Dark Empathy Archibald Bradford (best books to read in your 20s TXT) 📖

As one they stepped forwards and drove the shafts of their spears into the dirt as they fell to their knees, gripping their weapons with two hands, their elbows cocked out and heads bowed with their foreheads pressed to the hafts of their upright spears.

“Dominar.” They declared in unison.

With tears still standing on her cheeks she watched them for a long time, her face inscrutable.

Finally she gave a slow nod of affirmation.

“Escrya, to me.”

The power and command in her voice could be felt in the chests of all present, even Nina’s head bowed in the face of it, and so the young Amazon obeyed quickly, standing up and taking a step forwards, her eyes still lowered.

“Your will, Dominar?”

Even with her gaze averted she could feel the weight of the now higher-angel’s attention bearing down on her.

“We monsters have relied too much on the humans within the Aegis to lead us, growing complacent under their devoted care. This must change. I have need of your skills as a teller. Go forth and gather your sisters.”

Escrya’s forehead scrunched up slightly.

“Which sisters, Dominar?”

With one glowing finger Volka raised Escrya’s face to meet hers.

“All of them. By the bonds that we all cherish, I call the Amazons to war.”

Epilogue:Talking to Strangers

What a prize!

Cole Lewis couldn’t believe his luck.

After his taming license was revoked by the Aegis three years ago it didn’t take long for him to hit rock bottom, associating with just the kind of people reputable tamers normally avoided.

Drinking, gambling, and generally carrying on like an idiot, he owed money to a half dozen people, each one worse than the last, and if he didn’t come up with the coins, he was a dead man walking.

Which is why he thanked his lucky stars when he came across the crying Ogre in a little meadow a few miles east of the city of Greyhaven.

The enormous blue skinned girl was sitting with her legs stretched out in the grass in front of her, her face in her hands and her shoulders heaving as she wept like a broken hearted puppy.

Even just a few years ago Cole would have been at her side comforting her, his own wants and needs forgotten at the sight of a young monster girl in distress.

But that was then; that was before he knew the taste of failure, and before he knew how much the arena masters would pay for a healthy young Ogre.

Now, when he approached her, his kind words hid ulterior motives.

“Who’s there?!”

The Ogre shifted in place as she heard him coming, her hand wiping snot and tears off of her full cheeks, baby-blue eyes widened in alarm.

Cole stopped a good twenty feet away from her, with his hands held up and patting the air in a soothing gesture.

“It’s alright, I’m a friend. You’re safe with me.” He cooed gently, inwardly marveling at her appearance.

She’s got to be ten feet tall!

Her dark blue hair was in long tangled snarls framing her rounded face, the locks a darker shade than her skin. She was clad in a one-piece tunic made of white linen that went over one shoulder, leaving the other bare. The garment was open on either side, her naked cobalt skin from her thighs to her armpits standing in stark contrast to the light cloth.

A broad leather belt around her waist kept the tunic in place, while her enormous bosom was barely contained by the homespun fabric, luscious blue cleavage spilling out of the top and inevitably drawing the eye.

“Please no hurt me.” She burbled, fresh tears tracing down her cheeks.

The irony of the statement was staggering, given that she could easily crush him with a single blow of either of her enormous hands.

Cole squatted down, bringing himself lower to seem less threatening. The sheer presence of the vulnerable giant had his heart hammering in his chest, though he kept his voice calm and reassuring.

“Oh sweetheart, I would never do that! Do you maybe need some help?”

Once again she wiped at her face with an enormous sniffle, her scared eyes tracking him all the while.

“I dunno.” She gave a noncommittal shrug, still uncertain of the unkempt man’s intentions.

He had to skip more than a few meals of late to keep his creditors at bay, and he inwardly cursed when he saw her nose wrinkle at his unwashed scent.

“That’s alright, maybe we can help each other. My name is Cole, what’s yours?”

“T-Tora.” She mumbled.

“Tora, such a pretty name!”

She didn’t respond and he inwardly cursed at his own incompetence: empty words and empty deeds meant nothing to monster girls, as did empty flattery.

A real tamer’s job was to find the girls who were at least partly willing to relinquish their heartstones and convince them that they could be trusted. First and foremost in their mind must be the wellbeing of the girls in their care, which was why Cole wasn’t a tamer anymore.

If this was going to work, he had to be manipulative, had to distort and pervert everything that he had ever learned.

He stood while heaving a mournful sigh.

“Well, Tora, I can see that maybe I’m scaring you, and that’s not okay. So I’m just going to go alright? I hope that someone comes along who you can trust enough to help you out. Goodbye.”

He turned to leave, heart still hammering, though now for a different reason: if this didn’t work he didn’t know what he would do.

Purposefully walking away, he made it five or six steps before the ground shook slightly beneath him and she called out to him.

“W-wait! Please! I not know where I am...” Her voice trailed off helplessly.

Turning back, he saw her, on all fours now, one hand outstretched towards him,