"Since you have absorbed the eternal flames, what's the plan now?" asked Sarah.
"We should probably get out of here. The last thing we need is a fight with the justice force," said Sarah.
Although Draven wanted to avoid fighting with the heroes, he knew his job in Sinith wasn't over. He may have killed Sarman, but someone might take over the mercenaries and enslave the people once again. Draven couldn't take this chance. The only solution for Sinith was to get rid of the mercenaries completely.
"There are still many camps and strongholds of the mercenaries left in Sinith. We cannot leave this kingdom until I take out most of them, " Draven said.
"Hell yeah," Margoth shouted excitedly. The ancient god treated Sinith as his own hunting ground. In Sinith, Draven was at the top of the food chain. No mercenary could stand a chance against Draven, especially after absorbing the eternal flame.
Even the Justice Force would have difficulty defeating Draven with his new power. Unlike Margoth, Draven didn't feel overconfident.
Draven knew there was no greater mistake than underestimating a foe. He once underestimated his enemies, and it cost Draven his family.
"Just try to learn more about the team and get some rest," Draven said to Sarah. He noticed the dark circles around her eyes. He could tell she wasn't sleeping enough. Now that Draven had killed Sarman, she could get some sleep. In fact, Draven himself felt exhausted.
"Hmm," Sarah nodded.
Afterward, Draven made his way to the table and removed his armor. He put the armor on the stand and opened up a thin mattress on the ground. He lay down on the ground, closing his eyes. He just hoped he wouldn't get any nightmares, but he knew it was highly unlikely. He couldn't remember a day that he slept without getting these nightmares. Draven often opted not to sleep, but his body was at its limit. Without a good rest, he wouldn't be able to fight the next day.
"I'll see you tomorrow," said Margoth. As an ancient god and someone with no physical body, Margoth did not need to sleep. Instead of sleeping like Draven, Margoth would meditate.
"Good night, you guys," said Sarah. A few minutes later, Sarah yawned. Nonetheless, she continued to work until she couldn't hold back her sleep anymore. When she turned around, she saw Draven sleeping peacefully on the ground. She was surprised to see no twitches and mumbling.
She came to check on Draven. Seeing Draven at peace put a smile on Sarah's face. Draven moved slightly, curling himself into a ball to fight the chillness in the air. Sarah quickly removed her fur coat and covered Draven with it. She just hoped Margoth was sleeping or meditating instead of keeping an eye on her.
"I am sorry, Draven," Sarah mumbled under her breath. She couldn't take her eyes off Draven. Whenever she mustered her courage to come clean with Draven, she would lose her courage when she looked him in the eyes. She blamed herself for what happened to Draven.
Just like Draven, she had lost her sleep ever since a group of supervillains brutally massacred his family. If she hadn't helped UFH find out about his real identity, Draven's family would still be alive. The guilt slowly ate through Sarah. It was one of the main reasons why Sarah left her job at UFH.
She slowly walked away from Draven and reached the other side of the sword. She just lay on the floor without putting a mattress or a cloth between her and the floor. The canopy and the thick wood around them blocked her view of the night sky. But she could still take some peeks at the starry sky. As she stared at the sky, her consciousness slowly drifted away. It didn't even take a minute before Sarah fell asleep. Draven and Sarah slept inside the sword without a worry in the world.
Meanwhile, the justice force had finally returned to their flying ship to regroup. Every team member looked gloomy, especially Mini, who lost his brother.
"We need to go back and bring his body back," said Cyclops.
"We will. But now, we need to know more about this gifted one," said Jonathan. He quickly tapped a few times on the table before him, trying to establish contact with Walters. He hoped she could shed some light on this mysterious gifted one.
Jonathan tapped the table a few times as a blank blue screen appeared over the table. He and his team patiently waited for Walters to appear on the screen. Eventually, Walters appeared in the mirror.
"Tell me your mission is successful," Walters spoke in her thick, gruff voice.
When she noticed the silence in the room, she creased her brows.
