They finally made it into the sewers of the long-forgotten city. Riven was the first to make it in, the rest followed not too long after. It seems they have managed to lose the figure in the clouds, but that doesn't mean they're safe. The sewers are still a disgusting place where monsters could have made their nest.
Riven's heart was pounding. He was breathing in as much air as his lungs could carry. It was also like that for the Firstborns too, but the same couldn't be said for the Veiled. They seemed fine—well, kinda. Eros didn't look so good. He said with a loud voice,
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
Riven stood in the distance just a few meters from the group. He looked away as soon as he talked. One of the Firstborn, the one from before, noticed Riven's behavior and said in an angry tone,
"Hey, you know something, don't you?"
Riven didn't reply. He just looked away.
The Firstborn got even more angry.
"This bastard knows something. It all makes sense now—how you knew the storm was coming, the way you started running without even looking back!"
The Firstborn moved closer to Riven and tapped him on the head.
"I'm not being paranoid. He knows something."
Eros wanted to say something, but before he could, Nira talked.
"Riven, was it? What was that in the clouds? And do you know something about it? And Jae, step away from him."
The Firstborn, now known as Jae, obediently moved away from Riven. Riven hesitated for a moment before talking and said,
"Yes, I know what the figure in the clouds was. It was probably chasing me."
Eros's face became pale in an instant.
"Chasing you? Why?"
The figure in the clouds was one of the main reasons why Riven deserted the Order.
Riven replied to Eros, "That's none of your business."
Jae looked at him and hissed,
"We are currently here to take you back to the Order, so if that monster is chasing you, it is our business."
Riven looked at Jae and gave him a dangerous look and said,
"Sure, why not? I'm a Hollowborn, as you all know—created by the Order to be the perfect monster-killing machine. So they had to test our abilities. I'm fairly certain the Order didn't say why I ran away. They took us to Nethra, a death zone, somewhere called a no man's land. We were 33 in number. We were told to survive in there for a year. But they wouldn't just send a bunch of Firstborn to their death, so we were told to stay in the outer regions of the despicable place. At first, it seemed easy enough. Some died at the beginning due to their own stupid and worthless confidence. There's no point being confident if you don't have the abilities to back it up. Over time, in about 9 months, our number reduced from 33 to 10. I was one of the remaining 10, seeing how I'm alive currently. During the end, things were going great... until it showed up."
Eros looked at him and asked,
"What showed up?"
Riven looked at him and said,
"Let me finish. I'm getting to it. It happened in the evening. We had just caught a prey for the night, but then a massive monstrosity fell from the sky. It looked injured. It looked like a giant fly way bigger than normal, maybe the size of a house or even bigger. Its eyes were huge, almost cracked-looking, and its whole body was covered in dirty, bristly hairs. The wings were destroyed. It had just been in battle with something. It crushed some of the other Hollowborn—two of them. And not long after it crashed, a massive creature it looked like a dragon landed close to it. The dragon was big. Very big. It was as big as a three-story building. And in an instant, it sent out fire. It looked purple or black I can't remember. All I remembered was seeing everyone die, including my friend. I too was seriously hurt, but I managed to survive somehow. But the same couldn't be said for the entire location we were in. Everything was covered in flames."
"I somehow managed to escape the flames. Long story short, I wanted revenge for what it did to me and my friend. So I climbed it clawed my way up its burnt, rough scales while it rested. That thing wasn't from the outer region it came from deep inside, from the inner regions where the real monsters dwell, the ones far stronger than anything we were meant to face. It must have fought the fly-like beast and chased it out toward the outer edge, dragging their battle into our zone. I knew I was outmatched, but I didn't care. I followed it to its nest, destroyed its eggs, and somehow it noticed and started chasing me and now we are in this situation."
Eros looked at him and started laughing.
"So you pissed off a monster that could level an entire city because it killed your friends?"
Riven looked at him with confusion.
"An eye for an eye, I guess."
Nira looked at him and said,
"That doesn't explain why you deserted."
All Riven said was,
"I got sick of it."
Jae looked at him that how did you get back
Riven replied
"Oh that, sorry I can't tell you that"