…………Half an hour ago…………

“Keep alert; you all,” William Von Solus whispered. His lord’s remaining entourage of mercenaries and he began spreading out into the cavern below the final pair of steps.

At the bottom of the stairway was a long hallway which led them down a few stone steps that ended at the clearing in the cave where they were now scouting for the flowreader responsible for the mess upstairs. Stalgamites covered the ceiling, some drooping so low that they connected with the grounds at their sides, creating pillars for the balcony overlooking the clearing in the cave.

Unfortunately, the balcony; being separated by large boulders piled atop one another, did not reach the stone steps. At the other end of the clearing stood a cliff, at the base of which was an old ruined well.

“To think, such a place existed beneath my dukedom,” his lord squinted at the bright luminous glow of the algae and peered into the darkness atop the cliff where it didn’t grow.

“What’s happening to the light?” one of the mercenaries exclaimed as he hugged his shield closer. “How can it be like-like this underneath the ground?”

“We’re below the world, did we walk into the center of the sky?” another man whispered.

“Idiot, you fall through the sky not stand on-”

“Silence!” he hissed. “unless you see where that flowreader or Luvrit is you will keep your thoughts to yourself, got it?”

With that the atmosphere returned to its solemnity and the men progressed without a word. He followed his lord deeper into the cavern until a sudden shout from above drew his attention. Immediately, Volvo moved to shield the Duke while the archers ran back above the slope to get a better angle for a shot. He stood before his lord, disrespectfully showing him his back, with his mace raised over his head; ready to deflect any incoming arrows or act as a meat shield should the situation call for it. The other team captains, alongside their groups, had taken up each cardinal point around their lord. The fools meant well but they didn’t know where the shout came from, he did. They watched with intensity as the shouts got louder, until the first clangs of metal resounded atop the cliff.

“Luvrit?” he whispered. He glanced back at his benefactor, no he was more than that…his master, for approval but the duke shook his head, telling him to wait. The shouting had subsided, replaced now by the orchestra of clanging metals, each cry of the steel was followed by only seconds after another and with time it was only getting louder.

That is, until it suddenly stopped altogether. The silence that followed was defeaning, before a limp body was tossed over ledge. Without thinking Volvo jumped forward and raced to where the body was falling, barely catching the boy. Flipping the body over he gasped in shock to find Luvrit in such a state.

The boy had cuts all over his face. A long gash extended down his shoulder and onto his right breast where a deep stab wound was bleeding out. Another long cut was placed neatly above his belly button, exposing his lower half and even cutting the chainmail in a jagged manner. Though Luvrit was in a worse state than a stray dog in Yikensworth he still carried breath and in that fortunate fact Volvo released a deep breath he didn’t know he held.

Acting quickly, he tore out a piece of cloth from his tunic and covered up the deep wound, applying enough pressure to instigate some controlled reactions from the lad. Luvrit’s eyes flung open as he stared at his face and cried through gritted teeth at the pain.

“Oh, we’ve got company~” chimed a familiar tone from above. Volvo looked up to see that whorish thief, Cleo, walk onto the ledge, humming a tune to herself. He noticed that she’d changed her armor since they last met; replacing her silver armor from the night before to an ink black one. Her stomach was covered with what seemed like iron chainmail and her breast piece now covered her entire top half stopping just short of her neck. An arrow was knocked from behind him, it sailed straight at her but she cut it down with ease. She scanned the group before her with eyes filled with excitement and licked her lips.

“You forgot something~” she said. Cleo bent down, disgustingly waving her hips at them, and picked up a sword from her feet before throwing it at Volvo’s direction. He quickly took up his mace to block but an iron staff intervened and deflected it elsewhere. He looked back and was greeted by a grim face of his master.

“Take him back and tend to him, when he’s out of death’s shadow leave him with Mitlund and join me. Together we shall rid my lands of this parasite,” the duke said before focusing on the woman above.

“Hey~,” she called over, waving her arm as if she was greeting an old friend.

‘Disgusting’, he thought. Volvo spat at the ground in spite and carried Luvrit to an archer in the back. Volvo immediately began depositing a variety of herbs as fast as he could, crushing and mixing them before applying the past on the wounds. Though Volvo had to focus he could still hear faint sounds of words being exchanged between the two and he didn’t like where the conversation was going. He needed to get back as quickly as possible in case his lord needed him.

