Vihaan cried in Sarius' arms for what he felt like hours.

He had been holding himself back. He tried his best to endure and have done all he can to overcome the pain.

It was hard. Incredibly so.

He went into the arena earlier, surprising many people for his reappearance.

However, he didn't go there to fight. He let himself get beaten, hoping that the pain he felt in his body will lessen the emptiness in his heart.

It turned out to be a fruitless endeavour. He didn't feel the pain he was seeking. It was the other way around. The sorrow in him only made him numb to it.

He wanted to cry right then and there but he continued to endure.

Until he met Sarius again…

He was so different from the other nobles he knew. He treated him, a lowborn kindly and taught him sincerely. His eyes never once looked down on him whereas many people would.

Before he knew it, through their short exchange, he had come to look up to the youth.

And so…

He tried to hold back his tears even more in his presence. He didn't want to show his most fragile side to the youth.

In the end, he failed. It was just too much for him to handle. He could no longer bear the sadness and so…

He cried.

He cried like there was no tomorrow.

He cried as though he had cried all the tears he will ever cry again.

Right now, he was just a kid mourning for his deceased mother.

...

Later, Vihaan finally removed himself from the youth and wiped his tears. He knew he couldn't remain like that for long and doing so would only be troubling Sarius. In fact, he felt he was troubling him a lot already.

“I’m so sorry, noble sir.”

In response, Sarius petted the boy’s head.

“Don’t apologize when you’ve done nothing wrong. You are but a child so cry when you want to cry. Don’t hold yourself back. After all, once you grow up… you’ll find yourself not being able to cry even if you wanted to because of the burdens and responsibilities you have.”

The youth smiled bitterly and thought back to his own past.

“Noble sir?”

Sarius snapped back right away and slowly shook his head. He looked at Vihaan and asked, “It’s nothing. Anyway, how are you right now?”

“I’m good. Thank you so much, noble sir.”

He checked Vihaan once more and was relieved.

Although the boy was still sad, he can see he was feeling much better than before. His eyes were still hollow but it had finally regained most of its light.

Sarius then fixed his gaze on the small mound in front of them and muttered, “So this is your…”

“It’s my mother.”

Vihaan had a bitter look on his face.

“I couldn’t even give her a proper funeral. I’m a failure as a son.”

Sarius frowned but refrained from speaking.

“We didn’t know what it was but mother had a sickness. I noticed her body growing weaker day by day. The things she can easily do before, she can no longer…”

Vihaan bit the inside of his mouth as tears started to cloud his vision.

“Before mother hanged herself... I’m sure it had taken the toll out of her.”

His tears streamed down his cheeks at the thought of his mother forcing herself to tie the rope despite her weak body and preparing herself for death.

“If only she didn’t have that damned sickness, she wouldn’t have killed herself.”

He let out a sob as he covered his face with his hands.

“Which is why after she died, the people decided to burn her body right away. They are afraid of her sickness spreading and infecting them as well. Mother’s ashes are then buried here.”

Vihaan couldn't help but hate those people a bit. Because of them, he wasn't able to bid a final farewell to his mother well.

“Do you want me to bring her back?”

He paused.

His head slowly turned to Sarius as he looked at him in uncertainty.

“Pardon?”

Surely, he must've misheard the youth or he was probably just imagining things. If not, then he must've gone crazy.

“Your mother’s soul is still here,” Sarius stated looking at the mound. “It might be difficult since I have never done it before but I believe I can bring her back to life.”

The boy’s eyes went wide open as he looked at Sarius in disbelief.

He was so astounded that his mind went blank. He doesn’t have any idea what to say anymore.

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“As to how,” Unknowing to his plight, the youth placed his thumb and index fingers under his chin as he contemplated, “I should probably reconstruct her body first using her ashes and then direct her soul to it. Afterwards...”

“N-Noble sir!”

Vihaan called out, breaking Sarius out of his thoughts.

The boy was flustered and his emotions in a state of turmoil. So many life-changing events happened in his life and now this.

His perception of the world was completely changed compared to what it was before.

“Hmm?”

“Why are you doing this? I have nothing yet you've done so much for me already. Why?”

This was something Vihaan couldn't understand. He was just a Shudra without anything valuable on him so why would someone like Sarius go this far for him?

The youth naturally understood his concern.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"It's because of my origin."

"Origin?"

Instead of answering, Sarius asked, "Vihaan, have you once made a wish to the stars?"

Vihaan nodded slowly, unsure of what the youth was getting to.

"Just as you've wished upon the stars, there are numerous people from all over the world who have done so as well. They wished for power, wealth, longevity and countless others. These collective wishes had then changed the laws of chaos and from chaos, a new entity was on the verge of being born."

Sarius lips came into a gentle smile.

"However, what made this entity fully come into being wasn't any of those grand wishes. Instead, it was the wish of a little girl with an unnaturally high faith who just wished to have a friend."

Vihaan was stunned at this revelation.

