"Next please."
"Ugh! What happened, where am I?"
The person who spoke it's a man. He has short hair white swept backwards, gray eyes and his skin is dark brown.
He was dressed in a sleeveless black t-shirt, black pants, a belt around his hips, black boots for his feet and on his hands were fingerless black gloves.
Lastly he had a watch around his right wrist.
His name is Titus Maximus Sin.
He woke not so long ago, stood himself up and found himself in a white pristine corridor filled with countless doors, all different from one another.
Looking straight ahead to the middle there was a man with glasses sitting on a chair behind a table.
Titus noticed the man write down something on a paper against his table without saying a word to him.
Suddenly a solid stone door beside Titus dissolved into a mass of black, he had never seen that before, his eyes widening in shock as he tried to move away but half of his body had already been sucked in quickly. Soon the darkness swallows him up.
He did not know what happened next but he shortly found himself in a forest, falling back to lay on soft grass as he pulled himself together. Before he looked around and noticed trees were surrounding him.
They were different from normal trees from his world, deciding that it was best not to think about it.
He should focus on finding some help or build a camp. However his ears hear something moving in the woods, soft footsteps breaking twigs.
From one of the trees, a dark skinned woman with a pair of horns sticking out of her head, she has white hair, red eyes, generous curves and large breasts. She wears a skimpy red-trimmed outfit armed with a bow and a single arrow stepped into the view.
Titus knows she is a demon from noticing her horns. He sees her aiming her weapon at him like if she was going to shoot him any moment.
Titus held his hand up showing the demon that he was no threat to her but she looked at him in confusion.
Realizing it was pointless. He lowered his hand and shook his head. "You do what you have to do." He turned himself around to walk away from her.
"Don't move." The woman spoke to his surprise, he looked back at her over his shoulder.
"Sorry." Titus apologizes. "But I don't take orders from you, I take orders for myself."
Ignoring his words she told him this. "You are trespassing in a forbidden forest, humans like you are not allowed to step foot. I'm going to ask you to come with me."
Titus chuckled. "You and one party."
"This party." Four shadow figures dropped down, surrounding him. Each of them was wearing dark blue pants and sleeveless shirts, metal bracers and armor chest. They were aimed with a sword strapped to their back.
Four of them were all females but their ears were long.
"Human." One of them in particular is the leader, she goes up close to him in front glaring at him as if she has a problem with him before she draws out a silver sword and points at him, the tip of the sword was close touching his neck.
The long ear woman before him is a beautiful woman with golden eyes, flawless light purple almost amethyst hue skin tone, long slender legs that end at well-formed hips, and ample chest. Her waist-long snow-white hair tied back in a ponytail.
She wears maroon-colored corset-style leather armor with a matching-colored skirt and stocking, usually accompanied with a dark-colored cloak.
"You are not allowed here to step foot in to this forest, put your hands up to the air you're coming with us, don't then we will be forced to attack you if we must."
Titus refuses to cooperate with her order. "Go ahead and kill me. I'm an unarmed man without weapons." He checks his pockets to show her, he has no weapons on him. "I don't care if I die, I just came here without reason. So you go ahead and be a murderer and end me."
"That wasn't a request, it's an order."
"And I refuse not to odey it." He held out his arms. "So you go ahead kill me but you should know before you end me I was brought here by a man sitting behind a table and I found myself in an endless corridor with many different doors. I don't know why he put me here but maybe he has a personal reason for that."
Titus could've sworn he saw the long ear woman widen her eyes for a moment and before a silent gasp from her lips. The demon woman behind him as well did the same but he didn't notice.
The long eared woman kept staring at him and to his surprise she put away her sword. "You." She looks at one of her long ear sisters. "Escort the human to their village, we'll decide what to do with him afterwards."
The other long ear woman spoke into an unknown language that Titus couldn't understand or recognize. Despite the fact that he can't understand what she is saying, it seems she was trying to protest from the looks of it. And begin to argue with her.
"Human." The woman with horns approaches up to him by his side. "Here." She gave him a small piece of paper which is the talisman he's familiar with. "Place this upon your chest or anywhere you can put it on so you can understand their language besides me and hers."
"Why?" Titus needed to ask her curiously.
