Children of a Lesser God

"When we went to meet at the conference room, some of the stronger members and their parties were standing in a group and calling over other members. As soon as the meeting was suppose to start, the current lead group told everyone that we would be taking a walk and here we are..." Julia's explanation was simple enough, but Laz felt like there were things missing from it. Not that she was hiding anything. More like, she wasn't qualified to know.

Even now, looking around the room, Laz noticed that the strongest groups were in the center of the room and seemly involved in a rather heated conversation. The strangest part was that they kept looking around the room at the tables of people seated outside of the main area.

Laz got the weird impression that they were arguing over the smaller groups and he couldn't help but frown.

Laz then looked to Julia and to the other people around the table.

"So this is the Trainer's guild? I've been meaning to ask... how and why did you come up with that name?" Laz said, looking around a the group of people. He didn't know any of them besides Julia, but he didn't let that dampen his spirit. Laz had a strange feeling being part of a group that he wasn't even a part of.

One of the two women at the table besides Julia cleared her throat.

"It's because boss says we always need to train."

"Uh...? That's it?" Laz looked over at Julia to see her face become a little red.

"Ha haha. Told you boss it was weird when you thought about it," One of the two guys commented. The two guys strangely looked like twins with curly brown hair and droopy eyes. They didn't look sad or mean, instead, Laz got the feeling that they were always thinking and focusing. It was slightly unsettling, but it didn't seem offensive in any way.

As for the two girls, they seemed.... strangely normal and unassuming. One had glasses and long, dirty blonde hair while the other had long brown hair. If Laz had to say one thing about this group, it was that they were abnormally normal.

"Well, I never put much thought into it. We just... all kind of found each other one day and started spending time together. You know how hard it is to find people you can trust right? Well, I trust everyone here and they trust me. And since we all want to survive, we needed to learn how to fight and survive. Hence, I just called us the training guild since that's all we do..." Julia seemed to think that might be looking down on her four friends. After all, Julia was a very attractive person. So she stood out even more while sitting with these people.

Not that Laz was hating on anyone. It was more like... from what he had seen of the world, people usually found themselves in groups with similar people.

But this group?

Laz couldn't help but be a little interested.

"Training is a good thing. But you lack real experience," Laz said, looking at Julia.

After saying that, Laz could feel the other members of her guild giving him angry stares. Laz wasn't surprised as he had just insulted their leader.

But he didn't care.

It seemed like Julia hadn't told them about him or else they would understand where he was coming from. Julia was pretty accomplished in terms of movements and fighting ability. He could tell she had trained in martial arts from a young age. This was in stark difference to Laz who had only started a few years ago.

But the difference between them was shattered when ever Laz decided to get serious. When he was just practicing movements, punches, throws, palms, kicks and normal types of attacks, he wasn't Julia's match at all. When they fought with Laz not using any strength, Julia would beat him in techniques without question.

The difference came when he either started using his inner strength or when he decided to let out a bit of the bloodlust he possessed. When he did that, Julia would normally freeze up and be rendered useless. After noticing that this was a flaw for her, Laz made sure to keep the level of bloodlust or killing intent that he leaked low to help her get used to it. But even then, she was barely able to resist.

Laz couldn't help but blame this on a peaceful society..

Still though, since he was talking to Julia and was her friend, they didn't say anything.

"I know. But what can I do? It's not like I can go around and kill people."

"It's not that you can't, it's that you don't want to," Laz reminded her.

"You're serious?" She asked, seeing the look in his eye.

"Quite. There are plenty of people walking around these days that have been granted their lives at the expense of other people's lives. You just need to know where to look. And also, aren't there members of that freaky church sometimes walking the streets? Why not off a few of them?" Laz was being serious but also sarcastic at the same time. He didn't want her to just kill random people. But that didn't mean she should avoid fighting so much.

All of them seemed to avoid fighting so much that Laz could only question how they reached their current levels. Sparing was great, but sparing was simple, non threatening combat. It would never replace the real thing.

Laz was unaware of how much his viewpoint had changed thanks to his experiences. In terms of modern society, he was the one with the weird ideas and the thinking of Julia and her guild were far more normal.

But there was a price to pay and that price is weakness.

The minute they fought someone who honestly didn't care about their lives was the day that they would leave this world.

"Things are still far too peaceful..." Laz said out loud but to himself.

Looking at the faces of Julia's guild group, he could see that they weren't convinced. That was fine though. Actions always spoke louder than words.

"So tell me. Who is the strongest person here?" Laz asked, already knowing the answer based on his spiritual sense.

"Julia..."

"Boss?"

"I meant, in the entire room." Laz didn't think they would limit it to their group.

Julia was the first one to answer.

"See that guy talking to Greg right now? His name is Damien. Out of everyone here, he wasn't the first to enter the foundation realm, but after a few spars, both public and private, he is the one that people say is the strongest. If it wasn't for the fact that there are at least eight others who are also in the foundation realm, then he would be the leader without question. But no matter how strong he is, he can't beat everyone else."

"Ah, makes sense." Laz was actually a bit confused. From his inspection, although Damien seemed to be strong, he was, at most, the second strongest. It was actually one of the females sitting in the main group that had a stronger signature. Not only that, the others would sometimes look at her like they were slightly fearful of her, including Damien.

"Who is that woman next to Damien by the way? His girlfriend?" Laz asked, changing the subject.

"Remi?" The shorter girl asked, following Laz's line of sight.

"Remi? Oh. Yeah. Her. No, she is just one of the foundation realm members who hangs around all of them. Since they respect her strength, she is basically by herself. But even then, the group seems to keep her close." Julia said after seeing who Laz was asking about.

'There is so much power struggling going on here... no wonder their is no unity. Still, from the looks of things, Remi seems to now be in charge...'

Laz took a drink and smiled. He had a understanding now, thinking about the fact that the council now had a leader. Once a leader was selected, rewards would be given to strengthen bonds. And from the looks of things, these weaker groups were about to be used as rewards.

"Alright. CUT THE MUSIC." Damien stood up and yelled, causing the DJ to cut the music.

"I'm sure all of you are wondering why we gathered here tonight. Well, it's to announce a new unity within the council. We have decided that it's getting too dangerous to keep going the way we are and now is the time to unite. With the church growing stronger, people missing off the streets and those bitches along with the Vodun not doing a damn thing, we are forced to make some changes to protect ourselves. Therefore, from this point on, we are going to be drafting members from the smaller and weaker groups into the larger groups. AS of tonight, you will all have assigned leaders who's orders you will be expected to follow without question or risk being targeted by the entire council!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING?"

"THIS ISN'T WHAT WE CAME HERE FOR."

"WE ARE SUPPOSE TO WORK TOGETHER!"

Obviously the various groups shouted out their anger at this. They had joined the council to provide protection to themselves and their parties. That didn't mean they wanted to be treated like solders to be moved around at will. And listen without question? What the hell did that mean?

"NOW NOW. I understand some of you may be hesitant to accept this and we will allow you all the chance to leave right now," Damien said with a smile. Causing some of the shouting to die down. More than one group of people started getting up from their tables, intent on leaving.

Julia made no move however, her expression as dark as night.

"Of course, if you were to leave now, there is no telling what might happen to you in the future. Remember that all of you came here with the fear that the government was going to take you away. Or that you would be hunted down by members of the church. That was the reason you originally came here, correct? What happens when you no longer have the protection of the group? You should really think this through," Damien said with a serious yet caring face.

It was a threat, plain and simple. They weren't going to let anyone leave.