TBATE - To fulfill a promise

3. Codename Godspell

STORYTIME?: So, I was writing this chapter and finally completed it, such hard work for 3,2k words and I sent it to my beta reader. —(Venom a.k.a. Vn-bTw is my actual useful beta reader. My other two beta readers aren't really helpful except helping me with ideas. I think one of them is just my beta reader to be horny and read the chapter early while the other didn't even read the fanfic itself.)— I was also sick at that time and fell asleep shortly after a small talk with Venom. When I woke up, it was radio silence and 10 seconds later, venom DMed me  (crazy coincidence).  I read trough his message and we talked again and then he sent me some screenshot and guess what. This guy made my 3.2k word ff to a  4k word ff. He added 800 words to my fanfic. AND IT DIDN'T STOP THERE.  He said, he tries to aim for 4.4k words.... This guy just promoted himself to co-author at this point. 

Arthur Leywin's POV:

The door creaked open into a massive cavern with an elegant coved ceiling carved from the natural stone and sanded down to perfection. Pillars, the width of at least three grown men linking arms, supported the huge underground structure. Bright orbs of warm light lining the walls exposed the awe-inspiring expanse in front of us.

Compared to the last time I entered the cavern — where only a single building on the second floor lit up — dozens of flickering lights on multiple buildings as people I had never seen before roamed through the whole cavern. However, with the extra people, it didn't make the atmosphere better. Most of them had their heads down and with a single glance, the sight of grief and depression was easily recognizable. A thought entered my mind. I imagined my family, and friends also plastered with the same expression as they did if I didn't make it.

'How long have I been asleep,' I asked mentally. Seconds passed before I realized that Regis was found nowhere. I didn't panic. However, It felt normal and I decided to think about it later.

I wandered aimlessly, hoping I would find my family or Tessia. The people around me looked in awe as they talked to each other. It had been a long time since I had received stares like these. I had relished it then, priding myself on my domineering strength, but now, the weight of their fear rested on my shoulders as a lonely burden.

Their voice plagues from mouth to ear and I felt sickened by it. It felt like they were isolating me, already accepting me as humanity's savior while also deeming me not a human anymore. However, that wasn't what sickened me. No, it's the fact that I'm starting to resemble...

King Grey.

For the next hour, I endured the feeling before sensing my family. The sanctuary seemed to disrupt my senses now that I thought about it. It was comparable to the aether orb where the concentrated aether in the atmosphere disturbed my senses on mana. The atmosphere also lacked mana, making refining cores and conjuring a lot harder than it should be.

I just stood for some second, rethinking how I should approach my family. It seemed to me that it had just been yesterday but to them... Wait, how long was I sleeping again?

'I say about a week at least.' My head twisted so fast that my eyes couldn't process my movement, sending me almost into a state of vertigo. Before I could ask anything, he responded, knowing exactly what I was about to ask. 'Was sleeping. It's hard to maintain my form.'

I nodded and the silence resumed again. Where my family is was the same place as I had seen. A building by the stream that had a view from the whole cavern. I approached it. I saw my mother, Ellie, and Helen talking as their heads turned toward me.

Ellie jumped from her seat and ran to me. Expecting a warm welcoming hug, I extended my arms. However, a sudden blow made me drop till mine and Ellie's eyes were on the same level. 'Ouch,' I heard Regis.