Whatever I do, it doesn't change the outcome. Slowly, the white-haired monster gets closer and closer. As if assisting him, my legs become heavier and heavier, slowing me down even more. It comes to a point that running become impossible and the only thing I'm able to do is drag my useless legs forward, which feel like they're made of lead.

Gathering the courage from the bottom of my being, I abandon my pathetic attempt to fell and turn around to meet the monstrosity head on. But the moment I start turning my neck, I feel his bone-chilling breath on my back. Slowly my eyes fall upon the enemy and I stand petrified, looking at the enormous monster with white hair and burnt skin, exposed rotting muscles and bone underneath it. The monster continues breathing, his eyes slowly changing colour from green to blood red, illuminating the darkness surrounding us.

In the next instant, the monster moves, but it happens so fast that I don't even have a fraction of a second to react, as its huge jaws and long white fangs sink deep into my neck, cutting off all airflow. I try to break free from the death grip, but it's futile, as pain shoots through my unresponsive body.

I scream and leap away, only to fall down on a cold marble floor. Looking around, I find only darkness and silence in the room, which I recognise as my bedroom. Slowly my eyes adjust to the darkness and the room takes form, as a rare few strands of light break through the small windows covered by thick curtains. There's movement on the bed, and a girl with silver hair rises up, her small yellowish eyes searching the room for danger.

Cursing under my breath, I stand up and walk closer to the girl, who jerks slightly when she sees me. Her yellowish eyes stop on my face, and slowly calmness returns to them. She stretches her arms like a child waiting to be picked up would to a parent. Grasping her hands I sit on the bed, and she instantly leaps to my chest, burying her face in it.

"Everything is okay." I whisper quietly. "We are safe."

Her thin and weak hands hug me with all the strength she can muster, which is quite significant compared to what you expect from her thin limbs. Caressing her head I repeat again and again

"We are safe Natalia, we are safe".

Slowly we both drift back asleep, embraced in each other's arms. With sleep overtaking me, so does the darkness, though this time I am alone in it and no monster is hunting me.

...

"Marcus! Natalia! You guys look tired!" shouts Manato from the opposite side of the huge room as soon as we enter, waving at us in the process.

Together with Lia we walk to the huge table in the center of the room, filled to brim with food. I guide Lia to the chair, and while still holding her hand sit on chair to the right of her.

"You don't look much better." I answer Manato with dry smile.

"Yeah, you are more than likely right!" he laughs loudly through it.

It has been nearly a month since, but Manato has already changed so much, it feels as if I am speaking with someone else. As if the guy who loved sightseeing, didn't take anything seriously, and not so long ago was running around with the head of a dead creature in the middle of dungeon dive, no longer exists.

He is not the only one who changed.

As I already start to devour a third dish, Sergei walks in, limping slightly on his left foot. Even if a limb is restored after you lose it, nerve damage may still persist for quite some time, and what's happening to him right now is kind of normal, if you can call losing a whole leg normal at all. His eyes meet mine and we give each other a nod and half smile. A few second later he stops behind Lia, and gives her a kiss on the top of her head. Turning to him Lia sweetly smiles, grasping his hand with her own to convey her love to the only blood relative she has left. Sergei sits to the left of her, greeting everyone in the room in the process, and joins us for the meal. Half an hour later, after every single member of the party arrived and finished their meal, which is at least five times bigger than any normal human would eat per day, we start the discussion.

And the discussion takes quite some time.

There are several important things that have happened since we... ran away from the South Dungeon Kingdom, or what's left of it. After the battle, the appearance of the huge elementals and finally the eruption of the volcano, not many were left alive. The city was swallowed by magma and lava before our very eyes. For a fraction of a second there was an idea to help everyone and remain in the city, but we had to discard it the moment we saw the huge flotilla of ships still around, filled to the brim with Paletians. We had to leave the city, and everyone who was left there, our superiors, the royalty, the nobles, my maids....and more. We didn't abandon them, there was no proof that they were even alive, and it would...

Anyways, after that we decided to travel to Mozzarel, but half-way through we had to stop. Locals at a small town, where we stopped for the night, told us that Mozzarel's relationship with Empire deteriorated, and it was very unstable. There were a few that even mentioned a chance that they would either join Qing or Paletia, as the whole region was unstable, and they weren't such a big kingdom. In the end we decided to play it safe and not travel any deeper into the region, which could be hostile to us, and go straight home. A lot of stuff has happened since.

As a matter of fact, we're currently in Qing, or how this part of the world should be called nowadays, Sun Empire East province. Nearly the whole continent has been 'liberated', as the Empire's officials call it, and the most shocking part of it is that there were no epic battles, preparations, or stories. Only death, destruction, and inevitability. The 'unification' of Sun Empire happened nearly exactly the same way with every city and kingdom around it's border, with sudden arrival of thirteen floating fortresses firing beams of concentrated mana. There was no 'discussion' or terms of surrender, as it wasn't an option from the very beginning.