‘Removing my tunic to rip some more clothes for bandages will take too much time,’ he thought.

“Mitlund, could ya tear me some of yer tunic?” Volvo whispered as he placed pressure on the final wound.

“Kinda busy here enforcer.”

“Don’t call me that and hand me some of yer cloth you lout. Now.”

“Okay, okay.”

The man relented under his glare and knelt to rip the bottom part of his tunic. Once the last wound had been safetly secured Volvo slowly sat Luvrit up and slapped him a few times to awaken him.

“Ah-*Cough*” he awoke spurting blood, dirtying his wounds. Volvo fought the urge to knock him upside the head as he saw his working being undone.

“Stay down Luvrit, let the blood flow off the side,” he instructed, rolling him to the side. Once his coughing had subsided somewhat, Volvo began his inquiries. “That’s Cleo isn’t she?”

“Ye*Cough* yes”

“Don’t talk and save your strength, you’ll need it later. Nodding will do for now. When you came down here, was she already there?”

Luvrit nodded after some hesitation.

“Alone?”

He nodded.

“How did you get up there? Is there a way from the back? That balcony along the walls?”

The boy hesitated before catching onto his meaning and nodded.

‘The boy might need some motivation for this fight. He’s acting strangely.’

“Good,” Volvo hesitated slightly before letting out a long tired sigh. “Luvrit, I know I may not seem trustworthy after what I told Peter and Fliss but you know not to trust anyone, sometime even him. Only I have your best wishes at heart, you can trust me on that…After what happened; would you still fight for me? For our lord?”

A few seconds passed before Luvrit turned back to look him the eye. The boy grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze; “This battle,” his voice cracked slightly but he quickly swallowed his spit and blood before trying again, “This battle Volvo, I shall fight till my last breath.”

Something in the back of his head told him that something was wrong. Normally Luvrit would be shouting his loyalty for him but seeing him hesitantly confirm while dodging the question didn’t bod well with him.

‘It could be that the boy is just exhausted,’ he reasoned. ‘He’s lost a lot of blood. That must be why he’s like this.’

………………

‘I’ll fight this battle till my last breath…because if I don’t succeed here then I’ll at least make sure my family has less to deal with.’

He returned Volvo’s smile, finding pleasure in knowing that he was the only one, other than the duke, who could make him smile like this. Volvo clasped his hand over his own and pulled him up to his shaky feet. But as soon as Luvrit was vertical the blood rushed to of his mind, leaving him nauseas and aching all over again.

It took him a few moments to get his bearing with Volvo’s help. When he did he immediately turned towards the duke, seeing that his conversation was coming to an end. It seemed that while he was recovering their lord had been stalling for time.

“-I am willing to induct you into the most powerful city’s elite,” the man continued to gesture. “Not only would you have a luxurious stay in my city and not only will you be absolved of some of your crimes, but you will also receive protection from the group you seem to be on the run from.”

Luvrit knew the true nature of his lord; he did not care for his subjects. But seeing him admit it without hesitation brought a familiar pang of anger and hatred in him whenever he was ordered by the ‘big boss’. How could’ve Minúsculo been so eager to give his life for this man, who didn’t even view their lives with any value. Looking over Luvrit saw the stoic expression on Volvo and wondered how he could be so calm about it. Luvrit urged Volvo for an explanation but the old mercenary only glared back, a warning to keep quite.

“Oh, now I see why he told me about you,” Cleo’s voice echoed in the cavern. “You’re pretty good with words old man. It’s a pity that I gotta say no to that though.”

“If it is your employer that you are afraid of, I think we can handle him. He is the one who made all those undead I presume?”

“You’re right; he made all of those servants with that crown I got him a few days ago. I only wanted a distraction so I could hide from those virgin boys, but I never expected to find someone so~ fun. You see~, there’s this girl he promised I’ll get to play~ wi~th, but I gotta take you hostage and kill all your followers before she gets here for that to happen.”

“Well then…to me it seems like this caster is taking advantage of you,” Duke spoke calmly, as if the threat to his or their lives was nonexistent.