Wishes?

Born from chaos?

Every sentence that came out from Sarius' mouth should've been incomprehensible yet he somehow understood the deep underlying meaning behind it. Nevertheless, he was still confused by this whole ordeal and had a very hard time believing the youth.

"Wishes… can do that?"

"Do you now understand why I am doing this Vihaan?"

The boy absent-mindedly nodded.

"As a being born from wishes, it's nothing strange for me to grant wishes. But if it makes you feel any better, me doing this is not entirely out of the goodness of my heart. I'm not as kind as you think, Vihaan. I will revive your mother but you will owe me a big favor."

Sarius' face became stern.

"I strongly advise you to think this through. For this favor, you might even lose your life."

It took less than a second for Vihaan to answer.

"It doesn't matter what it is. For mother, I will do anything. Please bring her back to life!"

"How interesting!"

A hoarse monstrous voice suddenly rasped out making Sarius narrow his eyes and look into a specific direction.

Nian's ears also perked up and took his head out of Sarius' robe to peek. Vihaan's reaction was the latest and he just cautiously looked around the surroundings.

"Interesting indeed. However, this is as far as you go."

A second voice similar to the one before rang out.

The world suddenly fell into darkness and everything went silent. The moon had disappeared and the campfire in the vicinity burnt out.

Vihaan's heart thumped loudly at this strange event. He felt like all the light in the world was extinguished and apocalypse was coming.

"Vihaan, get behind me."

Sarius said to which the boy immediately complied.

A big purple portal slowly appeared out of thin air. Vihaan was extremely nervous since he felt something powerful coming from it but the presence of Sarius made him calm down a bit.

Then…

Two creatures came out from the portal.

Vihaan was instantly stunned.

It was a dog. No, scratch that. Two dogs came out.

He had expected something humongous from the power he felt. Something that can swallow him whole in one mouthful but it was only two dogs which were just a bit bigger than your average dog.

Still, he didn't let his guard down. These dogs were strange. Excluding the fact that they came out of the portal, they had four eyes each and the power he felt did indeed come from them.

"Deity from other pantheon, you should cease all thoughts about reviving this woman."

"Do not meddle in the affairs of the underworld. Let the dead remain dead."

"Or else, you won't be able to handle the consequences."

"There's a reason as to why Hindu Pantheon is the strongest pantheon after all."

The dogs spoke one after another.

"Hahaha!"

A loud boisterous laugh resounded in the area.

Nian hopped out of Sarius' robe. His body started to expand until he had reached the size of a small house and finally stopped. He then looked down at the two dogs and salivated.

"You smell so good, mongrels."

Vihaan gaped at Nian dumbfoundedly.

"N-Noble sir's mythical beast?"

The dogs snorted. They weren't intimidated by Nian at all.

"So it's the idiotic beast which caused a ruckus in the Chinese Pantheon recently."

"I heard that you've terrorised a village and eaten the people there? Were you not aware that there are powerful gods in that pantheon which can easily crush you like an ant? You can thank your luck that none of the gods there bothered to make a move on you."

"In the end, this deity here went to the Chinese Pantheon and subdued him. Had it been some other god, he would've died already."

"He really has some dog shit luck! Although he was turned into a mount, he at least managed to keep his life!"

"You… you…"

Nian's face became unsightly as he listened to these dogs talking about him.

"You you what? Are you illiterate?"

"Truly an idiotic beast. Don't bother with him lest people think we are on the same level as him. "

Vihaan was amazed at this development.

These two dogs had an unexpectedly sharp tongue!

"Fucking mongrels… I'll kill you!"

Nian roared as he raised his front right claw and slammed it down.

The dogs were about to react when Sarius came before them and stopped Nian's attack with a single hand.

BOOM!

A large amount of dust went up as the earth shook slightly from the impact.

When he saw Sarius stopping him, Nian was enraged.

"What the fuck are you doing?! Let me kill them!"

"Nian, calm down."

"No! Now move away and let me kill these mongrels!"

"I said, calm down."

"Fuck off and calm down on your own! Move or I'll smack you too!"

Sarius' eyes went cold as he stared at Nian emotionlessly.

"Don't make me repeat myself for the third time."

Shivers went through Nian's spine. He quickly shrank himself and obeyed.

"Yes, sir!" He fearfully squeaked out.

The dogs were about to laugh at the beast's cowardly attitude when Sarius turned towards them with the same gaze.

"You said I'm not allowed to revive her?"

The two dogs shakily nodded their head.

"What if I insist? Will you stop me?"

"We aren't fools. We can see that deity is powerful and even though we are quite strong, we are still not your match."

"However, if there is someone that can stop you, then that would be our king."

"And… it has come into our knowledge that right now as we speak, our king is currently on his way here."

Sarius frowned.

"Is your king perhaps..."

Vihaan and Nian listened carefully.

The two dogs opened their mouths and spoke. At the same time, someone also came out of the portal.

"It's King Yama."