The very first thing that was done during the 'liberation', was the utter destruction of the royal palace from a distance, after which several thousand Paladins in powered, white armor laid siege to the city. Their task was to kill every single royal and noble they found, with no option for negotiation. They come in utter silence, 'clean' the city, and leave as soon as their task is done. Shortly after, several officials from Sun Empire enter the city, and announce that they are the new leaders of the city, together with about a hundred Paladins as their personal army.

The result of such a tactic is a clean city, with no rulers or power structure, where you can easily force new rules, with absolutely no resistance. And if there is a small chance that someone would voice their disagreement, there is 'police' in powered armor that quickly change that. Why haven't I seen or heard anything about this awesome thing? An armor made out of extremely rare metal, which gathers and stores ambient mana, and injects it into the wearer's body at specific time intervals. I would've played around with it, and maybe made my own, with tons of feature, colored in black with wings and stuff. After the new territory joins Empire, the whole procession continues forward, to new city, region and country. We're actually currently in one of those fortresses.

We were found when we were returning back home to the Sun Empire using the path we went through before, through the Dead Desert. Right in the middle of the desert we suddenly saw a dozen floating mountains coming in our direction, each of which was about four hundred meters tall, and at least twice as wide, growing larger every second. When the huge rocks came close enough, we were able to see that it wasn't just a huge floating rock, but rather a huge structure made out of stone and metal. For a few short moments it felt as if we were once more transported into a new world, but this time it wasn't a medieval one. Soon enough though, my eyes found something recognizable, a flag with the insignia of a sun that we know very well.

As I learned later, the structure was designed by the, nowadays legendary creator, Grand Wizard Palonto, who came up with it about ten years ago. The design was so revolutionary and so well planned that it was instantly classified. For the achievement she received the title of Grand Wizard, and a personal Wizard Tower to improve and implement the design. But it still took them ten years of testing and failing, only to return to the original design and create the structure itself. It even has a new communication device, with which you can exchange 'voice messages'. A long distance radio in other words, though only works for two unique modules, each designed for the other. Therefore they have several of them for communication between the fortresses.

Anyway, when the one of the fortresses was over us it stopped moving and several Mages in official royal robes flew out of it. The group landed softly before us, with no weapons on them. One of the officials had a mana compass in his hand pointing in our direction. We quickly recognized the person as one of the Mages that educated us back in the Empire when we were just summoned. We were quickly brought into one of the fortresses, where we told everything that happened to us, and why were we here in the desert, alone. After a through interrogation, we were healed and given rooms to rest. The next day during meal, everything that is happening in the world right now was explained to us.

The short version is that there is no longer a Sarshi Caliphate, Desert Alliance, or Northern Kingdom. Additionally, there's a full blown continental war with the Paletian continent, and their kingdoms. While the elves, orcs, and other southerners from the adjacent continent of Lort-thol, haven't taken sides in the war. It's quite apparent that their position will fully depend on our state, or to be more specific, how weak we look.

It's not just about Lort-thol, and the kingdoms that reside in it, but the continents south of it, which have many more kingdoms, and their own opinions of what the world's future should look like. Fighting a war with three separate continents at the same time wouldn't be a feasible option, as the Empire is simply too big, and any logistics will take too long to respond to an aggression from all sides at the same time. And by the look of things, there's very high chance that one of the south kingdoms will, one way or another, collaborate with Paletia.

So in order to 'calm' everyone down, the Empire decided to show how big its dick is, and conquer the eastern part of the continent in one quick sweep. We were automatically recruited in the task, and our opinion in the matter was irrelevant. I was afraid Qing would join Paletia, and Empire would have to deal with both aggressors collaborating together, and supporting each other.

But ironically, no.

Qing detests all non-humans so much, that even in this state, where they have common enemy, they refused all help and cooperation offered by Paletians. Well most of that hate is actually coming from Qing's Empress, which by reports, 'dislikes' the Paletians and all non-humans so much, that she issued an imperial edict, requiring the public impaling of every single foreigner, non-human, and any citizen who is aiding them in any way . A genocide of its own citizens in the middle of war. Only a madman would come up with that, and by the looks of it, will more than likely be one of the reasons for their downfall in the end.

We slowly progressed through Qing, 'liberating' every city we came across from the tyrants that enslaved it. At the start I didn't understand it, why are we not offering them a to surrender, to join us. There must be some who disagree with the Empress, and somehow we could convince them to join the Empire on their own. But soon enough I saw the reason with my very own eyes, how zealously the nobles and rulers of the cities are loyal to the Empress and the royal family.