“Have faith in your Duke,” Volvo whispered. “He’s yet to fail us.”

“Perhaps he hasn’t failed you yet or you have more faith in him than me but…,” he let out a frustrated sigh. “It’s unsettling how that; man can throw away his subjects like he did with Minusculo’s group. Perhaps your love is mispl-”

“Luvrit,” Volvo grumbled, tightening his grip on his shoulders. “You will not speak ill of him in my presence. You swore your sword and dagger on Peter’s life that you will serve him without question. Do not turn your back on the power bestowed to you. It’s not our place to question what he does; only how much it costs us. I expected you to know better than Peter or Fliss considering your position.”

“…You’re right Volvo, I did swear my sword and shield,” Luvrit stepped closer. “But I did not swear it on his name; my loyalty still lies with you. You are the one whom I am under not him and you know he’s failed us when he allowed it to go this far. Where is the Blue devil from the war stories you told us so much about? Because to me it looks like he died where he was born.”

*Clang*

Luvrit’s head snapped towards the sound of metal striking metal barely missing how the duke deflected a sword, his short sword, thrown from atop the cliff.

“I am disappointed in you Luvrit, to think the boy I raised would fall so low,” Volvo said, picking up his mace. “I forgive you for what you said, but speak ill of him again and you will find yourself in a situation much worse than Peter. Never tarnish his good name, never.”

He hid his head behind his long hair while Volvo left to join his lord.

‘You may be too in love to see it Volvo,’ he thought. ‘But he’s not to be trusted. He never was.’

“Sorry apes, but you’ve got nothing I want. Except~ you,” Cleo overdrew her finger and pointed towards Duke William. “That means~ the rest of you, have, to, go~.”

She cooed and cheered as she took out her own short swords and jumped off the small cliff. Luvrit frowned as he saw her jump much further than where group was, ‘This’ll be quickwork’…but that expression quickly turned to exasperation and horror as he saw a team in the back move back with her as if they we’re trying to catch her. Cleo cheerfully landed atop a merc’s shield, smashing through it with her weight and knocking him down. That’s when the fighting started.

“Stupid Humphry,” Luvrit snarled. “Why did he select him? It’s gonna be Duurkin’s plains all over again.”

Luvrit gazed in horror as Humphry’s team was struck down one after another before the true mercenaries could intervene.

‘Hopefully they’ll be able to shift the tide of the battle.’ It was a useless thought, as he soon found out, when he saw that no matter how well they fought they couldn’t land a single hit one her. They were all men who favored power over speed while she was as the exact opposite, dodging their attacks one after another even when surrounded. Amongst their original group, it was Minúsculo who favored speed above strength and if he was still alive, even could’ve turn the tide of the battle. But he was dead, just because he foolishly believed whatever the duke said. His friend was dead.

‘It doesn’t matter; he’s dead. I can’t do anything to bring him back. But I can kill those fuckers.’

Luvrit tried moving forward but the spike of pain caused him to fall to his knees. Removing his hands he saw that his wounds had reopened. Just as Volvo had instructed, Luvrit kept pressure on the wounds, feeling the blood being soaked into the wrapping and spreading across his abdomen. Mitlund helped him to the back of the cavern, near the base of steps leading up to the tunnel before returning to his position again.

The archers failed to take proper aim because she kept herself hidden amongst the group. They couldn’t hit her if she was protected by their own men.

“Get away from her!” He yelled. “Keep her away!”

Volvo echoed his orders and after a moment, probably so that the duke could confirm it, Luvrit saw the mercenary teams run away, allowing a few arrows to strike before Cleo could act. Though they struck true they didn’t pierce that black armor. To hide from the next volley, she acted quickly and jumped into the nearest team, Humphry’s. He noted that despite wearing the armor her speed and agility was not compromised.

Luvrit watched in growing hoplessness as their numbers were slowly cut down one after another. He watched with growing hatred as the duke just observed his men get cut down from outside the group, only ordering them to his whims. Though he couldn’t see what was happening as clearly as before, Luvrit was still able to distinguish between some individuals as such he was able to witness Volvo joining the fight just to barely save that idiot’s life. Nobody in their right mind would’ve worn a feathered helmet like that and still have guts to call themselves a three strike mercenary. But apparently Humphry did.

