Rathlands [Monster Hunter] [ENG]

Chapter 10 (Arsenic POV)

"Oxiderr ..."

For one of the first times in her life, Arsenic had released her emotions. She usually kept them all to herself, and her siblings were the only one also able to read her mood. Her adoptive parents had always been unable to do so, so she was misunderstood when she was just a hatchling. But there, in spite of herself, the seal that kept her thoughts locked up had broken. The Dreadqueen Rathian was not the only one to have undergone a similar trauma: since they had been found lying in the middle of the battlefield and brought back to the Rathlands' Castle, the day before, Blast had stopped eating and talking, and Zenith had still not woken up. By elimination, it was up to her to tell the generals and the king about their tragic encounter with the one who presented himself as the eldest heir of the Rakurai Empire. Of course, the king ordered her and her two brothers to stay out of the conflict, terrorized by the event that almost cost the lives of three of his children. Arsenic nodded his head at him, but a determination similar to Zenith's had been born in her mind, and she wanted to live only to find this "Oxiderr" to confront and kill him again, thus punishing him for his outrageous act and insults. Astalian, who had detected this unusual spark in the Rathian's calm eyes, came to see her afterwards at Zenith's bedside. She had explained to him that what they had seen so far was only the beginning of horror, and that she did not blindly support the words of Khryselios, but that they should know that by continuing to fight, this kind of event could be usual. Arsenic nodded her head again, but she had no desire to weigh the pros and cons, as she did every time. The war was also becoming a personal matter now. And whoever had violated honor by attacking Zenith had to pay. So the general had left him like that, feeling the ineffectiveness of her words, by throwing her a sorry look which she had then put on the inert body of the Dread King Rathalos. When she had disappeared, Arsenic had closed the door, then moved closer to the bed to stay by her brother's side, silent. Then she had broken through the silence by whispering the name that now gave new meaning to her reason for being.

Blast made such a discreet entrance that he could have been mistaken for a ghost. His natural pallor did not help him; his face, paler than usual, was contrasted by dark circles under his eyes, giving him a ghostly appearance. His vermilion eyes fell on Zenith and then on his sister. He came to meet her, and the Rathian knew that in such situations it was better not to say anything, so she spread her wings to wrap her little brother in an affectionate embrace. It didn't take long for him to relax, shaken with sobs.

"I-I ... I was so scared! I-I stood there like a coward doing nothing, while you had the courage to stand up for yourself...!" the crystal Rathalos hissed. "I-I was useless! It's because of me that he may be going to die!"

Arsenic tightened her embrace slightly as if to squeeze the acidic juice of Blast's guilt. This juice materialized in the form of salty tears that his brother was shedding more and more.

"I-I'm tired of being a coward!" squealed the alabaster Rathalos. "It's only m-my fault if Zenith is l-like that!"

She judged that she could start to intervene.

"Blast, this Zinogre was overpowering. Myself, I did not manage to push him away. Zenith was beaten to a pulp in less than thirty seconds. You couldn't have done better. We were fooled by an enemy that proved too powerful. We owe our lives to a miracle, that's all we can deduce from it."

He raised his wet eyes slightly.

"I was t-too weak ..."

"We all were. The only one to blame is not you, but this Rakurian for having outraged us." She said softly.

Blast did not answer, but his downcast eyes showed a hint of life.

Arsenic heard a slight knock at the door, and released her brother to open it. Phoenix and Blister stood behind it, a grave look painted on their faces. Unlike the younger sibling, the Princess looked strangely untired, but Arsenic guessed that her makeup probably concealed the visible signs of her anxiety.