But that doesn't mean that it became easy and straightforward when you simply plug out the weeds, on the contrary it became harder. During one of our stops at another major Qing city, all of the nobles and people loyal to the Empress simply went into the underground and started their subversive work in the shadows. Poisoning water wells, burning down the city's infrastructure, attacking the fortresses with suicide mages. It got so bad that the council, which is commanding the whole flotilla, ordered Seers to search every man, woman, and child who has mana signature similar to the royal family, as well the people we captured or killed.

It was a bloodbath.

Even though I strongly disagreed with their inhuman decisions, I didn't voice my opinion and made sure no one in my party voiced theirs. We're in no position to ask or demand anything. And worse of all, I still haven't figured out how to break free from the accursed spell that binds my mind.

It took some time to figure it out, and the solution was simply a journal, written in English, with my handwriting, containing my thoughts about the Empire, what I disagreed with, what I experienced. The problem is that I don't remember those thoughts, or even writing those words in the journal at all.

Fucking brainwashing, or whatever it is. I'll kill them all, make them pay for what they did to me, to us. I am not a toy, not a tool, I will not be used, I will not fail, I will not become my father. But not now, not yet. Right now the main goal is to play the idiot mage, and continue filling the diary with information, thoughts and ideas on how to break free, until I reach the point when I will be able to destroy these chains. Anyway, the fortresses continues traveling in the direction of Qing's capital, and we, by extension, together with it. There are still few days left until we reach it, and logically right now we should be preparing and resting. But easier said than done.

Travelling to Qing's capital wasn't as easy as Namos, the general which is the leading the procession, and the head of the council, expected. He already took into account that Qing has been preparing for this war for decades, maybe even centuries, with nearly every single citizen equipped with a weapon, and zealously brainwashed into hating all foreigners. But even he couldn't imagine what awaited us ahead. We're not exhausted because of Qing, its tricks, or whatever its doing, but a rather by a third party, which became a much bigger problem.

For the past few days we have passed through several cities completely devoid of any human beings, as if they all decided to abandon the city, leaving their things behind. Everyone, even Namos, was becoming anxious, that all of the citizens, men and women, old and young, have been either recruited into the army, as cannon fodder or they have been 'used' for some grand-scale spell, which was awaiting us ahead.

We all were partially right, an army was awaiting us, but not the one we were expecting.

It wasn't human army.

Corrupted.

Millions upon millions of corrupted local wild animals, undead, and liches. They all behaved and attacked like some kind of hive mind, like moving waves of carnage and destruction. A perfect army. Post-apocalyptic stories back at home did not prepare us for this.

I overexerted myself when I consumed a total of five mana potions. Even two of them are believed to be life-threatening, but because of the situation I was in, the danger and the amount of potions consumed, I wasn't in a state to follow orders or even understand the danger I was in. It was as if I was watching a movie from a first person perspective, where you see the image change, your legs and hands move, but you have absolutely no control over them, or the outcome of the movie.

Where's the Blood Brotherhood? Those that specialize in hunting corrupted and stopping the 'Emergence', as people in the Empire call it.

Where are they when you need them? Right, they are dead. And information about that was released just some time ago.

What about their replacement? Oh, yeah, also dead, killed by...

Anyways, we're left all alone with the undead and predators, which we don't know how to hunt, which results in a lot of wasted time and energy, testing and learning the hard way. It would be nice if we had a book that mentions that undead will continue moving even if you cut their head off or dismember them into pieces. It would also be nice if someone would have told us that they have leaders, which can cast mind control spells.

Oh sorry, there is no such book, or at least we don't have one.

A simple word would have been enough! What was the Blood Brotherhood replacement even doing?!

Shit.

Maybe I am just exhausted, though, it wasn't just me, as everyone is nearly in the exact same state, even if they don't show it.

Sigh.

It takes another hour for us to review what happened yesterday, what we did right and what we did wrong. Every single mistake, every single decision and more, as we were wholly unprepared for an army of that scale and type. We're a team, and we need to become better as a team, because this is our main strength, and as things are going, the future doesn't look very bright.

"Any news from the Empire?" Sergei asks quietly.

The room instantly turns to total silence. Switching to English I try to answer as calmly as I can.

"Nothing. The Senate has not contacted us since the last time." I finish dryly.

There is another thing, that I did not expect, the Prophecy that Paletia summoned talked about was known to Empire for quite some time, and they have taken it quite seriously since day one, unlike us.

However mystic or Sci-Fi it may look, Espers, or how people here call them 'Oracles', exist. There aren't many of them, and value of each one cannot be overstated, they're literally worth more than their weight in gold. At first I thought that it was just another sham, but no. Those Oracles gather into a huge group of about a thousand and organize a ritual, in which they consume and use enormous amounts of mana use as a catalyst with one single goal, to cast a space-time spell and peak into the future.

