The moment the Vasas' Emissary was close enough that I could smell the air around him, I could tell he wasn't exactly human. I had the same tingle towards him that I was feeling when a big monster was near us. As for Ur'Tokh, he stood still as a statue after his introduction, falling silent. It was... awkward.

"So, you're the one Zah'Ratil sent." I crossed my arms, keeping my tone casual and breaking the weird silence if he wasn't about to continue. "I expected more fire and brimstone, theatrics... Well, you did come out of a monster's mouth... Still, instead of a deformed, halfbreed, I get someone who looks like he stepped out of a recruitment poster."

"We value our human aesthetics," he replied, without being offended. "The Sect Masters of my home make sure that we aren't changed completely, to make us remember, we are, even with all that we have done... humans."

"Polite way of saying I wouldn't listen to something with horns," I muttered, "Although some fox tail on a girl... huh, do you have those? With big ears? Fluffy tails?"

"..." He just tilted his head, but didn't comment... no reaction, no irritation. Huh... You are definitely the soldier type, huh, resisting my attacks without flinching.

"So, Ur'Tokh, Commander of the Demon Hunters." I studied him closely, "You hunt monsters, I guess? In groups or alone?"

"It is not an empty title." He nodded, "All of us can kill a beast with a core... and do it alone. That is our bare minimum; otherwise, one can not join our ranks as Hunters."

"Then that's pretty impressive." I raised an eyebrow, "No wonder you survived so long, out in bumfuck nowhere."

"In a sense." His eyes, unnervingly steady, remained unblinking, watching me as he continued to explain. "Most of us are trained before we can walk. By the time I could lift a sword, I was already killing creatures larger than myself. Those who can't are then pulled out of the military and sent to tend to the Sect's internal needs, be it maintenance, food preparation, or bearing children from those with the strongest blood. That is how we survive."

"I see." I hummed, nodding my head, "Are you all this tall... or?"

"Yes." He answered without hesitation, and my guess was that he was instructed to do so. Whatever stupid question I had, he was going to answer it, huh? So Zah'Ratil has ordered complete transparency? He is really desperate then... "There is no food here that is good for humans," he said, with a faint inclination of his head, towards the distance, "The land here doesn't just grow plants... In a way, this is a blessed place but also a cursed one. If you would eat what grows here, you would soon transform, or die. It had also made us change so much that we can no longer go back home."

"I can see that," I said, glancing toward my soldiers, who were also bigger than an average man.

"Yes," He followed my gaze, "I can sense you fed your troops with the monster's meat, and I can smell their blood on their bodies. You are indeed one of our descendants, even if already being so distant." He finally smiled, just barely, but he did, "We started like this... Just like you. Then we began living longer and becoming stronger, realizing that it's the monsters who allow us to do so. And that was simply because we ate them."

"Well, then," I sighed, not wanting to get bogged down with history or semantics, "let's get to the meat of the issue. You didn't come all this way for small talk... What does Zah'Ratil want? I mean... really..." Mentioning that, Ur'Tokh's gaze sharpened in a snap, returning to a script he was told to repeat, I think.

"The Sect Master cannot leave our sanctum," he began, "He is currently maintaining the containment of Ignis and all his attention, just as the High Elders under him have to be dedicated to the task. That infernal beast had woken up deep within Ka'Rath, ahead of time, without previous warnings, and it almost got through... It would have been catastrophic."

"What if he fails?" I asked, interrupting him, curious if I could throw him off his prepared, memorized speech.

"If he fails, Sovereign," Ur'Tokh said slowly, looking me straight in the eye, "Ignis will devour all life. And when he does, there will be no continent, no ocean, no world that remains. Only his fire... His will is to burn all that is creation, because he will remake it in his own image from the ashes."

That… wasn't what I wanted to hear. What the fuck? A beast with a God-complex? Great! Just... fucking great!

