Duskaea and the Fatum Family

•Grey's P.O.V•

I woke up on a giant, soft aloe vera leaf bed. I remembered nothing, but my brother's betrayal. Blaze really pissed me off.

"Where am I?" I thought to myself. It's a garden, full of different flowers. Clueless of where I am, I stood up on my feet. In the near distance, I saw a waterfalls. I approached it, there many beautiful animals around. Some of them are already endangered. A leash of small, sand-colored foxes hopped at me.

"Aww....that's cute." I uttered, while they bark happily.

"Can you show me where to go from here?" this is so stupid. How can a fox understand human language?

"Arf!" they barked happily at me.

"Oh, you do understand our language." I spoke. They guided me through the forest. When we went outside, I gazed at the bright, golden castle. There are four pillars on each corner of the castle. There are bridges from the castle that connects to the pillars too. Where is this exactly?

The foxes returned inside the forest, and left me here. There's another forest up ahead. Maybe the animals from the forest I'm in are not supposed to be in this forest I'm gazing at right now. After all, the forest seems to be swampy, and I can also feel a dark presence from it.

"Let's not try to go there." I thought to myself. As I started to walk to another path, I saw two enormous, ogre-like creatures approaching me.

"Hey there! Another new food for us. We're so lucky right now." one of the ogres uttered. I started to run away from them.

"Hey! Where are you going? Come back here!" the ogres started to rush as well, but fortunately, they're slow.

"Oh, is this the snack you've been talking about?" an unexpected ogre blocked my way. He grabbed me by the hips. His grasp is too tight, that I can't slip through.

"Oh, that's a good catch, Dokor. Now, let's start our meal." the yellowish green ogre uttered, but before they eat me, a blinding light appeared, and scared the ogres off. I closed my eyes before gazing at its bright essence.

"Grey! You're finally awake." A man that wore a silver armor with a white cape uttered.

"Wait, is that you, Maddox?" I was surprised.

"Well, yes, but please don't call me by that name anymore. You'll call me by my original name from now on." he announced.

"Okay, then 'Lycino'." I said.

"Are you ready for the training?" Lycino asked me.

"Yes. This is a requirement in order to save them."

"Well, that's what I like. Never giving up, but we're still waiting for another person."

"Hey morons, what are you waiting for? New year? Come on, there's no time hanging around." as Lycino finished his sentence, another person came out of the shadows. That voice is familiar.

"Well, Blaze. Ready to beat me up?" I sarcastically said.

"Let's start with the bunch of the ogres you've encountered a while ago." he ordered. The plan will work, and here I will become stronger.

~Seven hours earlier, after the robots attacked~

•Serus' P.O.V•

The kid named Rhys was an enemy after all. I need to see this plan of Blaze's.

"Rhys just told you that there was a traitor among us. Now, let me tell you the whole story." Blaze said.

"I acted on my own, and got myself into trouble, okay?! Now, don't laugh at me, idiots. I was separated with Arlo when we're locating you. I saw a gem, similar to the crystals our father can make, but I am hooked by that kid. I needed to play along, in order to be safe." he explained.

"In other words, you're a coward." Grey spoke.

"You can call me that, but this coward you're calling have found the location of one of the branches of the Telum clan's headquarters, and our father is imprisoned there." Blaze said.

"You're not kidding?!" Grey said.

"No." said Blaze.

"How did you make them trust you?" Oceane asked.

"Well, I made up a story to make him believe me. A story where our father did harmful things to me as my training. He did believe it, but I need your cooperation to work this out." he announced.

"How can we cooperate?" I asked.

"Well, guess what, copycat, it will be your first undercover mission. Congratulations." Blaze said.

"Hey, stop calling me that." I replied.

"You still are." he said.

"The location of the laboratory or factory is at the Disko Bay, Greenland. A perfect environment for Oceane, but not exactly. Rhys isn't just a kid that you usually see. He is what the Japanese call "Akkorokamui", the octopus deity. It is believed to be the bringer of peace. But that's not how it went. Rhys will be using our siblings to revive him, and empower the Telum again."

"So, he controls the sea too. We'll see who's the most favorable among us." Oceane uttered.

"Who will they revive?" I asked.

"The one where our powers originated, and our defender, Duskaea." Blaze said.

"Duskaea?!" my eyes flowed tears again.

"Why are you crying, Serus?" Grey queried.

