I said farewell to the cave I was born in only a few hours ago and am in another. Since Kate and me were hungry we had to stop to rest as I hunted up a few beasts from around here. They weren’t that unusual. Though they were categorized as monsters but the ones around here didn’t look too different from what I saw in my previous life.

I hunted down a few deer-like animals and cooked the meat. The fire was started easily enough. Friction could do miracles although starting a fire with it is… easier said than done.

We should be safe here. It’s a few hours of flying away so it should take the enemy a day to get here. Not to mention that they shouldn’t know where we are. So we decide that we’ll stay here until tomorrow. Though we’ve had quite a bit of rest in the past days Kate is still mentally exhausted from having her life turned upside down in a single moment.

As hours past we didn’t really speak much. Kate wasn’t talkative currently though I didn’t know how she was normally and I… I wasn’t ever talkative in the first place. Not when it doesn’t involve getting information or negotiations. Basically I only talked when I needed that. Like that hours past until we got tired and went to sleep once again.

As I woke up I spread my soul sense by habit before I could even yawn to get rid of my remaining drowsiness and what I found didn’t leave me the time to do so. I was going to shake Kate awake but before I could do that-

“Get out of there and hand over the girl and we will think about sparing you!” (Commanding voice)

Shit! They did know we were here. How? How did they find us? It’s not as if they split up and searched in every direction. No I could tell that a large amount of the force if not all of it was here.

Kate, hearing whoever the hell was shouting woke up and stared at me in horror.

“Stay here.” (Ved)

As I left the cave I saw what was waiting. Hundreds of soldiers. All lined up waiting for me. If they attacked… I wouldn’t be able to protect the entrance for long. Yet… I would rather die fighting than hand over Kate and live. Well… this was a short one. What? Did I live two days or so? Heh. Kind of funny really.

I thought about flying away with Kate again but as soon as I saw what was waiting I changed my mind. There were a few hundred soldiers that already had their bows ready and drawn with arrows knocked in them. I might be though but my scales are relatively weak as I’m young not to mention that some of those will definitely hit my wings… and my wings are even weaker.

Flying away was a no go. Fighting directly was a no go. Running away in general was a no go… This truly was a short life. I just wish I could have protected Kate with it but… I can’t. I have no idea how… I can’t dig through the cave as it is solid stone. I can’t bring Kate outside and dig from here. They have mages too. They’ll dig us up instantly.

“*Sigh*. Let’s get this over with.” (Ved)

I said slightly dejected as I summoned a few spikes with earth magic and threw them at my opponents. A few hit a target skewering them. They’ll most likely die. A few might survive if they’re really lucky.

“ATTACK!” (Commander-looking man)

Well… Let’s go out with a bang.

Commander’s POV:

We were searching the forest for around a day before we realized that the girl was no longer there. I don’t know what the thing helping her is but from the reports I received it sounded like a dragonoid. What the hell is a dragonoid doing here and why is it helping the girl? I don’t know of any dragons that will benefit from helping her. Even they shouldn’t want to mess with her.

As we finished searching for the day we received information about where the girl and the bastard helping her had gone. I don’t know who gave that information but It was apparently reliable so we set off immediately without even rest. With hope we can catch them off-guard as they probably think we don’t know where they are. After all. Who would guess that they would be in the direction the main camp was completely unnoticed. How the hell did they even do that?

Reaching the cave we got information for I deployed the troops to surround it while commanding the archers to ready themselves. Let’s see that dragonoid fly off if he has a few hundred bows with nocked arrows pointed at him.

As we were ready I shouted at the cave. The dragonoid was not a threat over all since our numbers were more than enough to handle one of their kind but I still wanted to avoid casualties on our side so I offered him safety in exchange for the girl. Before long he left the cave. Seeing him in the light it was… overwhelming. The piercing eyes he had actually sent shivers down my spine.

He seemed to think for a few seconds before he sighed visibly dejected while mumbling something that none of us could pick up. It took an attack from his side to snap me out as I instantly commanded my troops to attack. All the arrows that were nocked were let loose but the dragonoid used earth magic to protect himself with a shield of earth.

After the arrows were let loose the front row of the soldiers stepped forward to attack. They did not last long. Although they inflicted a few injuries they all perished. Some from claws. Others from spikes made out of the earth.

When they were all down. Another volley of arrows was sent forward towards him but he defended again.

…

…

…

The hell is up with this guy. A few hours. A few hours he lasted. Hundreds of soldiers dead. And even now he’s still standing. He looks exhausted but he’s still standing. God. I’d heard dragonoids were strong but this was ridiculous.

The archers were almost out of arrows by now. Another volley of arrows was sent forward. The dragonoid was now clearly exhausted and he couldn’t make a shield out of earth like he had been doing up until now. His scales deflected some of them but in the end he was pierced. Tens of arrows now sticking out.

What remained was a battlefield which no one would think was between one person and an army. Hundreds of bodies lay on the ground dead. Among them a single dragonoid. His left eye had a gash across it and was blinded. His right arm was only hanging on by skin. It was almost cut off by one of the strongest swordsmen in the army before he was decapitated by the dragonoids claws. Covered in wounds. From shallow to deep. From wide to narrow. Large and small.

