69- LOBBY

They found Osiris trashing Axel’s castle when everyone was able to return.

Claudia kept her children at the entrance while they watched him.

First the surprise attack that he stopped, now this?

“I’ll kill him.”

His eyes turned to them.

“You.”

He was in front of Axel, nose to nose. Axel flinched but he was lifted into the air so he could meet his eyes

“The dwarves switch sides because of YOU.”

Claudia dropped her judgment to prevent a fight but Osiris broke it immediately.

“If you don’t find a way to get me my jerky I will kill you before that crown can touch your head.”

Osiris shoved him down the small staircase and stormed away, shattering the ground as he went.

“W-What is he talking about mom?”

Claudia felt her chest clench.

He hasn’t called her mom since they were toddlers. Claudia reflected on what he said and realized what happened.

She pinched her nose.

“Gather every dwarf left in this Kingdom and bring them to my castle. Let’s hope one of them knows how to make that jerky.”

Osiris was now laying in the center of the, still destroyed castle, crying.

“He took the only thing I loved.”

Mikael stood frozen as looked around for his son’s men. They were nowhere in sight.

Claudia came to report, only to startle beside Mikael as she heard a sob. Suddenly Osiris stood and glared at them before vanishing again.

His men came running in two seconds later.

“Fuck!”

They stopped and caught their breaths.

“What happened.”

Mikael turned on them and dropped his own ego.

“We don’t know! He kept looking back and forth as things started to step out of the portal then he blew it up and ran!”

“We’ve, ah, fuck.” Fibble grabbed his side. It was cramping. “We’ve been after him since.”

He turned to Claudia who pinched her nose, again.

“It seems the Dwarves have chosen the Nox Kingdom.”

Mikael’s brows pinched.

“What does that have to do with this.”

She cringed.

“His….jerky supply just went up into flames.”

“….”

Mikael looked where his son had been crying.

“Fuck.”

Seth stared down at his other plans.

He had to change them.

He was aware the boy fought brutally and wildly, but to do that. Seth cooled his head. He had to detach himself earlier. He nearly flattened his own men after that wave of rage hit his chest.

It took years to plant them.

The attack on the capital was supposed to be the introduction. Seth had to cool himself again.

“…..”

But wasn’t it interesting.

Osiris wiped his pitiful face with water from his garden pond.

He just threw a tantrum.

He covered his face. He would be embarrassed if the fear he saw on the Queen’s face didn’t placate him a bit. He gripped his hair and pulled.

His hand was ripped from his hair and Fibble started to drag him away from the water.

“What-”

“You haven’t eaten today and we’re eating now.”

“..”

He let him pull him into the house and into the dinning room. The rest were there and they forced him to sit while placing food in front of him.

“..”

He could see in his peripheral vision that they were glaring at him.

“..”

He ate his food in silence.

“How can there be none?!”

Axel pulled his hair and bit his nails.

None of the dwarves knew how to make that jerky.

“I-It’s a heavily guarded reci-”

He threw a vase across the room.

“Fuck.”

He didn’t dare try to hurt one of them.

Axel could only pace as the last of dwarves in the Kingdom shivered against a wall.

If Osiris actually killed him-

He tried to think.

Maybe he could have them work for him? Stay with him? They’re the last of their people in the entire city. Maybe that-

Osiris showed up with a face he could not read.

“I-I’m trying-”

He, somehow, lifted them all and vanished.

“…”

Axel fainted.

Osiris was gone for a few days before he returned with a roiled, forced grin.

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“Why’d you drop them off in elven lands?”

“Goss has ties to some dwarves there. They can get them home.”

“I thought you wanted j- um, dried meat.”

Osiris looked at them with dead eyes.

“I can have some after I kill everyone.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

They left him be for the day.

They decided to head to the small piece of land the Nox Kingdom held on their side of the map. It was, apparently, what they use to farm their food since their lands are notoriously hard to work with.

The Nox Kingdom was mainly ice.

It sounded like heaven to him, but alas.

“A man can dream.”

His sooks could only roll their eyes.

Osiris hasn’t stopped talking about that King since he ruined his jerky supply. He’s been in la-la land since they left the Kingdom. He keeps whispering things in a dreamy voice, including how he was going to gut him in front of his kids.

“Do you think this is his version of a cru-”

The floor cracked and a single eye looked at them.

“-shing victory ha ha.”

He went back to looking out the window.

So that’s a touchy subject.

Fibble was honestly wondering when the boy’s limbedo was going to drop. They've only seen him oogle men, but never go after them. Even when there were a few boys in school that had crushes on him, he avoided them like the plague.

It would probably help him.

Fibble felt a bit guilty at the thought.

Osiris wasn’t one for physical affection, and he barely tolerated theirs, but he’s worried for him. It’s clear he likes some of the men, even gets flirty, but… sometimes his eyes look sad when he thinks no one is looking. It’s like he doesn’t think he-

Vep bumped his shoulder and held his hand.

He smiled and bumped him back.

Osiris has been very, forgiving, of their relationship.

