He was a coward. But he was not a snake who bit the hand that fed him. Everyone in the factory looked after each other, and cared for each other.
Averon had received their kindness.
So, he refused to kill them.
Yet, a voice kept speaking to him.
’Kill them.’
’Just a few.’
’So you can reach level five.’
’With an SSS-rank Talent, your first skill will be powerful.’
’You can save the rest after sacrificing a few.’
’If you do nothing, they will all die eventually anyway.’
Those were the days when Averon saw the true horror of temptations.
Physical pain from eating the ores was nowhere close to the mental agony he felt due to being torn between the choices.
He couldn’t understand what to do.
Just when he felt something inside him was about to collapse—
’She’ arrived.
A kitsune.
She had descended like a celestial being from heavens. Calm, powerful, completely out of place in that brutal facility.
She saved Averon.
She tore through the guards effortlessly.
She helped Averon kill the ruling Solkaras who enforced the system.
She dismantled the concept of cannibalism from its roots.
She helped them secure dungeon resources. She guided them toward alternative food solutions.
For the first time, Averon tasted something that did not burn his insides.
For the first time, he slept without counting how many remained.
Every Solkara who knew her was grateful.
Averon was more than grateful.
To him, she was salvation.
A celestial goddess who descended from the heavens to help them.
And just like a celestial goddess, she disappeared one day, perhaps returning to the heavens.
The days Averon spent with her were his happiest.
That’s why he set himself a goal.
He would grow stronger.
He would meet her again.
Next time, he would stand beside her.
Not behind her.
Suddenly, Averon’s dream, showing his life, froze.
A foreign sound echoed.
A sigh.
Averon snapped his head toward the source.
Isaac stood a short distance away.
For a brief moment, Averon stiffened.
Then realization struck.
This was a dream.
And this man had entered it.
Rage erupted instantly.
He felt like his deepest secrets were unveiled and he wanted nothing more than to rip apart Isaac for this insult.
The surroundings suddenly changed, controlled by Isaac.
The factory dissolved. The past shattered like glass.
In the next second, both of them stood on the rooftop of Solkara City Hall, the highest building in the territory.
Night covered the city below.
The sky stretched wide above, filled with distant stars.
This was a place Averon often visited alone, staring at the sky, at the celestial figures, wondering if Catherine was somewhere there.
Isaac ignored Averon.
He walked to the edge of the rooftop and sat down casually, legs hanging over.
He patted the empty space beside him.
"Come sit with me."
"You think I will do that?" Averon spat venomously. "Give me one reason I shouldn’t rip you apart right now."
Isaac chuckled softly.
Strangely, his earlier irritation toward Averon had faded after witnessing his past.
Isaac had not created this type of dream.
He had merely hijacked the dream Averon was seeing. It seemed Averon frequently had nightmares of the past.
"Come sit, kid. You know how anxious Simraj is about us fighting again. Are you really going to go against his hopes and start something when I’m trying to talk peacefully?" Isaac said.
"..."
"You are Lord Averon. You carry the responsibility of an entire race on your shoulders. So make your choices carefully. Remember that the Solkara race’s stability exists because of you. If you die, they’ll collapse."
Averon’s fist clenched.
"If you were to die," Isaac went on steadily, "the horrors of past would return as the ones below you would scramble to survive. And when survival becomes desperate, people return to what worked before. Cannibalism. Factories. Everything you worked so hard to erase."
Averon gnashed his teeth.
His anger flared again.
For a moment, it seemed like the rooftop might crack under the pressure of his emotions.
But just before it reached the point of eruption, Averon exhaled.
He dragged a hand through his hair in frustration, then walked forward and dropped down beside Isaac, leaving a narrow gap between them.
"What is it? Why did you make me sit here?" Averon asked with an unfriendly tone.
"Did you ever figure out why Catherine approached you when you were a child?" Isaac asked.
Averon stiffened.
The question was simple, but it struck deep.
Isaac noticed the silence and continued, his voice even.
