Chapter 4: Invitation

It had been a month since I last talked with Lukas. Now I was here training the kid.

"Are you weak?" I asked the young demon, who was sweating while doing an exercise created by yours truly.

"NO!" He barked back but still kept doing the exercise.

"You are wrong. You are weak, so weak that I could step on you like a little bug and kill you".

He started to glare at me and I met his gaze.

"Compared to your dead dad, you are nothing. But in the end, your dad wasn't anything either". I felt a bit bad about that one, but it's necessary for his growth.

He stopped exercising and for a moment looked lost. Then a deep hatred and aura started flowing through him. Cracking the training ground we were on.

I finally got a fire burning in him. Now I just had to drive him a bit further.

"Do you miss you dad? Huh kid? Are you missing your daddy, does baby want his daddy?" His aura started becoming more fierce and then he started exercising again. With a focus so great, that it was almost unimaginable.

'So he hit a flow huh' I thought to myself as I turned around and sat on the stone bench at the end. I turned the minute glasses one by one, as the time passed. At the mark of the six sandglass, his concentration and flow broke. 'Huh, so six is the limit even for you' I thought as I got up.

Further away two demons were looking at Sabir and the younger demon training.

"Would you call that training?" A shadowy being asked the tall companion, who was a warrior unlike himself. "It seems more like torture".

The tall demon with black skin pondered for a moment and then answered "I agree. This is no way to train a warrior… yet the results are unquestionable". They both stood silently looking at Sabir and the demon for a moment until the tall demon turned around and started walking away.

"You tell him" she said as she kept walking.

"Haa… always me" the shadowy complained as he disappeared in his own shadow and reappeared behind Sabir.

"The lord Zarzak invites you to dinner"

…

"Great protector. Please wear these!" A maid strongly insisted as she held up a medieval looking suit in bright red colours. With white stripes and a dash of yellow here and there.

'It looks more like a clown's costume, then a suit'.

"Ella, why do you think Zarzak called for me?" I asked the maid. This was the first time, he had called for me. I still had a few hours before meeting up with Lukas, so I didn't mind the invitation. "Lord is weird, so i don't know" the demon maid named Ella shrug her shoulders. 'Is it even okay for you to say that about him'. I sighed and looked at the suit again. This weird maid probably wouldn't let up. She was one of the first demons to start working for me, and I knew her to well now. I showed her away as I would a fly and changed into the suit. I walked up to the polished bronze plate, that was this worlds version of a mirror and looked at myself. My long black matted hair the went down to the back of my back and bushy beard made me look like a caveman. Yet the suit… looked good on me. It showed of my muscular upper body from decades of hard work and a belt of fat that layered itself around my belly. Not really in a fat way, but more like the strongmen of my world. I started stroking my beard and didn't like how I had let my hygiene go, since coming to this world. I had to change that before going back. But at least I looked like a real man!

I walked out the door and the maid give me two thumbs up "looking good protector!"

I stopped and waved her over. She too stopped and looked at me for a second, then ran away leaving only the sounds of her footsteps.

Haa… I walked out the giant house and towards the distance where a giant castle could be seen levitating in the sky.

…

"Oyy! Teleport me up!" I yelled at the sky, while standing in close proximity to the castle. I stood there for a few minutes but nothing happened. 'This bitch better not be playing a prank on me'

I roused my aura and yelled a bit louder then before.

"OYY! TELEPORT…"

The scenery changed in an instance

"… ME UP!" The released aura shook the room I was teleported into and a few of the guards covered their ears. 'Shit. He definitely did that on purpose'. Sorry guard one, two and three. I'll pray for your recovery. I gave myself a mental note about praying for them… not that I pray. But if I started I would remember it. Maybe.

"Please follow me" one of the guards said as he bowed a bit. I nodded my head and pushed my chest forward and started walking with him. He led me though the castle and up the stairs. If I had to describe this place, it would probably minimalistic… actually no. Looked more like a poor man's castle. It had no shine, no gold, paintings or anything excessive. Just a giant castle with walls. Why even build this place if you aren't going to decorate it? A house if where you can relax, be yourself and show who you truly are. Yet this place is empty… is that who you are Zarzak?

The guard led me towards a closed door and the only room with a bit of shine to it. The golden doors with big animal statues in front of it, gave a glimpse of a fierce personality. But this doesn't suit Zarzak.

