A violent tear of dark violet spatial energy fractured the air above the altar within the forbidden archives, throwing a blinding shockwave across the ancient stone walls right where he had left for Earth.
Lucien dropped heavily onto one knee, his heavy boots crushing the cold floor tiles. The dimensional portal snapped shut behind him with the sharp sound of thunder, severing his link to Earth completely.
For a moment he remained kneeling in the quiet darkness for several long seconds, his chest heaving as he clenched his fist tightly.
["Ah, home sweet home,"] Jerga purred inside his skull, his dark mana settling into a low, smoldering rhythm within Lucien's veins, welcoming the mana air surrounding them.
["Welcome home, Duke Arden."]
Lucien ignored the demon, standing up and adjusting his dark leather armor. He pressed a hand against his chest, not in the mood to entertain Jerga at all.
Kagen had been forcefully left behind just when they were about to cross over together. That kind of disappointment made him seethe in anger, uncontrollably and causing the dark mana to hum all around him in a frenzy.
But just then, taking a deep breath he calmed himself down, not even giving Jerga a chance to take over his body just as he was about to break down.
'15 years... he promised. As hard as it is, a promise is still a promise and I also promised to endure. Any more than that, we will crush the dimensional rift again and go back to find him.'
["Fifteen years is a long time to play the patient dog, Holy Knight,"] Jerga sneered, his voice echoing in his head, contrast to the hollow silence of the archives.
["Are you truly going to spend a decade and a half rotting away in the empire?"]
'No,' Lucien thought back coldly, walking past the broken stone pillars toward the heavy iron exit doors.
'From now on we reshape the Empire and prepare for his return. We are going to make it our very own Earth in Edrath, a safe haven for him to return to. Starting with getting rid of you first.'
Jerga chuckled with a scoff.
["Oh well, good luck with that."]
Lucien pushed the heavy wooden doors of the archive wide open and finally stepped out into the cold hallway of the palace.
News of Duke Arden's sudden reappearance immediately spread through the Imperial Palace like wildfire. And within an hour, the imperial family had been summoned, and the grand throne hall was filled with the whole imperial family, Sora even made it on time and the imperial guards were present as well including their personal aides.
Sitting upon the Golden Throne, His Imperial Majesty Cedric looked older, his sharp eyes weighed down by three years of agonizing uncertainty about Cassian's whereabouts. He was even starting to lose hope on finding his consciousness.
Lucien looked around the throne room as he slowly stepped inside but almost everyone was surprised by the subtle changes in his appearance. Sir Arden seems to have gained a little weight and he was even glowing.
It was well evident right through his form that he was living in a land of milk and honey wherever he was this entire time he was gone.
And then suddenly–.....all eyes trailed from the Duke and to the Duchess of the West standing near the front of the dais waiting for her husband Lucien with eager eyes.
It was Ruby.
Hoping he would glance at her even once.
Her being at the palace during the summons proved to Lucien that while he was away on an earthly rendezvous the woman was not playing around in his absence, she was earning the Emperor's trust and during all that she found out the truth about what truly had happened to Cassian and she couldn't even hide the happiness that engulfed her over his disappearance.
She even found herself hoping that he would never return to Edrath.
And by Lucien's side.
But then again that was the least of Lucien's worries for now.
In fact what had caught his attention was Ruby holding the hand of a toddler—a three-year-old child born from the two nights Lucien had spent with her three years ago. He knew immediately just from seeing the boy, after all the child was a complete replica of the Arden blood.
And next to the toddler Ruby carried herself with the poise of a devoted woman of Arden carrying the will of her husband in his absence.
But that was not all.
Flanking Ruby on her left side, were two little girls and they both held on to her dress tightly as if she were their sole protector.
That raised countless question marks in Lucien's head immediately.
Could those children be–
Lucien kept asking himself those questions back and forth but without any answers.
After all while he was gone, those that knew the secret of Cassian's pregnancy and his deep slumber, they knew that his physical body was carefully sustained by powerful ancient magic to keep his body lively while he carried his pregnancy.
And during his labour, he had undergone an impeccable, high-level surgical delivery performed by the finest imperial healers who were always on standby and were truly good at keeping imperial secrets.
And from that moment on, the miracle twins had been saved from his limp frame. And immediately after child birth Ruby voluntarily stepped forward to take care of the infants out of the boundless "goodness" of her heart since they were indeed her husband's children.
But in the truth of reality, it was only a move born out of pure spite toward the man who had bore children for her husband.
By keeping Cassian's daughters under her roof, she was going to raise them as her own that even when Cassian came back he would have to struggle earning their love and acknowledgement as their biological father. Ruby held absolute leverage over both the Arden line and the royal bloodline. Cassian was now nothing but a stranger to his own children.
