Kaelen reached Silas first, then Nevyziel and Caeran followed immediately.
The three of them dragged Silas back.
Lyne came to punch Silas, but he caught it and kicked her, pushing her into the desk.
Silas resisted. "What are you all doing, will you just let them go?"
Caeran grabbed his face and turned it towards his. "They would face punishment if it's decided in the meeting, you have no right to do it on your own."
Silas pushed back almost getting out of their grip. "Aurelion will save them as he always had, I won't let them leave untouched again."
"It's almost time, you will have to wait for the meeting now."
Aurelion spoke from the doorway. "Everyone, upstairs."
Everyone moved past Aurelion. When Silas reached the doorway, Aurelion stepped in front of him.
Everyone waited for them in complete silence.
Occasionally, fragments of their conversation could be heard, but none of it made sense.
Eleven minutes late, both of them entered the room. Aurelion had changed to his formal clothes and Silas had his face covered with a mask.
Aurelion sat down. Silas tried to sit, but his legs gave out. Caeran had to support him.
Aurelion picked up a file. "I saw that all of you messed up in your work, some of you worse than others, but this isn't the time to punish or spend time grieving. We have to still do something about the embodiment of creation or we will lose our world, in 3 days it will cover all of Smoke Foot."
Nobody spoke. If Smoke Foot fell in three days, Alzei would follow within a month. The world would not last much longer.
Kaelen moved forward, mixing up the piles of files on the table. "We don't know how to beat the thing. What's your plan?"
Aurelion fixed the table without causing another mess. "We will kill the god of war. To be precise, you will kill the god of war. And take his position and inherit his powers."
Taking over a god was much worse than killing one.
Kaelen used Clairvoyance to observe what everyone truly felt. The moment he activated Clairvoyance, countless gazes pressed down on him. Some were gods, some were apostles, some were celestial embodiments. Among them was the most important embodiment of creation, with a yellow haired kid sitting beside him. All of them were the audiences listening to the judgement that will form the new world.
For a moment, Kaelen's mind went blank. That big of a responsibility, he was not ready for. Lyne and Nyx were on the edge of their seats, their eyes burning in disbelief.
Kaelen moved back to his position. "A god, me? I barely managed to survive against 2 humans, and you are telling to kill a god."
"Not now. We will weaken his influence and once the other gods help enter his void."
Kaelen leaned back in his chair. "Other gods? We are going to rely on enemies in such a situation? What if they never agree? And will we just wait till then?"
"No, they will never submit to the god of war. We will weaken them, destroy every camp, and kill every member."
Nevyziel tapped Kaelen's back. "Our best chance is to follow Aurelion. We don't need to argue with him."
Caeran stood and opened his report. "Kaelen, I don't think you know this yet but there is a global ranking for strongest humans, which is how we decide which members to select for a mission. You are ranked fourteen. Nevyziel is fifty-eight. Your targets are ranked thirty-two and forty-four."
Aurelion continued it. "Your teams for this mission will be Kaelen and Nevyziel, Silas and Caeran, and Lyne and Nyx will remain here until further notice."
Lyne jumped out of her chair. "You can't discard us after we failed once. We will try our best. What is there to lose by sending us?"
"I have made my decision," Aurelion said.
Caeran followed Aurelion's lead. "Kaelen and Nevyziel will go to the city of Red King and hunt two men, Malakor and Rune. Silas and I will...."
Thoughts that weren't his flooded his mind.
For an instant, his senses stopped working.
When he regained control of his body, Silas said, "Even if we defeat him, how will Kaelen take over him? Other gods will come rushing in like hounds to feed over his remains."
"Kaelen has all the tools he needs. He just needs to polish them a bit," Caeran said.
Silas slammed his palm into the table, his gloves split open, blood streamed out. "You expect me to trust someone who can't use his powers to his max?"
Aurelion stood and move towards Silas. "I said i have made my decision. It is the best one any of us can make."
Silas shouted as Aurelion got close to him."Okay! i won't complain."
The room went silent.
Aurelion and Caeran said "dismissed."
Kaelen asked Nevyziel as he was waiting for breakfast. " Did we ever have a kid with us?"
Nevyziel immediately turned her head around, tilted her head. "We have met each other only for a week."
Kaelen put his book down."No, I meant in the team"
"A kid, his life must have been doomed if we ever had one." She said going back to cooking.
Kaelen picked up a pen and tapped the pen against the table."I saw a kid with the embodiment of creation living in his void like it was his child, or someone he created to get rid of his loneliness."
Nevyziel turned off the gas stove and served the food for both of them. "A kid?, even if he really was there. Why would you think he was with us?"
Kaelen picked up his book and opened the page he had left on."Yeah, you are right. My instincts were just bullshit," he said. "Anyway, I think I need a phone. Let's go buy one for both of us this afternoon."
Nevyziel came holding both of their plates, chicken teriyaki it was. "Phone, i don't think we need phones much, only a watch for time."
"No, I thought last night, how useful a phone is on our mission, especially in this one, and we are going to such a beautiful city, I don't wanna leave without shopping, and I also don't want to carry a sack of cash."
"You might be right about that, if I am free, I am down for it."
The morning ended with them blabbing about what they wanted to buy all around the house.
Kaelen experimented with Clairvoyance and Unspoken Words as they walked toward the city.
Countless speeches rushed into his minds..
Some gods wanted to control him.
Some wanted him dead.
Others hid their identities from him.
Then he saw the yellow-haired child again.
Unlike the others, the child wasn't looking at other god's work.
He was looking directly at Kaelen.
One thought reached him.
"You finally found me Kaelen. "