He’s never told them it’s wrong, or bad, he just shrugs it off and moves on.

He does that with a lot of things.

Fibble looked at their hands.

To deny himself something so simple is…

He felt his throat tighten.

Fibble sometimes wonders if Osiris is punishing himself for something they can’t see. He reckless throws his life away like it meant nothing. He’s brought him back enough times to know he’s sometimes disappointed when he wakes up.

Fibble laid his head in Vep’s lap and turned his face into his stomach.

These last few incidents feel like he can no longer hide it. Whatever set him off that day is making him spiral and there’s nothing they can do but watch.

Horus was summoned by his father late that night.

He’s been tracking the Lux’s movements and monitoring their march.

They were headed to their farm lands.

His dad wasn't too happy about it, but he was prepared for it.

“Sit.”

He was in his King mode.

These were the only instances his father will not treat them as his children.

“You summoned me?”

He wasn’t really sure what his dad wanted, but he has an inkling.

“Tell me everything you know about Osiris Von Lux.”

“…..”

And he was right.

Horus sighed and got comfortable.

“His relationship with his family is deplorable.” Horus met his father’s gaze. “I’m honestly not quite sure why he hasn’t killed them yet.”

“Explain.”

His lips pursed.

“From the first day of school, the first rumor I heard was of the Prince wanting to kill his family. I didn’t believe it until he said it himself. He tells everyone that he will be destroying the Kingdom and he hopes everyone can get out in time.”

Not quite in those words, but close enough.

“I told you it was possible he knew what our plans were.” Horus searched his dad’s eyes. “He kept dropping hints every time he stopped one.”

Horus may have dropped that jibe a bit too soon.

“His ability to see mana is beyond even the Doc. And from what I gathered, he can even see divinity.”

“…..”

“Some part of me thinks he’s waiting to kill his family after the war.” Horus looked down. “It feels like he knew this was going to happen.”

Seth looked at his son.

He wasn’t one to play up his worries, nor his anxieties. The fact that the Prince got this far under his skin told Seth, Osiris wasn’t another idiot.

“I saw him recognize your mana when he held your staff.” His son was staring at him. “You couldn’t see it, but I could. He recognized it.”

Horus remembers watching his dad hand over their only means to have a smooth mission.

He couldn’t believe it.

HE hasn’t even been able to touch it.

But from Osiris’s reaction the thing guzzled mana.

“…..”

Was his dad trying to kill him there?

“Is it with all the family.”

“Yes.”

His son did not hesitate.

“How are you sure.”

He cringed.

“I’ve seen them all fight. All of them.”

“Weaknesses.”

Horus had to pause and think.

“His men, that dog he adopted, and his daughter. Those, and maybe food? As far as I know, he should be dead because of that mana leak.”

Horus paused.

“There is something peculiar I noticed about him.”

“Oh?”

Horus’s eyes shot up.

His dad was grinning.

“Sometimes he has-”

So the second battle will be here.

Osiris sat on a tree as he kicked his feet. Occasionally, some magma would splash across the land and eat the greenery below. He could feel the tree try to shake more out of him.

He felt like a bee spreading pollen.

They were on elven lands, something he wasn’t too happy about. The giant ego was nowhere to be felt.

“..”

He didn’t trust that, but his mana didn’t seem bothered by it. He was about to lay back when some local Elves from a neighboring little village came to bother him again.

According to them he was hurting the plants.

“What do you want now.”

The female glared at him as the male glared at his work.

“You’re destroying-”

“Why not ask the plants, you people can talk to them. If I’m really hurting them I’ll leave.”

The female rushed to a crushed and burnt flower bush. She flowed green then shoved her hand into the dirt. She pulled back like he was burned.

“I-It’s f-fine, let’s just go.”

They ran off with their tails up their asses.

“Did you bite her or something?”

The leaves laughed.

On his way down he made sure to leave a good chunk of his mana dripping down its bark. It appreciated it. He wonders if things would be different if he was using actual tnt and lava. Back home they didn’t have mana, so he guesses it would strip it bare.

He continued his walk.

He spotted a little surveillance hidden in some shrubbery the other night. He didn’t even have to look at it to know whose it was. He stopped in the field where it pointed its gaze.

Osiris, by luck, found the spot while he was learning the landscape. He was looking for traps, but also curious of the forest. It was very different from any forest he’s been to. It was more active than the rest. It was constantly producing fruit, spirits, and life at a frightening rate. The beasts were just as deadly.

Osiris watched a jaguar-like plant beast look at him before disappearing into the vines. It didn’t make a sound.

Osiris laid in the tall grass.

With how excited the forest was, he was surprised no one noticed. It was screaming at him with a plea.

“Don’t worry, it’ll happen soon.”

The wind ruffled his clothes and cooled him.

“I can’t do what I usually do, your King told us so.”

It calmed down a bit.

“But that just means flattening the ground.”

Osiris smiled before looking straight into the camera.

“See you soon.”

He spit a rock and broke the spell.

LOADING MAP…