"Answer me, Golden Eagle. What happened down there? Did you secure the eternal flames?" asked Walters.
"We lost Jumbo,"
"Answer my questions," Walters completely ignored the news of Jumbo's untimely demise. It put a frown on everyone's faces. Instead of giving a damn about Jumbo, she questioned Jonathan about the eternal flames. Just her tone and the questions made the team realize the eternal flames were more important to her than one of her team members.
"No," Jonathan clenched his fist. His tone had a tinge of anger. He almost lost his team trying to retrieve the eternal flames, yet Walters didn't even care about the death of Jumbo. They could get the eternal flames somehow but there was no way of reviving Jumbo.
The least Walters could do was show respect and compassion for her team members. Contrary to the team's expectation, Walkters banged the table. Her eyes glistened with anger.
"I put your damn team for one goddamn reason. Get the eternal flames. You have the galls to stand there and say no?"
Walters was furious. Each word that came out of her mouth was drenched in anger. If she was there with the team, she would have started hitting them. Silence fell over them as Walters took several long deep breaths.
"Tell me what happened. I must find a way to salvage this mission," said Walters. Instead of arguing with Walters, Jonathan decided to tell her everything that happened. When Jonathan stopped narrating the story, Walters had a strange expression on her face.
"Stay in the line," said Walters before leaving her room. The team waited for Walters in silence.
"It feels good to know she gives no shit about us," Mini's eyes turned blood red. His hands trembled due to suppressing his anger. Cyclops felt the same as Mini. Someone from the team had died, yet Walters seemed not to care about it at all. Ian was calm because he expected this from Walters. Not only Walters but most in UFH would have acted the same. As far as the higher-ups in the UFH were concerned, the heroes were just tools for them to fight evil. When a tool fails them, they would throw it away and replace it with another. Unfortunately, there was no shortage of people with superpowers in Etheria.
A few minutes later, Walters returned to her room.
"There is no record of another gifted one in Sinith," said Walters.
Walters took an interest in the gifted one because she could get her hands on the eternal flames if she could capture the gifted one.
"We have no records of someone with the powers you described,"
"How is that possible? UFH has records of everyone with superpowers," Cyclops creased her brows.
"Which makes him your new priority. Enough of fuck ups, Jonathan. Take him down. We can salvage this situation. But we need him,"
"We need backup," said Jonathan. After seeing what Draven could do, Jonathan didn't think he could take him down alone.
"Your team is your backup, Golden Eagle. I can't send you a backup. You know this. If you fail this mission, it's not gonna be your head that rolls upstairs. Get your shit together and take him down. I don't care if you have to fight him to the end of this world,"
Before Jonathan could say anything, Walters cut the connection between them. The team stared at Jonathan for his next order.
"We are going back to the mountain to get Jumbo's body," Jonathan said, taking a deep breath. Jump deserved a proper hero's burial. Jonathan didn't care what Walters would say. Jumbo was like a family member. There was no way Jonathan would leave him behind.
"We can go after this gifted one after we pay our respect to Jumbo. He was a hero and deserved to enter the afterlife as one," said Jonathan. His gaze swept across the room. Cyclops and Mini looked gloomy. To Jonathan's surprise, Ian looked worried.
For the time being, Jonathan overlooked Ian's worried look.
"Put your game faces on, team. We will grieve later after we complete our mission. Jumbo will want us to get out of here and kick some asses,"
Jonathan's words sparked a tiny fire inside their hearts. They had to do this for Jumbo. It was their way of honoring him.
"You've seen what he could do. It's our duty to take him down before he kills more people. Are you ready?" Jonathan asked the team.
"We are,"
"Let's do this,"
Cyclops and Mini stepped forward,
"For Jumbo," Jonathan reached out as the teammates put their hands on top of Jonathan's.
"For Jumbo!" The team shouted in unison before leaving their ship. The justice force was destined to meet the reaper, and only the gods knew what was about to happen.