For the Hate of God

The last surviving Thessalian

Malleteagan’s POV

Breathing the sacred air of Amaaralva again. The destroyed kingdom of Thessalian witches of Soovaree. I have destroyed it, and I have enjoyed every moment of it. Since the day I scattered the mushed remnants of Larissa’s body in this forest, I became so fond of this place. It gave me peace. Almost like Nerzelis. My Lycan is always quiet when we come here. Amaralvanth castle is peeping through forest trees in the distance of a forgotten forest of Soovaree. Amaaralva’s soil is fertilised with the blood and bones of the Thessalian b***h. It feels as if I am stomping and crushing her dead body again when walking through the forest—the unique, nirvana-like sentiment of sacrilege and transcendence, all in one. The feeling of walking on the ground soiled with Larissa’s corpse is liberating. Just to get hold of her spawn, I will finally get my well-deserved peace.

This is one of the last meetings with Kandreah, Thersar, the Fae king and Nexelex, the dwarf’s king. I am glad I managed to get these hot-headed idiots to work with me. I know that each of them has ulterior motives to work with me, but I don’t give a s**t. As long as they are here with the same goal, to defeat Wengarthria, they can take whatever they want as a bonus gift. I just want to squeeze the neck of that devil's spawn and put an ending to the atrocious and tumultuous predicament of that episode of my life. I want to wipe anyone related to the biggest mistake of my life-the one night of f*****g weakness.

I walked down the forest, and pins and needles of excitement went through my body when I remembered the day I killed the b***h. Soon, her daughter will have the same fate.

“Where were you, Malleteagan!? You are late for almost an hour, we are all waiting for you. Thersar almost left Amaralvanth” Nexelex, the pesky little dwarf, moaned and groaned.

God, if I didn’t need the little dude for the higher goal, I would squeeze the s**t out of him as if he was an annoying high-pitch voice squirrel. But, well, I need him, for now, at least.

I just ignored the blabbering urchin and looked at the sight before me.

Amaralvanth is indeed breathtaking, even now when abandoned. Purple haze and poison ivy encompassed astonishing architectural wonder that had no match in any realm. It added to its magnitude and magnificence. It looked magical and divine. Although we Aeolians have an innate aversion towards Thessalians, one has to admit they are unparalleled builders and architects. This magnificent castle is the only thing that remained intact after my rampage following that damned night with Thessalian b***h. I ordered everything to be burned down, apart from Amaralvanth. I have annihilated them all. Well, at least those few Thessalians that survived the battle where my grandparents were slaughtered. I wiped them all out just for the sake of the fun and revenge. Their screams were music to my ears. This was just to cause her additional anguish before I got to her. It was great to exterminate all the Thessalian pests before I killed Larissa. Knowing that she lost everything she held dear made me feel warm during nights in years when I was chasing her. The last surviving Thessalian is Aralyn, and her time is slipping by.

We entered this abandoned beauty. The Interior was still intact. Whilst we took our cloaks off, Kandreah, the annoying bat-leech, clicked with his slender fingers in front of my eyes.

“Amaaralva sub-realm to Malleteagan, knock knock, you hear wolfie?” Kandreah said.

The day will come when I will rip the reptile's head off. But not today.

Self-control, Malleteagan, self-control, I repeated inwardly.

“Thersar, Nexelex, how are we getting on with the equipment?” I asked while calming down bloody Erzleus, the Lycan beast writhing within me and threatening to come out and kill them all.

“My best smiths worked together with Thersar’s best mages, and we are getting there,” Nexelex said with a self-satisfied grin.

“Show me,” I said.

“First thing’s first, moon prince,” Nexelex said with a significant tone of sarcasm laced in his voice. Gosh, what an annoying midget!

“My people came forward to me with the request to join the battle. They want to fight, too. I want to fight with them and alongside your forces. This is our condition to continue to work on equipment.”

“Out of the question!” Thersar exclaimed.

“No way!” Kandreah agreed.

“Not a chance!” I followed.

“And why not?” Nexelex asked.

Kandreah, Thersar and I scoffed in unison.

Kandreah said: “Look, Nexelex, no one disputes that dwarves are a force to be reckoned with…but when it comes to your battle skills…well…no offence…but it will be quite challenging to fight a horde of fighters led by deities and babysit dwarves in the process. You guys are unparalleled craftsmen with unique abilities in magic and crafting enchanted produce, effective magic tools and equipment.

However, when it comes to your combat skills…well…let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

Your size is at your disadvantage. Your fighters will be annihilated in the blink of an eye. We are fighting against demons and deities here, for goodness' sake. Do you really want to lead your fighters to certain death? Be realistic, Nexelex. You can be an invaluable asset in crafting the fighting equipment. You and your people will do no good to us if you get killed. And you guys would be our weakest link in battle and certainly the one to be wiped out first.”

