I've killed so many. Teufel, Kobolds, Vampires, ... so many. Even a dragon. Yet, you... you let me live. But more important, you saved my family. I was taught to hate you, fear you.... never even tried to understand. Ye gods... what have I done? Even if I lived a thousand years.... I don't think I could ever atone for it all. -- Anon Guest
There's only so many careers that are obviously predestined when given the name Guy Stronginthearm. One was becoming a Monster Hunter. He'd done very well, being a hero to everyone he met. He'd defended the proper, upstanding citizens from every monster that could have threatened them.
Then he fell in a sinkhole, almost to his death.
Guy was pleasantly shocked to find himself breathing in the near-pitch gloom after the fall. Especially since his clothes were soaked with chill water. Well. He hoped it was water. He did not expect to see twin points of light watching him from a safe distance away.
Guy flinched for his sword, only to find it no longer at his hip.
"You kill this one, you in dark rest of life. Rest of life, also not long."
Good gods, he had no idea they could speak a civilised tongue. Guy tried to scramble to his feet and found his limbs weak.
"Slow. You almost dead, not long back. Breathe. Sit now. Stand after."
"Who are you?" he demanded. "Did you save me?"
"Runner," said Runner. "Yes. This one save you."
"But you're a monster," he blurted.
"You monster for this one," said Runner. "You no kill this one, this one no kill you, yes?"
That was a dizzying statement that made Guy grateful that he was sitting on the ground. Or... a solid surface. He'd never thought that he was a monster before. "Can you get me to the surface?"
"This one want you back sun side," said Runner. "You much danger. You keep here, you kill many. This one no pay for dead ones."
He said, "You could have just killed me. Or let me die."
"This one no pay for dead ones," repeated Runner. "Dead sun side one? More sun side ones coming. Kill this one. Kill more." The lights of their eyes vanished. There was an impression of a head turning. The lights returned as they faced him again. "This one have family."
Intellectually, Guy knew that little monsters came from somewhere. He never once imagined that they had families. He tried to fit the idea of monsters with homes into his head. Monsters in monster cities. Little monsters who were afraid of Adventurers under the bed...
It broke his world so softly that he was the only one who heard it shatter. "I will not harm you," he said. "On my oath."
Runner said, "Bright light is danger." There were some muttered words, and little soft orbs of light let Guy finally see what kind of monster had saved his life.
An Elf! Not just any kind of Elf, but the worst kind. The dark ones, the Rock Elves. The ones who would eat any kind of meat. Including each other. Including Adventurers. Gossip said that they spiced their food with poison to the point where they couldn't die from any toxin.
And this one was a woman. The female of the species was far more deadly than the male. And she had his weapons hanging from the large pack on her back.
"You no kill this one," Runner repeated, "this one no kill you."
"Yes," he said. "I gave my oath." And he needed her to get back to what he thought of as civilisation. "I do no harm to you, you do no harm to me." He offered his hand.
Her grip was strong when she shook. Guy had no doubt that she could wield any of his weapons with ease. She handed him his sword. "This one trust."
"Thank you," he said. He sheathed his blade. "Lead, and I will follow." He knew he had to, or be left in the stygian gloom. Guy was sure Runner knew it too.
She was as silent as a shadow. He did his best to follow her lead. Guy became aware of his noise relative to the strange things also making noise in the dark. It was safe to assume that anything he couldn't see would easily kill him if he got its attention.
Guy's eyes adjusted to the gloom, and he could see more light in the darkness. Soft greens. Gentle blues. Astonishingly nauseating pinks. Whether from fungi or crystals, he couldn't tell. They were blurs in the distance. He was more focused on keeping close enough to Runner to step where she stepped, while also being far enough from her so that he didn't trip her.
The big shock was the shelter. If Runner hadn't gone inside first, he'd have never spotted it. What was inside was not a Monster City. It was more like a Monster Roadhaus. A little hamlet of a permanent staff holding host to a transient population of up to one hundred.
Not every kind of monster, just the intelligent ones. Which was terrifying on its own. He could see so many species that he was used to killing. The dark-skinned Rock Elves, the grey-hued Deep D'varuv. Drakkonbred and Kobolds sharing gossip with devilborn. None of them were acting like monsters.
They did instantly get on guard when they spotted Guy. He put his hands on his head while Runner urgently rattled off excuses in the Monster trader tongue.
A decent half of the monsters scattered to exits Guy didn't see before they used them. The other half remained on guard.
"You sleep prison," said Runner. "Give blade."
"I trust you," he said, taking off his sword belt and handing it to her.
He survived three nights like that in the permanent night. In different concealed Roadhauses. Guy allowed himself to be poked and prodded by monsters. Large and small alike.
It was the first time he had ever seen a Hellkin toddler. He thought they sprang from the hells fully-formed.
He picked up a scatter of Monster words. Essential ones like: eat, drink, sleep, yes and no. The same kind of scattered words that Runner commanded. She had a much larger lexicon than he did.
On the fourth day, she showed him a long climb to the sunshine.
He gave her his sword. "You keep," he said in Monster. "This one no want using."
"You pay dead ones?" she said in his words.
"No more. This one... make peace." Guy climbed into the sunshine with a hell of a story to tell. A hell of a thing for the people of the sun side to understand.
Monsters... didn't have to be monstrous.
[Photo by Raychan on Unsplash]
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