"Because I believe what you said was true." She answered. "The man sitting behind a table I too encountered him."
This took him by surprise. "You?"
"Yes but not just me, her as well." She refers to the long eared leader who spoke to him earlier. "I will explain more once we arrive at the village you will be placed inside a cell then we can have our conversation."
"What?" Titus questioned again before he put on the charm on his left arm.
"Enjoy your comfy cell, human, while it lasts."
As a guard of the long ear woman left out of his sight went out through an open wooden door before closing the door behind her.
Titus sat calmly on the cot of a cell, silently staring at his watch after arriving at the village, hidden within the woods in secret. Titus didn't say a word, he stayed perfectly silent. The long ear villagers were all glaring at him like they wanted to kill them or throw something at him.
But thankfully their leader ordered them not to.
He can tell by the looks on their faces they have a hatred towards humans. Titus couldn't blame them for disliking his race. Naturally he didn't do anything to them without reason, but no doubt they did not care.
They have all the rights to hate humans or perhaps it is their personal reasons too. Either way it could be both which is uncertain.
Maybe he'll ask the leader about her companion towards humans though that would be a bad idea to ask such a foolish question that she doesn't even trust him nor he doesn't trust her.
By the time the door to the holding cells opened as the same woman with horns walked in. "Hello once again, human." Stopping at the front of the barred door of his cell. "Before we begin our conversation, may I have your name?"
"I am called Titus Maximus Sin." He revealed his identity to her. "And you are?"
"I am Heine of the Flame." She reveals herself. "But please call me, Heine. You do well to remember and try not to forget it."
"No promises but I will try my best." Titus simply said.
"Good." The demon nodded before she got down to business. "Now then Titus, before you got yourself into the white endless corridor and met the same man, how did you get there?"
"You won't believe me if I tell you." He stated.
"Try me." Heine stays where she is not leaving until he tells her.
Titus remained absolutely silent, unsure about this before deciding it was best to tell her not like she'll believe him or not. "All right, I'll tell you." He began. "I volunteered myself on a mission to kill a target, he is a drug lord. He is ruthless, relentless and merciless not to mention he enslaved many people in his homeland and killed some regardless of their age and gender. He got away with murder, blackmail and multiple accounts of man slaughter and harassment he was completely untouchable that no one can put him away but not untouchable enough. So I went after him, successfully I managed to kill him by snapping his neck in two with my bare hands. After I completed my task I was going to escape. But the building around me collapsed due to an earthquake. I was buried underneath tons of rubble. I thought I was still alive. I thought I would survive but turns out I didn't…. I died and you can guess what happens next."
For a moment Henie said nothing yet rubbing her chin before speaking. "I see, so that would explain why he would choose you."
"My turn, how did you come across with the man?" Titus questioned.
"There will be a time for that later. First I need to trust you, then I will tell you however my story is a bit less complicated."
"How can you trust me? You barely know me." Titus told her.
"While that is true indeed, however, if you do have the skills to escape here and save someone regardless of their race then we can trust one another before getting to know each other."
Titus turned his head to look at her. "You can't be serious, I can't get out of here, how am I going to escape if I'm in here?"
"Figure it out." Heine walks away from the cell and heads towards the door. "Until then, farewell for now." She goes out to the door before closing it.
When the moment she had left, Titus was left alone again in his prison cell as he let out a sigh. 'Fortunately I do know how to escape myself in some situations like this. I'm a master escape artist with a few tricks up my sleeve. I can escape from every cell and any prison depending if they're new or old. I could get out of here easily without them noticing but I should wait for the time being then I'll strike.'
Six hours later…
As the sun went down nighttime came around everyone in the village was fast asleep in their bedrooms.
Well..almost everyone.
"What the hell is that smell?" Titus threw his sheets off and stood up. He was getting some quiet sleep until his nose caught the smell of smoke tainted with blood.
He goes over and stands by his cell's window, looking through the bars he sees something beyond the woods.
Titus saw black smoke rise above the treetops, it would seem another village or town across the forest is getting raided or worse.
"I need to get out of here so I can save those innocent people." Getting away from the window he goes up to his cell door. Titus reached into his back pocket and took out an iron key. 'Good thing I stole this from the long ear guard while she wasn't looking.'
