Chapter 28: Ch68. New era
Rhegal held the bridge of his nose between his fingers, closing his eyes for a moment.
"Where did it all go wrong...? Why did it have to be like this...?" He opened his eyes again, and the next second, one ring in his middle finger emitted a blackish glow, and from it appeared a massive sword so finely crafted that it looked like it was made by the elves of a fantasy movie. "Then I guess you leave me no choice."
And Rhegal prepared to attack.
The pressure in the hall was so massive that it woke everyone up, both Octavius’ group and Rhegal’s underlings.
They all appeared by the door, looking at the clash that was about to happen when, suddenly, Rhegal raised one hand and an invisible barrier appeared under the threshold, keeping everyone from going in or listening to a single word they said inside.
"WAIT, GUYS!" Xander stepped in between the two commanders, immediately forgetting his rank and how the two commanders were immensely more powerful than him. "THERE’S ANOTHER WAY!"
The pressure between the two commanders were enough to make him bit blood and pass out, but Xander stood his ground until he noticed that both Rhegal and Octavius got out of their fight stances.
"Whew... You two are... Terrifying... But..." Xander tried to speak, with a little blood trickling from his nose.
"But?" Rhegal asked, while Octavius just exhaled with a grimace.
Xander inhaled and exhaled deeply, getting himself together.
"But you two are too set in stone when it comes to conflict. I understand that Commander Blake came from a rough place, and probably so have you, Commander Rhegal, but you two are so focused in the picture of a war against Kha’Ur that you didn’t even stop to entertain a single possibility outside the box."
Both commanders looked at the young warrior, their jaws dropped by being basically lectured by a kid.
"And..." Rhegal began.
"What’s that possibility?" Octavius finished.
Xander smirked.
"What if instead of becoming pure evil, the Commander’s son turns out to be the hope against the Kha’Ur?"
Rhegal scratched his chin and Octavius sheathed back his sword, as if telling Xander to go on.
"The way you put it when you were talking to... Zaval, it seemed to me that you already killed a few hosts before, right?"
"Yes, why?"
Octavius kept quiet, looking especially interested in how Xander was managing the situation.
His heart ached, and in his memory, Xander seemed like Quintus, when his older son was younger.
Restrained, thoughtful.
Even slightly effusive and peculiarly extroverted.
When did Quintus become so reckless and arrogant...?
But Xander’s voice took him back to reality.
"Did any of the previous hosts immediately show up evil and wanting to devour everything that stood in their way, or did they show any particular behaviour in any point of the story?"
Rhegal’s jaw dropped again.
"How... Did you know...?" Rhegal spoke, almost stuttering. "There was one, a human, too, but from another world-line. His name was Orkas, and he helped fight the first Beast waves with the power of Kha’Ur. But he drowned in it, choked, and at the last second, he turned his back to mankind... When we arrived, almost everything was lost, but he had a sudden burst of consciousness and seemed to suppress Kha’Ur’s consciousness in him, allowing us to kill him."
"And what makes you think that, if this Orkas managed to retrieve his consciousness, even if in the last second, the Commander’s son can’t do better? After all... He’s the Commander’s son, right?"
Both Octavius and Rhegal fell silent.
"I... I never thought of that possibility. How do you feel about it, Octavius?"
"Kurt’s special, yes. But it’s not because he’s my son... I just feel something different in him. So, as long as you don’t come after my son anymore, we have what? An alliance?"
"As long as your Kurt keeps human, but the second he becomes Kha’Ur, I won’t have other choice, do you understand?"
Octavius hesitated, but nodded slowly, wondering what would be of the world after what he was doing.
"Then what we have here is not just an alliance. We’ll go to your world as envoys of the Ishir, spread the truth about Kha’Ur, share our technology, and help you train and raid your wielders. How does it sound?"
Rhegal’s voice was a bit of a growl at that point, but Octavius nodded gravely.
It was mankind’s fate that was at stake, and he never expected to be the one to hold it in his hands, so the Guardian’s Commander didn’t feel like having much of a choice.
"Sounds like a plan to me."
Rhegal extended his hand and Xander watched, along with everybody outside the hall, as both Commanders shook each other’s hands.
A few moments after, Rhegal allowed everyone in and told them what would happen from then on, and everyone applauded, feeling the bright glimpse of hope fill their hearts.
But neither Rhegal nor Octavius told anything about Kurt being Kha’Ur’s host. They knew better than to just entrust sensitive information to others, whether they were wielders or not.
Humans were sensitive beings, easily stirred. Easily frightened.
And when frightened, they could do the most dangerous things, for good or bad...
"Yisal!" Rhegal called after finishing the preparations.
"Sir!" Yisal responded, stomping his feet on the floor.
"Prepare the gate, we’re going to Earth with them. They’ll go through, and we’ll go ten minutes after."
And they did.
What they didn’t expect, though, was to find the Massachusetts General in a ruckus because of some unidentified Beast, and...
Octavius looked from Kurt, awake and alive, to his wife’s dead body, falling to his knees.
He didn’t know what to do, it felt like they were out for an entire day, but it was only a few minutes on Earth.
"What happened...?"
Kurt didn’t even need to say a word after his father asked.
Rhegal entered the waiting room, looking at the chaos around them as Kurt saw him.
The quiet rage in his eyes said everything.
And in Kurt’s head, the beep sounded. Followed by a holographic pop-up window.
[QUEST: AN EYE FOR AN EYE]
[DESCRIPTION: Rhegal is the Commander of the Ishir race. He has two sons, Yisal and Zaval. One of them took your mother’s life, find out and take the culprit’s life.]
[Reward: Unique Skill, stat points x10, EXP]
Kurt looked from the window to his father and to the draconic figure in front of him, and his expression slowly eased up.
But his eyes carried a dark intent, glowing in a faint hue of red.
"I... Don’t know..."
