WIEDERGEBURT Act III: Chapter 67

Dying screams and pitiful wails echoed throughout the streets of Nevaria. The sounds were so horrendous that I was sure anyone would have turned green merely from listening. Even I did not have the words to adequately describe the terrifying sounds that echoed all around me, and I was the one causing those sounds.

Several Demon Beasts came racing toward me. Their large bodies were about two or three times bigger than my own, their shoulders were hunched, and they raced toward me on hands and feet. Silver fur bristled in the morning light. These were Silverbacks.

I raised my hand and fired off several bolts of lightning in rapid succession, watching dispassionately as each bolt blew a hole clean through the Silverbacks’s bodies. As a large hole appeared in their chests, the creatures stumbled to the ground, rolling across the street before coming to a stop at my feet. A few of them were still miraculously alive. Their pitiful moans of pain did absolutely nothing to me. I felt nothing for them.

Pointing at those still alive, I splayed my fingers and switched from lightning to water. Several compressed beams of water shot from my fingers, punched a hole clean through the Silverback’s heads, and left a thumb-sized hole in the ground as well. As blood from the dead Demon Beasts seeped into the earth, I stepped past their corpses and continued on.

This wasn’t working out like I wanted.

I had been in Nevaria for nearly five days now, killing Demon Beasts left and right, but it didn’t feel like I was making progress. There were just so many. I slaughtered and slaughtered and slaughtered. Yet no matter how many Demon Beasts I killed, more seemed to appear.

It was getting annoying.

A pack of Dire Wolves led by a Greater Dire Wolf rushed out from around a building and charged toward me. Bounding forward on powerful limbs that rippled with muscle, their howls sounded like they were filled with rage. Vicious red eyes glowered at me as hungry snarls split their lips.

I sighed. Then I waved my hand, summoning a massive tidal wave of water that raced down the street, slammed into the Dire Wolves, and swept them all away. Most of the Dire Wolves were outright crushed when the wave hit them. However, a few were flung away, crashing into walls or breaking through rooftops. Loud yelps and pained whimpers echoed all around me.

The Greater Dire Wolf was the only one that didn’t get caught in my attack. It leapt over my tidal wave by jumping along the buildings to gain a greater height. The beast opened its mouth, from which a condensed sphere of wind gathered. It looked like this creature was planning to blast me apart with a wind attack.

Once again pointing at my enemy, I released a small beam of condensed water, which shot forward faster than the Greater Dire Wolf could create its own technique. The water pierced the wind sphere, then went through the inside of the Demon Beast’s mouth and erupted from the back of its head. It didn’t even have time to whimper as it died. I traced the path it made with my eyes as the corpse hit the ground with a meaty thud.

I moved on.

There were more Demon Beasts to kill.

Nevaria was a large city. In terms of size, it was probably comparable to Vahn. That was likely why it felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. With a city of this size, there was simply no way a single person could clean out all the Demon Beasts by fighting like this.

What I needed was a method to take them all out at once.

I looked up at the sky, at the clouds drifting lazily as if basking in the warmth of the sun. An idea came to me as I stared at those clouds. Yes, that could work.

Orienting myself toward the mountain, I used the Lightning Step to quickly reach the Imperial Royal Palace.

Like the rest of this place, the Imperial Royal Palace was infested with Demon Beasts. Most of them were Pteranodons, who had made the interior their nest. I spent upwards of several hours just cleaning the place out, partly because I was being extra cautious about not causing structural damage to the building, since this used to be Kari’s home, but also because I didn’t want this place to collapse around me. I would survive, but it would be annoying.

When I finished killing all of the Pteranodons, I made my way to the highest point of the palace. Looking across the vast stretch of land from this height allowed me to see all of Nevaria, from the northern wall to the southern one. Nevaria was shaped like an oval. The rampart encircling it did not have the perfectly circular shape that I had long expected. From this height, the many buildings and even the outer wall looked quite small. If I used lightning to enhance my eyesight, I could also see the Demon Beasts as they roamed the streets.

This place was perfect.

Taking a deep breath, I lifted my hands to the sky as though pleading with some unseen god for help, but that wasn’t what I was doing at all. I was channeling my Spiritual Power into the sky. I was bending the elements around me to my will. First I gathered the moisture in the air, condensing it into hundreds of thousands of tiny droplets in order to form a cloud. It wasn’t long before a large and dark thunder cloud had formed. However, it still wasn’t enough.