Titus makes a run for it, making his way towards the fiery smoking village, as Titus takes off he is equipped with weapons at his disposal. He made a quick stop to the armory before leaving the other village behind.
He has with him a katana, the handle is white with black diamond pattern while its blade was resting inside its white sheath, the other half is black.
The sword was strapped around his back right shoulder. He also has a wrist blade showing on his left forearm in front.
Lastly in his hand was a flintlock pistol loaded with one bullet ready to fire. He wondered how long ears contained such a weapon from the seventeenth hundredths? But he won't complain.
As he ran several meters ahead Titus heard incoming footsteps, from a distance two young children with long ears came running towards him. The children upon seeing the man began to shout out at him for help.
Right behind the two children was a horse and armored rider reared up, the rider having a gleaming silver blade with two armored men following the horse with their swords also brandished out.
Knowing they are the enemy. Titus had his new pistol aimed right at one of them armed men. Pulling the trigger resounding bang followed as smoke rose from the barrel and a small glistening ball rocketed through the air. The armored man on the horse. His head shattered, shattered shards of metal and bone flew in different directions, and an explosion of blood painted the nearby trees and ground.
The two armored men got confused about what happened? What was that sound?
The horse reared up in fright, its rider was now dead. It flung back, the body crashed onto the floor and crumpled underneath the mare's hooves.
The mare anxiously looked around and pawed the ground with its hooves and once it saw a chance to escape it did so, however a shadow figure ran after the disorientated horse.
Titus took this confusion as his opportunity. He ran, drawing out his katana, the metal of the blade itself was pitch black.
The children stopped in their footsteps, their attention captured by this one man. With one great leap he flew past them for a moment.
"Excuse me for a moment." Upon landing in front of one of the armored men he swung sword at a terrifying speed and cleanly cut him in half by the torso. With no hesitation he swung around to pivot his next strike at the remaining man, who barely was able to block the blade, the armored man's arms trembled from the shock and was surprised by the immense strength the black warrior had.
"Trying to kill children, well too bad you are about to enter a one-way ticket to hell." Titus shouted at the remaining armored man as he continued to push down harder.
"Wait, you don't understand." The armored man begins to beg for his life.
"Hell, it is then." With a shove he cut through the soldier's blade and decapitated his head off. The head flew past the two children, scaring them as blood splatters onto them.
The two children cried out in shock as they saw the head roll past them.
Titus towered the two whimpering children, the children's wide eyes filled with fear started right up at him. They were afraid of dying, they had already seen so many of their kind die. Yet they cannot tell if this strange man was going to kill them or not.
"Calm down." Titus told them in a soft tone making them stop being afraid of him, he was using his charisma. "I don't kill the innocent, I only kill those who deserve to be dead such as the guilty. You two are not guilty so you are fine." He looks away from the children.
He crouched down to inspect one of the dead bodies. 'Whoever these men are, they are well equipped with weapons and armor. There could be more of them.' He stood straight up. 'I should get going to the village, but first.' Titus looks back over to the children. 'I should tell these kids to hide.'
Focusing on the mission in hand.
Titus ran across the massive wheat fields. He finally made it to the village, catching sight of some armoured soldiers, Titus leapt off the ground to gain sudden leverage and in a split second he brought down the blade of his sword and cleanly cut off the head of the first soldier who had run up in an attempt to stop him.
'First down.' He then kills more soldiers slicing through them like they were paper with the speed of a roadrunner and the strength of a bear.
His blade dropped heavily with their blood.
He stood right in front of the last soldier, who was the general several meters away from him.
"You." Titus pointed his finger right at the general. "That is the day you die so your soul may end up in hell."
The enemy general scoffed. "Come at me, then Drifter." He drew his weapon out. "If you dare."
Before he could come at him like he wanted to. Titus started to take notice of his surroundings, scattered around him were bodies of the long ears. All dead, he narrowed his eyes. Men, Women and children all were dead. These without weapons to fend for themselves. He was not fool not to realise that this was their way of displaying power, childish and only a short term means of keeping slaves in control. Innocent only living their lives as they were told killed with no true greater meaning either than being a nuisance.
