NEW BAND OF FOLLOWERS

Two days had passed since Lynne had the encounter with the Primordial God of Darkness. It was exactly as the creature said; no one except from him remembered anything. The days continued in relative calm, blissful ignorance. However, what worried Lynne far more than the fact they forgot, was that someone sent the entire town in another dimension without anyone even realizing it.

That was the main reason he ushered the group out of the town rather quickly, and decided to take the most obscure route – through a mountainous range – towards the Eastern Border. He remained on alert all through, barely – if at all – sleeping. Save for him, and those living inside his Soul – no one understood why he behaved as such, but had quickly dismissed as “Lynne being weird” and it was all normal.

The group was currently crossing a steep cliffside, beneath which a valley ran throughout without no seeming depth, while a sandstorm blew past them. Their group now numbered at twenty, as Leana managed to recruit three more people in the past two days.

However, Lynne knew very little about anyone outside Leana herself and Ryn. He mostly only knew their general positions and strengths, but never bothered learning anything past it.

As he was leading the group while frowning, his eyes scanned left and right, despite the fact that he couldn’t see jack diddly due to the storm. Thalia looked at his back worryingly, while most others looked at him angrily, as he was the reason they didn’t choose a much safer, more rational and, most importantly, normal route through the valley beneath itself, and instead hung nearly two thousand meters in the air, barely hanging on a thin edge.

“Do you really think inviting them was a good idea?” Ryn asked Leana as the two battled the hard road.

“… I don’t know,” Leana sighed, frowning. “But, that girl that’s with Lynne is at least a Dominus Magus. Can you say that for the rest of the recruits?”

“… what about the three others?” Ryn asked. “I can barely sense any Magic from Fen’er and Parsia, and, as for Lynne, he’s Dao Archmage at best. Why’d you listen to him anyway? We should have took the valley road.”

“Ah, just endure,” Leana said, shaking her head. “We’ll get rid of them soon enough.”

“Good. What the hell happened to Beast Clan? Weren’t they supposed to initiate the takeover of the city while we were staying there?” Ryn added in a lower tone.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Leana said, her yes flashing with a glint of anger. “When I find those furred bastards, I’ll cut their heads off one by one. To dare and cross me? Huh, they must detest living.”

Lynne, ignorant to the conversation, pressed on ever so carefully, and, after about three hours, they had finally escaped the mountain and found themselves in an open field leading to a forest. The group of twenty all fell on their backs as they began panting, their fears finally passing, while Lynne immediately cast his senses as far out as they can go before sitting down.

“Wanna talk about it?” Thalia said as she sat next to him, handing him a gourd of cold water.

“Not really,” Lynne said, sighing. “I’m sorry. I know I’m acting like a paranoid pig-”

“Paranoid pig?” Thalia interrupted, arching her brow.

“Well, you know, there’s a myth that pigs can sense when they’re being sent to a butcher’s shop. So they get paranoid every time a human approaches them.”

“That’s dumb.”

“That’s history,” Lynne said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Anyway, just bear with me.”

“Eh, it’s not a problem,” Thalia said, smiling. “I’m not so sure about others though.”

“Yeah,” Lynne muttered as she cast a glance at the youths stretched through the field. “What the hell is Leana thinking? Most of the recruits are kids, and they can barely be even classified as Mages. Especially the three new ones. Archmages? What the hell can they do on the supposed deadly frontier?”

“I haven’t seen the monkey and the bird around,” Thalia said. “You sent them to scout?”

“Yeah,” Lynne nodded. “And, honestly, you don’t have to live with them every day. It gets so… so loud. Silence is like a birthday gift to me.” Lynne added with an extremely tranquil smile warping his face.

“The loudest brat complains about a lack of silence? Heh.” Thalia mockingly chuckled.

“Heh,” Lynne chuckled with her. “Fuck you.”

“Do you really want to re-open that painful memory?” Thalia teased as her lips curled up in a wry smile.

“No,” Lynne said, smiling equally wryly. “What I do wanna open, though, is you.”

“Ooh. When did that line ever work?”

“… I was hoping it would. Apparently not,” the two chuckled as Lynne suddenly stood up. “Fuck.”

“What?” Thalia asked, getting up next to him.

“Keep an eye out on others,” Lynne said. “I’ll be right back.”

“Lynne, hey--”

Lynne bolted into the forest as the wind carried him, leaving behind others in confusion. Leana and Ryn looked at his disappearing back while frowning, countless thoughts flashing through their minds.

“What the hell happened to him?” Fen’er asked as she joined Thalia. “I mean, other than the usual.”

“Beats me.” Thalia sighed as she raised her shoulders.

“You’re not gonna go after him?” Parsia asked.

“What for?” Thalia chuckled, sitting back down. “If he wanted us with him, he’d have taken us along.”

“… when did you ever listen to what he wants?”

“Hey!” Thalia protested softly. “A girl can lie.”

“… you sent your Soul Clone after him, didn’t you?”

“Of course I have. That prick thinks he can just run off whenever he wants? Hah! What if he dies? That bastard thinks I want to go through the whole grieving process? Hah! Keep on dreaming brat!”

