Echoes of the Abyssal Blade: Path to Free Will

In Dreavows, it was common knowledge that among all the heroes, Draven was someone with a great appetite and had many wives and concubines. Still, the thing that confused many was, that what was the reason behind him choosing those, who he would deem worthy of being his wife and those he would call his concubine.

Draven the hero, considered himself to be above all and never bothered to explain his reasoning to the populace, yet everyone was curious, and after some time, every one of Dreavows noticed a pattern in how The Hero chose his wife, for those he deemed worthy to be his wife were always of the noble clans, while his concubines were of common affiliation.

Unknown to many, but after quite a time, a rift formed between the wives and the concubines of The Great Hero Draven, two factions formed in the Starfall family, the main wives controlled most of the resources of the Starfall family, and they also had full support from their own families, yet the concubine faction was dirt poor compared to them, and they lived according to the whims of the main wives under their tyranny.

The Hero Draven was uninterested in their fight and left them on their own, he just had one rule, and that was for them to not cross the line, by doing something that would in any way or form affect him, or affect the Starfall family, or he would personally kill both of the parties involved, this warning was enough for both of the factions to not cross boundaries, and grit their teeth in silence.

While the main wives' faction started strong, and the concubines were treated like servants by them, everything changed with the birth of The Hero Draven's kids, who had different talents and their own ambitions, all of the kids were familial and warm to each other at the start.

Yet as time passed, and as they grew older, they also changed, the descendants of the hero through the main wives faction grew bolder, arrogant, and tyrannic to everyone around them, and for those descendants of the concubine faction, were suppressed in many forms, be it in terms of resources, or in terms of respect.

While the tranquility within the Starfall family remained undisturbed, regrettably this very peace was completely shattered by one of the Main descendants, when a celebration was held at the Starfall family, and that Main descendant used a dastardly move against one of the Branch descendants, by taunting him about his mother, and peaking ill of his mother, which started a brutal fight between them, and that escalated to a full-blown war between the two factions.

Draven The Hero disturbed and annoyed by the actions of his descendants and family members, took matters into his own hands, after resolving the situation by sending both the descendants of Main and the Branch involved in the escalation of this conflict, to the front lines directly, without hearing their grounds for argument.

Alas, the situation in the Starfall family didn't get resolved at all, it only escalated further, which troubled Draven finally, after all, he couldn't simply send all of his family members and descendants to the front lines just like that.

Noticing Draven The Hero's displeasure and agitation, another Hero of humanity Arthessa advised him to stage a tournament, where every one of the younger generation in his family had to fight and will have to accept the result, and live on with it or improve to defeat and make the opponent bend to his will.

Known for her great wisdom, The Great Hero Arthessa's advice not only solved all of Draven's troubles, but also let him understand which of his descendants were of better potential and power, and for those of The two factions, they were also able to solve their disagreements by combat.

At present, the standoff between Aurelia, the head of the main wives, and Greedwyn sparked great tension and thickened the air heavily, while Greedwyn wanted a clear explanation from Jonan, Aurelia wasn't one to back down, and let someone from her faction to be insulted so easily, let alone the boy is the son of her best friend Elara.

Breaking the tension in the room caused by the two with a mere snort, "Let the boy speak for himself, and if the answer doesn't satisfy those who seek it, we have the combat matches for such occasions itself don't we", said Draven The Hero with a cold smirk on his face.

Aurelia's face lost color, the moment she heard the words coming out of her mouth, "So it's true, he really wants to throw his own kid into a pit, just what have you become, can you even be called a Hero now", thought Aurelia to herself.

Meanwhile, Greedwyn slightly smiled, not showing many expressions, he had expected such a thing to happen, after all, he had lived with his father for too long, to know him and what kind of man he was, he knew that such a result was bound to happen, whether anyone opposed it or not, it didn't really matter, the result would have been the same, after all he knew best that his father didn't consider any of the family members in the Starfall family in his heart, except for those who were exceptionally talented.

"Boy, explain and let us know, just what happened in the woods, that our kids and kids from those of the affiliated clans simply disappeared from the face of the earth, not even a sign of them exists there, yet here you are completely fine in front of us", stated Greedwyn coldly with a steely face.

