Chapter 1: The Newborn Monster (2)

The guildhall comprises multiple floors and throughout the entire city, it's the largest besides the main government building. At the top is the guild master's quarters where Vathys stays, the floor below is just halls filled with guards, the floor below that is the training hall, the floor below that, the cafeteria, and finally the main floor where the shops and bars are located.

From refugees to tourists, to foreigners, travelers, and merchant's the guild is the go-to place to hide from the government.

And the one came knocking in the guild's doors were,

"The Vanguard…" Vathys had his attendant lead him down to the first floor. The large iron double doors were already slammed open.

A large muscular man donning an iron vest and plates came charging in through the entrance, "Vathys!" He opened his arms, "I haven't seen you in a long time!"

Vathys pushed him away, "I believe I saw you yesterday, Juno." He pulled out a handkerchief to clean himself of the spit that Juno had sent flying.

"Just… you know how the King is...." Juno sat down on the floor blocking the entrance. "He doesn't like his things being taken away from him." Juno pulled out his even larger mace and slammed it onto the floor.

Everything shook and all the people from the first floor started to make their leave except the receptionists, adventurers, and guards.

"What makes you think I have what your King is looking for?"

"Well, this is the best place to hide!"

"You know, what you're standing on is, it's foreign soil… any other acts like that can be considered…"

Juno interrupted him, "we are not here looking for any kind of violence!" Then he laughed, "we just want to ask one more time and we'll take our leave…"

Vathys was sweating uncontrollably, "ask what?"

"Do you or do you not have our little pet?"

Vathys gripped his hands, a bit of pain to calm his nerves and a bit of blood trickled from his palm. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Vathys approached Juno a bit closer, "but if you try to damage this place a little further…" With a quick swing, his handkerchief became a short blade. "I'll treat it as an act of violence."

"Woah! Hold on now!" Juno got up, "If you don't know, then you don't know!"

Juno picked up the iron mace, "but before I go, the King isn't going to be happy about this… Who knows he might be a little forceful when it comes to finding his things."

Vathys anger started to seep through his face.

Juno took notice, "your poker face was always horrible… haha…" and then left.

Vathys then assigned his guards to fix the doors while he quickly made his way upstairs towards Lily's room. He saw Sam idly fiddling his thumbs and whistling outside of the door.

"Sam? What's going on in there?"

"She's just cleaning up…" Sam continued to whistle.

"Well… I-I have to speak with her…"

Sam knocked on the door, "it's Vathys." After Lily finished up cleaning and putting everything away in the trash she opened the door.

"Do you need anything else?" She smiled, but from her tone, she wasn't happy at all to see him.

"The Vanguard… they know."

"How? This quickly?"

Lily started gathering her things and Sam joined in and helped her. Fen was just confused and awkwardly stared at them.

"We, the guild, we'll protect you and the child. So for now just trust me…"

"Then the shaking from earlier…"

"Juno... the Vanguard's muscle just came passing by a second ago."

Lily quickly rushed to get packed, Vathys helped her. Meanwhile, Sam stopped packing and started looking all antsy.

"Where are you going?" Lily asked as she saw Sam make his way to the door.

He looked at Lily, smiled, and said, "I'm going to get our ride ready!"

"Good idea. Have my attendant help you." Vathys called his attendant then Sam left to go downstairs.

Vathys and Lily grabbed most of what they could in the room. From weapons like knives and swords, they wished they had a bow. If Lily could, she would want to avoid using her ice so she wouldn't endanger Fen.

Whilst they were packing Lily asked Vathys, "How did they know? And so quickly even..."

"A leak I presume… Maybe an insider is here…"

"Like I said if little Fen dies…" She looked at Vathys, gave a devilish smile not befitting her angel-like appearance, "it's your head."

"Talking that way is not very ladylike!"

After a couple of minutes, Lily was all set and ready to go, she picked up Fen from his crib. Vathys left the room saying that he had other things to take care of in his quarters and that he'll be ready to leave at a moment's notice right after.

