PoV A random wolf man working at an excavation site.
As I entered the room, I noticed it was extremely clean. The wooden floor was shining. The large paintings on the wall made the room look even bigger. In the center of the room, there was a chair and a couch, one in front of the other.
The reason I was here is because my niece invited me here.
"I guess they found something while excavating, and he wants my opinion."
My brother had started working on an excavation site issued by the royal family. He never puts much effort into the orders issued by them, but this time was different.
'It was a miracle this was even allowed to happen. Everything fell into chaos after the appearance of the demonic brothers.'
As I sat down, he finally arrived. He kicked the door open because he was carrying a heavy bag on his shoulders. He was wearing mostly cargo pants and a tight white shirt. His fur was extremely clean for someone who had just come from an excavation site. He had mostly black fur on his back, while it was completely white at the front.
As he walked in, he took out a bottle of water from the bag and threw the bag towards the couch.
"Puhaaaaaa!" Argo made a loud noise as he finished his bottle of water.
He then threw himself headfirst onto the couch.
"Nothing beats an ice-cold bottle of water after work." He said this, wagging his tail.
"Don't you think Pa' makes us work a little too hard? It seems he has gone crazy since that trial started." He complained while opening another bottle of sparkling water he had in his backpack.
"We don't have much time left to live, and this is a really important project, so I think it's-"
"We have plenty of time. After all, our representatives are the demonic brothers." he proudly stated after he sat properly and leaned his back towards the backrest, staring directly into my eyes with his azure eyes.
"I wouldn't be proud of them if I were in your shoes. It's because of them that we have lived the rest of our lives treated as second class citizens."
'Why are you all so quick to idolize them? They're just a bunch of mass murderers who used freedom as an excuse to commit genocide.'
"Haven't you ever thought, what if they really managed to exterminate those-"
"Genocide isn't the answer to our problems." I rebuked him while slamming my feet on the ground to stop him from speaking any further.
"They surely weren't the only ones that were exterminating an entire race just to get more power." He commented.
"Aren't you afraid of the consequences of your words?" I asked him. Near me was a table with lots of plastic-wrapped fruits and sandwiches. I grabbed it and threw it at him.
He caught the flying sandwich and immediately started eating it. He started eating the filling first, munching on it as loudly as he could while also showing his fangs.
"I don't care about it that much. If the demonic brothers win, we'll finally get the freedom we deserve. If they lose, we'll all die. There's no point in acting like their loyal dogs anymore."
The room fell silent. He stopped munching and stared directly at him for a few moments before-
"Just kidding, but that's the general opinion most of our people have nowadays." He kept talking while his mouth was full of food.
He then rolled onto the couch and started staring at the rooftop.
"Aren't you worried something bad might happen again if people keep this kind of mentality?" I asked.
"Are you worried about a potential revolt?"
"Exactly!" I pointed out.
"Then go and do something about it. It's useless if you tell me this. What do you expect me to do?" He said it with a serious expression on his face.
"I wanted to know what the intentions of the rest of the family were since you're very close to all of them."
"I'm going to tell you this just because we're family, but if people find out that you sold your comrades just to get on their good side, it's not going to end well for you." He said it with a full mouth.
At that moment, my heart sank into my chest. How did he know that?
"H-how did you find out?" I asked him.
"I haven't told anyone, don't worry. As a matter of fact, I learned this from Pa, who learned it from a close friend of his; all the family knows it. I just wanted to warn you that if somehow people find out about your dirty little secret, you won't get any support from us. Also, don't expect us to clean up after you. Pa doesn't want your shady deals to bring down the family's reputation and honor." He said this while chewing the loaf of bread.
"This is suicide! Don't you get-"
"I did my job in warning you. It's my time to leave." He then got up and started to head towards the exit.
I immediately got up and grabbed him by the wrist.
"Hands off!" He said it growling.
"Who do you think you are to threaten me!" I glared back at him while showing my teeth.
"One last warning: if you want to see your family again, get as far away as possible from the excavation site. We've already got all your moles. It would leave a sour taste in our mouth if we also had to kill our own blood and flesh." He said before covering his arm in black flames.
'Those flames… The method for creating them should've been lost thousands and thousands of years ago! Have they gone crazy?'
"Since when did you become loyal to the royal family?" I asked.
"Since when did you become the loyal dog of those bastards, huh?" He returned the question.
"Have you gone crazy? Do you really want to see all of us slaughtered like they did in the past?" I shouted at him.
"We can win this time. We have powerful allies that will take care of them." He proudly stated.
"No, you can't! It's a trap! Can't you see?"
"We don't care about what you think. If you try to sabotage the whole thing, we'll make sure to punish you appropriately." He said this while shrugging off my hand.
"Are you hearing yourself? Is that really what-"
"I don't need to listen to a traitorous bastard who sold his species just to lick their asses."
"It was for peace."
"I can see; they were so peaceful that last week they abducted more than a couple hundred innocent civilians to turn them into weapons."
I didn't know how to respond to that.
"You useless pig, if it were for me, you would've been executed a long time ago." He said this before cutting my hand with an invisible blade.
He then immediately kicked me away, created a blade out of ice in his right hand, and pointed it at my neck. I had barely any time to react, as I was focusing only on my cut-off hand.
By the time the pain dissipated, the wound had already healed, but the hand was permanently cut off.
"You can consider this your punishment for your past actions that led to the deaths of our people."
"You maniac! Can't you see that we're just repeating history once more? We're no match against their technology and powers!" I shouted at him from the ground.
