CHAPTER: 5 "Conquest"

As I haggard down the streets, tired from the whole day of editing documents, my mind kept wandering about the book. The feeling of wanting to know more of what happened in the story rushed over me. Well, after all, that book was my only hobby. As I was rushing towards my home, I saw Nicole exiting the house.

"Nicole, are you going somewhere?" I asked her, noticing she was wearing a dress meant for traveling in the depths of the forest.

"Hey Vergil, I'm headed to one of Dunn Agres's excavation sites. He thinks he's onto something big." she replied, smiling brightly.

"Well, don't stay out for too long. Who knows what other men might do to you." I joked, with a grin plastered on my face.

"I am confident that I have never met a person more suspicious than you, Mr. Vergil Collins." she retorted before leaving for the site. Well, she is not completely wrong.

After confirming that my mailbox was empty, I entered my home, organizing my table before turning on the gas lamp to continue reading the story.

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Chapter: 2 - Birth of a Hero.

The second generation, though they clung to their sanity, were not immune to corruption. Their sanity was on the verge of collapse all the time. War erupted among colonies of the Nephilim, each vying for dominance over the other.

In the battlefield, the blood of Nephilim stained the earth, mixing with the soil to give rise to the first plant - a magical being destined to grow into a towering tree, its branches reaching the heavens. Though it was small in stature in the beginning, this magical plant possessed properties that made the earth fertile, giving birth to different flora around the world. Its precipitation formed clouds that bestowed life-sustaining rain upon the land below.

Then, through the blessings of the tree, a warrior was born in this world of war and bloodshed. A great warrior respected by all, his real name long-lost in the sands of time. Wielding his influence and calling upon the mystical plant, now revered as Perpetual Grace, he quelled the century-old war.

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After the end of the war, whispers of prophecy started spreading, and Nephilims, being of divine descent, had the ability to obtain those prophecies. The warrior, now known as Carnus of End, spoke of the end of the world, the beginning of chaos, and the rise of a new god; proclaiming that the god they served was once a creation like them, he expressed his desire for ascension to divinity and the ambition to claim the heavens as his own domain.

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As I read the ending line, I felt weird.

"Calling God a mere creation was too offensive, even in this era. How did the author even lived long enough to write the book?" I muttered.

And as I checked the time on my pocket watch, I realized it was already half past eleven.

The soft click of the cap of the pocket watch echoed through the room as I prepared to enter my dreamland. That's when I heard a loud shout from downstairs.

"Vergil, you are not asleep yet, right? If so, can you help me carry these books? They are too heavy for me to carry alone," Nicole shouted by the door.

"Wait for me there!" I exclaimed.

I quickly went downstairs after putting on clothes decent enough to not make me look like an exhibitionist.

As soon as I opened the door, my mind went numb for a second.

'Was Nicole this beautiful?' I wondered.

We have been living in the same house for so long yet I never felt such tension seeing her.

"Nicole, tell me the truth. You didn't start doing witchcraft, right?" I questioned her raising an eyebrow.

"Haha, witchcraft? Where did that come from? No, just hauling some heavy books," Nicole replied, shaking her head with a grin.

"No, nothing specific ." I replied, trying to push away the intrusive thought in my head.

Now that I look around properly, was the world this much vibrant? As I helped her carry the books, my mind, for the first time, was not occupied with thoughts about my work and the book; It was as if I was in the present for real.

"What are you wondering about, Vergil? Or did I disturb you when you were about to sleep?" Nicole asked politely looking concerned.

"No, actually, I was just overthinking something. Oh, and I think you look more beautiful than usual." I complemented her.

"Oh! Vergil, is this what those old ladies call a late bloomer?" She was grinning widely then continued. "Well, I don't think I look different though."

It doesn't matter what the problem was, but to me, the world looked beautiful. As we went to pick up the last stack of books, I looked at the sky, feeling someone's gaze, but couldn't find the origin of the feeling.

"Isn't the moon beautiful," Nicole said while looking at the sky, the full moon was illuminating the night sky with little stars surrounding him, it was beautiful.

"How long has it been since we got the chance to gaze at the moon and its little subjects?" I replied to her now completely immersed in the night sky.

"'Little subjects'. Pffft, Vergil, I didn't know you were such a childish person." she said, smiling just like usual. But something was different this time; this time I enjoyed seeing her smile like that.