Multiverse: by Nick Venomz (best books to read for beginners .txt) 📕

“What should I do?” She asked, half-asking the tree, half-asking herself. She was at a loss for words. 

Menzo and Elas went first, walking up to the cell holding Xoa. She looked up at them, with a smug smile, and remarked loudly “Where’s the kid? Dead?” She then howled in laughter. Roxy hadn’t arrived yet, so no fury could approach Xoa for her remarks.

Lexiss entered the prison, activating a skill. She pointed the skill towards Xoa, threatening her. Xoa quieted down, allowing the negotiations to begin.

“I want to make a deal between our tribes,” Elas started. 

“A deal?” Xoa mocked in a tone resembling Elas’. He ignored her childish remark.

“I do not need captives nor do I wish to slaughter the rest of you. Instead, I want to create a peace treaty between us. We both have witnessed enough war and blood.”

Xoa chuckled slightly. “I’ll need permission from the rest of the tribe. I can’t do that from here.”

“We’ll send one of your men to act as the messenger.” Menzo chimed in.

“Fine, then let Brine go.” She said, motioning for a frail female teenage beastkin to stand up. Brine followed orders and took the message back to their village. 

Moments after Brine left, Xoa remarked, “what happens if we don’t play along with your peace treaty?” 

“Then we’ll slaughter you all. It would be enough punishment for what you did to Five.” Elas said, his eyes glaring at Xoa. She shuddered. 

“I doubt you could. I have assassins who hold the same abilities as I do. The same thing that happened to that kid will happen to you all.” She threatened. She then began laughing point-blank at Elas. 

Lexiss sensed a familiar presence, ignoring it. She understood the intention.

Xoa’s deranged laughter was cut short as her body collapsed limply. Roxy had shown up from behind her, chopping her in the neck, knocking her unconscious. 

“Anybody else have something to say?” She asked the other Rockshins. Nobody spoke up, keeping quiet.

“Tomorrow, we’ll meet with the Rockshins and force them to sign a peace treaty! Our safety will be ensured!” He announced in front of the Rockshins, guards, Menzo, Roxy, and Lexiss. They all cheered for their new future, except for the Rockshins. 

Early the next morning, Elas and his group met with the leaders of the Rockshin tribe. Miso, a black wolf beastkin---the representative from the Rockshin tribe---approached Elas first. 

“You want a peace treaty in exchange for the captives you have?” She asked. 

Elas nodded his head. “We’ll need you to sign a peace treaty that doesn’t allow you to harm our land or ourselves. Also, if there is any conflict in our territory, then you are to help us and vice-versa.” He explained.

“That’s all?” She asked, expecting drastic and cruel rules. “If that’s everything, then we’ll accept.” Elas nodded, handing her the peace treaty paperwork, ensuring they had a written agreement. 

She finished signing it, handing it back to him. “Now it’s time for us to take our leave,” She signaled for her people to begin retreating home after taking their friends back. She turned around to face her people, to announce their plans, when a rogue arrow penetrated her stomach, dropping her to the ground.

“Let’s see what we got? Elves, beastkins, and even a human girl. They’ll all sell well in Asher.” A bandit remarked, poking his head out from behind a tree. His comrades arrived soon, surrounding the Rockshins 

“We’re allies now. We must uphold our part of the deal!” Elas declared, his group roared in agreement. 

Menzo and the other able-body elves unleashed a fury of near-accurate arrows at the bandits. This cut the bandits in half quickly with little resistance.

Meanwhile, Roxy tore the arrow out of  Miso’s stomach before casting Light Heal on her. Her blood began to replenish itself as her skin reformed. The wound was closing.

The bandits realized that they were outnumbered and would be overwhelmed, choosing to retreat. They fled into the sea of trees.

Xoa, who watched with glaring eyes, was untied and given her weapon back. She smirked smugly as she picked Miso up, sitting her down on the grass. She then appointed one of the Rockshins as her bodyguard before motivating her men to fight.

“Well,  I guess this makes the treaty legitimate. We’ll leave you alone… for now.” She told Elas before rushing into the forest to clean up the bandits. 

Elas turned to his group and smiled. “Today, we have won.”

“Darkness controls you. You won’t make it out of her unscathed. Allow me to fuse with you, granting the most heavenly dreams you could have,” A low garbled voice muttered. “I won’t be leaving until you permit me. Until then, I’ll wait for the day you wish to leave this situation and rejoin reality.” The voice then went silent, a slight clicking sound being emitted in the abyss Five’s consciousness was trapped in. He was gone.