Titus scowled. "You dare kill the innocent? Regardless of their race or age? You are a man with no humanity or honor for that reason you deserve to die and your life hangs."
"What do you know of honor, Drifter?" The general questioned but it fell deaf upon Titus' ears.
Titus took the hilt of his blade rather than slice the general up with it, he launched the sword aimed right at the general's face. Right after that he quickly ran forward right behind the blade as it went soaring through the air. As he predicted the general deflected the blade with a sneer on his face, but the sneer quickly turned into shock.
Titus jumped right up into the air just as the general deflected his blade and took hold of the man, plummeting him onto the ground. "So easy." He quickly secured himself above the general, restricting his movements. As he sat atop Titus grabbed hold of his sheath, he posed the sheath right above his face. There were no words needed for what was going to happen. The commander spluttered out something but right before he could finish his sentence. Titus slammed the butt of the sheath into his face, over and over again. A sickening crunch could be heard over and over as he continued to ram the blunt end of the sheath into the enemy's face. Each time he raised the sheath the Commander spewed out pleas, threats and anything to stop the pain. But again and again, Titus relentlessly slammed the sheath into his face.
Titus slammed the sheath into the general's face several more times before stopping to take a breather. He straightened himself out and cracked his stiff neck from being in the same position for too long.
"Please… stop." The general managed to say a few beggful words for a dying man. His face had been bashed up so heavily, everything had been contorted and broken.
Titus looked around, the long ear villagers had gathered around him cautiously. Some others had gathered around the dead elves grieving over their loss.
He narrowed his eyes feeling pity for them, looking back at the enemy general. "You disgust me." He raised his left arm and flexed his left hand. As he did this, a foot long blade emerged out of its socket from the top of his arm. He then plunged it into the foe's neck, causing him to cough out his blood.
Staring directly at his eyes the man ended up being dead as Titus retracted his blade and stood up off of him.
"Well done." Titus turned to see Heine come out of nowhere riding on a brown and white horse. "You did it without hesitating or showing any signs of regret to the enemy." The long ears move out the way for her to approach him.
"You knew I was going to be here" Retrieving his discarded sword from the ground. "To save these long ears from genocide."
Heine nodded. "Yes and I also knew you were going to escape back to the other village. I must say I'm impressed. You told me that you couldn't get out but you played ignorant the moment I left. You escape without anyone noticing and rescue the elves from almost certain death very cleverly."
"Elves?" Titus looked at the long ears villagers morning for their dead. "You mean them?" He has heard of elves before from a fantasy comic back from his world. "They're elves?"
"Yes, them."
"What about the-" He got cut off by the demon.
"Those were dark elves from the other village." Heine replied. "They hate humans from enslaving their race. I don't blame them."
"Don't you hate humans?" Titus pointed out.
"I don't hate humans though I do hate most of them who want to enslave these races but not all humans are like that." She replied.
"I see." Titus took a single deep breath. "So what happens now, do you attend to bring me back here?"
"No, I am not going to bring you back there and I think we wasted enough time here." She held out her hand to him offering a ride with her. "Come with me, you have to earn my trust. We need to get away from here as far away as possible. The dark elves will come any moment therefore we can't stay unless you want to pick a fight with them."
"Not a chance I'll come with you but no tricks." Titus sheathed his sword first and without second thoughts before he took her hand. He mounts onto the horse and sits right behind the demon.
"Good choice." She commands the horse to turn around and march forward to go faster away from the elven village behind them.
"Where are we going?" Titus questioned.
"Somewhere far so the elves can't know where we are." Heine only said while concentrating on the road ahead of them. "We're heading north."
After traveling for many hours on horseback. They're both in a massive forest. Its jungly nature seems to cover almost every part with foliage.
As the moon was still in the dark sky showing its brightness with the stars, the two decided to find a perfect spot and set up camp for the night.
The horse was tied up on a tree eating some apples on the ground while Titus and Heine rested by the fire.
"How did you learn to fight like that?" Titus looks at the woman with horns. "Back at the village I never seen a human who is so skillful and cunning."
"Tell me how you did go here, first." Titus said. "Then I'll tell you about myself. I did earn your trust after all."