And the answer they got wasn't the good one. As we were explained to, the Oracle and Senate tried all means necessary in order to bend or change the prophecy, but it always stayed the same, it was never under the control of mere mortals. To put it simply, apocalypse, end of the world, the final judgment. The thing that some religions promised, some celebrated, and some prepared for. And here it is, right around the corner, just a single step away. I quietly mutter the prophecy under my breath, like a mantra to think over it, or laugh at the ridiculousness of it, which one though, I'm not sure.

"Night will swallow day.

Blood rivers of innocents will flow.

Dead will rise from their earthen prison.

Messengers of other world unite.

Warriors of light and dark be born.

Spirits of Ancient World return to living.

War of wars shall begin.

The savior will descend to return the order and truth.

And he will clash with Destroyer, the Devourer of worlds.

Death will come, and with it the world will become one again."

This is everything that the Oracles have received, again and again, and whatever they did the answer coming from the future did not change, and as it looks like we are not the only ones who received this message. The Empire, Paletia, Qing, Elves, and maybe more already know about this.

Okay, from the first three lines I understood that there will be darkness, blood, and many dead. And I believe the 'Messengers of other world' from the fourth, is referring to us. But why is it 'unite' and not 'will unite'? Is this a call for action, or a maybe misunderstanding, and simply describes an inevitable future? More than that, why is it asking for 'warriors' from both sides, good and bad to 'be born'? What the hell does that means? Isn't the goal for the 'good' or 'bad' guys to win? Why call out both sides? The spirits part is a bit more tricky, as I was explained, the 'spirits' do not have bodies, and what it refers to, is for them to 'acquire' physical bodies in world of living, a flesh and body they can command.

Avatars.

Is this what the Paletian heroes were talking about?

Anyways, the War and Savior part is VERY original, and it is not as important as what it implies. We, the summoned heroes, are not the Saviors, but simply messengers.

And there is an enemy, 'Destroyer, the Devourer of worlds'. A name of a comic book villain from a third-rate story, where the guy is evil for the sake of being evil.

Thankfully after his death the world will become one.

It's his death that is implied, right?

How stupid.

Sadly this is my life now, and this 'stupid' thing can kill me.

"Mark, you should see the healer again." Sam suddenly says.

Looking back at him I find a genuinely concerned look.

"Yeah, you look extremely exhausted, and I don't think those blood-shot eyes look healthy." adds Manato.

"Sorry Marcus I'm useless, I can't heal these symptoms." quietly whispers Lisa, evading direct eye contact with me and Lia.

No glances anymore huh. At least there's one less problem.

"It's okay, it's not your fault, there is nothing you can do here. I know that you are already overwhelmed with injuries from others. I will be fine, nothing life threatening." I try to calm Lisa down.

I am already taking care of one, I won't be able to support the second one too. Sam should understand that.

Standing up, I say bye and start walking with Lia still holding my hand tightly, and moving closer to me. We continue to walk in silence until we reach the long inter-sectional corridor that is rarely used. Suddenly Lia starts slowing down, slowing me too until we fully stop. She continues to stand frozen to the ground as if a statue for several long seconds, until her expression changes slightly, and I quickly recognize the same look that I have been seeing for quite some time.

She takes several steps closer and tenderly hugs me, nuzzling into my neck. The hug changes to tighter one and nearly instantly our lips connect, after which her tongue shoots into my mouth, exploring it as I savor the sweet taste. She drags me to the wall, and leaning on it pulls me over her. She starts breathing heavily and her hand slips into my pants. We already did it in the morning, but just few hours later she wants more. I would be happy if it would be just a healthy and natural libido, but things are not that easy. After the 'event' she got a serious psychological trauma, it wasn't just her who was affected by what we saw in the South Dungeon Kingdom, but her case is the most severe one.

Looking at it once again, it's a miracle that we all made it out alive, but everything has a price. Natalia lost her cheeky fire and became very dependent on me and her brother. At the start she was simply using me as a hug buddy, citing that she only feels safe near me. Then it became more severe, with her not being able to sleep alone, as she was afraid of darkness, therefore I became a temporary sleep body pillow.

From there things escalated quickly.

Maybe I was also searching for someone's warmth, or maybe after more than a week with no action I simply...snapped. Anyway, Natalia and me are a thing now. And any moment she feels unsafe or scared, she leaps at me, craving for warmth. This is unhealthy, and I should do something about it, but I do not know what exactly.

Growling, I push her against the wall and start grunting rhythmically, savoring the sweet smell coming from her hair. Lia clutches to me with death-grip like a drowning man to a lifebuoy. Looking into her yellowish eyes, the absolute trust in them ignites something in me, and clutching her body to myself stronger, increase the rhythm speed, and quite soon we both finish, kissing, and breathing heavily.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Looking deep into my eyes once again she whispers quietly.

