Chapter 19

Stepping out of the demiplane it took a moment to regain his bearing and to his surprise he discovered that most of his men were currently within the temple while the others were outside, the moment he appeared they went from being lackadaisical to standing at attention.

“Welcome commander.” They all saluted at the same time

“I thought I gave the order to retreat.” Aldrin said with a raised eyebrow, currently he had unsummoned all his soul armament and appeared in his casual wear, the moment he spoke those words, the three team leaders, Kane, Sky and Jon all stepped forward and fell on a single knee.

“Commander we’re responsible for defying your orders please punish us as you see fit.” They said in unison and Aldrin’s eyes narrowed but before he said anything else all the others also fell on a knee except elder Sirius and Amara.

“Commander please, punish us as you see fit for defying your orders.” They all roared in unison and Aldrin took in a slow breath.

“Do you realize, you could be beheaded for defying orders of a superior?” he said slowly

“We live and die to serve the clan, we shall accept our punishment willingly.” The team leaders said and suddenly the others knelt on both knees and kowtowed 

“Commander, please show mercy.” The men roared and the three team leaders all had a wry smile on their face while Aldrin let out a sigh.

“How can I bear to punish you when you came to save me, not to talk of killing you for something as minor as that?” He said with a mild smile.

“We appreciate the commander’s benevolence.” They all chorused.

"Let's put that aside for now. Rise. What's the current situation outside?" He asked and they all stood up making way for him as he walked down the altar and out of the temple.

“We’ve cleared all the orcs within the fortress. We’re ready to return back to the capital at your orders.” Kane explained and Aldrin nodded in approval

“You guys have done a great job. What are our casualties?” He continued as he stepped out of the temple and looked into the sky, he squint his eyes to adjust to the brightness. It was already evening and very soon dusk would arrive followed by nightfall.

“We have ten dead, 20 with severe injuries and around 50 with minor injuries, first aid has been administered to all of them so there’s no danger to their lives.” Jon’s young voice recounted before passing forward a notepad detailing the names, rank and age of all those who died and those who were injured. Aldrin was quite impressed by the meticulousness of the young chap and nodded in approval.

“We’ll take camp within the fortress, let everyone have a good rest, store the bodies of the dead in storage pouches we’ll return them to their families, we’ll set off at dawn.” Aldrin instructed

“But commander we should set off immediately, the other young lords would have already started to arrive, delaying would only put you in a disadvantage.” Kane suddenly interjected and Aldrin felt a little warm he turned and placed his hand on his shoulder before turning to face his 200 odd men.

“Look at these faces Kane, tell me what do you see.” He said with an enigmatic smile. Kane took a brief glance before facing Aldrin once more.

“I see battle hardened warriors willing to be your sword for cutting down foes and your shield for defending against enemies.” Kane said resolutely and Aldrin smiled before turning, taking a deep glance at the men standing, his eyes lingering on each one for a little more than a second.

“Do you all agree with him?” he asked in a stern voice that lacked any warmth

“Yes!!!” They all thundered and Aldrin smiled, they were death sworn soldiers, a special force of the clan who answered only to the patriarch, they were ready to charge to death for the sake of the clan, he barely believed that they would truly die for him, should his father forbid them from doing something no amount of persuasion from his side would change anything but he still felt a bit warm, the concern Kane showed for him was genuine and most of the men present were willing to do anything either for the sake of camaraderie between them and Kane or perhaps they were truly willing to follow him, he really didn’t care but he for once he felt like he belonged somewhere.

“Well, I disagree, the only things I see are people tired and exhausted after a long battle and these men deserve some rest, an extra night would barely make a difference, it’s just a slight disadvantage it won’t necessarily change the final outcome of things.” Aldrin said with a warm smile and everyone let out a relaxed smile, while they were will to do anything for him, they were humans in the end, they got tired and exhausted and most importantly they felt like this commander of theirs was very pleasing to the eye, not many would care about the wellbeing of the soldiers under their command.

With that they made camp within the fortress and had a small ritual to mourn their departed comrades and mini-party to celebrate their win. Strangely enough Aldrin seemed to have been prepared for this very situation as he supplied several jugs of beer and wine, they hunted a few wild beasts which they roasted over a bonfire, jokes were made as they all enjoyed into the night. In this situation no one would ever view Aldrin as the heir to a very prestigious clan nor as someone without a zen core whom most people looked down on, he mingled and bonded with them like they were no different, the men were reserved at first but later freed up.

During this time he also noticed that Amara was the only female amongst them, he was surprised that a woman would be amongst brutish men like this but didn’t question it, everyone had their lives and made their own decisions, he wasn’t in position to poke his nose into every matter.

