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Lyra’s needle flashed and the sound of cloth shifting across cloth filled the air as she worked.

“Just to keep my thoughts busy... why do you have a problem with the Ranker? it seems a bit, ah ,personal that you would come to the mansion and do… what you did,” said Lyra as she continued to pick apart clothes and measure them against Rain.

Rain’s back tensed for a moment and Lyra flinched in surprise.

After a moment he began to speak.

“When I was a human, a leveler, I never leveled up. I stayed at level one my entire life.”

Lyra blinked. What did he just say? That, that couldn't be right. Everyone leveled, even if just a little. 

“You couldn't level? What do you mean?”

“I could level, but I wasn't allowed to, the Ranker commanded I be made a pariah of Lynthia. If I tried to hitch a ride away on an inter-city caravan I would be beaten and tossed out. The town was my prison and everyone in it my guards out of fear of what the Ranker would do to them if I wasn’t kept like that. I was made Lynthia’s runt, I was made that way because that was what the Ranker wanted. Making me small and despairing was the point, a Black Mark, to put a barrier between what my life could have been that I can look toward but not reach, like an animal in a zoo looking at the wide open wild.”

“What a sadistic thing to do to someone…”

“I’ve seen him do things to people that you wouldn't believe. He rules Lynthia with an iron fist, If someone annoys him he either disappears them and they are never seen or heard from again or he makes a public example out of them in the most brutal way possible.”

“I saw some scary devices in this mansion. Someone who would keep things like that in his own home, it’s very concerning, he seems like a cruel man. ”

“You don't know, you just don't know. He... One of the few people who tried to help me... He dragged by her hair to the town square and… I found what was left of her the next day. I was eight years old and she was…”

Rain’s voice was becoming snarled, growling slipping into his words, his breath getting heavy and ragged. A splintering sound rent the air and the arm of the chair ripped away in his paw. He stared at it, and then curled his digits. The wood crunched to splinters beneath his pads and he let it rain down on the floor with a sigh.

“I did try, I snuck into the town’s library and taught myself basic things. It never really mattered though, and as I got older I became more sickly, a Human needs to level, I think, if you don't your body doesn't ever grow properly. I was so incredibly weak and malnourished and stunted that a Goblin could have broken me over its knee, I couldn't kill a regular animal let alone a monster. I stuck to the low leveler’s part of town and tried to get by and escape notice, to survive as best I could. I worked on live trapping, but the monsters around Lynthia aren’t really trappable, too strong for anything I could make in my state anyway, in the end it had to be the dungeon, but alone the dungeon was a death sentence.”

“Why did the Ranker do that to you?

“When I was young the Ranker took a liking to my Mother and tried to take her for himself. My Father took issue with that and attacked him. He lost.”

Lyrah paused. That wasn't an uncommon story in her home city. Being so many levels above another meant it was very easy to get away with doing bad things to low levelers. The larger the gap in levels the more easily the abuse happened. It was a complicated dynamic of pressures and interests and potential that broadly kept people from going too far but in the end a high leveler could do whatever they wanted to a low leveler if they really wanted to, especially to those who lacked social ties and had stagnated in their leveling potential. Giving the appearance of being an up and comer was a protection in itself.

“The Ranker did things to my Father that my Father never spoke of, at the very least crippling him, but in the end the Ranker let him go. I think he wanted him to live with what had happened and what he did to my Mother in front of him, to live with the memory. He’s done that kind of thing before. I… understand why he does that now, traumatic memories don't go away, they are always there, in your mind, like little demons. It broke him, it broke my father. He was… it was like he was disappearing in front of my eyes, becoming a hollow shell. He drank himself to death. He barely acknowledged I existed toward the end.”

