章 8: Hera
"Please, make yourself comfortable. You're probably starving."
A tendril of vine placed a bowl of soup and water in my lap. The aroma of chicken broth enticed me, but I looked at Hera with a slanted eyebrow.
"What? It's Gooseneck and huckleberry, with a dash of poison!"
"How appetising."
"Just eat it, I swear it's not poisoned." She said, sitting across from me. Her glimmering scales retracted into her skin, revealing her pale white flesh. She looked like a malnourished woman, her ribcage prominent and stomach slightly caving in, her muscles lean. It wasn't particularly attractive but I found myself gawking at her.
Recollecting my thoughts, I asked "How are you able to talk and see?"
She tilted her head in confusion then answered "Oh, my face? Yeah, I actually have a mouth and nose and eyes, I just prefer to hide it to throw potential threats off guard." As she finished her sentence, her face morphed, revealing pale lips, a nose and honey-brown eyes with a vertical slit for a pupil. She even grew eyebrows. "Us Ferras' are pretty good at morphing and changing our appearances. I probably should've shown you my face earlier, now that I think about it."
"Hera the Ferra, huh? How many other Ferras are there?"
"I'm the only one. The only one in this swamp, at least."
"Oh... For how long have you lived here?"
"About half my lifetime. So… 120 years? It's hard to tell since I'm constantly in and out of the Holy Woods."
"Why do you say that? That it's hard to tell I mean."
She looked at me with confusion before answering. "You've probably noticed that time passes faster while in the forest. A few seconds in there equates to hours outside."
I nearly dropped my soup at those words. I've been away from home for hours by now, even though its only felt like two has passed. It really should be just past midnight for me right now. I put the bowl on the side table and got up, frantically looking for an exit.
"Hera, thank you for the food, but I have to go back home now."
"That's a near impossible task boy. Please calm yourself, I can smell that you're panicking."
"How am I supposed to stay calm? Huh?! I don't know where I am, my parents are probably worried sick about me and I have to rely on a monster to care for me. Just take me back. Please."
I looked at Hera with pleading, trembling eyes.
"You're words sting, Kenny." She said quietly, whimpering. "This monster really can't take you back. The fog in the forest is mysterious, you'd need an expert from the city to take you to an exact location." She added, getting up and walking past me.
I had no idea what just happened. I thought that beasts were just beasts, yet my tongue cut her like a dagger, and she wept. I didn't know what to say, how to tell her I was sorry. And I didn't. I couldn't, not yet at least.
The day had taken its toll on me and I passed out on the earthen couch cushioned by raw cotton.
Hours later I was awoken by loud grunts and thumping just outside the glorified tree-house. Jumping off the platform from the tree onto the ground, I saw Hera sparring against dummies. I studied her movements for a bit, noting how she was practically dancing as she launched attacks on the autonomous strawmen and erupting vines from the ground to maneuver in whichever direction she willed.
As she took down the dummies, they stopped reappearing. Her attention shifted to me and a vine speared towards my neck. Stomping my foot on the ground, a rock shot up to knock the vine off course. Her attacks didn't stop there.
The water sloshing alerted me of the vines coming for my neck from my sides. I retaliated by launching myself towards Hera using the earth, stone daggers forming in both my hands. She stood, unmoving. My earthen daggers made contact with her emerald scales.
A shatter resounded throughout the swamp, followed by a loud splash. With no time to recuperate and vines still homing in on me, I willed the earth to swallow me whole, and mole my way around Hera. Her vines followed suit and tracked me, even underground she nearly outpaced me. I went deeper into the crust of the earth until I started to sweat from the pressure of the earth.
Making sure I was safe from her vines; I resurfaced a few yards away from where the battle started. She was gone.
"Hera! I don't know if you're trying to kill me or just venting your frustrations, but I'm sorry! I really am! I said something that was undeserved and I regret it now!"
Silence.
"Great. The fuck do I do now?" I mumbled to myself, still standing still. Silence filled the swamp as I waited for Hera. Waited for her to either reply to me, or strike me again.
