Birds were chirping softly and rays of the sun were prickling the skin. Moros' eyes remained closed, blissfully sleeping still. He felt refreshed, unlike ever before. His body was as soft as a feather…he felt like he had been reborn as a new person entirely.
"MOROS, MOROS, SPEAK TO ME," yelled a concerned citizen, named Malissa, at the person, who could not understand what would warrant such a concern in her voice.
Why would she be so desperate, was the day not beautiful?
"Five more minutes, please?" he asked in a low voice, trying to enjoy that peace and serenity for just a bit more.
However, his concerned childhood friend destroyed his sleep as she hugged his upper body tightly. Warm tears fell down her face as she began to cry unlike ever before.
Moros could not understand what would warrant such an emotional response.
His vivid dream of fighting against a Balla-Balla and the ensuing fight for survival must have resulted in him having yet another realistic dream…the touch of a woman, truly felt nice from time to time.
But as he moved his upper body around, and his body began to burn all over, he noticed that things were a bit different.
Looking around he saw hundreds of people wearing a blue, dark uniform scanning the surroundings, in their midst a long trail of red blood, his blood…
What was the UM doing here? He had never seen so many members of the United Magician guild seen in one spot. These people were caught if something BIG had happened, which demanded careful handling.
They attentively took samples and used spells or tools unlike he had ever seen. This could not mean anything good.
"It was not a dream?!"
"You did not come to school yesterday and not today either…" Malissa cried without stopping, making it hard to figure out for Moros what she was actually saying.
"I found you here," she continued after taking a few, sobbing breaths…"the place was covered in blood."
"There was so much blood," she yelled at him, using his chest as a drum.
Moros certainly could see her point, the place looked like someone had used blood to turn the Terra family sanctuary into modern art. With a long trail of red marking all the distance he crawled in a haze.
Seeing Malissa spilling even more tears, he could not help but feel a bit overwhelmed.
To Moros, his childhood friend was overreacting a little bit, since he was very much alive. In fact, he was feeling the best he ever had, not that the scenery supported this kind of impression.
But seeing her care for his safety made him feel appreciated…She was actually dressed properly for once─she cared that much.
Yet, in the distance, he saw a figure that drove his good mood to absolute zero in an instant. His father, the Patriarch, the Jonathan Terra was currently bellowing orders around.
The UM members scurried around, trying to follow the orders given to them.
Moros gave a heavy sigh. Malissa, he did appreciate all she did for him, but contacting his father was the worst thing that could have happened.
She should never have called his father, because things would not resolve peacefully here. Especially, since he would interpret this as an attack on the Terra family itself. An attack on the Terra family was an attack on his image.
He would not care if Moros was killed or badly hurt, but injuring him on the sacred dungeon of the family grounds was enough for him to fight the enemy that did not exist till the bitter end.
Moros looked at his father from a distance and could not stop the feeling of another headache coming up in the next few minutes.
Without a logical explanation as to why he had donated so much blood to the ground, he would never see nor hear the end of it.
Hearing a woman cry did not help Moros' plans, as more and more eyes darted to the two of them. With a heavy heart, the decision was met to simply say the truth, while omitting all the illegal things Moros had been running in the background.
Can't exactly tell the law enforcement about using this dungeon to illegally alter the brain structure of young kids, to turn them into pure-blooded killers.
Because that was the quickest way to the afterlife.
2 people, their faces covered by a dark blue fog surrounding them approached Moros and Malissa. Their steps produced no sound as they traversed the distance in a few seconds.
Yet, the moment Moros tried to open his mouth an oppressive wave of mana spread through the air and pressed his body into the ground with full force.
Glancing to the side, he also saw Malissa being turned into a human pancake.
"Aunt Carol, it is nice to see you," he made sure that the voice sounded as in much pain as humanly possible.
Hearing his words, the left woman focussed all of their attention on him, causing the pressure to increase greatly and the floor to crack beneath the oppressive gravity.
Another quick glance at his childhood friend was enough to confirm that she was out of harm's way.
Moros, laughed softly into the ground. Aunt Carol, truly caused more property damage the moment she got agitated. "Man, I love my family," the thought bounced around in his head, but he made sure to keep it to himself.
One should know when to speak up and when to keep quiet, the current situation with all these people around was more of the latter type.
"Nephew, what exactly did you do here?", her voice chilly, filled with violent intent. This was not a question, it was an order to tell her everything he knew.
Malissa tried to speak up, but a pink bubble softly wrapped around her. The moment she saw the magic, all colour fled her face and she stopped moving at once…
"Mother…I…can explain," she stammered out, but the mother in question simply did as before and casually lifted the sphere up. With her telekinesis, Malissa had no choice, but to sit there silently in the bubble.
Her body, without any protest, was carried away with a steady step.
Being alone with his aunt, Moros chose to just comply to avoid any complications or making things more bothersome than needed.
After all, the Moros they knew was just a useless waste, his only worth was the family name. Anything else would make them grow suspicious.
Yet, just as he was about to speak up, his aunt lifted his head by force, yanking it upwards, grabbed his mouth and forcefully stuffed a pill, green and steaming down his throat.
"Just so you know, this was a pill that will make you wish you were dead, if you speak any lies…do you understand?" Her explanation was rather nonchalant and Moros simply thought her to be bluffing.
"No," he said, trying to sound like he was in great pain from her magic alone. Though the magic felt more like a great massage to him.
Yet, after the lie was spoken out loud, a wave of pain overcame him. A pain so strong, so intense that only an animalistic grunting passed over his throat. The hand of death laid on his shoulders and Moros almost lost consciousness yet again.
"The new prototype seems to work rather well," Carol spoke with a cold voice, not caring in the slightest about the fate of her nephew.
Grabbing a pen and paper she noted down a few observations.
"Subject seems to experience great pain, bodily response is the production of sweat and seizure-like shaking of the upper body. Suggested dosage to be reduced by 2 units"
Moros, at that moment, did not take too kindly in his role of advancing the medical technology of planet Elysium, but he did not have the energy nor the strength to complain about the treatment in the first place.
He simply kept his head down, stared at the floor and waited for the horrible sensation to pass.
After 2 minutes his nerves finally calmed down and he was able to breathe normally again. Any lie, however, he knew would bring this feeling back.
"My dear nephew, I will ask you a set of questions, do simply reply with Yes or No. We do not have the time and energy to wait for you to give longer replies."
Aunt Carol gave a sweet, endearing smile.
"Shall we?"
The interrogation of Moros had begun.