Chapter 14 - A New Dawn

"My heir, my prodigy, danger looms over the horizon, it waits ever so tolerantly to pounce as if it were a starving predator. A demon, a monster, a horde of minions, is it a demon lord or is it another human trying to attain divinity by necromancy, your world is about to change soon enough. Heed my warning young death reaper, don't ever forget who you are. In two years the first village to fall again will be Krigi, if you want to stop senseless deaths, better get strong fast. Remember your lessons about people being naught but lies and deceptions, trust no one my beloved prodigy, no one."

With the winds rattling the windows all-round the mansion, it felt as someone had possessed the house. The trees cried out for help, heavy rain drowned the poor garden, the weather had gotten worse during the night.

"Sigh, that same dream over and over again, Krigi engulfed in hellish flames, people dying, a girl with white hair standing in the middle controlling a hydra, a mythical beast who in its wake only spreads chaos and suffering."

"There's no way that's real right? In two years, everyone is going to die…" He muttered while he wiped his dried-up face.

As he got ready to leave the bed, a strange rustling under the blanket caught his attention. Upon revealing the not so interesting mystery, Autumn laid there, half-n.a.k.e.d, with no bra and only panties, for a kid her age, she was well developed. It was probably all those growth pills that the scientists discovered and manufactured in the last decade to make chicken and other mammals bigger. Dark arts was fully recovered, Staxius's emotions were gone once again, he was back to being a robot.

"It's already nine o'clock and if I don't hurry, Sophie's going to be pissed."

By gently tapping her cheek as if knocking on a door, Staxius tried to smoothly break her deep slumber.

"Mhmmm, five minutes more," *Snore.*

"For a kid, she does snore loudly, not very ladylike,"

Having no other choice, our hero pulled out his secret weapon that never fails, *Fooo.*

Instantly, almost like getting an electric shock, him blowing in her ears sent sparkles throughout her feeble body, the moment the jolt reached her legs, she practically jumped. Realizing in what an unvirtuous and disgraceful state she was, her cheeks boiled.

"Here," Not wanting any criminal case, Staxius threw his white shirt.

"…" Without uttering a word, using her nimble hands, she crawled across the shirt and was finally ready to speak.

"M..."

"Good morning Autumn, I wish I could say the weather is nice today, look outside, it's pouring, it's as if the god's opened their tap and forgot to close it again." With a reassuring smile, he got up and headed for the closet.

Angry about not being able to say good morning first, the young Autumn began to pout. She looked so adorable that our hero could no longer keep a straight face. As he made his way towards the closet, Autumn saw her crush's upper body n.a.k.e.d. It had scars running up and down his back, there were some strange symbols which appeared to have been burnt into him on his chest. The scar which really caught her attention was one which went from his upper right shoulder to his lower left hip. It was deep, there were a lot of triangular shapes on the edge of that large scar, it looked more like bite marks from a mechanical robot than anything.

Intrigued, Autumn asked, "Staxius, what's that large scar on your back?"

As he slithered into the other white shirt he had, our hero replied with, "I don't remember, I got it when I was with my father out in Dorchester." Unwilling the give any more information, he headed

for the door.

"Oiii, wait up for me." She demanded.

The walk towards the dining hall was a peril, lightning began to frequently light up the mansion. The roar which followed afterward was one of an untamed beast. Scared, Autumn locked arms with Staxius and continued their voyage.

"Morning young master," A piercing sharp voice echoed inside Staxius's head. It was Emily, she decided to scream into his ears as she ran towards the kitchen. Dazed, he tried to return the morning greeting but was unable too. Reason being that, Emily was already near the kitchen, she turned around, pulled out her tongue, jokingly mocked him and entered.

"She sure is lively today," Staxius whispered.

"Did you say somethi-AHHH." The big untamed beast known as thunder caught Autumn off guard, she screamed yet again.

"There there, calm down." He patted her head in hopes of calming her.

