Michael listened to Hamon's story in silence. The crickets and distant beasts accompanied them, along with creaking woods in the cabin. Heavy downpours accompanied Hamon's story. The droplets hit the roof, making a rhythmic noise that served as background music to Hamon's story. When Hamon finished his story, Michael felt pity for Hamon.
According to Hamon, his family, once called Hamlets, protected the great elven rune. The rune was passed from generation to generation. It was their sole duty to protect the elven rune. Apparently, there was a blessing hidden within the elven rune. The blessing gave whoever keeps the family healthy and prosperous. Therefore, Hamlets led a very good life in the Ozer continent. Hamlet was only a child when his House Leader brought his best friend hundred years ago to the Hamlet manor. He trusted his best friend enough to reveal the existence of the elven rune.
At that ti, he did not know the elven rune kindled the fire of greed in his best friend's heart. A few days later, soone murdered the house head in his own manor and stole the elven rune. The Hamlets scoured the continent for the rune but did not find a single clue. Years passed without the elven rune. The disappearance of the elven rune turned into a curse. One by one, the Hamlets fell sick to a strange illness and gradually lost their forr glory. Once a prominent family in the continent slowly lost everything until they ceased to exist. However, before the last Hamlet, Hamon's father died, he found that his best friend visited him on the day the house leader died.
Hamon made his life's work to find the elven rune and exact revenge against those who stole the rune, resulting in his family's demise. Like vultures picking off flesh from a corpse, the rival families robbed everything the Hamlet family had. As the last and only Hamlet, Hamon was thrown into the streets. He described his hellish childhood in great detail, with tears gushing out of his eyes. Michael sympathized with Hamon because they both shared the sa hellish childhood.
Despite Hamon's hardships, his thirst for revenge kept him going. Finally, at his fifteenth age, Hamon finally t the man who ca with his house head. Imagine his surprise when Hamon learned this man went from a lonely adventurer to the house head of the Genric family, Tannatar Genric. Although Hamon did not rember the na he used when he ca to his ho, he was pretty sure it wasn't Tannatar Genric. Hamon might have been a little child, but he could never forget the man's face who was responsible for everything.
Hamon followed Tannatar for a couple of years, waiting for an opportunity to gain his trust and enter his family as a Genric. Eventually, Hamon received a chance to save Tannatar's wife from a bunch of bandits. Since Tannatar loved his wife so much, Tannatar felt so great to the point where he accepted the orphan Hamon into his family. Hamon slowly worked his way up, slowly gaining everyone's trust. It took Hamon a hundred years to reach the point where he is now.
Michael admired Hamon's resilience. All these years, he lived with the people who were responsible for his family's destruction. Even he couldn't have lived with Victoria and her family for a year, let alone a hundred years. Michael began to have second thoughts about killing Hamon. Not only because Michael sympathized with Hamon but also because he said he had the plan to retrieve the elven rune. According to Hamon, the elven rune would recognize his bloodline. He was confident he could disable the runes and arrays in the vault to get to the rune. Michael wondered how he could use the elven rune to disable the arrays and defense runes. But he saw absolute confidence in Hamon's eyes. Since Michael didn't have the system's help, he had to rely completely on his instincts. And his instincts told him to go along with Hamon's plan.
"So tell , Hamon. What's more important to you? Your thirst for revenge against the Genric family or the elven rune? You can't have both. Choose one," said Michael.
Hamon's thoughts faded as images of his daily life flashed across his eyes. Michael let Hamon think in silence. On the one hand, Hamon had the elven rune, his family's heritage. On the other hand, he had Tannatar and his family, who stole the rune, resulting in his suffering. Without the Hamlet family, there was no need for the elven rune. That rune didn't have the power to bring his family back. However, killing Tannatar and destroying his family would certainly avenge his family and bring him peace.
Hence, Hamon chose revenge against the Genric family instead of the elven rune. As far as Hamon was concerned, the Dark Lord could take the rune.
"I want the Genric family dead," Hamon growled.
"Except the kids. Be honest, do you really plan to kill the children?" asked Michael.
Hamon hesitated to answer Michael because he wasn't a child killer. Subconsciously Hamon was attached to the twins and the other children. His anger was pointed toward Tannatar, not the innocent children and others. Hamon was not a killer like Michael. He killed everyone in Victoria's family except the children because she sent them away before the war. The last ti Michael heard, Noah had created an orphanage for children on every continent.
As much as Michael hated Noah for being a righteous prick, he admired Noah for his leadership and initiatives, such as the orphanages. He was really taking the Guardian Guild on a better path. Pity their end goal was to fight Michael, which would result in only death.
