The silence in the hallway was absolute.
Four of the most powerful beings on the continent stood frozen, weapons drawn, hearts hammering against their ribs. Across from them stood a barefoot man holding a glass of juice.
Draven took a slow sip of the crimson liquid. He lowered the glass, his eyes landing on Volkan's boots.
"Mud," Draven said.
The word was spoken softly, without inflection. Yet, to the Expedition Team, it sounded like a judicial sentence.
"He... he speaks the ancient tongue," Kaelith thought, her mind racing. "But his focus... why is he looking at our feet?"
"Who are you?" Volkan barked, though his voice lacked its usual thunder. The Dragon King tried to summon his flames, but the moment he gathered his Energy, it dissipated. The air around this man simply refused to catch fire. "Identify yourself, Entity!"
Draven didn't answer. He didn't even look at Volkan's face. He walked past them.
He moved with a fluid, terrifying grace. One moment he was in the doorway, the next he was standing by the railing, looking down at the foyer below.
"You broke the banister," Draven noted, staring at the splintered wood where Volkan had gripped it earlier. He sighed, a sound that made Elara flinch. "I just woke up. I haven't even had breakfast. And now I have to do repairs."
He turned around. His expression was bored. Detached. His crimson eyes swept over them not with malice, but with a profound lack of interest. It was the look a human gave to a swarm of flies.
"Leave," Draven said.
It wasn't a shout. It was a statement of fact.
"We..." Kaelith stepped forward, her rapier trembling. She sheathed it. A weapon was useless here. "We cannot leave."
Draven raised an eyebrow. "I didn't ask if you could. I said leave. The door is that way."
"We are surrounded!" Gorn blurted out, the railgun on his shoulder whining as it tried and failed to lock onto a target. "The forest outside is filled with Void Walkers! We used all our ammo getting here! If we go back out there, we die!"
Draven looked at the dwarf, then at the massive cannon. "So you brought a siege weapon into my house, tracked mud on my carpet, broke my stairs, and now you want to stay because you're scared of a few dogs?"
"Dogs?" Volkan snarled. "Those are Phase Shifting abominations! And they are your dogs, aren't they? You control this cursed forest!"
Draven blinked. My dogs? Oh, he means the wolves. I guess they did get a bit aggressive while I was asleep.
He didn't explain. He didn't care to.
"Not my problem," Draven said, turning his back on them to walk back into his room. "Get out. If you're still here in five minutes, I'm throwing you out the window."
The door began to close.
Panic seized the team. If that door closed, they were dead. They were trapped in the center of the Forbidden Zone with no stamina, no ammo, and a pissed off god.
"Wait!" Kaelith screamed, abandoning all dignity.
She dropped to one knee.
"Princess!" Elara gasped. The Iron Princess of Aethelgard, kneeling?
"It is your problem!" Kaelith shouted, her voice desperate. "The Calamity outside! The Beast Tide! It was caused by your awakening! Your presence terrified the monsters, driving them into our lands! Our kingdoms are being trampled because you decided to wake up!"
Draven paused. He held the door open with one finger.
He looked at Kaelith.
The migration, Draven thought. The birds flying south. The loud noise I heard earlier.
Ah. Oops.
He kept his face perfectly impassive. He leaned against the doorframe, swirling his glass.
"So?" Draven asked.
The callousness of the response struck them like a physical blow. Millions were in danger, and this being simply asked, So?
"So..." Kaelith gritted her teeth, looking up at him. "So you owe us. We came here to stop the source. We found you. We cannot fight you. We know that. But we cannot leave either. If we walk out there, we die. we came here for our people, hoping to find the source of the calamity, and we found it."
She took a deep breath.
"Please....let us stay," Kaelith pleaded. "Just until we recover our strength. Until the monsters calm down. Grant us sanctuary, we will leave then, we have to go back to resolve this misunderstanding with the empires."
"Sanctuary?" Volkan looked at Kaelith as if she were insane. "You are begging a monster for sanctuary?"
"Shut up, Volkan," Elara hissed, also dropping to her knees. She understood. This was their only survival route. "Please, Great One. The forest listens to you. If you cast us out, the cursed ones will consume us."
Draven stared at them.
Internally, he was weighing the pros and cons. Cons: They are loud. They are dirty. They have weapons. Pros: They seem terrified, so they probably won't touch my stuff. And...
Draven looked at the mud on the hallway floor. He looked at the dust covering the chandelier. He looked at the shattered banister.
He hated cleaning.
"I need a housekeeper," Draven muttered to himself.
"What?" Elara asked, her ears twitching, It was cute.
Draven opened the door fully. He stepped out, his presence looming over them.
"You want to stay?" Draven asked, his voice cool and smooth.
"Yes," Kaelith said quickly.
"Fine," Draven said.
The team let out a collective breath they didn't know they were holding.
"But," Draven raised a finger. "I don't run a charity. You broke my stairs. You muddied my floor. If you want to stay under my roof, you will be useful."
He pointed at Kaelith. "You. You're the leader? You're in charge of the dust. This hallway hasn't been swept in three millennia. I want it spotless."
He pointed at Gorn. "You. Dwarf. Fix the banister. If it squeaks, you leave."
He pointed at Elara. "Elf. The garden. The weeds are choking my Orchid. Fix it."
He pointed at Volkan.
Volkan stood tall, his pride refusing to let him bow. "I am the Dragon King Volkan! I will not be a servant!"
Draven stared at him. The pressure in the hallway spiked. The air grew heavy, smelling of ozone and old blood. Draven didn't flare his aura, he just focused his annoyance on the loud man in the red coat.
"Then you can sleep outside with the 'dogs'," Draven said calmly.
Volkan looked at the window. Outside, the shadows were writhing. He looked back at Draven. He swallowed his pride. It tasted like ash.
"What... is my task?" Volkan ground out.
"My Pig," Draven said. "Bacon. He's running around somewhere. He needs a bath. He smells like a swamp."
Silence.
The Dragon King. Washing a pig.
"I..." Volkan's hands shook. "I understand."
Draven nodded, satisfied. He turned back to his room.
"Keep the noise down," Draven ordered over his shoulder. "I'm going to finish my drink. If I hear a single explosion, I'm tossing all of you into the forest."
SLAM.
The door shut.
The Suicide Squad remained in the hallway, stunned, terrified, and alive.
"We..." Gorn whispered, staring at his wrench. "We are alive?"
"We are servants," Volkan whispered, staring at his hands in horror. "I am a King... and I have to scrub a pig?"
"It is a test," Kaelith said, her eyes burning with resolve. She stood up, dusting off her knees. "Don't you see? He is an Ancient Being, Maybe a God. He is testing our resolve. He wants to see if we are worthy of his mercy."
"Or he just wants a clean house," Gorn grumbled.
"No," Elara shook her head, looking at the door with reverence. "Did you feel his aura? It was... restrained. He could have erased us with a thought. Instead, he gave us tasks. This is a trial."
Kaelith sheathed her rapier completely.
"Gorn, fix the stairs," she ordered. "Elara, go to the garden. Volkan... find the pig."
"And you?" Volkan asked.
Kaelith looked around the dusty, cobweb-filled hallway. She took a deep breath.
"I," the Princess said grimly, "am going to find a broom."