"We come in peace!" Richard shouted as loud as his throat could bellow.
Lara and Richard were currently exiting the jungle, approaching an encampment near the center of the island.
Seeing that Lara and Richard were unarmed, the guards quickly restrained them both and guided them to the tent at the center of the camp.
Once there, Lara and Richard waited for about ten minutes before Mathias walked into the tent. It was not that Mathias was busy, but more like he was scared that Richard came back from the dead to haunt him.
"You're real?" Mathias asked.
Richard nodded "You pushed me into the water hoping I'd die, but I lived because I have a mission left to complete,"
Mathias was scared at first, but the more Richard talked, the calmer he became. It was hard to be scared of someone who would always spout nonsense about the heavens not wanting him dead and Himiko's Tomb would kill the entire world.
Mathias attempted to kill Richard for exactly this reason, Richard grew paranoid the longer they stayed on the island. In the army, they taught many things about survival.
The first lesson was that whenever you are stranded alone, talk to yourself, talk to a rock you find on the ground because loneliness will kill you before anything else.
The second lesson was never to leave someone who was broken in your ranks. As far as Mathias was concerned, he made the right call since Richard was indeed a broken man.
"You are still the same type of crazy you were all those years ago," Mathias said.
Lara quirked her brow and intervened before her father could speak again.
"He might be crazy but I am rational. And I came to offer you a deal," She said.
"What deal?"
Lara glanced at her father, then threw a notebook onto the table.
"The location of the tomb in exchange for entry. There is a third party on this island that is extremely dangerous. They are a threat to you and me. So I just want to cooperate against our mutual enemy," Lara said.
Mathias furrowed his brows, contemplating deeply about what Lara said. It didn't come as a surprise to him since a call was made a couple of days ago that warned him of a potential omega-level danger coming to the island.
It was why Mathias launched at any incoming transport instead of enslaving people like he usually would.
The mere fact that Richard came out of hiding expressed the severity of the current situation. Whoever they were running from should be dangerous enough to cause him major concern.
"Hmmm. Not a bad plan," Mathias said, picking up his gun from the table "But the fatal flaw is, I only need Richard to take me to the tomb since I don't know who you are,"
Mathias suddenly aimed the gun at Lara's head but waited for her reply before taking a shot. His objective was to turn the two people in front of him into enemies and then keep the person with the most information alive.
Lara didn't flinch a bit, compared to her inferiority complex near Zeel, she saw everyone else as unworthy of her presence.
Even as Mathias pointed a gun at her head, Lara was disdainful because she had at least twenty ways to steal the gun and kill Mathias without anyone being the wiser.
"She is my daughter, if you kill her I won't cooperate," Richard warned causing Mathias to stare at Lara intently.
"I see the resemblance," he said, removing his gun from Lara's defiant gaze.
After finalizing their cooperation, Richard, Lara, and Mathias discussed the finer details of the entire operation. Thirty minutes later, the encampment was packed up and moved to an entirely different location – The Location of Himiko's Tomb Entrance.
The guards checking the perimeter while transporting equipment was tripled by Mathias. Coming so close to seeing his family again, Mathias wanted to take no risk with the operation.
The guards had an order to kill anything that moved on sight.
∞∞∞
The light slowly crept through the parted curtains, the steady flapping of wings could be heard through the window.
Alice's eyes snapped open as her ears concentrated on the nearly inaudible sounds of bickering occurring downstairs.
Feeling Alice's body move, Elizabeth's slowly stretched her body, attempting to hug Alice and keep her on the bed. Sadly, Alice was too quick for Elizabeth, by the time Elizabeth stretched, Alice had already crept out of the bed.
"The girls are fighting again," Alice said sighing heavily.
Zil, Alle, and Ella were once really close sisters, but recently, something had driven a wedge between the three of them.
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"They're girls, they fight. That's what they do," Elizabeth murmured getting out of the bed and hugging Alice from behind.
"Yes, if they were normal I wouldn't be concerned, but they're not. The last time they fought, Alle and Ella almost scarred Zil for life," Alice complained.
Elizabeth had no retort, unlike Alle and Ella, Zil was essentially just a peak human. There was no way she could contend with her younger sisters, and that made her feel inadequate as a daughter.