Blade took over, his personality being permitted to be in control. The personality switch saw Baron’s appearance disappearing and Blade’s emerging to the surface. His blue hair faded away as the blackest of the night wrapped around their body. Baron’s katana turned to dust, fading away as Blade’s scythe popped out of the dust. The black Mythril scythe, nicknamed Hunger, appeared in front of Blade, seemingly floating. It levitated into Blade’s hands as his black locks descended onto his forehead, brushing against it. 

A black cloak with a blood-red outline sprouted from his back, stopping a few inches from the ground. It waved in the air, tilting back and forth. It taunted the Zike from behind Blade’s legs. 

Blade, now prepared, grabbed Hunger and licked the scythe’s blade. He grinned as his animalistic eyes lingered over the Zike. Hunger growled, almost lunging at the Zike but Blade stopped it in its tracks. 

“This Zike doesn’t deserve a swift death, so how about…” His eyes perked up, glaring at the Zike. The Zike flinched, staggering backward. It screeched loudly, nearly destroying Blade’s eardrums. He reacted quickly, slicing at the Zike’s throat. However, something got in his way. He brought Hunger close to his chest, inspecting the blade. There was a green liquid scattered on it. 

It was blood, belonging to the small demon race known as Hates. These small creatures were similar to ants, but five times their size. They were able to bench press more than their weight and worked well in teams, but were more efficient while paired with a Zike. A Zike acted as the leader, ordering and placing them in specific positions, but was never the main force. Other subordinates such as skeletons and zombies, worthless pawns to the enormous demon, made up the main force with the Hates being plan B. 

Fortunately, Baron slaughtered the Zike’s main force, handing Blade the reinforcements. However, this provided a new threat as the extremely loyal small insects would do whatever they could to protect their master, something that would prove to be an annoyance to him.

Blade spat on the ground in front of him, spitting on a Hates’ corpse. This irritated the Zike who, with one final screech, scrambled towards him. Blade stuck Hunger out, pointing it at the demon. He smirked as he slashed the air, missing the demon by five feet. The Zike laughed a terrible scratchy laugh, overconfident in its abilities. It charged towards Blade with great speed, the distance between them diminishing in a matter of milliseconds. 

Blade raised Hunger and swung downward, catching the Zike by surprise. Several Hates jumped in front of the swing, being slaughtered but granting the Zike a second chance at life. It ducked and retreated a few steps. It stopped and glared at Blade, recollecting the nearby Hates. 

The Zike sent in a platoon of Hates towards Blade while it flanked him. Blade figured out the flank with ease, slicing the platoon with a single swing. He then turned around and parried a strike by the Zike. It screeched in his face, temporarily stunning him, before launching a few Hates towards him. The Hates attached themselves to Blade’s face, scratching and biting him. He grabbed them, tearing them off his face and throwing them into the air. 

Meanwhile, the Zike had closed the distance, slicing at Blade. Blade parried the blow, taking a step back and swinging. The Zike sprinted out of the attack’s range but wasn’t expecting a face full of Hates’ blood. It hadn’t expected for the Hates that Blade threw up would go back down into his swing. The swing sliced the Hates in half and sprayed the Zike with the blood, temporarily blinding him. 

Now with a golden opportunity in front of him, Blade brought Hunger up and struck downward. The strike found itself in the back of the Zike’s skull. The remaining momentum brought Hunger deeper into its skill, slamming its face into the ground with a large ‘thud’ sound. 

The collision with the ground brought Hunger through the Zike’s skull, poking the tip out of the other side. Blade retrieved Hunger from the Zike’s empty skull before his color began fading. His time was up, reverting to the right personality for the day. Baron’s blue tones reappeared as Blade’s black disappeared. Hunger faded into dust particles that, a moment later, reformed Baron’s katana. His hair reverted to normal, bringing Baron back to control while ushering Blade into their body. 

Baron regained control while Blade was put back in place. Two sides came to a deal that benefited each other but, in the end, only one was allowed to stay out past their curfew. 

TBC...

Aksel pulled weeds out of the ground, throwing them into a nearby basket. He then stood up and wiped a collection of sweat off his forehead. He reached out to a nearby basket and grabbed a hoe, slowly plowing a row. He was preparing a large field to grow crops.

He finished a row and moved to the second one, but his progress was interrupted. A familiar voice shouted out to Aksel. He looked up and noticed his neighbor’s daughter, an eighteen-year-old, named Liliana standing some distance behind him. She called out to him and waved at him. He waved back, motioning for her to come closer.

‘What’s wrong, Lily?” He asked her when she got closer.

“There’s a slave trader here,” She shouted, pointing towards the middle of the village. 

Aksel dropped his hoe and marched over to her. He