The Earth After Rebirth

He could sense that the titans were no longer hostile. Hiro came running to him, grinning from ear to ear. He thought for a second he was concerned for him, but he snatched the vial examining it closely. His eyes had a light he'd never seen before.

'Not even money made him like this.' He thought to himself, smiling while shaking his head.

"It's even better than I anticipated, too bad it's so small. We should look for more." He beamed.

The titans no longer moved, they no longer attacked but they were still physically there. Standing still like ancient statues. The lightning bolt was, in a way, their essence. The very thing that made them sentient beings.

They didn't know that catching it would cause for this to happen, in Hiro's greed they found a way to disable the threat that was no doubt going to decimate them.

"Wow, who knew Hiro was smarter than all of us." Saanvi teased.

They all shared a good laugh. The alliance between them and the two of their enemies didn't seem so bad now that they had a common enemy. Kiro wondered if this was the systems plan all along.

There was no way it could have known their life outside the game but Kiro hadn't exactly hidden his distaste for the two, so he concluded that's how the system made the decision.

'If even the system is forcing us to create a solid team of strong soldiers, I don't imagine it has any control over harbingers. What are they anyway?' He asked questions that he knew nobody would answer him, especially not the system.

Ding!

[You can rest up for a while, I don't imagine the king of this mountain is quite done with you yet.]

At the notification bell, Kiro's heart leapt. He thought for a second, the system would indulge in his theories but no such thing happened.

Hiro had brought a stand to roast meat, all they had to do was look for wood. It wasn't easy, as trees were far and few between. It was the strangest thing, despite the fact that the whole area was on fire, most of the trees were moist and had too much water. Making them unusable for what they wanted.

"It's insane, we should have more dry wood instead." Isla complained.

"True, but nothing in this place seems to make any sense. We shouldn't take it the same as our world." Nikolai interjected.

They had conversations like this, looking for the dry ones, they eventually found them. Ishaan volunteered to make the meat, Kiro however rejected his offer before he could make his whole case.

The last time they did this, it wasn't pretty. He promised himself that, never again. He had no idea that Ishaan had been practicing and he'd gotten the hang of cooking. He was dejected by his rejection but understood why, but he also felt a very strong urge to prove himself.

"Hiro, don't go out too far. You don't know what's lurking behind those shadows and trees." Kiro warned him.

"I'll tell you what's lurking, herbs, everything and anything I'll ever need. I don't understand why we need to take a break, we should be gathering." He scolded, picking the herbs in their surroundings.

The titans were disabled, but he had a bad feeling about them, so he avoided getting any closer to them. At least his erratic behaviour didn't eradicate his sense of fear. Fear was after all, an important emotion in a warrior.

Everybody was minding their own business, having dinner cooked by someone Isaac would consider a peasant. Ever since they'd been punished to cook together for their dorm, that one time, Isaac had fallen in love with the lower district's foods.

The different, strong tastes were every fascinating. They were overwhelming at first, but after a few spoons, he couldn't get enough. So, for him, this was a perfect excuse to eat his cooking without ever asking.

They may have bee guardians in the battlefield and a team, but when that was said and done, they went back to their shells. Isaac sat far from the others, Ursa was the same. Isla and Saanvi sat together, telling everyone that, they had important guild stuff to discuss.

That's why After Dark was seated in their own corner, and that's why they were able to talk about what they were talking about.

"We've been training for quite some time, I think we're ready to hit one of their bases." Kiro whispered, occasionally looking over his shoulder as though paranoid that they'd be heard.

"I don't know...Guns, can we handle them?" Nikolai was hesitant, which struck everyone with surprise. He was one of the people were ecstatic about their mission, it wasn't like him to question like this.

"Why? What are you so scared for? You're not thinking of withdrawing are you?" Kiro never left his face with his piercing gaze.

"It's not like that at all, I just think...I just know that all of you are very important to me, you're like the family I never had, I'd hate to lose any of you. That's why...that's why I want us to be completely ready." He stated his case, still holding on the meat that was now lukewarm, he wasn't in the mood for eating.

"That's understandable, but we've lost too much because of them. All of us. If we don't take a stand now, then when? Are we ever going to be truly ready?" Kiro was prepared to be the big bad wolf here. It had to be done.

"He's right. You can never say you're truly ready for something. Plans often go awry. Plus, the information is over 10 years old, if they aren't conceited, a lot must've changed." Felix chimed in, he was the kind of person that was always ready for some chaos.

"I want to bet my life that, nothing has changed. That's just how arrogant these people are, they aren't scare of anything, they're so sure that they have our society in the palm of their hands." Kiro retorted.

Hiro nodded curtly, "then, which are we going to hit first? I just hope my father is alive. I can handle anything else, even if he doesn't remember me, I just want him to be alive."

Kiro put his greasy hand on his friend's shoulder and squeezed. He understood his hopes and wishes. He also hoped his grandfather was alive, but his case was more hopeless. Hiro's father disappeared a year ago, while its been over ten years for his grandfather. It was looking bleak.

"We should hit the underground ring first. I'm sure a portion of those kidnapped are taken there, I also think it wouldn't be heavily guarded like Area fifty one would be."

"You reckon?" Nikolai asked.

"Yes. Think about it, the ring is just used for fights. Area fifty one is a gold mine. Literally. They have people mining over there, it should be more heavily guarded."

They thought about his reasons and nodded. Ishaan was awfully quiet throughout the conventional, the illusion he suffered back then had put a dirty black spot on his honour.

He thought he was ready, he thought he wanted to make things right. But this, this game made him doubt himself. He hated it, more than anything.

"Ishaan, are you okay? You're looking rather pale."

It didn't help that his skin wasn't white, yet there he was looking pale. He'd always been vocal about wanting to destroy the sanctum, and now that they were about to do it, he found himself sick to his stomach.

"Will...Will I have to kill my dad?" His voice came out somber and low, they almost didn't catch what he was trying to say.

"Is that what's eating you? It's alright. We will avoid killing you guys' families. Our main goal is to attack the bases and expose them." Read new chapters at m_v-l'e|m,p| y- r

"I will want to kill mine." Nikolai said, absentmindedly.

His intrusive thought was met with complete and utter silence. They didn't judge him though, they understood why he felt so much anger against his father.

They weren't ones to judge. The only person who knew what his father deserved was him, Nikolai Black, his son. The son he abandoned and abused and chased out of the family.

The son that went through hell because he neglected him. It was a wonder to them that, Nikolai was still able to smile and love genuinely.

Most of them came from that pain, they all had their baggage that was too heavy for them to carry around. They were glad that they had at least each other, to use as a crutch.

"Of course. You can have him if that's your judgement." Kiro told him.

"It is."

His mind raced to when he was young, to when his mother was still alive. He never understood why his mother shielded him from the man his father was, but at that moment he understood. She most likely didn't want him turning into another cruel man that hurt the innocent.

'I promise you mum, I will protect the innocent while punishing the guilty.'