The Ancients World

Chapter 272: Splitting up again III

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Sally's crying and whimpers begin to slow down, and it's been about 20 minutes of none stop crying. She's gonna want to take a nap after this. Taking naps after long drying sessions is something everyone does. I pick her up in my arms, and I carry her to the bed. I lay her down, and she has nearly silent sobs ringing out. "I don't know what you're going through, Sally... I'm not going to pretend I know what you're going through... You can rely on me, though. You can ask me for anything." She looks at me, and her chin is scrunched up.

I reach out and wipe the tears away from her eyes, and I try to clean her face. "Thanks... I'm really grateful to have you, Cera..." I sit at her side as she slowly falls asleep. After a few minutes, she's out cold. A tremendous amount of stress on the mind can make you tired. So tired, the next thing you do is sleep. I'm torn up on the inside. Seeing the one, you love in massive pain like this is unbearable. I feel insignificant and inferior not being able to help. How selfish of me... Making this about how I feel when it's about how Sally feels.

I can't help but smack myself in the head. "I take it everything has calmed down?" I hear my sister's voice come from behind me, and I turn to see her standing in the doorway. I nod my head, and she looks at me with a form of pride. "You picked one that I never would've expected, little bro. From what I've seen, she's a great woman who'll make you happy. All she needs is a little healing and a lot of love. Or is it the other way around?" We both chuckle as this is the first time that she's talked to me about girls in, well, forever.

I stand up and walk over to the table. Leaving Sally to rest. I wave for her to come over, and she sits across from me. "I was able to get the information accessed, and what I've read so far isn't pleasant. It's repulsive, actually, and I feel bad that you also have to read it." I pull the crystal ball out of my inventory and hand it to her. "If we are going to be meeting up at a location, we'll need to discuss which target to go after. Once you speak with Jasmine, you can come and join us." Who knows, maybe she'll even bring Jasmine along with her.

She activates the crystal ball and begins reading the information herself. I watch as her expressions change, depending on what she's reading. After a few minutes, she gets to the part that's about Sally and the Orvello family. She cringes and has to turn it off. "No wonder she was crying so hard... If I had a life like this, I would've taken my own life long ago... She's much stronger than I thought..." Sally has a will that I've never seen before, and in my personal opinion, it's greater than mine. She's been through so much and still hasn't given up. Now she's thriving and getting what she needs.

Hailey continues reading, and I notice that she's interested in some names on the list too. She's likely seeing that the Treasurer of the Pleer Kingdom is aware of everything and is letting it happen. She looks at me and wants to talk, but I hold up my hand. "Just tell me which one of the targets we'll meet up at." She nods her head, indicating that she'll be meeting with us. She tells me the first of the targets is the one she'll be meeting us at. "When are you heading out?" She looks down in small disappointment. The next thing I know, Emerald pops her head out of her backpack.

The green tiger is cute, and it'll melt the heart of any animal lover. "I think tomorrow morning will be good. We can leave at the same time." Sounds like a good plan to me. "Can I ask you something, Cera?" That's a little unexpected, but I see no problems. I nod my head, and she takes a breath. "Did you know all of this would happen?" My heart drops for a second. I figured she'd question me about it some time. She's just as smart as me. "You seemed so prepared for everything... Like you knew what to do and when to do it. It's strange..." I sigh, and I stare at her. She's waiting.

The longer I stay silent, the more confirming her suspicions I become. "It's a long story, Hailey. One that we don't have time for right now, but I'm not going to deny or confirm any of your questions right now. When we do talk about this stuff, I want it to be with the whole family." She stares at me hard but gives up, seeing that it's not affecting me. "I'm not sure if we'll ever see mom, dad, and Marcus again, but if we are a whole family again. I'll answer any questions you have." I'm doing this is to buy me time cause the truth is dangerous.

I changed the future with my actions, got us trapped in this world, abandoning earth. Costing billions of lives. I bounce between being guilty and not guilty. Trying to balance the guilt and chaos in my mind. It weighs heavily on me. The life and old future I had, and the wish to come back in time. If I knew the repercussions to my choices could've been this drastic, I never would've made the one I made. She leans back in her chair and sighs. She closes her eyes and relaxes. Silence is the thing we need right now, and I'm glad she's got the same thing in mind. I open the notifications from earlier. Now that I have some time to.

[Revenge Against the Eleven Kingdom]

[Description: Now that Sally's Revenge against the James family has been completed, the hardest quest regarding Sally's past is about taking Revenge against The Elven Kingdom.]

[Objective 1: When the time comes, Sally will bring up getting revenge against the elves and the Orvello family. (Hint: This will occur during the time of Fighting the Disease quest.)][In progress]

[Objective 2: You can either hide the information found about Orvello and her mother from Sally, or you can tell her. Each choice has a different impact on her feelings towards you and her family. (Hint: You have until Sally brings up getting revenge against the elves directly. So if you intend to tell her, do it as soon as possible.][Completed]

[Objective 3: When Sally wakes up, ask her how she's feeling.][In Progress]

[Reward: Unknown]

[Difficulty: Legendary]

[Dark Truths]

[Description: Find out why the Orvello family has forsaken and doomed both Sally and her deceased mother. Revenge Against the Elven Kingdom is directly tied to this quest. So the more you complete and figure that quest out, the more this quest will develop and change with it.]

[Objective 1: Once inside The Kingdom of The Elves, locate the Orvello family. Once you have this information, bring it to Sally. (Hint: Sally doesn't know where the location of her family is since she's never met them.)][In progress]

[Objective 2: This quest will be affected by whether you tell Sally about her mother and the betrayal. So if you want this quest to progress, it's wise to tell her as soon as you can.][Completed]

[Objective 3: Once you ask how Sally feels, she'll want to talk about her family and what to do.][In progress]

[Difficulty: Legacy]

[Rewards: Unknown]

Fighting the Disease quest is unchanged, but Dark Truths and Revenge Against the Elven Kingdom have. I'll have to wait for Sally to wake up. I find it strange that the updates to the quest knew she would fall asleep. An unexplained quirk to the quest system that nobody could ever discern. That's because back then, no one knew this was a separate world with actual gods. "How do you think mom and dad are doing? Marcus has to be bored without us there." Hailey suddenly asks me a question I don't think about often enough.

Marcus and dad are probably fine, but mom... She's a little out there when it comes to us—her children. "I'm betting mom is driving dad and Marcus crazy. You know how she is and how worried and protective she can be. It's funny thinking about dad having to take the brunt of her mood swings." We both laugh at the thought of mom comically beating up dad. Mothers and fathers are the real heroes, and I'm proud of my parents. We aren't the perfect family, but we're far from a bad family. We're ordinary, with problems and quirks. I needed this... To remember them.