"Your movement is sub-par and your one attack was sloppy. It'd have been better to try to pierce my scales rather than slash them with those fickle daggers of yours. What impressed me though, was your magic control and how easily you molded the earth to escape my vines." Heras' soothing voice was now firmer as she spoke to me, once again appearing behind me.
"I'm really sor-"
"It's fine. You were scared, I understand. What you said still hurt me though. I'm willing to forgive you under one condition."
"Wha-" I cut myself off, shaking my head. "Sure, what do you need?"
"Look at me."
I faced Hera. Her scales retracted, face exposed.
"Be my friend."
What followed was a long, awkward pause as I was unsure of what to feel at that moment. Of course, I wasn't going to deny her, but I had no idea how to say 'yes', so I just extended my right hand to her.
"What does this mean?"
"Shake my hand. It's a gesture of respect between two people."
She awkwardly grabbed the outside of my palm with her left hand and shook me nearly unconscious. "Like so?"
"Good enough for now." I said smiling at her.
"Please do not bare your fangs at me."
"Very funny…"
As we walked back to her tree house I asked. "So, how will I get back to my family?"
She sighed before answering "The trip back is easy if you're traveling with someone who knows how to traverse the woods. Usually, the rich looking humans from the big cities come to and from the woods, while the poorer ones go in and I never see them again."
"I see. Do you know how the woods work? Like, why is it such a confusing place, even for you beasts?"
"I myself do not know, but I've heard once from a group of travelers tell one of their young to 'stay away from the fog'. I myself have always felt a strange sensation when traversing the woods, but I don't dare go to unknown areas. I only go in to forage every now and then and come back as fast as possible."
"Based on that, I would say the fog causes people to lose track of time and space. Maybe it's some sort of drug or maybe a spore?"
"Excellent theory, but it doesn't make complete sense since I am able to always get back to my swamp as long as I follow the exact same path. It would make more sense to say that the fog creates an invisible maze of sorts. Say, for example, I take the path back home from my foraging spot, but I leave the forest even a few meters away from where I usually exit, I won't be in my swamp anymore."
"Oh I see what you mean. It's hard to imagine, but I get it. Anyway, would you like to go deeper into the woods someday? To see other parts of the world?"
"Maybe when you find a way to go back, I'll accompany you. Maybe."
After, I stayed with Hera. I was still mindful of my sharp tongue, but we got to know each other very well. We shared stories with each other at the table, mostly her stories about encounters with other people and beasts. Despite her making it abundantly clear that she dislikes conflict, she spoke about her battles as if she was a war veteran.
"…The Reno was so much bigger than me, but because of my speed and its inability to think further than its horn, I won. Speaking of, my beast-friends have told me about two Renos' roaming around the outskirts of the swamp. I'm going to confront them in a few days and I'd appreciate it if you would accompany me?"
"Aren't Renos a bit too strong for me?"
"Oh, don't worry, you're not as strong as me but you're as slippery as an eel, they won't even lay a hoof on you."
Over the past week, Hera has gotten more comfortable around me. It's evident in her speech mannerisms which have become more relaxed and informal.
"And when did you hear about this?"
"Yesterday, while we were training. I have plants around the swamp which act as an alarm for when unknown visitors come by, as well as a message relay system."
I huffed at her statement "You know, when I read about beasts in the encyclopedias at home, I figured you were just like every other animal, savage beasts who kill anything that threatens them, yet here I am, conversing with one of the few intelligent beings that I've come across. I never imagined that I'd get along better with you than with the villagers where I grew up." I felt a tinge of cringe as I said this, but it was the truth. I could see Heras' facial expression shift into one I haven't seen her wear before, a faint smile tugged at her lips.
"I'm flattered, Kenny, but what happened between you and these villagers?"
"Hmpf. It all started when I first started using magic." I wasn't in the mood to explain what the magi games were. "They soon found out that I was actually pretty good at using magic. That I was stronger than them. The kids didn't like that I was getting all the attention and started making up stories about me, stories of how I bullied them and threatened them if they didn't do what I told them to. All the uhh… All the kids ignored me out of fear or envy. Even the adults started to believe them. And their eyes… They looked at me as if I was an animal, despite all I did for them."
