The Villain Professor's Second Chance

It sickened me, though I kept it well hidden.

I took a deep breath, calming the churn of disgust in my gut. I couldn't let it cloud my judgment. Lyan was beside me, his eyes scanning the crowd with that same cold intensity I'd come to expect from him. We had been here for hours, trying to gather information about the rumored Tiamat worshippers, but it was getting us nowhere. Discover more stories at empire

Every conversation with the locals spiraled into our constant bickering, and no one seemed willing to share anything useful. Our cold, terse exchanges grated on each other's nerves, and it showed. The demons could sense it.

"This is getting us nowhere," I muttered, glancing at Lyan. He was wiping his brow, a faint sheen of sweat clinging to his skin. "You're not helping."

Lyan shot me a glare, his tail twitching in annoyance. "Neither are you. You're as cold as ever, Draven. These demons don't respond to that kind of attitude."

"Cold works when it's effective," I snapped back. "You just haven't realized yet that you need more than brute force and intimidation to get people to talk."

Lyan rolled his eyes, and we both went silent again, standing in the middle of the marketplace like two statues while the demons bustled around us. The frustration was growing thicker by the minute. If we kept this up, we wouldn't get a single piece of valuable information.

A voice cut through our tense silence. "You two finished bickering like children?"

I turned to see Aurelia, her fiery red hair catching the sunlight as she sauntered over with her usual lazy, arrogant stride. She wore that familiar smirk, her arms crossed over her chest as she took us in with a casual glance.

"Bastards," she muttered, shaking her head. "You've been at this for hours, and from the looks of it, you've got nothing to show for it."

Behind her, Anastasia approached with a more graceful, calculated walk. Her sly eyes gleamed with amusement, though she didn't say anything at first. She just gave us a knowing look, one that said she had already figured us out.

I straightened, giving Aurelia a sharp look. "If you've got a better plan, I'm all ears."

"Oh, I've got more than a plan," Aurelia shot back, her smirk widening. "I've got results."

Lyan raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. "And how exactly did you manage that?"

Aurelia tossed her hair back, looking every bit the smug queen she was. "Simple. I talked to them like real people. You two were so busy puffing out your chests and acting all high and mighty that you forgot how to have a damn conversation."

"I didn't puff out anything," I muttered, though I knew she was partially right. Lyan and I were too cold, too distant in our approach. Aurelia's rough, casual style probably worked better with these demons, considering their love for bluntness and battle.

Anastasia stepped forward then, a small smile playing at her lips. "While Aurelia was charming them with her usual... bluntness," she said, her voice light and teasing, "I decided to take a different approach. A little charm, a little wit, and suddenly, they were telling me everything."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Everything?"

"Everything," Anastasia confirmed with a smug tilt of her head. "They aren't a cult, not exactly. More like a group of devoted believers. Tiamat isn't just a myth to them. She's already awakened, but she's still in a slumber, gathering her strength. And when she wakes up fully…"

Anastasia let the sentence hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "There will be destruction. Across several worlds."

Aurelia chuckled, clearly enjoying this. "While you bastards were too busy bickering, we got the information we needed. Maybe you should learn from the pros on how to retrieve information next time."

Lyan's tail flicked in irritation, and I could tell he was biting back a retort. I, however, wasn't so restrained. "It's not a competition, Aurelia."

"Oh, but it feels like one," she quipped, grinning at me. "And I just won."

Anastasia, who had been quiet, now chimed in with a soft chuckle. "I believe we both did, actually."

The two of them exchanged a look, and before I knew it, they were bickering in their own way, sniping at each other with smug remarks. It was oddly familiar, and I found myself watching with a mix of amusement and irritation.

Lyan, standing next to me, sighed. "Aren't they just as bad as we are?"

I glanced at him and nodded. "Perhaps worse."

Still, as much as their bickering grated on me, we finally had the information we needed. Tiamat wasn't just some distant threat. She was already here, stirring in her sleep, waiting for the right moment to rise and destroy. And we were running out of time.

After their boasting died down, Aurelia and Anastasia filled us in on a rumor they had picked up. Apparently, there was a demonic altar hidden deep in a nearby forest, a place where the Tiamat believers had been sneaking around for some time. Most of the demons in the city didn't take them seriously—the believers were from a weaker race, considered insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

But now that we knew Tiamat's awakening was imminent, this rumor was worth investigating.

"The altar might be connected to the group," Anastasia said, her voice serious now. "If we can find it, we might be able to learn more about their plans."

Lyan nodded. "Then that's where we go next."

The forest wasn't far, but it was outside the borders of the city. We would have to leave the safety of the city of peace, something that didn't sit well with any of us. But there was no other option. If the altar held answers, we had to go.

Aurelia stretched, yawning lazily as if the whole thing was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. "Well, let's get this over with. I'd rather be in bed."

"You're always ready for a nap," I muttered under my breath, though I couldn't help the slight smirk that tugged at my lips. Despite her laziness, Aurelia was the most capable person I knew.

We gathered what little we needed and set out for the forest, the tension between us easing slightly now that we had a clear goal. The demons we passed watched us with their usual mix of disdain and curiosity, but no one stopped us as we left the city behind.

We had made it halfway through the forest, the trees towering over us like silent sentinels, when I felt a shift in the air. The birds had gone quiet, the wind still. I glanced at Lyan, who was ahead of me, and noticed a bead of sweat trailing down his temple.

"Shit," Lyan muttered under his breath, his eyes scanning the dense forest around us. "It's the Abyss Borns."

The name sent a chill down my spine. Abyss Borns were no ordinary demons. They were creatures born from broken worlds, twisted by despair and destruction. Their strength was legendary, their hatred for life unmatched.

I heard a rustle behind us and turned just in time to catch sight of them. They emerged from the shadows like nightmares given form, grotesque and unnerving. Their bodies were a patchwork of jagged limbs and twisted features, their skin a sickly, mottled gray that seemed to pulse with a life of its own. Their legs were long, spindly, ending in talon-like claws that scraped the ground as they moved.

Their eyes glowed with a malevolent light, burning with an unnatural hunger.

And then, they moved.

Faster than anything I'd ever seen.

One of them lunged toward Aurelia before I could react. My body moved on instinct, placing myself between her and the creature. I blocked its strike with my blade, but the force of the impact sent me flying backward. My vision blurred for a moment, the world tilting as I hit the ground hard.

"Draven!" Aurelia's voice rang out, sharp and filled with an emotion I didn't often hear from her—concern.

I blinked, trying to regain my focus. The Abyss Born loomed over me, its grotesque form casting a shadow over the ground. And I knew, in that moment, that this battle was far from over.