I’m beginning to think this guy wasn’t strong but was just… determined. I don’t know why he was so determined on protecting that spawn of evil but he was. For whatever reason he stayed standing. Shaking my head I let go of the memory of those piercing fierce eyes. The intense hatred that increased with every attack it took. Yet somehow it seemed to me like it wasn’t the pain or damage we were inflicting on him that was truly the source of the anger. I don’t know why.

Shit. I tried to forget yet the more I try the more I remembered. That was how influencing the presence of this one man was. Again I shook my head and stepped forward. Going inside the small cave the girl was there. Shaking in the corner. I dragged her out while she was screaming and crying until.

Well… she was until she saw what was outside but as soon as she did she quieted down. She mumbled something under her breath but it didn’t matter. The mages would tell if it was an incantation and if they didn’t say anything then it wasn’t.

As I dragged her outside I saw it. The dragonoid who had fallen on the ground from exhaustion and injury was looking at me. He was looking at me and weakly moving his lips. Trying to tell me something. I could tell what it was and it was terrifying. The others seeing he was alive finally brought a sword to his neck and rid him of his head.

We were exhausted but we had orders so after a minimal amount of rest we headed back to the capital. The king awaited us and he would not be happy at how many soldiers perished for this. We traveled as I remembered the final words of the monster who murdered hundreds of trained soldiers by himself.

I… will… kill… you…

I was once again in darkness. Darkness…

Darkness…

Darkness…

Darkness…

Darkness…

Darkness…

…

…

…

…

“Heh…”

“Haha…”

“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

…

“Hahaha! I can’t believe it! HA! Mighty dragon my ass! Heheheh.”

…

“Useless! Useless! USELESS!”

…

“I can’t even save a little girl!”

…

“What the fuck do you mean “genius”? What the fuck do you mean “strong”? What the fuck do you mean “mighty”, “proud”?”

…

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

…

“THIS IS HILARIOUS! HOW FUCKING PITIFUL CAN YOU GET?! NOT AS PITIFUL AS ME PROBABLY!”

…

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

…

“Really… funny. *sob*”

…

“I *sob*… can’t even *sob*… save a single person.”

…

“Why? Why did I accept the invitation to revive? Why did I go back to hell after staying in heaven for so long?”

…

…

…

… Wait…

“Really… why did I?”

“Why did I accept Zahra’s request without thinking about it? It makes no sense. That’s not the kind of person I am. Why? No… I was not suspicious at all. Remembering it now. I was not suspicious at all. All of that questioning that was all just out of habit and not out of suspicion.”

“Did she do something to me? Now that I think about it I couldn’t speak back then. I could only think. She was reading my thoughts? Since she could read them could she also influence them?”

“Heh… Haha… Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

“Hilarious! The goddess of freedom and choice doing her recruiting using brainwashing! HAHAHAHAHA! I can’t believe it! This is too much! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

I laughed hysterically after finally realizing that I was stupidly being controlled the entire time. I could only laugh. I could only laugh at my stupidity… and at Zahrah who made the biggest mistake in her life.

Finally calming down I noticed that I had not thought about anything while letting out my frustrations yet I was still able to do it. I wasn’t a soul. I had a proper body… If you could call it that. A shadow among shadows. That’s what my “body” looked like.

“Heh… Hahahahaha!”

Again I could only laugh. I feel like I’ve been doing that a lot ever since I died… Something must have broken… Yes. But there was no time to think about that. As broken as I am I now have a true task. Not something I was brainwashed into doing by a bitch goddess. No… I have revenge to take and a little girl to save. I can’t stay dead forever.

As if sensing my determination the darkness squirmed around me.

“I know. You saved me didn’t you? You helped me didn’t you? Heh… like an old friend I don’t feel like dealing with at the moment… huh?”

It’s time for me to get out of here. As I decided that the darkness shook and pointed. There were no lights around me. There was no light inside me. Could I no longer sense souls? Whatever. That’s not important. That ability was useless anyway. I could barely tell the difference in souls between humans and bugs.

I renewed my determination. Now I have a real objective. Zahrah, you’re going to regret messing with me. With a huge smile on my face I licked my lips thinking about the oh so tasty revenge I will enjoy her response when she explains that she had no choice. That she was doing it for the good of the word and all other bullshit gods will use as excuses as soon as one of their decisions come to bite them on the ass.

As I was thinking about various things I walked. Deeper and deeper into the void. The deeper I went the harder it was to progress. The deeper the darkness got the more I was in danger of being absorbed. But my darkness always won out. And when I was in the darkest place the void could offer and I was still on the winning end the darkness disappeared. I was back to where I was before. The bodies of the soldiers were gone.Looking down my current appearance was… well it was the same as before. My past form of darkness wasn’t there anymore and I looked completely human. No scales or anything anywhere.

I looked at my shadow and nodded. My shadow stretched across my body and covered it forming clothes. Simple ones. Just a long-sleeved shirt, pants, boots and a cloak. I could change it… but that wouldn’t have been any fun. Well at least I’m not naked anymore. Next step I need a new name.

“Kenos. Let’s go with that. It’s simple enough and that language doesn’t exist in this world. Not to mention it goes well with what I have now become.” (Kenos)

Now I was ready. With a bright smile on my face I stepped forward.