The Last Primal

Chapter 294 - 294 - Descending Towards The Grotto

A gentle smile appeared on Aiden's tired face as he listened to his servant's reassuring words. He was glad that they didn't hate him for how the events had turned out. He was truly grateful.

"[Goblin] I...  I will prom-" Struggling to phrase a sentence he wanted to renew his promise to them, but was quickly silenced, as a set of pained groans reached their ears, coming from the side.

The so-far unconscious baggage they carried through the mysterious tower has finally woke up. With great difficulty the silver-haired prince pushed himself up from the ground, and sat down next to Aiden, leaning against the wall. 

He grabbed his temple, rubbing it whilst he was deep in his own muffled grunts and growls, ignoring the audience completely.

"W-what happened…" He grunted after a while, his eyes still closed, as he kept massaging his own temples. "My head… hurts…"

"*Sigh* … You are finally awake man… You know, if I would have known that you would just be a nuisance all the way through, I would have left you in your cell, to pick you up when we are done." Aiden replied with a smirky tone.

"Wha… What do you mean? W-wait…" Still unsure of the last events that happened before he fainted, he wanted to rebuke, but the images slowly started to come back to him, he shut up. Opening his eyes, he looked at the creature in front of him. "Y-you! Wait… what are you? You looked different…" 

When he opened his eyes and noticed the familiar cold look of the giant figure in front of him, he almost snapped at him. However, after taking a second, careful look at him, he noticed there were significant differences from the last time. Whilst the general figure of the creature remained the same there were many not-so-subtle differences. For once, the already towering height he had seemed to have further increased, giving the creature a dominating presence. The bulging mass of muscles he carried also seemed to have further increased, threatening to burst from the leathery container that tried to hide them. 

Not to mention, his eyes that were dark as the night, were now vaguely similar in shape and in color to Aiden's exotic, golden irises.

All in all, whilst he looked similar, Drake felt that something important must have happened for this giant to change so much.

He only now noticed that besides this giant, there were three other figures present besides him and Aiden. Whilst they were of similar height then himself and had human-like features and faces, the tone of their dark green skins, and the similar, golden-colored eyes were a dead giveaway that they were, in fact, something else.

Confused by the strange audience, he turned towards Aiden, whom he could at the very least recognize, even if he sported the same look as the newcomers. 

"W-what happened? Who are these… ehrm, creatures?!" Not sure of how to refer to them, after a brief moment of pause, he went with the general term, creatures. He asked in a curious tone, careful not to offend them, as he could feel a faint pressure emanating from each of these beings. 

Facing Drake's question, Aiden chuckled before responding. He slowly glanced over each and every one of his servants, a gentle, kind smile dominating his weary, tired expression as he spoke.

"They are my friends… family even. The beautiful lady over there is Galina, the boy next to him is called Gob, the elder to their left is Glohn, whilst this towering giant that actually carried you all the way is Roas. Please don't refer to them as 'creatures' it is quite offensive. They are like you and me… Well, mostly me, but you get the idea." He responded, pointing to each of his servants as he spoke their names.

"Sorry I didn't mean to be rude… it's just a bit…" Drake hurriedly responded with an apologetic look on his face. Before he could finish though, Aiden intervened with yet another chuckle.

"Overwhelming? Hehe, I guess I can understand that." His face turned serious in the next moment, as he gazed into Drake's eyes. "Anyway… do you remember the last moments before you lost your consciousness?"

After a moment of hesitation, Drake sighed and nodded with a wry look. 

"Yeah… Sorry about that… I…" He paused, taking a deep breath, and exhaled it, to calm his nerves. Then, he turned towards Roas, standing in front of him with a cold, indifferent look. With a bit of difficulty, Drake pushed himself up from the ground, and whilst still leaning at the wall to stabilize his still wobbly legs, he gave a slight bow.

"Roas, right? I'm not sure if you can understand our language, but if you do, then I hope you can forgive me for my unsightly behavior from before. I shouldn't have acted like that, I was just… too agitated, too nervous. I know this is no reason to behave like that, but I just want you to know that I am sorry."

With the same friendly smile on his face, Aiden only silently nodded at Roas who looked at him for support. Truth be told, Roas wasn't really offended, despite being the original target of Drake's misplaced ire, his only concern was to please the Young Master. 

Although they couldn't converse in it, all four of Aiden's servants could more or less understand the Human's 'Common' tongue. The rest they could just rely on their shared connection with the master if need be.

When Drake apologized, Roas wasn't really sure what to do, or how to react. He wasn't even bothered by his attack at all. He was like a puppy trying to bark at a tree. So when he saw the Young Master's smile and nod, he turned to look at the still prostrating human in front of him and snorted a brusque response.

"They can't speak the human language, well not yet, but he meant that he forgives you and that he is not bothered by what you did. It's understandable that you would be agitated. You were locked up, without knowing the whereabouts of your sister." Aiden added.

"What? That single snort meant so much?" Drake turned towards Aiden with a mixture of surprise and confusion on his face and voice.

"More or less." He smirked. Feeling that his stamina recovered a little, he pushed himself up from the ground and stood back up. He turned towards the door and stretched a little. "Anyway… we wasted enough time. I have recovered some of my stamina, let's leave this damned place. I still have one last task to do."

Due to the abrupt awakening of Drake, Aiden decided to ignore the System's messages and wait for the processing of Murus's memories. Since he couldn't return to the city until tomorrow anyway, he could process all the queued-up list once he returns to his campsite.

Without waiting for a response from the group he stepped forward, walking towards the door. He wanted to put an end to this awfully long night, and visit that damned Demon Grotto and finally complete the Main Quest. He didn't like the feeling that his continued existence was on a timer.

"H-hey, w-wait up Aiden!" Drake yelled, running after Aiden's receding figure. The four servants silently followed after them, looking differently at the silver-haired human.

---

Venturing through the empty floors once more to descend down the tower not so surprisingly was much faster than during their ascent. Now, that there were no safety measures, traps, illusions, and an armed, controlled battalion of warriors ahead of them, the group of six got safely through the floors and stairs at a hastened pace. While they weren't walking in complete silence, they weren't talking that much either. Drake kept asking about what happened while he was out of commission, which Aiden mostly ignored or just responded vaguely with "I will explain when we meet up with the girls."

Eventually, Drake had to give up trying to squeeze out anything from the boy, as it was a futile endeavor.

Fifteen minutes later the group was already on the ground floor staring at the large, matte black, double door that would lead them out of the building, back to the orcs' campsite. 

"Drake." Aiden spoke, breaking the brief silence that ensued between the group.

"Yes? What is it?"  Drake responded, his eyes plastered on the double door, which he also recognized as the exit of this damned place.

"I still have one more objective that I must do. I am not certain about the situation on the outside, so I can't just let you leave, as I have promised your sister that I will keep you safe. Still, if you want, I can have you escorted by Roas and the others."

"What is this objective you still need to do? And while we are at it, can you explain what happened upstairs? I still have no idea about this horde…" Drake asked with clear frustration in his voice. After all, he tried asking this very same question several times already during their descent only to be brushed away with "I will explain when we meet up with the others."

Just like he expected, Aiden simply smiled at his question and spoke with his usual mysterious calmness.

"You will understand when we meet up with the others. Be patient till then. As for the other task, I need to find something that should be underground this tower. It could be dangerous, and while I can protect the others, I can't do the same for you. So, think about it very carefully before you decide to tag along."