After he had turned down my offer, Irinda and I had helped take Will outside the city through the tunnels. It was an arduous journey, but we made it, finally stepping out into the dark of the night as the sixth moon, Umbraex, reached its zenith. It was fitting in a way, that the last moon a man like Will would see at the end of his life was the darkest of the night. I had wondered, in that moment, whether Umbraex was one of the gods he prayed to.
I'd left Irinda with Will, giving the two of them a moment alone to say their goodbyes. Losing someone you cared about—especially someone who had looked after you most of your life—was difficult. I'd experienced it myself when my father had died, and then again when the [Hero] had ripped through my council. I shuddered at the thought of the [Hero]'s blade stabbing through my chest again.
To distract myself, I'd returned to the place where we had left Brin's body. Only, instead of the pile of ashes and bones I'd expected, I'd found the outline of his burned body and empty ground. That had troubled me more than the phantom pain from my previous life. Had some of the men he had hired returned and taken the body?
I shuddered at the impossible thought of him somehow being alive again. Would the System give power to someone so cruel? It had given power to Aurelion and whoever this A individual the Dock Street gang answered to was. So I suppose it wasn't entirely impossible.
I'd also taken the time to inspect the System messages I'd received throughout my infiltration of The Slumbering Drake.
Beyond the additional level in [Lockpicking], I'd also leveled my [Intimidation] one point, as well as my [Long Blade] skill. [Light Armor] had also increased, though I hadn't actually be wearing any armor. I supposed the clothing I wore must have been what the System considered "light." What the System had not given me was any experience for killing Brin. I hadn't expected it to. I hadn't needed the System to prod me in that direction. It was a task that had needed doing. A mess I had needed to clean up if I had any hope of stopping the rot in my empire from spreading further.
There was still rot, of course. Aurelion had made it clear his stance on things when he'd sent Felix after me, and the unlikely alliance I had possibly forged with the Dock Street gang was still tenuous. They had sent two of their men to clean up Henrietta's and even left double the gold that I'd demanded. But from what she said, they had grumbled about it the entire time.
After that, I'd met with Woldroff again, and I had accepted the deal he offered with one requirement: whatever extortion they did, it had to directly hurt the empire in some way, not just the people. That hadn't exactly left Woldroff happy with me—or any of his people for that matter. But it was the price I'd demanded if they wanted a chance at what I planned to build from the ashes of the current empire. Surprisingly, they'd taken the deal.
I still wasn't sure how to feel about that.
What was especially troubling, though, was the notification that I'd received a few days after we'd buried Will outside the cabin. I couldn't stop thinking about it. About the implications that it carried for everything I was working toward.
Now, I stood at the window of my old room in The Slumbering Drake. Irinda had fully taken over the inn, and even though Brin was no longer here, the girls that had worked for him—even those who he had tricked into marriage—were content to stick around. They trusted Irinda. Looked up to her.
I turned away from the window, tired of staring out at the stone blocks of the city wall. Where did I go from here? There was still so much to do. I'd need to make contact with Lilan again, let him know about the tunnel. Then I'd need to figure out what to do about Aurelion before he came for me again.
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"How are you feeling?" I asked, looking at the young girl sitting on the bed on one side of the room.
Ophelia looked up at me. She'd been staring off into the distance. I used [Insight] on her and was both relieved and disappointed when it just returned the usual information.
=User Information=
Name: Ophelia Lovelace | Title: [Hand of the Dragon] | Class: Rogue | Subclass: Ranger
I didn't know what I expected. Something. Anything, really. But the lack of information was still unsettling. She'd been awake the day after Will's death. But she'd been mostly silent since then, prone to staring off into the distance, as if watching something none of us could see. I'd tried to ask her about it once. Like anything else, the question had gone unanswered.
She didn't respond now, either. She simply looked at me with that same stare, the one that made it feel like she was staring straight through me as if I wasn't even there.
"I'm going to see if Henrietta can do something else for you," I told her, settling onto the bed next to her. My eyes were drawn back to the window, the sunlight pouring in through the grimy glass. I didn't say the last part of my thought out loud. That something with her had to still be broken somehow.
I already knew what Henrietta would say. I'd asked her half a dozen times in the days since Ophelia had come to stay with me at The Slumbering Drake. There was nothing else that could be done. Whatever the empress had done to her had to unravel itself. By all accounts, Ophelia was perfectly back to normal, aside from being endowed with the power of the System. And yet…
I turned back to the girl, whose eyes had faded to that hazy, distant look again. It was so strange seeing her lost like this. I hadn't known her long, sure, but it had been long enough to know she wasn't this… quiet.
I sighed and brought up my Status, looking at everything the System had given me over the past couple of weeks. It was strange to see the numbers so different from what I remembered from that first night. And all the new skills and abilities that I'd acquired. And yet, I was still only Level 8.
I'd regained some of my draconic powers, but I was still a long way from being able to take on the [Hero] in any capacity. I still needed 27 levels to unlock [Dragon Form]. A goal that seemed impossibly far away, especially considering the System's latest update.
I sat there, wondering what would happen if I wasn't strong enough to stand up to Marcus Ashworth when I found myself before him. Would I fail again? If I did, would the System provide me with another chance?
Will's words weighed on me as well. "One chance. Just like each moon gets one chance to rise each day."
I had been given more than one chance. How could I know if I was doing the right thing?
Beside me, Ophelia began to mutter. I turned to her, troubled. She hadn't done this before. Was she getting worse?
So many questions. Not enough answers.
That was part of why the message the System had given me was so disturbing. It only brought about even more questions. I waved a hand, sending the Status information fading away and pulled up the System's last notification once more.
It's golden words emblazoned in the air before me. A beacon of despair brought to life before my eyes.
Quest Updated: Prepare for The [Hero]’s Arrival.
Quest Objective: Grow your power and ready your allies. The [Hero] has arrived. Be Ready.
I felt a shudder work its way through my body as I read the words again and again, Ophelia muttering beside me the entire time.
END VOLUME ONE OF WE CAME BACK AS MONSTERS.
Aria's final stats for Volume One:
=User Information=
Name: Aria Grace
Title: Empress of Dragons
Class: Rogue
Subclass: Thief
Level: 8
=Current Status=
Health: 100 / 100
Mana: 100 / 100
Stamina: 100/ 100
=Attributes=
Vitality: 10
Endurance: 10
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 13
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 7
- Unspent Attribute Points: 3
=Abilities=
Dragon's Flame - Level 1
Dragon's Palm - Level 1
Swift Strike - Level 1
Viper's Bite - Level 1
=Active Skills=
Disguise - Level 1
Insight - Level 1
Lockpicking – Level 3
Sneak – Level 3
Shroud – Level 1
Party Leader – Level 1
=Passive Skills=
Dual-Blade – Level 1
Short Blade – Level 2
Long Blade - Level 4
Light Armor – Level 3
Intimidation – Level 3
Dodge – Level 2
People Person – Level 1
Perception – Level 3
Physical Power – Level 1
Poison Resistance – Level 3
Shadow Walker – Level 3
Ironclad Body - Level 2
Dragon Skin – Level 1
Lust of the Blood Dragon - Level 1
Basic Medical - Level 1
Unarmed - Level 1
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