"Brother!" Lara shouted as she dropped the sheets and towels in her hands and rushed towards Kayn, practically jumping onto him from the door. Kayn grunted in pain as she landed on him, but fought through it to embrace her. He could feel the tears soaking the bandages on his shoulder and hear the sobs of joy and sorrow coming from her, which made him feel all the more guilty.
"It's okay now little one, I'm here. Your brother is back. I'm sorry it took me so long to come back to you," Kayn said softly as he tilted his head a little bit to the side to lean it on top of hers.
Approximately five minutes of crying later, Lara finally released her koala hug on Kayn and stood up from the bed, only to receive a sharp slap to the back of the head from Charlotte. "Don't you know the condition he's in?! Not only did you squeeze the life out of him, you even jumped on him from a distance! Think before you act girl!"
"Sorry Granny Charlotte…" Lara's head hung low after being chastised. Not to mention this was in front of her brother!
"Pfffft," suddenly the sound of laughter being held back was heard coming from the bandaged mummy.
"And what's so funny?" Charlotte asked without a hint of amusement in her voice.
"Did-Did she just call you Granny? Bahahahaha! Oh ah ow that hurts." Kayn tried not to laugh as it only brought him pain, but he just couldn't help himself.
Charlotte's face developed a healthy red hue from embarrassment, but she soon composed herself. "Yes, I've allowed her to address me as Grandma Charlotte as she needed some semblance of family to grow up feeling loved! And over the years I came to see her as my own grandchild, though I've never had children of my own."
Kayn showed the gentlest smile he had produced in years, "Thank you once again. Thank you for giving Lara a family when she most needed it and I couldn't be there."
Charlotte replied with her own soft smile to his words, "She is a wonderful child though, you raised her properly in the little time you had together. I'm sure she is more than excited to tell you everything that she's learned and been through. In fact, she talked about you so much that I even started to see you as part of our little family even though you weren't here. We may have started as nothing but people working together for mutual benefits, but if you'll have me, I'd like you to see me as family too."
Charlotte spoke from the heart, but instead of a heartfelt reply back, what she saw was a mummy-wrapped mischievous smile. "How could I see you as anything other than family…Granny Charlotte?"
Kayn snickered to himself as Lara also giggled too before she was bopped on the head by Charlotte.
"Fine then, you can change the rest of the bandages on your own! Hmph!" Charlotte stated before dropping the bandages on the bed and slamming the door on her way out.
'For a million plus year old being, she sure can act childish when she's embarrassed.' Kayn thought to himself as he smiled again. Kayn then strained in order to turn his neck toward his sister who was now just standing there silently as if waiting for something.
"What are you doing silly girl, come sit next to me and tell me all about you! I only remember you as a playful little child, and clearly, you're all grown up now so I want to hear about it! Ah, but please refrain from touching me this time, I'm still in quite a bit of pain from the last time." Kayn spoke and chuckled at the red cheeks his sister developed.
However, she still gleefully sat beside him and began to recount her life and everything that had happened since she was taken away by Charlotte with Kinzie and Rowen.
…
Every day for the next few weeks, Lara would rise early in the morning to make breakfast and help Kayn rehabilitate. She would also talk endlessly about what she was up to and how far she progressed in magic and what she wanted to do with it in the end.
However, she eventually gave into her curiosity and asked Kayn about his time away and what he had been up to. Kayn regaled to her his adventures in a foreign world devoid of mana, talking about how they made up for their lack of magic with something called science.
He avoided talking about the temples or the fact that he got into the middle of a war there as well, but Lara seemed plenty interested in science and all of the various inventions Kayn talked about, such as cars and cellphones.
As soon as Kayn felt that he could use his mana without pain stemming from his core, he immediately healed his body and then began to work on his mana circulatory system. The damage was extensive and the scarring that had already occurred needed to be cleaned out, so it was a multiple day process despite his proficiency.
Finally, after over three months since his battle with the Celestials, Kayn was up and moving without issue again. He even felt stronger than ever, probably due to consuming one of the Celestial's cores, even though the majority of the mana within her core was used to tear through the void. If he devoured the second Celestial's core, he was positive that he would reach the peak of this world and his cultivation journey within the lower worlds would come to an end.
Unlike Yvaris, who was unaware that he could control when the ascension tribulation started, Kayn knew how and what triggered it after reading through a few of the lich's personal notes whom he killed. Using this method was also how Mitas and Polix stayed on Talgonoth despite being more than past the point to ascend.
The method was simple; you only had to will if and when the ascension would commence once your mana core reached max capacity at the 6th stage after suppressing it. It seemed silly how simple it was, but most who were trying to ascend were anticipating when they would finally max out, and thus their tribulation would start soon after.
Regardless, Kayn decided to hold off on eating the last core until after he dealt with a more pressing situation. Before anything, it was time to surprise his sister who he kept out of his room for the last few days.
Right on time, Lara knocked on his door to bring him breakfast, and rather than saying he didn't need it today, he asked if she would bring it in to him. As soon as she stepped through the door and didn't see Kayn in his bed, she began panicking thinking that he fell off over the side and needed help back up.
She quickly set the tray of food down and just as she passed the door Kayn was hiding behind, he lifted her up from behind and spun her around like she was a little toddler again. At first, she screamed in fright, but once she realized it was just Kayn, she couldn't have smiled brighter.
The two siblings took the food back to the dining area where Charlotte was eating and sat down with her. She also smiled as she was happy to see Kayn finally feeling better. After they finished breakfast, Charlotte shooed Lara away to her studies and then asked Kayn if he knew of a method to create an accessory to hide Lara's nature.
Kayn knew a method because the avatar inside the Wanderer's Villa spent months sifting through the Obsidian Void Dragon Clan's library in the Void loop to come up with a solution. He didn't think it was exactly necessary to make her one with him having killed the last two Celestials, at least according to the woman, but he wasn't going to take any risks.
He had decided long ago that when he gifted Lara with her accessory it would be a necklace, but he currently didn't have any of the materials required to make the necklace, nor inscribe and enchant it. The process was quite complicated, and out of Kayn's field of expertise, but with detailed instructions to follow, he figured it wouldn't be that bad of a process.
During the last couple of weeks, Kayn asked Charlotte about the village they were staying in and how they ended up here.
She said that initially it was only a small village, but once she set up a healing shop and Rowen an enchanting shop, the village steadily grew into a small town. The house they were using had been newly built by the villagers after seeing her survive and come back to the village, they generously built a new home for her for all she had done for them. They were worried that danger would strike if she stayed, but their gratitude for her healing was greater than their fear of being attacked.
After pondering on the materials that Kayn needed to create his sister's necklace, he came to the conclusion that there was only one shop within walking distance that he could get all of them from. While he could easily fly to another town and back just as quickly, it was time to meet with Kinzie and face the music of what their relationship had now become.
Kayn walked his way over to Rowen's shop, which was once again named Enchanter's Emporium, and entered inside causing the shops bell to ring. Rowen came around the corner and stopped on the spot as he saw Kayn standing there.
A mature, clean and groomed, extremely handsome man looked back at Rowen with clear crimson-golden eyes and smiled. "Hey Old Man, good to see you."