The desert had gone silent. It was not the peaceful kind of silence, but the heavy silence that ca after chaos. After death. After survival. The outside of Senkeht looked ruined beyond recognition. The dunes had been flattened into craters, rivers of lted sand still glowed faintly beneath the surface, and the scent of blood, ash, and scorched flesh lingered heavily in the air.
Yet no one spoke, because all eyes were on Tunik. The sentinel knelt at the center of the destroyed battlefield, bound tightly by Risa’s glowing vines. They wrapped around his arms, legs, torso, and neck like living serpents. Every ti he struggled, thorns dug deeper into his flesh, drawing blood.
The atmosphere felt suffocating. Tunik’s breathing was ragged now. His face was bruised from the earlier struggle, but his eyes still carried hatred, rage, and madness. Risa slowly descended from the wall, her green robes fluttering gently in the desert wind. The mont her feet touched the ground, the vines tightened around Tunik violently.
"AGH!"
His scream echoed across the battlefield, but Risa’s expression remained cold. For the first ti since Bahamut’s group arrived in Senkeht, the gentle healer no longer looked kind. She looked terrifying.
"You..." her voice trembled slightly.
"Do you understand what you’ve done?"
Tunik laughed weakly despite the pain.
"What I’ve done?" His eyes wandered toward Sel and Exildra. "I should’ve killed the elves first." Despite all that had happened to him earlier, despite Hakim’s rebuttals, Tunik still remained adamant. He was far too gone. The air froze. Several warriors imdiately pointed weapons at him again. Forta’s expression darkened instantly, but before anyone could react further.
BOOOOOOOM!
A terrifying pressure exploded outward. Tunik’s eyes widened as a hand suddenly grabbed his face. It belonged to Bahamut. He had crossed the distance so quickly that almost no one saw him move. The blindfolded boy held Tunik up effortlessly with one hand, his golden eyes glowing brightly beneath the loosened blindfold. He looked furious. True fury.
"You endangered everyone..." Bahamut said quietly. His voice wasn’t loud, but it made people shiver. "You caused deaths." His grip tightened as claws slowly grew from his hands. Tunik scread again as several bones in his face fractured.
"You tried to kill , my people, my girlfriend!" Darkness began leaking slowly from Bahamut’s arm like smoke. Even Ren frowned slightly upon sensing it.
"Bahamut..." Sel called carefully, but Bahamut ignored him. Tunik trembled violently now. The hatred in his eyes had finally begun turning into fear. He realized sothing horrifying. The blindfolded boy wasn’t normal. He should have realized that when his assassination attempt failed.
Bahamut slowly leaned closer.
"Do you know what pisses off the most?" Tunik couldn’t answer. "I would’ve understood revenge."
His golden eyes dimd slightly.
"But you targeted innocent people to satisfy your hatred." Bahamut smiled, and sohow, that smile was scarier than his anger. "You are weak."
Those words shattered sothing inside Tunik instantly: years of hatred, years of pain, years of rage, were reduced to that single sentence.
Weak.
Bahamut suddenly released him.
THUD!
Tunik crashed face-first into the sand, coughing blood violently. Hakim stared at Bahamut for a long mont before speaking.
"What do you suggest we do with him?"
The question surprised everyone, because Hakim wasn’t asking as the chief anymore. He was genuinely asking Bahamut. Everyone turned toward him, awaiting his answer. Bahamut went silent briefly in thought. Many rushed through his head: Death, labor, torture... He looked toward the horizon where the beasts had disappeared. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"The beasts didn’t attack because they were hungry." He spoke calmly now. "They attacked because sothing precious was stolen."
Everyone stiffened as if they knew what he was going to say, but still, Bahamut continued.
"And this idiot caused a war because of his hatred."
He looked down at Tunik again.
"So let him fix it."
Forta frowned.
"What do you an?"
Bahamut’s smile returned slightly.
"He’ll return whatever was stolen personally."
Tunik’s eyes widened instantly.
"No-"
"And then," Bahamut added casually,
"He’ll apologize to my new friend, the wyrm, Sel, and my girlfriend, Exildra."
The entire battlefield beca dead silent again. Ren burst out laughing.
"HHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The humanoid rabbit clutched his stomach while pointing at Tunik.
"Oh gods, that’s cruel!"
Sel covered his face with one hand, his shoulders shaking slightly. Even Exildra looked away to hide her smile. For soone like Tunik, being forced to bow his head before the people he hated was worse than death.