"Please don't leave me."

Clutching her closer I force my tongue into her mouth. She gasps sweetly when I part my lips away.

"I won't."

Quickly tidying ourselves up, we continue walking in the direction of the healing ward.

...

"Healing too slow? HA! You should thank the Gods that you heroes are so sturdy. FIVE. FIVE GOD DAMN MANA POTIONS. And all you get is a minor migraine. Three are already enough to kill a powerful wizard, but five, FIVE!"

The healer with wild grayish hair continues his lecture on improper use of potions while I calmly sit on the chair and nod. He's one of the people who likes to lecture you about everything, going as far as telling their own personal life story with the purpose of teaching you a 'lesson'. Lia's small hand is tightly clutching mine while the older gentleman in his fifties continues his passionate monologue.

At the beginning Lia was afraid to even look in the mirror, afraid to see anything with even a bit grayish hair, even herself. It's hard to blame her, it's still hard for me to look at anyone with gray hair without my heart nearly stopping for just a moment. I myself, am at a stage where I'm trying to overcome these nightmares with HIM and the blood avatar, so I don't have the right to tell Lia what to do, or how to solve it.

After the event, I started asking more questions, about HIM, the Blood Brotherhood and Empire's past in general. And I didn't like the answers I got.

"At two people start bleeding internally, but five, FIVE! You-" he says, repeating himself already for the third time.

"Is there a way to increase number of mana potions I can drink safely?" I inject to guide the talk in correct direction.

"HE WANTS MORE!" the healer screams, throwing his hands into the air. "A normal person would have needed weeks to heal after what you have done. You-"

"Sir Lihar, please."

The healer stops, closing his lips tight into thin line, and stares at me for several long seconds.

"For a normal human, maximum advised dose is one potion per week. For veteran adventurers and Wizards, that increase to one per day, anything higher could damage the body irreparably."

"But?"

"But, if you posses a strong body, which is the case for summoned, that increases the dosage slightly." he replies quietly.

"So the stronger the body, the more I can consume?"

If so, than it is much easier than I expected. I just need to increase the intensity of my physical exercise, and ask Sam to be more ruthless during our sparring sessions.

"It not as easy as it sounds." he stops my mental plans suddenly.

"Enlighten me."

He sigh deeply and starts talking monotone, as if reading out of a book.

"To increase efficiency of mana potions and number of times they can be consumed sequentially, the user must slowly increase the dosage and internal mana circulation speed during extensive training sessions."

Looking into my eyes for confirmation, that I understand where this is going, he continues with cautious tone.

"It is dangerous and may take years. It also takes a great dedication and-"

"I'm in."

Sir Lihar sigh deeply once again.

"Okay, come everyday at noon, I will help as much as I can. But I will strictly monitor the performance of you internal circulation, as it is the most critical part! Only after you reach a specific level, will I allow for the dosage training."

Shit, that's one of the hardest things to do, the thing that I still struggle with, and hate with my guts. It as if trying to dig a huge hole in desert with a fork. Slow and tedious. There must be an easier way.

After a rather short discussion we decide upon the exact time, when and how he will train me, which suits both me and him. As I'm about to leave I decide to ask the question that has been bothering me for some time, and which I can no longer hold in.

"Sir Lihar?"

"Yes?" he says with same enthusiastic voice he generally has.

"What is the biggest amount of mana potions you have seen a person consume?"

He sighs deeply again, and looks somewhere in the distance for few seconds. The healer finally turns to me and with a grimace gives me an answer.

"Nine, by the Grand Wizard of Central Wizard tower, but his achievement was short-lived as he was in feral state and died just few moments later."

Nearly twice. Shit. I nearly blanked out after fifth, what will happened to me after the ninth? So there are monsters in this world...

"What about.....the Inquisitor?" unexpectedly words come out of me.

There is sudden change in his expression, but the healer keeps it cool. At the same time I feel as Lia's hands tighten slightly.

"What about the deceased Inquisitor?"

"No, I mean... I have heard that you and... the REAL Inquisitor were-"

His eyes shoot open and he starts looking around the room, to check that there is no one else here.

"Shush!" looking around the room once again he continues whispering. "Who told you that?"

"I want to-"

"WHO!?"

"No one."

"I do not care what game you are playing, but you should stop. This is nothing that you should get involved in. You-"

"You were traveling with him, helping him with purges. You are experienced battle healer, which is why you are here. Or is this not true, Sir Lihar?" I look into his brown eyes and continue "Please tell me, I need to know."

