When the both of them reached the kitchen, and the lights were turned on, Rans eyes glistened as his mouth hung open. He was genuinely surprised by what he had just witnessed, so surprised in fact that he was unable to move from his spot at the entrance.
He collapsed onto both knees as he gazed his teary eyes across the kitchen.
"Y-you did all of… this?" The words choked in his throat as a single tear came out of his eye.
"Of course silly, it's not like you know how to cook right?"
As he looked around him, the tears flowed freely. What was around him to make him cry?
Pies! Lots of them!
And raspberry pies no less! This was Rans favorite comfort food! How can he not cry?
However, there was one complication. They were all old, relatively speaking. In other words, Ann had prepared a single raspberry pie for every day that Ran was missing! Oh my heart, my puny heart….
The oldest pie already had some mold growing and its crust was as hard as a brick.
Ran noticed this difference and he couldn't help but run into Ann's arms like a little kid; I'm not gonna lie, he was balling the f**k out! I would even call him the "s" word if it wasn't for his childish actions.
My god, is he actually a kid… actually don't answer that.
"Shh, there there, here." She patted his broad back as she took the newly created raspberry pie out the oven and stuffed his mouth with a slice! Hmph, like feeding candy to a baby.
However, it was SIMPLY DIVINE!
Strange moans were escaping his mouth as he thoroughly enjoyed the taste of her creation.
And that's not all:
"Here, have some of this."
She reached into a metal box at the corner of the kitchen and took out a red glass bottle.
The bottle was emanating what appeared to be frost, so the only logical conclusion was that it was chilled! In this case, it was in a fridge! S**t, since when did fridges exist in this world?
"Is this what I think it is?" Ran gulped visibly as he reached to grab the bottle from Ann. He successfully snatched the frosty bottle from her and popped the cork only to begin gulping at the liquid inside by the mouthful!
"Hey! Leave some for me." She pouted as she saw Ran chug the alcohol that she had specially created.
That's right, dear readers, Ann was, in fact, a master brewer! Not just Ran, pretty much everyone in and around the family enjoyed her products back then.
"Eh? But you know your smoked rum is my favorite! I refuse to give it back!"
He hmphed before turning away and continuing to chug the rum, he would then occasionally take a slice of the piping hot pie. Ah the nostalgia; he would often spend nights like this when he had nothing to do and his family left him to "his own devices".
And because of her methodology, almost all her products, of any type, would come with this spicy or heat-filled flavor; this one included. Thus, a smokey wood flavor would slap his tongue with a thick heat as he chugged and chugged.
And while this was created recently, it gave the person a sense that it had been aging for at least a dozen years. This was because of juice. Soul juice. It always comes back to this anyway, so if you didn't see that coming then you should really move on. The juice can easily overpower any natural sugars that yeast can use to ferment a liquid. So much so, it can be said to supercharge the yeast, increasing the rate of fermentation exponentially.
This causes an aging effect as the alcohol can seemingly age years within days. The more intense the juice, the faster the rate, the more juice is added, the faster the rate as well. Thus, Ran had been inflicted with the drunk status effect.
The night of celebration continued as Ran consumed and consumed and Ann provided and provided, though she did consume as well. It lasted all the way till noon.
Suddenly, Rans nose twitched. He craned his neck towards the door and stood up from his kitchen stool to walk to it with a smile on his slightly drunk face.
Simultaneously, outside the door, a mysterious black-robed individual looked up at the door in front of them. Their ears perked up as they listened carefully.
When the door finally opened, as the two came into contact with each other, they both spoke at the same time:
"Brother!" Before Bob could utter another word, Ran had already embraced him in a big bear hug; his puny rank-8 body could not muster the strength to resist.
Bob patted Rans back, as if to comfort Ran, but we all know it's the opposite. And yet, when his gaze landed upon the scene in front of him, his eyes almost popped out of his skull!
There, standing in front of him, was none other than Ann!
Of course, what would this story be without a little "romance"?