Tunik froze completely. For a mont, he genuinely thought he had heard wrong. The blood dripping from his face mixed with the sand beneath him as he slowly raised his head toward Bahamut. His breathing beca uneven, almost animalistic. His entire body trembled violently, not from fear this ti, but from pure rage.
"No..." he whispered.
Bahamut tilted his head slightly.
"No?"
Tunik’s expression twisted.
"You want ..." His voice cracked. "You want to kneel before them?"
His eyes snapped toward Sel and Exildra instantly. The hatred inside them was so intense that even the nearby warriors shifted uncomfortably.
"The elves?!"
The mont he shouted it, the vines around his body constricted violently again.
KRAK!
"AAAGH!"
Several ribs cracked audibly. Risa’s cold voice entered his ears imdiately afterward.
"You do not get to scream."
Tunik coughed blood onto the sand, his face pale. Yet even then, he still glared at Sel and Exildra with madness-filled eyes. Sel sighed softly.
"You really need therapy."
"What in the gods is therapy?" Ren asked.
"No idea," Sel admitted.
"But it sounded fitting."
Even Forta looked away briefly to hide the twitch at the corner of his mouth. anwhile, Tunik looked like he was about to explode.
"You think this is funny?!" he snarled. "My mother suffered because of people like them!"
His voice beca louder and louder.
"She was tortured! Treated like trash! Used like an animal!"
The battlefield grew quieter.
For the first ti, so hesitation appeared on the faces of the warriors of Senkeht. They knew Tunik’s story. Most of them did. So even rembered his mother. A kind woman, quiet and hardworking, and then one day, she vanished.
Hakim closed his eyes briefly.
"Tunik..."
"No!" Tunik roared.
"You don’t understand!"
His eyes suddenly locked onto Exildra.
"You stand there acting innocent, but your people-"
SHIIIIING!
A blade stopped inches from his throat. Everyone’s pupils shrank. Bahamut stood in front of him now, Iron Fang resting lightly against Tunik’s neck. His eyes glowed beneath the loose blindfold.
"And that," Bahamut said calmly, "is where you lose ." The pressure around him deepened instantly.
"You suffered. Fine."
"You were hurt. Fine."
"But the mont you decide innocent people should suffer because soone else hurt you..." His gaze sharpened. "You beco no different from the people you hate."
Tunik opened his mouth to retort, but no words ca out, because deep down, he knew it was true. That was the worst part. Bahamut slowly lowered the sword.
"I’m not asking you to forgive anyone." His tone softened slightly. "But if you can’t tell the difference between the people who hurt you and the people standing in front of you..." Bahamut glanced toward Sel and Exildra.
"Then you are just another coward hiding behind pain."
Those words hit harder than any attack. Tunik’s body shook violently. He clenched his teeth so hard that blood leaked from his gums.
"I..." he started weakly, but nothing ca out afterward. For the first ti in years, soone had looked directly at his hatred and refused to validate it with disappointnt, and sohow, that hurt the most. Ren slowly walked over and crouched beside Bahamut.
"Damn..." the humanoid rabbit muttered. "You emotionally assassinated him."
"Shut up," Bahamut replied imdiately.
"No, seriously," Ren continued while staring at Tunik. "I think his soul just cracked."
Sel nodded thoughtfully.
"It was honestly impressive."
Exildra smacked both of them lightly on the head.
"Stop making fun of him."
"Sorry," Ren said instantly. He then leaned closer toward Bahamut and whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear. "You were kinda hot just now, though."
"GET AWAY FROM !" Bahamut snapped while kicking him away.
THUD!
Ren rolled across the sand laughing hysterically while the heavy atmosphere finally cracked slightly. Even so warriors started laughing weakly from relief. The war was over, and Senkeht still stood. For the first ti since the nightmare began, the people could finally breathe.
...
A/N:
The first book has finally ended. Thank you for the support. I’m feeling a bit sad about completing it, but it was necessary.
Continue to support this book. Help with unlocks, gifts, and golden tickets to get the book at the top. Add comnts and reviews too, so I know what to change and what to keep. I don’t want to be yapping too much, but this book isn’t making it as I liked, but I won’t drop it because of that. I just want it to beco successful.
I also appreciate the Golden Tickets @Bjarne_H. Thank you very much.
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