It wasn’t until midnight before everything died down and Aldrin returned to his tent, he had drunk quite a few mugs of beer but he didn’t feel tipsy in the least, after his first evolution his constitution had improved quite significantly.

Entering the tent he met elder Sirius, his masked had be removed to reveal a man around his fifties in terms of appearance, his beards was short and grey.

“Your mask and your real appearance barely have any difference.” Aldrin said as he removed his outer robe revealing just a plain black shirt that hugged his body tightly revealing his well-defined torso.

“Well, not many are able to tell that they’re the same, moreover it’s even harder for anyone to tell which exactly my real appearance is.” Sirius replied with a smile and Aldrin chuckled.

“To think the Gryphon clan would send the master of thousand transformations to aid me, I’m flattered.” Aldrin replied as he stretched his back and sank into a chair.

“I was surprised at first but seeing the way you handle things I think they made a wise choice.” 

“What do you need elder, it can’t be that you’re here just to praise me no?” Aldrin went straight to the point

“The young heir of the Dragon Clan is as straightforward as always so I’ll go straight to the point. Along the mountain upon which you fought that giant undead, there were two entities battling with the smaller ones, do you have any idea what they were?” Sirius asked and at the same time his spirituality covered Aldrin.

Aldrin who was already expecting this discussion wasn’t surprised, his expression didn’t change and neither did his internal processes such as his heart rate not breathing rate, he cocked his head slightly to the right and he raised an eyebrow

“What are you talking about?” he asked in confusion

“You mean you didn’t come across those creatures nor did you notice their battle down below?” Sirius asked

“When I was going up I definitely didn’t come across any creature, in fact most of the skeletons were lying inactive just like a bunch of ordinary bones, only the bone general noticed my existence and it was after I engaged in combat with it did the other skeletons spring to life and I was too engrossed in my own fight to notice something so insignificant happening down the mountain.” Aldrin explained with a slight frown, even he was impressed in his ability to lie, well technically it wasn’t fully a lie, just a slight manipulation of the truth.

Sirius was thrown into thought, his spiritual perception didn’t notice any of the changes that would occur when a person was lying so he concluded that Aldrin must have been telling the truth, what was even more surprising was that when he was about to leave the demiplane he couldn’t find those creatures at all no matter how much he scanned around. He eventually gave up, demiplanes were known to sometime harbour weird creatures, he just felt like questioning Aldrin to try get more leads.

“Oh by the way, that bone general or what did you call it, it possessed the strength of master ranked individual but the skills and battle technique it used surpassed the level of even a grandmaster, I can’t help but wonder how you were able to beat such a beast?” Sirius asked and his spiritual perception locked on Aldrin again

“About that, as you said its strength was only so-so, I just had an advantage of equipment and accessories.” Aldrin said with an awkward chuckle while scratching his head and once again he told the truth while hiding the truth, Sirius furrowed his brow for a moment before letting out a sigh.

“Then I guess, you also had help from someone else aside the Gryphon clan.” He said and Aldrin just smiled

“About me beating the bone general alone, can I please plead to the elder to keep it a secret?” he replied with a plea and elder Sirius just shrugged as before turning around

“Sure, there’s nothing bad in a man keeping a few cards hidden to himself, everyone has secrets they’d rather not have anyone knowing about.” He said before leaving the tent and Aldrin let out a sigh of relief.

He noticed as spirituality locked on him each time the elder asked a question and he knew he was trying to probe if he was lying or not, if he wasn’t prepared for this kind of situation then perhaps he would have been seen through but on the other hand all he said was the truth even though it wasn’t the full truth.

After elder Sirius left to his own tent, Aldrin was finally alone, he left the chair to the mattress that lay at one corner of the tent and sat on it in a lotus position, closing his eyes he took a meditative state, calming his mind, there was something he wanted to try again.

After a few moments of concentration his astral body separated from his physical body and flew up into the sky, just before passing through the world barrier he paused and glanced downwards, everything was so minuscule that he couldn’t make out anything, with an imaginary sigh he passed through the barrier and arrived in the void beyond.

His intention was to investigate the power of stars which he received a while back but with no information about.

The first time he appeared in the void surrounded by a sea of sparkling stars, his gaze drifted into the starry expanse mesmerized. They shone brightly, pulsing with energy and time seemed to bend, letting him see the birth and death of many worlds. With the vast expanse he felt free from all forms of earthly bounds and he felt as though he had become one with the universe.

But after that first time the strange feeling vanished, his greatest guess was because he was no longer focusing on the stars themselves again but rather he was focused on seeking a contract, so this time he wasn’t going out to seek a contract but rather to connect with the stars.