Still, Elizabeth was reluctant to give up the peaceful morning, and slowly moved her lips from Alice's back to her neck, then to Alice's lips.
Elizabeth placed a lingering kiss on Alice's lips… a kiss that had occurred many times over the ten years they spent together, but as always… with every kiss.
Elizabeth could feel that Alice would imagine that someone else was kissing her every single time. It would break Elizabeth's heart, but she also longed for Zeel's return.
Over time the girls had come to realize that while they love each other intensely, they alone, were not enough. There was an innate need for Zeel's presence in their daily lives. Still, they could not deny that these years apart had done them well.
They felt free, happy, fulfilled, but not entirely dedicated as they once were. Yet, it had been years since they last visited Zeel, and it had been years since they last openly mentioned his name.
However, Alice and Elizabeth realized long ago that they would express Zeel's name in their every action. Every kissed they shared was of Zeel, every caress of each other was thinking about Zeel, every food they ate was for Zeel.
It was both disturbing and thrilling how dependent they were on Zeel's presence. Elizabeth truly had to adapt to Zeel's absence, but Alice could still feel him sometimes.
Unlike Elizabeth, Alice had a psychic connection due to the first moment she met Zeel. At that time, he imprinted on her soul, and due to that, she could always feel his presence alongside her.
But it was not nearly as strong as she would feel his presence with the nanites, but it still provided Alice some comfort. And that comfort would then be relayed to Elizabeth through their empathetic abilities as Gods.
Finishing their daily reminisce, Alice and Elizabeth exited the room, walked downstairs and into the dining area. There, they saw Alle, Ella, and Zil arguing intensely, almost to the point of exchanging blows.
Ella and Alle had grown somewhat, but they were still the little girls that longed for their father's approval. Zil was now a teenager, and soon she would be ready to spread her wings and enter society.
"You are not our true sister. We treat you like that because of respect, but you are fundamentally different from us and mothers," Ella yelled.
"Yes, and when we leave, you cannot come with us!" Alle added causing Zil's heart to ache even more.
Zil wanted to belong, wanted to matter more to her mothers, wanted to enter the world that Alice and Elizabeth always hid from her.
It was a constant pain to know that you weren't good enough to truly be considered family. Alice and Elizabeth showered Zil with all the love she could ever ask for, but there was always something holding them back.
Zil was grateful to grow up loved, cared for, and treasured, but she always wanted more. Ella and Alle refused to answer the questions that plagued her day and night, so Zil thought she would force them to see her as worthy.
Of course, she had tried this before, and each time she lost terribly, but the anxiousness in her heart had grown recently. She felt that if she didn't prove herself worthy now, then she would forever lose her chance.
"Just give me a chance. We are sisters. I would lay down my life for you, I love you girls as younger sisters. I just want to stay with the family!" Zil yelled feeling hate from being denied by her own sisters.
Ella hesitated a bit, she could understand how their eventually leaving would break Zil's heart, but some things you could not budge on.
Ella cared for Zil and knew that should Zil truly join the family, her most likely outcome would be being killed by Zeel for being too weak. As a good sister, Ella hoped that Zil would forget about them naturally, and move on with her life.
However, Alle was a completely different matter, she was more like her father than Ella was. Alle felt that Zil would be a hindrance to their journey across Universes, so she needed to either kill Zil or chase her away.
Ella had similar thoughts but was reluctant to follow through.
Seeing Alice and Elizabeth watching their argument, Alle decided to strike a killer blow that would deter Zil's naivety once and for all.
"You are not worthy to be a part of this family; you are just the daughter of a harlot!" Alle yelled.
Everyone froze at her statement. Even Ella, who always supported her sister was surprised. Ella was not surprised because of Alle's disrespect of Zil. Ella was surprised because she knew what her mothers would ask next.
Alice and Elizabeth both furrowed their brows and simultaneously asked "Where did you learn to say that?"
Alice and Elizabeth had the nagging feeling that Alle's statement sounded so Zeel-like?
However, Ella and Alle did not reply, directly turning into sword rings and flashing towards Elizabeth where they came to a rest on her back.
The mystery of the twin's vocabulary would remain unknown as life continued blissfully for Alice and Elizabeth.