101 Chapter 97

"W-what do you see, Zagosh?" A bearded short, ruffled silver-haired, middle-aged man shouted atop the tree he stood under.

Serving as a temporary shelter and a natural gathering point, the group of survivors, weary, battered, and beaten by the perilous journey they had to suffer through to escape from being hunted down by those traitors have been gathering and growing continuously since the last battle.

Ever since the sounds of carnage have suddenly ceased to exist, the braver ones amongst the group have begun to hesitantly scout their surroundings trying to find clues and pry information from the distance.

"N-nothing… Absolutely nothing, man. There's nobody… just plain, eerie emptiness…" The exclaimed response came from the canopy, the middle-aged men's scouting partner, Zagosh replied.

*Plop!*

Looking around but seeing nothing worthy of note, Zagosh was about to turn around and jump down when suddenly, he spotted a dark blemish, a dot in the distant horizon.

"Huh?" He muttered, frowning his eyebrows as he turned once more towards the direction he found the peculiarity.

Frowning his eyebrows, Zagosh squinted his eyes to try to scrutinize some detail from the mystical dot in distance.

"W-what in the…" He muttered as he noticed that it wasn't vanishing as he first thought, meaning it wasn't just a simple illusion, a play of his tired and exhausted mind, but there truly was something still relatively far away.

Focusing on it, his eyes suddenly turned wide with the shocking realization: Whoever, or whatever that black smudge was, it was gradually growing…. approaching.

The sudden silence and the subsequent strange actions of his partner caught the middle-aged man down on the ground unawares. He looked up, noticing the direction he was so focused. As he saw the gradual shift in his facial expressions, he too slowly got worried.

Reaching for a primitive stone spear which was the only type of weaponry they had managed to save during the commotion, he grabbed the shaft and pulled it closer.

"W-what do you see, Zagosh? S-should we run back?" He asked with a wobbling, somewhat constipated tone of voice. He wasn't the bravest of souls or a fighter at that. Before everything has gone to hell in the Kingdom, he was merely a builder, your average menial worker drone, with a wife and a pair of beautiful daughters awaiting him at home. He was living the dream of the average man, which he was perfectly satisfied, content with.

Yet, after the disaster, all of that turned to smoke, destroyed by the wanton, senseless destruction. Their shelter, their little abode, familial haven were destroyed, and now they lived just like the predecessors they have read so much about. Reduced to survive around a bonfire in the misty, grimy walls of a cave…

The lean young man didn't respond at first but instead focused his full attention on the approaching dark dots. As the seconds passed, slowly, the one singular amorphous blood gradually transitioned into two distinctly definable humanoid shapes. One was larger, more musclebound whilst the other was of a feminine shape.

A pair of survivors? Or the search party of the victors?

The young man didn't know what they should do. Are they friendly? Hostile? Should they stay, and continue monitoring their movements, or perhaps run back and alert the rest?

Pondering about it some more, in the end, the young man, called out whilst not moving his gaze from the slowly approaching strangers.

"H-hey, Old man.." Zagosh called out, his tone sounding worried and agitated. "Go back and alert the two missus… We probably have visitors… Two, a man and a woman."

"Huh? What did you say?" Shocked by what he had just heard, the middle-aged man didn't react at first but instead asked back.

"GO! WARN THE OTHERS! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Losing his patience, the young man, Zagosh yelled down, pointing behind him. "Alert Miss Rose and Lady Mishka. They need to be ready for anything!"

Only now did the middle-aged man seemingly come back to his senses and turned around. However, before rushing away back to the wilderness and towards the direction of their temporary base, he looked up and with a concerned expression called once more.

"W-what about you, boy? What are you going to do?"

"I am going to stay behind, and follow them." The young man, Zagosh unhesitantly answered. He reached for his back and grabbed the bow, taking it into his hands.

"Do not worry old man, I am not going to do anything stupid. I will follow them from a distance, and see what they are up to and check if they are friendlies or perhaps…" He sighed, taking a moment before continuing. "…anyways, go, don't waste more time! The others need to get ready in case we need to run away once again!"

"B-but…" The old man hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and clenched his hands, reinforcing the grip on the stone spear's wooden shaft. "Grrrr…. Just… Be safe, okay? And don't try to play the hero, we need you alive you brat!" He called out one last time, before steeling his resolve and rushing away. His figure quickly vanished in the thick wilderness, only the muffled sounds of his steps could be heard.

The young man, Zagosh didn't say a word as his elderly partner hurriedly left, but kept his attention on the two distinct blobs in the distance. As he squinted his eyes, he could only hope that his gut feeling was right…

—

"Argh… I still don't understand why are we wasting our time pacing around like two wanderers?! Why can't you just take us to where they are instantly once again?!" Castor exclaimed heaving a tired sigh.

For the last hour or so, after meeting that strange figure, Vandar, Spencer seemed to be in deep thought. After confirming the supposed location of the survivors he suggested that since they are not 'That far away' they should just 'Walk the distance'.

Though normally she wouldn't mind it, Castor was anxious to reunite with her mother and her aunt as well as the small surviving core of what remained of the once prospering Kingdom of Spencer's.

Yet, for some reason unknown to her, Spencer adamantly refused of any form of faster travel, and insisted on walking like some... well wanderers, making him grow more and more frustrated with each passing minute.

Seeing as her complaint fell on deaf ears once again, she could only grumble to himself and look forward.

"At least tell me... how much more till we get there? We are wasting our time!" She complained once more.

Spencer chuckled listening to the girl. To be honest, he enjoyed her reactions and was milking it along the way. He was well aware of their situation and knowing they were fine, he wanted to take a bit of time, to collect his thoughts and past knowledge on this comic book world.

Ever since meeting with Vandar and learning that he already had a vast impact on the original timeline of how things should have gone down, he was pondering how he should tread going forward.

There were many events, tragedies, disasters that were destined to happen. Whilst he certainly held the power to control, thwart and even defeat most if not all of them... was it truly the right thing to do?

Just take Vandar's millennial journey for example. He was supposed to become the fearsome immortal tyrant, that whilst was considered a great evil, he was the existence that pushed humanity forward. He was there in all of history's greatest events sometimes behind the scenes, sometimes right in the forefront.

The more he thought about it, the more he was growing worried about the uncertain path his life had already impacted to everything. Whilst his actions of destroying the gods presiding over Atlantis, even going as far as removing an Olympian could have unforeseen consequences, at the very least he hasn't destroyed Atlantis as a whole. They still had time to get back to what they were supposed to become... Although Vandar, or Vandal later on would have little to no impact on their fated disaster...

"Do not be so hotheaded, little one." He smiled hearing the calling of Castor beside him, pulling him back from his thoughts. Looking ahead he smiled as he noticed the change in the 'hidden guards' in the distance.

Even without scanning the cave, it didn't take a genius to figure out what could have happened.

"It's not much more... In fact..." Swiftly grabbing the girl by the waist, Spencer surprised him by suddenly porting forward couple dozen miles appearing just below the tree the young man, Zagosh stood on.

"...we have just arrived."

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(AN: Merry Christmas! / ~Holidays!)