"You wanted to talk." Yelena sat on a sofa in front of Ray. Just the mood of Ray told her that he didn't want to joke, so she got serious too.
Ray stared into her eyes: "How can you guarantee the safety of my mother?"
"I have assigned Keres to be her personal guard. And for you, I'm going to send you the candidates for your bodyguards." She showed a design of a tower to Ray: "And we have found ways to increase this place's defense by double!"
Ray didn't even look at the document. "First of all, the deal is off. I don't want a bodyguard, the second thing; who were those people, and why did they know you and Keres?"
She cared so little about their deal anyway; she got what she wanted, but Ray's safety was a concern that she truly had.
Her voice changed into a low sound, and she said, "That woman you saw me fight that night is called Ela of the hell flame. Her family is the only bloodline of hell flame on earth, and once upon a long-passed time, we were part of one squad."
"What?"
"It's a long story, but I want you to know it. Now you are a target for them too."
Ray had guessed that they would turn their attention to him, especially that squad of hell flame boys. "I'm all ears."
Her hands picked up a bottle of wine from next to Ray. She just drank it from the bottle and started her tale: "You know that one hundred years ago, there were four nations on earth that became one on the national peace day."
"As you may guess, it was not that peaceful; three nations agreed, but my nation at the time refused to let go of its history and some fucking individuality bullshit."
Ray only knew the story that was known to the public; all four signed to be one for the sake of humanity. He waited for Yelena to drink more.
"At the time, I was in the army with my personal squad, the rising sun squad. Ela was the leader of our group due to her experience, but she and we were all like sisters in battle to each other."
He took a few breaths and continued: "After the war started, only the warriors like us fought in deserts and mountains to not gain the attention of the public, and it worked. The whole flow of the war was good; they pressured us, but we kept our defense. They were on the verge of changing their contact for us too."
He was surprised by their accomplishment; holding back an army was not an easy task. "Then what changed it all?"
The bottle in her hands was crushed by her hands; she didn't mind and picked up another one: "It was the last day of summer. Our diplomats had gone to the capital to change the contract at some point. It was a festival; we were all happy and dancing for our impossible success."
Fury was visible on her face: "Then they alarmed for a rank 10 danger. It even hadn't been alarmed for our whole lives."
"A creature from outer space?" He had heard that when a rank 10 alarm rings, running is not effective; just turn to your family and enjoy your last moments.
"No. There she was behind the gates of our city. A woman with red armor and white hair. we all know who she was: Isabella from the goddess squad."
"Who could have controlled her to interfere in earth wars?" Ray thought to himself.
"She said that we have gained her attention. Her words were simple: we would entertain her, or she would kill us all. You may guess how that went against her; our army fought with three other nations at the same time, but to her it was a joke."
Yelena cleared her throat: "We all failed. But she didn't kill any of our warriors... That fucking monster let us live while she turned the whole city and thirty million people on it into a ball as large as a head."
As a big fan, Ray knew that Isabel's magic was gravity magic; some even said she could make black holes.
A tear dropped from the memories that came back to her mind: "And she left, leaving us to wonder about ourselves. Most of us agreed and moved on to the new nation to create new lives. But some couldn't do that; there are still many shadows out there that want their revenge."
"They want to kill Isabela?"
Yelena nodded.
"And the reason they attacked the tower was to gain her attention once more, and the fact that they are doing this after so long means they have a way, or they think they have a plan."
Ray stared into her eyes: "Let's just say that they kill Isabella; you know that there will be earth of that?" The Goddess squad had five members, each scarier than the others.
Yelena calmed herself a little and answered, "I know; that's why I want you to join my personal squad and put an end to their plan."
"I refuse. I don't want to join any squad, but any time you need my help, you can call." Ray had thought about it for some time, and at last he was certain about it. Being alone was the easiest path to increasing his strength.
"Humans like you don't have long lives, Ray."
"It might be true; only the future can tell."
Yelena stood up from her chair and moved toward the door: "It was a nice two days, but I should go after my own work too. Call me whenever you want more." She winced at him and left the room.
Ray didn't respond and just sat there, thinking about the new piece of information he had obtained.
"The more I know, the more I understand that there is so much more to know." What even gained Isabella's attention? What is the method they have found to kill a goddess?
He sighed. "Mysteries will be unravelled in the right time."