Chương 36: Hadrian the Ironwilled

Hadrian yawned, scratching his beard as he let his gaze settle on the pier. He was at work, like every other day, wishing he could be back at home training his kids, whom he still couldn't believe were now Blessens. Though Anadis left for the library pretty early, and he saw Aelia getting ready to meet a friend, he figured he couldn't train them today, even if he wanted to. It was one of those uneventful, uninspiring days, like most had been for years now.

He supposed that was a good thing, since whenever the Blessen Division called on him, it usually meant trouble. But when was the last time he actually had to deal with a real threat? He groaned a chuckle. Never. Aura Cay was extremely safe, and that was a thing to be grateful for. Still, he couldn't shake how bored his days had become. How long had it been since he started working in the Cay Blessen Division? Three years… too long already.

He sighed and dragged a hand down his face, trying to scrub the dullness off. It had been three years since his wife had grown tired of seeing him do nothing day after day.

"You need to get out there and get a job," she had said in her usual demanding tone. Hadrian tried to retort that keeping up with the farm was already enough of a job, but it was true that as a Blessen he could do in a single day what would take anyone else days. And then one day, lo and behold, his oldest son, Noe, arranged a brunch with a friend's father. That friend? She turned out to be much more than a friend.

"I just want you to meet who'll soon be your in-laws, Dad," Noe had said with a cheeky grin plastered on his face. It had completely caught Hadrian by surprise when his son came home with a young elf girl. He introduced her to the entire family as Esmel Venrie, his girlfriend, then cleared his throat and corrected himself, saying, "For now, because I know she'll be my wife."

Everyone had been left slack-jawed, especially Hadrian's oldest daughter, Nora, who had apparently mocked the boy repeatedly for the foul pickup lines he had used on the elf and for the many times that same elf had rejected him. But just like his father, the boy was tenacious and hadn't given up until he finally got the girl. In any case, Noe had arranged the meeting. Marcia came, and so did Hadrian's mother, Anna.

As it turned out, the elf's father, Elen Venrie, was an essential figure in the political sphere—the highest rank tribune here in Aura Cay. During the tedious brunch, a topic arose that stopped the chatter at the table.

"I'm in need of a Blessen who I can count on to be my eyes," Tribune Elen Venrie had stated.

"The pay will be good, and you will face no danger under my authority." Hadrian wanted nothing more than to reject the offer, but one glance from his wife and mother was all it had taken to kill the idea instantly. Noe had nodded eagerly, hands practically begging for approval. The boy just wanted to get on his girlfriend's father's good side. Hadrian could bet the boy probably already imagined himself in a senator's toga even back then. So Hadrian sighed and accepted the job. It was three against one.

And three years later, here he was, doing mundane tasks like overseeing the pier just in case any Grull wandered too close to the coast. None ever did. There was hardly anything worth his time; his most exciting days were spent separating drunk sailors who got into fights at the coast. His eyes drifted to the brass shard-infused Gazers sitting on the corner of his desk. The blue crystals embedded in them were dim and lifeless. They were an excellent device for spotting the cursed energy coming from a Grull.

He'd used them maybe twice in three years. What a waste. To his right, in the corner of his post, sat a small Warding shard. The Warding shard was a finicky bit of kit, but it was the only thing keeping Aura Cay from being caught flat-footed against Grulls of higher ranks. Attuners' handiwork always surprised him. Too clever by half, if you asked him.

The Warding shard was all brass gears and polished wood, with a Grullshard embedded in its center, looking more like a clockmaker's fever dream than a proper apparatus. There was one at each entry post on Aura Cay: north for the forest, south for the sea, and east and west guarding the main roads of the town. The main one was in the center of Aura Cay, where the division's leader, Truss Conti, held his post. Hadrian detested the little man's guts. Too angry. Too greedy. Too pleased with himself.

He was just like most Blessens who thought themselves better because of their blessings. He was one of the men Tribune Elen Venrie had told him to keep an eye on. Once, Hadrian had tried to catch the little bastard in a moment of negligence, but the man had been too cunning to catch. It didn't matter. Hadrian was confident he could handle the rascal if he tried anything funny. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Nevertheless, the Warding Shard served as both a warning charm and a protective barrier. Should a Grull stray into its radius, the crystal would flicker and shriek an alarm. It also emitted a pulse that deterred Grulls from drawing near. Every major settlement had one. It had never trilled before—not in his three years of employment. Staring at the sea, memories of distant battles flooded his mind, the adventures he'd had with his old crew, all of it somewhere above those dark waters.

The many brothers-in-arms he had lost, most left without proper burial beneath those churning waves. He bowed his head for a second in respect for the lost ones. I wonder how Alba is doing these days, he thought, running a hand through his hair. Does he still work in the Pharion Imperium? Then a scowl crept onto his face. Imperator Athrys Tantalor… and even House Delonis. They'd forced his hand, forced him to live this way. They'd turned a man tempered in battle into a pacifist.

