Thanatos opened his eyes for the third time in this world. He was inside some type of box. Darkness surrounded him, but he didn't have any problem seeing in the dark. He pushed the tables that were keeping him inside the coffin.
He used a bit of strength, and the cover came out as the nails flew by his push. The air of the cave was filled with dust, and he waved his hand around to disperse it.
He looked to the side and noticed the second coffin and the three people watching him with surprised faces.
"Neo, Adel, Eric?" He couldn't contain his happiness. He gave them a smile as he climbed out of the coffin. "I'm so happy you guys are alive…" Before he could say anything else, Neo and Eric pushed him to the ground by throwing themselves at him.
"BOSS!"
"You should have told me how long it was going to take you to revive!"
They hugged him with love and happiness. They apologize for failing to save him and Castess.
"Castess… right, it was my fault. Because he tried to save me." He stared at the coffin in silence.
One of the first people he met in this world lay there after helping him. Thanatos had the power to revive the dead, but only as undead servants, mindless and empty. Only those chosen by angels can wield the power to revive a person with their soul intact.
The death of Castess was a reminder of the defeat he suffered.
"It wasn't your fault, master." Adel kneeled as he spoke. "It was my fault for losing to the assassin."
It took a long time, but it felt like only a few minutes had passed. They explained the battle with the assassin of the Hand and the incursion of the Red Dragon in detail. They told him about the retreat in the forest with the demi human tribes and the losses of most members of Underworld.
As they walked back, Thanatos mourned and apologized for his mistakes. The two most important things in his mind after learning of the current situation were Lia's safety and the arrival of Kit.
"I went to her house, but I couldn't find her." Neo said, with sadness in her voice. "I'm thinking her parents took her to the Capital when they learned about her involvement. I was going to go there, but these two stopped me. I was pretty mad at the time, so I would have only made more trouble."
"Don't worry Neo, I would have done the same thing. In fact, even if you tried to stop me, I would have run there and destroyed everything in my way. But thinking logically, Lia should be safe."
"That's what we told her! There is no way his brother would let her be with us during a raid. She's the daughter of an important family."
There was nothing he could do about Lia right now, so he focused on the second thing. After reaching the demi human village, everyone welcomed him with open arms. The members of underworld and demi humans were amazed by his resurrection.
He couldn't say any specifics, but his cover was blown. Everyone knew he was a type of necromancer, but the fact that he was a human person and not a skeleton or zombie made the people feel more comfortable. Besides, he also proved to be helping the village during the Elemental Lion incident and freed other tribes from that nasty noble. He also worked as a great leader for several months, so no one felt fear. They were in awe of his power.
He made his way to a private tent and asked to talk with the newcomer. Kit, the fox demi human he freed from the Nation of Los' underground ring of slave fights. Thanks to him, Eric and Neo survived the battle with the assassin.
"Kit! Come inside; Thanatos wants to talk to you." Neo yelled at him.
Kit was sitting on a tree trunk looking at the stars. He nodded and went inside the tent. The inner circle of Underworld was reunited, with two exceptions. No, it was more appropriate to say the whole inner circle was present since Castess was dead and Lia was taken by her family.
"Let me welcome you. I heard you helped us when I was dead. Thanks for that, Kit." Thanatos bowed respectfully. He was grateful that he had saved his friends' lives.
"Don't mention it. You were the one who saved my life in the first place. Without you, I would probably be still inside that dirty cage, working for that bastard like an animal for his entertainment."
"No Kit, you helped us in our darkest hour. As payment, I will repay you with anything you desire. Please tell me what you want and I'll give it to you."
Kit was going to say he was being too generous, but he could see in Thanatos' eyes that he wasn't going to accept a no for an answer.
"I'll take some time to think. I'll tell you after I think about it."
"Ok. Then to my question: why did you come here? If I remember correctly, you told me in the Capital of Los that you couldn't work for me since you needed to protect your tribe. Did something happen in the last few weeks?"
Kit tightened his fist with anger and began to talk.
"Yes... I was so thankful after you saved me. I ran away from the city that same night, and I kept running for a whole day. I wanted to see my tribe and my family. I wanted to tell them I was fine and see that they were okay too."
"After two days, I reached the only thing left of my people... the houses were burned down, and the walls destroyed. A monster came and made his home inside. I only found the bones and the limbs in a pit where a giant salamander was sleeping after killing my people." Thanatos saw the rage inside Kit's only good eye.