My Spiritual Power surged as I continued feeding the cloud, making it grow larger and darker with every passing second. I narrowed my eyes. More clouds had formed. It did not take much longer before the clouds had grown so large they covered almost all of Nevaria in shadow. Once the clouds were created to my satisfaction, I switched from using water to lightning, channeling the lightning element into the storm clouds.

Bright flashes of pale light streaked across the sky. As I channeled more Spiritual Power into the cloud, the amount of lightning streaks increased, until lightning was flashing by every few seconds. I waited for a moment to make sure I still had control over this incredible power, then directed my will into the cloud and gathered the lightning in several different locations.

I turned my gaze toward the city below me, toward the Demon Beasts freely roaming the streets. These creatures did not deserve the life they had been given. They did not deserve life at all. With this act, I will have fulfilled my promise to that mysteriously cloaked woman and gotten my revenge at the foul monsters that took mine and Kari’s home from us.

With a wave of my hand, the lightning within the cloud surged. Numerous bolts slammed into the ground, uprooting buildings, sending chunks of debris flying into the air, and frying Demon Beasts from the inside out.

From this high up, I could not hear the dying screams of Demon Beasts, but I could imagine it. My lightning bolts struck Demon Beasts left and right. Thousands of bolts of lightning rained down from above, showering the city and destroying more than just the Demon Beasts. Buildings crumbled. The rampart exploded. Chunks of cobblestone roads were gouged out as large craters formed in the ground. However, I did not stop. I would not stop. This city was already gone. Even if I had to destroy what remained of Nevaria, I would see to it that every Demon Beast who had made this place their home was annihilated as well.

More Spiritual Power erupted from my body as my feet left the roof. I floated into the sky, until I was hovering just below the clouds. With my hands raised, I channeled more and more Spiritual Power into the cloud, producing even more lightning. The hundreds of lightning bolts soon turned into thousand of lightning bolts as I used the incredible control I now possessed over the lightning to strike individual Demon Beasts and hordes of them at the same time.

My lips twitched as they involuntarily cracked into a smile, but what I felt in my heart as I watched destruction rain down from above wasn’t joy. It was sorrow. Because I knew that even after completing my promise and attaining my revenge, the people who died in this place would still never be brought back.

***

“It’s so dark,” Kari said as she, Fay, Lin, Siv, and I traveled through the vast darkness of the Morkdypt Ravine. “Even with these monster core lamps, I can still barely see ten meters in front of me.”

“You could always use your light element to create a brighter light, but I think that would be a waste of Spiritual Power and may attract the attention of a Demon Beast who is sensitive to Spiritual Power,” Fay said.

“It’s better if I don’t do that. We don’t know what’s down here.” Kari paused as she looked around. “At least we also have this strange moss to give us some more light.”

Lin slithered along, her tongue flicking in and out of her mouth. She didn’t seem as cautious as Lin, Siv, and Fay.

“This princess can’t sense anything in the earth that would pose a threat.”

I was in the lead as we traveled through the Morkdypt Ravine, while Kari and Fay took up the rear. Siv was immediately behind me and Lin was behind her. This formation had been created because Siv and I had already been here before.

The Morkdypt Ravine had not changed at all from what I remembered when traveling down here with Herleif. We followed a path that sloped and curved, creating something that resembled a maze. Rocks jutted out of the ground and made it hard for us to see where we were going. Sometimes these rock formations would even create small cracks that we had to squeeze through to continue moving. This was especially hard for Lin and Siv, who had dragon wings and a large tail respectively.

“I’m surprised,” Kari continued in a soft voice.

“By what?” asked Fay.

“By the lack of Demon Beasts. I expected there to be a lot of strong Demon Beasts here, but we haven’t run into a single one.”

Fay shrugged. “A and S-rank Demon Beasts are exceedingly rare existences. Even if there were more of them down here than anywhere else, we still wouldn’t run into them so easily, especially since we have Eryk and Lin.”

“That is true. Eryk’s Spiritual Perception is rather outstanding, and Lin’s ability to sense people and Demon Beasts through the ground has further increased their detection abilities.”