Lyra felt her heart go out to him as emotion welled up in her chest, what Rain had been through in his past life hurt to hear, to lose a parent like that, well she knew what that felt like, his words cut deep. She could almost picture the vulnerable wounded person Rain had been, she suddenly felt protective of him, becoming a little teary-eyed at her own imagining. It took her a moment to recall that he was now the massive beast in front of her. Rain the monster didn't need protecting, he was too strong for that.

“And because he was my father I was given the status of pariah too, a Black Mark upon our family, what little was left of it.

“You need to kill him,” said Opal. She had returned to the room and had begun boiling water over the stove. “Gobbos don’t like revenge against big monsters, but this… you need to kill him.”

“My hate for him is a different kind of hate than toward the ones who murdered me, that pain is fresh and sharp, what the Ranker did I have lived with for most my life, it became normalised, deeper, like a dull aching burn. I can’t just kill him, not anymore, I need to make him suffer, to make him feel some small sliver of what I felt. That’s why I killed and ate his harem, I want to see that moment when he realises what I did, to see it in his eyes. I want to…” His nose wrinkled in a snarl, his upper lip quivering flashing his teeth, his paws clenched. “I want to ruin him, I-”

Rain cut himself off and bowed his head, going silent.

Lyra continued to work around him quietly, measuring and cutting and sewing. Rain for his part regretted speaking, he hadn't wanted to pick over old memories, memories of being trapped and helpless, victim to the whims of those stronger than him, that was physically repulsive to his current more aggressive monster self. Memories of countless times he had been beaten for trying to steal food to eat, often receiving broken bones in his fragile state that had healed badly, trying to change his situation but being stymied at every turn by those stronger than him, boxing him in, cutting away his future until he was nothing at all. 

He blinked as he realised where his gaze had wandered. Red was sitting with his back to him. Counting coins and picking through various valuables. A little uncomfortable thought wormed its way into Rain’s mind. It wasn't a perfect parallel but Red was trapped like he had been, victim to Rain, and he was quite strong now. He did not like that thought, it was the worst kind of thought, a thought with an element of truth. 

Could he do something to change that dynamic? Should he? He could just eat the Kobold, but unexpectedly, he found he didn't want to. The Kobold had saved Opal’s life, even if it was for the wrong reasons, and he had grown comfortable around the little red lizard person due to all they had been through. 

He eyed the gold the Kobold was obsessing over. Maybe he should just pay him to be a kind of treasurer? He wasn't sure if the Kobold would go for that, it might be simpler to just free him, although he would likely die in the outside world alone far from any Kobold tribe and surrounded by levelers. Might as well skip to just eating him.

He mulled the problem for a time but then decided to put it on the backburner as he couldn't decide how he wanted to deal with it, or even if he wanted to.

Lyra ran cloth down his arm and synched it across with deft motions of her needle. Not fully sewing it, but crossing enough thread that the cloth was held in place temporarily, so that she could go back to it and fix it in permanently once she had checked the fit.

Cloth was shifting rapidly now as the sheep girl covered over Rain’s black fur. Her hands darting across Rain’s body, reaching far due to his size. She was so focused on what she was doing that she genuinely forgot to be afraid and buried herself in her craft, quickly completing the task at hand.

Lyra had done well, a white billowing shirt unbuttoned at the top so his chest fur spilled out, a pair of close fitted brown shorts reaching just above his knee and belted at top and cuffs with a hole cut for his tail, and over the top of this a black hooded coat that cut off a bit below the knee, its fabric patterned with black on a slightly darker black. She had also gone to the trouble of braiding some of the longer fur around his neck in a couple of spots. He looked… Like a dangerous monster wearing clothes, albeit stylish clothes. Lyra realised that her bribes were likely going to be very large bribes.

Rain lifted his arm looking over how well the coat fit his arm with interest. Lyra really had some talent, although he couldn't say he favoured the feeling of cloth on fur.

“Hey careful now, I need to properly sew it in, this was just to check it fits.”

“Hmm, you should have made it tighter. S’not bad though, looks pretty good,” said Opal appearing beside Lyra, still wearing the fur lined coat.