That's right, the Ann before him was, indeed, naked! Stark naked!
And not the bad kind of naked either; the good kind.
Although her eyes were empty, her supple, freckled, brown skin was there for all to see. Her bare chest heaved up down as she unconsciously breathed in and out; there was no need to mention her… lower half.
Her black hair fluttered on her shoulders as she held a bottle that was filled with a red liquid. She chugged… and then chugged some more. All this without even noticing that there was another presence within their home.
"By the Will! My brother and sis-ter… together!?"
Bob suddenly had the urge to vomit while Ran only laughed it off.
"Oh Bob, you poor thing; she's only your sister after all! What's there not to see?" He flashed Bob a thumbs up before continuing.
"If you're so uncomfortable, I'll take my clothes off as well, then you'll feel more at home." And thus, Ran began doing what he did best. He tried to take off his clothes, but he was stopped by Bob's incredible reaction.
"No! You heathen; I come here every day to try to help only to get shut down every time, and now that you're finally back, you try to strip in front of me!? Do you think I'm blind!?"
Bob felt his mind beginning to crumble as he had never encountered this kind of situation back home. He was always a good kid who was raised with the hope of carrying his tribe to a future of safety and security, yet his determination was wavering at the sight of a naked ape.
"Okay, I understand." Ran was completely serious; if taking his clothes off would make Bob feel more at ease, he would do it, but Bob was unwilling. Sigh, if only he could see my goodwill towards him….
"But… is she okay?" Bob ignored Ran as he looked upon Ann. He was sweating because he tried to avoid trespassing her body with his eyes, so he stuck to her face. But, her eyes were empty.
He tried waving at her, but she had no response. Was she ignoring him!?
"Oh, that. Don't worry about that, that's just typical Ann behavior. She's just sleepwalking… or sleep-drinking in this case. Back home, while I'm asleep, she would sleepwalk into my bed many times and I would wake up covered in sweat with my bedsheets all soiled with various fluids. I would then feel sore for the entire day afterward if that happened."
Ran nodded continuously as he spoke the honest to goodness truth, not knowing the awkwardness that seeped into the atmosphere. Even Ann's face was twitching.
Bob finally sighed in relief as he ignored what was just said, everything seemed to become normal again; Ran was back and was the same Ran and Ann was Ann again.
Ran walked up to Ann and snatched the bottle from her. He began chugging. Contrary to what this might seem, Ran was just trying to wake her up.
And soon enough, "huh?" Ann's eyes regained emotion as she looked around in confusion.
She saw Bob and the redness on his face from embarrassment, but who cares about Bob?
She looked around again and noticed Ran on a seat, chugging what appeared to be her bottle of rum.
A smirk was raised: "Ho, since when were you confident enough to take what's mine?"
The feminine voice boomed and shook Ran to his very core; he began involuntarily shaking.
"T-that's right, I took the bottle," he gulped violently before he continued, "so what?"
He sweated profusely as he awaited the PUNISHMENT that came from angering the very gods (goddess') themselves!
Yet, even after ten seconds, his butt wasn't kicked. Did she find out that his glutes were actually extremely shock absorbent?
He unwillingly turned around only to find the fiery gaze that Ann had cast upon him; it felt like kerosene was dumped on him and then was set on fire.
His instincts were screaming danger as he immediately retreated to the other side of the room. Ann didn't stop him as she followed his body before moving on to the sweet sweet alcohol that Ran left on the table.
She moved to pick it up before saying:
"You're lucky I'm in a good mood today." She smiled, but that only caused Ran to shiver even more. She had truly left her mark on him.
She grabbed the bottle before chugging the rest of the substance down with a single gulp.
Afterwards, she looked up at Bob.
"Thank you." She smiled sincerely as gratitude flashed in her eyes, she even did a little bow to show her sincerity. She didn't have amnesia after all; all those times he had tried to visit her were still there and maybe it had even helped somehow.