"Of course you deserve an explanation. I was being careless." Heine responded, mentally apologizing to him. "It began sometime ago… I was helping escort a convoy filled with riches and treasures that were stolen from us for many years, along with a powerful artifact that can allow a living being to summon a large demon horde. I believe it was called Evil Armageddon. Suddenly we intercepted an ambush set by humans. They killed all my guards, my personnel, including me. I didn't stand a chance. Then I was no longer with the convoy. I found myself in a hall of white, a corridor with many doors, next thing there was a man sitting behind the table. He wrote something on a piece of paper and then... that's how I got here."
"Interesting." Titus commented. "And it makes absolute sense to me."
"All right, it's your turn how did you fight like that? I have never seen a human with strength and skill."
Titus answered. "I can tell you a little but not so much. I was trained by my mentor. He taught me many ways to use a sword, learning my opponents weaknesses and vulnerabilities to carefully observe them then use against them, and how to shoot a weapon from a bow, a crossbow and pistol." He calmly explained.
"Pistol? What is that?" Heine asked.
Titus took the flintlock pistol to show her. "It looks like this though I was surprised when I found it in the elves' armory. I didn't know they had such a weapon, here in this world."
Examine the weapon with her eyes. "Remarkable, I have never seen anything like this before, judging by the craftsmanship it would seem that humans have made this but I doubt they would've made this back in my world." Looking at his face. "You know how to use this thing?"
"I do but unfortunately I got no gunpowder on me."
'Gunpowder?' Heine put a finger to her chin. 'That name sounds awfully familiar to me. Have I heard it before?'
Suddenly her thoughts are interrupted as she hears movement from the bushes. Thena group of goblins in armor holding weapons as if they most likely steal them from dead soldiers appears out and surrounded the two.
"Who are they?" Titus carefully reached from the handle of his katana. "And what do they want?"
"Goblins no doubt and I don't know what they want." Heine held out her hand as a blue fireball came out. "But if they're looking for a fight I wanna go easy on them I will simply just burn them into crisp." She aims at them. "Prepare to-"
"Please wait!" One of the Goblins, probably the leader, shouted to her with his hands straight up. "We are not looking for a fight, Might Drifters forgive us for being hostile to you both."
"Then what do you want from us?" Titus asked, gluing his eyes on them, not letting go of the handle of his sword.
The goblin leader speaks in courage towards these two. "Mighty Drifters, we wish for the both of you to come with us to our village. It is not far from here."
"How did we know it's not a trap?" Heine questioned.
"No trap." He assured her. "Once there we will explain everything without deceiving you."
"What did you think?" Heine looks over her human ally.
"Hmmm, I believe heading to their village might benefit us then any other nearby settlement that we have not yet encountered." Titus replied. "Unless you have any other options besides camping out here in the open where someone or some who could find us."
Heine takes a moment to think about this, taking the time to consider. "Very well."
The demon looks back at the goblins. "Take us to your village but not under any circumstances. If you stab us in the back we won't hesitate to kill you." She extinguishes her flame out of her hand.
The goblins were relieved of their decision.
"We thank you now, if please follow us." The goblins start to lead the pair towards their village.
Once they arrived the goblin village came into view. It was kind of small, shabby and broken down like It's not managed well.
It's very poor like any town would look like this.
'So this is their village… honestly I'm not surprised I've seen poor places.' Titus thought, getting déjà vu of Brazil.
As they approached the middle center of the village, an old goblin with a walking cane wearing ragged robes came up to them. "Welcome to our village, Mighty Drifters."
"You don't have to be so formal. My name is Titus Maximus Sin but please call me Titus." He introduced himself before his new ally's name. "And this is Heine."
"It's an honor to have known your names." The old elder said. "I am the elder of this village, Umak. We lived here thousands of years ago, like my ancestors had and my family before them."
"Good to know but not to be rude. Let's get straight to the point shall we, why do you need both of us here?" Titus asked.
"Understood. The reason why you're here is because… I'm sorry I can't help but ask for you two, could you lend us your strength." He requested.
Heine directly stares at him. "Why do you need our strength for what purpose?"
