Chapter 3

The scout that died in the chamber they put him in had proven that it was time for the forge’s awakening, now it was very vague, but Varzoth was able to figure out when it would be. He also found out what happened to the scout they’d found.

“Alright, we are all well aware of a manticore, yes?” Asked Lilith.

Everyone nodded, and Varzoth budded in. “Well, the thing that killed the scout was manticore poisoning.”

“But manticore poisoning takes more time then what we thought he was out for, and it seems he had been on the run for weeks now.” Said Lilith.

“Exactly, so I may or may not have searched his corpse and found this.” Varzoth showed them a small, empty capsule.

Malakath looked around, “Well, what is it?”

“It’s a capsule that held manticore poison. Which was under the skin of the scout, so controllers are brainwashing, poisoning, and manipulating now.” Varzoth said, “They're getting more crazy by the day.” He mumbled.

Baal nodded, “They were making us do research on poisons and technology while I was there, they said they were hoping to solve the case of poisoning. Not this.”

“They're using fear to their advantage, their being more outright. They know the awakening is in a few weeks, how are we going to even stop them?” Azazel asked, surprising everyone. He was usually the person who had answers, not the one asking for them.

“So what do we do now?” asked Selene.

Varzoth shook his head, “He do the awakening, a bit different though. We’re going back to the important’s city, and doing it there. I’ll fight the emperor and kill him, and stop this mind controlling thing.”

Nobody looked like they agreed, but nobody disagreed either.

“So when are we leaving?” asked Lilith.

Varzoth shook his head, “Right away, but none of you are fighting the important’s”

Lilith kept arguing with him, and said she was with him all the way. Even against the Emperor. Varzoth obviously refused.

“Lilith! It’s the Emperor, and he’s gone way over the top! Only someone who can match him in strength can defeat him.” Varzoth said.

Lilith came up to him, “Strength isn’t everything, but yes you’ll need strength. That’s why you’ll need me.” She grabbed his hand, right when he was going to grab his knife. She pulled him in and kissed him. He never knew what to do in these situations, other than to roll with it. A knock came from the door, and Lilith and Varzoth both jumped once they saw Zaroth, Selene, and Varzoth’s mother come into his room.

His mom was the first to talk, “That was surprising.” She said.

“Um, ya. I was surprised too.” She looked at him, blushing. He blushed.

“Really?” Selene asked, “That was surprising? I saw that coming from a mile away.”

Lilith sighed, “Well that was because I told you.”

“And not me?” and Zaroth, obviously offended.

Varzoth laughed, “I’m guessing most of you are here to ask the same thing, and because I’m still loopy from that I’ll say yes?”

Selene thought for a second, “Sounds about right.” She smiled.

“Get out of here.” Lilith waved them all out, and Varzoth just laughed. She blushed a bit more, “What do you think?”

He smiled, “I don’t know.”

She kissed him again, and he was loopy again. “What about now?”

“Maybe a bit more and I’ll think about it.” They both laughed for a while and packed their bags for the trip ahead.