Esme began circling the green-haired girl, looking her over from head to toe while the girl remained perfectly calm beneath the attention.
The girl’s blue eyes followed Esme without any visible concern; Esme leaned closer to her before stepping around the girl again, studying her freckles and humanlike features as though she were trying to figure out where someone had hidden the horns.
Parley’s were rare enough that most people only knew them through stories, and the stories were usually unpleasant.
Esme said, “It’s pretty damn strange for a Parley to try and join the Paladins, you know? Even stranger that they let you walk through the Sanctuary Gates without getting mauled to death by a bunch of Archangels. Parley are hated by most humans, and plenty of Beast Kin can’t stand you either. You people eat nothing but raw meat, including humans, and then there’s the whole reproduction thing.”
Esme lifted a finger in a ‘matter-of-fact’ way. “Once a female Parley falls in love with somebody, she eats the man and spits out a kid that looks like him. That’s how you people reproduce, right? No sex, no romance nonsense, none of that crap. She eats her mate and suddenly there’s a baby. Hell of a family tradition. What’s your game, hm? Looking to eat all of us? What’s your name anyway?”
The girl stared at her for several seconds before a light chuckle escaped her body; was something almost absurdly peaceful about the sound considering the subject matter, and when she finally spoke, her voice carried the same tranquility she had shown since the recruits arrived.
“My name is Archie. And is that boy your mate? You two are together a lot, no?”
Esme turned her head, and Lennox was still trapped inside Hallwin’s enormous bear hug, his arms pinned against his sides while Hallwin cheerfully kept him there.
Because of this absurd assumption, Esme’s eye twitched, and she looked around the ground. “Where did I put my scythe?”
Her eyes traveled across the dirt, past a few abandoned sticks, several pebbles, Lennox’s sword, and one particularly unfortunate toy wooden shield that had been trampled during the fight.
Finally, she spotted her weapon lying several feet away. “Ah, here it is.”
Esme picked up her scythe, she looked at it with a long stare, then she looked at Archie like she was plotting on something.
Archie only smiled in response, but Esme swung at her.
FWOOSH!
Archie tilted her head aside, letting the blade pass beside her hair, Esme swung again from the opposite side while Archie stepped backward.
Another sweep came toward her legs, and Archie hopped over it with surprising agility before Esme spun the weapon around her body and brought the blade toward her shoulder.
“RAGHH!”
Archie ducked beneath it with a small laugh, her dress barely disturbed as she slipped past the attack.
Esme said, “Don’t ever say that again! I barely know the brat! I hang around him cause’ he’s funny and crazy like I am!”
Esme continued swinging for several more seconds, each attempt meeting empty air as Archie calmly avoided the blade, occasionally stepping aside with such ease that it made Esme look increasingly offended by the concept of missing.
Finally, Esme stopped and stabbed the scythe against the dirt.
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Feeling like the coast was clear, Archie smiled behind one hand, covering her mouth only a little bit due to an old habit of hers. “Your question was strange, so I thought I would ask you a strange question in return. I am trying to live like a human. Parley have human blood within them, which is why our bodies resemble yours so closely. We can speak your languages, build families, make tools, learn your customs, and even develop attachments to people in ways humans recognize. Yet there is something inside every Parley that eventually reveals what we truly are.”
Archie then looked toward her own hands. “Eventually, every Parley becomes a monster.”
“A monster huh?” Esme replied.
“Our bodies were created through the blessing of Ifreiti, the goddess of nature, fertility, and beasts. Humans call her Mother Nature because her influence reaches almost every living thing. Long ago, the first Parley were creatures shaped from the boundary between humanity and the wild, and Ifreiti gave them the ability to reproduce through consumption because she wanted life to continue even where ordinary reproduction could not. The human blood within us keeps our bodies recognizable, but Ifreiti’s blessing remains within our flesh, growing stronger as we age.”
Archie looked toward the village surrounding them. “When a Parley reaches the final stage of life, that blessing overwhelms the human portion of the body. Bones change, organs rearrange themselves, skin develops unfamiliar traits, instincts become difficult to control, and the person gradually becomes the beast hidden beneath their human appearance. Some Parley accept it as the natural conclusion of life. Others fear it. I fear it.”
She then touched her chest; every movement of hers seemed to be in sync with her tranquil personality. But Esme couldn't help but feel like it was fake.
Archie continued, “So I came here because I want another answer. Ifreiti gave us life, but perhaps remaining within her embrace is also what condemns us. Alpam represents truth, revelation, and the uncovering of what lies beneath appearances. I thought that perhaps abandoning Ifreiti’s path and accepting Alpam’s authority might allow me to escape the fate waiting inside my blood. I don’t know whether that is possible, but I would rather search for an answer than wait for my body to become something I cannot recognize.”
“….Mhmm. Okay. I don’t really have a good history with Parley. My family fought Parley a lot. One of my own family members fell in love with a Parley, and the bastard got eaten.”
Archie covered her mouth with one hand, a small smirk appearing behind her fingers. “Are you sad about it?”
Esme grinned at it, “Hell no. My family are monsters themselves. Eat all of them for all I care.”
Archie laughed, and Esme laughed with her, but a few feet away, Lennox and Hallwin stared at them, saying in sync:
“How cruel…”
The two women immediately turned toward them and Esme raised her middle finger.
“Mind your business, you beasts.”
Hallwin then looked at the group, and suggested something strange but not unrealistic in this sense of the situation of the trials. “Perhaps the four of us should remain together during the trials. We have different strengths, and surviving these challenges will likely become easier as we understand one another. We should also consider growing our party as we progress. More capable allies mean more options when the situation becomes dangerous.”
Archie nodded. “That sounds wise.”
Esme said, “I already have Lennox as my partner and rival, so…I’m not good with large crowds. I’m good with just one.”
Lennox said to Esme “….Since when were we partners?! You’re my enemy!”
Esme pointed at him. “Just now! Be happy!”
Before Lennox could complain further, the children came running back into the area, many of them carrying sticks, stones, wooden shields, and improvised weapons while the other recruits followed behind them.
Some recruits were already attempting to organize the children, while others had apparently accepted that the village had become a miniature battlefield and were standing around with the exhausted patience of people reconsidering every decision that had brought them here.
Hallwin looked across the village and came to a conclusion, “Our conversation can be put on hold until later. It is time to start the trial.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about those brats.” Lennox responded.
He looked around at the recruits, the children, Hallwin, Archie, and Esme before putting one hand against his chin.
‘Forming a party within the trials, huh? Never really thought of that. I’m not really a fan of parties either, because I’m used to being alone or close to being alone. One is enough, but a whole group talking my ear off and getting in my way? I don’t know…I’ll think about it. I could use them to increase my chances of becoming a War Paladin after all. I know those Paladin Sons and Daughters and even that Demigod Nepherel and Alpam are watching. Maybe if they see I’m able to work with others, that’ll increase my chances. Since the Paladins are always almost in groups wandering around.’
Esme stepped forward and cracked her knuckles while the children gathered around them, some already whispering about which recruit they intended to bother first.
“Let’s babysit the hell out of these little stains!”