The battle seemed to be a blur after that; everyone had slowly begun shrinking their circle around her as some ground was finally made. Suddenly, Cleo jumped out of the group, barely landing outside of their circle and placed some distance between them. The archers chose this opportunity to shoot first; breaking the pseudo spell of paralysis-par-shock they seemed to be under.

However, by this time Cleo was able to distance herself and also find cover behind a rock. Most of the warriors couldn’t see behind it but from where he stood Cleo could be seen consuming something.

He stared out in shock at it and tried understanding how her armor could literally spit out a phial for her to consume. After emptying the small flask Cleo fell to her knees writhing in pain and only when he saw the volley of arrows approaching her position did he snap out of his shock. Similarly, Cleo snapped out of it and jumped out from the path of the arrows; covering a large distance in only a simple jump.

“Careful!” Luvrit yelled as realization dawned on him. His voice hurt and his abdomen even more so but he continued; “She’s drunk an alchemy potion!”

As the group of warriors finally arrived at her position Cleo jumped over the rock, only to dodge once more as a rock nearly took off her head. The duke had joined the fight, using the rocks as arrows and his staff for aim. Soon she was surrounded once more and the fighting resumed behind the rocks. All Luvrit could hear were the grunts and yells of the mercenaries as they tried closing in on her once more, he saw the other archers moving around. Moving to follow he took one step before a deep, jagged pain struck his abdomen and spread to his chest stopping him dead on his tracks. He cursed at himself and nursed his wounds while the others fought.

He couldn’t complain. Luvrit had his chance at defeating her. He fought her for more time than he did that night and still couldn’t touch her. Her nimbleness, even in that armor was unrealistic…almost as fast as she was when she struck down those arrows. Luvrit looked over and saw that she was getting overpowered once more, her agility slowly decreasing, she was about to run off again.

“Hey!” Luvrit yelled over the pain. “She’s gonna run!”

It seemed that, at least, the duke heard him because when she did try to jump off he threw another volley of rock at her and this time it struck her in the leg, causing her to face plant outside the group. She was surrounded once more and the battle turned in their favor.

Despite initially losing almost half of their members they finally seemed to be winning. The sultry women, though more skilled than most of them, was after all a very small person when compared to most of her opponents. So when she wasn’t under the influence of the potion, as Luvrit had hoped, she was losing ground.

That was until the flood was unleashed.

Luvrit saw her use that armor to absorb the blow and dash through the weakest link of the group, killing him immediately. When Luvrit heard his scream he was very much surprised…that the man had managed to stay alive after all this time. Humphry’s stupid helmet flew out into the air and after swirling in the air, rolled off to the side. She dodged the arrows and came to a halt at the base of the cliff. She took out something from inside her armor…‘What manner of creation is she wearing?’… While the warriors made haste towards her, she crushed the object in her hands and began climbing the face of the cliff, uncaring of the arrows flying towards her.

*RUMBLE*

“Hey! What’s going on?”

“An erthequake?”

‘Watch out!’ Luvrit’s instincts screamed. Without thinking he rolled away from where he sat and saw a stalagmite embedded in the place where he had previously been. All throughout the cavern; pointy rocks with shiny green moss were falling above them, which some of the archers were not fortunate enough to avoid. Those died a painful death. But that wasn’t the end.

It seemed as if the earthquake was caused by something large falling over, something large that was holding back a horde of undead. Only a few seconds later the corpses flooded into the large cavern from the sides of the cliff where the glowing plants did not grow. Because of how dark it was in the back of the cliff’s base the undead weren’t really seen until they appeared out of the shadows like ants running towards food and grabbed one of the mercs. What made it scarier was that even from his vantage point he couldn’t see how many undead were there, all he knew was that even when the earthquake had subsided they still kept coming.

Volvo and the others down there were locked in a vicious cycle of attack and retreat along the sides of the cliff. The largest people had become the vanguard while the rest attacked from between their defense.

‘Humphry was holding us back,’ he thought as he saw them fight much faster and efficiently than before.