I had the feeling these two were talking mostly to calm their nerves. This ravine had long since been the stuff of nightmares. There were tales dating back hundreds of years that spoke of the horrors to be found within this ravine. I remembered reading an autobiography on an explorer named Leif Eryksson who traveled down to this ravine and nearly lost his life at the hands of a Draugr Priest, which was a type of undead Demon Beast.

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Demon Beasts,” I told them. “The area we’re in was home to the Sekbeists. I think they killed all the Demon Beasts in this area. If we travel outside of this area, we’d probably run into trouble, though.”

“Is that so? I guess we’re okay then,” Kari murmured.

Using my memories from the last time I was here and Siv’s guidance, we found the cavern I’d entered before. After that, I had Siv take the lead since she knew more about this place than me. We traveled through the numerous tunnels, our footsteps echoing all around us. The air was stale. However, I was able to ignore that as I strained my ears and listened.

Tic. Tic. Tic.

The sounds of pick axes hitting rock echoed in my ears seconds before we reached a massive chamber shaped like a cylinder. This chamber had several levels leading up and down. Each level contained numerous passageways. Unlike the last time I had traveled here, there were no Sekbeist’s guarding the area.

Kari gasped as she and the others walked toward the edge of the cliff and looked down. “Those are…”

“People?” Fay finished in shock.

“This princess can even see several Lamia!” Lin exclaimed in surprise.

Down below were the people Herleif and I discovered the last time we came here, but it looked like there were less people now than there had been before. I wondered if that meant several of these people were killed or died from overwork. I didn’t know, but I gazed at the mixture of Dweorgs, humans, Lamia, and Werefolk with pity.

“Come on,” I said as I leapt down from the cliff and landed on the ground several dozen meters below.

None of the people working responded to my actions, nor the noise I made. They had probably been ordered not to do anything that didn’t involve work. I could almost imagine the Sekbeists ordering them to ignore everything but their tasks.

As I looked at the group, Kari, Fay, Lin, and Siv came down using various methods. Kari and Fay leapt down, Siv flew down on her wings, while Lin used Earth Walking to reach the bottom, emerging from the wall as her body changed from earth back into flesh and blood.

“These people look sick…” Kari muttered as she raised a hand to her mouth, hiding the horrified expression on her face. “What are they doing? Why are they mining this place? How come they won’t even respond to us?”

“That would be thanks to the control collars on their necks,” I answered her last question before turning to Siv. She knew more about what these people were doing than I did.

“They are mining this ore.” Siv walked over to a wall where several chunks of black ore were sticking out of the wall. Using her superior Dragon strength, she pried a piece from the wall and showed it to us. “I do not know what this ore is used for. I just know the Sekbeists wanted it.”

Siv’s speech had gotten a lot better, though she didn’t talk much anymore. The smooth flow of her speech complimented her soft-spoken and lilting voice.

“We can ask them what this ore was for once I remove the control collars around their necks,” I said. “Will you girls help me?”

“Of course,” Kari said.

“I will gladly help you,” Fay added.

“This princess was going to help whether you wanted her to or not,” Lin said.

Siv did not speak anymore, but she did nod to indicate she would also help.

The five of us soon began removing the collars from these people one at a time. Each time we removed a collar, the person would stop what they were doing, blink as their glazed over eyes suddenly gained clarity, and look around as though they couldn’t understand what they’d been doing this whole time. I remember how Siv acted the first time I removed the enslavement collar. Having been controlled for so long, it would take them a little while to get their bearings.

Once all of the collars had been removed, the girls regrouped with me as I stared at the people we had freed.

“I know all of you must be confused right now,” I said, causing many heads to turn in my direction. “I’ll give you a very brief summary since I’m sure your memories will return in a moment. You were enslaved by the Sekbeists, though I don’t know for how long. They placed enslavement collars around your necks to force you to into doing their bidding. We’ve removed the collars and given you back your freedom. I’d like all of you to take this time to think about what you want to do. We’d be more than happy to take all of you back to our city if that is what you want, but you are also free to leave if you do not wish to come with us.”

The people around us seemed confused still, but I didn’t let that bother me. I stepped back and leaned against the wall as several of the people gathered together and began talking amongst themselves. I noticed how they grouped themselves into their specific races. That did make me frown a little, but it wasn’t like I could blame them.

“What do you think is going to happen now?” asked Kari.