While those of the Main descendant and Branch descendant had great enmity, not everyone was like them, many were good friends, and Jonan was such a person, he didn't have the arrogant disposition like those of the Main descendant, and he also got along pretty well with those of the Banch descendant, some of those descendants weren't talented at all even being the Hero's descendant didn't help, there were some who liked to play around with their life, drinking, playing with numerous women and other wrong tendencies.

Jonan and his friends from the Branch descendants, and also those of the subsidiaries families, always used to go on escapades all to fill the void within them, that only they themself understood the best, and no one could help them with it.

Learning of his missing friends hurt Jonan to the core, he really cared for them, as they cared for him.

Knowing there was no escaping from this, but what made him filled with shame was, that he couldn't be of help to his friend's parents, and he was also ashamed of facing them

With a sigh, Jonan replied with sadness and grief in his tone, "Elder, I went with my dearest friends Alaric, Caspian, Dorian, Finley, Lucian, Lyra, and Amara, we were, of course, being escorted by our guards, just like every time before, for hunting low-grade beasts, and make fun out of it, it's just this time, I never expected for us to be ambushed by those fierce Blood-Horned Jackals from all sides, after which I don't recall anything, not even where or how I was hit, and after that, I woke up at my room, I have no recollection of how I got there, or the reason for my weakness".

Woodwyn and the rest of the elders had disappointed expressions on their faces, especially at the fact that Jonan was even unaware of how he was attacked, just how trashy was this boy, was the thought that rang in their minds, "So you mean to say that you were unaware of how you were attacked, and you have no recollection whatsoever", hummed Woodwyn with a deadpan expression, which simply sent a chill down Jonan's spine.

"Boy, just what was the reason behind your outing this time with your friends, all of them are also our missing descendants, and it seems awfully convenient, that none of them were from the Main descendant's side isn't it", expressed Greedwyn while gritting his teeth.

Aurelia gasped knowing that the worst had come, she didn't know how Jonan would handle this, even Jonan's mother tightly clenched her fist not knowing if she could help her child escape this disastrous situation.

Meanwhile, Jonan, who was at the center of all this, kept quiet with his head slightly down while musing to himself, Greedwyn didn't interrupt him, waiting for the boy in front of him to answer him.

Clearing his thoughts, raising his head, with eyes determined, he moved step by step, he reached the middle of the hall, first, he bowed slightly to Lucian's father Dreyfus, then towards Sylvan, head of the misfall family, and one by one towards his friend's parents, and then he shifted his focus towards the fat old man, who was like a towering behemoth pressuring him.

"Elder, I never played with those of the Main Descendants because, except for some, most would keep their distance from me, not wanting to waste their breath on me, and for the remaining they have their own difficulties which are hard to explain", listening to Jonan's some from the Main Descendants simply scoffed, while some sighed with a bit of melancholy on their face.

"Meanwhile elder brother Lucian wasn't like that, and same goes for the rest of my friends, they accepted me wholeheartedly without any prejudice, and the thing that kept us very close was the fact that we were one of those who had less talent compared to those who are highly talented, and we all wallowed in our own small world of despair, it's true that we had simply wasted our time for pretty long, without even trying just waiting for the inevitable, that's why we all created our hunting game to escape from the reality, but even after that we used to contemplate,while we can play with these low grade beasts, in our hearts there was this crippling fear present in us knowing that when we return to our home, we would see the reason for our despair, those who are living in a world of their own, and then there was us, while no one ever said to our faces due to our status and birth, we all know the undeniable truth, that we are simply trash, the lowest of trash, without even having the will to fight or challenge those so called talented beings present in our everyday lives, those monsters that make us even hard to breath, while we had contemplated many a times of ending our lives fighting with those beasts in the front lines would be far far better, than living in this place we call home, but we never even had the courage to do that, how unfortunate were we to be given birth in the great noble houses of all places, I know I have said a lot, but please consider our feelings, you all just don't know how miserably useless we feel", expressed Jonan with slight tears in his eyes.