Volvo was positioned to left fighting masterfully with the mace, using his large frame and blunt weapon to clear out the incoming enemies. Only the duke was switching between the split groups at either end, helping out by creating fires around those closest to them to clear out the piling up enemies. The archers, too, had set to work knocking arrows into the darkness from where the corpses continued forth. Luvrit looked over to Cleo and saw her just making her way to the top before panting from the exercise.

‘The potion wore off,’ he thought. ‘Does she plan to wait? What will she do when the duke’s been killed by the undead? They’re gonna die.’

Luvrit felt him heart quicken as he looked at the bodies being piled up. The undead were rushing around the mounds and still showed no signs of slowing down. Luvrit slowly raised himself, clenching his teeth at his throbbing wound under his hand and began moving towards the piled up rocks to the sides, barring him from the rocky balcony. He carefully climbed over them and began making his way in the darkness.

‘If that monters comes out…’ Luvrit shivered. He looked over the edge of his resting place and onto the worsening battle underneath. ‘At this rate we’ll be overrun. I’ll attack that women when she’s tired and take those potions, she’s been laying there for a while now so she must think she’s wo-’

“AAAGH!” a shout reverberated in the cavern. Luvrit’s head whipped towards the scream, just in time to see Volvo pushing back an undead before smashing its skull open. Everyone around him was done for and blood was spilling from his neck.

His blood turned cold when he saw his leader and despite everything that transpired the closest thing he had to father, fall to his knees, weapon out of hand. Suddenly the entire area around Volvo was filled with a blue flame that doused every undead and burnt those to brittle bones. The duke made his way over and together made their way up the slope. The corpses close behind.

‘I need to get that bitch now!’

Luvrit began crawling over the rocks, uncaring for his throbbing wound that burned greater than before. His feet getting locked in between the rocks, his shins scrapping over the edges and the bludgeons on his body did little to deter him. Jagged rocks pushed everywhere against him, threatening to tear his skin just like the one that tore open his wound.

Tears spilled out his eyes as he tried pushing himself up, grabbing his wrappings as blood spilled from them. He shook his head as his forsaken mind brought forth all kinds of images, all of them picturing a dead Volvo. Luvrit looked over the ledge once more to distract himself, but immediately regretted it.

The undead had filled half the cavern and were fast approaching Volvo. He was sat on the last step while the duke nursed his wound. The archers had formed a semicircle around the base of the stairs and with swords in hand they slowly retreated. It took a moment but Luvrit was finally able to control his breathing andhe got his voice working again.

‘Fuck trying to kill the bitch. Volve he…he’s family. I have to help himhe him .’

“OVER HERE!” he shouted. After a moment Volvo was able to spot him amongst the rocks and slowly but surely their group began to make their way towards him. Luvrit propped himself on a rock as he tried to keep his blood from spilling.

*BOOM*

The caved in doorway above the stairway suddenly had a hand appear out of it. It was hard to see from where Luvrit was but as the rocks crumbled and the armored giant figure tumbled out it became clear who’d joined them. However, the small growing hope inside him was suddenly put in jeapordy when the archers took aim.

“He’s with us!” Luvrit yelled. Volvo placed himself infront of the archers, despite the obvious wound to the neck.

“I know him,” Volvo explained struggling. “He is…my good friend Drac.”

“Stand down men, focus on the enemy behind you,” Duke William shouted. Luvrit moved closer to hear their conversation and was able to catch “-well-you-him,” from the duke

Indeed, he looked a lot worse than when he’d last seen him 3 days ago at the white forest; his armor was dented and cut, small blotches of blood painted his joints masking his own from whoever’s he’d killed on his way and his cape was torn in many places seemingly cut or singed.

Luvrit saw Drac exchange greetings, even going to one knee.

“You’re injured Drac,” Volvo said. “If you’re gonna help out then you need to be at your full. I might know a concoction.”

“Don’t be stupid Volvo, you’re barely holding yourself up,” Duke William cut in. “Rest now, I’ll make that concoction, tell me the ingredients. Mercenaries! Keep them off our back!”

“Ha!” The swordmen and the archers shouted in response and seemed to double their efforts in pushing them back. But that meant they were exposed from the sides, so they had to retreat and hold their pervious positions.

‘Idiots don’t know the first thing about strategy,’ Luvrit snarled. He looked at the undead filling up the cavern and his dread grew.