“Well I do know what I am doing, I did tell you.”

Opal squinted at her and handed the sheep girl a cup of tea.

“You are a monster, after all, fashion and style is something you can't even conceptualise. Don’t worry though, I’m sure a little bit of my talent will rub off on you if you stick around.”

She smirked and winked jauntily at Opal before taking a sip of her tea.

A horrified look crossed her face and she spat out the tea in a misted cone, spitting and gagging and wiping at her tongue with her hand.

“Oh my god this is awful! What kind of tea is this?!”

Opal shrugged, “Just some random leaves and dirt I found on the ground.”

Lyra stared at the Goblin.

“Some... what?! Wait, you don’t know what tea is?”

“Yeah I do, it’s leaves and dirt. That's what all the levelers put in their drinks in their camps.”

“That, that's, it doesn't work like that!”

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“Mmm, pretty sure it does.”

“Tea is not leaves and dirt!”

“Prove it!”

Lyra, flustered, turned and marched toward the kitchen area as Opal followed in her wake. She flipped open cupboards until she found what she was looking for, various boxes and jars. She pulled them out and stacked them on the counter.

“Look see, this is tea.”

Opal squinted at one of the jars. It contained leaves. She moved her eyes to the next jar. It contained dirt.

“It’s di-”

“No! It’s dried and ground tea leaves! Not dirt!”

Opal looked at her suspiciously, unsure if this was a trick.

Lyra put her head in her hand and sighed.

“Hey, it’s not my fault if levelers do weird dumb stuff!”

“Oh my god, it’s just tea, I can’t- look, just watch me.”

Lyra snatched up the kettle Opal had boiled and filled a teapot then dumped tea inside of it. She put the lid back on the and the two girls stared at it.

“Is something supposed to be happening?”

“It uhm takes time to steep…”

“Oh.”

Opal, now bored, glanced back over to the jars and boxes.

“What do these other teas do?”

“They are all different flavours and strengths and types. Look this one is a green tea, this one is a black tea, this one herbal, this one….” Lyra trailed off as she looked at the box in her hand.

“What? What is it?”

“This one is a, uhm, aphrodisiac,” said Lyra, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

“Afrodiziack?”

“Aphrodisiac, it does uh, stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” said Opal drawing closer to the box and peering at what was written on it, which was, of course, unreadable to her.

“It makes the person who drinks it, erm, more h-horny and sensitive, s-sexually.”

Opal’s eyes lit up like twin suns with sudden serious interest. 

“Okay, you need to show me how to make tea, lots and lots of tea. Go, now, show me. Tea, go!”

“Uh…”

Before Lyra could formulate a reply to the eager Goblin, who was looking up at her with gleaming eyes from within her fur donut hood, a yell came from behind them. The two girls turned to see Red scuttling on his back away from one of the open packs. The pack was shifting and green light was glowing from within as electricity crackled across its surface. The pack suddenly tipped forward onto the floor and something boney and round rolled onto the carpet. 

Rain, Red, Lyra, and Opal stood and stared. It was a skull. A skull with two horns and a pair of small green flames in its eye sockets.

“It’s Boney Bitch Boy! He’s alive!” exclaimed Opal.

“Wha- where the hell am I?” muttered the skull groggily, its flames drunkenly darting around. 

Rain stalked toward the skull, every motion of his body screaming killing intent. 

“Oh no no no! not you again!” said the skull catching sight of Rain.

“Why are you in my pack? Answer me or die.” 

“I don't know do I! Wait, this isn't the dungeon! You took me out of the dungeon! Why, oh god why?! This wasn't supposed to happen!”

“Ah, that was me,” said Opal scratching the side of her nose. 

“Why did you pick up the skull Opal?”

“I thought it was dead and gone, and well, those horns are quite pointy and it seemed kinda like a rare weapon…”

Everyone stared at the Goblin.

“What?”

 

 

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