Author's note: So Last chapter was all emotional, but important, Yugo still hasn't figured out what to do about Lucian yet. This chapter will have more suspense for sure.

Chapter 8: Of Gods and Men.

Evangelyne sat quietly on a chair on the porch, Flopin and Elely were napping inside. Otomai came out from inside, Ogrest following him. Despite appearances the boy was actually quite old, combined with his Ogre physiology he did not require sleep as often as her half-God children.

The older ogre sat down in an accompanying chair and Ogrest stood leaning on the wall between him and Evangalyne.

"You're children sleep so often," Otomai said "It's strange to me, ogres require little sleep."

"Well humans require a good six hours a day," Evangelyne replied "Children require more, sometimes ten or eleven hours."

"That much!?" Otomai said surprised "Wow."

" I guess the races are fairly different." Evangalyne said, "Cra's have sharper eyesight and Iop's have denser muscles."

"Yes," Otomai said "But Cra's and Iop's are both human, Ogres are not, neither are Osmodas or Sadidas."

"I guess," Evangelyne said distantly "I wonder when Percedal will be back."

"I don't know," Otomai said "Listen, Ogrest wanted to tell you something."

Eva turned to the little green ogre, his ears had become considerably smaller over the last four months, and they started to show the pointed shape his father's had. He had grown an inch or so.

"Is that so?" Eva said

"Y-Yeah," the little ogre said "I'm not sure I should come around anymore." He said "I really like Elely."

Eva cocked an eyebrow, "I'm afraid I don't quite grasp your logic."

"The last time I liked a girl like this…" he began not really wanting to finish, he did anyway "I nearly destroyed the world."

Evangelyne's eyes grew wide, she wasn't sure what to say, she hadn't really thought of Ogrest as more than a playmate for Flopin and Elely ever since he had returned to this form. She really hadn't thought about how old Ogrest really was or how mature. Or maybe he wasn't.

"Otomai," Eva said disappointingly "Stifling him isn't going to help him grow."

"I didn't come up with this." Otomai said "This is all him, he insisted."

"Don't treat me like a child please." Ogrest said almost irritably, yet still politely "I'm not stupid, I'm well aware of what I've done. Not just the damage to the world, but the woman I loved…"

"What about her?" Evangelyne asked

Ogrest turned his face away from her, he obviously didn't want to talk about it, he was afraid and upset at himself.

"He killed her," Otomai said somberly "After she rejected him."

Ogrest turned to his dad, a little annoyed that he said that.

"I think you've learned a lot from your mistakes Ogrest." Evangelyne "I also think that Flopin and Elely would be very upset if you just disappeared."

Before they could continue the conversation a rumbling began to become audible, slowing rising in volume until it hit a crescendo and the earth in front of the trio heaved, before breaking open to reveal Ruel's Drill Buggy.

The buggy opened and Amalia ran out quickly "Eva!" she yelled excitedly as rushed forward to hug the Cra.

She was followed quickly by Cleophee who joined the hug.

"Hah," Eva breathed as she smiled "It's good to see you both."

Ruel was next to leave, followed by a yammering Percedal trying to convince the Enutrof of the virtue of Courage and selflessness, a foolish proposition. They were followed by Yugo and another boy that Evangelyne did not recognize. Yugo did not seem particularly happy, but he wasn't upset either.

"Eva!" Percedal called "Come here honey!"

Eva gladly complied hugging the Iop.

"How are the kids?" he asked

"Sleeping." She answered.

Otomai stood, "Well, now that the Brotherhood is all here," He said noticing the slight flinch on Yugo's face "What exactly is going on?"

"Well," Percedal said "Something terrible happened to Goultard, I'm not sure what, but it was bad enough to force Iop's power back into me and regenerate my arm."

"I know what," Yugo said "Chibi shared a vision with me, there's a man, no, I should say a god. He's more powerful than all the other gods and had taken out several when I saw him, including Goultard."

"Wait," Perecedal said "My master's dead, really dead this time?"

"I don't know," Yugo said "But the golden god I saw was fighting Eliatrope and the Great Dragon. I felt something happen to Eliatrope, I'm not sure what."

"Damn," Ruel said "He's that powerful?"

"Apparently," Yugo said. "I'm not sure what we're even doing at this point, how do you beat a god that kills other gods?"

The others looked around with their heads down, they eyes moving, no one knew what to do, they had gathered all the pieces, but they had no place to put them.

It was at that time that a hole appeared in the ground, a large green portal like hole, out of that hole crawled a Sadida man, though this man had his hair pulled to the side, his face visible for all to see. He was panting heavily s though he had just run for some time. Everyone stared with bewildered looks on their faces as the man propped himself up on Percedal's house.

