Laz has been in battle for weeks now, fighting a fight he was increasingly convinced he couldn’t win. But even then, he had never lost hope. And because he was there, the ones who fought with him continued to fight, to follow him, to believe in him. Even as those around them died, they continued to fight, because as long as he didn’t give up, they wouldn’t give up.

But for Athena, Clio and Erato, they had lost all hope and there was nothing left.

Laz was the only one who could give them that hope back, but if he were to fall, they would fall with him. That was the double edged blade that being their pillar entailed, but what choice did he have.

Even then, at the moment, there was no fight in them and Laz needed to do something about that.

The black flames that Laz possessed was an inheritance passed down from a race of darkness that had all but disappeared from the universe. Celes had the blood of those people within her, but the last time he had seen her, she had just received their inheritance. So even up until this point, there was a lot about the flames that Laz didn’t understand. It wasn’t like a normal fire. It didn’t provide heat or light. Instead, it seemed like pure energy manifest. It could speed healing, cleanse away impurity and burn so intensely, it could reduce body to ash in moments, but it seemed like there was much more to the black flames than that and the only thing Laz could do most of the time was let his intuition guide him.

With a burning in his mind, he drew his hand up and drew a symbol in the air, one of Kennaz, a torch. With that, the three women around Laz and Laz himself were bathed within a burning wall of black flames as they felt like they had suddenly left their bodies and were floating.

The land faded away and was replaced with a small country villa, a pretty decent sized manor surrounded by fenced in pastures and rolling hills. Laz lay naked in a bed of white linen with Athena on one side and Clio on the other. Neither were wearing clothing either as they rubbed their bodies closer to Laz, the cool of the morning air making them draw closer to him and his heat while sleep still clouded their thoughts. A slightly loud crash stirred the three of them awake as the sound of metal on wood sounded out along with a sweet voice uttering a curse. The two women and Laz opened their eyes as their foggy brains woke up and they stretched to embrace Laz tighter. Athena leaned forward to rub her breasts on his bare chest while Clio seemed to be grinding her pelvis against his leg, memories of the previous night still fresh in their heads.

"Good morning lover."

"Morning sweetie."

"Good morning my babies. What was that sound just now?" Laz asked, looking at the door.

"Mmm... from the smell, I would guess Erato decided to wake up early to get breakfast started since she lost the game last night," Athena replied. Clio laughed at her words.

"I’m not sure that being the first one to pass out from orgasming counts as losing anything, but either way we got to sleep in so it’s a win for us," Clio laughed and Athena joined her.

"Still, since she is just learning, perhaps we should lend her a hand?" Athena suggested, rising from the bed and stretching, the cool light of dawn illuminating her impressive and muscled form, free from any and all blemishes.

"I agree. We did just start teaching her so it would be rude of us to not help her during her first attempt to really cook," Clio said, her slightly almond skin glowing with the light. Stretching out, she bent over a few times right next to the bed, giving Laz a perfect view of her firm ass and everything else before standing up straight and kicking her legs into the air, one after another, bringing them straight up to her face as though testing her flexibility before repeating the process with the other leg. Even worse, she did this also facing the bed as though she wanted to make sure Laz saw everything there was to see.

Athena looked over after putting on nothing but an oversized shirt and just laughingly said "slut," before leaving the room to check in on Erato.

Clio simply smirked and asked "so what?" as Athena was leaving before also throwing on a shirt and walking out, blowing a kiss to Laz on her way.

Laz could feel the cool breeze from the open window and getting up, decided to stretch a bit himself before walking over to look outside.

Contrary to the nice, cool breeze and gentle light coming in, the land outside of their small paradise was alit in a dangerous orange glow with fires raging everywhere, a drastic difference from the peace they were experiencing here. Laz was slightly taken aback when he heard the door open as a slighly ragged Erato walked in, her swollen belly visible under the shirt she was wearing.

"Coffee honey?" She said, setting the mug on the desk next to the window.

"How is breakfast?" Laz asked with a smile. Erato pouted and shrugged.