"I'll be right downstairs, I just need a minute."

Lily nodded and they both went their separate ways. Downstairs, Lily saw Sam waiting patiently at the entrance, it seems his anxiety from earlier faded away. She hurriedly walked towards him, "The ride?"

"It's right outside."

The iron doors of the guild were quickly fixed from earlier intrusion, but Sam slammed the door open, breaking it again, "I'll apologize later… haha!" Sam felt relieved that Vathys wasn't there to see.

Lily stepped foot outside, the sky was darkened by clouds and it seemed like the sun was hiding behind them. The air also felt chilly, breathing felt a bit heavy, but Lily was used to it, the winds were also howling and they were getting stronger.

"A storm is brewing," Lily commented.

Lily went around and hopped into a wooden carriage and was surprised to see that there wasn't a horse to pull it, "how is this going to move?"

Sam followed after her, "It's an aura carriage! I think they called it an aura car… first of its kind!"

"I assume it's powered by an aura?"

Sam chuckled, "yup, it is. It's faster than a normal carriage."

Lily wondered how Vathys got a hold of a prototype vehicle like this.

Meanwhile, Fen, who was being carried in Lily's arms, stared at Sam.

"I wonder what this little guy is thinking." Sam quietly muttered.

And in Fen's mind, he was thinking. He was wondering what was going on, he obviously knew he was a bit special, but to be suddenly rushed, moving to and from places. He wished he could just lie down, crawl around and be lazy because after all, he was a baby.

Then Fen felt a chill running down his spine, not like a painful chill, but an eerie one. He turned his head over and saw Sam constantly staring at him. Fen wasn't suspicious before, but now he had a different opinion.

Fen thought, "this guy might be a bit creepy."

Then Fen and Sam's eyes met the contact. They both looked at each other, quite intensely, Same then turned his head away to break contact.

"Is he just afraid of me? Like from this morning." Fen felt awfully cautious about Sam.

Lily noticed Sam's growing interest in little Fen so she couldn't help, but ask, "are you worried about him?"

"Me? Worried? Not at all…"

A minute later they started to hear the growing footsteps coming near. It sounded like they were running, then the footsteps became louder, with each step Lily grew warier and warier.

But it was just Vathys carrying his top hat and large suitcase with him, "Well, shall we get a move on?"

Vathys entered the carriage and told Lily that he had gathered some of his own personal guards and some adventurers for hire to guard them while they were traveling down the roads. Lily looked outside to confirm and saw at least a dozen of Vathys men surrounding the carriage. She felt a bit relieved knowing that she might not have to use her abilities.

Sam then started quivering in his boots again, it seemed his anxiety came rushing back. Lily felt worried and tried comforting him, Sam just shrugged her off and laughed as he usually did.

Lily thought Sam was acting a bit strange but thought nothing more of it, Vathys noticed and grew suspicious.

It took a bit of time, but they finally exited the city and were now traveling on the road. A forest surrounded the roads, trees were abundant, and the occasional fallen tree, from the harsh winds, would block the path.

It was normal for those things to happen and yet Vathys grew more and more suspicious as the journey led on. "It's too quiet…" He thought so he couldn't help but look outside to check if his men were there and sure enough they were.

They were moving at a steady pace, uniform and organized just the way he liked it, but his men were usually talkative, to the point of being annoying and that's when he noticed, that his men were already dead.

Attached to their necks was a long wire that stretched out from the dark forest. Vathys surmised that they were impromptu puppets and he was ready to cut the wires loose, but as he was about to jump out from the moving carriage someone kicked him from behind!

"Sam you…!" Vathys came tumbling out of the carriage, but he caught himself before his face touched the ground. He then raised himself up and ran after the carriage as fast as he could, but was quickly surrounded by his own men and a familiar face.

A large man with an even bigger mace then came slamming down from the dark neck of the woods. His heavy bodyweight crushed the dirt pavement below as if it was glass.