"They're not the only ones that were preparing themselves for the final war." He said this before exiting the room.
I tried to track him down, but there were no traces of him outside the room in the hallway, as if he had vanished as soon as he exited the room.
PoV Daniel
"Has she finally produced some results?" I asked Nassus while he was filling the massive fridge with all kinds of carbonated drinks.
"She seems to be enjoying her vacation." He answered while restocking alcohol.
"Mhhh, it's weird that she hasn't gotten over that incident. Do you perceive time differently because you're almost immortal? I think a decade should've been enough to heal any wounds."
He stopped to think for a moment, opened up a can of sparkling water, and said
"I don't really care about others or her in particular, but I don't perceive much difference between one year and ten. They always tend to be uneventful, so it's easy to lose track of time. Maybe dragons are different."
"Then, how long should we wait for Kane?" I asked him.
"I would say maybe a couple more years if we successfully avoid any event that may trigger a violent response." he said, but I knew he was probably hinting at Chris or Hollis.
Hearing his words, the memories of Kane surrounded by corpses came to mind. Due to a certain accident, he tried to kill one of us, and when that failed, he retaliated against his teachers, but that was not enough, so he went on a rampage against any and all swordsmen in the nation.
Although Nassus managed to successfully stop him, he still got heavily injured during the fight. That side of Kane was truly terrifying.
"Since this world has no mana, it will be significantly easier to contain his rampaging aura."
"Can this land really sustain a clash between you two?"
"I… don't know."
I sighed while leaning towards a nearby wall.
'How much would I pay for everything to go back the way it was.'
It would've been a whole lot easier to simply shift all of the blame onto one person, but it's an unreasonable thing to do. If they were in a bad mental place, then it was our fault as his friends to not have noticed his struggles.
"Daniel." Nassus tone was serious this time.
"Do you think I've grown stronger these past decades?" He asked while he was looking at his hands.
"Yes, you're the strongest among the group. What-"
"It's just that... Recently, I've been thinking, if you all were to go on a rampage... would I be able to stop you? A decade ago, the answer would've been absolutely yes, but now... now I'm uncertain." He said.
"Of course, everyone has been working hard to eventually reach your level."
"Have I been slacking off?"
"A little." I responded.
"That explains it." He joked about it and then returned to a cheerful state.
"It's not a bad thing; everyone needs a break sometimes."
He quickly finished his drink, made a loud burp, and returned to work.
"This vacation is a bit lackluster then." he jokingly said while throwing the empty can in the nearest trash bin.
After we were done replenishing the storage, we got out and saw Chris for the first time in weeks. He was chilling out, laying on the couch on the ground floor, enjoying a movie with some of the kids with him. He was having some peach juice. He also had a big can of peaches in syrup. To balance all that sugar, he had some roasted pistachios.
The kids had popcorn, chips, and orange juice or cola.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed he was wearing only his shorts and had lowered the temperature around him to deal with the high temperature of the summer. The kids were loving it. Some of them were drenched in sweat.
As soon as the kids saw me, their immediate reaction was to run away.
"Wha-"
"You nag them too much, Daniel." Chris said this without even turning his face my way.
"It's for their own health. Chris." I answered.
"Since when did we have an orphanage at home?" He asked.
"We don't. Those kids come here to play with Manni and the others."
"Oh, weird, they interact so well with each other. For a moment, I thought they were beggars that came here only attracted to our food."
"What?"
'Wait, is he serious?'
I immediately created some portals to check in personally. John and Nina were once again sparring against Kane. Some kids were watching them in awe and admiration, but none of them would talk to them. (Not that those two cared about having other friends, but it was still a worrying matter.) Shirly was making new friends while Marcus was playing all by himself in his room. Manni was helping Shirly make new friends.
"Have you finished checking?" He said this while appearing right behind me.
I was a bit startled by his sudden appearance, and so was Manni. Shirly seemed used to his shenanigans, while the rest of the girls seemed to have found his sudden appearance cool.
"I didn't know you had such a soft spot, Chris." I jokingly said this while returning to the portal.
"Anyway, I need your help with something relatively small." Once again, he appeared in front of me.
'You really love to show off your power, huh?'
"Is it work-related?" I asked.
"Yes, I failed twice at doing it alone, so I need some help." He said.
"What are you working on?" I asked.
"Releasing the first magic seal."
"Are you crazy? How many people do you intend to kill-"
"It's an order from the God of War." He said this to justify himself.
"Since when did we start following his orders?" rebutted Nassus.
"Hyung gave me the green light."
Nassus then covered his face with his right hand. I even heard him mutter " Fucking hell!".
"Soooo… what's the problem?" I said to break the silence.
"The seal is a bit... let's just say that it's sturdier than what I had predicted, plus there are countless enemies raining down the skies from many different ships."
"Keep it short. What do you need?" Said Nassus.
"I would gladly have you and Kane assist me in this operation." Chris didn't seem to be joking this time.
"Mhh, wouldn't it be more convenient to ask Hyung to-"
"I would like to keep our interactions to a minimum... Thanks anyway." He interrupted me as soon as he heard his name.
"Hey, I haven't answered yet." It was too late, as our surroundings suddenly changed.
In the span of a single moment, he managed to carry us all the way to wherever this planet was.
The place was bright and lightly colored. The buildings were pure white. It was almost blinding in the sunlight.
"Chris what's going on?" asked the perplexed Kane, who was transported while he was training John and Nina.
"Don't worry, boss; we're here to solve most of our problems for our aura users." He answered.