The Virtues' Magecraft

Page 21: The Beginning of Hope and Despair

-     -   The Day After   -     -

Arnold Norr smiled to himself as he walked through a nearly empty restaurant. It held a silent ambiance as the sun began to rise above Asgard. Thin streams of sunlight peered through the curtains and windows.

Each wall was built with white bricks. Every single room and corridor bore gold-lined doorframes and windows with golden-yellow lights blaring from each corner of each room.

From a few meters away he could already hear the conversation of his comrades.

He stared at them from afar. None of them wore the robes and uniforms they usually wore.

Still, Arnhild's long white hair remained to be the most noticeable feature of a room, her hair cascading over her clothes. Arnhild sat in front of two others, her back facing the entrance as she spoke.

"Surely, it's a disgrace as the commander of the Golden Dawn that I barely complete missions. Things must be done, but I barely accomplish anything. Atlas is doing all kinds of things and I-"

Atlas let out a sigh of interruption, as he put his hands behind his head. "You see, what I don't understand is the flow of these things. We have to wait for each demon and each stage? I don't see how that's necessary. If we want to, we could just speed up the process and cause ruin overnight, right?"

"He's right, y'know," a woman agreed. She sat right beside Atlas, her arms crossed against her chest. She was pale-skinned and had curly brown hair, with green eyes behind her glasses.

"Not about causing ruin, but about how this whole plan and process is taking too long."

"Yes, I understand," Arnold said, approaching them from some dozen meters away. "But it's all in preparation for what's next. Games that end right away are dull, aren't they? Soon, all life will the palm of our hands."

Arnhild's eyes lit up as soon as she heard her brother's voice. "Arnold!" she said from afar, waving at him as he approached.

Arnold smiled in return. Despite their ages and maturities, all Arnold saw was his childish little sister.

Despite the fact that she was almost erased from existence yesterday, she was still smiling.

Two people sat in front of her. Atlas, and Eve, another Titan chosen by Arnold.

"So when is the food gonna get here?" Atlas asked.

Arnold disregarded Atlas' words and sat in front of her. "So, Eve. How's Lilith?"

"Well... Getting worse almost every day."

"Well, that's too bad."

"Why have you called me here?" she said, her dark green eyes glaring at Arnold.

Arnold chuckled. "Well, there's no need to be so aggressive. What, I can't enjoy a brunch with the lovely Titan of Life?"

"One, stop calling me that. Two, if you call me 'lovely' one more time, I'll hit you." She paused. "And what the hell is brunch?"

"Well, Atlas came up with that name; Titan of Life. I think it's nice. Besides, brunch is... Well, it's eating breakfast food at lunchtime. I think. It originates from Earth, so I'm not exactly sure," he said, laughing.

Eve sighed.

"What even are Titans?"

"It's complicated," Atlas said, chuckling as he spoke. "I'll explain later."

"Just explain now."

"Well, essentially, titans were figures from ancient Greek myths. They were a human civilization from thousands of years ago. So basically-"