A New Dawn 81 A Misunderstood Cul

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The previously sturdy and durable stone turned into mere dirt, crumbling on itself. This action finally let some light enter the room, but not enough to make anyone visible. They could, however, see the nearly seventy years old man frowning a lot, mana converging toward his two hands. Even after casting his first spell, he was absolutely not relaxed and didn't move at all. At first, Davion didn't understand why he was waiting like that in the open, but he finally found a potential reason.

The human race actually had an extremely good vision during the day compared to many races. Even if the elves had a better one, the human sight was far better than the ones of a goblin or an orc for example. But that was under a source of light, like the sun. On the other hand, in the dark, inside a cavern or in the middle of the night, it was ridiculously bad. Even the beings that were not truly nyctalope had a better vision when the light was dim than the humans.

Right now, the old mage was trying to make his eyes used to the darkness, to see inside the room without having to put himself at risk. Normally, he was always the last at arriving, meaning that the moment he reduced the door to a pile of dirt, he should have seen people discussing with numerous torches. Even before arriving, he felt that something happened, even if he couldn't pinpoint what. And now, this sentiment was only growing.

"Is anybody here?" The frail, but still commanding, voice asked the air. But no one answered. The longer the silence kept going, the more the old man thought about just leaving. Something was definitely wrong, and the worst part was the fact that it was not made by the city. If either the guards or even the adventurers had their way in this, he could have easily found out evidence to prove it. Searching who else could act like that, the only two possibilities was the Black Gauntlet or his former colleagues, a group of magicians.

Right when he began to step back, he finally caught something in his eyes. It was the form of the body of the man that killed himself. A few seconds later, the silhouette of multiple bodies laying on the ground was visible to him, confirming that it was truly not someone from Archet that did it.

"[Wind Storm]!" He activated this spell of the 4th Circle, that wasn't really powerful on its own. However, it was one of the most restrictive spells, capable of easily project knights with their heavy armor in the air, slowing them down. Whatever was inside this room, it will stay in it, stuck on the walls because of the very strong winds. At least, that was the thought of the magician.

"Is this all you can do?" A voice void of any emotion left the armor that was grabbing his throat. He didn't even have the chance to turn around before a huge hand left the obscurity and chocked him. The old man was trying his best to conjure a spell, but he was already having a hard time breathing.

"[Fi… Argh … RE… heg"

"Ts ts ts" He then saw one of the most beautiful women he ever met entering the radius of the light of his torch. She was waving her hand, only one finger raised like she was forbidding him to do anything else. He then saw her cast a light without even moving her voluptuous lips, something that he never achieved.

The entire room was then illuminated, displaying the terrible spectacle of his former friends, or at least acquaintances. The body of the half-eaten child was still in the middle, while two bodies totally mummified with their skull wide open where thrown in a corner. But what made the old man despair, even more, was the fact that Gwendoline was watching everything without even displaying anything on her face. Like nothing really mattered for the young woman.

He tried to grab her with his hands, even if he was very far from his reach, to make her react. But she looked at him like he was just a plant or even worst, an object. Not even her eyes were slightly moving, something that was inconceivable for the elder. He had chosen everyone here, and while they were a dark cult in a sense that they were waiting for the reappearance of the Dark Gods, it was just a facade. No one, beside him, had murdered a human and it served more like therapy for people with grudges than everything else.

Everyone wanted to take revenge for something that happened to them. He wanted to find the true responsible for the murders of his only daughter. Gwendoline wanted to find who killed her mother and her sister. The man covered in blood sought to repair the wrongs that happened to him when he was enslaved by the White Hand. But that was just a wish. Talks. They were not bad people, just people that were wronged.

And to appease those poor souls and made a link between themselves, he thought about the ideals and ideas first promised by the Dark Gods. Before the Age of Darkness. That's why they were not masked, and why he couldn't understand why someone would try to kill them like that. Like his family, like his new friends. Finally calmed by the intense despair and sorrow that gripped his heart, the old man wasn't even moving at all.

Seeing this, Davion released his grip, letting the elder stand by its own. After that, they waited a bit, to see what will be the reaction of the master of this cult. He was ready to crush his head at the first sign of an attack like Meridiana was ready to stop him. But all they saw was a human, his back getting more curved as the seconds passed like a heavy poise was on his shoulders.