I shrugged. “Not sure. I’ve freed them from the control collars, but the rest is up to them. They can either come with us, or they can choose to go their own way. Given that they were literally being controlled like puppets, I don’t want to take their ability to choose their own path away from them now.”

“I don’t want to do that either,” Kari said.

After a few minutes had passed, the group of humans came up to us. All of them looked fairly malnourished, with their ribcages visible and their arms thin enough that I was reminded of twigs. Their hair was long and unkept. Gaunt faces reflected how harshly they had been treated. Yet while their eyes were sunken in, many of the men and women were looking at me in determination.

“We wanted to ask… where this young master is from,” one of them said. He looked like the selected spokesperson for their group. His hair was a dark blonde bordering on brown. He had blue eyes and would probably be handsome if he wasn’t so skinny.

“We’re from Nevaria,” I said.

Several eyes lit up at that. The spokesperson sighed in relief and placed a hand on his chest.

“So Nevaria still stands.” Smiling, he gestured to himself and the others. “All of us are also from Nevaria. Our memories are still a little fuzzy, but we were all abducted from our homes by the Sekbeists. They forced these collars on us and made us do their bidding. I was actually abducted while exploring the Demon Beast Mountain Range. My party and I were attacked, and I was knocked unconscious. The next thing I knew, I was being ordered around by those Sekbeists, my body unable to resist their commands.”

“Would you all like to come back with us?” asked Kari with a kind smile.

“We would appreciate that,” the spokesperson said.

“Kari?” I asked.

“Leave this to me,” Kari said as she walked toward the group and began discussing the matter of bringing them along with us.

“Darling?” At that instant, Lin came up with the group of Lamia. There were only five Lamia present, but that was still quite a few considering this race didn’t live anywhere near the Demon Beast Mountain Range. “This princess was just telling her people about Nevaria and all the amazing things it has. They have stated that they would also like to travel with us.”

“That sounds good to me,” I said. “Lin, you’ll be in charge of helping them out.”

Lin thumped her chest. “Just leave everything to this princess!”

The group of Lamia were directed toward the side by Lin, who began talking and using wild gesticulations to highlight whatever points she was trying to make. The malnourished Lamia listened to her words with looks of rapt attention. Since it seemed like she had everything under control, I turned my attention toward the group of Werefolk.

Werefolk were a completely different breed from Lamia and humans. They looked human enough, but many of them had fur covering their arms and legs, and their hair was like a wild mane that refused to be tamed. Most Werefolks had incredibly muscular bodies. However, these men and women looked ridiculously skinny. They, like the others, had no doubt been horribly abused by the Sekbeists.

“My name is Fenrir,” said the Werefolk at the front, a man with dark fur and even darker eyes. “My people were kidnapped long ago and brought to this place. I and the others here were all born in captivity and forced to wear these collars since we were young. We have no knowledge of the outside world.”

For a man who had no knowledge of the outside world, he was awfully articulate, but I guess his parents taught him how to speak our language.

“I understand.” Nodding, I looked the group of nervous and hopeful Werefolk over before looking at Fenrir again. “Would you and your group like to come with us? Nevaria is a large city with a lot of people and opportunities. We can help you get settled in and make your own place there.”

“We would like that.” Fenrir bowed his head to me. The other Werefolk followed suit.

“Fay.” I turned to my red-haired fiance. “Can I leave you in charge of them?”

Fay looked uncertain, but she didn’t remain that way for long. She nodded once and placed a hand on her chest.

“I’ll do my best not to disappoint you.”

“You could never disappoint me.”

When Fay led the group off and began discussing Nevaria with them, it was just Siv and I, until the Dweorgs walked up to us in a group. They were about twenty strong. Unlike the others, they did not look quite as malnourished, but that was because of their Dweorg biology. They were a far sturdier race than any of the others.

“Ma name is Sterk,” a red-haired Dwoerg said. Like the others, he was a very stout man, with a thick beard and a barrel-like body. He only came up to about my stomach. “I’ve been designated as the leader for this ‘ere group. We have decided ta go with ye to Nevaria, but we do not plan on remaining there. We’ll only stay until we can return home.”

“You wish to return to Niðavellir,” I said, nodding. “I understand. In that case, please come back to Nevaria with us. While returning to Niðavellir might be difficult right now, I do know where a couple of Warp Gates leading to your realm are.”