‘Even with the man here we can’t take out all of them. They outnumber us god knows how many to one. Drac’s cleared the way up there, we should escape,’ Luvrit looked over to the where he’d appeared out of and felt the air leave his lungs like he’d been punched in the gut. Once again the stairway was blocked and this time, it looked even worse of a cave in than before.

“My lord, he’s just a first strike mercenary!” Luvrit heard someone shout. Looking back to the line of mercenaries, Mitlund stood out to one side pointing an accusing finger at Drac who was resting on the steps.

“Still stronger than you Mitlund,” Luvrit said. Mitlund was about to retort when the duke spoke up; “You vouch for this man, Volvo?”

“Yes, sir. He’s helped us during our quest to the villages.”

“Very well, Mitlund!” his lordship said. “As long as you point doubt towards Volvo’s friend you point your doubt to me. Do doubt you lord!”

“Ah, I-I don’t. My lord,” the archer stammered.

“Focus on the undead lest you become one yourself,” Duke William said before refocusing on grounding the herbs Volvo kept giving him.

‘And like that everyone just accepts his presence. The duke said not more than two sentences for the man and everyone just agrees…do they not realize they’re practically slaves. I can’t trust any of them, I can trust no one.’

While Luvrit waited beside the walls he saw Drac drink the liquid without lifting his visor and immediately started coughing in response.

“It was bound to taste bitter; it’s got bittergourd in it.” Volvo explained.

“Stand firm Mr. Drac,” Duke William said. “You and I shall provide cover for everyone to retreat over to where Luvrit is.”

Drac grunted and nodded in response.

“Everyone begin making your way over there,” Duke William said.

“Argh, AHHHHH,” Drac yelled, causing everyone to jump away. He was hunched over as blood began to seep out of his helm.

“What is going on Volvo!?” the duke asked.

“I-I don’t know; I gave him the same concoction I drink myself…Unless…”

“Unless what!?”

“He’s a blatta! Drac’s one of those blattodea creatures. My lord I swear I didn’t know-.”

“I do not care for what he is. We needed his help, god dammit! Everyone retreat!”

‘What? No, Natravi didn’t have the marks and she knew noble tongue. He can’t be those creatures.’ He reasoned. He saw everyone slowly move towards the rocks but didn’t pay them much attention; his eyes were still drawn to Drac. He was supposed to kill half of those undead. Was he going to die before doing anything?

The undead were now approaching Drac’s hunched figure. Luvrit waited with baited breath as he saw them grab his shoulder, but before any of them could bite Drac suddenling dodged back. He raised his hands and looked at them for a moment before giving them a shake.

‘He’s alright!’ Luvrit thought with wide eyes.

“Ansdrovea’s ‘Blue Fire’ William Solus,” Drac shouted in a thic accent Luvrit hadn’t heard from him before. At the entrance of the rocky balcony, the duke whipped around to meet his gaze and even from where Luvrit was sitting he could see how shoked the man was at hearing himself addressed as such. “Aid me in wiping out these stains from god’s pure Earth.”

Drac took out his swords and raised one of them at the duke whilst the other was aimed at the incoming undead. A silent message seemed to pass between them before the duke nodded, raising his staff to meet his sword.

The duke suddenly pointed his staff at the undead and a flare of blue flames blew out of his staff, bathing the front line of undead in fire. Drac quickly followed that up with a strike from the side, cutting off the heads of the undead in a clean sweep.

When the two sides met Luvrit was expecting the worst, sure he’d seen Drac fight before but that was when he wasn’t beaten and hadn’t just bleed a bowl of blood at his feet. But after the initial contact his worries were pleasantly put to rest when he saw the duke light them light candles and Drac cut them like he striking candle wax.

“Mercenaries, to me!” Duke William yelled as he stepped back to let Drac take over. A few of the mercenaries with the longer weapons joined Drac in cutting the crisped corpses while the rest helped the injured over to where he was.

Soon everyone had joined him, at least everyone injured. He helped Volvo sit beside him on the flat rock while the other two gravely injured guards sat with their backs against the wall, taking in measured breaths that may well be their last. The archers and those without mortal wounds had taken up positions to shoot or cut whatever was able to make its way past the duke.

“Hey, Luvrit,” Volvo croaked. “Are we winning?”