He looks around the room, quietly walks to the door, checks that there's no one behind it, locks the door and returns back to the table within seconds. Taking out a small brown bottle from inside of his coat, he opens it and drinks it down, after which he puts it down on the table. A strong alcohol smell comes from the bottle, which means that he the thing he is preparing to talk about, is something that is not easy to talk about.

I came to the right person.

"What exactly do you want to know?" he asks calmly few seconds later.

"What is the maximum number of mana potions Inquisitor could drink?"

"He was a... monster. You should not compare yourself to him. He consumed potions as a noble child eats candies. He was-"

"How many?" I push

"...I personally have witnessed...seventeen...But after that he was bleeding throughout his whole body, in...an unresponsive berserk state...not reacting to anyone except the corrupted."

"Wait. You said the maximum was nine by a Grand Wizard." I inject after reiterating everything he said again in my head.

"By a person. A human. Inquisitor...is not what you call...human." picking up the bottle with once again, he gulps more, until the whole bottle is empty.

I need to stir it in the right direction, I am not sure if I will get another chance. "We crossed path with him in the South Dungeon City and..."

His head whips in my direction and his eyes stare deep into mine.

"You saw him?! You saw that... thing? Alive?!" he pauses for few more seconds and continues "And you thought that that thing was a human?! Did that thing even feel alive, much less like a human?!"

He picks up the bottle once again to drink, but finding it empty puts it back on the table.

"You know nothing, you have seen nothing. Do not look deeper into it child. This is much bigger than you, me, or anyone else for the matter of fact. Only despair and darkness awaits you there. Stop while you still can."

He finishes looking into my eyes with desperation. A few moments later he stands up and quickly pushes us out of the healing ward, sending us back to our rooms to heal.

As we walk back, thoughts continue swirling in my head, until I stop when I feel Lia's hand tightening around mine. The realization of what I just did hits me hard as a wall of bricks and I curse myself for inattentiveness. Clutching Lia to my chest I start caressing her head, trying to calm her down. I made a big mistake and spoke about HIM in Lia's presence. Shit. Even a mention of that gray haired monster can triggered this response, and curiosity got better of me. Maybe I should have asked it separately...

He spoke in English.

There is some kind of primal instinct in me screaming to forget and evade HIM, or find and destroy HIM, but at the same time there's something deeper within me, which is screaming that HE is important, that HE holds more than meets the eye.

...

It has been several days since I started healing, and it would have been great if I had a bit more time to finish healing this annoying headache, but within this day we'll arrive in the capital of Qing. I'm currently sitting cross-legged on the balcony, looking straight at the horizon and the moving mountains. Lia moves slightly, shifting in my lap, trying to warm up and find a more comfortable position, but I don't think it's possible. First of all, I'm only a few centimeters higher than her, and even if I open my legs wide open, it will not make me or my lap bigger. Second, the small barrier that I created around myself and Lia, can barely hold back the freezing cold wind, which blows straight into our faces.

Even in this situation, when an enemy may attack at any moment, I still try to allocate some part of me for training, to improve myself, even if it's such a useless thing as a thermo-barrier. Every single step is important, because together, all these insignificant things can pile into something much bigger. In order to survive in this world and break free from the shackles that the Empire has binded me with, I need to be strong, stronger than any human being can be, beyond the limits of flesh and blood, because there are monsters in this world, and they take all kinds of forms. To slay some of them I need to become something more than a mere mortal, something far beyond that. And only after that can I start dictating the rules, and stop being the one who obeys.

The image of the fire and lightning elemental fighting in the middle of city, flashed before my eyes. Their spells, their enormous mana reserves, their primordial wrath and power.

True absolute beings. What can mere mortal do against them?

Their appearance is extremely rare, as elementals, unlike avatars, are born out of pure elemental mana, and require an enormous amount of it in its natural or ambient state. Counter to them, avatars are born from humans, who fused with the element, and become one with it, feeding upon it, growing stronger in its presence. The very sight of the blood avatar sent chills down my spine, like a deer in the headlights, a prey before the predator. How do you even kill such being?

If the Oracle didn't make a mistake and the prophecy is actually true, which I have less and less doubts about, this is only the beginning, and much bigger horrors are about to become real.

Shit, now I start sounding like Paletia's summoned.

Whatever the "Spirits of Ancient World" are, I shouldn't count on them being friendly. I have only one personal experience with an avatar, and it wasn't a good one. The books spoke of calm, collected, and enlightened beings, but what I saw was nothing like that. A feral creature consumed by instinct and destruction. I could somehow feel that with my very bones. Even more, the people who could become avatars were supposed to be the best of the best, and even then there was only a small chance that one could become an avatar. How could the new Inquisitor become the blood avatar when his skills were sub-par at best?

