Chapter 18 - Betrayal, The return [2]

"Thanks for agreeing to come with me, Undrar, I really appreciate it," Staxius spoke before entering the portal.

"Once we cross over, I want you to give me a true girl's name, Undrar is a bit uncommon."

"With pleasure,"

In a dimly lit room, with the foul smell of corpse rotting, urine, and stale food, Staxius awoke to only suffocate. The ice-cold and slippery surface was none other than a pile of bodies which had aged forever. His hands were shaking, fear was beginning to take control of his mind, it's then that a voice whispered,

"Staxius, it's me Undrar, I'm currently inside your mind, my physical body can't manifest just yet, so I'm taking refuge inside your subconscious. Listen to me very closely, the world isn't how it use to be once you left, everyone you know has betrayed you. I've followed everything closely; Julius Garnet is the only one who stayed true to your friendship even after your death. Your supposed sister betrayed and abandoned you, your name has been sullied by the royal family of Hidros. The world down here is truly dreadful. Since the death element and dark arts have merged, you're currently only an SS rank mage at best. Your raw potential exceeds even me, so I'll ask you to refrain from fighting unless necessary. Sadly, the only way for that to work is to let your human emotions influence their growth, I know how much you hate that burden but this is a must."

"Betrayed... Do you have proof?"

"Yes, I'll show you part of my memories, it's grim but there you go."

As he caught up with the time he missed on Earth, his fist slowly tightened, the heart began to throb, it was pure anger, the unrefined berserker ingredient. After a deep breath, everything stopped, the only thing Staxius was worried about was the village of Krigi burning down.

"I'm impressed, you've suppressed your emotions, guess the years of using dark arts didn't go to waste, master."

The only reply he had was a chuckle, he was walking down the same path as his father had to take years ago.

"Undrar, thank you for showing me that my ideals of this world still stand true till this day." He smirked as he got up from the foul dungeon where his body was thrown in last year, from head to toe, he was covered in blood.

"S-Staxius, y-your m-mind is too complex for me to r-read or comprehend…"

"Don't worry about that Undrar, take a spirit form and sit on my shoulder if it becomes a burden, I have to think about our next move."

"Good idea master,"

*Poof*, In front of him appeared a miniature version of Undrar, about the length of his hands, she was cuter than usual. With a quick flick, Staxius checked if he could interact with her, that question was answered very easily when she slammed into the bloodied corpse-filled floor.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" She shouted.

"Soundcheck?" He laughed.

On the outside, he seemed calm and composed, yet on the inside, he was fuming. The two days he spent with his big sister was only but history now, troubled, he began swimming across the countless corpse, male, female, kids, none was spared. Rats squeaking and hissing became more and more frequent. So many bodies felt as if it was he who drowned in the ocean, not the sublime blue empress but this disgusting swamp of illness and rotting organs.

The exit was in sight, the aroma of the sea finally cleansed the foul stench of death which he bathed in for the past half an hour. The warm sun shining down from the heavens finally gave life to our hero. He stood atop a not so high cliff, below him rested the undisturbed sea, having had enough of the disgusting sticky feeling, he jumped.

*Splash,* It was bliss, life wasn't that bad after all, blurry yet distinguishable, our hero opened his eyes under the profound and deep ocean. Seeing the sheer magnitude and scale of the blue empress, Staxius's worries vanished. Tired, his lungs screamed for him to resurface. After some time, the beach was in sight, it was muddied as the river had brought forth dirt from the higher plains.

With his once magnificent suit now ruined by all the blood, the river was a great opportunity to get himself cleaned up. The bloodstains over his body and clothes slowly faded away with the flow of current. Normally, getting rid of blood isn't that easy but thanks to Undrar who was very adept at elemental magic, she helped with the washing. N.a.k.e.d with only a pair of underwear, Staxius took a nap while he waited for the once grey suit now torn and beaten up dry.

"What's our plan of attack now Staxius?"

"Nothing really, I've got no information whatsoever, our priority is food, the shelter I can just sleep under the starry night sky. It's no different from my childhood, this is just me going back to that lifestyle. If you want to know about my long-time goal, then it's to overthrow this whole kingdom.