"I thought it was fine, but my dear sisters have commented that I’ve already burned most of it so now they will have ti start from scratch. Personally I think the char adds some flavor so I don’t get why they care complaining," Erato said, sitting on the bed. Laz took a drink from the cup before sitting down next to her, lifting her feet up to his lap and began massaging them, causing Erato to drop her head back in enjoyment.

"Oh... and I used to think the thing you did that turned me on the most involved your tongue in one place and your finger in another...."

"I mean... we’ve got some time before breakfast...." Laz said with a smile, still rubbing her feet when a very pregnant Clio walked into the room. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Hey now, none of that now. Breakfast is ready and you know better than to deny your pregnant wives their food," she said with a laugh. Laz and Erato laughed as well and got up to walk to the dinning room where an immensely pregnant Athena was laying out the dishes. Laz rushed to help her and told her she should have waited until he got here. Athena laughed as him and just said, "I’m pregnant, not disabled. The day I can’t set the table is the day this house falls apart. Now go bring the platters from the kitchen," Athena ordered Laz to which he saluted before going into the kitchen and grabbing the large serving dishes.

When he returned to the table, Clio and Erato were both breast feeding their newborns while Athena was putting her daughter into her seat.

"What took you so long baby? We are starving over here," Clio said with a laugh as she wiped herself up a bit and set the baby back into it’s day crib in the corner of the room. Laz set down the platters and grabbed his coffee cup before looking out the kitchen window, only to see the burning landscape was now right against the edge of the pasture fence as monsters chased and killed people running from them in fright.

A small sneeze made Laz turn his head away from the scene as Erato was wiping her son’s nose with a cloth.

"I guess he has a small cold. It’s getting colder earlier this year. We should make sure the kids all have warm clothes sooner. Don’t want them getting sick," Erato said as Athena was rubbing her pregnant belly while making flower necklaces with her daughter. Clio and her daughter were currently working on her daughter’s penmanship at the corner desk.

"Well... considering they are going to be breaking into the condensation realm soon, that won’t be too much of an issue. Still, if it’s going to be a really bitter winter, they will need it yeah. Hey stud. How about you pick up some extra pelts from the market so we can get to making the kiddos new coats and blankets, ok?" Clio said, standing up.

A loud nose distracted Laz as he looked out the window again, only to now see the pasture burning. A hand appeared on his shoulder as Athena joined him in looking. Soon Clio and Erato were there as well, with several adult children sitting around the table enjoying a meal and speaking of their days at both work and school.

"Even if we ignore it, it will keep getting closer," Athena commented, her patched eye noticeable in the burning light.

"This... was a good dream," Erato said as she wrapped her only arm tighter around Laz.

"I could die happy here," Clio said, leaning heavily against Laz as her bag leg gave out slightly.

"But it wouldn’t be real. Out there, in the hell, the fire and the bloodshed... that’s real," Laz said, taking a sip from his mug.

"But that doesn’t mean this isn’t real either," Laz said, turning back to the children of all ages, gathered around the table and eating, speaking and arguing with one another.

"But it’s..."

"It’s not real now. But fate has a way of giving us what we want, what we need, even if it takes a heavy price to achieve that... Even if we don’t recognize it for what it is when we have it. The only thing we can do is to keep fighting until we see the ending. It might not be the pretty picture we wish for," Laz said indicating the room behind them.

"But as long as we are still alive, we have a chance of achieving it, do we not?" Laz then said, turning to the window once again.

"Yeah."

"You’re right."

"We do."

The women walked to the door and grabbed their weapons that were in the umbrella rack; Athena, her sword, Clio, her spear, and Erato, her giant scythe. The women then turned to the table, only to find all of their sons and daughters standing there with smiles on their faces and understanding in their hearts. Among them were also the three sisters who had died, their clean, injury free selves seeing them off.

Athena opened the door as the fires had already reached the entrance, took hold of her sword and charged out, followed quickly by Erato and Clio.

Laz set down his cup of coffee, turned back briefly to smile at this large family of his before heading out the door himself, closing it gently behind him as the manor disappeared in a raging inferno.