"Juno…" Vathys then lifted up his top hat to pull out a lengthy, white handkerchief, and then with a single swing, it turned into a rapier.

Meanwhile in the carriage, Lily was holding onto Fen tight while Sam was holding a blade next to her neck.

"I'll say this now cause I'm your friend, but let the baby go…"

Lily gripped tighter, "I won't."

"You know he's dangerous! A monster even… it's just better to hand him over!"

"And you know why I can't do that!"

"You know I'm just trying to keep you sa---"

A sudden thump then rocked the carriage putting the ride at a complete stop. From the front, a white-cloaked man wearing a blank mask appeared. His ominous presence made both Lily and Sam cautiously excited.

"H-Hey I'm convincing her right now so---!" Sam was punched right in the gut knocking on him on the floor.

Lily stood up shouting his name, "Sam!"

The mysterious person started slowly walking over-demanding for the child, "we don't have any more time for this. Hand him over."

The air inside the carriage then started to crackle as if it was popping, the temperature was getting colder and they were able to see their own breaths. Lily's brown pupils then became a cool blue, her skin was turning pale white, and her hair was turning into ice.

But the man kept walking forward and his confidence showed from his steps. Then he laughed, a rather manically sounding laugh,

"AHAHA! Even I know…" He was getting closer. "With that child in your arms, you won't even release a single icicle..."

He then got so close to the point where he could even touch her, "because you're worried that if you... do then the child's power would come freezing in…"

"You wouldn't want anyone to get hurt would you?" The man started to reach for the child. Fen then turned his head and saw the hands getting closer and closer.

"Wha-! Wait!" Fen screamed in his head.

Lily then unraveled Fen's blanket leaving his skin exposed into the air.

"The reason why I carry him…" Lily started smiling.

Snowflakes then were floating around in the carriage. Before the man even realized, from head to toe, he began to freeze. His whole body was turning into ice. The man tried to scream, but his mouth was already completely frozen shut.

"Is because he still has yet to control his power."

She wrapped Fen back into the blanket and gave him a smile and with her abilities being similar to his, she managed to suppress the ice to avoid it affecting everything else.

Fen didn't understand a single word yet, let alone what anyone was saying, but even he knew that from the start that he was dangerous.

He remembered when he first awoke, in the large chambers of an unknown room. It had a single light source with people inside chatting weird words and phrases.

Then being able to see their emotions that no one else would ever see instantly becoming frozen.

Now, he was looking at the same situation. Anyone that touches him turns into ice from the inside out, frozen in time.

In his past life he never had to see anyone die, but seeing it now in front of him, he only had a single thought, "I killed someone…"

But his emotions were indescribable and were stirring uncontrollably inside. The best way he could describe it was, guilty.

However, he looked up and saw one person who didn't think the same as he did because that one person ended up giving him just a simple smile.

Lily was turning back to normal. Her eyes returned to their original brown, her pale white skin was now starting to show a bit of color, and lastly, the ice on her hair was losing its grip.

She then walked over to Sam, crouched down, and was glad to see that he had remained alive. However, she was furious with his betrayal and with the tip of her finger, she created restraints made of ice to shackle his hands.

Then she said, "you're an idiot."

---

"You're alone Vathys! Haha!" Meanwhile, Vathys was currently facing more than a dozen men, including Juno.

Vathys was surrounded from all angles. There were a dozen on the ground and six more above him located in the trees. He looked around him, thinking that he might lose, but he was determined to stay alive because he needed to get back to Lily, his clothes were also getting a bit dirty, he didn't like that.

Vathys then had a bright idea, he decided to get a bit creative. He took inspiration from his men, who were being controlled like puppets, and decided to attach some string onto his tophat.

"What the?" Juno watched.

Vathys then swung his tophat like a yo-yo and it had an unbelievable range. He twirled the tophat around him slicing everyone on the ground except for Juno who jumped up to dodge.