Now that she thought about it, she was slightly suspicious. After all, Ran had been gone for three months prior to this and she was actually much better off then than this time around.
And during those three months, Bobuul had almost always been a constant presence in her life. It was indeed very sus. Not to mention his sigil had something to do with emotions… Hmm.
But conspiracies aside, she at least felt he was more trustworthy as he truly showed more courage towards the unknown than her.
"Uh…" Bob couldn't help but look away when she looked directly at him. No matter what, he wouldn't be as shameless as Ran!
She saw his embarrassment and looked at herself:
"Oh." She shrugged.
…
The group continued their journey to the only place where Ran got his breakfast. Ran was too much of an early bird for Ann, so he just ate there.
When they reached the Silver Wire Inn, the current situation was already quite strange. Inside, the dozen or so customers were silent as they stared at a particular corner of the inn. They made sure to stay as far as possible from it as possible as they felt…
Doom.
Imminent doom!
Their imminent doom!
In fact, they weren't even staring at the corner directly, but the area surrounding it; that's how scared they were. But our group, of course, wouldn't be scared of the corner.
Why? Because it was a corner! Why would they be afraid of a corner!?
Okay… Pridicus was sitting there, but they still wouldn't be scared!
"It's him…" Ann muttered under her breath. She seemed to recognize him from somewhere, and so, she hurriedly went up to meet him.
Seeing the new group join up with the corner, the other customers coughed and pretended not to see anything as they tried to continue their normal daily activities.
"Lord Pride…" Ann spoke respectfully as she bowed in front of Pridicus, some anxiety was now evident on her face.
Once she saw him, she had realized just what Lions had been wiped out. While the Desert Lions were the only major lion species on this side of the desert, she just didn't bother to connect that species to this particular lion… until she saw him again. After all, she had only seen him around Rans father a couple times in the past, so it was already a miracle she remembered him at all.
Of course, with what happened, she wasn't feeling anxiety for herself and her safety, but rather his safety and mental fortitude!
"Hmm, and this is…" Pridicus observed Ann, trying to see if he recognized her from somewhere, but once he saw the people behind her, he just couldn't give a s**t anymore about who she was.
He peered behind Rans spell of darkness and saw his face. Immediately, he stood up and bowed towards him.
"Brother Pride! You look much better than yesterday." Ran gave him a hug before proceeding to examine Prides body for any… anomalies.
Of course, due to yesterday's little experiment, Pridicus' body had been shivering uncontrollably and the pain was quite unbearable. Not to mention that Ran had never used his special runes on a physical body, let alone him using them for only the second time with little to no experience on what's and what's not possible.
But all of that pain was gone now and Brother Pride couldn't have felt better. He felt as if his body had gotten stronger after the integration of these strange runes, though he couldn't really confirm it.
"Don't even mention that, I'm still trying to figure out how you did this." He smiled as he pointed at his tattooed chest.
He was currently bare-chested, with only a pair of dark trousers on and… you guys are gonna have to prepare for this; he had pulled his beautiful mane into a man-bun!
Oh god no, not the bun! NOT THE BUN!!!
And this, dear readers, was why everyone avoided him. It wasn't because of his strength and overpowering aura, but because they were afraid of the bun. Many of them even thought it was contagious and soon enough, they would have a man-bun as well. Even the women couldn't bear to see that atrocity, lest they jinx it and their husbands come home with one.
Once everyone was seated, Pridicus' attention was turned to Bob.
Bob, unlike Ran, didn't bother to do anything fancy about his hood. He just didn't like the light from the Great Fireballs in the sky, whereas Ran didn't like people looking at him.
Of course, with Bob's… charming smile, who wouldn't want to see him!? However, once Pridicus saw him, his face changed.
"Who are you?" Brother Pride looked at him in amazement. He had never seen anything quite like Bob, and while he was already in his forties, his feline curiosity had never faded. Thus, the more accurate question would be "what" are you.