"Your hesitation is the answer, Hamon. You can have your revenge. I am not going to kill you but," Michael rose from the chair.
"I will take the elven rune," said Michael.
Michael waved his hands before his face. To Hamon's shock, his face transford, resembling Elr.
"Elr…" Hamon mumbled. For a mont, Hamon thought the Dark Lord had taken Elr's face. However, he slowly connected the dots to realize the Dark Lord was Elr. With another wave of his hand, Michael changed his face to look like another elf.
"Elr is dead," said Michael.
"Now, get your plans on the road. As I said before, I am not a very patient guy,"
************************************************
The Genric family mansion was located on the outskirts of Mvarion. The mansion would have seed identical to any other in the prestigious neighborhood to the outside viewer. Large curtained windows set in solid concrete walls and burnt silver tiles on the roof. Stone statues and a large tal gate guarded the entrance, a freshly trimd lawn, flowering bushes, and sunlight reflecting off the surface of a fountain on a typical warm sumr day.
A well-kept gravel path led to automatic double doors. Inside rested several priceless artifacts proudly. In one of the many nurous rooms, the house leader Tannatar Genric scoured through heaps of scrolls on his wooden table. Wooden boxes were stacked high against the ceiling, and the content of the few that had been unpacked was dispersed throughout the room. The heavy dusty air dimd the area. Outside his room, the Genric family went on with their life as any other usual day.
Tannatar Genric was a gentle-looking elf with blue eyes and long striking golden hair. Despite retiring from being an adventurer hundred years ago, he still had muscles underneath an inch of fat. One could easily see the deep scar on the side of his neck. Tannatar liked to be left alone in his store room. In this room, only he and the thousands of scrolls in which one might hold an answer to his long search. Only by one, he picked up a scroll, opened it up, read its contents, and threw it away with a glimr of disappointnt.
As he repeated this cycle, he heard heavy boot steps outside the room.
"My lord," soone knocked on the door. Tannatar sensed an urgency and panic in the rough voice. His eyes glimred with fury. He hated benign disturbed in this room,
"My lord, you must see this. It's about the twins," As soon as Tannatar heard these words, the anger in his eyes faded. Tannatar waved his hands as several runes glowed on the door. Soon, these runes faded away, unlocking the door. The door clicked open.
"My lord," a soldier rushed into the room and dropped to his knees. He reached out a scroll toward Tannatar. Tannatar imdiately frowned, looking at the blood stains on the scroll.
Tannatar picked up the scroll and opened it up to read its contents. While reading the scroll, Tannatar's body trembled. He collapsed onto the chair behind him. The soldier's body jerked as Tannatar banged the table. The mountain of scrolls crumbled down, making the room ssier.
"Show the box!" Tannatar stood up. He followed the soldiers to the front lawn, where he saw several soldiers and family mbers gathered around.
"Move aside, Lord Tannatar is here,"
Everyone moved aside, making way for Tannatar to the wooden box on the ground. The air around the box reeked of blood. The soldiers already had the box opened. When he reached the box, Tannatar saw a severed head with open eyes staring at him.
"It's Cyran, my lord," said the soldier who led Tannatar here. Cyran was one of Hamon's personal guards.
"This note was in the box, my lord," another soldier handed over a blood-stained note to Tannatar.
"If you want to see your children alive and not as heads in boxes, co to the lonely mountain," Tannatar read the words on the note. His voice trembled. He started to realize his kids were kidnapped slowly. Just the blood on the note alone shook Tannatar to the core. At that mont, he couldn't think as a veteran adventurer or a leader but as a father.
He failed to keep his stoic wall around him. Thinking about his children in danger made the wall crumble down. For a few monts, his mind went blank.
"My Lord, what does the note say?" A soldier asked with worry. The soldier's words pulled Tannatar out of his dazed state.
"Gather our n, we are going to the lonely mountain," Tannatar barked his order at his n.
"Lord Tannatar, what happened? What's the aning of all this?" one of his core family mbers asked Tannatar.
"Voron and Eva," Tannatar's words didn't co out through the lump in his throat.
"What happened to them?" the elves panicked.
"They were kidnapped," Tannatar barely finished his words, shaking everyone to their core.
While Tannatar and the others were gathered at the front lawn, Hamon entered the mansion via a secret path only known to the elders. Michael accompanied Hamon as one of his personal guards. Michael followed Hamon behind a dimly lit underground passage.
"The vault is just around the corner," said Hamon.
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