“I’m sorry for failing to hatch the Glade Guardians,” Meebur said in the guild’s council chambers, which was on the top floor of the central tower. He sat at the head of a long elaborate table. Gregory stood behind him to his right, and I still sat on Meebur’s left shoulder. Sitting before us were twelve chairs, but not all of them were in use. Each person who was there gave off the same powerful presence as Meebur.

  “Is that why you called us here? To apologize?” said a tall woman with jet black hair and eyes darker than the deep sea. She was wearing a very elaborate skintight purple dress and smoking a long pipe. “No wonder most of us didn’t show up.”

  “More than half of the leaders are here, so technically speaking most of us did show up,” a thin, mousy looking man with golden hair and an eyepatch said in a very matter-of-fact way.

  “You better have something interesting to tell us,” the woman said, completely ignoring the mousy man, keeping her eyes locked on Meebur. “Your letter was an unassuming mix of vague and urgent.”

  “I omitted certain details, as requested, so I do apologize for not being able to ensure each leader’s presence with the letter.” Gregory said, stepping forward to bow to Meebur. “Severina has a batch of hatchlings at a critical stage, so sends her regrets. And if his viceleader’s apology letter is to be believed, Orion threw my invitation into a tornado. So, I assume he isn’t coming. And, of course, those four leaders won’t be attending for obvious reasons.”

  “Yes, your hands were a little tied by what I allowed you to put in the invitation. No matter. Gathering five other leaders is still very good, Gregory.” Meebur said.

  “Six.” At the end of the table a figure cloaked in grey and green silks spoke. They cracked their knuckles, which were covered in pristine white gloves. I could barely see their shrouded face, but their eyes burned through at me: one the color of onyx black, and the other a pale white not unlike the moons in the sky.

  Were they here a second ago? I thought, uneasy to see the cloak. It took me back to the forest of death immediately. To my memory of the masked figure.

  “Oh, Shiv, apologies. I didn’t see you there. Yes, six leaders answering my call is excellent. You did very well.” Meebur said, and Gregory nodded as he stepped back. “It had been my intention to give the leaders of the thirteen tamer guilds a Glade Guardian each. That way, we could all better guarantee the safety of our guilds.” Meebur said, his face growing darker as he spoke. “I worry we may need that sooner than we expect. What with the noble family making changes in the capital, and whispers of hidden agents from the north walking amongst us.”

  “Is there really any truth to the rumors of enemies within our borders? I mean, secret agents who can change their appearance? That sounds like a conspiracy theory.” The man with an eyepatch asked, and no one said anything in response for some time. Either they agreed it was a crazy idea, or no one wanted to even consider the implications if it were true.

  Finally, Shiv, the leader cloaked in greys and greens spoke. They laid their gloved hands on the table, leaning forward slightly.

  “There are always enemies. Whether they are hidden or not.” Shiv said, their voice cutting deeply.

  The room fell silent. Looking from face to face, everyone’s expression became stern and serious. I didn’t understand their concerns very well, but I was no stranger to fear.

  “Anyway!” Meebur clapped his hands together to wake the room back up. “I do have something much more important to share with you all. Let me start from the beginning…”

  He then explained what happened. How out of his thirteen monster eggs, only one survived. And that I hadn’t evolved into a Glade Guardian like Meebur had intended, but into something very unexpected. Before he revealed the precise nature of my species classification, he finally answered a question I had: where he went after leaving me with Frey on Ratatosk’s Highway.

  “After my new monster leveled up and became what he is, I felt compelled to confirm what this could mean. One of the leaders who is not present today is still a major part of our meeting.” Meebur said to a captivated audience. “I went to visit her.”

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  “You mean you saw…the Seer?” The mousy man with an eyepatch asked.

  “The guild leader of Styx? I thought she stopped taking visitors years ago. I’ve never even met her.” The woman in purple said, trying to act nonchalant but the fading smoke from her pipe revealed that her hand was shaking.

  “We go way back,” Meebur said, “and I knew she’d want to hear what I’m about to tell you. At least a part of her prophecy has been fulfilled. The Deity Monster of Earth has arrived. This is the great beast of legend…the Withering Wyrm!”

  At the mention of my species, Meebur grabbed me from his shoulder, and plopped me onto the table.

  While in cute form, I don’t think I lived up to the grandeur of his introduction.

  “Leader,” Gregory spoke up. The man who I initially thought was the guild leader was in fact the viceleader. He took charge of the Artemis Guild when Meebur was away. Still, Gregory was clearly someone of measurable respect, as none of the leaders reprimanded him for speaking up at their meeting. “Your status and years of experience alone are enough for us to trust your findings. But I would not be a good viceleader if I didn’t voice my concern. How can we be certain that this monster is in fact the Withering Wyrm? I do not mean to insult you or the wyrm, but…it certainly doesn’t look like a legendary monster.”

  There was murmuring amongst the leaders. They clearly agreed with Gregory and wanted very much to believe I was just some random snake and that Meebur was either brainwashed or playing a practical joke on them.

  A young woman in pink and white robes stood up and everyone stopped theorizing. She had pale blonde hair that hung in massive curls down her back, and had not taken her eyes off of me since the meeting began. “If it is confirmation you need, allow me.”

  “Ah, yes. Astrid, your skill should clear things up for us.” Meebur said, smiling warmly at the leader. However, there was something behind his smile. Something my powerful eyes caught. I could tell it was genuine, but that there was also a connection or feeling the smile intended to hide.

  Who is this person? Do they have a skill to see something like the Status screen Meebur saw?

  As I quickly read in the Almanac, most people, unlike monsters, didn’t have any skills. They could gain a few specific ones when becoming a tamer, which was possible after being given the mark of the beast. That mark was the magical source of their power over monsters, and gave access to ‘tamer skills’ such as and .

  Then, there were some who had impressive ‘weapon skills’ that gave them access to superhuman or magical abilities. These took years of training, with even the most basic fire magic from a wand taking the average person a decade to acquire. Which made the several skills that Meebur’s mastery of the spear gave him that much more impressive. At least, if I didn’t compare it to my massive list of monster skills.

  But I assume monsters aren’t like people. That must be why taming is so important. Monsters have access to so many more skills.

  That is correct. Many monsters have skills from birth and naturally acquire more from leveling up.

  But the Almanac entry on skills revealed that there were some individuals born with ‘special skills’. These were skills they had naturally and that gifted them with powers not unlike some monsters.

  Astrid, the Psion city guild leader, was one such individual. Meebur nudged me forward on the large council table, and I looked up at her. She stared back at me, and her eyes began to glow a pale pink, much the same color as the lining of her silk robe.

  What is she doing? I thought. I don’t think even in my past life I saw eyes like these. There are so many odd abilities in this world. Though, I’m not one to talk. I was reincarnated into the body of a giant snake after all…

  Astrid was born with the skill , which she could use to sense a being’s level, species, rank, and also-

  “Who ARE you?!” she yelled out and fell backwards onto the floor.

  -read their thoughts.

  My eyes were much smaller in cute form, but they opened wide as I looked over the edge of the table at Astrid. Our eyes locked in on each other, and I could tell that not only had she confirmed my species and rank, but she had also heard what I was thinking.

  You…you can hear me, can’t you? I thought, and she nodded very slowly.

  “Meebur…this monster…this monster can-”

  Before Astrid could reveal that I was more than even my tamer realized, the doors to the council chambers burst open.

  “Leader!” Violet, who turned out to be the guild’s clerk, said as she entered the room. “I apologize for interrupting, but this cannot wait. You have a challenger!”

  “Hmm…” Meebur said, scratching his chin. “Who’s up for a short break?”