"The great protector Sabir is here!" The guard announced and waited for permission to enter. I clicked my tongue and pushed the doors open. The guard looked frightened and I waved him away. Closing the doors behind me. The room was decorated with giant animal statues and even bigger paintings of various creatures I imagine were native to this world. I walked towards the king table and sat at the luxurious chair. Time slowly ticked away and then I felt a pressure I could never get used too. A power so great and compressed that it felt like standing near a bomb. I looked at my side and Zarzak was standing there looking down at me. "Your sitting on my chair" he said while looking down at my chair. "Oh i didn't see any place you had written your name? Where did…" my scenery changed and I was sitting at the end of the table on a different chair. Tsk. I hate when he does that.

He sat down on the chair, that I was sitting on.

It wasn't like this chair was any-less luxurious but I like his more. 'I should steal it if I get the chance'.

The doors opened and I stopped plotting my great plan. The demonic waiters from different species started walking in with plates of food try placed them on the table and then they kept bringing in bottles of what I assumed to be alkohol, or something like that. Zarzak opened one of the bottles and took a big chug from it.

'Looks like he wants to talk about something deep'. I picked up one of the dozen bottles and started chugging it too. Then I opened another and finished that one. I looked over at Zarzak who had barely finished his first bottle and his face was already flushed red. I picked up some meat from a bird like creature and started eating it. "I really hate you" his voice broke the silence and I put down the meat. I looked him in his eyes, not backing down from him. This was probably tough for him to say, so I didn't wanna break this man's words from his heart. "Because of you…" I stopped talking and took another big chug from the bottle. I did the same. "My brother. You killed my brother" he said as his eyes started glaring red from the aura in his body being roused. 'You better now kill me by accident you butch' I started getting worried about his alcohol control. "I did kill him" I said as I crossed my arms in front of me and not dodging his piercing eyes. "If you humans! … if YOU hadn't fought back, he would have been sitting right here with me, eating and drinking. Telling me stupid stories about beating this and that demon up…" looks like he is reminiscing about Firzak. I should probably not say anything. Let the man get his words out first before you talk. Don't ruin the moment for him. I started to calm myself and failed. "Fought back? Did you say FOUGHT back? FOUGHT BACK!? YOU MOTHERFUCKERS INVADED MY HOME! HOW MANY DID YOU KILL!? WE DIDNT FIGHT BACK, WE TOOK REVENGE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE I LOST IN THAT ONE YEAR!?" My aura filled voice cracked the table and the room started to shake. But not where Zarzak was sitting. That place was as calm as before. Before I could continue Zarzak spoke "It was you humans who took the first step towards war, we never wanted that. We only needed warriors from your home world and then we would have left".

"HAH! You didn't need warriors, you needed canon fodder to 'help' you against that bitch from second layer". I stopped and took another chug before continuing "We didn't start shit! We were all already tired of war. Even Firzak acknowledged th…"

"DO NOT SPEAK HIS NAME!" Zarzak got up and for once roused his aura. Unlike when I did it, the whole room now looked like a spiders web with him in the centre. Luckily the table didn't break. Do he probably still controlled himself. He was taking deep breath's and took up the bottle again. I took a few smaller sips too and calmed down a bit and started thinking back 10 years. Firzak a tall demon and an unimaginable warrior. Better then that was his personality… I did kill him… and he killed me. We had wounded each other gravely and in the end both crushed each others hearts at the same time. Yet he used his life's essence or some shit like that and healed my heart. I never found out why he did it. But he did. Leaving behind 5-6 year old kid and this stupid little brother of his, who never spoke to his nephew as family. "If it hadn't been for him. You would have all died" Zarzak said with deep hatred seeping through his mouth in a red liquid form… wait. Is he drooling?

I closed my eyes and looked down. Didn't wanna get killed over fucking spilled wine. "Haa… i know. I still don't know why he saved me or why he asked me to help train his son. It's a burdensome debt I owe him" I said as I looked back up at Zarzak, who still had a bit of wine on his chin. He slumped down on his chair and looked up at the ceiling and then spoke after a while, "I really miss him". I could see some tears rolling of his face and I too looked up. "Yeah… I miss my family too" I said back as I thought of all those I left behind, not knowing if they were dead or alive. "At least you will se them soon" Zarzak said as he dried his eyes and continued "I lost my only family". I too looked back at him "you did lose your brother, but the rest of your family is something your throwing away yourself" I said as I pointed back towards a covered giant painting, where only the bottom parts of it could be seen. Yet it was enough to see what it was. "You should get your shit together. Talk with the kid, he needs you more then anything else. Even more then revenge" I said as I got up. I didn't have that much time left now. It was almost time to see Lukas. I started walking out the door but then stopped in front of the covered painting. I grabbed the red cloths and pulled it down. Revealing a young man, who's head is being held in a headlock by similar looking but a bit older man, who has a 4 year old kid on his back. "It's a good painting" I said as I started walking out. Leaving only my footsteps and the sounds of sobbing behind.