Chapter Text
Gloreth Goldenloin was never the same after Nimona. The shapeshifting monster she named, cared for, and then cast away. She felt responsible in a way, she had brought the monster into the town, and into her life. So, like she once had brought her into the light from the shade of the trees, she also sent her into the shadows from whence she came.
She watched as Nimona retreated back into the darkness, fear in her eyes, the same fear Glorerth herself felt. The monster was her first friend, the first person she cared for besides her parents, and deep down Gloreth knew, the monster was no monster.
The village was in an ashy disarray, with terrified people, who just watched Gloreth a child, banish the monster that had left them in this state with only a wooden sword.
Gloreth was swifted away to the castle where the King and Queen rewarded her for her heroism. There on that day, they decided for her, her future. She would grow up to be the best knight and protect the kingdom. Gloreth lost three things that fateful day, Nimona, her free will, and her smile.
Gloreth trained for ten hard years to be the finest knight in the kingdom by decree of the King and Queen; not a day or night went by where she did not think of Nimona.
At the ripe age of twenty, Gloreth had surpassed all the knights in the kingdom and became their leader. She worked with the officials of the kingdom who still feared the monster's return. And so Gloreth ordered a wall to be built around the village to protect it from not only the monster but also neighboring kingdoms. As much as Gloreth tried to convince herself otherwise, it was not only to protect them but to also protect Nimona from the hate of the very people who feared her.
The other top-ranking knights from noble families pledged their family lineage to her, and her knowledge, to keep the kingdom safe from the monster, her monster. Gloreth never understood, why so many people looked to her for answers or would trust her enough to dedicate lives. She was just doing what other people conditioned her to do, without choice.
At the age of twenty-five, Gloreth married a high-ranking nobleman at the request of her family to continue their lineage. She never loved him, she would rarely ever see him as her expeditions outside the wall took most of her time, and she never even cared for him. But she did have children with him, and she cared for them.
They were the only thing since Nimona she held an emotional attachment to, and so she taught them the only thing she knew, how to protect and serve the kingdom.
She, herself, was forced into a life that she could have never wanted but was given. Gloreth fought and slayed many monsters outside the construction of the walls after Nimona, including wild beasts and dragons. But, nothing would captivate her as Nimona once had.
She learned of other shape-shifters in history through her years of travel, and wondered if they were Nimona, or if Nimona had found them to be with.
Her whole life she felt as if she was being watched, and sometimes she wished it was Nimona.
Gloreth knew that on that fateful day, the burning village was not Nimona’s fault as she had once believed in her younger years, but the fault of the villagers who were clouded with fear of the unknown. The fear they radiated had infected her and in turn, she took things too far. Far beyond repair of the world, she was helping to build.
Gloreth did not live a very long glorious life, she died in honor as a knight in battle. She left behind her young children, loveless marriage, regime of knights, and unuttered apologies.
There was no big dramatic ending like Gloreth expected, or her monsters that attacked her in the end.
There was nothing, and so she died a hero, legend, god, and savior; but also a coward shrouded by fear. She was said by the books and myths to have given humankind a gift of, hope, and comfort. Although, in reality, she helped display the worst in humankind, hysteria.
She had understood her wrongdoings but was never strong enough to undo them. So, Gloreth went down in history as a monster-slaying legend, for about a thousand years, until Nimona finally made her presence known.