Chapter 177: Ch 177: Welcome back home

"T-This...is not good! We need to do something to help Kael. Otherwise, Mother will-!"

"Elena, calm down for a minute and take a deep breath. I am not able to understand what you are saying. Take a deep breath...just like that. And now out."

Lyra guided Elena through her panic and helped her calm down. It helped a little but the calmer she felt, the more the memories of what she just saw came back.

And with it came the panic.

"I-I saw mother...so close to death. His soul almost slipped into the realm of death. I somehow managed to stabilize it and get him out of immediate danger, but I am not sure if he is fine..."

Elena explained a little slower, curbing her panic a little.

Lyra’s grip on her shoulder tightened to the point of hurting but Elena could not even ask her to let go after what she just saw with hewr powers.

"You...saw Kael almost dying?"

"Yes. S-Should I try reaching for him again? I will do that-"

Elena gathered her mind to perform another search. She needed to make sure Kael was fine and she had not hallucinated.

Her powers hit a barrier this time. Sharp eyes like a beast’s looked back at her and she felt herself being pushed back. But Elena pushed back against that barrier, wanting entry.

"Little kids like you should stay out of trouble. Kael will be fine with us. But as for you...wait around like a good child until we release him."

A soft voice spoke in Elena’s ears but instead of feeling reassured, she felt a chill going down her spine.

The speaker sounded friendly but there was a chill in her voice, making Elena’s heart skip a beat.

"W-Who are you...? And what do you want with Mot-I mean Grand Master Kael?"

Elena was about to call Kael as mother before she stopped and corrected herself at the last second. But the person who currently had Kael just scoffed before letting out a startling laugh.

It echoed around Elena’s head, making her feel even more uncomfortable.

"Don’t worry about Kael. He’s completely safe with me. But I don’t like the fact that you are trying to look into me. Next time, I will tear your mind apart so don’t even try."

The unknown female reached toward Elena and she had a feeling this was going to hurt. She was going to be forcefully thrown out of her headspace so she braced herself for pain.

But before the pain could come, a hand grabbed her and pulled her back.

’It’s time to retreat.’

The voice sounded sleepy but Elena recognized it instantly. It was her other self sleeping inside her and it finally decided to help her.

But...

’We cannot go back! We need to save Kael-’

’He will be fine. He’s not in any danger but we will be if we keep testing her. So retreat.’

The voice was adamant and still sleepy. It was fighting hard to stay awake which made Elena trust it. That was the only reason she retreated.

"Kid, stop worrying about Kael. He will come back once we deem his condition stable enough. Until then, there is no need for you or anyone else to worry."

The unknown female told Elena before she was thrown out.

When she opened her eyes, Lyra was sitting beside her with a worried expression on her face.

"What happened? What did you find?"

Lyra asked and Elena took a sharp breath to steady herself. Her whole body hurt due to what had just happened, but she remained calm.

"I...don’t think there is a need to worry. Kael will be back home soon."

Elena reassured Lyra, but she wanted her words to come true more than anyone else.

Yes, Kael had to come home!

Unfortunately, that was the last time anyone heard anything from Kael for the next two years and any attempts to reach him were futile as well.

It was as if Rin had disappeared from the face of the earth in a single day and no one could find him anymore.

With Kael no longer there to hold the group together, they all split apart and became distant, but they had only one goal in mind- to find and bring Kael back at all cost.

Seraphina gained complete control of the time to mobilize it’s forces, and Leon embraced his title as the ’hero’ to make use of it. Iris became a recognized swordsmaster and even started her own school.

As for Lyra and Elena? They made demon kingdom a force to be reconzed with.

They had all become dangerous and powerful individuals with one goal in their mind - to find Kael.

That was a story that would happen in the next two years and Kael would regret not being there to ’correct’ the course these people had stepped into.

__________

Kael opened his eyes slowly but his whole body hurt. He recalled using his full power and then pain making his body stiffer. It was not difficult to see what had happened and why he had ended up in this position.

"Darn it! I was not aware that using my power would start affecting my body. How did it get so useless that it was not even able to handle a simple spell?"

He questioned as he tried to move. But his body protested against the moment, making jolts of pain go through his body even at the slightest movement. It made him not want to move at all.

"Ugh, this hurts a lot...where am I-?"

"Has it been that long that you cannot even recognzie the place where you spent your initial years as a baby? You are going to break my heart, darling. I worked so hard to maintain this place as it used to be."

Kael’s body flinched at the sweet and soft tone coming from his side and his eyes moved over to see the speaker. But in his heart, he already knew who was speaking.

As expected, he looked at his side, only to see his mother sitting there with a small smile on her face.

"Welcome back home, Kael. I am happy to see that you are finally back."