[Asura Palace, Akasha]
I grazed my eyes over the tall mansion of the Asura household.
The palace rose like black stone grown from the earth rather than built.
Tall spires curved like horns toward the sky.
Deep red banners hung between the towers, barely moving in the still air.
Even from outside the gates, the pressure of the place could be felt.
"Most of the family mbers are well aware of the current situation." Mortis who was standing beside mumbled. "And they are more than scared."
I nodded my head, not saying anything else.
Given what happened with the other two elf families it was obvious why they were scared.
'…They don't want to be the next in line to get destroyed.'
Mortis began to walk, taking inside the mansion.
My gaze though shifted back to the young boy who was walking a few steps behind.
Lysander had been silent the entire ti during our travel.
He hadn't spoken a word and had been keeping his presence as low as possible.
'…Is he really that scared of ?'
I didn't think so.
It's like he was trying to hide sothing from by acting like this.
'…I gotta keep an eye on him.'
Thinking so, I moved along with Mortis into the inner gates.
The guards stiffened the mont they recognized , but none dared speak.
They just bowed and moved aside.
Inside, the courtyard was quieter than a noble palace should ever be.
Mortis walked through the palace as I found many new faces.
We only stopped when we reached the main hall of the mansion.
Lysander had already gone sowhere else leaving along with his grandfather.
There were two more beings who were present inside the room.
One of them was the son of Mortis and the definition of nepotism and the other was the princess of the Orth kingdom.
Leila was the one whose wedding was destroyed…whose husband died.
When she noticed , she stood up and bowed.
I nodded as my gaze shifted towards the portrait on the wall.
A na was engraved on the lower end.
Adean Varyan Asura, the Asuran Child of Mana.
The portrait was larger than the others.
A young man stood painted in silver and black armor, long dark hair flowing behind him like smoke.
"...."
I kept on staring at the man who was once .
Unlike the other two child of mana in the second Holy War, he was fighting everyone for the love of the ga.
'…He does looks like soone who would get offended easily.'
I rubbed the back of my neck as I sat down on the sofa opposite to them.
Mortis cleared his throat taking his seat as well.
"I won't waste your ti." He said. "Right now, as the head of Asura family I would forrly ask for your help."
Leila's fingers tightened in her lap.
Mortis' son sat straight, trying to look like he belonged in a conversation this important.
I leaned back into the sofa.
"You already have my attention," I said. "Talk."
Mortis shifted his gaze towards Leila who stood up as if understanding his unspoken words.
"The situation is really grim." She said, taking out a docunt from her bracelet. "From what I have gathered "they" are a cult who are killing Asura."
She passed the docunts to , which I took.
"Twelve hundreds confird incidents," Leila said. "Likely more we don't know about."
I flipped through the pages that had nas and images of those who were effected by it.
The hornless asura looked pitiful.
"Anything you know about the cult?" I asked, closing the docunt for a second.
"They call themselves 'Council of Better Future." She replied. "They say they want to revive all gods."
I titled my head in response. "All gods?"
She nodded her head. "With what we have gathered, they want to bring back all the gods that died in the Third Holy War."
'…All the gods that Qaisel killed?'
I frowned as I couldn't understand the aning behind such thing.
Why would they want to bring back those gods?
I flipped through the docunts once again thinking in the silence about their motives.
"How are they going to do that?" I mumbled more to myself.
"By using the dungeons." Leila replied instead. "They are using the dungeons."
"...."
I stopped turning the pages.
"The dungeons…" I repeated.
From what I rembered, the dungeons were created by the dead gods to one day have enough souls to revive themselves.
'…Still why would a cult try to revive those gods?'
I leaned back slowly.
"How did you get this information?"
"We tortured one of them." Mortis son said gruntly. "He poke everything like a bitch."
I glanced at him and gave a single nod.
'…damn, I forget his na.'
I rubbed my temples as I looked through the docunts.
'But I don't buy this bullshit about reviving the gods.'
There was definitely sothing else that was going on with this place.