I hear footsteps and slowly, one by one, Sam, Sergei, and the naive Trio come to the balcony. Not so naive anymore though, their eyes reflect a bit different light now, with Manato brimming with confidence and a cheeky smile to boot. His cheer-leading duo on the other hand, became more calm and collected, a bit more quiet too though. Yuki, with long black hair, which would usually give cold jabs in the direction of her friends, became more friendly and open. Akari on the other hand, with her short haircut and brown hair, became less childish, and somehow more dependable. For several long seconds they stand in silence, enjoying the view, the fresh and cold wind. Alas, this won't last for long, as we all understand perfectly well what will happen today.

Sam's voice breaks the silence, as he reiterates over the strategy, and that we must stick together, and not waste our mana reserves and always keep a very safe margin, as anything can happen. He turns to me, and repeats once again that the we should be very careful with potions, and the amount we consume, as they are very addictive and toxic, not breaking eye contact with me during the whole process. It takes a very long minute of me agreeing, and giving him my word, to calm him down and close the subject. Checking that there is no one near, he looks at me and Lia for confirmation that we are alone, and that there's no one near us, which we give a second later after the check. Even though we already gave him confirmation that there is no one around, he still continues whispering quietly, trying to keep his voice barely audible.

"If anything goes wrong, and I mean anything, we should abandon the mission and return to the Empire. Forget the fortresses, forget the council, forget Qing, forget the war and the prophecy, forget everything. We need to return back home, safe, alive...together."

So, he's already at a stage where he can evade orders, or at least try to think outside of the limits of the damn curse. It seems like I'm not the only one. But it's still on the level of evading or bending the orders, not refusing them.

I'll need to speak with him about it later.

As we stand and continue to chat about useless stuff, trying not to think of the day's events, the mountain range becomes larger and larger. Suddenly a guard, with nearly no mana signature, who I notice just a second before he appears, enters the balcony and tells us that we are awaited in the captain's bridge.

I tenderly caress Lia's face, after which she groans and opens her lovely yellow eyes. After a quick explanation of what is happening, we stand up and start following the guard, as he guides us through the enormous structure into the room, where the council, Namos, and all of the leaders are already waiting, looking through a huge glass window as the mountains move closer and closer.

We are quickly guided to our positions right behind the council, where we join everyone in silence, looking straight ahead as the view through the huge glass window slowly changes. It takes a dozen long minutes of travel to exit the mountain range, which acted as a natural barrier and wall for the Qing Kingdom's capital, ensuring its security and longevity.

The mountains end, opening up to a view of the capital in all of its greatness and size, as the gigantic plain comes into our sight. The uncountable number of small houses and villas, the huge and wide roads which crisscross the enormous city. In its sheer size and density it could easily rival Tokyo or New York, or any other metropolis from Earth. Far away, in the center of the city, close to the ocean shore, is an enormous platform, dwarfing anything I have even seen before. The stairs that lead up to it alone, span several kilometers in length, and at least a kilometer in height.

On top of the platform there's several gigantic multi-layered castles in the oriental style, with golden roofs and bright red walls. The structures pierces the dark gray clouds over them, creating a feeling of wrongness, as the scale is simply unbelievable. The biggest castle, which is in the center, could fit a whole city alone on top of it's first roof layer. By my estimation the whole structure goes higher into the sky by at least it's visible height. I would be shocked by its beauty and size, and would want to explore it for weeks and weeks, looking into its history and genius as it would surely rival, or even exceed anything we have back on Earth, if there wasn't another more bone chilling shock freezing me in place.

The whole plain is a blazing inferno, with people screaming and running around, trying to save themselves from the fire. Though the fire isn't the only thing that people are running away from. Undead, an unbelievable number of them, a dozen million at least, with waves upon waves of zombies and liches, consuming buildings, structures, and the inhabitants of the city like a swarm of locusts.

This is exactly the same thing we met about a week ago, but on a much grander scale.

In the sky I there are about a dozen thousand brightly shining spheres, which contrast starkly against the drab sky. Most of them are either shining with a red, green, or blue color, which easily gives away the powerful fire, water, and wind specialized Wizards, their mana auras visible even from here. All of them are at least several dozen kilometers away, but even from this distance I can feel that the mana density of each of flying Wizard is on par with the average mana density in my team.

But all of it nothing in comparison to what truly make by blood chill.

On the ground, there are about a hundred beings, with mana auras shining several times brighter than that of any Wizard in the sky, which are ripping apart undead and Liches, like they're made out of paper. For few short moments I thought that they were the famous Qing Grand Shamans, power and skill of which I have heard so much about, but that theory crumbled apart when the beings started morphing into animals, monsters, and humans, as if they are made out of liquid. That action triggered a memory of creature I have seen not so long ago in Dungeon City, which was made out of blood.

Avatars.