Two pairs of sharply-pointed ears, a pair of green, serpentine-like, eyes, short blond hair and of course, pale green skin.
The best Brother Pride could come up with was that Bob was some kind of snake person, but he appeared oddly human for all his oddities.
Bob took this as a cue as he stood up from his chair and bowed a full forty-five degrees! I swear, Bob is too polite and educated; his edicate is too precise. Even Pridicus was astonished by his noble disposition.
This… was a true noble; a successor and leader to many people, as well as their eventual future. Brother Pride saw a bit of himself in Bob. He saw himself in Ran as well, but on a more personal level… which you all know is because of the tragic losses of both their homes.
"Lord, my name is Bobuul Cornelius I; it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise, you can just call me Brother Pride." Brother Pride got up and bowed as well, such was the respect he had for Bob's apparent nobility.
Ran decided to introduce the other two since they already started that way.
"This one is Ann," he pointed towards Ann, "and this one is Fluffy," he then motioned towards Fluffy who laid next to him.
"They're my friends!" Ran then spoke very enthusiastically.
"Friends… you say?" He looked towards Ann who was slightly indifferent towards him. It was like once Ran was done here, she would forget all about him and wouldn't bother to waste another breath on him. Yet, there was also caution; clearly, she felt threatened by his strength.
What's even crazier was that he actually felt a very slight twinge in his heart from her. This could only mean one thing; he was also slightly threatened by her. This came to a huge surprise to him as she was only supposed to be a rank-6 brat.
Of course, as a rank-3, he could still kill her with a snap of his fingers, but letting his guard down around her would be a big no no if he was her enemy.
Then there was Bob. He looked towards Bob and was almost blinded! By the Will, what horrifying strength was this!? MY EYES! MY EYES!
His eyes then adjusted accordingly and he saw that Bob was merely smiling warmly at him with sincerity. Phew, thought that was some kind of special move - he quickly moved on to the beautiful lady besides Ran.
Adoration grew once again in his heart as he gazed at Fluffy (the Almighty). He was old so he didn't have any weird thoughts, unlike the rest of you, rather, he was just admiring the beauty she had.
She could have easily competed with his tribe's most beautiful lionesses. Of course, he knew she was a Black-Crystalline Cheetah.
Anyone who knew anything about cats and their different species would know what a Crystalline Cheetah was. If anything, it explained why he was able to see her in person, right in front of him.
That's cool and all mister Pride, but I'm sure my readers couldn't give a single f**k about your opinion on the goddess herself!
They want the scoop! They want to know the plan for revenge! And they want it now!
Hell, even I want to know… I should probably get to it already.
And so I did.
…
They talked and talked all the way until late-afternoon. They conversed about a multitude of things.
One of which was Rans status in the eyes of his enemies. In other words, what they discussed was how to fake his and Brother Prides death to avoid further investigation from their nemesis'.
"Ah… I see. So we just need to show them that we died huh?" Ran smiled mysteriously at Brother Pride, who was slightly unnerved by this. Ran had shown the same smile while he was being tortured during the rune integration scene.
"Ran… w-what are you-" before he could finish, Ran had already begun to move.
He stretched his left arm out before it started shining with pink-blue runes that were covered in swirl-like patterns.
Before his sigil could even project itself fully, he made another move! He directly summoned his sword! All of this happened within an instant!
"Wait, hold on Ran; don't do anything irra-" before Brother Pride could finish his sentence again, Ran suddenly slammed his sword on the table!
Boom. The sound of something slamming on the table attracted everyone's attention as they looked over to Ran's group.
Immediately, they all started sweating profusely as they stared at the table.
On the table, blood had splattered all over the place and it pooled specifically around what appeared to be… a finger.
"What!?" Brother Pride's brain was too shocked to process what just happened, but it only got worse from there.
Before he even had the chance to understand the current situation, he heard another boom as Ran slammed his sword on the table once again!
After realizing this, which took a couple seconds, he looked down onto the table.
