'W-what is going on?' Paul was stunned.
Just this night, this 18-year old's world was completely overturned.
The revelations that his mother made to him were so unexpected that they left him rattled. Was all of this even real?
A Cosmopolitan? What was that?
Is something like that even possible in this age of Gods?
Luckily, he had an open mind.
He went from the stage of doubt and graduated to the stage of acceptance, before finally jumping into the stage of endless curiosity.
If he was really acknowledged by more than one of the 9 Divine Gods, does that not mean that he would gain more powers than normal?
How did it even work?
And if he was right, which Divine Gods acknowledged him?
These thoughts excited Paul as he came out of his room with his luggage bag, hoping to ask his mom to get answers but coming out of his room alongside his twin sister, Paul froze in shock.
His mom was not alone in the sitting room.
At this moment, there were 6 other people alongside his mom in the sitting room. 6 people who were dressed in black cloaks and gray masks.
The atmosphere in the sitting room was different from normal.
Paul badly wanted to misinterpret their identities but the daggers on their hands betrayed their identities immediately.
'These guys…,' Paul hyperventilated. 'They're assassins!'
Right at that moment, his mom finally broke the silence.
"Assassins of the order!" Claire growled in a deep voice.
"What are assassins of the triple six doing in my house?!" Claire said loudly in a voice that reeked of fear and desperation even as she stumbled back and shielded her two children with her body.
'Triple six? What's that?' Paul still retained a semblance of composure as he stared at these 6 assassins cloaked in black. And as he stared at them, he had flashbacks to the dream he had in the morning, making him feel a sense of déjà vu. 'What the heck!'
But as for his twin sister? Sophia was petrified.
The mere presence of these 6 assassins seemed to make the shadows in this sitting room deeper. Their aura was dark and menacing, like a sharp blade that was close, too close to your throat for comfort.
Paul struggled to maintain his composure in their presence and his sister was having it worse. Sophia's eyes were widened in shock, fear, and horror and they remained like that.
She could tell that these people were killers.
'Dammit!' Paul cursed. 'Who are these people?'
He stared at their black cloaks, feeling desperate.
On the middle of their long black cloaks were symbols painted in red. The symbol was the number 6 written three times.
'Is that the triple six that mom called them?'
Despite Claire's words, the assassins who also wore masks to obscure their facial features were unperturbed as they looked past the woman.
Paul didn't know which one, but one of them spoke.
"That's the boy, he fits the description".
"Capture the Cosmopolitan and kill the 2 women".
'Kill'; that word was the ignition.
Hearing it, a switch was immediately put on in Paul's head as his head geared into overdrive.
Adrenaline flooded his body as he entered protective mode instantly.
As for his mom? Her eyes turned red like wine. She was also triggered by that sentence.
Sophia was still petrified in shock due to everything that was happening around her, she had no reaction to the words.
"Mom, who are these people?" Paul asked, confused and alert even as he opened his luggage bag, unsheathing his hunting dagger.
Claire didn't answer her son. At this moment, the aura of this brunette seemed to change as her blonde hair waved slightly behind her.
She was no longer the beautiful but hot-tempered wine brewer of Turuk Village. No, this was something different from that.
Claire Arrakis was in a state of absolute concentration at this moment as she stared at the assassins keenly, watching them move and spread around the room.
Her eyes darted left and right like those of a hunting snake's.
As they moved, she finally paid attention to her children and spoke. Her voice was unusually calm, calmer than Paul expected it to be in this situation.
"Paul, take your sister and run".
"Go to Aunty Ariel's farm".
"No!" Paul rejected immediately as he shook his head vehemently. "I'm not leaving, I made an oath when dad died to protect you and sister".
"There's no way that I'm leaving you behind".
"I can't…"
Claire turned her head to look at her son and Paul could not say more, she never said a word.
That look, Paul had never seen it in his mom's eyes before, he only saw it in the eyes of his dad before his death.
Paul was stunned.
He was so used to seeing his fiery mom being her usual self every time, being hard on him, only reprimanding him, shouting at him, commanding him so much that Paul almost forgot this side of her.
When last did he see it? 'Maybe when I was 5?' he thought.
At this moment, Paul saw that protective gleam of a mother again, that gleam of motherly determination to protect her children by all means and all of a sudden, he felt all his stubbornness dissipating away.
Paul could not say more, he was tongue-tied.
But he shook his head. "No, no, no mom, I can't…"
Claire smiled. "Please, leave".
This time, Paul could not say no anymore, he could not bring himself to seeing the look in his mom's eyes.
'I hate you!' He screamed it in his mind but he didn't say it out loud.
'How can you tell me to run? I'm a man!'
'Don't you dare die on me woman!'
Despite his thoughts, he looked at his mom as tears welled in his eyes. "Mom, please stay alive, I'll call for reinforcements," saying that, Paul finally turned to run through the back door even as he grabbed his sister's hand to escape.
Sophia had no reaction, she simply followed like a zombie.
Immediately after Paul moved, the assassins moved with malicious intent, and then, a mother moved…
"Attempting to kidnap my son and kill my daughter while I, the mother is here," her wine-colored eyes glowed in rage. "What do you take me for?!"
BAM!
From the wooden floor of this mud house, the wood splintered, exploding as out of nowhere, good quality wine came bursting out like a flood.
To everyone in Turuk Village, Claire was the unassuming fervent follower of the Divine God, Dionysus who was an Apprentice Awakened.
But in reality, Claire was an Intermediate Awakened of the faction Dionysus.
On her first awakening, she gained the blessings of the Divine Dionysus, gaining the power of immunity to alcohol.
On her second awakening, she gained the power of intoxication through wine.
2 awakened warriors may awaken the same power from the same Divine God, but their overall combat power may vary differently. This is because of various factors, most predominantly training.
The level of training and preparation can play a big role in the overall power of awakened warriors.
Through decades of being a Dionysus, Claire already worked on her powers. Intoxication through wine was a vague description of the powers of a Dionysus.
Depending on your training, this power could be amplified.
Through trial and error, mixing different ingredients, Claire already learned to create a deadly wine, a wine with deadly effects.
Most people saw Dionysus as harmless but Claire was not harmless. She may not have harmed anyone before now, but she was definitely capable of it.
Claire never made use of this wine before today. She had been keeping it specifically for a day like this that she prayed against but feared.
On this night, she unleashed the dangerous wine.
The wood splintered, exploding everywhere as it splashed against the black cloaks of the assassins, corroding through it.
Claire was immune to the corroding effect.
As for her 2 children, Paul was fast enough, dashing through the back door before the wine engulfed the house.
That was not all.
With gleaming eyes of determination, Claire growled.
"Azull, Nymeria, now!"
2 Wolves with wine-colored eyes pounced out of a hidden spot in this mud house, Paul never knew of Wolves living in the same house with him.
The Wolves pounced on the assassins!