Chapter 96: Tomb.

Chapter 96 - Tomb.Jiraxa was gone for a long time. The sun was about to set behind the tall mountain wall, when she came out, looking dazed and a bit tired. She was alright, though.

Most of the crowd were still there, waiting for the two, and when the elder said something to them, everyone cheered again.

"We're good to go?" Lee asked Jiraxa, and after getting mhm as a confirmation, walked over to her and pulled away.

From the looks of it, the whole village escorted their guests on the way out, apparently excited about something that happened in the cave. Meanwhile Lee prayed the two hotheads had not started anything stupid.

Actually they were about to and were on the way to the entrance, ready to face the even taller guys than them, but stopped, hearing the noise of the approaching crowd.

When when the people flooded out, most of the locals were shocked to see the red devils up close – one with the huge sword and the other with even bigger spiked shield, but the two didn't care. They dropped their weapons and rushed to Jiraxa to find out whether she was alright.

Once again Lee praised Lunax for sterilizing all his subjects. If the sexual tension was there, it was hard to imagine what mess the whole Ashland would turn into and what bloodbath the devils would've caused here.

The platonic love the two brothers felt was already more than enough. They were obviously barely holding themselves together, but fortunately no funny business happened to their darling.

After the villagers reluctantly let their esteemed guest go, the stress everyone went through was quickly forgotten. All it took was for Thorax to sample one berry when the natives turned into the nicest people he had ever met, at least in his eyes.

Both brothers emptied the mushroom cap in an iffy, and began to look for more berries in the surroundings, while Lee wondered whether they would get diarrhea or not.

***



The squad was too far from the lake and had to camp for the night in the middle of the forest. The only difference was in the scenery, though, and Lee happily roasted more rabbits.

"Are you finally ready to tell us what you exactly saw?" He asked Jiraxa.

She hadn't said anything since they left the village, and he was dying to hear what exactly the old man showed her.

"There was a cave." She said.

Lee gawked at her over the small campfire, not sure whether the stupidity of the two brothers was becoming contagious or the had always been this dumb.

"And?" He tried to encourage her.

"It was deep and dark." She said, but before Lee completely lost his mind, she continued, "It was strange. I don't know how to explain."

"Go step by step. What exactly did you see, how did it look like. Did you meet anyone?" He said.

"Kind of. We walked along the small river for a while. It was dark, and I stumbled few times, but the old man held me up. It was as if he could see in the dark." The longer Jiraxa spoke, the easier it became, "I was afraid, you know? When we arrived at a dead end, I thought he would do something to me, but earlier he did look kind and ... and then he somehow opened the wall, and there was light. It was weak at first."

"Was it one of the moons?" Thorax asked, and Lee could only facepalm.

"No, we were still in the cave." Jiraxa said, "The light was green. Actually there were many lights. And between those lights there were ... well ... dead people. I was terrified, and wanted to run. I thought the old man will kill me and leave there, but he was saying something and bowing to the people there. And I had to touch them."

"Whaaat!" Both brothers gasped in shock that quickly transformed into anger.

Fortunately Jiraxa didn't notice, and continued, "Well, not really touch them. They were inside a cold wall. And the green lights were next to them. And ... after I touched all of them, the old man led me outside again. I was so happy to get out!"

"How many dead were there?" Lee asked, "And how many lights?"

"I don't know?" Jiraxa said, "Twenty, maybe thirty?"

But Lee already had a guess what she saw. Long ago, because of his own ignorance, he had also done something similar, except instead of lighting up an old tomb, he decorated his bedroom the same way.



He said, "Could it be that the green lights were the wind sparks?"

Hearing his question, the expressions of the brothers changed again.

"Why were they wasting the sparks like that?" Arax almost shouted.

"Why would they do that?" Thorax anxiously asked.

"I don't know if those were wind sparks. I've never seen one." Jiraxa said, "They looked different from the fire ones we gathered. These were round and flat ... and kind of translucent, but I'm not sure ..."

"Wind sparks!" The eyes of the two devils widened in excitement.

"Hahaha!" A loud laughter coming from the side forced the two to grab their weapons.

They didn't use them, though. Under the light of Lee's campfire they saw a man, dressed in full armor getting on his feet. Apparently he had been lying there for some time, listening to the conversation.

"Thank you for your hard work! We'll take it from here!" He said.

"Slivax! You, bastard!" Arax cursed, but the man waved and rushed off, on the way stumbling in the darkness. But that didn't impact his mood and he immediately got up, still laughing.

"Let's go!" Thorax said.

He put his shield on the back, intending to run back to the village, and Arax was only one step behind him.

Jiraxa instinctively got up, intending to follow, and Mirax did the same, although rather unwillingly. Lee, on the other hand, watched the events while nibbling on the first roasted rabbit that he just took off the fire.

"You're not coming?" After realizing Lee was still sitting, Arax stopped, and asked in confusion.

"You're dead. Why would I go with you?" Lee said, still focusing on the dinner.

The outcome of what was about to happen next was obvious. The best thing he could do now was to eat his full.

Both brothers still remembered Lee saying similar words when they were in the Inferno Wastes, and back then they might've actually died.



"Do you really want to allow Slivax to get the sparks?" Thorax said. The big guy was clearly upset, but even he was forced to think seeing Lee was not moving from the spot.

"What exactly do you think will happen when you'll get there?" Lee said with a sigh, "I can't believe you two have survived this long ..."

Realizing the situation was becoming awkward, he said, "Slivax can't do anything during the night. It's even a question whether he can find his own squad."

"But he has much bigger numbers this time." Arax said, and slowly walked back to his earlier spot, "If we don't go first ..."

"I kind of have an idea." Lee said, and a wide grin appeared on his face, "But let me sleep on it first. I don't like rushed jobs."

Indeed, the more he thought, the more getting to that tomb looked like a job they used to do with Lisa back in the day. The feeling made him nostalgic, but unfortunately instead of her, he was stuck with this bunch of weirdos.

'It's been a long time ...' He said to himself, glancing at the mark on his right palm, 'Damn ... I wish you were here ...'

"You know, we weren't always two!" Thorax's upset voice disturbed Lee's inner dialog.

"Thorax!" Arax berated, him but his brother waved him off.

"It's no big deal, it was a long time ago." Thorax said, "We were a big family, over four hundred. Initially we were trained to become the spearhead of the vanguard, and we grew up together, and trained together. All our brothers were like us – red skinned and with the handsome horns. Of course, back then these things were smaller and cuter, but we were kids, you know?"

"You were trained in a fortress? A whole four hundred of you? All from the same race?" Lee was honestly shocked.

He could imagine the same race training to become one unit in the vanguard, at least in theory. What sounded unbelievable was four hundred of these small devils getting kidnapped. Even if their parents were half as capable as these two, the scourge surely suffered terrible losses during the invasion.