There, next to what was presumably Rans finger, laid another finger. Only, this one was bigger and was covered with lion fur.
"Oh… so it's my finger." His mind, even with his age, was unable to comprehend what just happened.
And anyway, how was Ran able to accomplish such a thing?
It was quite simple really. It all came down to probability.
In Pridicus' mind, Ran turning on him was so improbable that even when it was happening right in front of his eyes, he wouldn't believe it and thus would do nothing about it.
Before Brother Pride could complain however, the nerves that were screaming bloody murder calmed down as a chilly sensation spread throughout his body. It was a little uncomfortable at first, like cold, dead, hands touching all over him, but it quickly turned relaxing like they were warmly (coldly) hugging him.
Better yet, right before his eyes, his hand was set ablaze as pink-blue flames covered it. And like always, his finger started growing back like a pink-blue goop before it took the likeness of his actual finger.
And on the table, the blood that splashed onto the table and everyone's clothes were also set on fire before they turned into sparks and disappeared into nothingness.
Ran then collected them, put them in some random pendant that he had looted from yesterday, and handed it back to Brother Pride.
Although the people there were watching in fear, the scent that penetrated into their noses started to calm them down and they returned to their business as if nothing had happened.
"That should do it right?" Ran honestly looked at Brother Pride, though some worry was contained within his complex eyes.
Was he being too rude back there; he did just cut his finger off, so he thought that maybe he was being too cruel. Then again, it was an effective measure for sure and they both got their fingers back in the end.
"Cough, cough… yes, I suppose this is good enough." Brother was still shocked as he clenched his hand into a fist before releasing it, repeating it over and over again.
His finger still had a tingling sensation, but other than that, everything was the same.
"Was that your sigil?" He asked. "Yes, Parry-San is very reliable." He showed his left hand that had his projected sigil.
Brother Pride sighed when he saw this. This was why humans had such an advantage in this world. Not only was every human born with a fetal organ, when all other species can't, but they all have a sigil with them as well.
The sigil itself wasn't what gave humans such a big advantage, excluding the fetal organs, but it was the randomness of it all that truly made humans rise.
Every species other than humans had their own powers, like how every Desert lion would have a fire ability. Of course, there are exceptions to everything and rarely would a mutation happen. The only other way to have variation would be intermingling with different species of different powers.
But humans came with all kinds of wacky powers, just the variation between Ran, Ann and Bob was already huge, so imagine the whole of the human race in this world.
However, that isn't the point.
"Right, and I know just where to take these."
As it just so happens, before Ran had been apprehended, Brother Pride had heard a bit of their enemies conversations. Basically, after the person of interest was caught (Ran), and the necessary information was collected (or lack thereof), a scout would come after a period of time to receive both prisoners as well as the information and take them back to their base.
It happens that the scout would appear the day after tomorrow at dusk.
"But how are you going to convince them, Brother Pride?"
After all, if he were to go looking as Pridicus, it wouldn't matter if he gave them the fingers as they would be exposed.
"Hmph, trivial." A sneer was raised as Brother Pride brought something out from his newly regained pendant.
It glowed with runes before a mask plopped onto the table.
It was a white mask with minimal features; it had two holes for the eyes, a protrusion for the nose and two holes for breathing. It also had a protrusion for the mouth.
"This, my friends, is an artifact I gained after my tribesmen sacrificed themselves to save me."
Speaking about the destruction of his family, the other three lowered their heads slightly so as to not meet his eyes. Anyone with any semblance of consciousness and self-awareness, and wasn't crazy, would feel sympathy for him and the tragedy that has befallen on him.
But Brother Pride only waved his hand, "it's fine. It paid off in the end. Their lives weren't in vain."
"This came from a rank-2 illusionist, and with this, that scout won't know the difference between me and his father!"
He then smiled. "Would you guys like to see?"
The three looked at each other before deciding to see what would happen to Brother Pride if he were to put it on.
What would they see?
