The Earth After Rebirth

When he got to their base, he could hardly recognise it with all the people within it. It was a good thing that they bought one of the best lands within the capital.

"How are they doing?" Kiro asked, pointing at the group being trained by Felix. He felt very sorry for them, their teacher loved inflicting pain if not on himself then others would do.

He was also the guy to do the job thoroughly so a little bit of pain was something he thought they could handle.

"They're adapting pretty well. We've ran two low level dungeons...I know I know, but we were careful. Three guardians were assigned for each run. That kid Miles is very special."

It was very rare for Felix to compliment someone, so that meant that the kid was truly something. Kiro was glad his instincts weren't all out of whack.

"Who are they?" He corked his head to the far end of their forest.

There were a bunch of people working the land, he had no idea what they were doing. They were pretty far so he couldn't recognise any of them.

"That's..." Felix was cut off before he could explain.

"BIG BRO!!" A youthful joyful voice sounded from within the crowds.

Kiro saw a little boy running towards him, he'd grown since the last time he saw him. Being out and about instead of stuck in a small room, gave him leeway to grow.

"Micah?" He wasn't sure if it was him.

Nobody would blame him too, he was no longer the quiet kid with a dead look on his face. Micah was given a second chance and he didn't waste it.

"You promised to visit us, but you never did!"

"Look at you, you can speak." Kiro playfully held him in a headlock. "Why did you choose sage? Not because of me I hope!"

"Of course not, I'd only be following the greatest player in Asgard!" He answered between breaths, sarcastically.

Kiro was impressed with the work Lil and Zak had done with the little time they were given. Micah had integrated into his new environment and more.

"Kiro Waynworth, we meet again."

"No need to say the whole thing Zak, what are you guys doing here?"

He laughed nervously unsure whether to be truthful. He wasn't the type to willingly get involved in family matters, but Kiro's growing concern on his face made him spill.

"See, your father did all this."

"Wait, I only told him about all this, this morning." He smiled cheekily, "oh, he played me."

"I don't know about that, but the pods and security guys arrived two days ago. Of course I had the pleasure of meeting your dad and his scary butler. No worries though, I didn't tell him about the ring, he didn't ask either."

Kiro nodded in understanding. He couldn't believe his father was that close to the truth, if he'd dug any deeper without asking him he was sure he'd have found things out on his own.

'And I thought I covered my tracks pretty well. Wilfred, you're too good.'

He made sure they knew the rules. Kids were forbidden from entering dungeons unless of course Kiro deemed them useful enough to not die facing a harbinger.

There was no way of knowing for sure that it was safe to die in dungeons anymore, it was a risk he wasn't willing to take, for now.

"Hubris, let's go!" He whispered the shout but his mount was already ontop of them.

He landed right behind him, scaring a lot of them who had never seen him before. Black as night with red killer eyes, he wasn't exactly something you brought to the party.

"Yes master!"

"I want to go too." Micah and Miles said at the exact same time.

Kiro sighed. "I'd expect this from Micah, but not you Miles. You've experienced it first hand what it's like to have your world almost taken. You should train to be strong before wanting to go out there."

"But, I can be useful. Even you need someone to back you up sometimes."

"Yes, and you're not that yet. This isn't up for discussion." He blinked and left them behind.

But he left a little gift for Micah, it was a staff that had been in his inventory ever since he could remember. He didn't know either why he never got rid of it because it was just a rare ranked item.

He stood at the top of their base's roof. Kiro already had a frequency to jump to but before that he could sense that he wasn't alone.

"You know, I came up here to be alone." He started.

"I know, it feels like years since the last time I saw you. Are you okay? Can I come with?"

"You can't Isla, even if I wanted you to, I don't think I have enough juice for three people. And Hubris needs to come, he's the only one able to create these bridges to other worlds."

She sighed a little disappointed. It killed her that he was out there risking his life while they were protected by Asgard and its immortality.

Kiro had said more than once that dying out there could mean death in real life. And she'd never lost someone who she cared about, not in this way at least.

"If it gets bad out there, promise you'll jump back."

He knew promises were a fool's errand and yet, "I promise."

Isla knew it too, but she wanted to hear him say it. That way she was reassured that he would do just about anything before he let's himself get killed.

She squeezed his hand and let go, disappearing from the roof altogether.

"That was not ominous at all." He sarcastically said and jumped to the already set frequency not wanting another surprise visit from anyone.

He landed on his feet, but was robbed of the sense of sight. It wasn't dark by all means but it seemed like he landed straight into a storm.

"Hu—" He tried to yell but his mouth was full of sand in that second. It felt like glass in his mouth, he spat a mouthful of it with blood. Discover hidden content at empire

'What the hell?'