女神归来的夏天

Chapter 201: Return to The Ancient Ruins of the Dryads I

We have been flying for about an hour so far, and I still haven\'t seen a stream of water yet. I want to wash if possible too. It\'s been a stressful few days, and I\'m starting to smell. "I haven\'t seen a stream yet, Sally. We have a few thousand miles to go. We\'ll find one eventually. I\'m going to land us for the night. Once morning comes, we\'ll travel at full speed." I\'ve been flying slowly in the night to enjoy the downtime. I slowly bring us down and land on a hill. Sally gets off and leaves into the trees. Probably to use the bathroom. I take the tent out of my inventory and set it all up. We still have around 6 hours till sunrises, and we\'ll reach The Ruins of the Dryads after about half a day of traveling at full speed. So it won\'t take long.

I hear the rustling of the bushes, and Sally comes back out. She walks up to the entrance of the tent and crawls in. I follow her inside and lay down on the soft furs. I take a relaxed sigh and close my eyes. Sally uses me as a body pillow and snuggles up close. I think of what I\'m about to accomplish after so long. The legendary quest that I\'ve had for so long is getting closer and closer to being finished. I clear my mind and relax since I\'ll no longer be having urgent quests to do. Once we are done at the Dryads, I\'ll be stopping by Zenith to visit Amelia. That\'ll be a good day. After we\'re done with that. Sally and I will start her quest for revenge, and I\'m going to enjoy helping her kill the men that made her life a living hell. As Cera and Sally sleep, there is an emergency meeting happening. The Pope is the one leading it as always.

The public appearance of Zern in the capital city Bellvia has the religious community in an uproar. This is the first time he has come out of hiding in a public light, and the fact he did the same day Bellvia\'s treasure room got robbed is not a coincidence. He has no connection, though. I look around the room and see the worried faces of the rulers. We have all heard what happened to the nobles in Bellvia and the threat Zern made to king Kleager\'s life. He couldn\'t be at this meeting. He is too busy trying to fix the damage done by Zern. One of our 4 high Generals, Oliver Blaker, has reported some dire news to us. We knew that Zern would be upset with us trying to find him so fervently, but I never expected the reaction he had.

I stand up from my chair and make my way to the center of the stage to speak. "The developments that have occurred in the capital city Bellvia are true. Zern did, in fact, kill many high-ranking nobles and threatened the life of the king." Many squint their eyes at this. Many of these rulers don\'t know how to react to that since they never had anyone with that kind of authority walking around. It\'s not like they can fight back against The grandson of the Almighty Father. You would doom your country for 100 generations if you tried something. This also brings up a new problem. The rules normal angels have to follow don\'t apply to Zern. Angels normally can\'t take mortal life, but that\'s not the case for Zern.

I watch the queen of the elves twist in her chair slightly. "I want to know about the person he was traveling with. The report says all that\'s known about the person is they have long blond hair, but that\'s it. That sounds like a woman to me. If he can\'t be wed to one of my daughters, then we will withdraw our help in this war. I suggest you find out before we do, cause if what I suspect is true. The church will pay for it." She shuts off her magical hologram, and I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration. I look at Lucy and see how fed up she is with all these politics. I\'m beginning to feel the same way, but they are necessary for the successful end to this war. The new people have been a tremendous help, but they are still too weak to bring a definite end.

I walk back to my chair, so Lucy has time to speak. She has been battling on all front of this war. When she missed the opportunity to meet Zern, she was seething in silent rage. "I want to address the biggest problem we have encountered in this war. That being supplies. We are constantly running out of food and medicine for the wounded. The war has been getting more brutal thanks to the increase in monsters. It doesn\'t help they don\'t need to sleep or eat. We need solutions for this right now." Lucy finishes speaking, and many of the holograms mute. The kings and queens are speaking to their financial advisors and military leaders. Lucy leaves the center stage and takes her seat. The meeting continues into the night, and now there are new developments regarding the players—specifically the Adamo family. Violet is speaking to her husband as they approach their destination.

We have been traveling a long time, and Marcus has grown so powerful in that time. We are on our way to get our legacy classes. We are the last ones in our family. I know in my heart that Hailey already got hers. I look to my husband as we walk side by side. "Are you excited that we get to have our legacy classes? I can\'t wait to test out the new powers we\'ll be getting." My husband smiles at me and nods his head in agreement. He grabs my hand and holds it as we walk. The time we have got to spend together has brought us much closer. We live a life of adventure now, one that is unhindered by others. We have no one to answer to, and we are free to do whatever we want. These things together have allowed us to rediscover our love.

We both look at the back of Marcus ahead of us, having fun. "I\'m very excited about it. We have crossed so much land and met so many new people. I\'m sure Sir Erikson is having a good time running the guild while on the move. What I want the most, though, is to have our family back together again. To meet up and talk about our journeys. I\'m interested to see what has transpired with Cera and Hailey." I completely agree with what he says. The world announcements only tell us so much about Cera, and we don\'t know if the person who got Battlemind is Hailey. I worry about both of them every day. It helps that I have Marcus with me, but that hole in my heart is still there with them gone. I\'ve had them with me every day of my life.

It\'s hard to have a connection like that torn apart in the span of a few hours. "I have a feeling it\'s going to be a long time before I see my babies again. They are adults, though, and I shouldn\'t be defining my life as only a mother. Outside of those relationships, I don\'t know who I am. The thought of what I want is unfamiliar. For the longest time, what I wanted has been what my kids wanted. So this is new to me, and I\'m growing to the change. Thanks for being so strong for me. Even the times I blew up on you for no reason." I apologize to Chris and think about my situation. I look out into the vast dark horizon as we continue walking the road. Earth is gone, and it always will be. The Ancients World has become our home, though, and it\'s growing on me.

Chris brings me close and kisses me. He holds me to his side as we walk the path to our destination. "I think that as long as we have each other, nothing can ever be too hard. We were struggling parents in a dying world for almost 25 years. Compared to that, this is a cakewalk. We have time, youth, and love on our side Violet. Let\'s take all the time in the world for whatever we want." I smile at my husband\'s words. We both look at Marcus and see him playing with fire. It still makes me nervous, but thanks to his class, fire can\'t hurt him. Having the legendary fire magic class, Phoenix will do that. His fire is a beautiful blazing white, and it can change depending on his emotions. If Cera could see him now, he would be proud. Just as proud as Chris and I are.

The night passes as people either travel or sleep. The next chapter in Gaia is about to start, and it starts with a couple sleeping in a tent. The future is uncertain, but one thing is for sure. It\'s only going to get more interesting.