"And I'm guessing you have a solution for that in my son's body," I said dryly, pinching the bridge of my nose, "I would have preferred it if you had contacted me instead of my NEWBORN, just for good measure, all those years ago. You see, when you try to sweet-talk someone's CHILD, the parent usually goes into overdrive and thinks of the worst. You are lucky I am here, talking with you..."

"The Sect Master wanted me to tell you, we had no other choice." He bowed his head, "We only felt his birth, his presence, not yours, nor your wife's. Your blood is too thin, or was too thin for us to perceive, unlike the Saivor's, who now carry a pure, untainted strand of our blood, cleansed of the beast's influence over the centuries. The moment it was formed, it connected to our human part..."

"Maybe." I snorted, pursing my lip, crossing my arms, "Still... Your approach was... questionable."

"We understand, but there was no other way." He repeated, making me shrug and drop the issue. For now.

"Yet I caught your Sect Master's message last time?"

"Your blood is weak," he repeated, making Pion twitch as he stood next to me. Of course, even then, he remained silent, but I could guess the radio chatter going on in his helmet. "But your soul, as Sect Master informed me... is as strong as one could get."

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"Thanks?" I chuckled, shaking my head, "And I can't do what my son needs to do?"

"You can't." Ur'Tokh didn't hesitate with his answer, "We need your son's blood. With it, we can reverse the ritual that brought Ignis into existence. It will chain Ignis's will to the Savior's being, and it will make the beast serve your heir, making him capable of commanding it."

"The fuck?" I laughed coldly, "So that's what this is about," I muttered, shaking my head, "You want my boy because after he dominates your fuckup, you can control my son to control your beast?"

"It is not like that," Ur'Tokh said calmly.

"The hell it isn't!" I snapped at him, "Why should I believe otherwise?"

"We... understand your feelings." For the first time, his expression softened, primarily due to the honest understanding in his green eyes. "He would need to be prepared, taught our ways and our methods... He would have to understand how it all works... Then, when his mind dominates Ignis's own, he can order it to kill itself. Or whatever else the Savior wishes to do."

"Like?" I pressed on because I felt that there was something else going on. Didn't they want to reach the Gods or something?

"Ignis is... dangerous." He began after a momentary pause, and I had the feeling there was going to be a history lesson to listen to. But then he stopped. Damn it.

"Go on," I prompted him, "Tell me everything... Otherwise, how can I trust you?"

"..."

"..."

"I don't know all..." He began, raising a hand, and I watched as the armored gauntlet around his wrist started moving. The scales slid back toward his forearm, revealing his flesh, which bore multiple old scars criss-crossing around it. "The Sect Master knows more. I can connect you to him... If you are willing."

"Sovereign," Pion finally spoke up, seeing that I was considering it. "Too dangerous."

"I can deal with danger," I answered, still looking at our guest's face. "What do I need to do?"

"Your blood, bonding through mine. That will be enough." Ur'Tokh said, drawing his other index finger over his palm, cutting it, letting his crimson blood bubble to the surface.

"Sure," I replied without hesitation, reaching out with my hand, letting him do the same to me, and then he just... shook my hand.

The moment it happened, my vision blurred, as if I were yanked into the abyss. The next moment, I stood in the bubbling, searing air, smelling sulfur and watching the churning lava below me, while Zah'Ratil's kneeling figure hovered above it all.

"So you had questions Ur'Tokh can't answer. Excuse me for not getting up."

"No problem." I answered, gazing at the lava below and trying not to grimace from the smell stinging my eyes, "I want to know about Ignis."

"I see." He murmured, and instead of opening his mouth, I could tell that his thoughts were flowing into my mind, while he remained focused on his task at hand, "Ignis was just like any other monster. But it predates the Gods."

"Did they do something to it?"

"Yes and no." He continued, "Our recordings went back to our Founder when we were at our peak. He was one who was taught by one of the Gods: Valen. He was his student, even if only temporarily; he received a blessing from the Gods, but he wasn't the only one. There were many more disciples who received enlightenment from the beings from beyond our Realm, before they changed the world, erected the Wall, and separated us from the monsters."

