Chapter 71

Present Day

Alex sat in silence after he had heard how his parents met. Max had just finished explaining how he met Mariel and how he died, so Alex chose to take time to be alone. He sat in a room staring into a fireplace. His face was rather blank as he processed the story of how his father lived.

"How do you feel, Alex?" Saito asked, having come to check on him.

"I'll be fine." He replied after a short pause. "I'm actually glad that my father was...someone I can look up to."

"I'm happy for you." Saito said, sitting next to him.

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Once all this is over, you'll get to be part of a family with your parents." Saito said. "Family is important."

Alex could tell that Saito was beginning to think of his deceased parents and sister, so he tried to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"I can't wait to introduce him to Shion properly." He said.

"How are her eyes, by the way?" Saito asked. "What did Aigle do?"

"The same thing Mariel did to Louise. She's infused her eyes with magic to help them heal." He replied. "It'll be a while before she can remove her bandages."

"That's not good. She's a capable fighter. We'll need her soon." Saito said.

"I'll have to protect her for now." Alex said. "Her other senses are pretty strong too, so if she needs to protect herself, she should be okay."

"I'll go make sure she's still asleep. You should go back to your parents." Saito said, walking out of the room.

Alex nodded and followed Saito down the hallway. Eventually, Saito went off to check on Shion while Alex continued onward to find his parents. When Saito arrived at Shion's room, it was pitch black inside, although with his eyes, he could see that she was sitting up in bed. She was covered in her blanket and was clearly agitated.

"How are you feeling, Shion?" Saito asked.

"They hurt." She said silently. "My eyes."

"Did the medicine help at all?" Saito asked.

"I slept very quickly, but woke up in pain soon afterwards." She replied, holding her face.

"Describe the pain." Saito said.

"As if my eyes are constantly being put under a lot of strain." She replied, struggling to speak. "It comes in waves."

"Would you like me to give you more medicine?" Saito asked.

"No. Where is Alex?" She asked.

"He went to be with his parents." Saito replied.

"Take me to him, please." She said. "I'd prefer not to be alone here."

Saito decided it was probably best to take her to Alex. Not so that she could be with him, but so that Mariel could make sure nothing unusual was happening to her.

He helped her sit in a wheelchair nearby, then made his way down the hallways to the room where Alex would be. On the way there, Saito could feel that she was extremely irritated. Her magic was wayward and unsettled. Something strange especially for her, who was usually extremely calm and collected.

The metallic feathers on her wings individually twitched as if in discomfort, making a strange rustling sound that echoed through the hallways. Saito could tell that she couldn't control it, which made her feel even more uncomfortable.

"She must want to be with Alex so that she feels calm." Saito thought to himself.

Before long, they arrived in the room where Alex was. Alex was conversing with his parents about his time growing up, something which they both listened to intently. They were quite saddened to hear how he had resorted to becoming an assassin and mercenary, but were rather proud of him nevertheless.

When they noticed Saito standing in the doorway, they ended their conversation and turned their attention towards him and Shion.

"Why did you bring her here?" Alex asked. "Wasn't she supposed to be asleep?"

"The medicine put her to sleep, but not for long." Saito said. "I guess she'll feel more comfortable if you're here."

"Oh, okay then." Alex said, holding her hand.

She visibly calmed down when she felt him hold her hand, making Alex feel relieveed. After several moments, Max decided to ask about who she was.

"Alex, who is this young lady?" He asked.

"She's my wife, Shion." Alex replied, gently rubbing her face.

"You're married?!" He exclaimed.

"I never got to that part of the story, huh?" He said. "Technically, we never had an official marriage. Things have been so hectic."

"So how did you two meet, exactly." He asked.

Alex was hesitant to answer. He didn't know the best way to tell his father that t hey met while trying to kill a king.

"We met during a mission." Shion finally said.

"Fair enough. I am Maximilien, Alex's father. It's nice to meet you." Max said.

"I'll leave you guys to discuss that." Saito said, turning around to leave. "I'm going to go outside for a little while."

He quickly left, not wanting to intrude on a conversation between family members. On his way to the mountain's entrance, he encountered Louise, who decided to go with him. They walked outside rather silently, with both of their heads filled with possibilities about what could happen.

As they walked, Louise's ears twitched. She didn't hear anything at all, but something in her surroundings felt strange. She didn't say anything to Saito, who didn't seem to feel it. However, suddenly, she pushed him flat on the ground.

"What the hell was that for?!" He asked.

"Stay down!" She said.

Just as she finished her sentence, the surrounding trees were all cut cleanly near their bases, where Saito and Louise would have stood, leaving nothing but stumps. Saito immediately activated his eye, looking around for anyone who could be responsible.

However, he couldn't see anyone in the surrounding area. They stood with their backs turned towards one another. As they looked around, Louise used her magic to detected anything nearby. Eventually, she felt someone above them. When she looked up, she saw a winged person, floating in the skies above them.

"Saito! What is that?!" She asked.

