The bright, unrestrained, bright rays of the sun have long since banished the brooding, cool night. The streets of Higrove were filled with a colorful mixture of a crowd, adventurers, merchants, simple commoners paced towards their destination.

All the while they were completely oblivious of the dangers lurking beneath the surface, unaware of the grand changes that destiny has in store for this landscape. This current peace, this 'calm before the storm', was but a fleeting moment in the grand passage of time. Soon, these calm, smiling, and cheerful mortals will once again taste the howls of death and despair.

The drums of conquest were already playing the tune, and the upcoming calamity is upon humanity once again.

As the sun kept pestering the covers in front of a large square-shaped window, only thin strands of its all-powerful glory managed to pierce the veil of silk, keeping the room under an obscure dim light.

The room was lavishly decorated, every inch of it shouted the power of might of the nobility. The walls, painted in a creamy white, had several paintings of seemingly randomly selected portraits and beautiful landscapes placed on them.

Their frames, made from pure gold, each piece was a glimmering reflection of the immense wealth the owner of this residence wielded.

A single bed, covered in baldachin, was placed opposite of the white, marble-like door, just beside the window frame. It was actually the possible spot, as the nearby window actually ensured that the weary, tired occupant would be in a shroud of darkness, safe at the blind spot of the scorching, blistering sun's blinding pillars.

Besides the spacious bed, a single comfy leather armchair was placed oddly at the center of the room, looking straight towards the window. Behind it, at the wall opposite the window and to the left of the entrance a beautiful line of cabinets were laid out, made from pale white birch wood. At its edges, the golden embroidered symbols created a luxurious etching.

Suddenly, a series of loud knocks broke the seemingly eternal tranquil silence of this picturesque scene. As there was no immediate response to the verbal intrusion, the invader repeated the sonic attack, hitting the frame of the door once again, and even adding her own voice into the mix.

"Brooootheeeeeeeeeeer waaaaakeeee up!" The voice of an angel, crisp and clear filled with excitement and cheeriness. Despite everything that transpired the last day, and even with the grave news of their Master being in an unknown but luckily safe state, Lily, the impatient invader waiting outside the room, seemed to be unaffected. Her voice was cheery, just like ever.

Hearing no response still, despite her repeated attempt, Lily's face soured, forming a cute little pout.

"Stupid, sleepy brother!" She remarked, turning her attention to her left and right. "Come boys, let's wake up this stupid brother of mine!" She exclaimed to her faithful companions, Sam and Biggy.

Reaching for the lever, she gave one last attempt to reach out for her sleepy brother.

"Brooootheeeer! I'm going in!"

Without waiting for any possible response, Lily pushed down on the door lever, and with an abrupt momentum, kicked open the door with one swift motion.

"Ha!" She exclaimed, half-expecting a repeat of yesterday already, her left arm, already raised to cover her maiden, innocent eyes.

However, luckily, or maybe the opposite, the naughty mistake did not happen this time. If not for the slight movement from the mound atop the bed, and under the duvet cover, one could even make the mistake to think that the room was actually deserted, left empty.

Lily's eyes were fixated upon the rhythmic movement of the cover behind the baldachin canopy. As a living, breathing organism, the protrusion at the center of the cover was making slight movements. Contracting and expanding, following a rhythmic, steady beat.

Annoyed by the fact that her beloved brother was brazenly ignoring her calls, Lily stormed into the room, entering into the charge. Her target, the unsuspecting foe, her brother that made the blatant blunder of not reacting in time would soon experience the crudest of wake-up calls he had received for quite a while.

Like years before, the blonde rocket sailed the moderate distance in an instant, jumping in the air just as she arrived at the side, and by using all of the gathered momentum, power, and weight she could muster, crashed into the pulsating mound.

Immediately, the boy's eyes snapped open, his lungs were kicked empty of their oxygen, were in a violent demand of replacing what it had lost due to the sudden crash. Pushing the cover off from his head, a disheveled, messy haystack looked back at the grinning blonde not-so-little girl that, ignoring their weirdness of the situation, was sitting atop Aiden's abdomen, grinning down at her victim victoriously.

"Finally! You woke up, you sleepyhead! Stupid brother, how long were you planning to make us wait!" She pouted, immediately lashing out at the poor boy.

"Lily…" Were the only word Aiden could muster out so far. The abrupt wake still left parts of his body in a half-sleeping state, that like an old machine was gradually joining the fray, booting up one after another.

"No! You were late last night, we have a lot to do! No more sleepy-sleepy!" Not accepting any argument, Lily gave her instructions, before jumping one more time atop her brother, as if dishing out proper punishment, before grinning at him once again and jumping off to the side.

"Now, get up, no more sleeping in! It's already late in the day, you missed breakfast! Drake, Scarlet, Sara, and that big ugly brute have already left for the guild. They didn't want to waste the chance to grow stronger and be left unprepared in front of this danger."

"Huaaah…" Aiden yawned as he slowly, begrudgingly acquiesced to her little sister's demands and sat up. "Why are you here? Where's Galina?" He asked, amidst two yawns and rubbing his eyes.

Though still feeling the aftereffects of the rude wake-up call, the much-needed sleep did wonders, he felt the refreshed, renewed strength of his mind. The strains of his muscles were gone, there was no pain wreaking havoc inside his body anymore.

Even more, he finally noticed the blinking messages in his Activity Feed in the system. The many updates he skipped last night due to the constant duress he was placed under. After absorbing the human, Aiden didn't have the time to check anything, and later he was just growing increasingly more and more tired.

"Don't call Naybeah like that! She is an honest, and kind woman, be nice to her! She risked her life helping us!" Slowly catching up, Aiden lightly chided his sister.

Lily frowned and pouted once again at her brother's words.

"No! She was too handsy with you brother! She wants to take you away from me! I will not allow that!" She rebuked, adamant at her stance on that matter.

"She isn't…" Aiden wanted to explain, that it wasn't like how Lily had seen, but, in the end, he knew he couldn't. After finally waking up, and with the help of the Mistress being healed and patched up, she was even more aggressive in her attempts to claim the heart of his chosen mate, Aiden.

A small smile emerged on Aiden's face as he recalled the events of last night…

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AN: Hey there Readers!

Just a friendly reminder, that from wherever you are reading (although I wholeheartedly thank you if you are reading and enjoying the story through Webnovel), you can reach out to me using any of the below methods!

For you, sailors of the seventh sea (non-WN readers), be a bro/gal and throw me a cup of joe, show your appreciation!

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http://discord.link/TheLastPrimal

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