"Was that really necessary?" While flying above the city, Gaya asked Michael.
"Was what?"
"Killing the spartans. I thought we were just gonna beat the hell out of them" Michael stopped flying for a moment to answer Gaya.
"First, the Spartans would have told others that Caius is working for me. Second, killing all of them was the best way to scare and make Caius our bitch.Third, anyone who protects scumbags like Caius with their lives doesn't deserve to live"
Michael never knew the spartans like Heinberg. When he killed them, he only listened to his gut feeling which said the spartans were anything but innocent.
"What's the plan now?" She wasn't going to argue with him after noticing the cold intent in his eyes. Ever since he said he saw a glimpse of the future, she noticed many changes in him. He had become more cold-blooded.. To be honest, she wasn't worried about his newfound changes. On the contrary, she was glad because there was no way a soft-hearted person could achieve their goals.
"We'll take a day off first. Then, we'll kidnap all the senators and make them our bitches'' She saw him smile coldly. Leaving Heinberg in Crilta, they continued to fly in a random direction.
After flying for an hour, they found a glossy grass field on the top of a small mountain cliff. The sun was many hours away from setting down yet their limit of Arch energy usage time made them rest for the day.
"I want this world to stay like this" standing atop the cliff, he looked at the majestic view before him. As far as his eyes could see, the land was covered with green forests, grasslands, zig zaggy rivers, lakes and a chain of mountains, yet only a small portion of this vast mother nature contained man-made buildings. Although he was not into saving nature back on earth, compared to earth, this world was heaven. It was because these people coexisted with nature instead of destroying it. At first, he didn't value nature's beauty too much but after seeing the future world where there wasn't a single tree or clean water source, he wanted to preserve this world as it is. If that meant fewer technologies, he was ready to sacrifice technology for nature. This was purely a decision made of selfishness as he would rather rule a beautiful fantasy world than a technologically advanced polluted planet.
They sat down on the grass field, feeling the gentle coldness of the dew. Gaya rested her head on his shoulder as he on her head. The hydra wiggled out of the satchel onto Gaya's lap.
"It will be more beautiful if we have someone to play with" the silver head sounded a little gloomy,
"You do have someone to play with little fella, a big scaly dumb dragon"
Hearing her words, even the white head looked surprised and even delighted for a second.
"Think of him like your big brother," said Michael.
"Where is he now?" the silver head asked with a bit of excitement hidden within its voice.
"He is at home. Don't worry, we'll go there soon" His purpose of visiting the Southern Continent was almost finished. The only thing he had to do was get all the senators in line so he could rule Gisel from the shadows.
"Let's just say we control every kingdom in this world, what then?"
"If you're asking me will I rule this world as an emperor? No, too many risks, too many responsibilities, too much exposure. I prefer living my immortal life without any of those"
"What if I want to be the Queen or the Empress?" she lifted her head from his shoulder, looking directly into his eyes. In his eyes, she seemed serious yet funny at the same time.
For a few seconds, he couldn't find a suitable answer for her. He just stared at her pretty eyes,
"If you really want that throne, I'll not stop you but don't expect me to play king"
"You will be a king after you marry me, it's destiny" she pinched his cheek playfully.
"Who said I'm gonna marry you?" her smile completely disappeared from her face.
The rosy color of her face became redder while her eyes slightly welled up looking at the earnest expression on his face.
"I'm just messing with you" seeing her eyes watering up, he cupped her rosy cheeks playfully.
"You fucker!" she lunged at him with all her strength and rage.
"Whoa," the hydra jumped away to avoid being crushed under them as Michael and Gaya rolled on the ground. She kept drumming his chest for the prank he played. However, Michael's chest was like a steel plate, no matter how hard she hit, he didn't feel any pain. For him, it was great fun teasing her after a long day of work.
"You heartless son of a bitch! I will teach you a fucking lesson"
"Is that so?" Michael grabbed her both hands while she tried to wiggle out of his grab. She was on top of him which put a foxy smile on Michael's face.
She was too angry to notice this smile as she continued to struggle.
"Stop you two!"
"There's something going on"
The Whitehead and Silver head slid towards them. At the moment, the Hydra's wings and legs hadn't completely grown yet so they moved like a snake.
While she was struggling, Michael turned his head to see the Hydra,
"Don't you hear the commotion?" the blackhead asked,
"The shoutings, the screams?"
Michael released Gaya's hands before wrapping his hands around her waist and stood up. He then hugged her from behind, looking at the Hydra on the ground.
"I don't hear anything"
"Release…me"
"Stop it snake" he placed a kiss on her neck and cheeks from behind to stop her wiggle. As he expected, she stopped moving as she let out a quick bark of laughter.
"Where did you say the noise was coming from?"
"We didn't," the white head said
"That way" the silver head turned its head further towards the forest.
Finally, Michael let go of Gaya as she seemed to have calmed down.
"Are we going or not?" the white head craned its head, wordlessly telling Gaya to pick them up.
After flying around the kingdom, they only had one hour left of their arch energy usage. Yet, the Hydra's curiosity made them fly towards the direction pointed by the Hydra.
They were flying above the lush green mountains until they saw a city surrounded by tall walls on the horizon. Unlike Crilta, this city was smaller and surrounded by city walls. Compared to the capital city itself, this city was far more defensible. Instead of landing and paying the guards as they would in any city, they flew directly into the city hiding among the clouds.
When they got closer to the city, they noticed the presence of soldiers was far higher than Crilta. From the sky, they could see numerous legionary soldiers, as well as spartans, patrolling in and outside the city walls.
The buildings and the architectural style were the same as Crilta though. Soon, they quickly descended from the sky onto a dark alley.
"Mommy look gods!" a boy standing on the balcony they landed shouted.
Michael just winked at the boy before walking out of the dark alley into the crowded streets.
The people largely consisted of women and men in fancy clothes were running toward something. There were not many slaves on the streets. Michael saw only a few slaves, they were completely naked and had various burn marks on their bodies. Ignoring the slaves as he was unable to do anything for them at the moment, Michael followed the crowd.
"This is what will happen if any of these strays tries to escape their masters" when they came to stop, Michael saw a stage built with three male naked slaves hanging. Their eyes were bulged out as their tongues were sticking out. In addition, there were deep cut wounds all over their bodies. Many noble ladies had their hands on their mouths looking at the gruesome sight. Yet, they remained there listening to the six feet tall muscular man on the stage. He wore a golden toga and had a long bloody sword in his hand.
Obviously, the blood on the sword was the slaves' and he indicated as much as pain he could to the slaves before hanging them. Michael wondered why.
"No slave can rebel against their masters in any senate ruled kingdom, not in my watch. Soon, I will do the same to those rebels hiding in the grey mountains" the sudden talk about rebels piqued both Michael and Gaya's curiosity.
"Those dogs of gladiators are not a match for our spartans. When the right time comes, I will personally march into grey mountains and bring the traitors' heads and that day shall be set in stone as an example!"
"Hail General Herius!"
"Hail General Herius!"
"Hail General Herius!"
The nobles cheered in joy and pride while a few of the slaves stared at him with burning anger in their eyes. Michale noticed this. Unlike the slaves in Crila, these slaves seemed to have been wanting to be free men.
"It seems we have a gladiator army waiting for us" standing among the cheering crowd, Michael thought to himself before deciding to follow Herius.
*****************************
Sorry guys,
I was so focused on doing things I don't love and missed doing what I love the most. It took me a while to find the strength needed to follow my passion instead of doing what others ask of me.
I quit my internship and decided to become a full-time writer. So good news, expect 2-3 chapters a day from November. And I hope you guys stick with me and continue to support my work.