"You all are the Brotherhood of Tofu?" he asked between heavy breaths.

"Yes," Yugo said "Who are you?"

"I am Sadida," he said

"We can see that," Amalia responded indignantly "I am the Sadida princess I know one of my people when I see one, what's with your hair anyway?"

"You misunderstand," The man said "I am not a Sadida, I am The Sadida."

Amalia's mouth snapped shut as she stared wide eyed at the man "You mean you're…"

"Yes!" He snapped "Now please listen, I don't have much time to speak, we encountered something, something very powerful at the edge of the krozmos. A Being calling himself Seraphin, he defeated us outright, he slaughtered the Great Dragon and Injured Eliatrope badly. He sent a man named Jack after the rest of us."

"That's what I saw!" Yugo exclaimed "That's what was in Chibi's vision!"

"The Eliatrope Prophet is alive?" Sadida asked

"If you mean Chibi, yes." Yugo said "He's being raised by Alibert."

"Then he is recently Reincarnated," Sadida said "Nevertheless that is good, you'll have an early warning system at least."

"What is that?" Lucian asked.

"No time young one," Sadida said limping back to the hole "Serphin and Jack can track us using our life energy. The longer I stay, more danger I place you in."

"What happened to you?" Amalia said, finally remembering her voice.

"Seraphin tricked Sram and I got stabbed by his poinsoned knife," Sadida answered "Eniripsa is still working on me, I have to return to Ecaflip's dimension now."

"Why us?" Yugo asked stepping into the god's way "What can we even do?"

"You are the brotherhood that defeated Ogrest," Sadida answered "Even we were unable to accomplish that. You are quite literally this world's last hope. We are trapped until we can recover. Now please."

Yugo moved out of the god's way and Sadida limped to the portal and walked through dropping from sight moments before the portal closed.

"How are we supposed to defend the world?" Amalia asked worried "Even the gods were unable to defeat this man."

"I don't know," Yugo answered "But we have to figure it out."

The stars sparkled in the night sky, the Brotherhood slept inside, he supposed that Otomai had more or less become accepted as one of them. Yugo couldn't sleep, too much was on his mind, Lucian, a race of 'Yugolites' an enemy that made the Gods seem like mortal children, where did he even begin to make sense of it all.

He sat down holding a mug of tea and sipping it slowly. A sound caught his attention, the sound of an Eliatrope portal opening, then the sound of it closing. Yugo stood back up, he walked to the edge of the area and listened… There it was again.

He walked towards the source of the sound, he found Lucian sitting cross legged in a clearing among bushes, his brow furrowed ion concentration, he appeared to be trying to open three portals at once. Yugo smiled remembering his first attempt.

The Eliatrope's foot snapped a twig and Lucian broke from his concentration jumping up and spinning around to face Yugo in a loose and weak fighting stance. The Eliatrope king couldn't help but laugh at how pathetic his young counterpart looked.

"Go- Yugo?" He asked "What are you doing out here?"

"Well, Yugo said "I was just gonna enjoy some tea and deep thought, but I think it's time we worked on your fighting skills."

"What?" Lucian asked

"Well," Yugo said "If you're gonna travel with us, you need to learn to fight"

Lucian scratched his cheek absently as he stared at Yugo "I-I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

"For starters," Yugo said "A Fighting stance looks like this." Yugo dropped into a rigid fighting stance. "You keep your arms up to defend, but open so you can open portals on the fly."

"Like this?" Lucian said taking a stance that was a crude imitation of the one Yugo held

"Almost," Yugo said "What do you know about using portals?"

"Um…" Lucian replied "I can make two at a time, but I can't jump far, I go as fast coming out of the second as I do going into the first."

"Have you tried overlapping two Portals?" Yugo asked

"No." Lucian said "Why would I do that?"

"Try it," Yugo said "But face over there." Yugo pointed to a lake nearby.

"Okay." Lucian summoned a Portal over his left hand, the another over his right, he moved the portals together. As soon as one overlapped the other a beam of blue energy shot out incinerating all in its path. It didn't last long though as Lucian fell back surprised dispersing his portals.

"What was that?" Lucian asked in awe "did… did I do that?"

"Yep," Yugo said "That is one of the Eliatropes greatest offensive weapons."

"Wow!" Lucian said "I had no Idea I could do that."

"Neither did I a few years ago," Yugo said "Alright let's try something else, something more basic."

"Like what?" Lucian asked

"Well, first you'll need to be in a meditative state." Yugo said "Sit down like this."

Yugo sat on the ground cross legged and rested his hands upside down on his legs pressing his fingers together on a circle.

Lucian watched for a moment then emulated the action sitting down and circling his fingers.