"I don't know." the tears dried up eventually. The pain I've felt is not from me. There's something else. Who is this Duskaea? Why do I cry when I hear his name? The time where that black-hooded man visited me, then now. He said that there is some truth that I need to see. The Fatum Family, the Telum clan. They know this "Duskaea", and I will search for the truth.

"Let's deal with that later, for now we must focus on saving them. You will stay on a low profile. Never make them feel suspicious of you, act like you don't know that I'm the traitor. And lastly, I need you to surf from here to Greenland."

"We'll surf for seven hours?!" Oceane was shocked.

"We'll go into two groups. Oceane and Serus will be the undercover spies inside the branch, while me and Grey will do something else." Blaze ordered.

"What will we do?" Grey asked him.

"I'll train you, moron."

"Train? For what?" Grey queried.

"To save them of course."

"I didn't expect my arrogant, older brother will want train me."

"It's what father ordered me."

"We'll meet you after a day at the factory, Oceane." he said

"Will do, Blaze." she said.

~Present~

•Grey's P.O.V•

"Now, Grey let me tell you what you'll do inside the Dour Forest." he uttered.

"Dour Forest?" I questioned.

"The forest where the ogres a while ago came from is the Dour Forest. The most dangerous among all creatures are living here. " he responded.

"So, what am I going to do here? Kill them all?" I asked.

"You can't kill them, and if you're gonna try to, please don't. Because they're also the ones that helps us defend the Emdelion." Lycino said.

"I thought they're dangerous?" I said.

"Well, they are, but they kind of redeemed themselves. In fact, they also wanted to help you train. Before" he replied.

"Obviously, because I'll be their prey. So, what are the instructions?"

"First, there will be designated monsters that will 'beat' you. It'll be three, so don't worry. Lastly, survive inside it." Lycino smiled.

"Well, let's start the training." I said, and I proceeded inside the forest.

The forest has a gloomy vicinity. Only dim lights shine within it. Cold winds blows, and the trees are completely black. Some emit its black extract to the ground.

"Grey, can you hear me?" Lycino suddenly spoke.

"For gosh's sake Lycino, stop doing that."

"Oh, I forgot that I'll be in touch with you through our minds. You'll need a guide of where you'll go, after all." he continued.

"Fine by me. So, where should I go first?" I asked.

"Straight ahead." he answered.

I walked straightforward the path that he told me about. I heard footsteps running in the shadows.

"Who's there?" I called out.

"Better close your eyes when she'll be your enemy." Lycino said.

"What?" something just hit me in the face. It's so fast that I didn't sense it.

"What is this creature, Lycino?" I asked him, while being cautious.

"It's one of the Gorgons. You might have heard of them right?" he replied.

"So, is this Medusa? It's impossible--" the thing hit me again, and I didn't see her appearance. I unsheathed my knife, and proceeded to a battle stance.

"This is quicker than Medusa, and she's an immortal too."

"What an easy prey." the thing appeared out of the bushes.

"Close your eyes, Grey." Lycino told me. I closed my eyes then.

"Seriously Lycino, did you really think I was 'that' strong?!" I aimlessly run to the Gorgon.

"I'll play with you all right." I hear her hauling from one place to another rapidly. I hear her from every direction, but she still hits me with her sharp, damn brass claws.

"This will take a long time." I uttered to myself. She isn't just shifting randomly though, so I ran around with great speed as well, even though it's inferior to hers. This will make her change her patterns of attacks.

"Stop running will you?!" the Gorgon yelled at me.

"Sorry, no can do." I said.

"Lycino, who is this Gorgon that you assigned to 'beat' me up?" I asked him.

"It's Euryale. You know, the 'wide-leaping' of the Gorgons." he said. My eyes still closed, I tried to hear her steps jumping from place to place. She stroke me again.

"If you're not going to show your strength, you're just wasting my time. I'll just eat you right away." I hear her snake hair hissed, she's at my front. I kicked her at her guts, and stood up immediately.

"Gah! You foolish shit." She tried to grab me, but I hear her steps and I was able sense where it is.

"I was distracting you to stop. Haven't you noticed?" I lunged at her upfront, and thrust my knife.

"Hehehe. I should've just used my wings from the start. I'm being merciful to you a while ago, but I guess being merciful isn't the forte of a Gorgon." she didn't get hit by my attack. I hear her flap her wings rapidly.

"I'll devour you!" she pushed me to the ground, and sat on me. Her mouth releases a stench, I then thrust the knife when she was about to eat me.