“…”

“…”

Lynne cruised through the forest, leap by leap, as he eloped across the trees and branches, guided by the bird’s position. His feet suddenly began burning golden as he propelled himself forward, leaving behind only a swooshing sound.

Falling like a meteorite, he caused a small crater beneath his feet as he landed onto a clearing in the forest. In front of him, dozens of figures suddenly stood up, all hooded to boot, as they hid behind two. Lynne and the tall creature stared off for a moment as the monkey and the bird landed on his shoulders.

“They’re the only ones who could have done it,” the monkey said nonchalantly. “Besides, the creepy hoods don’t really buy points to their innocence.”

“The Great Bird concurs!” the bird added.

“Hello,” Lynne said as he smiled widely. “How are you guys doing? Great day, isn’t it? Hah! Who doesn’t love when sun bathes the world so prettily, right? Aah, I remember my grandma – she was an Immortal Mermaid – died on such a beautiful day.” Wasn’t she Immortal??! “Alas, her departure taught me a beautiful thing: even on the sunniest and most beautiful days… disaster may strike.” his tone chilled towards the end as he looked at the group, causing them to take a step back.

“Now, I don’t know who you are, or what you goal is,” Lynne said as wind around him surged, causing his hair and robes to flutter. “But, you’ve inconvincied me greatly two days ago, when you decided to send me and my friends to a different dimension. Which just happened to be occupied by a Primordial God. Fine fellow. Almost made me kill off an entire town of people.”

“Y-you--” the tall creature stuttered as it pointed a finger at Lynne. “H-now--”

“Who gives a shit?” Lynne interrupted it. “Now, give me answers. Why and how.”

“And if we don’t?” the short creature spoke boldly.

“If you don’t?” Lynne looked at it, narrowing his eyes. “People know me as a very friendly and sympathetic fellow,” No, no they don’t! The bird and the monkey thought. “But, I have this weird tendency of just losing my shit when people try to fuck with me and my friends. So, thread carefully.”

“… They sent you back?” the tall creature muttered slowly as his eyes suddenly changed their glint; from fear, to awe, to absolute reverence. The creature suddenly knelt down, kowtowing over and over again, as it professed its loyalty to Lynne. “The Great One! The Chosen One! You-- hey, bastards, kneel down before the Chosen!” he roared at the others who immediately fell onto the knees as if terrified into it. “You, the Greatest Chosen One, please forgive us lowly beings! We didn’t know! We were ordered! We sinned against the Lord! Oh, the Great One, please punish us! And take us in as Your loyal servants!”

“…” the silence fell as Lynne stared at the kneeling bunch.

“L-lord?!”

“Fuck no!!!”

“Eh?!”

“No, hell no, shit no! Not again! Why the hell am I a magnet for all the things weird?” Lynne suddenly began crying as his cheeks flushed red. “Look, look at me! I’ve already got a fucking talking bird and a monkey! And I have a snide Spirit and a freaking God living inside my Soul! And those friends? Fuck them! They’re all mean-spirited bunch! No! Stop this! I don’t know if this is some great cosmic punishment for my sins, but I’ve had enough! I don’t want all the things weird of this universe to orbit around me, and to kneel, and to profess their loyalty to me and then insult me whenever they get an opportunity! Hell, Liz-boy is the only respectful one! And I didn’t even want him! I love that guy! No, go away! Stop kneeling!” confusion is what the kneeling bunch felt. Thalia almost felt like crying as she watched the scene unfold from the shadows.

“Khm,” Lynne suddenly coughed as he realized he had slightly lost it. “I-I mean, I’ll-I’ll consider it.”

“… nice save.” the monkey added.

“… good job, Master.” the bird gawked.

“Shut up.” Lynne said, holding the tears back. “You said someone ordered you? Who?”

“O-other humans, my Lord,” the creature said. “They came to us about half a year ago and made us an offer. Or, rather than that, coerced us into doing it. We are merely a Shamanic Tribe, my Lord; we are Beasts simply trying to avoid the war… but, I suppose, that was naive of us to believe.”

“Ah, Lynne, look how sad they are,” the Spirit suddenly joined. “I mean, those eyes, those tears they won’t allow themselves to shed. It’s just so--”

“No.” Lynne interrupted, strange foreboding poking at his heart.

“Their jolly hearts, loyalty, that kowtowing, their cruel fates-”

“No.”

“-the painful destiny, to only have wanted to live in peace, but to have war knocking on their doors-”

“No.”

“-and then think of the children, and the small ones--”

“Fine.” Lynne was literally crying as he spoke; not much for the children, but the child inside himself who just got emotionally blackmailed. “Fine. Fucking fine. I’ll accept my destiny! I’ll be the Lord of all Things Weird! Fuck! If anyone writes a story about me, I’ll shove a spear up his butt!”

“… I believe it’s too late for that.” the monkey said, smiling wryly.

“What do you mean?!” Lynne barked. “Someone already wrote it?”

“… perhaps.”

“…”

And thus, Lynne gained another bunch of loyal followers, and Thalia was rolling on ground in tears while others thought she had gone mad.