Kit didn't remember the details after that. He was overcome with anger and distraught over the loss of everyone he knew. He fought with everything he had. Some images of the fight as he was covered in blood were in his mind, but after killing the salamander, he stood in front of the pit and covered it with dirt, making a massive grave for his tribe.
He spent three days sitting on the ground watching the grave without eating or sleeping. He was lethargic; he didn't have any reason to live anymore. If things kept going that way, he was going to die of dehydration.
During those days, he replayed all the memories of his life. His life with his parents and the birth of his little sister. His training and hunting days. The day the chief granted him the title of the strongest warrior of the tribe, the capture at the hands of Arin Sevia and the torture until his savior came.
The image of Thanatos came into his mind and gave him a reason to live. Yes, I need to repay my debt...
Like a zombie, he walked toward the west. He was going to look for him with only his name, Thanatos. He searched for a syndicate led by a person like that. After months, he found a clue that led him to the Republic of Selus.
"The old man said it was likely that Thanatos was the second in command of Underworld. I came from the forest. I heard the sound of battle and went there. I only helped them because I saw Neo. After that, I saw your head inside the bag and... Well, I didn't know you were a necromancer who could rise from the dead."
"You wanted to join me…" Thanatos said. He forgot about the offer and the recent defeat made him forget the reason he founded this organization.
He looked at his friends. After he died, they came together even without knowing if he was going to come back. The promise he made to Lia was to create a place where everyone's dreams could come true and that accepted everyone no matter their past. As long as one gets along with the other members, it is fine.
"A pit born of desire to find others like you." Thanatos laughed at himself.
Kit looked bewildered, thinking he had said something wrong.
"Thank you everyone. I promise to protect you from all those who want to arrest us or kill us. I'll make your dreams come true too, Kit!"
"My dream? But I don't have something like that."
"Think about it. You have plenty of time now that you're a member of Underworld. When you find it, make sure to tell me so I can help you!"
Yes, I have so many dreams in my back that one more in nothing.
"From this point, you're a boss of Underworld. Does anyone have an objection?"
"No, master."
"Of course not!"
"Welcome Kit."
The three of them agreed without hesitation.
"Really? Can I join you? You barely know me and are giving me a high position."
"Yes. I told you I like guys who stick to their guts. Hahaha. Since you are a boss now, you need to be present for the next part."
Thanatos looked serious. Everyone kept quiet.
"We lost. We can't go back to Raind. From this point forward, for a long time Underworld needs to hide in the shadows. We can let the army or the Red Dragon find out we are still active."
"But boss, how are we going to make business then?" Eric asked.
"We aren't. We lost our contacts inside the Republic. Trying to sell things there is going to be impossible. Adel, how long do you think we need to wait for the army and the Red Dragon to drop their guard so we can go infiltrate again."
"Mmm, I'll say six months at the minimum."
"Then we'll wait that long. In the meantime, we should try to deal with other tribes and sell things to the Nation of Los and the Dracon Empire. Those two countries are hard, but as long as we don't do anything to raise suspicion, we should be fine."
"B-but... after all they did, are we going to let them get away with it." Eric said, clenching his knuckles.
"Don't misinterpret my orders, Eric. We'll have our vengeance, but not with things the way they are. We need to get stronger, all of us."
Thanatos let a bit of his murder intent out to show them he was serious about revenge.
"They will think they won and celebrate our defeat. Let them gloat. When they feel comfortable and safe, we'll drag them to hell!"
"For that, I need to travel to the east and find some ruins. Secrets and power are waiting for me there."
No one knew what he meant, but he continued to speak before they could respond.
"Neo, can you show me where my pet is?"
"Your pet? Oh, I see. Follow me. " She took him to the forest close to the village.
"He fought a lot of members of the Red Dragon while we were retreating. Eventually, he gave out."
The Elemental Lion was buried here. Thanatos gave it the order to help his friends before dying. After waking up, he noticed he didn't have any undead at his service.
"I want to test something." He opened his mouth, and his jaw dislocated in an unnatural way. He tried to suck his soul, but he didn't find it.
"Mmm, I guess the undead don't count." He wanted to try the same thing he did to Zek.
"What the hell? Every time I think you can't become weirder, you do something crazy. What happened to your jaw just now?"
"Let's go back so I can explain to everyone. We need to plan for my trip, and I have to see her one last time."
He wasn't going anywhere before meeting with Lia.