“Ye do?” Sterk looked astonished, but then he quickly bowed to me. “If ye can help us get back, we Dweorg shall owe ye a huge debt. We’ll not be skimpy when it comes te helping ye. It seems ye know a bit about us Dweorg, so ye know we’re talented craftsmen. We can forge powerful weapons, armor, and even build houses and the like.”

“We can discuss that when we get back to Nevaria,” I said. “For now, everyone here should get some food in their bellies and rest up.”

“Aye.”

After everyone had made their decision to come back with us, Kari and I summoned the ingredients and cookware from our storage rings. Sterk and the other Dweorg were astonished when they saw our use of Runes. He began engaging Kari in a conversation over them, which of course led to my future wife becoming embroiled in a long discussion on how her rings worked, meaning I had to purloin Fay’s help in preparing the meal. The two of us grilled up some bear and bore meat for everyone to eat. We also grilled numerous vegetables and other healthy side dishes.

It must have been a long time since these people had eaten anything of substance. They were like ravenous hyenas as they devoured the food. Some of them ate so much and so fast that they actually got sick. I had to scold those people for being so wasteful. Fortunately, after the first few people vomited due to their stomachs not being strong enough to contain the food, the rest ate far more slowly and made sure to drink lots of water.

While everyone wanted to leave right now, I knew that wouldn’t be a good idea and told them all to get some rest. They would need to be well-rested if they planned on traveling up the Morkdypt Ravine, then trekking across the Demon Beast Mountain Range. We provided all of them with blankets and pillows to sleep on, and despite their initial complaints, everyone passed out almost as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

“It looks like they really were tired,” Fay commented.

I nodded. “I imagine they had been forced to labor away like this on very little food and sleep. After getting some food in their bellies, their bodies were probably unable to even process the food without resting.” Fay didn’t say anything to my words, so I quickly changed the subject. “Anyway, before we head out, there is one more place I want to check.”

“What place is that?” asked Kari.

“A strange object that Herleif and I discovered down here,” I said. “It seemed important to the Sekbeists, so I’d like to look at it and figure out what it is.”

The object that I was talking about was the referring to was the strangely metallic thing I saw with Herleif. Something told me that it was important.

I had Kari and Lin remain in the room in case something happened. Meanwhile, Siv and Fay joined me as I traveled to this object.

Their reaction was about the same that mine had been when I first laid eyes on this strange object with its gleaming metallic surface, pyramidal shape, and odd protrusions that were reminiscent of cannons. As we got closer, I spotted several blinking lights on the surface. I also realized there were strange pipes sticking out of it.

“This thing is weird,” Fay murmured as we walked around it.

It didn’t look like a building, but I honestly could not imagine what else it might be. I also noticed that it seemed to be buried beneath the ground. That made me wonder if this had a basement.

“I don’t know what this is,” Siv admitted.

“Neither do I.” Reaching out, I placed my hand on the metal, shivering a little at the cold metallic feel. This thing was like ice.

Curious, I channeled Spiritual Power into the object. Nothing happened. With a sigh, I kept walking before eventually discovering something that looked like… a door? There were several seems that made me think this area was an entrance of some kind. After a moment of searching, I was able to find a small button that caused the seamed area to open with a soft hiss.

“What the—?!”

Fay and Siv jumped back as the wall peeled apart, shocking myself and the other two. I stared at the now open door, which led into a room full of pipes, blinking lights, and strange grating.

“Come on,” I said as I walked inside.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Fay as she followed me through the door. Siv hesitated for a moment, but she soon ran through the door to catch up with us.

“I don’t know if I would say this is a good idea, but we need to know more about the Sekbeists,” I said. “That invasion army we fought off will not be the last time we see them. I can guarantee that. So the more we can learn about them, the better we can prepare ourselves.”

“I… yes, that does make sense,” Fay admitted, though she still seemed reluctant.

After entering the object, the three of us found ourselves in a room that was completely empty. There was nothing here except the lights overhead, which did not look like monster core lamps but something else. I couldn’t sense any Spiritual Power. That meant these lights were being provided with another source of power. A door stood on the other end. I walked up to it, but I couldn’t figure out how to open it. Nothing I touched seemed to work. In the end, I created a water blade and sliced the door open.

“That was an awfully violent way of opening the door,” Fay said as she, Siv, and I stepped into a hall with a circular ceiling.

“If it works,” I said with a shrug.