With Lucien finally understanding the situation through Jegra whom still had a part of him lingering in Cassian's body almost like a wraith keeping watch while its master was away, Lucien finally walked down to the center aisle, his heavy boots echoing through the silent hall and his shining hair falling over his broad shoulders, while his blueish-violet eyes burned with a cold, terrifying intensity as his gaze swept over Ruby.
Ruby flinched slightly, stepping back half a pace.
Lucien knelt before the dais, placing his hand over his heart.
"Your Imperial Majesty. I have returned."
"Sir Arden..."
The Emperor stood up from his throne, his voice trembling with emotion.
"You disappeared for three years without a word... leaving us to manage the realm by ourselves."
"I apologize your Majesty, I also wished to said a word before leaving but nothing went as planned. But in the end I do bear some fruitful news as the result of my journey."
Now suddenly everyone's ears perked up in anticipation. More especially the emperor.
"Oh?.... Then did you find him? Is my son alive?"
Lucien nodded once offering a bow to the emperor.
"Yes, he lives Your Majesty," Lucien announced, his deep voice resounding throughout the entire hall.
"Prince Cassian is alive, he safe, and he is preparing for his ultimate return in the foreign world known as Earth."
A loud wave of shocked whispers rippled through the assembled family members. Even the Emperor's concubines were present, along with their children.
They were part of the imperial family after all.
"But if I must add."
"Although I have found the crown Prince's soul the rift had blocked his return when we tried to cross over together. We don't know the reason for that but one thing was certain. Only in fifteen years will he find the map leading him back home. After all, time flowed differently there and here, 15 months there is 15 years here. That is why in these three years that I left Edrath I only spent three months with him on Earth."
"And although it won't be too long for him to wait compared to us but we will have to endure. In fifteen years he would reopen the dimensional path again and return to apologize to everyone properly."
After that revelation silence fell over entirely. Ruby was the only one to silently sigh out in relief.
For her, fifteen years was a long time to win her husband over while Cassian struggled to come home.
"Then, we will wait."
The emperor beamed as if he had regained his vitality once more.
"What mattered the most was to know that he was still alive. And it seems like he will return again therefore let us all rejoice as we wait for his return and not dispair."
"Yes your highness."
Everyone bowed deeply and after the emperor had dismissed them.
Lucien walked toward Sora. Not Ruby, not his children but Sora Curzon.
Because Sora had been looking like a living corpse the entire time, and as Cassian's mate Lucien was set on fixing things on Cassian's behalf before he came back so that he wouldn't be burdened by guilt when he came back, only to find that the people he cared out crumbled down miserably because of his disappearance. And Lucien was going to start with Sora, the closest to Cassian's heart besides him.
"Little elf."
"Sir Arden...even now your naming sense when it comes to me–"
"Then would you rather I call you an impure elf like the old times?"
Sora sighed rolling his eyes and Lucien smirked as he slowly approached him.
And standing at Sora's side was the four-year-old Aurelian, holding his father's coat and gawking up at Lucien cautiously.
"Such fierce eyes for a young boy."
"It can't be helped, he takes after his father."
Sora tried so hard to smile, but the pain in his eyes and the strain in his body paled him completely.
That truly concerned Lucien even if just a little.
"Sora...is everything alright at the Verdent alliance?"
"Uh...well, since you were gone for too long you must not know. The Verdent alliance is no longer the Verdent alliance but is Elfeheimer now."
"Elfeheimer?....as in Elfeheimer the founding name of the Elves kingdom?"
"Yes, and because of that the kingdom is now divided into two factions. The supporters of the old Verdant of Queen Valaria and King Scafell who don't want to adhere to the changing times of our Kingdom. And the supporters of the new Elfeheimer which is under my rule as the *chosen saint* of our Kingdom."
Sora scoffed looking tired just by thinking about it.
"I never wanted that but the elves and the high Priestess keep insisting on it all."
"But Sora you don't even look okay, if I were to poke you right now I'm certain that you would collapse."
"Sir Arden...that is entirely because of my bond with the Crown Prince. It is utterly fading and I don't think I will be able to hold out until he comes back. After all fifteen is too much even for me."
"My spirit needs to be closer to his but with him gone the resonance is going haywire and draining my vitality completely."
"Then isn't there a solution for that?"
Lucien asked, truly concerned as he held Sora's shoulders carefully but Sora could only sigh out loud.
"If only I could receive an absurd amount of mana supply, similar to his Highness's inherent dark mana to calm my Moonborn spirit down. The imperial family carries it, but I just can't ask my in-laws for such. Adrian is happily married with Thoris and they are both raising their son in peace for me to ruin that."
"And besides you know how crazy the barbarian is, so I'd rather not touch what's his at all."