The mansion in which Staxius was staying was a bit weird, his room was situated in the farthest part of the building in the west of the north-seeking house. It was the most secluded place within the house, away from all the commotion. The only way you could go after stepping out was to the east, towards the main hall, which was down on the ground floor. However, there was a mini storage room next to Staxius's room which explained why Emily was there so late in the morning. Also, there was another kitchen upstairs, the general layout of the place was too confusing to even try and decipher.

With a quick nod, Sophie's personal butler asked that both Staxius and Autumn were to join her in the dining hall. It was amazing to see people communicating only with nods and body gestures.

"My lady Autumn, are you hungry?" He knelt down and asked.

Seeing Emily's stunt earlier, she decided to copy her, instead of giving a normal replied, Autumn leaned closer and shouted in his ears, "I'M STARVING."

Caught off guard, our hero lost his balance and fell onto his bottom. While he suffered, Autumn innocently laughed, it had a reassuring feeling to it. The laughter screamed, "Everything is going to be alright." Or so that was what Staxius felt. A loud, practically deafening roar exploded right behind them, lightning struck a tall tree that was outside. Autumn jumped into Staxius's arm, with a quick pat on her back as he hugged her, they headed towards the dining hall. Even though Staxius had a little sister whose identity was hidden, he felt like a big brother with Autumn Garnet around, maybe that was why his heart first ached when he saw her all beaten up.

With arms still crossed, our hero and Autumn entered the dining hall, Sophie sat at the head of the table. Both her arms were on the table, she rested her head onto her hands and subtly oozed out killing intent.

"Morning sister, sorry about waking so late, and thank you for taking care of Autumn when I passed out." He sat down.

"That's not the issue here, I've heard from Emily that our guest here spent the night in your room?"

Her tone intensified. Before their guest could settle down and eat, Sophie quickly glanced at her unsuspecting face. The moment their eyes locked, the young Garnet cried.

"Keep your killing intent in check sis, what the hell are you thinking?" His tone changed from friendly to disgusted. Seeing her cry, our hero dashed out of his chair, picked her up, and made her sit down right beside him. It was a tight squeeze but they fit. As the loud and piercing cries began to settle down, the mark on Staxius's neck began to light up. His gaze was darker than the abyss, Sophie could physically see all the anger and hatred behind him.

Both insignia on Staxius and Sophie began to burn, she pissed him off, his voice changed,

"Sophie Mirabelle, you may be my big sister now but don't ever forget your place, you seem to have been compensating for the lack of affection I've received during my upbringing. I don't need your pity, my heart is sealed, try as hard as you may, I will never be human again, if you don't want to get hurt, I'll urge you to stop all this nonsense."

The breakfast went on silently, they both got ready for school even though it was late and headed out without speaking a word. Staxius chose to walk in the company of Autumn. Acting as cavalier as she could, Sophie got in the car without glancing at her little brother.

"Staxius, is everything alright?"

"Don't worry about it Autumn, this just proves that I and Sophie were never meant to be, well whatever, let's go to the library."

"Oh, I like reading too, let's go." She smiled; it was all the answer Staxius needed.

Meanwhile, Sophie was in the car thinking about what happened between her and Staxius. "I can't believe the nerve on this guy, I'm overcompensating for his tough upbringing, I-I…" She began to sob, luckily the car was soundproof. Few seconds went by, Sophie finally calmed down, "I'm not forcing anything Staxius, but with a closed heart like yours, you will never hear my true feelings. I just hope he doesn't leave the academy." The car reached the school, the moment the instructor got off, seeing that her brother wasn't in her company, students around the school began to gossip.

The courses resumed as normal even though she was late. The weather after having unleashed a downpour of rain over Claireville academy finally stopped. It was now noon, Staxius never showed up, Sophie's anxiety grew little by little. The dragon insignia on her neck lost some of its intensity, this was a bad sign. She could no longer sense or feel his mana.

"Staxius, we've been here for four hours now, I'm bored, can we leave?" Autumn softly whispered.