Look at our right, you'll see people begging, treated like slaves, being sold off as pleasure girls and even forced into cannibalism. This is common here in Dorchester, yes, I've figured out where we are. A battlefield for commoners and hunting grounds for young nobles who want to try firing an arrow or just plainly kill anyone they desire. If you're wondering how I can see that far, it's simple, when my father was still alive. We went face to face against an SSS rank mage, he was the strongest fire wielder I've seen, during the fight my eyes were burnt badly. I was left blind for three months until my dad operated on me and repaired the nerves I'd lost. As a bonus, he made them even better than normal sight, my reaction time went up from normal to superhuman. It was pretty advanced technology for our time but my body has been altered to be the perfect anti-sorcerer weapon."

"I didn't k-know…." She was ashamed but that quickly went away when he began to snore like a madman.

"For someone to grow up in such an environment is truly amazing… Adapt to survive, he truly is an evolution to normal human beings."

The sun overhead slowly went from left to right, it was now about two pm, the heat was unforgiving, nonetheless, Staxius slept.

Muffled, distant, yet closing in, loud cries made its way across the river to Undrar's ears. Worried, she woke Staxius,

"Staxius, wake up, there's someone crying near the river."

The current picked up in speed, the source of the loud sobs finally came into view, it was a boat afloat with a babe on board fighting for survival.

"It's a human child, Staxius go save her." She voiced her opinion.

"Tsk, leave the babe alone, two mouths to feed is harder than one. Besides, she was probably abandoned by her parents after they enjoyed their l.u.s.t fill evenings without a care in the world. Why should I care about someone else's mistake? This is common in Dorchester, if the babe is a girl, she'll be brought up to be a slave or used as toys. If tis a boy, then no luck, it's death unless his handsome enough, a lady might take him in as a slave. It's all fate Undrar, leave it be." He replied nonchalantly.

"Staxius… I really thought you were better than this, you've disappointed me, I can't fathom the trash coming out of your mouth. Mistake or no, everyone has the right to live, look at you, for example, rejected by everyone, betrayed and having nowhere else to go. Put yourself in that innocent babe's shoe."

"Preach to me all you want Undrar, I'm not budging from this spot." He voiced his frustrations.

Powerless, the sobbing innocent being floated by, it headed towards the horde of people who were monsters in human clothing, cannibalism was the least of their worries, a young nobleman began to shoot indiscriminately at commoners. They could naught but hiss and shout at the massacre taking place. Seeing the true state of how the world worked, Undrar was disgusted. To her surprise, the boat made it all the way to the firing zone, hearing the cries of a low-born, the young nobleman got angry. Everyone was slaughtered, instead of shooting the poor child, he walked, sword in hand, shining as it bathed in the sunlight, contrasting against the golden color, a ruby, with an insignia engraved on it shined.

The boy was an apprentice of a necromancer, the worst kind of sorcerer whom even the order rejected. He lifted the longsword and was ready to strike down the innocent child. There was no remorse in his eyes, the sobbing baby stopped crying the moment the boy swung down his sword.

*SLASH.*

Blood splattered everywhere, it was disgusting, horrific and immoral, Undrar was baffled. It was the babe, she was alive, Staxius changed his mind at the last minute, the head of the nobleman's son slowly rolled down the beach.

"HOW DARE A COMMONER LIKE YOU KILL MY APPRENTICE,"

*With the power bestowed upon me by the god of death, I order thy to obey my call and raise from your eternal slumber, spell, raise undead.*

*Slash,* Another head began rolling down the beach, "I'm sorry but the god of death will never bestow such power onto a foolish human like you."

The beach was now but another battlefield, corpses, blood and another two kills under Staxius's belt. The cries from the child intensified, annoyed, he rushed. Seeing Staxius's bloodied face for the first time, the babe's sobs instead of growing louder got quieter, she began to giggle. It wasn't a one-way reaction however, Staxius's heart also got louder, in her eyes he saw a reflection of himself.

"Guess you've been abandoned by your parents, tsk, man emotions are a pain, fine, I'll take care of you until you decide what you want to do." Her ruby-colored eyes lightened up, she smiled, her skin was as pale as snow, the little hair she had on her head was white as well.

"I, Staxius Haggard, betrayed and exiled by my own kind, hereby pledge to take care of you, little babe, as a father, a mother, a brother and a sister, from today forth I'll be your family. In the near future even if thou choose to leave my side, you'll always have a place to return so that you get a chance to escape this hell called life. As from this instant, you will be known as Eira Haggard, my daughter, my sister, my friend, and my family."

"Are you sure about taking care of this child? It will be very difficult; I hope you're ready." Undrar warned him.

"I've decided, I'll take care of her, just like my dad took care of me so many years ago."