The patriarch

When he woke up from his past vision he was in a comfortable bed under an unfamiliar ceiling. He thought he was in the afterlife, he heard a deep male voice "Good morning, how are you feeling?".

Seating up he saw the source of the voice, a frog man, with light green skin, a round body and red eyes, wearing a black suit and a red tie. The man gently stroke a lion cub, with shiny golden fur, that was soundly asleep on his arm.

Looking around Dean asked "Where am I? Am I?".

The man laughed a little "No, no, you are very alive, I saved you. My name is Murray, I am the current patriarch of this beautiful sect. Let me be the first on congratulating you on clearing your first dungeon.

What a feat for someone that only joined this sect for a few weeks. To kill a spirit beast while in the mortal rank, can't say I could do the same. The clan heads will got a bit crazy over such a young genius.

I really want to make the golden tree pay a big, big price for this transgression. But I though I should hear your opinion on this matter before doing this, it looks like I don't even have to ask".

The second Dean heard the golden tree, the memories of those eyes came to his mind, he had to control himself to not burst out with anger and killing intent, he closed his hands with so much force his arms trembled.

Murray smiled "First before you have any ideas I cannot directly punish Teshima, Janet mom, directly. Spatial masters are too much of a precious resource, trying to do it would cause big troubles with the clan head of the golden tree.

What I can do is nullify the marriage, if that is what you want, and make them give you two precious treasures that will greatly help you have an immediate grow. What do you think?".

"Why are you doing this for me?".

"I am the patriarch of this sect, one of my duties is keeping order here. I can tell you will become a powerful force in the future, maybe even surpass me. I cannot let such hatred against people who should be your allies brew in this sect.

I do not ask you to forgive her, I just ask you not hate her and try to do something stupid against the elves. Can you do that?".

Dean released a long sigh, and kept his eyes closed for a few seconds, he looked at his hands that weren't cut by his nail just because his body instinctively protected it "I value my life a lot you know, more than anything in this world. Since you saved me I will try my best, I won't ever forgive her but I won't try to attack her".

"As the patriarch of this sect, I thank you, its be hard to forgive someone who tried to take your life. Now for the other matter, do you still want to get married with this Janet girl?".

Dean dint even think "No, I know she had nothing to do with it, she even tried to save me. But I don't think I can look at her with the same eyes, she looks to much like her mother".

Murray nodded "Now do you mind telling me how did clear the dungeon, especially the part about killing that spirit beast, I can tell your soul is very special, but you have not learned any special technique beside the alchemy flame".

"Seeing those eyes, those demonic eyes, just awakened something inside of me, something I feared for so long. But the only thing that can make it bad is me.

On the fight against the spirit beast, I had a feeling telling me exactly what to do, I knew I would get badly hurt, but this feeling was so trust worthy that I followed it. I did everything right, every move, every step. When it was in the verge of death I felt bliss, I was so happy that I won".

"Its okay to be happy you won, we cultivators have to kill to survive, to progress. Life is a precious thing, taken them only when you have a good reason, taken then to survive, to earn money to progress, but never for fun. When you take it for fun you turn into a demon".

Completely changing his tone in an instant Murray said "In half an hour there will be reunion with the clan heads, grand elders, elders and maybe some of the grand patriarchs and matriarchs, to discuss the apology matters, I will come here to take you there, rest for a bit now, you did great.

One more thing, I am looking for a new disciple, I have affinity for the dark element and to the demonic and blood element. Think about it in this half hour". He then got up with this lion cub and walked out.

Dean let himself fall back on the bed, with his arms open wide. He thought while looking at the white ceiling "I definitely have to accept this, this is the second time I almost die because I have no one to defend me. If I had someone to teach me I probably would stop myself from using all my mental that time. I dint really have any opportunity the first two times though".

For a few minutes Dean just stared at the ceiling without thinking about anything until he started to get a bit bored. Taking the phone out of his spatial ring he heard it buzzing with new notifications.

The first notification, and most of the others, where missed phone calls of Janet. The image of a the woman who would have brought happiness just thinking about her a day ago now became a reminder of the person he hated the most in this world.

"Oh shit! Oh shit, Fuck" having crushed his phone out of pure anger. He thought "I guess this why they sell expensive super resistant phones.

Why do I resent she so much but I don't hate those two bastards all that much".

The memories of those eyes, staring at him came to his head, the image of the moon shaped head demon that started everything blinked in his mind. "It was this, it had to be, no wonder I hate her so much. I can't let this haunt me forever".

Getting up Dean went to the balcony of the room he was in, to take some fresh air. Looking at the beautiful gardens down below he thought "Times like this I miss having a smoke. Remember the rule self, miss the cigs get down and meditate a bit".

As his demon self Dean though of the two demons that terrorized him since he saw them for the first time. The sea of blood churned with his immediate rage, shaking the trees, the mass of instincts that fully merged with his soul connected him even more with his own soul.

Dean thought "Fourteen years later and you two come back to cause me trouble, I never though I would have to do this. I have to find a way to forgive you two, no that is impossible, you two don't deserve forgiveness, I just have to stop hating you".

For the half hour Dean meditated until the deep voice of Murray hit his ears "Its time, have you thought about mine proposition?".

Dean got up and looked at Murray, who had a golden lion cub resting in his head, "Yes, I accept becoming your disciple".

Murray smiled "Fantastic, from now on refer to me as Master Murray, any transgression in this will result in an arduous punishment.

Now get dressed, I can't leave the elders and clan heads waiting for too long, they get impatient very fast".

Dean took the comfortable white robe he was wearing off and put some black pants and a red shirt then went back in the room and started following Murray.

As they walked thru the mansion corridors Murray said "The Janet girl and her mother Teshima will be in this conference, try your best to keep your cool, if possible don't even look at them.

I will be trying to get you a fruit called the golden tree fruit and the thousand bloods fruit, they are both very special and extremely precious relics. There is a small chance I might only be able to get you one.

And here we are, remember stay calm, with me here no one will cause you any harm".

In front of the two stood a giant gate made of a black stone, with a big version of the crest of the golden lion in its middle. The pressure it radiated made Dean involuntarily take a step back and the little cub in Murray head jump on the ground and walk away, having his sleep disturbed.

The eyes of the crest shone for a second and the gate opened by itself, a different pressure several times higher hit him. Before Dean passed out Murray aura enveloped him, decreasing the pressure to a zero.

The two walked to the middle of a circular floor, made of a single stone. In the sides, on elevated seats, seated many elders and grand elders, in the front, on seats high above the rest, seated the clan heads and two grand patriarchs.

Out of everyone in the conference only three had a reaction seeing Dean entering. The clan head of the elves, a very handsome man, with long green hair and eyes and a thin body, he clenched his hand slightly, his aura having a small fluctuation. A very small reaction that was noticed by all the clan heads and grand patriarchs that where close to him.

In the elders seats Teshima and Janet where very surprised seeing Dean, to one an unpleasant surprise to another a very pleasant one.

Knowing Teshima was somewhere in the room Dean just looked ahead, to the clan heads and old patriarchs, finding the familiar extremely handsome man that he saw in the scroll seated between them.

Without any delay Murray started talking "I thank everyone for coming to this sudden meeting. I called you here to discuss a very important and very unfortunate event."