The building was silent except for the distant sound of footsteps coming from the movement of the people. It was five of them and all five stood scattered across the room.

One was by the window looking at the road for anything suspicious, while two of them were facing the door with pistols in hand. One was helping cover the wounds, trying to stop him from dying of blood loss.

After a while even the sounds of footsteps were gone as everyone stood like a statue. Soon the one standing near the window spoke in a grim tone.

"We lost them."

Hearing the words, a ray of light returned in their lifeless eyes and they all took a collective sigh of relief. It was only a moment of peace as the task wasn’t over yet. They had signed the contract and had to fulfill it.

They had to complete it before the dawn... or else.. or else the consequences wouldn’t be good.

"We have to get out of here... Red, can you contact Violet?"

The same man asked.

Hearing the question, the man took out walkie talkie from his tracksuit. Holding his pain he set the channel and tried contacting Violet. Even after a minute there wasn’t any reply from the other side.

"No... nothing is working. I think they went after them... AHH!! those bastards has to shoot in my elbow."

"just fucking keep your voice down... are you trying to get us killed as well."

The man who was tending his wounds cursed him.

"f-for fuck’s sake... m-man..."

"Everyone calm down. We just have to endure for few hours more..."

The man beside the windows addressed the group before he could make a decision the man standing around the door opened his mouth.

"If he isn’t coming to pick it up... we have to improvise them. we will split up and i will deliver the item myself... Give me the cube, boss, and I will deliver it to the man."

Shaking his head the boss replied,

"No... they don’t know you and wouldn’t let you enter the premises, let alone meet ’him’. And anyway, going alone would only put you and the cube at risk. we would be stronger as a team."

The boss said. There was some truth in the latter part but the same couldn’t be said for the former part. For obvious reasons the boss wasn’t in the mood to give the cube to anyone.

"Just give me the cube, boss..."

The man beside the door repeated again... but this time the man didn’t seem to be just asking. The tone of his statement created a tense silence in the room. And the boss noticed instantly.

"Just give me the cube, Dhruv..."

As he spoke for the third time all the pretense of requesting of the request has been disappeared. Now he was demanding it.

’something is wrong here...’

There is a saying that eyes never lies and at this moment Dhruv was looking at those pairs. The mood had shifted entirely as Dhruv could see a strange madness in them.

Before he could interrupt what had happened his instincts took over as he reacted by pulling a pistol from his holster.

Bang!!

But, the man standing beside the door was a second faster. Now a hole lied in his left hand.

"Shit!!"

Finding his hand incapable of pulling the trigger, he didn’t pause and ran toward the window trying to jump out of it. But the moment he turned his back the one who was bleeding shot him in his spine.

Paralyzed, Dhruv couldn’t move an inch.

’You two...’

Turning back he was about ask for help when his eyes locked with the other two. Their reaction shook him to his core as he found no distress in their eyes.

As if all this was like a monday morning walk.

’All of them!?’ Looking at them, Dhruv couldn’t help but ask.

"Why did you do it?"

It wasn’t yesterday that they had met, Dhruv had known them for a long time and had gone on countless missions with them. A relation thicker than blood had been formed between them on the basis of trust.

They were supposed to look out for each other and had done so until now... and that is the reason he was even more shocked by their betrayal.

The betrayal ignited a deep seething inferno within him but even greater than that was the question...

"Why!?... why did you do it?"

He repeated himself. Even though he asked, deep down he knew the reason as well. The only reason for their betrayal is greed and Dhruv knows it.

"How much are they paying you..."

"There is no reason for us to answer that."

The man replied, getting closer to him.

As they stepped closer, Dhruv’s mind raced trying to come up with anything that would guarantee his survival. But deep down even he knew it was a lost cause, his spine was fractured.

If the gods pitied him and there was a slim chance of him surviving. But after that... he had made enough enemies that he wouldn’t survive weeks without proper guarding. He was sure he would be dead before the end of the month.

Looking at the shadows stretching across the floor, Dhruv’s mind raced.

’So this was it... Not the mission... Not the enemies outside but I died from the hands of my own... what a shame...’

As he stopped struggling for his life he could see something changing in their eyes. The madness had turned into greed. The people he considered his own weren’t looking at him as a human.

No, at the moment they were looking at him as if he was a piece of treasure.

"W-what is the... price you p..ut on my life, you bastards..." He asked, spitting blood out of his mouth.

""I’m... telling you... for whatever reason... you’re doing this... you... won’t be able to get away... in one piece... either..."

Blurting it out Dhruv looked at them approaching him slowly. Seeing it coming, a faint, bitter smile formed on his lips as he made up his mind.

’If you want it so badly... see if you can reach it..’

Thinking so, he proceeded with what little strength he had left. His trembling hand slipped inside his suit and pulled out the cube. In the process of pulling the cube, blood smeared all over it.

Something moved inside the cube but nobody seemed to pay attention to it.

"Y-you... want this...?" Dhruv muttered, his voice barely leaving his mouth.

The man with the code name Black stopped just for a fraction of a second... but it was enough for Dhruv. He remembered the instruction of the client.

"If you want the money, never touch the button of the cube."

And he was about to do the exact opposite of it.

Instantly Dhruv’s thumb moved. With a shroud of hesitation his finger pressed against the small, almost invisible button...

Click.

"If I can’t deliver it.. no one woul-"

Bang!!

Before he could finish his sentence the gunshot rang. The bullet tore through Dhruv’s chest, bursting his heart instantly.

Suddenly Dhruv jolted upright.

A sharp gasp tore out of his throat as if he had been drowning moments ago and had only now broken the surface. His body moved before he could understand what had happened.

His hand flew instantly toward his chest trying to cover it... but nothing was wrong.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

Still hearing his heart slamming against his ribs fast and violently, Dhruv looked around himself.

’Dream!?... nightmare...’ Clutching his clothes drenched in sweat he stood on his legs.

Far in the distance he could see Lucian was training the goblins. Not wanting to even thought about it he made up his mind of helping the demon while training himself as well.

With all this he tried moving but for some reason his legs gave up.

"Ahhh!!"

Letting a pained cry out, Dhruv fall backward as his body hitting the ground before he could think otherwise. A seething anger rose from inside him as he looked at the monsters training faraway from himself.

The more he looked at them the more he realized this wasn’t his world.

This was a world of monsters and magic.

He didn’t belong here.

His people weren’t here.

His enemy wasn’t here.

Everything he had built up wasn’t here.

Nothing was here.

He remembered the face of the man who had killed him and vowed in his mind, ’Live whatever little time you all have... I will come to collect my debt... with interest at that.’