Nexelex huffed and scoffed. The little fella was fuming. However, he managed to preserve his poise and calmly asked.

“Are you all of the same opinion?”

All of us nodded silently. I did my best to keep a straight face and not to laugh into his face. Damn, I think I failed. The little guy is just a clown. He wants to fight. You gotta be kidding me.

“Then, gentlemen, it was lovely to work with you. Good luck with whatever you plan for the future. Dwarves will meet you on the winning side. Nexelex said and put his cloak back on. He was on his way out when he slightly looked back and said: “We don’t want to work with those who underestimate us, so you don’t deserve our help anyway. All three of you, together with your warriors, deserve the destiny you will face on the day you face the forsaken of Oribus and Wengarthria. And remember, dwarves will be there to watch it with glee.” Nexelex said and made his way out.

Thersar, Kandreah and I exchanged looks. This is f****d up. We need the dwarves. With them, we have some, although slim, chances to win.

Without them, forsaken and other demons will wipe the dust of Oribus and Wengarthria with our asses.

“OK, what are your conditions to continue the work? And how can we know that you will not betray us? You have just shown that you are easily switching sides. How can we know that you’re reliable and trustworthy?” To my surprise, Kandreah, the most prominent opponent of involving dwarves in the battle, spoke first.

“Well, dwarves have been working with you thus far, although all three of you have mocking and underestimating attitudes towards my kind since the beginning of this. Don’t think of me as a fool who doesn’t see how you look down on my kind solely because of our size. Let me tell you something, you bunch of pompous muscles snobs, our size is more often working to our advantage than to our disadvantage. And me standing here in front of you with the wish to help despite all the crap, mistrust and mockery you have towards me and my kind speaks volumes. If that is not a sufficient token of trustworthiness of my kind, then forget about everything.” Nexelex said decisively and firmly.

Huh, look at that. Little urchin has grown a spine over centuries. We may have underestimated them.

“Ok, I agree for dwarves to fight, shall they wish so,” Thersar said with a spark of hesitation and annoyance.

“I agree, too,” Kandreah said with a tinge of hesitation.

“Me too,” I said and sighed.

“Now, show us what you got,” I said.

The little guy grinned and undid his cloak.

He pulled out the old blue, dusty leather case. The case looked overall unimpressive. Three of us peered at the little dude whose grin spread from ear to ear. What the f**k? Open it already, I thought impatiently. I also saw a flash of annoyance and impatience on Thersar’s and Kandreah’s faces.

He took the leather case and placed it on the massive oak table in the ballroom. He opened the case, and I saw a set of blades in different sizes and shapes. You could see samples of mace, axes, krisps, daggers and other weapons, yet without hilts crafted yet. These were obviously prototypes of blades. However, all the weapons looked very plain. This crazy little fucker is taking the mick with us. Is he serious? Did he just bring a set of kitchen knives and is conditioning us with those?

I was about to touch one, and Nexelex jumped on me as if he were possessed. The feisty little dude surprised me, and I almost lost my balance.

“Are you dense, you muscled muttonhead? Do you want to die today? These are chthonic blades. They suck in power, magic and the life essence of chthonic deities. And as far as I remember, your maternal grandfather is Nepenthern, a chthonic deity. Are you tired of life, muscle boy? Let me guess, guys, he is not playing with a full deck.” Little midget turned to smirking Kandreah and Thersar as if his rhetoric question was aimed at them.

“You have him here just to look pretty and muscled, right” Nexelex quipped with a wink, and I saw the other two morons swallowing the grin they barely contained. I am going to burn them all. No, I will first bite off the head of the midget and feed the dogs with it—little fuckwitt.

“Hey bat boy, move Rambo wolf away. I see steam coming from his nose. The moon jughead will damage the equipment or something similarly stupid again to put our equipment at risk.” Little prick is trying his luck and my patience while talking about me to Kandreah as though I don’t exist in the room. Then he turned to me and said:

“Oi, pretty boy, stand there in the corner and look like a pretty, angry and scary muscled wolf boy, ok.” Nexelex winked again with a mocking mirth in the corner of his mouth. Thersar and Kandreah, those two gits, barely prevented themselves from bursting laughter fits. Gosh, give me patience. I am going to strangle the little bloke. I was trying to calm down Erzelus.

Kandreah’s POV

Ahahahah, Malleteagan was spitting feathers in the corner of the room. You could see him barely containing his inner dog from surfacing, biting Nexelex’s head off, well maybe even mine and Thersar’s too because he saw that we were at the brink of giggle fits. He looked as if he was about to tear us all into shreds. He looked at Nexelex fumingly, like he was just an annoying little chipmunk. Nexelex, on the other hand, didn’t spare him a glance. He was entirely disinterested in Malleteagan, who was on the brink of throwing a wobbler and skinning Nexelex alive.