YM778.TV Chapter 40: Chapter 40 - Strange vision
Yet, he witnessed as this once–thriving community met a mysterious end, with each giant succumbing to an inexplicable force, their bodies drying up until they were little more than husks.
Amid the fallen giants, a lone figure emerged. He stood amidst his fallen tribesmen and fell to his knees before appearing to roar in despair. As the vision included no sound, Erik heard nothing of this.
After appearing to mourn the loss of his tribe for a while longer, the single giant stood up. He walked away, a vision of loneliness, until he was suddenly joined by a woman who could only be described as a female minotaur.
The giant had a sword as large and broad as himself on his back, while the woman held a large shield with a one-handed hammer on her hip, with both of them dressed in simple armor.
Erik watched them travel various worlds as they appeared to be searching for something. Perhaps the reason for his kin\'s fate. Erik naturally felt sympathy for this giant, as his story was similar.
While he knew who had betrayed him, he didn\'t know why or who this Confessor was that his hunters had mentioned that day. He still needed answers, just like this giant.
Eventually, the giant seemed to have found an answer, as the vision changed into a colossal tree appearing in the white void, looming over Erik like a cosmic pillar. Its immense trunk of brown bark was adorned with patterns reminiscent of ancient runes and seemed to shimmer slightly.
Clusters of leaves spread over its many branches, creating a sprawling green, almost glowing canopy that seemed to cast a shadow on Erik despite no single light source being present.
However, it wasn\'t rooted in the ground. Instead, it floated in the air with its gnarled roots spreading out underneath it like shadowy tendrils.
These tendrils seemed connected to various smaller trees, as bits of light appeared to travel through these roots, feeding the large tree.
Next, the vision shifted back to the giant from earlier, who was now in a large, seemingly underground complex with the minotaur woman. Surrounding these two were various smaller beings, many of whom looked like regular humans.
The pair of minotaur and giant seemed to be doing something to these various beings. Still, the exact nature or purpose of their actions remained shrouded in mystery.
As the vision unfolded, the current scene suddenly exploded. Three imposing warriors in golden armour appeared in its stead, with an army of winged people behind them.
The middle warrior wielded a long spear, the right a simple longsword, and the left had an axe in each hand.
What happened next was apocalyptic level war, as the three beings engaged in an all-out battle with the giant and the minotaur, while the winged army engaged with an army of various different races, some of whom Erik recognized as shapeshifters and vampires.
After a long battle, the invading force came out victorious.
In the final act, the giant expended his last effort to save the minotaur woman, who suddenly disappeared in a dark blue flash before the giant was killed and chopped up into various pieces.
Afterwards, the losing army was enslaved, not by the winged creatures, but by many of the same races as had fought against the winged soldiers.
Next, the scene changed; the tree was back, and the three golden warriors were standing in front of one of the smaller trees connected to the bigger tree\'s roots. The spear wielder had a small, see-through orb in his hand and appeared to push it inside the smaller tree.
The warriors then left, and time seemed to move forward quickly, indicated by the large leaves swaying frantically.
At some point, time moved back to normal speed as the minotaur woman reappeared and stood next to the same small tree the three warriors had put that orb into.
She punched at the tree, and it seemed to disappear, but a green flash hit her in the back before the minotaur woman did the same. She still disappeared, but by whose hand was uncertain.
Then, the vision ended, leaving Erik not much wiser than before, a sentiment he didn\'t mind sharing, "That wasn\'t very enlightening, you know? What are you trying to tell me? And, more importantly, why should I care?"
The various goings on of some random and likely ancient, powerful beings was no concern of Erik, after all. All he wanted right now was revenge on Edda, including whoever ordered her to do it, and then he would continue with Elora as he had been.
Grow stronger and eventually rule together with her, likely starting with Earth. Probably add some more women to their harem, too. Erik was a simple man in that regard.
It took a moment for the voice to return as if thinking about something. Still, instead of answering Erik\'s question, it said something much more interesting, "Find…revenge…Africa…hunters…important…"
Lastly came a name that caused a flash of rage to pass through Erik\'s eyes, "...Edda…"
Afterward, he suddenly opened his eyes to the real world, staring up at the ceiling as morning light shone through the hole-riddled curtains.
He blinked a few times in order to remember where he was, which took a moment since he had just literally watched however many years pass by in vision format.
He mumbled, "Way to end on an interesting note."
He felt something stir next to him before a slender arm was draped over his chest, followed by the green eyes, crimson hair, and beautiful face of his partner, Elora. "Good morning! What did you just mumble?"
Erik sighed, "Let\'s just say I dreamed something interesting. I\'ll tell you all about it when I\'ve woken up a little."
Elora giggled, "I hope it was a sexy dream."
Now that they were equal partners, she couldn\'t look into his memories without his permission anymore. Not that she would if she could; that would be a betrayal of trust, after all.
Despite the events just now, Erik couldn\'t resist laughing at his ever-horny partner. He was glad to have her with him, no matter what the future may hold. "Unfortunately not. Although there were a man and woman involved."
Elora smiled, "Well, I look forward to hearing about it. Anyway, look next to you. That girl you like has a real servile attitude. I approve."
Only now did Erik realise that Emma\'s weight was missing from his left shoulder. He looked at where she was supposed to be and found a plate with some breakfast, including hot coffee.
He wondered where Emma had gotten all this stuff from and how she had made coffee, something that Elora quickly explained, "Seraphina\'s travel companions arrived, and they brought all that stuff.
Emma woke up earlier and used her light magic to burn through the ropes binding her before she went to see what was happening and brought back some breakfast for you."
She chuckled, "It\'s good I added her magical mark to the protection sigils I created, or she might have ended up dead."
She shrugged, "Anyway, I suppose she is catching up with her sister now. So how about that dream?"
Erik nodded and sat upright before taking the breakfast plate and began to share the food with Elora while telling her about everything that happened in the dream.
When he was done, Elora looked thoughtful as they continued to eat.
When they were done, she sighed, "It could mean a hundred different things. It seems to suggest that either that giant, the minotaur, or both are the people who have something to do with the events here on Earth.
But that voice you heard might as well have been from one of those golden armored warriors or another person altogether, with the vision being a warning for some reason.
Let\'s focus on that last bit for now. The voice seems to be telling you that Edda and the other hunters are in Africa. So what do you want to do?"
Erik was quiet for a moment as he thought about that. While part of him wanted to run off to Africa in search of revenge, he couldn\'t just trust the words of some random voice in his head. Who knew if Edda was truly in Africa?
Not to mention that \'Africa\' was not exactly a small place. It would have been nice if that voice had been a little more precise.
Besides, he wanted to pay a visit to his old community anyway.
So he spoke up, "We can\'t simply trust that voice for no reason. Let\'s just continue as we have been. We\'re basically done here in London now. We\'ve gained two powerful followers and a possible informant in the council, so it\'s about time we leave.
It\'s time for me to return to my old home."