"What about Ignis?" I asked again, wanting to keep the topic on point.

"Ignis was, as all their ilk, made to live here. And it did, it grew, it evolved, so did we. From the ancient teachings, it tells us that our world was awash with abundant energy, open to the Realm of the Gods. But just as medicine can be poison, that vast amount of energy... it was killing us. The beasts... their growth was unchecked, apocalyptic. Not just towards us, Sovereign Leon, towards everything. They would have destroyed themselves and the Realm itself. So the Gods saved us, and changed our world. All that excess energy, soaked up by our Realm, is still here. Right here, Sovereign Leon. Where the beasts dwell. It needs a very long time to get purified and purged..."

"What do you mean?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"The winters. The Gods planted their powers into the Wall, helping it regulate the flow of abundant energy and prevent it from deforming us, killing us, or making us like the monsters... without thought, just... the hunger for more. It's a cycle, it purifies and distributes it... but when it gets overexcited..."

"The long winters..." I muttered, hearing him grunt in agreement, "Heh... yet look at you... If the Gods wanted to preserve you from turning into monsters... they would be pretty disappointed, no?"

"Yes..." He agreed, "The allure of power is as such. "You see... Back then, coming over to hunt them was a test. The Gods wanted to temper the world and prepare us for the next step in evolution. That's why we were left with the gates to gain access to their land. To reach them... Why do you think the Formations they left behind let us and them through? It was always to help us measure our progress... even if some of my predecessors would not agree with my hypothesis, I know I am right."

"Can we get back to Ignis? Please." I cut in again. Damn... who knew, he was this rambly?

"The Founder found Ignis... He dominated him and began studying the monsters through Ignis. Our Sect had risen from those teachings... All we know, all we did was from him, and the way he shared the blood and flesh between him and Ignis."

"..." I wanted to say monster fucker, but I held back my tongue in the end.

"No, they did not do that." Zah'Ratil answered me still, "But it did have a change that... nobody expected. You see, Ignis was essential to our Sect, as it was ours, a proof, a walking flesh of knowledge, and it was through it that we explored the land of the beasts. Throughout the centuries, every Sect Master bonded with it, learned from it as it grew stronger and stronger... A method we could learn from and experiment with, and through that bond, its mind had also evolved. He is the first beast to not only have the strength of a God... but he also developed the intellect that is needed to exploit that strength. It may still be... simple... But it can and it will grow."

"Haaah... Great..." I moaned, rubbing my face, "And now you want my son to bond with it. I am not marrying my kid to a monster!"

"It is the only way. His blood is the only one pure enough to pressurize Ignis's will. Ignis is just as tainted as we are, Sovereign Leon. It is his weakness... Your son can control the human part in Ignis, the part with the intelligence. If he can dominate it, he can order the beast as one would control the rest of his kind."

"That's my issue... We are talking about control, control, control... Where is the destroy part, hm?" I asked, and I wasn't hiding the accusation in my voice.

"..."

"I fucking knew it!" I snorted, taking his silence as an answer, "You bastard..."

"Ignis has grown to a strength that..." Zah'Ratil continued, "That it can open the door to Heaven."

"Fuck you. And fuck your heaven." I added, "You manipulative dickhead."

"I understand your anger," He said without taking offense, "But I am honest with you... As for what your son does after dominating Ignis, it's up to him. It would always be up to him."

"..." Would it be? I was not that sure anymore. "We'll think about it," I said in the end, feeling pretty cold despite standing above a volcano.

"If you want," He added, just as I was feeling my consciousness slipping, wanting to return to my body, "Ur'Tokh can take you to our home... then, you can witness Ignis's true self and understand that there are no other options left, Sovereign Leon... That..." I heard him getting farther away from me as everything went black, "We are running out of time."

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