"Alright." I said, patting the armrest twice. "I will look into this."
A look of relief imdiately appeared on all of their faces.
"How can we help you?" Leila asked. "If you need we can provide with our army—."
"I don't think I will need them."
I said standing up but as I did, I heard a cripping voice.
Looking up, I found a small blue bird floating over my head.
I smiled as the bird slowly lowered itself to sit on my head.
Tweet! Tweet!
Liraz began to peck my head like that's all he knows to do.
I turned my head as I found soone walking towards the room.
'…Epione.'
---
[Unknown Island, Sea of Shadows.]
The world of Lumina was as beautiful as dangerous.
Most of the world was explored yet a big part of Lumina was unexplored.
The Sea of Shadows was such place that was too chaotic to be reached by normal beings.
Black cliffs rose from the sea, jagged and wet, as if the island had clawed its own way out of the ocean.
The place that was once a mystery that Primordial Goddess Annat herself couldn't solve.
At the edge of the place was a mansion that was big enough to shelter thousands.
The mansion did not look abandoned.
That was the first wrong thing about it.
In a place where even the sea sounded sick, the structure stood intact.
Long halls stretched in every direction, lined with statues of Sabaoth himself.
At the center of the mansion was a grand hall.
Inside the grand hall sat a man who was seven tres tall.
His muscular body was only covered by a peice of cloth that he wrapped around his body.
On the opposite side of him, on a throne that was on equal level to him stood a red haired man.
Ragnar sat lazily on the throne staring at the man.
"Care to talk?" He said, his voice annoyed. "You can't call here and turn mute."
The giant did not look at him.
He sat cross-legged on the stone floor, eyes closed, breathing slow.
Each breath sounded like distant thunder rolling under the earth.
He was the leader of the organisation that followed Sabaoth.
He was the leader of…Principalities.
"I asked a question Valar." Ragnar growled. "I crossed half the Sea of Shadows for this. Speak."
Valar finally opened his eyes, his gaze held nothing not even mana.
"There is interference in our plans." He spoke, his voice soft. "It looks like soone is ssing with us."
Ragnar rubbed his chin as he asked. "You think it's because of all the unrest?"
"Yes," Valar said. "But sothing else is interfering."
Ragnar's eyes narrowed. "Who."
Valar looked straight at him.
"The anomaly."
Ragnar didn't ask which one.
He already knew.
"Him," Ragnar muttered, leaning forward on the throne. "Of course."
"The tilines around him do not behave," Valar said. "His interference is sothing that I can never detect."
"It's because of Sabaoth, isn't it?" Ragnar said, anger buried under his calm voice. "I should have killed him, back then!"
A deep sound rolled beneath the mansion.
The ocean outside slamd against the cliffs, but the waves did not move normally.
"His death is not sothing that can be prevented." Valar replied softly. "He will die sooner or later."
"When?" Ragnar asked, standing up. "When is he going to fucking die!?"
Valar looked up at the man.
"It won't take long for Morningstar to reach Lumina." He spoke standing up as well. "His death is written by the dragon's hands."
"..."
Ragnar clicked his tongue but he held back on saying anything.
Instead he changed the topic. "Are you behind all those new cults that are popping up?"
"No." Valar shook his head. "They are forming independently and God Sabaoth isn't behind it."
Ragnar rubbed his chin as he walked towards the window where he could see the black sea.
"Then should I be careful about them?" He asked, glancing back at the man.
"Yes, you should." He replied. "Things that starts with small can sotis have bigger effects."
Ragnar leaned against the wall as he said. "They plan to revive the dead gods."
Valar didn't say anything as he walked to the opposite window.
From there he could look at the large dark tower that ca out from the very being of Lumina.
….The sa Dark Tower that Himl once saw.
"Let them." Valar spoke with a confident voice. "No matter the outco, the source of their powers will always be under my watch."
A lightning illuminated the entire dim Island and the Dark Tower.
Valar kept on staring at the Tower and the Tower stared back.
User Comments
0 comments from readers