Barak sauntered back over to the other three boys, his expression said it all, his eyes looked on at everything coldly, unflinching, and his face seemed emotionless and blank, he took another pull and slowly exhaled the smoke, Aster placed his palm on his face,

“we aren’t home Rak, we have to be careful”, Aster said, dropping his hammer on the ground releasing Polaris and Levant from their restraints,

“and so, you already know how I feel about those situations”, Barak said,

“you’re not wrong, it’s just that……… you know what, I just hope that soft spot of yours doesn’t get you killed one day”, Aster finished saying, Barak was a step away from rejoining the boys on the bench, when, the sharp grey metallic tip of a sword pressed ever so slightly against his throat, His eyes ran the length of the sword onto the dark skinned arm of the person who stopped him, he continued until he met her eyes, that beamed with rage, throughout all the years of fighting and conflict Barak knew when someone wanted to kill him, he knew the look in their eyes,

Instinctively Barak’s hand went for his sword, but he stopped before he could draw it, the sword now pressed slightly harder against his throat, a trickle of blood ran down his neck, soaking into the shirt,

“Move an inch further and I will permanently stop you from speaking”, The woman said, Barak smiled placing his hand up in the air,

“you’re wrong if you think I need my sword to defeat you”, Barak said, the lightning slowly beginning to course all around his body,

Barak smiled at her,” Do you want to hear how my thunder sounds ?”, he asked her, Aster, Levant and Polaris readied their own weapons and were about to attack, when Three unknown people appeared around them all with their weapons at severe or deadly places on the three boys ready to kill them, one, wore a white shirt, and blue jeans, with black finger less gloves, he had long dark blue locs running the full length of his back, and a tattoo that wrapped around his left arm from the bicep to the glove, he held a scythe with a green and black ring on the bottom of it, while the blade of the weapon, stood placed around Aster’s neck,

“now I’m usually not a violent person but I can’t have your friend their threatening the boss like that”, the stranger spoke,

“so we’ll have to get rid of you guys now”, he continued,

Aluric looked down at the little girl he held in his hands, she was shaking with fear and she clutched onto Aluric’s sleeve with all her might,

“Pix That’s enough of that, I’m taking her back to the guild hall after I leave, you four will not fight or cause any trouble, okay”, Aluric said, as calm and collected as possible,

“but aluric they threatened you, we should kill them and everyone they know for that”, Kiara said, chiming in,

“there will be no trouble, AM I CLEAR”, Aluric reiterated,

“YES SIR”, the four of them shouted at the same time,

Aluric turned his head and walked into the crowd back towards the guild hall,

“you guys are so lucky the boss said…..”kiara started, but soon stopped as she could feel the cold gaze of Pix’s eyes watching her,

“you heard what the boss said, lets leave”, Pix said, removing his weapon from Asters neck,

“plus I have the feeling we will be seeing them In the near future”, pix continued as he walked away from the boys,

kiara turned around and faced barak, she let out a sigh, ”you’re just my type, so I hope to see you again soon, plus I still owe you for threatening, the love of my life and the greatest man alive”, she said with a look of hunger in her eyes as she walked off to join pix,

the other two disappeared as fast as they appeared and without a trace,

Polaris dropped back onto the bench, letting out a deep sigh, “well that sucked, I didn’t even have time to react when those other guys appeared, he said,

“yup, and I could’ve sworn we got stronger too”, Levant said sitting down next to Polaris,

“they just caught us off guard, besides icouldn’t sense any divine enrgy from them”, Aster said, placing a hand under his chin,

“damn, I didn’t think to check”, Levant responded,

“typical”, Polaris said with a laugh,

“did you check, huh waterboy”, Levant shouted back,

“hey why would I, you three call me an air head, I have an excuse”, Polaris said laughing at Levant,

“I didn’t sense any either Ast, like none at all”, Barak chimed in,

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I know right, it’s almost like they didn’t have any, I don’t know what is going on their but when we get back to the outpost I’ll ask Yumi”, Aster said, dropping his hammer and letting it sink into the ground,

“so what do we do now”, Levant asked,

“well we can either explore the city a bit more or we can head back to the Out post” Aster suggested,

“yeah fuck thet I’m not going back just yet, just because we got attacked”, Levant said,

“I absolutely agree, I’m oissed off and need a drink”, Barak said,

“what about you Pol”, Barak asked,

“well, I could blow off some steam right now”, Polaris said,

“and I know just the place, I happened to find the place that Amon was talking about, it’s just at the top of the town square and it seemed empty”, Polaris said,

“so much for having the best food, well I atleast hope it serves chicken I could go for some”, Levant said, as the boys walked off into the crowd

In Aluric’s Office

Aluric walked into his office, dropping down onto the Sofa that sat at the entrance underneath the wooden window, that looked out onto the city, he tilted his head up staring at the ceiling,

