Dawn- An age of Darkness

I didn\'t know, I didn\'t care. But more importantly, something was rising up and I had to get out of here before it fully emerged. I was a guy, and having a naked girl, literally rub her shoulders right against mine, could be very tempting no matter how devoted I was. 

"I\'m done, so I\'ll get out now." So, the run-away route it was. 

If I didn\'t stay here, the chances of something happening was zero. So it was better this way. 

Right?

"I think I\'ll need another hour of thi-I mean the shower." Dick\'s voice was awfully romantic and he didn\'t look at me. The guy had too many things on his mind but his eyes were only focused on one spot. 

This wasn\'t going to end well. 

"Unless you wish to get your stuff burned while in the shower, I suggest you leave now. I have something important to discuss with Daarc." Ve glared and transformed herself partially. Her private parts were now covered with scales and she took up a little more space than before: her chest was still kind of open vertically though. What sort of design aesthetic was that? 

And she also placed a hand on my shoulder and dragged me back to the water: I wasn\'t going to be getting out anytime soon I guess. This girl definitely had more strength than me, there was no doubt about it. 

Dick frowned but got up. "Fine." He looked at me, awfully jealous. It was more of a glare though. "Enjoy yourselves." He sniffed as he went out. Was something wrong with this guy\'s moods?

And that did he mean by that! 

The moment Dick left, Ve went to the opposite side and transformed back. "So basically you wish to rid this world of mana and hence you wish to know more about the tree of origins- the sacred tree?" Just how the hell was she still acting normal?

  The sounds of water. The sound of drops. 

Who in the world could have thought it could be so enticing. 

"Umm… maybe?" My brain wasn\'t working. "Ca-can you turn back?" Because something was definitely sticking upwards. 

"Meaning?"

"I mean, transform like you did a minute ago." Otherwise, it would have been a literal pain to keep my gaze in control in this clear water. 

"It\'s not like you haven\'t seen me naked before." She looked at me with dull eyes. "Very well." She transformed and now her legs reached quite close to my feet. 

She was quite tall like this. But she didn\'t have shame? I guess she didn\'t care about these things all that much. 

I let out a bit of air and felt relieved. But my little buddy did not. Even now, I could see way more than I needed to. But I did have something I could focus my mind on. That being- "Yeah, I want to know more. If that tree gave birth to gods and that tree\'s fruit gave humans mana, won\'t it be theoretically possible to end all mana by cutting the tree?" I mean, it was logical, right? No source, no mana. Or it could have been that mana was self-sustaining from its source, then things were going to be very tricky. 

Ve still looked at me with dull eyes and dived a bit underwater. "You\'re an even bigger idiot than Mig." She sighed. "If you cut the tree of origins, do you really think the world will go on? After all, that tree is the reason why this world exists. Besides, mana exists everywhere in this world. There\'s no feasible way you can change that."

I had no idea why this world came to be or what the tree even was. But I knew people could live without mana. 

"My world didn\'t-" I knew my world didn\'t have actual magic like this all that, but I couldn\'t be too sure. After all, there was mythology and there was a lot of history. "Are you really sure, the world will end if the tree is destroyed?"

"I don\'t know." She dived underwater. Transformed back and got out of the pool. "I\'ve never seen it. But my father did tell me one thing-" She glared at me. "That tree is sacred and it cannot be destroyed." She started walking back. "Don\'t poke your nose where it doesn\'t belong. I was under the impression you had a mission to get stronger, not to mess with things beyond your control."

"Well, gods are supposed to be immortal too, just look at them." I chuckled without looking back. "And point taken."

There was no answer from her. 

Instead, I just looked at the dull ceiling and sighed. Even after all this, I still didn\'t have an answer to anything. 

\'Mission to get stronger huh?\' I could almost chuckle at myself, in fact, I did. 

Was I getting stronger? Even with all of those things last night, I had to much trouble just to match the goblin king and not to mention I would have died if Dick and the others weren\'t there. 