People in the captain's bridge are shouting orders, running around, reporting, while my team is standing near me, petrified at the sight of what is happening before us. Slowly the number of undead grows bigger and bigger, until the whole city becomes a single mass of destruction, rage, and corruption, consuming one avatar after another, under a hundred-meter tall wave of millions of undead. The blood in my veins chills when I imagine myself standing against one of the avatars, or even worse, standing in place of the avatar.

As an absolute catastrophe happens before my eyes, my whole being screams at me to look in the direction of the ocean, after which I freeze once again. Trying to understand what could trigger such a response, and what could be more dangerous or important than what's happening in the capital, my eyes continue to dart around the horizon. It takes a very long minute for me to finally find the origin of this feeling very far away. While people continue shouting orders, my eyes find and freeze on a tiny dark dot, which appeared from behind of clouds.

The dot starts growing,faster and faster, becoming bigger and bigger, until it reaches a size I believe to be its maximum. But I'm wrong, as the 'dot' continues growing, my body starts trembling. The people in the room finally shut up and look in the same direction I do.

Very quickly the room becomes deathly quiet.

The being that was a tiny dot just a minute, flies in the direction of the central castle, while the thick gray clouds part wherever it's going. The being lands on the central castle's roof, and a huge circle of sky over the castle breaks apart, revealing the structure in it's entire beauty, which isn't a tower as I expected, but rather a platform. The whole palace and city visibly shook when the creature landed, as the whole plain became deathly quiet, with both the undead and brightly shining Wizards in the sky looking in the direction of the central castle in absolute silence. I would've wanted to call the being a dinosaur, but there are two reasons I can't. First of all, the creature has four limbs and two wings, which makes it more appropriate to call the being a dragon. And second, the being's size.

By my modest estimations, the creature is at least three kilometers in height alone.

The silence which gripped the whole capital is broken when the undead screech in unison morphing into some amalgamation of hate and rage, with every single undead in the city rising up, and joining the screech. The screech suddenly end, and with it the whole city starting to move, as if alive, as if an ocean, with its flesh rising into an enormous wave of undead directed at the central palace. The wave of crashes into the palace, as countless tiny undead ants start climbing it, trying to reach the dragon, but as soon as they get close to it they burn into black crisps because of the burning mana surrounding the massive creature.

The ambient mana in the air starts rapidly disappearing, and tracing where all of it is going, I determine the origin, which makes me stop breathing. The neck of the dragon starts expanding, shining bright red, and when it becomes nearly white from the heat, turns its humongous head down at the roof of the palace. The moment the dragon opened its mouth, a huge white sphere appeared, rapidly growing bigger, turning everything around it white. By pure instinct, I form the most powerful mana barrier around myself and my team that I can. The light quickly swallows one fortress after another, and when it reaches us, the room goes tumbling, like a kid shaking a box with ants inside.

When the light finally disappears, I find myself on the floor, with Lia in my arms, bleeding from multiple cuts from the glass window. I try to say something, but nothing is heard, as the ringing in my ears swallows every sound in the world. Slowly it becomes darker and darker, until it finally returns to normal daylight, which somehow feels like night after the white world. With my shaking legs I stand up and look around, finding the unconscious Lia near me, and my whole team lying on the floor, groaning and trying to stand up too. Turning slightly in the direction where the council should be, I find only shredded bodies, bleeding from wounds which still have pieces of glass sticking out of them.

As soon as my eyes adjust, they start darting around my view in disbelief at what stands before me. In place of the enormous multi-layered castle is a gigantic crater, covered by thick glass, and the whole ground around the city is painted deep black. A single creature stands in the middle of it all, lazily looking around in absolute silence. The silence lasts for a very long minute, as my team is standing up and looking at what happened to Qing's capital. The creature's huge head jerks, looking up in the sky with it's eyes scanning it as if looking for something dangerous. The suddenly its eyes stop, and a very deep and threatening vibration starts emanating from it, as if a huge dog growling at something.

My eyes slowly turn in the direction where the dragon is looking, and soon I find about a dozen bright white lights, shining in the sky, whose mana density can't be described with mere words. It's like trying to explain a new color with words. Looking closer I find that each of the lights is actually a being with porcelain-white skin, six wings, four arms, and two legs. Strangely though, there are no eyes, ears, mouth, or hair, like a plastic mannequin in a shop.

The density of mana around the dragon rises sharply, and not just its neck, but rather the whole body starts shining, even brighter than before, while still looking into the sky, at the white being with wings. In response all of the winged beings point their arms back at the dragon and open their palms wide. From the center of their palms, with tremendous speed, a brightly shining spear start growing, sending white lightning throughout the gray skies.

Before I had time to react and scream for everyone to hide or cast a barrier, the creatures threw spells at each other, the whole world turning white once again, but this time I feel the fortress under me crumbling, like a sand castle.

What did we do to deserve this?