One Day Ago

After a night of tossing with Jenny, an old friend, Nick snuck out the room the following morning feeling as if he had hit the jackpot.

While tossing with Jenny, he managed to get his hands on a letter that held the location for a priceless treasure.

Most of it was in an ancient language, so Nick didn't really care about anything else but the location and possible financial returns of finding the treasure first.

Exiting the room in his half-dressed state, Nick saw Zeel at the cocktail lounge again. Despite their brief encounter, Nick already considered Zeel a friend.

'He probably wants to know if the smell is gone,' Nick mused 'He doesn't know that you can't hide cheating from a woman,'

To Nick, Zeel was like a younger version of himself, so he didn't mind helping the kid. After all, Zeel looked no more than 22 years old, even if he was currently over 130 years old.

Nick made sure to exit the room as early as possible, so it was about 6 a.m. in the morning.

Seeing Zeel at the bar, Nick made his way over planning to drink a bit before leaving immediately after.

"Running away from responsibilities?" Zeel asked.

Nick grabbed the drink from Zeel's hands and gulped it down. Nick wore a smile as if he had hit the jackpot.

"I think I can finally afford to retire now," Nick stated, hurriedly wearing the clothing in his hands.

"Are the smells gone?" Zeel asked anxiously.

Nick shook his head while looking at Zeel "The smell isn't the problem. It's everything… your face, your body… everything screams satisfaction,"

Nick was about to continue explaining, but Zeel waved his hands and Nick was happy to be pardoned.

'After I get the treasure, I can buy him a new wife,' Nick thought, bowing to Zeel as he dashed through the door.

The moment he exited the hotel door, Nick was gone like the wind. A couple of minutes later, he was already at his original hotel – a much shoddier hotel, but very cheap.

Nick dashed up the stairs and into a room.

"Vail! Vail! Get the f*ck up… I found something big," Nick yelled, throwing clothing from the closet onto the bed.

Chris Vail was a Corporal in the United States Army who sometimes acted as a soldier-for-fortune with Nick.

The two men would sneak behind enemy lines, search for anything of value and take it. When things got too bad for them to handle, they would call in the army to cover their asses.

"Ugh!... Why are you waking me up so early?" Chris asked, tossing the clothing on the bed back at Nick.

Seeing that Chris was less than enthused, Nick decided to motivate him. Nick tossed him the letter containing the card that he stole from Jenny.

"Look at it and tell me what you think," Nick stated with absolute confidence in his voice.

Chris opened the letter and looked at the card, only to see a dead language he could not identify.

"Are you messing with me, how am I supposed to re…" Chris did not finish his statement because he realized the card was a bit too heavy for mere paper.

Taking another look at the card, he quickly realized that the paper was made of gold.

Seeing that Chris had also realized the situation, Nick asked "On that paper is the coordinates of what I can only assume is a priceless treasure. Now, if someone is able to write on gold paper, but he still wants something that much.

Then I assume, once more, that it's worth more than the gold toilet paper he uses to wipe his ass. So if we get our hands on the treasure before him, then we will be winning a victory for humanity and all the poor people out there,"

Nick knew that Chris was ultimately a good guy, so he spun the situation to suit Chris's moral compass.

Nick had no such issue though, he was only worried about getting rich and drinking cocktails with beautiful women in Costa Rica.

∞∞∞

Three hours later, Nick and Chris were getting off a plane at the airport in Erbil, Iraq. They wasted no time and immediately found a translator to translate the dead language on the card inside the letter.

"It says 'Haram'… that means curse," The Translator said.

"So treasure?" Nick asked.

"Curse means curse,"

"So a cursed treasure?" Nick asked, and the translator shrugged since she just wanted to get paid.

"Sure, why not?" The Translator answered.

"See Chris? Treasure," Nick stated, but Chris just grimaced at the blatant misinterpretation.

Not minding Chris, Nick asked, "So does this place rent camels?"

A couple of minutes later, Nick and Chris started their long trek across the desert to Mosul. Nick and Chris made sure to relay information about their discovery to their commanding officer.

That way the army could cover their asses as long as they gave the commander a cut of the treasure.

It didn't take long for Nick and Chris to reach the coordinated location on the outskirts of Mosul. Below the sandhill was a small ruined city made of stones and rubble.

It acted as a base camp for insurgents who destroyed historical landmarks.

"These are the coordinates," Nick stated, pointing at the ruined stone city below.

"We can't take all those guys," Chris stated.

"Get in and get out, just like we always do," Nick stated, dragging Chris along as they entered the insurgent stronghold.

Not long after, gunshots could be heard.

∞∞∞

A transparent streak flashed across the desert in an instant, stopping on a hill just outside the stone city.

Zeel could distinguish the sounds of gunshots and fighting coming from the stone city below.

Zeel managed to track Nick across the desert to this location which was also the coordinates given to him by Jenny.

Still, Zeel was hesitant to enter the battle to check on Nick because it could easily backfire on him.

The rumbling thunder above his head reminded Zeel that he was one mess up away from a Heavenly-Thunder shower.

Earlier, Zeel had killed Ori, and now he suffered a mild headache that could impair his judgment.

Originally, The Laws of The World was strict and did not allow Zeel to kill anyone. Like when he killed Alexander, Zeel got punished by permanent damage to his nanites, slowing the nanites by 5%.

He could have died if the Heavenly Lightning lasted just a bit longer.

Usually, A God would be put to death immediately upon killing an innocent person. Not that Alexander was innocent, but he was not entirely a bad person either.

Luckily, The Laws Of The World was somewhat sentient, and it could distinguish the punishment dealt.

While normal Gods could not kill at all, Zeel was not a normal God by any stretch, he was also a Homo-Superior slowly infected with Draconic-Energy.

There was no single unit of measure that could judge his actions. After all, Homo-Superiors were erased from existence, and powerful dragons could defy the heavens as they wished.

Hence, The Laws Of The World came to a compromise allowing Zeel to kill anyone that attacked him first.

Still, The Laws of The World could not be treated as just a governing force. It could also choose to Restrict some Gods, more than others.

A prime example of this was Alice.

Alice could kill anyone guilty because she was a God of Punishment, and she doesn't usually kill people.

The Laws Of The World knew that Alice was a relatively good person, so the Restrictions on her were never as severe as those on Zeel.

Elizabeth was also a good person so the Restrictions were never severe. That's why both she and Alice were allowed to interact with mortal society for the betterment of the world, while Zeel had to keep his interactions with humans at a minimum.

Luckily, Zeel and Alice were connected through their minds and souls. First, the psychic imprint they share. Second, the nanites inside their bodies. Third, the Ownerum tattoo that became 'The Mark Of The Dragon'.

And fourth, they were married and hence were bonded in life and death by The Laws Of The World. This meant that both Zeel and Alice made up a part of each other, which also meant their auras were hard to distinguish.

Someone could mistake Alice for Zeel and vice versa.

Of course, their connection was not to the level of a soulmate, but it was nearing it.

Their connection afforded Zeel a lax with the Restrictions because he also had a slight aura of punishment. Alice, likewise, could run faster due to her connection with Zeel.

Elizabeth was not yet deeply intertwined with Alice and Zeel to access their unique benefits.

Still, even with all his side-benefits, Zeel knew that he could not break any more Restrictions in this Universe.

Zeel didn't understand why the Heavenly-Lightning was so agitated today because he didn't kill someone innocent, but that was a question for another time.

"I just have to ensure that they are hostile towards me before I kill them," Zeel murmured to himself.

The next moment, transparent lightning flashed and Zeel was gone.