“please, Aluric stop, that’s my wife”, the voice begged,

“NOOO, you monster, why did you kill him”, the same voice rang out crying,

“ He’s turned you into a beast, I knew you from a boy, I helped raise yo……”, the voice stopped choking and gargling on the blood that sprang from his mouth, Aluric could see it as though it was happening right in front of him, the carnage and destruction he wrought, the children slaughtered laying next to the caravan, or what was left of it, the mother ripped from limb to limb, and his target the man who he was sent to hunt down, holding onto the blade of his own very sword that aluric ran through him, with the one arm he had left, he dropped onto his knees slumped over dead,

Aluric spurred from his day dream by the light touch on his shoulder, he looked up to see jinny’s warm smile and her kind eyes looking down at him,

“here Al I brought you a change of clothes”, she said gently resting down the clothes next to him, she sat down and pulled back the part of his coat that was bloodied, looking on with sorrow in her eyes at the scar he now had on his side,

“Al I know that since Yumi left it has been difficult for you to deal with, but can you please stop being reckless” she asked,

“it hurts me just as much as it hurts you when she left, and it hurts that you’re also fighting with big brother amon”, She said, Aluric looked on at her, her kindness softening up his eyes,

“Amon made his decision, so did Yumi ad so did I, I wish we could go back to how we were at the orphanage, but those days are gone”, Aluric said,

“I know, but I can’t help but miss them, being in the guild reminds of the good times we all had together, I’m only here because the three of you joined”, jinny said,

“so what youdecided to leave me now also”, Aluric said, drawing away from jinny,

“Gods no, I can’t leave you, if I did I would spend the rest of my days regretting it, I’m in it till the end with you Big brother”, Jinny said,

“Jinny do you remember what I told you happened on my first solo mission for the guild”, Aluric asked,

“Yeah I remember, I also hear the rumor of what else you did that day”, Jinny said,

“you’re the only one I ever told that too, others found out, but I only ever confessed what I did to you”, Aluric explained,

“it haunts me Jinny, it haunts me everyday, I know that he was the one responsible for what happened to my parents, but I didn’t do those things I did because of that, I did them because I L….”, Alurci was saying,

“shhh, shh, shh, Al it doesn’t matter why you did what you did, I don’t judge you for it, you were hurting, as far as I’m concerned all you did was what was expected of you, like you always do”, Jinny said, A knock on the door could be heard, then in walked all four of them, The four Pillars of the Artemis guild, Under Aluric’s leadership, these four were the most notorious Adventurers and combatants on the continent, they are the foundation on which Aluric had built up the guild on.

some Unknown Place

The two ships stood opposed to each other, slowly bobbing up and down on the water, the waves calmly crashing against the sides of the boats, on one of the boats stood three people, the one standing at the bow of the boat was a tall muscular man, his skin a pale blueish gray, his body and face covered with scars, and on his chest was a mark, an insignia with three small diamonds on top of a bigger one, his eyes were a deep blood red but they seemed cold and uncaring, like a man who had been through may wars, this stood opposed to the slight grin he had worn on his face, as if he took some sort of amusement from the current situation, his hair ran in a mohawk until the back of his head where his hair spread out, wild and unkempt, running free, stopping past his back, and on the top of his head pridefully stood two bright red horns pointed towards the sky, though one held a scar near the base of it,

he stared across at the other ship, until they were with in earshot of him,

“to what do I owe the pleasure of being graced by the presence of the captain of the hall of heroes”, he shouted boastfully,

on the other ship stood a single person, he wore a long white trench coat, with Two large golden Zeros on the bottom of it, on His right arm he wore a sleeve of Golden armor, and in his left hand he held a red spear with a cross guard at the bottom of the blade, and his eyes felt lik sharp knives piercing your skin,

“Belze, just stand down I’m not in any mood to fight today”, the single stranger said back,

“That’s not a choice you get to make today Percival”, Belze said back to him,

“it’s my job to protect my homeland, and I’m not gonna just let the bloodhound of the ArchBishop waltz right through it unchecked”, Belze continued,

“ I really don’t have time for this right now, I’m on a mission from the archBishop himself, to stop me is to directly oppose the highest order in the church”, Percival answered back to Belze,

“in case you haven’t noticed, you want to pass through the Archipelago of the damned, home to the demons, and the god of the night himself, Zecatate, we’re all about opposing that damned church to begin with”, Belze exclaimed,

Percival stood there, he knew that this would end up in a fight but going through him was the shortest way to their destination, Percival let out a sigh filled with disappointment,

“so be it, Icarus, Joan, Burn their boat to the ground”, Percival ordered,

Belze scoffed,”there’s no one with you”, he said, but just as he said that, a volley of projectiles came hurling down from the sky, each of them lit on fire,

Belze looked up and out of the sun came descended a person, with wings shrouded in fire,

“don’t forget about me”, a very feminine voice said, with it a large stream of black flames barreled their way towards Belze, shrouding him in them,

“that’s kinda warm” Belze muttered as he emerged from the flames, he cracked his neck from one side to the next, as the grin on his face widened and life sprang back into his eyes