The Start of an Alliance

We appeared in an old village that seemed to be abandoned. It has been generations since I was last awake and about so I had no expectations when coming back into society, or lack thereof. Matilda, Laverna, and Eden looked around with curiosity in this old abandoned village.

"This place is abandoned! We can't work with this!" Matilda said.

"Would you rather me take you to your village where people will brand you a villain for awakening me?" I asked.

"I would like some answers. Back there you said you had a reason to destroy Exodus. I want to know the reasoning because it makes no sense to destroy such a sacred kingdom that is the literal capital of our country." Matilda said.

I looked at Matilda then looked at the sky. "I didn't want to destroy Exodus, but they left me no choice. They took some of my wives hostage and tried to drain away their power. They killed my siblings, my friends...my children. They took everything that I had away and made me suffer. They were known for their injustice, however to the people their reasonings were justified."

"Sometimes it takes a villain to be a hero and that's what I did. I waged war against Exodus and awakened my true power...I destroyed Exodus with my bare hands. Because of that the higher gods banished me into that temple to rot for eternity, but I never let them have full control..." I finished.

Matilda crossed her arms and looked at Laverna and Eden. "So?"

"Oh come the freak on Tilda! He obviously had a reason and a legitimate one at that! Let him join us, we need the extra set of hands! Do you want to be poor for the rest of your life?" Laverna asked.

"There are other ways of getting rich. I'm thinking of the longevity of our actions here!" Matilda said.

"I am too! We have a literal GOD in front of us and you want to be scared of being branded a villain?" Laverna scoffed.

"So what are you planning to do when he decides to make a move on you?" Matilda asked.

"Is that literally all you care about? Him making a smooth move on us?" Laverna asked.

"Okay so you're saying you're okay with a Sex Deity of Destruction making moves on you?" Matilda asked.

Laverna blushed and crossed her arms. "Now I'm not saying that, but what I am saying is he's our one chance at getting freewill! We will no longer have to listen to those stuck up royals anymore!"

"I'm taking Laverna's side on this one. Plus I don't mind if he makes moves on me because of my race. I'm genetically build for sex so it's nearly a second nature to me." Eden said.

"Alright listen, I'm not some madman who just uses women for sex alright? Yes I lust over them, but I don't take advantage. Over the course of the years, I've only had four wives and four children. Besides, I am probably your best bet...however." I said.

"However?" Laverna asked.

"I am weakened. So I need to meditate to regain all of my strength, but I need to meditate at certain temples called the Temples of Awakening. There are four times as many temples as there are nations in this continent." I said.

"Oh great a riddle. Okay, Verna, you are the best in geography out of all of us. How many kingdoms are there?" Matilda asked.

"It's simple mathematics, there are four temples in each nation of the continent and there are seven nations one mastering a certain type of Aura. Reval is the master of Red Aura, Strength." Laverna answered.

"Meaning there are...28 Temples in total?!" Matilda asked in awe.

"The four temples from each nation when activated, awakens the Main Temple. Since we are in the nation of Strength which is the nation of Terra, the temple we need to activate is named Mulahara, which is named after the Ancient Dragon, Mulad." I explained.

"You want us to help with that?" Eden asked.

"It would be a definite help, plus you all already activated the first key to Mulahara. There's only three more." I smiled.

"It's so easy for you to say that, but you don't understand how large each nation is. If we want to have a better chance at fighting the king, we will need help..." Matilda said.

"Oh we are travelling to Velluda?~" Laverna asked excitedly.

"Yeah, we have no choice. The Velludan Knights can help us as they aren't too judgemental as the Royal Knights of Reval...We can probably get away with hiding Ashikaga there." Matilda said.

"Great! Let's go then!" Laverna said and smiled.

"Not yet." I said and sat down in a criss cross position. "I've expended most of my energy so I need to regain it back."

Matilda noticed I had started to meditate and saw energy entering my body and crossed her arms. Laverna also watched and tilted her head.

"What is he doing?" Laverna asked.

"He's meditating?" Eden asked and watched me.

Laverna got on the ground and poked my cheek. She noticed I was unfazed by it. She poked me again then a force of energy pushed her back.

"I may be meditating, but that doesn't mean I can't sense you all." I said then opened my eyes and a red aura slightly surrounded my body and my stamina was replenished.

"Are we allowed to traverse to Velluda now?" Matilda asked.

"Yes." I said and stood up.

The four of us began to make our way to Velluda and Matilda was leading us there. While we travelled to our destination, they were showing me how the world was at its current state.

Everything seemed peaceful on paper, but they explained how the King of Reval was keeping the people of lower status in an enslaved position. They were allowed to explore around, but half of whatever they find gets taken away.

"It is also said the Seven Nations of Perumal are having issues with one another over power and dominion. The Hero of Perumal has gone missing as well so we have no one to stop the upcoming war that is soon to happen." Matilda said.