"Alright, don't say I didn't warn you. This illusion mask is quite something, I'll give him that; it can easily see into one's soul and reveal their innermost secrets."
Pridicus picked up the mask with his hand and everyone's hearts started pumping. He placed it in front of his face before putting it on. It didn't have any straps or anything like that, but it would be like a vacuum as it stuck onto one's face, forcing it deeper and deeper into the mask.
After he put it on, his figure immediately began a transformation as everyone saw something different. The transition was instant, and it felt like this was Pridicus' true form all along. After all, with the power level of the mask, no one here would be able to resist its effects.
First up was Ann.
She looked across the table and saw something strange. It was Ran; he looked at her like he always would, but his entire image was static and unmoving. Of course, this was because Pridicus himself wasn't moving. But it didn't simply end there. Her eyes began glazing over, like a layer of frost had encroached upon her vision, impairing her from being able to see the truth that she's been running from.
She was about to stand up and kneel, but upon moving, she accidentally brushed up against the real Ran. She turned her head precisely and saw him; only then did her eyes return to normal. But she was stunned as she looked at him.
As Rans gaze focused onto Pridicus, he also coincidently saw himself.
As the two pairs of eyes met, Ran began to cry tears. The floodgates had been opened as he tried his best to not whimper. He even saw the other Ran smile at him as he waved happily from the other side of the table.
Phew. Ran let out a turbulent breath as he wiped his tears and smiled in return.
"What did you see?" Ann looked strangely at him; she had never seen such an intense reaction from him before. Even when his parents disappeared and his home was destroyed, he hadn't acted quite like this.
"I saw… myself." He said as he relaxed a bit, he didn't exactly know what just happened. And Ann was silenced in return, how was she supposed to respond to that? She had seen him too, but even she didn't react like that.
But, they weren't the only ones to have been influenced by the mask. They both turned to look at Bob, but once again they were stunned by what they saw.
Bob, who always kept a polite smile and had an air of nobility around him, had suddenly turned into another person. His face was scrunched up terrifyingly and his pearly-white teeth were gnashing against each other.
Worse yet was that his sigil had been unconsciously activated!
The runes overflowed from his eyes and no longer were they a joyful yellow.
They were, instead, emitting a dangerous light. It was as if the runes were soaked in blood as the red runes tried targeting what he saw. The air around him had turned bloody as rage bubbled from within him, the vengeful spirit visible in his eyes.
Of course, being only rank-8, he couldn't affect Pridicus even if he tried until his dying breath.
But it wasn't Pridicus that he was targeting, that much was obvious. But then what did he see that he actually had an arguably even more intense reaction than Ran?
Well, as he peered at the mask, he saw what appeared to be a green snake; it was big enough to completely coil around the inn as it stared at him. Its yellow eyes looked down on him like he was an ant, an utterly insignificant existence, which only got Bob even angrier. It's snake mouth was seemingly smiling at him in contempt, though it didn't make a move.
While Bob was dealing with that, Fluffys reaction might just be the most "sane".
Her head was lifted from the wooden floor as she looked up at the mask. Immediately, she rested her head on the floor as she covered her eyes with her oversized paws.
Aya, how can I, the Almighty Fluffy, see her here? It's a lie! It's all a flippin lie! There's no way she can be here! Not after…
She stole a glance at what she interpreted the mask to be from in between her paws before she froze and hid again.
Okay, okay, I'll be silent.
The white cheetah, which was what she saw, looked at Fluffy. There was a mixture of emotions within their eyes; sadness, frustration, and indignation were all included.
Fluffy just stayed quiet from then on, somewhat like a child that was ostracized for being too loud; lost and forgotten.
Well, her silence didn't last for long as Ran began rubbing her big head when he saw her being put off like that; she looked at him for a bit with her big eyes, opened her mouth, and let out a squeak that was unbecoming of her stature. She seemed to have already forgotten about what just happened a couple lines ago. Hell, she was even yawning!
Afterwards, Pridicus took off the mask and smiled at them, apparently "satisfied" by the reactions the four of them had. It was within his expectations.
