Born in apocalypse

Dhruv was on the verge of attacking them when he heard that the lady knew about the Mark of Asteri. However, he managed to calm himself down and allow his rational thought to take control of him once again.

’How could she know about the Mark of Asteri? Did she plant a spy on the island? No, that isn’t possible. Could she see our status menu? No, this wouldn’t be possible either; we were so far away from her, and that monster near her didn’t have the mark. Then, how could she have known?’ Dhruv pondered. He began to eliminate one reason after another knowing those weren’t possible in this circumstance. He looked at the trio for a split second before tilting his head in denial.

’How could she know about this? And even if she knew about it why did she bring it up and risk getting caught? It’s not like there’s something to gain from accepting the mark; on the contrary, it’s the opposite, and she would lose her freedom on a small scale," Dhruv thought. No matter how much he contemplated it, he couldn’t wrap his head around this fact.

"No, there is one thing she can gain after bringing up the mark: trust," he thought. Realizing he couldn’t continue talking like this, he instructed Azarex to bring only the lady closer to him so they could speak face-to-face.

After sending his message he saw that the lady had begun to walk in his direction, due to her being blind, a man had accompanied her.

The man accompanying her was clearly a tier 3 human, with a well-built physique and defined muscles. His broad shoulders tapered down to a narrow waist. Veins subtly traced his arms, and his posture exuded confidence. Examining his face, Dhruv noted that his jawline was chiseled and defined, framing a square face. His eyes were pitch black, with a straight nose in between.

He was wearing a common-ranked armor, the kind one could buy from a store. The armor had numerous small holes, indicating that he had either just fought a battle or didn’t have enough coins to purchase a new one. Although there was a nervous expression on his face, he made an effort to conceal it as much as possible.

Dhruv could only see one man, but Dhruv knew that he was only there for show. In reality, there were five men accompanying her: and knew that the other four were the assassins.

After walking for a while, the woman reached him and bowed as a sign of respect. Seeing her bow, he nodded as a confirmation but then remembered that she couldn’t see. So, he said,

"That’s alright," he responded.

"Thank you, my majesty," came the reply.

Dhruv was somewhat confused by the use of "majesty," but he didn’t correct her. Instead, he allowed the misunderstanding to pile up, thinking it might give him an upper hand during the negotiation if he were to decide to let them live on the island.

"How do you know about the Mark of Asteri?" he asked. Before the woman could answer, he continued, "If you attempt even the slightest bit of deception, understand that my men are fully capable of erasing all of you from this world."

When he mentioned his capability to remove them, he could feel an aura of hostility emanating from the man. However, the same couldn’t be said for the lady; she simply stood there, smiling and thinking about her response.

Looking over at the man, Dhruv couldn’t help but think, ’You know, I also don’t want to say these edgy third-grade villain lines, but it is what it is.’

"Should I tell you everything from the start, majesty?" she asked.

"Yes, from the start," came the reply.

"As you wish. Two days before the beginning of the second quest, we conducted a sacrificial ritual to our goddess to determine a suitable location for our tribe in this soon-to-be horrifying world. You see, we are members of the Orian tribe, which resides deep within the forests of the Kin country," she explained.

She paused for a moment, allowing Dhruv to process the information, before continuing once again.

"After the ritual, I received a vision of you and this beautiful island of the far future. Following a collective agreement from the tribe members, we left our previous location and set out to reach this island. We could’ve reached the island sooner but during our journey the second quest began and we had to pause to fight the monsters," she explained.

She paused for a moment and then continued,

"Oh, sorry, I forgot one important detail. During the reward settlement of the first quest, I received the exclusive ability [Prophet], which let me have a blurry vision of the future. You can even check the details on the status," she said, extending her hand.

Dhruv wanted to check it but declined the offer and said, "The reason behind your blindness is that ability."

"Yes, my lord. After all, for you to see the future, you have to sacrifice the present," she said with a smile seemingly unaffected by her inability to see.

Hearing her statement, Dhruv thought for a moment before instructing her to continue.

"We fought with the monsters for days, and I won’t bore you with the exact details. However, on the morning of the third day of the second quest, I had another vision. In that vision, I saw you granting something to someone whose face was blurry. When you were done granting it, I somehow knew that the thing you were bestowing was a mark, the Mark of Asteri to be exact," she explained.

"And that’s how I came to know about the Mark. I don’t even know the exact details, but I understand that it’s something that binds anyone to the island, or rather, to you," she concluded.

She had shared everything there was to share and didn’t hide any information from him. After listening to her detailed explanation, Dhruv pondered for a moment and said with a straight face,

"Let’s say I believe you, but why should I give you the mark and allow you to live on this island?"

He had said this with a straight face, but deep down, he was very agitated about their answer.

Thala, who had been silent all this time, spoke up after hearing the question.

"We are willing to do anything for his majesty, ’whatever he wishes,"