Orion opened his eyes, like every morning.

Like every morning, he walked to the bath area, and enjoyed a small moment of tranquility.

He exited the changing room, but today, no one was there to talk to him, so he returned to his room without a moment's delay.

There was nothing to do besides spend time reading this morning, as, for some reason, Amelia was still sleeping.

He hadn't seen Karteira either, so he lazily picked up another book and began to read it without much focus.

There had been something in his mind that he couldn't stop wondering about.

The only person able to answer his questions would be either the twins or the Fairy Tree of Life, Tiohr-nam.

He chose Tiohr-nam, as it would lead nowhere, in case the sisters decided to tease him.

Then, noon arrived, and a half-asleep Amelia entered with sandwiches on a plate. She apologized for waking up so late, and she returned to her room after eating with him.

A brief moment after eating, he decided to go see Tiohr-nam. If he was going to talk to her, there was no better moment than now.

So he moved his feet toward the now familiar room where he could speak with her. There was no one inside this time, which was perfect for him.

The moment he entered, a voice spoke.

"Oh, what could you want from me this time?"

The calm voice he only heard once echoed in the room.

"I haven't heard your real voice since the day I came to the realm. Have you regained enough strength already?"

The giant trunk of Tiohr-nam opened, and the same Avatar appeared from it, this time looking way better than before.

Her hair regained a colorful taint of green, and her skin appeared to have regained its youthful glow.

"I thank you once again for sharing your energy. In only two days, I have regained most of my capabilities as the Remnant of Life. I soon should be able to create new fairies."

Orion walked inside and sat on one of the chairs closest to the Avatar.

"That is a good thing. I didn't expect to see this form in the flesh, so I'm quite surprised."

The Avatar nodded.

"This is a puppet I made to speak with my children. I still have to infuse my soul inside of it to make it move, but it has been incredibly useful so far."

Seeing the body move, he could only nod.

"I can believe that. When I heard about the Remnants, there wasn't much information except the fact that they could shape-shift and had the power to ravage all civilizations, but now I can see that it is not entirely true."

Tiohr-nam stopped talking and looked at him. She looked for the best answer that would prevent Orion from making the wrong choices.

"I will be honest with you. I do not know what the other Remnants look like or even where they could be."

"But I can say one thing for sure: almost all of them are peaceful beings. It would be in your best interest to make contact first before jumping to any conclusion."

Orion frowned at her lack of trust in his actions.

"Do you think I would attack any beings in my way?"

But, instead of going his way, she made sure he understood.

"Most likely. We Remnants do not play in the same space as the rest of the world. We do not follow the same rules, as we are the rules."

"So those who never interacted with 'lower' beings will be irritating to deal with. What would you do if one wanted to capture Amelia because of its curiosity?"

Without hesitation, Orion answered, a dark gaze on his face.

"I would kill it on the spot... I see what you meant now."

Orion returned to normal and placed one hand on his head, exhausted from thinking about the trouble that could happen in the future.

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"Just as I said, the most likely result would be your death. Well, this will most likely never happen because they don't care enough. The only one you really have to be careful of is the World's Menace, Miasma."

"Again with this name. The Remnant that was killed by the previous Hero. If it's dead, why do I have to be careful of it?"

Tiohr-nam answered his question with an intense expression.

"It never truly died. We realized too late, but that monster lost his form during the final struggle and became half-sentient, corrupting the animals of the world simply because it wanted everything corrupted."

"At least it is what my memories retain of him."

Orion fell into deep thought, remembering his battles against the corrupt beasts.

'There was no sense of intelligence from the beasts. The 'Lords' were only slightly better, but there was not much strategy coming from them either. Which means they are only pawns. Expandable ones at that.'

'It doesn't differentiate anymore. Wait a second! That also applies to humans, isn't it? What happened during the escape during the 'Ceremony', where the soldiers went berserk? So this was Miasma's doing?'

Something didn't feel right.

'But why did it come from the building to begin with?'

Tiohr-nam simply looked at Orion, waiting for him to finish.

"I wanted to ask you about what to do from now on, but I got the answer right now thanks to you."

Surprised, the Avatar leaned forward.

"If that was enough to answer your questions, then I am glad. What are you planning to do, if you do not mind me asking?"

Orion stood up from his chair and walked closer to the Avatar.

"I will use my father's ring and hunt down Miasma. By doing so, I will find my mother's ring somewhere while I kill every corrupt being that infests our world. The fact that it goes in pair with my first mission to kill the Apostles is perfect."

She frowned.

"More killing... This is not a great path to follow."

Still, Orion wasn't going to back down from his purpose.

"You know it better than me. If Miasma is the culprit, there's nothing else to do but destroy it once again."

"Humans have started to show signs of corruption; who knows when the rest of the world will succumb? If the dragons fall to corruption, this world is doomed."

With a sigh, Tiohr-nam gave up.

"That is true. I simply hoped you wouldn't have to follow in the footsteps of your predecessor."

