Free Web NovelChapter 310: Ch 310: A Place like home
Shuu opened the door to his and Kaiden’s room and two blurs immediately rushed toward him and grabbed his legs.
"Mother, are you alright? Are you feeling better now? You won’t disappear anywhere else, right?"
Shuu felt startled by the sudden attack, but then he looked down and noticed the pair of innocent eyes looking back at him. He blinked and felt his heart softening as he wrapped his arms around the kids.
"I am fine. I won’t be going anywhere else. Did you two behave yourselves for Kaiden?"
Caelis immediately looked around, showing that he had not done a single thing Shuu had asked of him. But Shuu did not feel disappointed.
Rather, he felt glad that he had someone to welcome him back.
But the danger this world was in was still present and Shuu felt a little burdened by it, especially after a good chunk of his memory had returned.
Kaiden noticed the expression on his face and he immediately put his hand over Shuu’s eyes to make sure his face was hidden from sight.
"Don’t think about it too much. Instead, focus on my voice. It will be alright. Just like that. There is no need to worry too much."
Kaiden’s voice was soothing and it made Shuu feel better. He closed his eyes and fell asleep to his voice.
Then, he woke up a few hours later, feeling refreshed but still worried. A part of him felt restless and he looked out of his window to make sure this world was still intact.
It was odd how this world had not been destroyed yet. This was not Goddess Astoria’s style. She was not someone who left worlds like these alone.
"You cannot fall asleep?"
Kaiden asked, looking just as awake as Shuu had been. Shuu flinched at his tone but was quick to reply.
"I know I should not be aware right now, but something about this situation feels off. I cannot put my hands on what it is, but things seem tense right now."
Shuu confessed as he looked outside. The weird tension in the air was still present and Kaiden nodded.
"I can feel that as well. Goddess Astoria’s powers are still under this world’s surface. It won’t be too much to say that she is controlling this world from the shadows at the moment."
Shuu had a feeling that things were like that. And he immediately felt bad for this world and the people in here. They had nothing to do with this. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
This was all his fault; things were happening like this. But blaming himself won’t do him any good.
"When are we heading back home?"
Shuu asked in a small voice and Kaiden wrapped his arms around Shuu to make him feel better.
"We can go home whenever you want us to. Shall we do it tomorrow?"
Shuu nodded, feeling a little better about it all. He had already said his goodbyes so it did not even feel wrong to head back as soon as possible.
...
"Rin, Caelis, it’s time to head back now."
Shuu woke the two kids up and they grumbled.
"Do we have to wake up? I want to sleep a little more."
Caelis complained as he slowly woke up. He did not even need to sleep but he still did so anyway because he wanted to act as a kid in front of Shuu.
Shuu shook his head at Caelis’s acting and instead helped Rin out while Caelis dragged himself out of the bed.
"I know you want to sleep, but I cannot allow you to sleep any longer. We need to head back home now."
Shuu reminded the kids and they immediately woke up.
"We’re heading back? Why did you not say that earlier? Rin, let’s get ready. We cannot give those old fools any reason to find faults with Shuu."
Caelis dragged Rin out of the bed and took charge of the situation. Rin could only watch from the sidelines as this happened. Somehow, he was not surprised at how hyper things had gotten.
As the preparations went on, Shuu did his own thing until Kaiden called for them to gather. They arrived at the top of the tallest building in the city and Loki was there as well.
"Well, now that we have all gathered here, I would like to thank you all for helping me out. There are still a lot of problems to resolve, but I will work on it all slowly."
Loki looked like he had gotten no sleep. As a god, he needed no sleep, but his current body was still human. He could get tired and want to do human-like actions.
"It’s fine—"
"I will have you pay the price for this later."
Shuu wanted to forgive Loki but Kaiden was not going to let this go. He immediately told Loki that there would be a price to pay. Loki chuckled but no one else laughed with him. It made Loki sigh and he stood up and walked toward the portal.
"Well, good luck on your journey. I am glad that we got to meet, but I hope we never have to meet again."
Loki told them and the portal back to their world was finally powered on.
Shuu walked toward the portal first, followed by Rin, Caelis, and then Kaiden. They entered separately so that they could make sure they were going the right way.
There was...something wrong with this portal. Shuu could feel that he was not heading in the right direction. But he could not see anyone when he turned around.
So he kept walking until he emerged inside the royal court of the imperial palace. But this place looked different from what he recalled.
The decorations had been changed to follow more modern-looking things and the colors were also all wrong.
And the people...somehow, their faces did not look as clear as Shuu recalled them being.
"Sir Shuu, you are back."
"You are back!"
"You are back!"
Everyone yelled, racing for him and Shuu felt startled by their presence. He took a step back, only to feel his foot getting stuck somewhere. He looked down and noticed a hand grabbing his leg and pulling him back.
"Sir Shuu, you are back."
Shuu’s heart skipped a beat but he tried his best to keep his fear in check.
"Emperor Kaiden would be delighted."
"Please come this way. Allow us to prepare you for your audience with the emperor."
It felt unsettling how everyone tried to tug him toward some place when he did not want to go. He felt unsatisfied with their touch and tried to pull back. But the hold these people had on his arm did not lighten.
They kept tugging him toward the central room, not allowing him a second of rest to gather himself. Shuu followed their lead and finally came to the audience chamber. It looked just like his memory, and Kaiden was sitting right in front of him.
But something was wrong with Kaiden. He did not look like his normal self. In fact, Shuu could swear that something was even more wrong.
"Shuu, come here. Let me have a look at you since you are finally back now."
Kaiden extended his hand toward Shuu and Shuu felt his feet tug him forward toward Kaiden. He did not even realize when he stood in front of the emperor, but everyone else was gone.
Shuu decided to ask the question that had been plaguing his mind ever since he walked in here.
"Where are Rin and Caelis? They entered before you, so they should have arrived before you."
Shuu asked while keeping an eye out for the mentioned people.
But Kaiden snapped his finger and Shuu felt two small bodies clutching at his knees.
"Shuu, you are back?"
"Will you play with us?"
Even the kids felt creepy. Shuu was even more sure now that he was not in a safe place. This was not his home or the royal court.
"Why are you still frowning, my love? Didn’t you ask about the kids? There they are. Now, shall we head back—"
Kaiden reached to touch him again and Shuu reacted on instinct and his staff created friction between himself and Kaiden.
It left a mark on Kaiden’s face which made Shuu gasp. But he kept his hold on his staff without hesitation.
"You might wear Kaiden’s face but you are not Kaiden. Who are you?"
Shuu asked and the person in front of him sighed in disappointment.
"Why did you have to ask that question? It would have been better if you pretended to be ignorant. That way, we could have played this game a little longer."
The space around Shuu started to melt into a familiar atmosphere he recalled from his dreams.
Kaiden’s form also melted to show what lay underneath and a familiar face greeted Shuu.
"Welcome back, Shuu. How does it feel to finally be back home, where you belong?"
Goddess Astoria asked without a hint of a smile on her face.
