Early in the morning the artistic golden sun got up like a baby and started painting the dark black sky into a bright blue sky. The bright milky clouds woke from sleep, traveling around the sky and visiting the beautiful kingdom of Sinith.
The tall brown murky volcanic mountain standing alone stood covering the entire nature. Next to the mountain and near the forest, there was a waterfall with ivory-white water splashing down the river as if someone was spilling a glass of milk.
After getting a good night's sleep, Draven exited the sword to head for Sinith. Particularly, he wanted to talk to Tanisha before cleaning out the rest of the mercenaries. Besides, he wanted the exact locations of these mercenary camps. Draven was not in a rush. He always enjoyed the calmness that the early morning brought with it. He saw flocks of early birds heading out to collect food. Their chirping and the gentle spray of wetness in the air soothed his soul.
He slowly flew toward Sinith and headed for Tanisha's town. The town looked dull and gloomy as the day he first visited. A couple of townsmen yawned and stretched their muscles on the broken pavement. There was no life in their eyes. They were like zombies. Living under a dictator and a cruel mercenary leader for such a long time would do this to anyone.
Draven slowly descended to the street. As soon as the townsmen outside noticed Draven, their faces went pale. They immediately ran behind their homes, avoiding Draven. He ignored them completely. He walked past a couple of shivering ladies and knocked on Tanisha's door.
Draven heard whispers coming from inside. Those whispers reminded Draven of the times his mother yelled at him without letting his father know. Tanisha had the same motherly husky voice as Draven's mother. A few minutes later, Tanisha finally opened the door.
"You," Tanisha was taken aback by surprise. After what he did last time, there was not a single soul who wasn't afraid of him existing in the town.
"The mercenary leader is no more. He is dead," said Draven before Tanisha could say something.
"He's what?" Tanisha raised her brows.
She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Draven saw a couple of townsmen approaching him. He slowly turned around.
"Mercenary leader Saruman is no more. I killed him," Draven raised his voice loud enough to let everyone hear him. The people couldn't believe Draven. But the mere possibility of Draven's words being true lit a small light of hope in their cold hearts.
"Before I leave Sinith, I want to take care of the remaining mercenaries. I want the locations of their camps," Draven asked the townsmen.
"Fucking cowards," Margoth growled inside Draven's head, seeing the worried look on their faces.
"You know the mercenaries and the soldiers before them were not gifted ones. The people of Sinith outnumbered them by three to one. Yet, they ruled you for decades. Treated you like slaves. Feasted on your women. Killed your sons. And removed any hope to dream from your hearts. You probably blame the mercenaries and the soldiers but guess what? You are not blameless either," said Draven.
"They ruled you because you are neither united nor courageous. Just cowards. Those who fought for your freedom died. You expect a hero to come to save you, but you all fail to see each one of you can be a hero. You just need to grow some balls and fight for your future, fight for your next generation and fight for your life. Die standing than live on your knees,"
The people murmured. Of course, this little speech wouldn't turn them into heroes overnight. But Draven wanted to let them know what was in his mind. He just hoped if one day another threat emerged in Sinith, these people would fight them rather than live like slaves.
"Let me ask you one more time. Give me the locations of the remaining bandit camps," asked Draven.
"I can give you a map," The one who answered him was none other than Mirian.
"This kid has bigger balls than these overgrown spineless cowards," Margoth growled.
To Draven's surprise, Tanisha did not stop Mirian as Draven expected her to.
"Just give me a minute. I'll get you the map," Mirian was excited. He immediately ran back into the house to bring the map to Draven. While Mirian was inside, Tanisha took a step forward.
"How do we believe what you said about Sarman is true?"
"They will tell you," Draven looked over his shoulder to see several figures flying toward them in the sky. Jonathan and his team of superheroes were on their way to capture Draven. Little did they know, Draven had no sympathy for superheroes. As far as he was concerned, heroes were just as responsible for the state of the world as supervillains. Even now, Jonathan and his team would fight to capture him instead of killing him.
"You might want to step away for a moment," said Draven. Tanisha did not want Draven to warn her twice. The moment she saw the superhero team in the sky, she stepped into the house and locked the doors. Meanwhile, the people in the streets moved behind the covers instinctively.