“This place… seems odd,” Siv said as she gazed around the hall, which looked far different than anything any of us had ever seen. Pipes stuck out of the walls, the floor was made of metal grating, and there were numerous strange pillars embedded into the walls that curved around the ceiling and disappeared into the floor on the other side. They reminded me of ribs… sort of.

“Do you think this place is some kind of home?” asked Fay. “Maybe this is where the Sekbeists live.”

“No, I don’t thing that’s what this is,” I said as we began walking. “I think this place is something else, though I can’t for the life of me figure out what.”

“Hmm…”

We soon discovered that this hallway wasn’t the only one. There were many hallways with numerous doors. Some doors led to other rooms, while others led to stairwells.

“W-what is this?” Fay wondered out loud as we found ourselves standing inside of a tiny square room. There was nothing in here save a strange panel with buttons that had Sekbeist symbols engraved on the front.

“I’m not sure,” I murmured.

“Are these buttons?” Siv asked as she reached out and pressed one.

“Ah! Wait! Don’t—” I tried to say, but I was too late.

The floor beneath us rumbled. Siv squawked and clung to my arm, while Fay bent her legs to steady herself. I looked around, prepared for a surprise attack, but I became shocked when a sudden lurch caused my stomach to drop.

“Are we… descending?” I asked.

“It feels like it,” Fay said, looking at Siv. “What did you do?”

“S-sorry,” Siv apologized, her wings and tail drooping.

“It is okay.” Fay gave the dragon girl a resigned smile as she patted her head. “At least we didn’t die, though please think before you touch something again.”

“I will,” Siv promised.

We soon learned that this room was actually a moving chamber that could ascend and descend with the push of a button. It took us to several different levels inside of this pyramid thing.

I did not know how many levels this place possessed, but each level had several hallways that lead to a variety of rooms. Like the previous doors, these ones did not open for us, so I had to make us a door by slicing it apart. Most of the rooms were strange. I recognized some of them as sleeping quarters and a medical bay, but there were just as many rooms that I couldn’t figure out, such as a room that contained a large, tube-shaped device made of glass. I’d never seen anything like it before, so I couldn’t figure out its use.

The room at what I guessed was the top of this strange place confused me the most.

It was a large room with two levels and many chairs. On the second floor was a large chair that looked almost like a throne. It was made from the same black metal as everything else, but the throne had red padding. Sitting on it allowed me to overlook the entire room, so I could see that each chair had a strange contraption in front of them.

Fay and Siv also wandered around the room, poking and prodding at the many contraptions present. A few of them had blinking lights and buttons. However, none of us could figure out how they worked. In the end, we were forced to leave and continue searching the rest of this place.

We eventually came upon what looked like a single-person bedroom. It was large, had a large bed—I think it was a bed—and featured furniture that I recognized as a desk and a chair.

As Fay and Siv looked around, I went over to the desk, where an old tome sat. Bound in red leather, the tome had no words or title on the front. It was covered in dust. When I blew on it, the dust flew into the air and nearly got in my nose.

“Are you okay?” asked Fay when I began coughing.

“Yeah… I’m fine…”

I coughed several more times before calming down. Siv and Fay came over to me as I picked up the tome and opened it to the first page. There was writing on the tome. It was written in an older variation of the human’s tongue, so I could vaguely read what it said.

“To whoever reads this journal, I hope the knowledge contained therein helps you understand my plight and our world’s greatest enemy,” I read out loud.

“Who do you think wrote this?” asked Fay.

“Not sure,” I mumbled before I continued to read. “My name is Ask. I was once the proud leader of the human races. During the war against the Sekbeists, I lead my people and fought alongside the Dweorg, Lintilskudd, Ljósálfar, Drakvar, and Guddomelig. Thanks to my immense Spiritual Power, I was known as one of the Great Overlord of the First Plain. Contained within this journal is the tale of my exploits and the tragedy of my life. Please us this knowledge to free me from the darkness that has enslaved me and fight the Sekbeists in my stead.”

“It looks like whoever wrote this was an enemy of the Sekbeist.” Fay bit her lower lip. “I wonder what it’s going here.”

I didn’t answer Fay. Not only did I not have an answer, but the words written on this page had shocked me into silence. It was specifically two words that had stupefied me to the point where my throat had closed up. These two words, which had defined my life for so long, left me stunned.

Great Overlord.