Apparently someone had thought it would be funny to just leave Azreal a tome of various fairy tales without leaving a note. While he didn’t know who had left him the mysterious gift, the young hybrid was not about to simply toss a book when he could at least skim through it first. Though after a few minutes of reading Azreal stared over the text with a frown. What type of short story was this supposed to be about a yaotl? It was a folktale about a creature that lived along the southern oceans. At least it sounded like a yaotl based on the research notes he had skimmed over long ago in his aunt’s study at the animal sanctuary. A giant lizard-like creature whose acrid breath could melt through an explorer’s armor without any issues, well at least for the beast who would then swallow its prey whole. Most unlucky explorers who encountered such a creature did not fare well against the beast, at least not in the retellings that his aunt had collected from fishermen while traveling in the southern regions years ago. She had personally never seen one for herself, but apparently whoever wrote this particular story focused on a strange yaotl that collected….Hearts. Well, not physical hearts since that was his predecessor’s hobby to rip out the still beating hearts of the living and this particular yaotl isn’t quite so fond of messy things and wanted something different. So instead the yaotl was found to have gathered tokens of affection that represent the love in one’s heart, whether by shapeshifting and wooing some poor soul who gives him a treasured item or by simply bartering a favor for something that is treasured by those desperate for help. Well obvious this is fantasy since no yaotl could actually change its shape like this, no way. Azreal scoffed at the text even as he flipped through another page and continued reading. At first the story started about how the yaotl’s obsession with collecting such tokens began because of the distraught expression of a mother who was poor without real treasures of gemstones and gold to offer but in dire need. Never before had anyone been desperate enough to ask this yaotl for help without some sort of shiny treasure in return, but this one had begged and offered a worn wooden bracelet from their dearly departed lover to help save their child. It was the only trinket left that they had from their beloved but the life of their child was worth the loss of such a treasure. At first the yaotl had nearly followed the examples of others by devouring the fool, but that expression made the yaotl hesitate. Never before had the yaotl witnessed such raw emotion, not when their own heart felt like an unfeeling stone in their chest, and so they had agreed simply out of sheer curiosity and boredom. Ever since the yaotl became keen to offer bargains for those willing to sacrifice whatever is dearest to them, simply because the beast thrived on witnessing those conflicted emotions in others as they gave up their tokens. It was later on that the yaotl learned shapeshifting from such a token from a mage and took that to try to woo others in an attempt to experience these strange emotions known as love. The yaotl became quite good at acting as a perfect lover, tricking others to gain a token from them before shedding his disguise and taking to the skies once more, leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him as his horde of tokens from those now broken hearted souls grew. “How silly.” Though Azreal had to hesitate as he thought about it. The feeling of love truly was a strange thing that not even he understood and he could only imagine how the larger creature must feel to witness it from others. It truly was a strange sight to see some of the students fawning over one another and to witness some like within his own family that would trade their freedom to bond with another or to simply allow them to travel while missing them so dearly. Why stop someone when you truly loved them and wanted them to experience whatever brought them joy? Azreal shook his head at the thought before browsing through the book some more, the hybrid curious about whatever other stories were inside the tome instead of even bothering to worry about whoever had left it for him to find. It was their loss, he supposed, since it gave him something to do while waiting for the next lecture to begin.

[750]