However, Vathys was waiting for that crucial moment! His tophat had turned into a spinning blade that he could control and with Juno being unable to move in the air, Vathy's had simply needed to direct the spinning tophat upwards.

As the tophat was flying Juno used his mace to shield himself, but the sharp edges of the tophat were slowly seeping through, eventually splitting the mace in half.

"Tch…!" Luckily for Juno he had managed to redirect the attack, but it grazed his shoulder with blood splattering everywhere immediately after.

And as soon as Juno landed on the ground he rushed in to get in range of Vathys. He held his fist up high ready to push through with a strong right hook.

Vathys then with the rapier in his right hand rushed in as well while simultaneously pulling in the tophat that flew in the air with his left hand, back towards Juno.

Juno now had two attacks coming directly at him, one from the front and one overhead. There wasn't anything he could do…

But the men from the trees all wearing the same white uniform jumped down! They all pulled out short daggers ready to counter Vathys in order to aid their superior Juno.

Then the tophat looked as if it had stopped midair, but it was still spinning faster than ever! Finally, with a single pull from the string, Vathys had the tophat circle above him slicing up all the ambushing men above in half.

But Juno had gotten an opportunity, he took that moment of distraction and jumped up into the air avoiding the rapier. He then clasped his hands together and hammered Vathys down into the ground.

The ground cracked into two, then into three, four, and five! The powerful hit made a small impact crater on the ground.

Vathys coughed up a little blood, he looked a bit roughed up, but he was still generally fine.

"Oh, an aura shield…" Juno said as he was readying another punch to pummel Vathys with.

But Vathys who was on the ground managed to dodge it and with his finger, he pulled on the string and had his tophat screech through the air and into Juno. Juno tried to resist and hardened his body, but the attack managed to slice through!

The tophat came spinning out from his stomach creating a large hole of which someone could peer through.

Juno's large body was then colored in a deep, dark red and finally, he fell to the ground.

Vathys had his rapier turn back into a typical handkerchief and then recalled his tophat. He wiped the blood off it and put it to rest on his head again. He folded up the handkerchief and stuffed it back into his suit pocket.

He then patted himself down trying to get rid of the dirt.

"Everything is so dirty! Ahhhhh!" He was frantically trying to brush all the dust, dirt, and blood off him.

But it was fruitless, so he decided to just rush back to the runaway carriage.

---

The carriage was slowing down, it was running on empty.

"It needs a constant supply of aura…" Lily said.

And then out of the blue, she heard someone yelling in the distance.

"Lily! Hey!"

Lily looked out and saw Vathys running straight at her.

Vathys eventually caught up and jumped straight back into the carriage. "Good thing that the carriage didn't stray off that far."

Lily sat back down, "you... survived." She looked shocked as if she was fully expecting him to die.

Vathys felt a little hurt, but he had to get right back to business. In the carriage he lifted up one of the ply boards, he pulled out a tube that was connected to some mechanical engine.

He attached the tube onto his wrist,

"It looks like… it ran out of fuel." Vathys exhaustingly said.

Lily looked over, "so you use your aura to keep that machine running. Which makes the carriage move."

"That's why... it's called an aura car....?" Vathys looked at her dumbfounded for why she stated the obvious.

Lily sneered and retreated herself back to her seat.

Vathys then just noticed that Sam was cuffed. He asked Lily why she hadn't just thrown him out, but she replied that she couldn't. She knew him for far too long, but it did cross her mind. Well, if it came down to it, she said that she would at least leave him up to Vathys to handle as long as he didn't kill him.

Lily couldn't see Sam as much as a friend anymore, but she didn't want him to die because of their ties.

Anyways, the carriage was steadily moving forward.

Vathys told Lily already, but the direction they were headed towards was his country. They were allies with the country that he and Lily just left, but now, it'll be different.

Lily looked down at Fen and hugged him even closer. "I won't ever let you go."