"Like this?" He asked

"Yes," Yugo said "Now close your eyes."

Lucian nodded and did so.

"Now take slow, deep breaths." Yugo said "Clear your mind of thoughts."

"How do I do that?" Lucian asked still sitting with his eyes closed.

"Focus on one thing," Yugo said "Like a leaf or a stone, just think about that and nothing else."

"Okay," Lucian said

Yugo waited watching curiously, it hadn't taken him long to figure this out, he was interested to see what Lucian would do. Yugo heard the boy's breathing change to steady rhythmic breathing, consistant with meditation.

"Okay," Yugo said "Now concentrate on your inner sounds, your heartbeat, your breath, the taste in your mouth." He waited a few moments "Now take in close sounds, the wind, the rustling of the leaves the grass beneath you." Another few moments "Now take in far sounds, the birds, The animals of the forest, the wood of the house." He waited again "Now open your eyes.

Lucian's eyes snapped open, they glowed an unearthly blue, his pupils little dark rings in their centers. Lucian's eyes went wide and his pupils darted around for a few moments.

"Wow, It's so beautiful," He said, at that moment the glow in his eyes disappeared "Aw, It's gone. What was that?"

"Wakfu Vision." Yugo replied "Wakfu is an energy that lives in pretty much everything, the stronger something is the more wakfu it has, you and I have a lot."

"You looked like a star," Lucian said "Really bright, my hands looked like that too."

"Yep," Yugo said "Remember how Sadida said that Seraphin and Jack could track him using his life force?"

"Yes," Lucian answered

"I just taught you how," Yugo said "Though their range is probably tens of thousands of times bigger.

"Wow," Lucian said "They be very powerful. How far does your range go?"

"I can sense most living beings in Bonta right now," Yugo said

"What!" Lucian said "That Far!"

"Don't worry," Yugo said "It took me six years to get that good."

"I hope that I can become as good at this as you one day," Lucian said his voice was so innocent and pure, and Yugo felt for the first time, the boy truly didn't speak to him as a god, for that the Eliatrope king was happy.

"You should get some rest," Yugo said "If what Sadida says is true, you'll need it."

It was faint, but Jack could feel it, Damn! They could come out of that place anywhere? Wherever this was it was very far away. Jack climbed to the top of the Valorous and bent his knees, he launched himself from the ship rocketing towards the feeling. He could sense the life force of one of the gods he had fought.

Only one? They were smart, they figured out that they were being tracked by their life signatures. That made things more difficult, he was lucky, had it been one of the gods that Serphin had knocked down he wouldn't have sensed it at all.

The presence disappeared, but that was okay, he could sense a huge amount of life where he had been, a planet full of living things. Interesting, there weren't that many of those so far. There, it looked a lot like his home world before the terrible war that had destroyed it, lush green continents over a deep blue sea, though the continents on this planet were far smaller.

Jack landed on the surface looking around, no one was there. He would have to hide himself from this world's inhabitants.

"Who are you?" A voice demanded from behind

Jack whirled to face the voice, behind him stood what appeared to be a human child with white skin, wearing a large had that hid his eyes from sight. He wore a blue robe and his hands glowed purple as he stood in a fighting stance.

"I won't ask again," The boy said

Jack could tell this boy had a lot of power, more than he'd prefer to fight at the moment.

"I'm Jack, the Imoortal," he answered "I mean no harm, I have come with grave tidings for this world, and hope to rise against them."

The boy seemed to think on this for awhile, "I believe you." He said relaxing his stance "But I can't let you roam wherever you please. My name is Adamai, Follow me, I will bring you to our leader: Lady Echo."

"Lady Echo?" Jack said curiously "What a strange name. In any case I can't trust this information to just anyone, who do you represent young Adamai?"

"We are the Brotherhood of guardians," Adamai replied "We are immortals who watch over this world and protect it's balance and order."

"Hmm," Jack said "Your order was mentioned by the Dragon,"

"You've met a dragon?" Adamai asked surprised

"He called himself The Great Dragon," Jack said "Or some big name like that."

The glow reappeared in Adamai's hands and he became very rigid.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!" Jack said "I'm sorry, didn't realize you disliked the guy so much!"

"The Great Dragon is the father of my race," Adamai said angrily "Do not treat him flippantly like some prideful chump!"

"Okay, I'm sorry," Jack said "I'm still kinda of new to how things work on this Universe."

"This Universe?" Adamai asked.

"Look, I'll explain later," Jack said "Just take me to this Lady Echo person, she'll probably be able to explain it better once I talk to her."

Adamai relaxed "Follow me."

Author's note: Sorry I didn't get this up last night, I was literally falling asleep while writing it, so I went to bed, I'll try to have another one out by tonight to make up for it.