Orion stayed silent. He didn't know enough about this ancient Hero to say something.

"Well, if you are decided, I cannot say anything to that. When you intend to go outside, take Karteira with you; she has taken quite a liking to the two of you."

"Are you sure? We won't give her back until the very end."

This was a serious question, as this implied that Orion wasn't planning on returning to this realm.

"There are no more threats anymore, thanks to you. There is no point in keeping her here. I wanted you to take Dramia and Drania too, but they have already decided on something else."

"I don't think having so many people will be advantageous, either. Anyway, thank you for the talk."

Orion began to walk away, but then remembered something.

"I just remembered. You've lied to me pretty badly the first time we spoke."

"What do you mean?"

Sweat appeared on the Avatar's face, and she averted her eyes from looking at him.

"That 'Remnant of Protection' thing. I thought it was weird at first."

"You are the Remnant that controls some parts of Life, so how could you also possess the protection trait? Now that I know about the energy storage of the soul, it just sounds like a joke."

"You've revealed yourself, calling yourself the Remnant of Life."

He turned around and opened the door, leaving Tiohr-nam shaken from being found out.

"He is incredibly aware of his surroundings. This is terrifying coming from a single man. Was he blessed by some other beings?"

"No, this is most likely not the case. I would be able to feel it now that I receive his energy. In any case, this man is going to do great things. If only he didn't have that title..."

After a short silence, the Avatar looked down.

"Though... I wasn't lying."

~

Somewhere near the southern border, in a small village called Logran, a young beastman was having a discussion with an older beastman.

"Dad, I still don't understand. You kept speaking about me having an older brother, but I've never seen him. Why isn't he living with us? Even mom never saw him."

The other beastman grabbed a cup on the table and began to sip it.

"Nylon, how can you not understand after I've said it so many times? He is not my real son. For him to be part of our family, I would have to adopt him. Now is too late, and since he is a year older than you, his life is in his hands at this point."

The beastman called Nylon glared at the older beastman.

"No, I'm pretty sure you've never said he wasn't your son. Moreover, stop shaking the cup. You'll spill your coffee."

The old beastman coughed and placed the cup back on the table.

"How can the great Dylan, the Beastman 'Savior', be so bad at personal relationships? If you consider him a son, why have you never brought him here? You know how mom is; she will never forgive you if you don't get him here."

Dylan was having a conversation with his son, Nylon, in their house.

Nylon was a twenty-year-old young beastman born a year after Dylan placed Orion in the care of Keith, the director of Auro's orphanage.

His body was slightly more slender than Orion's, and the differences created between them were due to the amount of time they trained.

He had the same physical traits as his father: pointy ears, sharp fangs, and a piercing gaze. What he received from his mother was the silky white hair that arrived at his shoulder blades.

"I can't do much about that. Orion left Auro without saying anything to me. All I received was a letter saying that he was going to travel the continent. I'm not some all-knowing beastman. Where he could be now, I have no idea."

"That's the problem! Why didn't you bring him here BEFORE he left?"

Nylon slammed his fist on the table, catching the attention of someone else.

"Not again! If one of you breaks the table, I'll slap you so hard you will regret being born! Understood?"

"Yes!"

Both men straightened their backs in a rush. The one that popped up from the doorway was Eliza, Dylan's wife and Nylon's mother.

Eliza was Dylan's childhood friend and the woman who waited for him until he finally decided to build a family. She had weakened beastman traits and snow-white hair that paired with her blue, sapphire-like eyes.

Both she and Dylan were in their forties, so they were still quite young for beastmen who could leave as far as 200 years.

"What were you talking about?"

She entered the room and sat next to Dylan.

"We were talking about the fact that dad missed every opportunity to introduce his other son."

"Oh, little Orion? We only have one picture of him. I'm curious to know what that small boy became. If only someone else could bring him home."

Dylan shuddered at the dark glare he received from his wife.

"You know I can't do that. He isn't my son. I didn't know at the time that he would leave when he reached twenty-one."

Sadness appeared on his face. He really regretted not being able to see him anymore.

"Maybe one day I'll be able to see my brother. He is supposed to be stronger than me, right?"

Light reappeared in Dylan's eyes.

"He is. He saved a girl from a burning building by himself and managed to survive. The girl received no injuries whatsoever. This is a real achievement for a young man. He is also one of the most skilled hunters I have ever seen."

Nylon frowned, feeling a touch of competitiveness.

"Better than me?"

"I may have trained you, but you learned something different. I don't know how you turned out to be like this, but you will have a great affinity for his hunting if you ever find him."

In fact, it was more than that. Nylon trained with the same abilities as Orion but couldn't master the crossbow.

He had mastered an entirely different branch of hunting ability. Nylon was an assassin, another killer in the darkness.

The combination of Orion and Nylon will one day cause the worst catastrophe to ever happen to a human city in history, but that is a story for another time.