Dawn- An age of Darkness

I guess all of this wouldn\'t have been possible if it weren\'t for Araan and that half-demon. If they hadn\'t betrayed me, I\'d have never met Trerortra and I\'d probably have never met the geezer. 

Come to think of it, how would have my life been if I hadn\'t met them?

The pirates wouldn\'t have died, and Brenda probably would be alive right now. Jowy probably would have just wandered around the world. 

And what about Lianne? Was she really going to be alright?

What would have happened to Alisa? 

What about the geezer? Would he really have been stuck in the snake\'s mouth even now?

I almost chuckled thinking about all these. I guess all of this was rather nostalgic. Some were terrible experiences, but they made me who I was. "Before he passed these to me, he requested that I bury his family there. And because of that, I want to own that land to make sure nothing happens to it afterward. Oh and I forgot to ask, Gorgon told me that it was just some wasteland nowadays but-"

Beatrine looked very serious. "He told you the truth. But- you met him? You met the mage of six clouds?\'

I guess she didn\'t believe me. "Well, technically, I met various other things you can deem impossible, like the god of light, the god of courage, the god of wisdom, the sealed goddess of darkness, and so on." Yeah, the list went on and on. I even met the dog- I mean, god of the underworld.

"I suppose that is true." Beatrine resigned. "Alright, I\'ve confirmed that you\'re not our foe, but can we really trust you?"

So, that was her objective. 

"As I said, as long as you\'re not found guilty, I won\'t bare my fangs."

The moment I said that she giggled hard. 

She did control herself rather easily though. "Now if you\'ll excuse me, I have to go back. If you can keep your word, the land and the sword are yours."

I guess that was that. She stood up, I also stood up. 

I actually had a word for the guy at the door. 

"Well, that was some performance you pulled." Gorgon grinned. 

Yeah, I had a feeling they all knew.  "And you think that was a performance because?"

"Because I believe in my friend." 

I didn\'t think he thought highly of me after the stuff I\'d pulled. I guess I was kind of wrong. 

Naturally, act natural!

I chuckled. "Fair enough. And not too shabby on your part either." It would have been very embarrassing if he wasn\'t pretending though. 

He chuckled too. "Oh, and can you wield a spear? You held that spear like- how should I say? A little-" It was too awkward for him to say it out loud. 

"Not one bit, no. I\'m a sword guy."

"Well, I can teach you. It\'s already evening, so how about I drill some basics in you before dinner?" Why the hell was this guy suddenly offering me lessons from the goodness of his heart? 

For a moment I\'d forgotten this was actually evening rather than night. 

We had time I guess. 

"NO, it\'s fine. I already got a teacher and I think she might be a bit better with a spear than you. She literally stopped me barehanded you know," I whispered vigorously. 

"Yeah, I think she\'s stronger too." And he vigorously whispered back.

Afterward we both laughed hard. 

"First escort me back and then have your chat." Beatrine had both her hands on her hips and she looked at us, eyes squinting. 

I\'d almost forgotten that she was here. 

Oh well. 

She giggled a second later anyway. 

Gorgon waved and all three left, but just outside the door, the third one stopped. "Lord Daarc-"

"Yes?"

"Who is that person?" He was talking about Biteria. He was staring at her for a while now. 

Biteria was my pet, but now she looked like a demi-human. Demi-humans were already treated pretty badly in this country, if they learned she was my pet, they\'d probably start treating her worse. 

"She\'s my friend and companion. Why?"

"Would it be alright with you if I were to talk to her?"

"She can\'t talk."

"That\'s a shame. Can she understand me? I truly wish to speak with her."

I gave Gorgon a glance. 

If he didn\'t take this guy away right now, I might have seriously punched him.

"We can talk later, maybe over dinner? Oh and he\'s my elder brother Gordon."

Talk about confusing names!

And I guess punching wasn\'t going to fly now. 

"Fine." I half sighed, half glared. 