Luvrit looked over and saw him rest his head on a rock with his eyes closed. His wound had stopped bleeding but in its place was a crater that was deep in his neck. Luvrit still held some anger in his heart for the man for using him like so but something in him didn’t want Volvo to die.

“Yeah, we seem to be pushing them back,” Luvrit smiled, squeezing his hand. “Aren’t you going to open your eyes and see?”

“Nah, I’ll probably ruin what I’m seeing,” Volvo whispered.

“What-what do you mean?” Luvrit asked fearfully. ‘Why aren’t you opening your eyes?’ “How’s your wound?”

“I barely feel it now,” Volvo said taking a hold of his hand. “There’s…something I should tell you, before I go.”

“Save it, Volvo. You can tell me when you get better,” Luvrit said hurriedly, feeling dread creep up on him. “Do you need your herbs? Do you have a potion? Or-”

“Shut up Luvrit,” Volvo shook his head lightly. “I’m tryin ta tell ya about how I met ya for the first time, my boy. Ya remember it?”

“I do,” Luvrit held back a tear before smiling at the man who raised him. The least he could do was make his last moment happy, fuck whatever he did to him. “Peter and I were fighting a bunch of those mangy dogs over a dead bird, hah, that’s when you found us…right?”

“Aye, that was the first time I met Peter,” Volvo opened his and looked at him. Luvrit suddenly felt like a little boy again, afraid and uncertain, Volvo’s left eye had lost their colour. He was blind.

“But that wasn’t the first time I met,” Volvo placed a finger over his heart. “You”

“Wha-” Luvrit felt himself parched and his mouth dry, but he still uttered; “What do you mean?”

“The first time I met you was when I killed your father.”

“……”

“I was new to the city and had just found a benefactor, a very powerful backer. I was suddenly taken in by how charismatic and rutheless he was. I was his and he was mine. That man was our lord and I was his first enforcer. That had been my first task. Everything I taught you as an enforcer under him was to atone for what I did to a helpless 3-year-old child. I raised you like my own son, at time even saw you that way too. I gave you leadership because I trusted you, Luvrit.”

“…How much of what you’ve taught me is real and how much was for your own safety. I can’t trust anyone because of what you taught me. Why? Why are you telling me this now?” Luvrit felt hot tears roll down his cheek but he didn’t wipe them. He needed to feel something to tell him that this was real. That Volvo didn’t just admit to what he did. That he was feeling grief more than anger for this man.

“As I stand here in the shadow of the valley of death,” Volvo closed his eyes and loosened his grip. “I look at my life and see that I’ve got nothing left. I’ve committed too many sins in my life, but only ever tried atoning for two. Yours and Flecity’s.”

“…”

“I destroyed her,” By now tears had begun trickling down the sides of his eyes. “I burnt her village down like so many I’d done during those days. I did my job, so well that I created that monster that she fears lives in the forest. Haha, aren’t I terrible…When I found that a girl was left alive from one of our raids, I took her under my wing and introduced her to you as Fliss. Peter, Fliss and Luvrit, my children.”

“No! You don’t get to say that,” Luvrit yelled. Ignoring the pain in his side, Luvrit grabbed Volvo by the scruff of his tunic and pulled him up to face. “After all that you’ve done you don’t get to call us your children!! You manipulated us; you made me almost kill my friend! You threw Minúsculo back into the streets because he disobeyed one order while you only punished Peter for the hundreds he’s broken!? Why?! How is that fair?”

Luvrit’s voice cracked, his hands shook uncontrollably and he clenched his teeth. The man in front of him was not his father; he did not deserve his sympathy.

Volvo opened his eyes once again, that transparent lifeless orb glossed over with tears stared back into his own. Volvo placed a hand over the nape of his neck and pulled him closer. Luvrit wanted to fight out of it, but his body wouldn’t listen to him.

“Because I wanted to make William happy,” Volvo whispered, caressing Luvrit’s hair. “Peter was his son and I loved him.”

Luvrit didn’t cry. The tears had suddenly seized to come out. He didn’t yell in anger nor did he yell in sadness. How could he? He was too shocked to do anything except stare blankly at the lifeless corpse of the man who’d he’d once been proud to call his father.