"Ack!" the knife went through her mouth. I pushed her away from me, and picked myself up.

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"Whew, now that was a challenge." I opened my eyes again. The Gorgon, Euryale has a long, greenish blue hair, and have boar-tusks as fangs. She has wings made out of metal and hands made out of brass too. Gazing at her eyes will petrify me, and I was just lucky that I survived that.

"Well, the first monster's already done. She'll be healed later. Proceed to the next area, Grey." Lycino ordered.

"Will do." I turned my back from the Gorgon lying on the ground.

As I am advancing to the next area, I saw a black-hooded figure, casting something. I hid in the near bush. I see an odd symbol from that figure's casting. It has a purplish color. I proceeded to the next area quietly.

"Lycino, I thought only monsters are here at the forest. Why is there a human here?" I asked him.

"Well, some of them are half-human and half-monster, so I expected that." he said.

"No, I mean I saw a figure that is purely human." I cleared.

"What? That's impossible." Lycino said.

"Describe the guy."

"He is wearing a black-hooded robe. I didn't have the chance to see his face, but he was pretty busy casting some ritual or stuff like that." I said. Lycino uttered nothing, but silence.

"Finish your training first, and be careful with that guy. We'll talk about it later." he said with a worried voice.

I reached the area, and there stood a muscular man. It has the head of a bull, and the body of a man. It unusually wore an armor.

"Are you the one the king was telling me about?" the thing said.

"Yes. You're the Minotaur right? It's quite unusual for you to wear a chest armor." I said.

"Indeed, but the king taught me better ways than destruction only." the Minotaur spoke.

"Well, that's cool." I said.

"It'll be an honor to train a strong friend of the king." the Minotaur draw out his two axes, and I draw out my one and only weapon, a knife.

"Now don't be easy on me. It'll not be a training, if I didn't get thrashed up." he charged at me with a slow pace, and swung his axes to hit me. I evaded the attack by stepping aside.

It's my chance, he cannot recover that fast during his attack. I stabbed his arm, but he didn't even flinch. He smacked me with his fist, and my body blew away, hitting the nearby tree.

"Gah!" I reacted. I stood up from the ground, holding my knife. the Minotaur moved towards me, he looked at me with its cold, blue eyes.

He swung it again, but I dodged it. I don't need to clash with this guy, it'll just cost me a large amount of my strength. This guy is too formidable.

"Do you want to rest, ms. Grey?" the Minotaur asked.

"No, it'll just make me more vulnerable. In actual battles, your enemy will not give you any time to rest." I replied.

"That's right." he charged at me. I ran swiftly. They say if you can't defeat them by punches, just outrun them until they're dizzy. I did what Euryale did a while ago. Hitting the enemy without them noticing you.

"It's a good move, but not good enough." he stomped his foot, causing a small quake. I stopped running because of it, and he charged, then hit me with a combination of punches.

"Ack!" I spit blood on the ground.

"Let's end this now." the Minotaur swings his axes upward.

I slid through his lower torso, and slashed both of his ankles.

"Damn!" the Minotaur yelled, his ankles hurting.

"I will end it, sir Minotaur." I threw my knife towards him, and he was distracted. That's not what I intend to do. I kicked his genitals so hard that it gave him a painful sensation. He fell asleep due to the unbearable pain.

"Grey, what the hell?" Lycino said.

"Wait, you saw that?" I was shocked.

"Well yeah, our telepathy also lets us see what our target see." he explained.

"Then, you should've seen the black-hooded guy a while ago!" I yelled.

"Well, yeah. Like I told you, we'll talk about it later." Lycino said.

"You seem serious. I'll finish this quickly." I replied.

"Don't be too excited. Your next enemy will be far more dangerous than those from before." Lycino warned.

I departed from the honorable Minotaur's area, and went to the last one. I wandered through the forest, until I arrive at the designated area. I finally arrived, but nothing seems to appear anywhere inside the circular area.

"Lycino, where's the last monster?"

"Gr....get...way.....from.....ere! He's.....not...th....mons.....ter!" I can't hear him clearly.

"What?" I asked.

The figure from before appeared in front of me through the shadows. He stood there, and I feel that it is gazing its malicious eyes at me.

"Who are you? What have you done to Lycino?" I queried the figure calmly.

"Grey, get away from there! It's not safe!" Lycino concernedly yelled through my mind, but I didn't get the chance to reply. Since, the figure unexpectedly charged at me.