\'Can I really become strong enough in time?\' And lately, I wasn\'t even trying to grow stronger anymore. I really needed a priority and to stick to it. I couldn\'t just shuffle through things anymore. It just wasn\'t working. 

And I was even dragged into all this. I was probably going to be used as a political threat. \'Should I really do this?\'

I sighed and dived a bit. \'Wouldn\'t that be a bit dumb?\' It was also an ingenious plan at the same time…. weird. 

***

My shower was over and after drying a bit, I covered myself in some clothes and went for the guestroom. 

Everyone was here. Alisa was awake and looking at the ceiling, bored. The rest were doing their things. Especially Dick. The guy was literally drooling and daydreaming. 

Something was wrong with him.

I went closer to Alisa and sat down. "By the way, what happened to it?"

"Inside your ring, and don\'t think about bringing it out anytime soon, unless you want to be charged for treason."

"What if-"

"I hit it with a sleeping spell, so it shouldn\'t be a problem for a week or two." 

Was this girl a mind reader? Just how much was she capable of knowing?

Anyway, if she was certain then I didn\'t want to worry too much about this. 

  "What are we talking about again?" Dick sat down right next to Alisa.

Alisa was right in the middle of the two of us. She balled her fist, grinded her teeth, and glared at dick.  She proceeded to shove him off the bed and he fell on the ground, chuckling. "None of your business!" Her words were very striking. 

Talk about being dramatic. 

"But if I\'m being honest, those goblins said something-" And no matter how I thought about it, I couldn\'t just ignore it. 

"As I said, you can\'t trust goblins. But if you must insist, I think something can be done."

"What do you mean?" Because, I hadn\'t said anything regarding yet, and Alisa already had something in mind. 

"You wish to know more about them correct? Then what better place to find out than their birthplace?" Alisa grinned. "I know the place, its west of the forgotten continent, beyond the ninth sea. I\'ve never been there myself but I\'ve heard countless stories about it."

\'The ninth sea?\' Anverosa was trapped there if my memory served me correctly. 

Dick chuckled some more. "Anyway, I\'m thinking of leaving for Dracona and getting our stuff. Are you guys going to come along or play hero?" Apparently, he didn\'t give a damn about our conversation. 

"I\'m not sure." I really wasn\'t. "Let\'s discuss things with the earl first and see how things are. And as much as I want to save the people, my own life comes first and I have a deadline too. Besides, right now, I\'m the archduke, meaning my actions may very well be treated as elves aiding the dwarves and in turn, making relationships with men impossible. I\'m really not sure."

I didn\'t want men and elves to go on another war. 

"That\'s why, we can show our strength and make them see our way." Ve stood up and struck a pose. 

"Do you really think it\'ll be that easy? I know a guy named Gorgon and he could almost match a monarch, meaning humans aren\'t that weak."

"That\'s true but monarchs aren\'t that strong either. I mean two or three are them are strong but the rest are just tricky at best," Dick grinned. "I can take em all right now with my ring by the way." He cleared his throat as if he remembered something. "Okay, maybe not all of them."

\'Easy for you to say!\' I was really jealous of this guy. And judging by his words, one of the monarchs was actually stronger than this guy?

Well, that wasn\'t good news. 

I sighed. "Anyway, what I\'m trying to say is, just by showing our strength, I don\'t think we can do much. We need leverage."  As I said that all of them looked at me like I\'d just filled in the puzzle for them. "What? Something on my face?"

"You," Alisa said. 

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You\'re the leader of Helsing and second in command of Alfeime. You\'re the biggest flex the dwarves have. Meaning, basically, we can threaten them with you! We can threaten both parties equally!"

Lately, Alisa was getting a lot of destructive thoughts too. 

I knew that and had dismissed it as it was a stupid idea. But seriously! These guys were suggesting that! "And if both decide to make me their enemy?" It was definitely possible.