ALL NOVEL Ch.64 – The Beauty and the Monster
POV: Tamara
Tamara's house had a porch overlooking a rear courtyard where her father had placed a solid wood table and two benches accompanied by a large grill on which on summer days he cooked meat and vegetables for them and even for part of the neighborhood; this area had another particular meaning for Tamara given that when she was little, there was a rocking chair there that her mother often occupied, in those situations she would lie down like a cat on her mother's legs, who in response scratched her head and cuddled her.
That was one of the days when she was simply enjoying the warmth of spring and maternal caresses, Tamara's body was heavy, she felt as if she had been hit by a bus, yet she was sure she had slept well and deeply last night, the simple life of a simple little girl born in the suburbs of a big city somewhere in that tiny planet called Earth.
“Today you are cuddlier than usual!” Her mother said to her, giggling, “what is it? Have you had any bad dreams?”
For a moment some images flashed through Tamara's mind: a burning village, an elegant androgynous figure with long ears and a hare's tail, the roaring flow of a great river.
“Maybe some bad dreams that I can't remember clearly, that's all!” Tamara exclaimed trying to hug her mother, it almost seemed like a lifetime had passed since the last time she had done so. “I love you, mom.”
Her mother laughed again, “how loving! Are you sure you don't have a fever?" She asked jokingly trying to place a hand on Tamara's forehead.
“Come on!!” Tamara protested, squinting and shaking weakly in her mother's arms, “I'm really fine now, can we stay like this forever?”
Tamara's mother started stroking her hair gently, "my little one, you know that's not possible."
"Why not?"
“You know why,” she replied, looking into her eyes with kindness, “Velen and the others need you, you can't stay here.”
The moment her new friends in Tala's world were mentioned, Tamara tensed, “I don't want to! I want to go home!” She said hugging her mother tighter, “please keep me here with you…”
“You can't stay here, my child,” she whispered, caressing her hair again, “you're a fighter, Tam, wake up and show the world that the more they push you into a corner, the stronger you become.”
"It is not true! I'm not that strong!"
The woman made the little Tamara stand up and gave her a kiss on the forehead, "it's the truth, I know that you have the necessary strength inside you, you just have to bring it out."
“Mom!”
Tamara suddenly woke up with her body still in pain from all the damage her mysterious adversary had inflicted on her; she found herself held in the arms of someone who, the moment she woke up, began to hold her tighter in an attempt to block her. Tamara became even more agitated against the pain and when she found a human arm in front of her she thought it was that of the one who was trying to hold her back, she didn't hesitate for a second to open her mouth and use her tiny teeth to sink into the skin and flesh of the enemy.
"Please! Calm down!” Her supposed attacker said without letting go, “you're not fully healed yet! Don't move so much!"
Tamara did not stop biting or even struggling to escape, the taste of warm blood entered her mouth and went down her throat awakening in her a primal instinct that started to push her to do much more than just try to persuade her attacker to leave her go. She squinted her eyes, she didn't want to give in to that instinct but she didn't want to give the enemy the chance to have both hands free to hurt her either.
But were they really hurting her?
When Tamara managed to have the clarity necessary to think for a few seconds, she realized the pain she felt was only that of the injuries she had suffered, the attacker she was fighting against at that moment wasn't even hitting her or trying to free their arm and the place where she found herself was not the last one she remembered before crashing more or less gracefully to the ground.
“I don't want to hurt you!” The female-sounding voice insisted.
Tamara forced the most primordial part of herself to abandon her grip and released the arm of the one who, rather than being an aggressor, was taking on the appearance of a savior. She felt the other's body relax after she stopped biting even if she still smelled blood and pain in the air... she realized she was on this person's legs, carefully held in a sort of gentle embrace.
“Thank you…” her savior whispered, “I gave you a healing potion to stabilize you, but it's not enough to get you fully back into shape, so you'll have to rest for at least a couple of days before you can move.”
Tamara tried to raise her head, but her physiognomy and the position in which she was placed prevented her from seeing the face of her savior; the only thing she could understand was that she had long and curly hair, black as the night itself. She couldn't be sure, but she had the feeling that it was her savior who had induced that dream by caressing her... too bad that now that she had bitten her it was unlikely that she would receive any more cuddles.
The girl giggled, Tamara felt her abandon her hold on her probably to tend to her bite wound or bandage it, but she didn't move from there, she remained obediently on the unknown girl's legs. “Life is strange if you think about it: less than a month ago I was in the family castle in Khalrinda, one of the largest, most prosperous and safest cities in the entire Eastern Continent, and now I am in a cave lost in the Cloudbreakers, talking to a monster.”
Tamara agreed that life was indeed strange, considering that her journey from Earth thus far had been somewhat similar to that of her savior. She snorted and nodded, just to let her savior know that she wasn't going crazy and talking to herself, that she was able to understand what she was saying.
"Oh! So you can understand what I'm saying!” The girl sighed in relief, “thank goodness!” She put her hand on Tamara's head again, scratching her between the eyes, "you know, I consider myself a very simple girl, I don't like power given the responsibilities that possessing it entails and I hate violence since it creates more problems than it solves.”
Tamara remained silent, the cuddles having a soothing effect on her, they made her feel... human.
“I was born with a Class so rare that if I had cultivated it it would have made me one of the most powerful adventurers in the entire continent, I didn't understand why this had happened to me, and when the gods granted me the Second Awakening, I felt and still feel completely taken aback,” the girl hesitated and for a moment it seemed to Tamara that her savior was trying to hold back tears, “they made me the Blessed Champion! As if I could actually harm Nightmare Tyrant!”
Something wet fell on Tamara's scaly skin, and she heard her savior beginning to sob.
“Please, you have to help me stop my sister! You must kill Nightmare Tyrant!”
'Your sister? Nightmare Tyrant?’ Tamara wondered before the puzzle pieces inside her head fit together, at that point, she understood everything. 'The girl who attacked me must be the one Gornowayl is trying to stop! The real Nightmare Tyrant!'
At that moment, Tamara felt her hopes starting to wane: how could the false Nightmare Tyrant ever be able to oppose the real deal and win?