"Fine, let's be done with this. Just kill me." The orodil and the succubus clearly didn't expect that he would lose all hope right away. Trying to escape, yes. Made an attempt at catching a hostage, even more. Unleashed his full power to kill at least one of them before dying, sure. But not that.

"Mister master, you are a cultist, right? You believe in the Dark Gods?" The sweet voice of Meridiana barely made the magician livelier. He only looked at her like she was a dead tree, not even affected by her beauty.

"Yes, I believe that the world that the Dark Gods promised would be better than the current one. That if they succeeded, we could have finally been in peace, not fighting wars with our brothers or sisters. Those people wouldn't have just killed a group of innocents just because they wanted it. If it is what you wanted, then yes, I would have loved that the Synnada Empire and the Massalia Kingdom failed like Pankow."

The anger was now clearly visible in the eyes of the magician. His last words were said in such a harsh tone that even Meridiana was rebuked. But during all this time, he was not looking at one of the two armors, but only at Gwendoline, to see if she reacted. But unlike the ratman that was without any conscience, the female human only had her priorities messed up. If it wasn't something that Meridiana wanted, her only sentiment would be a plain disinterest.

"You don't remember, do you? When you first arrived, how sad and angry you were. Even right now, you are still filled with hatred, but you are also smiling? What have they done to you … You are looking at me, but you don't even see me, see THEM!" He pointed at the pile of bodies. Some were already sucked dry by the succubus or had their brains removed by the orodil. But none of them had a peaceful expression, most were only showing how terrified they were before being killed.

"You … you look like a copy she made of the real Gwendoline, like a doll." Because they let him move because he was inoffensive, the old man ended up in front of the employee of the City Hall. Even when his wrinkled hands were centimeters away from the visage of the woman, she didn't react. Sighing, he turned around, not daring to touch her anymore.

"Not even that, anymore." The nice, feminine, voice of the succubus disturbed the mental state of the elder. What did she imply by that sentence, that she was not even a copy? However, when he saw the splendid smile that Meridiana harbored, it didn't bring him any warmth at all.

"What do you want in the end? What?"

"We want someone that could become the target of everyone in the Republic of Avenio. Someone that could serve our interest and then be discarded. Preferably, someone believing in the Dark Gods."

Her smile was getting larger and larger as she spoke. Even if the old man still didn't know who they were, he quite easily understood what was going on. Whatever these people will do, it will end up on them. But seeing the devastated state of the bodies and the immobile Gwendoline, he couldn't even fight back. He didn't even want to live after all that happened. Sensing the same variations of mana inside his body that he already experienced, Davion slapped the old man.

"What's that for?" Even if he was depressed, he was still mad for being slapped like that. His angered stare was thrown at the intention of Davion, who would have died if stare could kill. Well, some species were capable of killing with one stare, just not a human.

"Don't kill yourself, you still have a purpose to fill. One last. Do you want to save that girl?" The orodil pointed at the brainwashed human. At that mention, the visage of the magician was suddenly illuminated, but right after, darkened. What could guarantee him that the two murderers will honor their words? Feeling suspicious, he didn't trust them at all.

"What other choice do you have? Die for nothing while we will drag your name in the mud and turned this beautiful little flower into the most hated enemy of the Republic? You know what will happen after that, right?" Meridiana caressed the cheeks of Gwendoline, while staring at the old man. This made the latter shuddered, thinking that it was the least he could do to save at least one life.

"I … I will do as you wished. Whatever you want, just, promise me you will not make her die."

"We, Davion and Meridiana of the Demonic Empire, will protect and safeguard Gwendoline here present. Is it enough?" For the first time, the old man was truly shocked by what he heard and not what he saw.

"De-de-demons? You are demons?" It was understandable. The last time someone pronounced that word, it was to talk about the Dark Gods, calling them demons. Even later, it was always related to them, for the latter disasters that spread across the various nations. The dangerous creatures lurking inside the depths of the mountains between Massalia and Avenio.

"What are you going to do? Don't tell me …" Even his most vivid imagination didn't prepare him for what followed. When he heard the words that were then pronounced, his aged brain took nearly a minute to process them.

"We … You are going to destroy Archet!"

Chapter end