Book 7: Chapter 13: Stella (1)

Dyon walked into a familiar hall with a frown on his face. He remembered this room well, after all, this was the first place he came to when he awoke from his coma. It was also the place he had that large verbal bout with Madeleine’s parents.His divine sense had been concentrated on this room for a long time, so he hadn’t missed anything that happened. But, he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t surprised by King Belmont’s sudden flip in attitude.Although he disliked King Belmont, he had always seemed like someone with a decent head on his shoulders. Dyon never thought that he would collapse like this.Dyon ignored King Belmont for the moment, choosing to smile toward some familiar faces. However, what confused him was that even those who had once been close friends looked at him with a stunned expression on their faces.“What? Is there something on my face?” Dyon involuntarily brought his hand to his cheek. He still had PTSD from essentially being washed in beast dung for days, so he was worried that maybe some of it was left behind.From within the section of elves, Zaltarish stood and walked toward Dyon.Dyon remembered this grey-skinned and red-eyed elf well. He was once an enemy, but they had grown to have an amicable relationship after he saved the Elvin Kingdom. Dyon couldn’t help but wonder if he had won over Mithrandir’s heart in the past 20 or so years. If he really hadn’t succeeded, Dyon really would have to help this poor fool out.Zaltarish’s red eyes flickered with an odd light as he closed the distance between he and Dyon, soon their noses were practically touching.After a few moments of awkward silence, Zaltarish’s teeth grinded against each other as he scanned Dyon from top to bottom.“AAGGGHHH!” He roared, tilting his heads into the ceiling. “IT’S NOT FAIR, WHY ARE YOU SO HANDSOME?! I’M THE ELF, AREN’T I SUPPOSED TO BE BLESSED WITH NATURE’S LOOKS? FUCK! YOU BETTER STAY AWAY FROM MITHRANDIR, YOU HEAR ME YOU BASTARD?!”Those around the room couldn’t help but burst into a fit of laughter. They really were stunned by Dyon’s appearance because he simply looked like he was carved out of some heavenly metal. It was clear that even Dyon himself didn’t understand the kind of changes his constitutions had brought to him.Hearing Zaltarish’s nonsense, Dyon couldn’t help but shake his head. “Maybe if you had agreed to follow me into the tower instead of staying behind to chase skirts, you wouldn’t be regretting it so much now.”Originally, Dyon had planned to take a whole host of young elves with him as well. Why wouldn’t he? After all, they were the subjects of his wife’s kingdom.However, there were apparently important rituals the elves had to undergo. It was similar to Saru’s coming of age ceremony, but important for far more reasons than just pride.With King Acacia back, the Elvin Kingdom finally had a True Empath who could walk them through the Ancient Game protecting their tombs, so they could receive blessings from their ancestors.Of course, Ri was meant to stay behind as well, but she refused. She wanted to follow Dyon no matter, so that was what she did. Unfortunately, this led to her constitution being neglected even further.There was good news, though. Ri no longer needed this awakening because Dyon had effectively accomplished the same thing by giving her so much Primordial Energy. In fact, Ri’s constitution sucked up so much that his remaining energy was depleted.However, he wasn’t worried about that. After experiencing entering that world once, he had firmer control over the gate. With his constitutions now perfectly balanced, he could enter whenever he wanted by stimulating his titan’s blood.That said, there were numerous caveats to this, as one might expect. But, that could be explored at a later date.Either way, judging by Zaltarish’s leap in strength, they didn’t lose out by much. Although he hadn’t broken into the celestial realm, when one considers how scarce the energy in this universe is, the fact that he had reached the 9^th saint realm was impressive in and of itself.Judging by the fact it took Madeleine’s former master more than a 1000 years to simply break into the saint realm, yet she was touted as a genius, the fact Zaltarish had these feats before 40 years of age was truly a marker of his talent.Zaltarish pouted. “Don’t make fun of me. You know perfectly well why I had to stay. Now, even if you try and kick me away, I won’t leave.”Dyon laughed. He much preferred this Zaltarish to the one who was overtly serious and spent his every waking moment trying to please his father.Thinking to that point, Dyon couldn’t help but wonder how Head Sigebryht was doing. Now that he had finally stopped trying to one-up King Acacia in everything, maybe he was living a more relaxed life now.Patting Zaltarish’s shoulder, Dyon made his way to a big framed teenager who suddenly looked very nervous. Those who knew Sarid were astonished by what was happening. Since when could that giant blush?Dyon grinned, looking up at his god son. “Look at you. Who said you could grow to be bigger than me? Huh? You’re probably too big for the present I left you, aren’t you?”Sarid sheepishly smiled while scratching the back of his head.“Well, I wouldn’t be much of a god father if I didn’t give you a present, now would I?” Scanning Sarid, Dyon could immediately tell the kind of weapons he liked. These were the kind of senses his Weapon’s Master will gave him.“How about these?” He said after a moment, taking out two weapons that made Sarid’s eyes glow like a toddler on Christmas morning.