"Sure, let's go, I'm tired from all this reading."

They both headed into town in search of a good place to eat, Autumn was dead set on trying pizza.

Forced to oblige her thanks to that adorable smile of hers, Staxius entered the restaurant where Sophie first stalked him.

"Change of plans, Sophie Mirabelle isn't that reliable anymore, if the dream I had were to come to pass, my father's lost research papers will be compromised. We left that house when the war broke out, mother had already abandoned us two years prior, if I don't get my hands on his research everything is going to go off the rail. I hate sorcerers, they are naught but talk, Sophie Mirabelle, I thought you were different, but I was wrong. I promised to never use dark arts on you but today I'll do what I must. I've changed too drastically, this isn't me, I don't deserve to be happy let alone have a place to stay. We made a contract that till graduation she will be my teacher; my only hope is to do the S-rank exams and graduate as soon as possible. I've already learned about all the academical courses from mid-tier to trainee battle mage. I only enrolled there to see if anyone could teach me how to use magic, but I remember now, the death element, I need to master it." Staxius eyes were completely blank, he gripped his fork so hard that it broke.

*Pang,* The fork shattered and got deeply embedded into his thumb, he felt nothing, seeing blood gushed out, Autumn screamed. Staxius's face was well known around the town square, seeing him bleed got everyone in a panic, they all felt compelled to help him, an ambulance was called, the injury was, in fact, very serious, Autumn got inside and they headed for Claireville hospital. His blood continued to drain, there was no stopping to it, our hero still felt nothing, he gazed out into the nothingness with everything in the background oblivious to his inner conscience.

The ambulance arrived just as quickly as they left, these new vehicles were a life changer in general. Cars were invented not long ago but in the past five years, trucks, ambulance, and other utility vehicles have seen an increase in production. More and more companies have decided to invest in them seeing how efficient and fast they are.

*Huff, Puff,* "Doctor Jona, it's Staxius Haggard again, he has a broken-down fork stuck inside his thumb, we may need to operate on him." One of the nurses who accompanied the first aid crew spoke, she ran all the way.

"AGAIN? Doctor Patrick, please take over from here." She dashed out to check up on her favorite patient.

"Slowly Staxius, don't do anything rash, you will be fine." A bunch of people seeing him fidgeting around thought that he may try and run away.

Worried, Autumn tucked on his shirt a few times to get his attention, "Oh sorry, what is the matter?" His daydream was finally broken.

"…" She just smiled.

Seeing Doctor Jona walking towards him, he waved using the injured hand, he was clueless about how grave his injury was. Feeling something rolling up his sleeve, the fork in his hand made him chuckle.

"This boy truly can't feel anything," Jona thought to herself as she edged her way through the crowd.

With a quick glance at Jona, he pulled out the sharp metal rod and smiled at the sight of blood flowing out. "I, Staxius Haggard, the wielder of death magic and next god of death, wish to contact my one and only master, the real death reaper, I beg of thy to please answer my call, take my blood as an offering."

"Your wish is my command master Staxius, I, Undrar, the bringer of death shall plea to the great god of death. However, I'm afraid that today isn't the day you shall be able to converse with him, if you wish to speak, you shall have to wait two days. If those conditions are adequate, your soul will leave your mortal body and travel with me to the hall of rebirth. So, I ask of you once again, do you wish to travel with me?"

"I do, Undrar, the bringer of death, I agree to your conditions."

*Immortal yet mortal, I, Undrar, the bringer of death, order thy to leave your mortal vessel and follow me to the afterlife, soul extraction. *

With a wink directed at Autumn, our hero's body once the spell was complete, collapsed as if it were lifeless. Staxius Haggard fell onto the floor as he bled profusely from not only his thumb but the whole body, everything except the main organs necessary for his survival exploded. Blood sprayed across everything, Autumn's lovely blond hair was now of deep crimson color, she had blood all over her face, her eyes became emotionless, she looked identical to how Staxius looked before he collapsed.