He focused his eyes on the person above them. It was a man who possessed six wings covered in maroon feathers. He had shoulder length white hair that fell over his piercing red eyes. He was wearing a pair of long black pants and had no shirt, showing his mildly muscular build.

"Who is it?" Louise asked again.

"I don't know." He replied. "I don't think we should fight right now though."

"We can't allow him to follow us back to the mountain." Louise replied.

"Do you think we're strong enough to fight him alone?" Saito asked.

"I don't know." She replied. "But fighting someone who is capable of flight like him will be difficult."

As they strategized, the man quickly flew towards the mountain, causing Saito and Louise to be alarmed. They immediately followed him as fast they could. When they arrived, they saw him launch several attacks at the mountain, managing to bypass the defensive spells Mariel had set, exposing some of the inner rooms and hallways to the air outside.

Inside, Alex rushed Shion to safety, despite her insisting that she could help. When he arrived outside, everyone else was already staring up at the winged person who floated above them.

"Who is it?" Sasha asked Louise.

"That's what I was going to ask you." She replied.

"He seems familiar." Mariel said.

"Sister, do you think we will require Max's help?" Sasha asked.

"No. There's several of us." She replied.

They stared at the man, waiting for him to make his move. It was eerily silent as he hovered effortlessly above the ground. Just before they were about to attack first, he began to speak.

"This world of Elves now belongs to me." He said.

It was an extremely monotone voice, as if he was speaking in his sleep.

"What does he mean?" Saito asked himself.

"You should be more worried about your human allies." He said.

As he spoke this sentence, he vanished into thin air, leaving the group bewildered about what happened.

"Who was that?" Alex asked.

"More importantly, what exactly was he talking about?" Vittorio asked. "Shall we go to the human world from here?"

"What he said could be a trap." Saito said. "What if he wants us to leave this land?"

"But there is still a possibility that the humans are in danger." Louise said.

"Perhaps some of us should go to the human world." Bartholomew said.

"But what if their plan is to split us up?" Alex asked.

"We can't all afford to leave this place." Mariel said.

After a few minutes of silent thought, Saito finally made his own decision.

"I'm going back to the human world." He said.

"You can't go alone." Louise said. "If you're going to go, I'm coming with you."

"I'm coming too." Alex said. "I'm not leaving you guys alone."

"You have to protect Shion." Louise said.

"She'll be safe here." Alex said. "It's not like the enemy is after her. Besides, Aigle is here just in case something goes wrong."

"Well, I can't force you to stay, but at least discuss it with her before you make a decision." Louise said.

"Fine." Alex said, although he didn't seem to like the idea.

He went back inside the mountain to a the room where he left his wife. It was near the center of the mountain so that she was as far away from any incoming danger as possible.

"What happened?" She quietly asked when he arrived.

"The human world might be in danger." He replied. "I'm...going to go with Saito and Louise to make sure everything is okay."

"I'll come with you." She said, although her eyes were still in pain.

In the rooms light, Alex could see that the bandages that wrapped around her head were beginning to develop dark stains on her eyes.

"You can't fight right now." He said. "I'm going to leave you here with Aigle."

"I want to come with you." She said stubbornly, although it was becoming harder for her to keep talking.

"You need to heal." He replied, undoing the bandages so that he could replace them.

When they were removed, he could see that her eyes were bleeding slightly, making it look like she was crying tears of blood. Otherwise, they seemed fairly normal, save for a very dull purple glow shining through her eyelids, which Alex assumed was from the magic working on her eyes.

"I won't be gone for long." He replied. "We'll have this all sorted before you know it."

"I can help you without my eyesight." She said.

"Maybe you can, but you could get hurt." He replied, wrapping new bandages around her head. "If you get better before we get back, feel free to come and help us."

"Fine..." She said, rather reluctantly. "I'll be with you as soon as I can."

He smiled at her, stroking her flowing silver hair. He slowly gave her a kiss, which she enjoyed for as long as she could. When he pulled away, she was hesitant to let go of him, but allowed him to leave her after kissing his cheek.

"Don't worry, I won't die." He said as he walked out of the room.

"I know." She replied quietly, although there was a great amount of doubt in her voice.

When Alex arrived outside, Louise and Saito were already prepared to depart to Gallia. When they noticed him, they both wondered how it went, but noticed that he was seemingly devastated by having to leave her.

"Are you ready to go?" Saito asked.

"Yeah." He replied. "Is it just us going?"

"Yeah. Everyone else is going to find Brimir." Louise said. "Sasha thinks he's most likely in this kingdom."

"I see. What if we need help?" He asked.

"I can open a world door back here if things go wrong." Louise said.

"Alright." Alex said, taking a deep breath.

Louise opened pointed her finger at a clear space, causing an ovular portal to materialize. Louise and Saito quickly stepped through it, but Alex was somewhat hesitant. As he slowly stepped through the portal, an image of Shion wearing a beautiful smile entered his head.

Just as he was about to decide to go back for her, the world door closed behind him, leaving him in the human world. Although his heart ached, a feeling that he still wasn't used to, he took a deep breath and followed Louise and Saito to their first destination, Tristania.