"You see, yesterday ago an armored group of humans came into our village and slaughtered our kinsman. So we have to take matters into our own hands. We killed them all to avenge our people but likely they'll send more of them on the way to extinguish us completely off the map." The elder explained. "They seem to be stronger than us goblins and caused massive injuries to our kin."
"Do you think one of those soldiers made it out alive and told the tale?" Titus stated.
"Without a doubt, the only question is for how long until human reinforcements will come?"
"Maybe three days for a short time?" Heine suggested.
"Too long it could be closer to two." Titus said.
"We could've waited for them to come in one day." Umak foolishly suggested.
"That's because some of your people have nothing else better to do except being outside in the damn heat." Titus puts in. "Point being when they come to this village it will be nothing more than a burial site of corpses, a warning to all those who dare oppose them."
"Which is why we need your help before our village is reduced to rubble."
"And what can you offer us something that we can't simply take?" Heine questioned curiosity.
The elder goblin looks down to the ground. He had nothing to offer the Drifters except for one. He bows down on one knee. "If you could help us, we will offer our undying loyalty to both of you."
'Loyalty to us? That's a good idea.' The demon couldn't help it but to smile at this proposal.
"I'm not sure about this." Titus wanted to protest.
"Titus." Heine got his attention. "Undying loyalty may be It's not much to us but they do need the help then we'll help them and where I am from I commanded hundreds of warriors who are demons and they were loyal to me without question. If this benefits us then we might as well take it."
"You sure?" Titus asked.
"Yes or have you forgotten you killed these human soldiers back at the elven village? They were easy for you to start, however you can't simply take all of them at once by yourself despite how strong you are. you'll be outnumbered and outmatched if you don't have your own soldiers, why wouldn't they exist?"
"Hmmm, you make a good point." Titus said. "But we're not going to pay that they are going to pay themselves by looting."
"Works for me." Heine finally looks back at the elder goblin. "We accept this request."
Umak was shocked he genuinely didn't think the Drifters would accept such a request.
"Thank you, I won't forget this." The elder goblin said In a grateful manner.
"You can thank us later." Titus holding his hand to stop. "Though I must ask." He lowered his hand. "Do you have any captured humans here?"
Umak thinks for a moment. "We have a human woman with glasses here recently. We captured her some time ago, possibly spying on us and I believe she belongs to an organization."
"Take us to her, we wish to see her with our own eyes." Heine ordered immediately.
"As you wish."
The elder goblin and the other goblins begin to lead the Drifters to an old ruined medieval prison building. When they enter, they go through the hallway seeing many empty cells as they walk. They stop at the end seeing that one of the cells was occupied with the girl inside.
She is a relatively young, athletic looking woman who wears the standard uniform and spectacles. She has long hair which is styled into two tails thanks to her ribbons, and a noticeably large bust.
Her hair is silvery-white hair and her uniform had sky blue accents. The uniform consists of a long-sleeve shirt with a horizontal yoke seam, shorts, and a belt, with the same tie and other decorations.
She was hanging from the ceiling with both her hands in chains around the wrists of her hands were shackles.
Titus steps inside her cell after the Iron bar door was unlocked and opened by one of the goblins who was kind.
"Hey you." The girl with glasses wakes up with a moan as she opens her eyelids to see Titus before her.
Titus noticed the look on her face. She was completely scared of him for no reason.
"Great, the goblins sent a Drifter to kill me." She muttered looking down to the floor. "Just get it over with, I'd rather die and then become a prisoner here."
Titus looks at her in disbelief. "What are you saying? I am not going to kill you." Surprising her, she looks back up to him. "I mean if I was going to kill you I would've done it already but I'm not going to kill an unarmed woman."
"Then what do you want from me?" She asked.
"Your name for one."
"Is Olminu." She revealed her name to him.
"Olminu, right. There's some questions that I need to ask you if you were cooperative in answering all of them. I'll ask the goblins to set you free."
"How do I know if this is a game?" She questioned him.
"No game." Titus assured. "But know if your answers are untruthful or a lie then we're done here you'll be rotten in here forever without food or water."
Olminu's stomach began to roar with hunger. She hadn't ate all day ever since she got captured and her mouth was dry like the desert. She was getting hydrated. "Alright, what do you want to know?"
"Where you spying on goblins and their village?"