"Brother, it… might be too effective," Ran pointed out as not all the tears left his system yet.
Brother Pride smiled, "hmph, you cubs never stood a chance. But, yes, it is even more effective than you might think."
"Much, much, more," He added mysteriously as he pocketed the mask back into his pendant.
And that, my friends, is how you create a plot-device.
But the conversation didn't stop there.
That was merely phase one of their plan: ensure their safety for phase two.
Phase two was split into two parts - one for Ran and the other for Pridicus.
Rans, and whoever's would be joining him, only mission was to become as strong as possible within their allotted time-frame.
Pridicus preferred if Ran was able to reach rank-5, or even above that at rank-4 since rank-5 was only the beginning of the later half of reachable power levels.
And considering what Ran had told him about himself - his potential should allow him to level up to at least rank-5 by the time they regrouped.
The information, which Ran told him, shocked him no less. He looked at Ran like a dead person when he found out that he had no heart. But that only confused him even more as he posed a question to himself in his mind.
If Ran was able to heal, then why wouldn't he heal his heart back into existence?
He supposed that there were three potential reasons. One; he was being hindered somehow like a poison or a curse and was unable to complete the healing process; two, the heart was too complex to heal and would require energy and power beyond his current level; or three, he had more personal reasons, or other if you will. Hell, it could even be a mixture of two or all of the options.
But Pridicus wouldn't pry. Pridicus' part in phase two was a bit more complex. He already knew who their enemies were and where they were located, he just didn't know exactly how many and how powerful they were.
That was it. Determine his opponent's strength and numbers, as well as finding any potential allies. Of which, he already had several people in mind.
As for the Kesh Empire, they were merely being used as a borrowed knife and would no longer satisfy anyone's vengeful spirits even if they were to disappear or stay where they were. To this, Rans eyes were truly opened to the truly wide world. Clearly, he had been left out of a lot of things and his father was the one with the key to unlocking secrets that were world-shattering.
Phase three was even simpler. They had given each other six months to do what they can before meeting up at a specific location:
The abandoned land of black glass.
The reason for this timing was probably because of the most uncertain factor in all of this; Rans father.
Torian was nowhere to be found and he held the key to everything. He was the only person on this planet who had the full picture of what the FUCK was going on and if he was captured or killed, it was all over.
As for his mother, Mariana, she was either with Torian or she was captured and possibly killed.
So phase four was simple. Find and confront Rans father!
Pridicus is going to try to find him during phase three as well, but it was harder said than done.
And lastly, phase five. Take revenge! Avenge their families and restore their dignity! And more!
And by the end of it all, the world as they know it would be completely altered!
And boy is that an understatement….
As they all watched the sun start to set, Pridicus decided to finally end their meeting with one last question:
"Do you want to know who we're up against?"
Instantly, everyone shook, including Bob and Fluffy who were supposed to not be related to this in any way shape or form. But they all nodded simultaneously as their curiosity peaked.
"Remember this: if you see or know people with any of these three surnames, be sure to stay away from them to avoid suspicion."
He paused, looked at the four, even at the whole inn, before he finished.
"One; the Noons; two, the Dusks; and three; the Dawn's!" He held up three fingers to signify each family as rage was visible on his face.
Like a bomb, their minds went blank as the names were scrawled into their being; their ears were ringing as almost everyone's facial expressions lacked any form.
As for Ran, he was the main character, so of course he has to be different in some capacity compared to other people.
As he remembered his nemesis' names in his heart, he felt strange.
He got a strange sense of familiarity from one of the names; the other names not so much, but that one left a faint bitter taste on his tongue. And no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what went wrong.
After all, this was supposed to be the first time he's even hearing these three surnames.
Well, no use looking for something that doesn't want to be found, he thought. He'd figure everything out eventually, he continued.
He soon chose to move on, but before he could even do that:
Creak.
The inn's door creaked open as someone walked through it.