"You must have tried to find her after she disappeared. And I’m guessing you also tried to find out why she chose to save you. Your silence tells me you found the answer."
"..."
"Don’t want to say it?" Isaac let out a small chuckle. "Fine. Then I will."
He lowered his gaze from the sky and turned to look directly at Averon.
"I was raised in the same place as Catherine. So I know exactly why she approached you."
Averon’s head snapped toward him.
"What?" he muttered. "You were raised in the same place as her? I thought children raised by that organization were sent to support Lords. How did you become a Lord yourself?"
Isaac shrugged lightly.
"My situation was... different."
Averon stared at him, and the anger in his eyes shifted. It didn’t disappear, but it changed shape. There was something else now. Curiosity. Pity. Maybe even a trace of sympathy.
Both of them had been raised at inhuman places.
Averon exhaled slowly.
"Three Color Organization. They raise talented children and assign them to Lords with potential to defeat the Apocalypse. That’s what I found," Averon muttered.
He looked forward, eyes fixed on nothing.
"They must have known about my Talent somehow. Or predicted it. That’s why they sent Catherine to that factory. They saw potential in me. They saw someone who could become a powerful Lord."
Isaac nodded once.
"That sounds right."
Averon continued quietly.
"When I learned how those children were raised—trained as weapons, conditioned to obey—I was furious. I wanted to find Catherine and free her. I wanted to return the favor and save her just like she saved me."
"But she was already saved," Isaac said.
"By you?" Averon asked.
"No."
Isaac shook his head.
"By her master."
Averon closed his eyes briefly.
It seemed Isaac’s words had eased something inside him, but the sadness remained. It lingered quietly in his expression.
"I thought she was serving you because she was ordered to,. But..."
Averon chewed his lips.
"If what you say is true, then... it means she is with you willingly."
Averon’s hands trembled slightly. His shoulders were tense. The emotional storm inside him had not fully calmed; it had simply changed direction.
"Are you her partner?" Averon asked, and there was something fragile in his voice. "Tell me honestly."
Isaac studied him for a moment.
Unlike what Simraj had implied earlier, Averon wasn’t a mindless, arrogant brute. His earlier hostility hadn’t come from possessiveness alone. It came from misunderstanding.
He hadn’t attacked Isaac because he thought Isaac was Catherine’s partner.
He attacked because he believed Catherine was bound to Isaac by orders.
And if that were true, she was being forced to live like a weapon.
That was what truly angered him.
"Yes," Isaac said finally. "I’m her partner."
Averon’s shoulders trembled again.
He looked away quickly, biting his lip.
They didn’t speak after that.
The only sound was faint, suppressed sobbing.
It wasn’t loud. Averon tried hard to hide it.
Isaac didn’t mock him.
He didn’t offer comfort either.
He simply sat there.
After a while, the rooftop began to fade. The dream was losing stability.
Before everything dissolved, Averon spoke softly.
"Then... I’ll stop."
Isaac glanced at him.
"I won’t interfere anymore. If she chose you on her own... then I have no right."
The world shattered like glass.
...
Isaac’s consciousness pulled back into his body.
He opened his eyes inside the office.
His hand was still resting on Averon’s temple. He withdrew it calmly.
Averon stirred.
Simraj stood nearby, his expression tight with worry. Old Man Jeremy remained on the side, watching carefully.
Averon’s eyes opened slowly.
For a moment, he looked confused. Then recognition dawned.
Isaac was standing very close.
A faint smirk formed on Isaac’s lips.
"You really are a child, huh?" he said lightly. "You cry pretty easily—"
"Why are you standing so close to me? Get away from me. I’m not into men," Averon snapped, cutting him off quickly.
Isaac snickered, knowing Averon was trying to hide the fact he had cried.
Simraj, who saw Averon not blowing his head off and attacking Isaac, was stunned.
What happened in the dream?
Why did it look like these two had become friends?
...
A/N: There will be no NTR. I just wanted to make this clear, because some of you might get worried that a character like Averon was introduced. He will never make any moves on Catherine after this.