How to Save a Hero [ManxMan]

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Talk

~Chapter Thirty-Six: The Talk~

Only, it is not really over.

In the days following Veles' death, there were still countless battles being waged between both sides. Just because Veles was the mastermind behind everything, that did not mean his army was fully aware of it. The reason he was able to hide from the demon's radar for so long was because he kept his identity a secret from his allies. It was only after they stopped receiving payment and magical enhancements that they recognized their loss, and that only happened five days after Veles' defeat.

Speaking of what happened five days ago, the media has been having a field day with all the death and destruction found at the sites of the more public battles, while the police departments have been drowning in paperwork, as each battle scene has been labeled a 'mass murder' and, thus, makes the public very antsy. There have been more public announcements from police departments in the past week than in all the years I have been a police officer. It would be scary if I did not know exactly what was going on behind the scenes. The non-human members of the department have been working towards labeling it at feuding between mafia families, since the public tends to calm down when they think it is just mobsters being gunned down instead of random civilians.

Thankfully, because I have no involvement in the non-human side of the police force anymore, though, I did not have to take part in the media circus cleanup. I did, however, have to deal with some of the less public fallout. Upon finding out about Veles' death, Aldis was not happy. I was the one to tell him since he was at my apartment and wanted to know the outcome, so I was able to see firsthand how unhappy he was. However, after his initial rage – ten or so minutes of him cursing Perun out – he ended up slipping into the grieving stage. He was quick to accept Veles' death, as he understood that Veles was never going to stop fighting otherwise, but that did not make him comfortable with it. Of course, Aldis also had to mention that Veles would eventually come back, leading to me having a panic attack before he could properly explain that it would be years before Veles has the magical strength for a resurrection, maybe even decades or centuries depending on how damaged he was this time.

And he unfortunately didn't mean physically; dying over and over apparently causes mental instability.

Despite my part in Veles' death – however indirect it was – Aldis has yet to place any blame for it on me under the reasoning that my father was being threatened. The only person he blames in all of this is Perun, which confused me until Aldis explained that the reason Veles started the war in the first place was because of the boss god, something he wasn't willing to tell me before fighting Veles, likely to keep me from using it against him. However, since Perun was used against him anyway, it stopped mattering.

So, this really was a revenge war...though I don't get how it would affect Perun; he supposedly didn't even care about the war until recently.

Though, from what Perun later explained to us, the creature we fought – he called it the Bukavac – was only one of many beasts Veles was amassing in an attempt to create some kind of super powerful army that could defeat gods. This war was mostly a trial run to practice his ability to spread out his power among his allies and to gain more power by stealing powerful magical artifacts in the frenzy of each battle. All of the artifacts that were in Veles' possession have been found and were either returned to their original owners or hidden away in the cases where the original owners were dead or unable to be located.

Everyone on Veles' side who willingly surrendered or aided in helping bring down the last remaining factions of the god's army were given full pardons by the demons, including Aldis. While I am not exactly sure what they are being 'pardoned' from, seeing as the demons do not really have any authority outside Yabrogath, it made a lot of people happy. Those who survived the aftermath without surrendering went into hiding almost immediately after their groups started disbanding. And while this is definitely a problem, as they could easily start to regroup if they want to, Aldis said he will be keeping an eye out for any ex-factions banding back together, since Koa expressed his concern.