The Earth After Rebirth

He ran through the trees at amazing speeds. Using every skill in his arsenal that helped with speed, he didn't even leave after images, every tree he passed complained because of the gust of wind he created. He was practically insivible as he went.

He kept looking back to see whatever it was that made him run this fast.

The forest was huge, so he wanted to explore it while they waited to see how they could infiltrate the enemy. But lazying around and just training bored Kiro to death, on the same day he decided to explore he went in too deep and discovered translucent beings.

He had no idea whether they were weak or destructive but he didn't stick around to find out. He wasn't really scared of them.

He just knew that causing a ruckus here would attract troublesome flies. That would absolutely blow their cover. That would make Hubris angrier than he was at the moment, so Kiro avoided using any of his flashy skills to avoid being detected.

Lately, Hubris had been a very foul mood. He didn't even allow Kiro to go out to explore, fearing that they would be caught, causing their whole mission to fail.

Kiro was no assassin but he trusted his stealth skills, so he was shocked when these beings saw right through his skills and gave chase.

He didn't feel any kind animosity from them, they felt like children who just wanted to play tag.

So, right behind him, was a monster on his trail, he tried all he could to shake it off, but it was right on his tail without losing its target.

He didn't want to attack it though, it didn't seem harmful to him. It wasn't attacking either just chasing.

Its playful aura triggered the child in Kiro, he didn't want to be caught either. This made him miss his little sister immensely, she was the one who loved playing such games. He missed how he'd let her win, and without realising it he slowed down.

The moment he did, the thing devoured him whole with the biggest embrace. He fell flat on his back, after a little while it got off him and ran to the other side and waited.

"You want me to chase you too, huh, buddy."

Kiro spend the next hours playing with them, a lot joined them after that one time. He even learned they were called spectres, he didn't know he knew this but the knowledge just made itself known in his head, and it was too harmless to question it further.

Spectres were spirits of dead children, that's why they were so playful and not vengeful. Kiro wondered why were children in the Underworld, was it some kind of heaven for them? But when he took a look at the forest that was their domain, he didn't see anything torturous.

Just a home of wandering spirits of children who had nowhere else to go but here and they lived well, and peacefully here. They rarely had visitors, so when they encountered Kiro, they jumped at the chance of playing with a non-spirit.

Kiro wasn't sure at first either, but when he discerned that they were harmless he had no problem playing with them. It was a good training, he was getting better at alluding them.

The more he played with them, the deeper their bond and more he could understand them. They didn't talk, but he could understand what they meant.

They told him all about themselves, they didn't remember anything before they died. They didn't even know they were dead until Kiro introduced that concept to them.

They could tell Kiro was being bothered by something so they offered a helping hand. Kiro thought he could use them for information gathering but he'd have to train them first.

He walked to the base, with new friends that day. Friends that were more than happy to give him a helping hand and because that's what he needed at the moment he didn't dare say no.

"Master! Where have you been? You didn't think I'd notice that you went missing the whole day?" Hubris was frantic

"I'm sorry my mount, I got a bit bored just being here. But look, I brought new friends!"

"Oh, that doesn't matter so long as you brought new friends!" He snapped back.

Kiro was at the brink of laughter but he managed to keep it at bay, "look at them, we can use them to gather information around your kingdom." He said, trying to calm down his mount.

"Well, okay, but I can see them, if I can, they can."

"That's not a problem, they can camouflage rather fast, come on show him." He turned to the closest one and gestured for it show Hubris their neat tricks.

It jumped in front of a tree and disappeared. Then the part of a tree that was it moved to the orange sky, still disappeared. Then it did the same thing to the dirt ground. It could copy the colours of whatever it set its eyes and change into it.

"Okay, that is impressive."

"See? I wasn't slacking!"

"As if, you found them by mistake!"

They started bickering. None of them backing down, as they thought they were right. Ever since Hubris had been planning this coup, he had started to treat Kiro as an equal. Something Kiro had told him to do from the very beginning, but it was happening now, naturally.

This made Kiro's heart melt. He hated how Hubris called him master, or Lord. He just wanted a comrade that had his back not because he was its master, but because they were loyal and loved him like a brother.

Hearing about his father, spending time with the monkey King, the casual relationship his father had with a god made him look at his relationship with Kiro differently. But he was still very far from calling him by his name.

"My Lord, there's a secret knock on the door. They must've gotten our message."

"We still have a long way to go huh." Kiro mumbled with an eyebrow raised.

Hubris jumped at the chance of going to open the door on the other side of the tunnel. It took him a couple of strides to reach the other end. Kiro and his spectres stayed behind, Kiro started a fire to cook some.

For a great change, he didn't grill the meat, he took out pots that Hubris made. He took out a knife and some veggies he picked around the forest when he explored. He started on dinner. He could only make chicken soup, there was no rice where they were so they had to make due with what they had.

Luckily he had stocked up on bread, so they would have soup with bread. He was in the middle of chopping ingredients when their guests arrived with Hubris. But they were way less than when they ran into them in this forest. It was only Belial and another arachnid.

"Why are they so few of them, did they get caught and were killed?" Kiro asked jokingly.

Belial and the arachnid said nothing to Kiro but bowed so low to greet their master's master. Kiro nodded in acknowledgement, he felt weird about it, Hubris giving him such respect was more than enough. He didn't need more.

He went back to cooking. He couldn't deal with beings who took their work way too seriously. He chatted up with his spectres, obviously not the normal way. He didn't know how, maybe through telepathy but it felt like a different way to communicate.

After some silence, Hubris broke the ice, "actually master, you were right on the money. One of the arachnids was killed. That's why they didn't come for so long. Chaos broke out within the walls of the city, the people are tired and impatient now."

Kiro didn't know what to say, how was his guess right on the money? The city was too far to sense with vibrations, so he chucked it up on a lucky guess.

"Let me guess, our plans need to be pushed up by a lot because now people are restless. What were they waiting for all this time? So annoying."

This made him angry, he didn't understand what they were acting up for all of a sudden, their plans weren't ones that should be rushed. They needed to act with immaculate conditions, to ensure they absolutely kill and destroy the current monarch. But now they were putting them on a pedestal, and Kiro didn't like it one bit.

"Master, we have no choice. How long would it take for the spectres to gather some information?"

"I was planning to train them first, they're just kids, they won't know what they're doing. Give me a week." Kiro continued his stubborn rant.

"I doubt we can..." Belial's mouth closed itself when he realised he was butting in a conversation that didn't really concern him.

"Master, 3 days!" Both Kiro and Hubris ignored Belial, they were looking at each other like they were at a battlefield.

"4 days."

"Deal."