In the blink of an eye, blackness wraps around us, then unwraps to reveal we're back infront of the villains' hideout. I watch Vex quickly and calmly move to the door, carefully opening it then looking back to us. He waves forward, for us to enter the building. Warren moves forward and I follow behind him. Vex closes the door behind us when we enter the building. Illestra looks over to us and smiles.
"I'm impressed, that was astoundingly quick. It would've taken us days to attack each base and defeat everyone."
She says, Vex quickly stepping passed me to reveal himself to everyone. Everyone looks at his blood-soaked skin and clothes, almost shocked. Illestra smiles evily and puts her hand under her chin.
"Now, now, maybe I had the wrong idea of you. By how you spoke and carried yourself, I had imagined you to be quite pure. I imagined you to be the most innocent of the group, but I see I was wrong. Just look at you."
She extends her arms and smiles widely.
"Almost flaunting the blood of those that fell before you. Now I may be cruel, but that just seems insane."
She says happily, Vex sighs and looks at his arms.
"If they were corrupting the system and had only labeled themselves as heroes, then they didn't deserve to live."
I quickly look to Vex, completely shocked by his words. I slowly reach back for my sword and watch him carefully. I think to myself while clutching my handle.
Vex would never say that, never. This can't be Vex, it has to be a trick of some kind.
I slowly start to pull my sword from its sheath, but Vex quickly spins around and puts his hand on my wrist. I attempt to keep pulling the sword out, but face heavy resistance. I understand it's the real Vex based solely on his strength.
"I will never kill innocent people, but they weren't innocent."
Vex says quietly. Warren chuckles.
"Mhm, right."
Warren says sarcastically under his breath. Vex winks at me and I stare back, baffled.
What was that? What is he trying to tell me?
Vex looks back to Illestra.
"Now, enough of that topic. As the deal said, you would give us some info we wanted."
Vex crosses his arms and Illestra giggles.
"Yes, yes, of course. But first, please go wash off. That fresh blood is dripping onto the floor, and I'd prefer it not to dry."
Vex gives a compliant thumbs up and Illestra leads him through a door. A moment later and she walks back in with a rag, quickly wiping the drops of blood from the floor as she moves. She sighs and tosses the bloody rag into a small container.
"I normally would've questioned if you had truly killed that many people in such a short time, but with your stats and the amount of blood on your friend, it would be hard not to believe it."
Illestra softly says, sitting down once more and crossing her legs. She looks to a tv in the corner and smiles. I look over and read the words rolling across the screen.
"In urgent and dire news, all the heroes have vanished!"
The headline reads. I raise an eyebrow and see a bar start moving upwards. Slowly a voice comes through and starts speaking. I take a step back, confused. Illestra giggles.
"Oh, I keep forgetting. You're from that poor agriculture continent. You haven't had much experience with technology."
I grit my teeth.
"Poor?"
I ask, glaring over to her. She shakes her head.
"I meant no harm, only stating a fact. The difference in wealth is obviously miles upon miles apart. But please, enjoy this. This is your accomplishment, after all."
I turn back to the tv after hearing Illestra's words. The lady on the tv speaks clearly, a hint of fear leaking through her calm facade.
"This situation has turned even more dire, we have just recieved word that ALL hero complexes have been destroyed. The only heroes accounted for were ones that were out on patrol, and even some of those have seemingly vanished into thin air. We will continue bringing you updates on this increasingly tragic news."
Warren laughs.
"Look at that! The track record of causing chaos everywhere we go persists!"
Warren chuckles and puts his hands into his pockets. Vex enters the room again, some water still hanging on his skin and hair. His shirt is over his shoulder, having his chiseled and muscular body open for everyone to see. Warren coughs at seeing him.
"Damn."
He mumbles, raising an eyebrow and staring at Vex. The two people asleep in the chair open their eyes for a moment and look around the room. They both yawn and lay back down instantly, not paying attention to anything.
They seem pretty worthless.
I think to myself, glaring at them. Vex scratches the side of his head and looks to Illestra.
"Alright, now let's hear about this info that could help us."
Vex closes his eyes while running his fingers through his wet, jet black, hair. Illestra looks to him and bites her lip slightly.
"Of course, though I wish I had more time to really soak in this experience. The drawback to all this technology, is most people don't have extremely toned, and muscular, bodies. The kind of bodies that only intense fighting and training could bring. But, I digress."
She looks to the ceiling and smiles.
"The Nexxus, that's what houses the answer to any question you could ask. More ancient than any civilization, by what I've heard. Only Vathric has even heard of the place, due to our government's plans of outward expansion."
Vex smiles contentedly and nods.
"Alright, cool! So, where is this place?
This, Nexxus?"
He asks, almost seemingly excited. Illestra looks to him from the corner of her eye and smiles.
"It's on Vel. Besides that, I couldn't tell you much else. When they found it, and discovered how much info was within it, they sanctioned it off. Why do you think we advanced faster than every other continent? The Nexxus showed our leaders everything, taught them the ways of technology."
She says proudly. Kain slowly stands up from a chair.
"So then, Vathric still controls it? How would we enter this place without having to butcher a small army?"
Illestra frowns.
"Sadly, no. The higher level monsters of Vel gather around it. Some of the creatures were even powerful enough to destroy dungeon gates and escape."
Everyone seemingly reacts the same, shocked. Her words make Warren step back.
"That's impossible! Nothing can break out of a dungeon gate! Not even the strongest knights could, what level could these beasts even be!?"
He shouts, Illestra shrugging in response.
"I couldn't tell you, because I don't really care. They were pushed from Vel over fifty years ago. We have progressed much slower since our connection with the Nexxus was cut. All our history books mark it as the time of growth, when Vathric became the greatest continent."
I smile.
"Sounds like there might be some beasts for me to level up off of."
I chuckle to myself, before jumping back at the sound of a high pitch screech. Illestra pulls a small device from her pocket and stares at it, then turns to the tv. I glance over and feel my heart sink.
"The beast responsible for the hero's deaths?!"
The headline reads. On the screen, a large human like creature stands in the center of the road. The angle must be from a camera above the road. The beast has floating golden gems around its back and shoulders. Heavy black and gold armor shines brightly in the sunlight. It's long tail stretches back and slowly slides side to side, gold and black spikes lining downward. The beast has two black horns arching back from its forehead, and two more gold horns sprouting from its temple and angling downward. Its face resembles a dragon.
Its sunken black and red eyes slowly look around, clearly searching. Illestra speaks up.
"What the fuck is that monster?"
She whispers to herself. Vex cracks his knuckles.
"That's what we need the Nexxus for."