Draven took a few steps and waited for Jonathan and his team to land on the broken street. There was no fear or distress in Draven's eyes.
"Kill them and be done with it, Draven," said Margoth. As much as Draven liked to root out evil, he didn't think Jonathan and his team deserved to die. Killing superheroes would bring immense heat from UFH, and Draven was not strong enough to take on the UFH at this moment. However, that didn't mean he would go easy on the superheroes. He patiently waited for Jonathan until they landed with a loud thud on the street several meters ahead of Draven.
The people stepped back as silence fell over the place for a moment. Jonathan and his team locked their gazes with Draven, who remained calm as ever.
"You are coming with us," said Jonathan, breaking the silence.
"Why would I do that?" Draven tilted his head. As a mage who was sensitive to aura and energy, Ian felt something strange and powerful around Draven. It felt as though the man before them was merged with some dark evil. Mini and Cyclops stood behind Jonathan, clenching their fists. They just buried their dear friend and a comrade. So one could say they weren't in a mood to entertain Draven.
"You killed the mercenary leader and absorbed the eternal flames. You must answer for your crimes," said Jonathan.
Jonathan's naiveness amused Draven.
"So you're telling me putting an end to a man who killed, enslaved, and tortured thousands of people was a crime?"
"I am not in the mood to play twenty questions with you. You are a gifted one. Killing others using your powers is a crime,"
"According to who?" asked Draven.
"Certainly, Sinith has no kings or laws. If a Sinith king said I committed a crime, I might have bothered to answer him. But you," Draven slowly chuckled.
"You are just lap dogs of UFH. I have no obligation to answer you. If you do not want to dig more graves near your comrade, I suggest you walk away," Draven warned Jonathan and his team, even though he knew they wouldn't listen to him. He would be surprised if they actually did. As he expected, Jonathan flicked his wrist as a golden mace appeared in his hand.
"I had enough of this," Jonathan growled as he dashed at Draven with a flap of his wings. In a blink of an eye, Jonathan closed the gap between them. But when he was just an arm reaching distance from Draven, his body tensed. An invisible force snatched the golden mace from him. It shot straight into Draven's hand.
Ian, Cyclops, and Mini had dumbfounded looks on their faces. They had no idea what had just happened. One moment Jonathan was dashing at Draven, and the next, he stopped moving and stood like a statue. On top of that, his mace flew into Draven's hands. The team was a tad bit late to react as Draven swung the mace with enough force to send Jonathan flying. Blood and spit splatted out of Jonathan's mouth. The mace hit his abdomen, forming a dent in his golden armor.
Suddenly, Draven disappeared with the mace from their sight. He then appeared right above Jonathan in the air and hit him again in the head with the mace. Jonathan hit the ground with a loud boom. The ground around him cracked in several places after he hit the ground.
Just a few hits and Jonathan's vision turned blurry. The last thing he saw was Draven's boots before everything turned dark. The team was startled by Draven's power. He knocked out their leader in a few seconds. After knocking out Jonathan, Draven stared at the rest with his feet on top of Jonathan.
"Take your damn feet off of him!" Mini shouted before lunging toward Draven. He roared and shrunk himself to the size of an ant. Instead of waiting for Mini to strike him down, Draven hit the ground with Jonathan's golden mace. The ground trembled. As a result, Mini was thrown off balance. Before Cyclops could use her power to save Mini, Draven conjured a ball of flame and bashed it against the ground. The explosion sent a wave of flames that burnt everything in a meter radius, including Mini. Luckily for Mini, he reacted just in time and transformed himself back to his normal form. If he had delayed a second later, he would have been a goner by now. But when he transformed back, Draven dashed at Mini and swung the golden mace against Mini's chest. The sound of Mini's ribs breaking sounded like music to Margoth. He craved more as Mini coughed up blood.
Mini went crashing down to the ground. Finally, Draven turned his gaze at Cyclops and Ian. To this moment, they did nothing. To be more precise, everything happened so fast that they couldn't react in time.
"Shall we finish this?" Draven asked Ian and Cyclops.