His fists clenched until the knuckles turned white. He almost brought his fist down on the table. But he forced himself to breathe, to calm down. He shook his head—No. No one had forced him. He could've stayed and fought, probably would've died in the process, but the decision was his to make, and he chose her, his wife, over the fight to secure a future for her… for all of them. To protect her now and forever until her final breath. That was the promise he had made to Marcia's father before the old man died.

A promise worth keeping, even as regret ate at him. After long, weary hours of mindlessly watching the sea and nibbling at the grapes on plat in his desk, his forehead touched the oak slab table, and before he'd realized it, he drifted off to sleep. A piercing blare cut through the hush of his dreams. Hadrian grunted a curse, dreading waking up. But the blare persisted, ringing in his ear. He opened his eyes to a mirage of colors darting across the little work post and a jarring shriek. What was it?

Then his breath caught for a second. It couldn't be the… His eyes flew to the corner of the room. The Warding Shard was going off, beaming as if a rainbow were trapped inside.

"What in the Gods' name?" He grabbed the gazers and pressed them to his eyes. Through the runic-etched lenses, Grulls' heat signatures should have blazed like beacons, but when he scanned the churning sea, he saw nothing.

"Where's the Grull coming from?" he muttered, grabbing the Warding Shard and giving it a frustrated shake.

"Wretched thing! Why don't you show me where the threat is?" It should have been nearby. The Warding's radius extended only so far, maybe a few miles outside town. So it had to be there, near the sea. Then he noticed the runic etching just below the colorful alarm. Numbers were glinting one by one. He repeated each under his breath, trying to memorize them, before rummaging through his desk and unfolding a map of Aura Cay.

"Here," he blurted, pointing at the map.

"But that's all the way by the chasm." His brows tugged together.

"I don't think this thing can pick up a signal from that far away." He clicked his tongue.

"And that's not even my assigned post. I can't go there." He paced laps around the room. Then he paused, finger wagging at the air.

"Unless it's a Grull so strong it triggered the shard from farther out!" He dashed to the window and peered into the distance, deep into the forest. The sky was dark and thunderous, as if mayhem had broken loose over there.

"If it's a high-tier Grull, they'll need help. None of them can dispatch an Unhallowed. Well, Truss Conti could… but not something stronger. Only I can." As he flung open the door, the autumn air bit at his ears.

"To hell with it." Lowering himself into a crouch, Hadrian's thighs seemed to double in size, veins bulging as he leaped into the air. The golden straps above his black tunic clattered against each other with the wind. He landed in someone's courtyard, tiles cracking beneath his sandal-boots, then hurled himself forward again, soaring past the Acropolis where the Parthenon and Learning Hall stood atop the hill. Another leap, and he was already at the city's outskirts, already able to see the forest gate.

I'll just hop past it, he thought. Don't want to waste time explaining why I'm not in my post. And so he did, soaring through the air with the wind rushing through his hair. Hadrian felt like a spear hurled by a god, arcing toward battle. Adrenaline pumped through his veins like a mountain river in full flood. Suddenly he found himself craving battle. It had been his life before he met Marcia, after all. He thought he'd turned that page, or at least tried to.

But now that it called, he felt its presence like a locked door rattling on its hinges. A part of him that had always been there, now pestering him like an itch. His skin prickled every time he thought of those who had actually bled and fought, while he lived pretending to be a peaceful man and fantasized about violence and vengeance. All that pent-up energy—he would unleash it on whatever Grull awaited him. Grulls fled at the sight of him. At that speed, he soon stood in the eye of the storm.

He ignored the lesser Grulls. Something far more substantial awaited him in the deluge. The grin on his face felt permanent. It had been so long since he had faced a real challenge, and whatever had triggered the Warding Shard from so far away would surely be one, perhaps even more than he could handle. He snorted. No, it won't be. Droplets of rain hit his face like a sting of cold needles as he entered the deluge. The wind was powerful, the rain thunderous.

It was odd, the rain seemed concentrated around the chasm, falling harder there, though it did extend outward slightly. Hadrian pulled out the shard-gazer and peered through the lenses. He could see all the Grulls in the vicinity, mostly Unhallowed, as was the norm in this area. Still, those couldn't have triggered the warding shard. He landed in the creek below the chasm. Shielding his eyes with one hand, he spotted movement in the distance. A Grull? The gazers picked up no cursed energy, so not a Grull.

A person, then, and so deep in the forest? It had to be a Blessen, and more than likely an Emanant, at least, to be able to roam around Unhallowed territory. For some reason, the person was furiously banging their fists against the chasm wall, shouting something unintelligible at the same time. As Hadrian drew nearer, the features became recognizable. It was a young woman in artisan robes and— An Ophidian? This far away from their lands?