"No and I told them a thousand times I wasn't spying on them but they refuse not to listen to me." Olminu answered truthfully.
"Then why were you in their territory?"
"Before I was captured by the goblins I was sent nationally here by the Grandmaster of the Octobrists Organization. I, myself, am a member and magician of the organization I was ordered to find and gather Drifters like you." She looks over towards Heine behind him. "And her."
"Drifters?" Titus keeps on hearing that word from before he wonders why are some people keep on calling him and demon ally that word? He heard that same exact word from the enemy general, the goblins and now her. "But I am a human and she is a demon."
"That's because the both of you don't belong in this world." Olminu immediately told Titus, surprising both him and his demon friend.
"What do you mean?" Heine comes inside the cell with some goblins with her.
"In this world men and women like you are Drifters." The magician begins to explain. "Those of you who hail from other worlds or a timeline will come here once dead. We, the Octobrist Organization, are to locate, watch and gather every Drifter to fight against a group called the Ends."
"The…Ends?" Heine repeated, having a bit of confusion along with the goblins who were also confused like her.
"The name sounds unusual I know, but I can assure you they're dangerous people. The Ends are like you Drifters, but they hold a hatred towards this world and humanity itself. I don't know what happened to them to make them like this or what happened to them in their worlds but they despise everything."
"So they lost their fate to humanity. I don't necessarily blame them." Titus commented.
"Same here." Heine adds in.
"Easier said than done, the Ends want nothing more than to destroy only this world. There are only two things that the Ends do when they come here; devastation and carnage. They gathered in the north, subjugated monsters that lived there and started marching south. Which is why we need you Drifters to help us."
"The offer of helping your organization sounds tempting, however I would think I'll pass, through these Ends as you called them could be troublesome for us should we cross paths with them. You say they are gathering monsters and advancing towards the south? If they're doing it then it's most likely they're trying to conquer the world not destroy it. They're probably not idiots or fools to destroy everything in their sight, after all what would be the point of gathering monsters and troops if they are just going to destroy the world." Titus replied.
"I have a question." Heine spoke, getting the magician girl's attention. "How many soldiers have you got?"
"Eh?"
"I don't care if they're monsters or undead creatures. I just need to know how many soldiers your organization has." Heine looks at the girl.
"Uh, well..," Olmine tries to say.
"Spit it out already we don't have all day."
"Well, our plan is to appeal to the Kings and Lords of each country to provide armed forces and the Drifters would-"
"That's the dumbest foolish idea I ever hear of." Heine cut her off. "No King or Lord is stupid enough to handover their armies to group of untrusted outsiders. It doesn't matter how strong or powerful those so-called Ends are. The Lords and Kings will never give their armies away without reason or purpose. They will cling to their military power 'till their last man is killed or their last stronghold falls to the hands of their 'army to destroy the world'. That's what a Lord and King is. You may come up with whatever theory you like or idea, but facts are facts you're in the worst case scenario." Heine stated.
"I must agree." Titus nodded. "Kings and Lords may be rulers of their kingdoms or empires. But most of them are corrupt with greed and would most likely decide to help the Ends and their goals."
"Then what should we do?! Without the help of you Drifters, we can never defeat them!" Olmine cried out.
"Isn't it obvious? We Drifters will overthrow the Ends." Heine replied, surprising her. "And luckily for us we already have an army." She pointed at the goblins with her finger. "Which reminds me," Goblin Chief. How many soldiers, you get here? Your villagers I mean."
"Only two hundred and three." Umak answered. "Our population used to be four hundred and twenty but many years have passed since humans attacked us and reduced our population near to ground."
"Well, we can always call in more." Heine takes a small hand size horn with a leather strap attached to it, wrapped in a slim ring of ornate design while still showing most of the horn's ivory. From a size comparison of the horn to the demoni's bare hand, the horn is approximately 8-10 cm in length. "Titus."
"Uh?" Titus turned his body over to look at her.
"Here." She tosses him the item who caught it thanks to his quick reflexes. "That Item you currently hold in your hand it's called Horn of the Goblin General. It can allow you to summon a horde of goblins. Blow into it and you'll see what happens."
"I'm not going to use this yet in case of emergencies." He pockets the item away.
