Xavier opened his eyes. The ceiling above him was clean, flat, and polished, made of so kind of reinforced tal. The light inside was dim, but not dark—glowing fluorescent bars in the corners gave the room a quiet green hue. It looked like a temporary shelter, but soone had clearly gone out of their way to make it comfortable. It felt... like a ho.
The room looked like soone’s house, but it was too well-kept and too quiet. A camp, maybe. One built in a hurry, but made for soone important.
He sat up slowly. His body felt... fine. No pain. No stiffness. Just a strange lightness. Like waking up from a long nap, except his head was fogged.
He leaned back against the wall and ran his hand down his chest.
There should’ve been a hole there.
He rembered Piolet. The punch. The pain. The sound of his ribs snapping like twigs.
He looked down. Nothing. Not even a scar. Not only that, but he was wearing weird clothes that exposed his chest, but covered his back and hands.
He exhaled and stared blankly for a mont.
And then, that dream—no, vision—flashed through his mind again. It wasn’t the first ti. He rembered having one like that before, though the details slipped from his fingers like sand. This one, though? He could still feel it.
A huge ship... a team... a bunch of won calling him Captain, all weird and obsessed... talking about rewards and who gets his dick next... And Lyra. She was there too. Only one whose face he could see. The rest were just shapes.
"...and a harem too? Tch, I don’t even flirt," he muttered.
He rubbed his face and chuckled quietly. "Why the hell couldn’t I see their faces? Except Lyra. I saw her."
He paused.
He exhaled. "Tch... if that was a prophecy or whatever, not bad. Could be worse. Might as well aim for it."
He didn’t know. But it didn’t feel fake either. And if it was a glimpse into the future, then honestly, it didn’t look half bad.
Xavier swung his legs off the bed. The floor was cold tal layered with synthetic fur. Soft but chilly. He pushed himself up to his feet and expected his legs to wobble, but they didn’t. No soreness. No strain. Just a weird feeling of having missed sothing big.
He shuffled to the door. The camp was dim, lit by soft fluorescent lamps tucked into the corners. He opened the flap and stepped out.
The early morning sun slapped him in the face.
He raised a hand, squinting. The sky was clear, soft orange bleeding into pale blue. No sign of yesterday’s chaos. The air slled like roasted at and wet soil.
He walked ahead slowly. His eyes scanned the clearing. Beasts—young, old, short, towering—were all scattered around, preparing food, checking weapons, fixing tents. They looked tired but alive. And that was enough.
Xavier looked around for Lyra.
He hadn’t forgotten her. He rembered her body, beaten and bleeding. He rembered her protecting the kids, taking down the titan on her own.
He hadn’t seen her since.
And then soone spotted him.
"L-Lord! The Lord has awakened!"
The shout echoed across the camp.
In an instant, everything stopped. Beasts dropped what they were doing. Pots fell. Tools clanged. Eyes turned. Then the first beast ran to him, knelt, and kissed his hand.
"What the f—"
Another did the sa. And another. Soon, they were lining up. Every single one of them. Bowing, murmuring blessings, calling him Lord.
Xavier looked down at his hand, then at the beast in front of him. He stepped back awkwardly.
"Okay. Chill. I’m not a god or anything," he said.
But they didn’t listen. So were crying. Others bowed their heads so deep their horns scraped the ground.
Then, parting through the crowd like wind, ca Lyra.
She looked fine. Better than fine. Her wounds had healed completely. She wore clothes similar to what the beasts were wearing since her clothes were damaged in her fight last night. Her expression was unreadable.
She walked up, slowly, keeping her head low, ears slightly down. Her posture was soft, and careful. Her hands were clasped in front of her.
She didn’t rush like the others. She waited until the rest had moved back.
Her eyes t his for a second, then flicked away.
"I’m... glad to see you’re awake. You... had us all worried."
Xavier blinked, took a step closer. "Lyra," he said. "You’re okay?"
She nodded, though her eyes glistened. "I healed... thanks to you. The light—it healed all of us." She paused. "You... you saved everyone." Lyra told everything.
Xavier scratched the back of his neck. "Damn... did I do sothing that badass while passed out? You could have recorded it."
Lyra’s lips curved into a small, shy smile. "Yes. You were... god...full..."
Xavier chuckled. "Tch. That sounds cheesy as hell."
He looked around at the crowd, then back at Lyra.
"...What the hell did I miss? And how co I accidentally created a cult?" he asked as he glanced around.
Xavier sat on top of a rusted container, his legs hanging off the edge, a plate balanced on his lap. Lyra sat beside him, back straight, careful not to let her tail knock anything over. The container creaked under them now and then, but it held steady.
The beasts had brought them food—sothing that looked like an attempt at a "human breakfast." Eggs, flatbread, so roasted roots, and sothing that might’ve been at but didn’t exactly sll right.
"They asked what humans eat," Lyra said, glancing sideways at him. "I... tried to answer. But I’ve never eaten with humans on earth before. I was in a cage most of the ti, and you know how awful the food in the prison was."
Xavier picked up a piece of the bread and took a bite. Chewy. Definitely not Earth bread. But edible.
"They tried," he said, chewing. "Better than the stuff they gave in prison, at least."
Xavier looked at Lyra. Stared at her as he recalled the vision he had in the prophecy.
’She looks... so different. She is shy... but in the prophecy, she was bold and...’ Xavier glanced at her chest. ’Yeah, they were bigger, too.’
Xavier was attracted to Lyra ever since he first saw her, but after his prophecy, his attraction had turned into sothing else.
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