Alacryan Arthur

Chapter 20

Reynolds Leywin POV

Alice and I sat in the living room. We were waiting. The clock showed 17:59.

I had told Alice everything that we knew about the scroll, as well as the weird line the chief had said. She didn't know anything either.

The clock hand switched to 18:00. I could hear the bell of the nearby tower ding.

The scroll activated and mana began to cover the surface. After a second the mana changed from a black screen to allow us to see a face.

It was the face of a small black mana beast that looked at us. Its yellow eyes focused on me first, and changed to Alice after a second.

Whatever I had expected, this wasn't it.

"Get out of the picture, Sylvie" I heard a voice from the other side. The voice was a bit distorted, but I instantly recognized the voice, and so did Alice. I could see her flinch and look at me, to verify what she thought she had heard.

The small beast left the screen, which allowed us to see the other side. We saw a face we had thought we would never be able to see again.

Arthur Leywin POV

I saw the faces of my parents staring at me in disbelief.

"Hey Mom, Hey Dad" I said, my voice a bit shaking. The words almost got stuck in my throat. "I am alive."

They were like turned to stone. Both of them didn't move, they just stared at me. If the clock in their background did not tick I would have thought that the connection had frozen. Wait, can these kinds of connections even freeze?

That wasn't important now.

My father recovered first. "H- -How?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"I used some wind mana to slow my fall and was stopped by the branches. Then a nice woman took me in and helped me. I was able to get this scroll to you through some friends I found."

I had to be careful what to tell them. Too little and they wouldn't believe me, too much and Seris, who was sitting on the other side of the scroll, would intervene.

"How are you?" my mother asked, who had recovered now.

"I am fine, there's nothing wrong with me. What about you? I see you look.. pregnant, Mom."

"Yeah, yeah, we are fine too. The baby is probably coming next week or so." she said. "Will you be able to be back by then?"

I shook my head. Agrona was right. We had talked about me returning, but it wasn't the right time yet. With the escalating conflict between the asuran clans there might be a war soon, so I had to be as strong as possible, to protect my parents and Sylvie.

Although Sylvie herself should be pretty safe, with her being an asura and related to the heads of both sides.

But that wouldn't be the case for my parents, my sibling and all the other humans I have grown close to. If Agrona was right, he had to win the war, and he would only be allowed to let humans fight. While Cadell and the other scythes were powerful, we all knew that given time and training I would be able to surpass them.

Thankfully at least Cadell and Seris didn't see me as a threat, but as a possible powerful ally, so they had done everything in their might to help me over the past week. The other three also seemed to share their point of view, but I hadn't really spent time with any of them.

"I have to get stronger first. I am at a place right now, where there are many people who can help me." I peeked at Seris, who nodded. This much was more than fine. "I can't explain the reason to you, but there might come a time soon, when I need to be as strong as I can."

"Arthur, you're a four year old boy. You have to go out, and play with other children, not save someone." My father said in a voice that was a bit angry. "Don't let your early core get to your head. You might be powerful for your age, but there are mages, some of them even with a white core, protecting this place. With your stage you don't have to worry about anything"

Exactly. There were white core mages in Dicathean. And I would have to be powerful enough to beat them, so Kezess would not win and level an entire continent.

But I couldn't tell them that.

"You have more than enough time to train here, just come back" my mother said, with a broken voice. It hurt me to see her pleading gaze, and to reject her request.

I shook my head. "I really can't:" It hurts me to deny my parents call." I am sorry, but I wouldn't be nearly as fast as here, and I really need that speed."

"How fast can you train there, is this worth it?" she asked, desperately.

"I have advanced to the yellow stage." I simply said. My parents knew that this speed was impossible at home. They both looked surprised.

"But how?" my father asked, unbelieving.

"Like I said, I get a lot of help here. There was a time my core rejected the will I had found, and to get that right a lot of mana was redirected, to help me stabilize my core. This mana also refined the core, giving me a huge boost.

Reynolds looked like he thought about my reasoning.

"I also have been sick, and they were able to help me, something I can't imagine anyone in Xyrus being able to do. If this sickness comes back, I have to be here, so they can help me again."

Seris gave me a warning look. I knew that what I had said was in the gray area of what I was allowed to say, but Seris seemed to understand that it was needed to let my parents agree.

I prepared for the final push.

"If I hadn't gotten their help, I would have died. I can't risk coming back yet, especially since we don't know if I am completely cured."

It didn't feel good to tell my parents this but it was the truth, I would have died multiple times without the help of Agrona and the others. But I didn't want to scare my parents like that, especially since they just found out I was alive.

At least this had the desired effect. My mother was silent, as my father breathed in to say something.

"In that case, we don't really have a choice. But promise us that you will return to us as soon as possible."

I nodded. That was the plan.

"I miss you," I said. I knew that the time the scroll could transmit at a time was limited, before it needed to recharge. The picture had already started to shake and fizzle.

"We miss you too," My parents said, before the mana of the scroll was exhausted and the connection ended.

I sat there for a few seconds.

'Are you okay?' Sylvie sent me. Of course she knew how I was feeling right now, but it was nice being asked.

'They know I am alive now. That was the plan,' I answered her.

"Now to the other part of the plan, the training." I said out loud.

"Cadell is already in the training room, waiting for you. He said that you should go there as soon as you're done." Seris said.

Now let's get even stronger.

***

>1.2k words

Again, I am sorry, I suck at reunions.

Anyway, timeskip incoming. See you on the other side.