"Good, I was going to tell you the exact same thing." Heine said with a smile on her face before ordering the goblins to release the member of the Octobrists for her cooperation was truthful without any falsity. "Now let's go back to the village."
After the group returns to the village, Titus commands the goblin village chief to gather all the remaining goblins in the center. One minute later, all the goblins are gathered in the village center.
Once they were there they guled their eyes on their old leader who was standing still while the two humans and the demon were behind him.
"Everyone listen." Umak began to announce his fellow villagers. "As from now on the Drifters will help us to defend our home against the humans who attack us and we are to listen to their commands if we're going to survive."
That was Titus' cue to move up in front of the greenskin villagers talking amongst themselves. "All right, goblins listen up, if your ancestors were alive. They would be ashamed of you!" The goblin people stopped their talking and turned their full attention to the Drifter. "Your home got attacked while you suffer the humiliation, how could you live with that? Would you continue to take revenge for what the humans did to you so you may redeem yourselves or will you die by your knees as a coward? Decide."
The goblins stared agape at the man, it was very true. They had never wanted to be humiliated by humans or shame their families. They would become warriors not cowards.
"It's..it's true, when our village attacked we did shame our ancestors."
"Even though it did, we wouldn't let this slide!"
"We'll teach those humans a lesson from coming here!"
Titus hears their response and it seems they all have brave spirits with them and courage that they are willing to fight to get revenge in order to protect their people from another attack like that again.
"Well said, follow me time to earn your birthrights." Titus replied.
'Impressive.' Heine stood with her arms crossed, as she thought. 'He managed to pull off without any Issue. He kind of reminds me of someone.'
"Heine." Titus called out, snapping her out of her thoughts as she looked at him. "Since we caught an army on our side, what should we do?"
Heine chuckled at an easy question. "Simple we prepared."
"Yes, but before we begin that, goblin elder." Titus calls out to him. "The human soldiers who attacked the village, who were they? You mentioned them earlier"
"The humans that attacked us belong to the Orte Empire." Umak answered.
"Orte Empire?" Titus raises a brow.
"Olmine." Heine gets her attention, stopping her from eating an apple she somehow found. "I need you to shine some light, the Orte Empire, who or what are they? I need you to give us some details."
"Okay." Olmine puts the apple away. "The Orte Empire is an empire of humans, they destroyed many countries and annexed their lands. They also enslave many races, dwarves, elves and hobbits in this area. Forcing them to become poor to obey their rules or die. A policy of conquest and dominion based on human superiority."
"Is it still expanding this Orte Empire?" Heine asked.
"They are fighting at all borders. Though these fights are causing massive casualties to their side but no win so far yet." The magician explained.
"It's obvious that the Empire is trying to conquer the entire land is a fool's game and a complicated affair. You only have two options; either you burn everything you have to the ground, or you give them everything. But choosing one will forever doom the other."
"I'd rather not choose both at the same time." Titus spoke.
"You must, otherwise there will be consequences that could lead people to death or despair." Heine told him. "The truth is you have no other choice, you can find a way, you can avoid it but you'll only delay the inevitable." She took a deep breath. "That aside, the soldiers of the empire will come here to finish the job. So what are we going to do?"
Titus was silent at the moment until he began. "We let them come…"
X
Next day…
Titus and Heine stood high up in trees, hidden by the darkness of the trees. On their side was a small group of goblins standing on the branches as well.
They watched as the Orte soldiers at the village searched everywhere and every house for any goblins they could drag out or kill but they couldn't find any.
"Then we rain fire on them at night, turning their bodies into nothing but lifeless corpses." Titus murmured in the darkness.
To be continued…
First chapter is done! The next chapter will come soon. In the meantime, here's a list of characters who are also going to be in the story.
Drifters:
Titus Maximus Sin
Heine of the Flame
Ariane Glenys Maple/Lalatoya
Chiyome
Bell Cranel
Bruce Wayne/Batman (Gotham Knights)
Izuku Midoriya
Brain Unglaus
Arc the Skeleton Knight
X
Ends
Dark Sakura
Asterius
Zero (Overlord)
Bankotsu
Saber Alter
Tomura Shigaraki
Himiko Toga
Ra's al Ghul (Gotham Knights)