I looked around and noticed other adventurers exploring around then crossed my arms. I sensed an enemy approaching us from behind then stopped walking. "You think you can fool me by going for a sneak strike?"

The enemy stopped in its tracks and seemed surprised then dodged an energy blast that I shot at it. It began to speak gibberish and prance about waving its club in the air.

"A Powrie?!" Eden squeaked and hit behind me.

"Hmph...A Goblin Class Enemy huh? Well I guess I can use a little exercise." I said and summoned my sword then noticed more Powries coming to help their leader.

Matilda unsheathed her sword and got ready for battle and Earth Energy surrounded her body.

"Alright! Finally some action!~" Laverna said and got into her battle stance.

"Let's go!" I said then dashed toward the Powries.

One Powrie charged at me and swung his club at me, but I parried it and slashed at him, striking him then kicked him upwards then released two cutting waves at the Prowie and struck him, easily defeating the enemy.

Matilda used a stone to propel herself toward another Prowie and slashed in a circular motion, knocking the Powrie upwards then Laverna somersaulted toward the airborne Powrie and kicked him down to the ground and caused a spike to go through his body.

Eden summoned two Plant Knights to rush down the Powrie she faced off against, but the Powrie she was against was the leader. The Powrie dodged the Plant Knights then defeated them with one swing.

"Atłï børßhæ!" The Powrie said.

"What?" Eden asked and stepped back from the Powrie.

The Powrie hopped up and down speaking it's native language the charged at Eden at full speed. Eden squeaked and began to fire white orbs of energy at the Powrie from her cane, but the Powrie dodged each one and lunged at her, but I appeared beside the Powrie and kicked him away.

I slashed down and released another cutting wave at the Powrie, hitting him then an explosion happened. "Alright...that was the last one. I gained some good experience from that."

Eden's ears drooped and she looked down. "Thank you for saving me..."

I looked at Eden and shared half of my experience with her and noticed her surprised look. "You shouldn't worry about being too weak, Eden."

"How—"

"I can tell by the way you look. Everyone starts from somewhere. Combat might not be your thing, but there's more to combat than just simply attacking. It seems you have Plant Manipulation, you can use that to support your allies." I said and wanted to demonstrate, but couldn't.

"I would demonstrate it, but...I don't have any of my original abilities." I added and crossed my arms.

Eden looked at me and smiled a bit. "It's alright, Ashikaga...I just need more experience on the battlefield. I don't usually fight as much since I was pretty sheltered as a kid unlike Matilda and Laverna."

"You are still an amazing healer and magic user. You just have to find that Pillar of Strength from within." Matilda said and smiled at Eden.

"Right! Also we make a pretty good team. I haven't had that much fun fighting in a while.." Laverna said and smiled.

I looked at Laverna and crossed my arms. I chuckled softly and looked at the sky. "It's getting dark out and we have no materials to make food with or anything. As a God of Destruction, hunting is one of my specialties."

"Wait what?! You can hunt and cook as well?" Laverna asked and her eyes shined.

"I had to take care of four wives and children in my time. Of course I can hunt and cook. The forest is the best place for hunting food. I'll be back in a bit, you three just find a good camping spot." I said then warped away.

"Aaaand just like that he's gone." Matilda said and held her arms. "I guess we should start with finding a safe place to camp at for the night.."

"Alright!" Laverna said excitedly. She liked camping as it was a way for her to be in tune with nature.

~An hour later~

I warped to Matilda and the others, holding a stack of boar meat and a net full of fish. Matilda and the others noticed me and were surprised by my findings. I smiled at them and set everything down.

"Alright, tonight we feast over the start of our alliance." I said.

"Alliance?" Matilda asked.

"Come on Tilda! Stop being so skeptical! Ashikaga can help us achieve our dreams! To the start of an alliance!" Laverna said and raised her hand in the air.

Laverna's carefree attitude really raised the mood of the group because she was so free like the wind despite her position in society. It was hard to not smile when she reminded me of one of my wives.

"We should give him a chance. He saved me from a Powrie and practically protected us from getting attacked unknowingly. Plus he saved us from the Royal Knights.." Eden said and smiled.

Matilda was still worried about if I was really true about not wanting to destroy humanity or not and if I was genuinely about not taking advantage of them, but she caved in as she was outnumbered.

"Fine...but don't expect too much out of me. I'll work with you but that's as far as our alliance will go, got it?" Matilda said in a stern tone.

I looked at Matilda and chuckled softly. "Alright."

We formed our alliance together and began to cook the food and celebrate the start of our alliance. After being chained for generations, it felt nice being a part of society again with these three women. I truly appreciated Laverna since she's the one who convinced the other two to give me a chance. I wasn't going to let them down.