If he pulled anything funny, I\'d be sure to pound some sense into him. 

The guy smiled and left with the two. 

I locked the door and came inside. 

"That was weird."

For a second I was overwhelmed with nostalgia. 

"Yes, you\'re almost like another person and started revealing all your secrets."

Now that Ve mentioned it, yeah. 

"Sorry about that. Couldn\'t help it. I\'ll be careful from now on."

"It\'s okay." Ve looked at me carefully. "So, you plan on setting down with the elf?"

"I\'ll have to survive first but, as things stand, yes."

"I see." Her voice was lower than usual. She yawned. "I\'m getting a little rusty. Let\'s go to the garden and train a little."

"Oh, yeah, right!" I then looked at Biteria and she was still glaring. "You wanna come?"

"HMPH!" She was mad, there was no doubt about it. 

But one thing was for certain! My bunny was cute AF!

***

There was still some light in the western sky. So visibility wasn\'t that bad. 

But I had a feeling it wasn\'t going to be like this for long. We had to act fast. 

I now knew why Gorgon signaled us to descend on top of the wall rather than any garden and all that. 

This city was pretty packed, and the garden was no exception.

Actually, it was Ve who saw Gorgon, I\'d have totally missed him. Meaning, if I were driving, we\'d have wandered around the city for a while. 

My only selling point was outshone once again.

This place- the garden, was literally filled with Roses. All kinds: red, green, blue, purple, pink, white, black, etc. Just roses though.

Like seriously, the whole place was a hotbed of thorns. 

And the smell was strong. I never really liked roses all that much.  So this smell kind of make me wanted to throw up. 

Yeah, I did not want to go in there. 

"You could spar in the castle grounds if you\'d like." The princess\'s maid was our guide. 

When I asked her to lead me to the garden, she led us here. But I guess, she already kind of understood what we wanted to do. 

By we I meant Ve. My bunny really was mad, so we couldn\'t take her along. 

"Please, lead the way."

While walking down the corridors, I saw countless nobles just glaring at me. But no one had the guts to say or even raise their heads. Whenever they saw me, they bowed and stood out of my way. 

This was actually very convenient. 

It wasn\'t that long, and after roughly ten or so minutes of walking, we\'d arrived at the castle grounds. The place was kind of barren, with no grass or pavement, and the surface was hard. 

Anyone who\'d practiced here before was already gone, so I didn\'t have anything to worry about. 

But now it was really getting dark. 

"I have no issues with the darkness. What about you?" And conveniently, Ve understood me. 

"Neither do I." I had tons of problems but I sure wasn\'t going to admit them, no sir!

Ve, smirked, clearly knowing I was just bluffing and moved on to the middle of the ground.

She held her spear, pointed it at me, and smiled. I actually couldn\'t see much of the spear, let alone anything else. 

This was a bad idea. 

"Can we light up some pyres?" I whispered to the maid. 

"We\'re actually not allowed." 

Damn. A very bad idea.

I took a deep breath and brought out the mystic spear and a second later realized, yeah, it glowed. 

Ve looked at me with dull eyes. Yeah, this probably wasn\'t the best spear to learn how to wield a spear. 

"You can use mine."

And conveniently enough Gorgon was here. 

I didn\'t know why, but apparently, everything today was convenient. 

\'Am I going to die or something?\'

I didn\'t know why but I had a very bad feeling about all this. 

I chucked the mystic blade back inside the ring, grabbed Gorgon\'s spear, and headed straight for the center. 

I actually didn\'t know how to even hold the spear, let alone use it. Besides, I didn\'t have my left arm.

"So, anyway-" Ve began. "Just watch me and try not to get cut too much."

\'What the hell is that supposed to mean?\'

And with that, she moved fast. A strike came for my head and I barely moved to my right. 

She was fast and she was definitely trying to injure me, if not kill me.

\'Why did I ever think this was a good idea?\'