saying, “I have no idea. She was really close to dying, so…I hope we can get her back to the cottage.”

“If not, I’m sure we can deal with her,” Zeke stated. Then, he directed Talia to the giantess’s feet, while he grabbed her under her arms, and they set out for the cottage. The trip back was uneventful but awkward, given their burden. Thankfully, the Jotun woman remained unconscious throughout, and when they drew close, Pudge found them and escorted the group back to their camp, where they found Tucker sitting by the fire.

“You captured one?” he asked, a slight glint in his eyes. “Is it alive?”

“Yes,” Zeke said, a little put off by the alchemist’s enthusiastic question.

“Good,” the man said. “Giant blood is extremely valuable. Once you’re done with…ah…whatever it is you brought it back here for, I’d appreciate it if you would allow me to drain it.”

“Gross,” Talia muttered.

“She’s a person, man,” Zeke said. “I’m not letting you drain her blood.”

“It is a monster, and even if it wasn’t, it’s no different from giving blood back on Earth,” argued Tucker. “

“We are not having this conversation again right now,” Zeke said, seeing that they were about to rehash the discussion they’d just had. “Just…just table it, okay, Tucker?”

The big man shook his head, saying, “If you say so, but you’re just throwing money away. And some of the potions I could make with that as a base. I’m a guest here, though, so I’ll play by your rules.”

“Good,” Zeke said. “Can you help us clear a spot inside? We need to ask some questions here.”

“Why?” asked Tucker. “You got what you wanted, right?”

“I think I can answer that,” Abby said. “Zeke has a hero complex, and I’m sure he wants to find out more about the Jotun’s raids on the villages in the Red Wastes.”

“I don’t have a hero complex.”

“Sure, you don’t,” Abby said, patting his forearm. “It’s okay. We all love you just the way you are. Now, let’s interrogate a giantess.”