Lucien nodded in agreement, then they both looked around the hall filled with the royal family and their personal aides and guards.
"As for the others, most of Cassian's siblings are really young. And not to mention that they fear crossing their older brother so they wouldn't dare."
"And what about Leo?, I am sure he will be willing to help and he is not that young anymore."
"Leo is just too respectful and loyal to Cassian, therefore he wouldn't even dare think such of me."
"And not that I am comfortable with being intimate with my mate's siblings or other men anyway."
Sora scoffed waving away his worries with the flick of his hand.
["He must be talking about the dark mana the imperial family carries within them. A dark mana similar to mine."]
For a moment Jegra went quiet before he purred softly.
["And now it is similar to yours.... After all aren't you possessing dark mana right now Holy knighted Duke?"]
'Don't be crazy, why would I do that with Sora?'
["For your lover's sake of course. Do you think he would ever forgive you if he came back to Edrath only to find that his mate died years before his return and you couldn't even help his mate in need just when you possess the power to help him?"]
Lucien flinched and Jegra chuckled slowly.
["After all is he not also the one closest to his heart just like you?"]
Lucien gritted his teeth for a second and then he sighed focusing back on Sora.
"Sora...I think I might have a way to help you."
"What–"
"But we shouldn't talk about it here. So how about coming over to the West for a little break away from Elfeheimer and visit my castle to talk it through?....take it as a diplomatic relations to build connections with the Duke of the Empire if it will put your people at ease back home."
Suddenly Sora's eyes gleamed with hope as he held Lucien's hands with both his own.
"Sir Arden..will you really do that for me?"
"Ugh!, don't make me repeat it. First come to the West and bring Aurelian along. I suppose he can't be safe at the forest with how things are now."
"He has a Wyvern though, are you okay with that?"
"We will just cage it at the backyard, it's still an animal after all. And Lady Thompson might have a way or two to tame it if it goes berserk after all wasn't it her gift at the first place?"
Sora chuckled softly, looking at Lucien deep in the eyes before shaking his head.
"Even now you refuse to call her your wife. How cold Sir Arden, that woman was eagerly waiting for you with your children in her arms and that is all you can say about her?"
"Sora, do you want my help or not?"
"Okay okay I'm sorry. I won't say anything anymore so please help me."
Sora chuckled once more and Lucien sighed shaking his head.
'Crazy elf.'
"Anyway Sir Arden, let me not hold you back any longer. I am certain there are still more people who want to have a word with you before you leave and besides you have just came back from another dimension. You probably need to rest. I will send an official letter for our arrival to the west through a trusted aide and please make sure to receive it personally since your castle is truly infamous of letters never reaching your desk."
Lucien looked at Sora once more and then he sighed turning on his heels to leave.
"I was truly foolish to feel Sorry for such an unruly elf like yourself, with the way you run your mouth right now and full of energy to tease me. I would like to believe that you are in great shape."
Sora only laughed.
And with that Lucien walked away from Sora and he slowly turned toward Ruby.
No matter how much he wanted to avoid her he couldn't. After all he still needed some answers from her.
Watching him approach, the two miracle twin girls—Cassian's blood—stared up at Lucien with wide, curious eyes. Ruby held them tight, her smile tight and defensive.
"Husband you are finally back, not even an embrace to greet us?"
"Ruby," Lucien spoke quietly, his voice laced with low, unyielding steel that only she could hear.
"I don't have time for that or any of your games right now."
"And I see that you have played your hand well these past three years I was gone. You took his children out of spite, masking it as charity I see."
Ruby tilted her chin up slightly, her voice a hushed whisper.
"What matters is that they are well cared for is it not?"
"Nonetheless they are your children as well and as your wife that makes them mine as well. And until the Crown Prince returns, they remain in my house I will mother them entirely."
Lucien leaned down, his eyes flashing with a dangerous, dark glint as Jerga's shadow flickered faintly beneath his collar.
"In that case then you better care for them well," Lucien warned softly. "Because I will be watching every breath you take. For the next fifteen years, I will guard this Empire, I and I will raise the children properly as their father. From this moment on, I will ensure that when Cassian finally steps back through that rift... everything that belongs to him will be intact and waiting for him with boundless happiness. And during all that time, you better not be getting on my way Ruby."
Ruby looked at him for a moment and then she sighed with an elegant shrug.
Lucien's conviction over Cassian's return was scaring but she was also not going to back down easily. Not when the gods have provided her another chance and plenty of time to fix her marriage.
Lucien turned back toward the throne, bowing deeply to the Emperor.
Fifteen long years in Edrath had just begun. But with Cassian's promise burning deeply in his heart, the dark Holy Knight was ready to stand watch over the world and create the peace that Cassian needed so desperately.
*****