Hera looked at me with eyes of pity. I suddenly felt a wave guilt crash down on me as I remembered myself a week ago, also looking at Hera as if she was a monster.
"I know how you feel, Kenny. Thank you for having dinner with me again, but I think we should both go rest now." She said with a smile. If it wasn't for her pale green skin, I'd have thought that Violet was speaking to me.
"Yeah, you're right, see you tomorrow." I replied while getting up. The room we were in, the living room, was between Heras' room and the washroom. My room was across the living room on a separate tree. The four rooms – no, calling them 'huts' is probably more suitable - were all on different trees in a rectangular formation connected by bridges of vine about 10 meters above the ground. It felt tribal, but at the same time modern and comforting, like a child's dream tree-house.
My head hit the pillow of leaves and cotton, and I was about to doze off when wet sloshes of mud and heavy thumping jerked me awake. Hera appeared in my room without a sound and signaled for me to be quiet with her finger over her lips, her emerald armor resurfacing.
"It's the Reno's. Do you want to help me get rid of them now or should we flee?" She whispered.
"No, we can do it now. How can I help?"
"I need you to help me take care of the big one first. If we ambush it, we should be able to kill it off fast. I can handle the smaller one on my own. Now follow me.''
We walked to the hut across my room, closer to the reno's. They were large beasts akin to Rhinoceros with thick, snow-white skin covering their large bodies. Most notably are their boar-like heads with two tusks and a horn ,protruding back towards their body, atop their snouts.
"The chubby one first. You trap his feet in the earth while I go for the kill. On my mark." Said Hera. I replied with a thumbs up.
The Renos stopped grazing and Hera leapt into the air. I took that as my signal and split the ground beneath the beast. Cracks resounded throughout the swamp followed by enraged wails of pain. Just as fast as the encounter started, it ended. A deafening silence filled the air, my heart sending shockwaves to every crevice of my body.
I could hear the Reno gargle on what I assumed to be swamp mud and its own blood. The other beast was fleeing, Hera hot on its tail. I decided to put the big one out of its misery. I dropped down and met its eyes. Black marbles filled the beast's eye-sockets and tears streamed down its leathery face.
"Remember my face boy. May the demons of this continent hunt you to the ends of Ruvelia and bless the lands with your blood." It spoke in a rough voice while spitting blood. "I pray to the gods that you and that wench get thrown in the deepest, darkest cellars for your-"
"I'm sorry."
I couldn't stand to listen to the dying creature much longer and shot a pen-sized needle of rock through its skull.
"I'm back. Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine-"
I turned around to face Hera. Her visage was haunting. Green sludge dried up past her knees, the areas near her joints and crotch where the scales were retracted for better movement, along with her right foot and knuckles were stained with thick, viscous blood still dripping from her person.
"Well, you don't look fine."
"No no, don't worry I'm fine really. I'm just tired is all." I could feel my stomach churn and my face get pale.
"Alright. Let's wash up then. We can sleep in late tomorrow.''
Something about the way Hera spoke and carried herself at that moment gave me the chills, she radiated a grim animosity. Maybe the remaining Reno put up a fight? Or maybe she slaughtered the poor thing for fun? Or out of hatred? Something was nagging at me that Hera purposefully beat it to a pulp, instead of making it a quick and clean kill.
"Sounds good."
Hera the Ferra
-"I won't let it happen again. This time I'll protect my friend. I know that Kenny doesn't fully trust me yet, I can smell it on him. Even so, I will get him back to his home."-
The Reno was slow, its movement suffered due to its large body and she was struggling to get away. Truth be told, I could've killed her a long time ago, but I don't want Kenny to see what I do to these monsters. I prefer that Kenny, or any other human being, doesn't find out about this. If I spilled seemingly unjust blood on human soil, I would truly be branded as a tarnished, a monster.
クリエイターの想い 
Pyrae
Pyrae Thanks again for reading! I hope that you all still enjoy reading my novel as much as I enjoy writing it! Exams are still going on but I’m surviving. Love you all and remember to drink lots of water!
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