Affinity: Chaos



Grey, the lady, and Eleanor returned to the small town. Under the Mayor's plea, the lady decided to keep the body intact. At least, unlike the others Grey killed, there was nothing left to even remember them. 

"I'll be leaving now, I have something I have to do." Grey didn't want to waste any more time with them. 

He had accompanied them on a short trip, now it was time for him to leave. 

"Why the hurry? This place is not that bad, I can show you a few places." Eleanor suggested.

"I'm sorry, but it's quite important." Grey rejected her offer. 

The lady sighed and said, "You can leave. Tell my brother not to be late with it next time." 

Grey nodded and left, the Dawson Family awaits. 

….

The path he took to deliver the Faction Leader's item was coincidentally the path he used to head to the Dawson Family from the Pyrmond Faction. 

Grey didn't know if the Faction Leader guessed his plan was to head to the Dawson Family or not, he just took it as a coincidence. 

Days went by in a flash and he trained while heading there. By the time he got to the Region the Dawson Family was situated, he had broken through to the Fourth stage of the Elemental Venerable Plane after being in the Third stage for a long time. 

It couldn't be said that he was stuck in the Third stage, but given his usual cultivation speed, it did feel like he spent a great deal of time in the Third stage. 

One of the things about Grey was his shocking speed in advancing in stages. A typical Elemental Venerable should spend around a year or so in each stage. Geniuses advance in a shorter time, spending around six to eight months in each stage. Grey on the other hand seemed to be advancing every three months or so. 

This time when Grey got to the gate of the Dawson Manor, he wasn't stopped by the guards there, rather, they bowed and opened the gate for him. He couldn't help but recall the first time he came here, although he didn't think too much of it, but he still felt a slight feeling of awe just looking at the manor. The manor is not the biggest he had seen, but there was a certain majestic feeling it gave. 

Void soon appeared on his shoulder, looking around with shining eyes, the bunny leader appeared on Grey's other shoulder. 

"Don't even think about taking anything." Grey warned. 

"What do you mean? It's from your family, which is basically the same as mine. We can take whatever we want." Void said matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean by the term 'our family'?" Grey raised a brow, even if he was from the Dawson Family, he couldn't really say he had fully accepted being part of the family. 

Grey and Void were conversing as he walked further into the compound. 

It didn't take long before Grey saw a familiar face, it wasn't Conor, rather, it was the son of the present Family Head. The first time Grey visited the Dawson Manor, he was warned to abolish the Dawson name by this young man. He never thought he would find out that he was related to him. 

The son of the Family Head looked at Grey coldly. Grey had his mask off and his cloak wasn't covering his face, so the young man recognized him with a glance. It was quite hard to forget Grey's face, even though he only saw it for a short time. 

"Brother, you're here." He smiled and made a motion of wanting to hug Grey. 

Grey saw his smile, took a step back and stretched out his hand for a handshake. Unlike these people, he had always been bland, never wanting to feign ignorance in things like this unless he wanted to mess with people. The first thing he saw in the eyes of the young man was killing intent, the only thing was that the intent only flashed through and didn't linger in his eyes. 

With Grey's superb intuition, there was no way he would not be able to sense it when someone has malicious intentions towards him. 

The young man gave an awkward smile and shook Grey's hand. While holding his hand, a few of those from the younger generation who were walking past stopped and looked at them. They could somewhat sense the tension between the duo. 

One is the son of the current Head of the Family, while the other is the son of the greatest talent the Family had ever produced, and who was also supposed to be the Family Head but refused. 

From the personality of the young man, they had always felt a conflict might arise between the duo, and this encounter has proved to them that their thoughts were right. 

"Grey, you're here." Conor's voice came from the background, easing the tension. 

Grey naturally wasn't feeling anything, he only shook the hand of the young man, he didn't care about anything else.

The young man let go of Grey when he heard Conor's voice, before leaving he said, "Welcome to the Family, when I come back, I'll take you on tour around." 

"Thank you for your kind offer, but I wouldn't be staying long." Grey replied while walking in Conor's direction. 

The young man smirked but didn't say anything else. 

"Aunt Martha has been waiting for you." Conor said when Grey got close to him. 

Seeing the two Magical Beasts on Grey's shoulder, most of the youths were staring at him oddly. They felt maybe he liked cute little beasts just because he looked handsome. 

Void was a cute little beast with his pure black fur and small size, the bunny leader was also the same, small, white, cute, other than the mischief in its eyes, it would've been far cuter than Void. Of course, it doesn't change the fact that it was still cuter than Void, after all, it's fluffy. 

Grey didn't care about the looks he was getting, he continued conversing with Conor, "You've broken through to the Second stage, nice." 

"I can't be mentioned in the same breath as you, I can't even sense your current cultivation stage." Conor replied. 

Grey recalled he was hiding his cultivation stage, so he released it and Conor sensed it. 

"The fourth stage, you're advancing too fast." Conor could only sigh. 

"I only broke through a few days ago." Grey said. 

The duo continued speaking and before Grey knew it, he had walked deeper into the family compound and to an ordinary looking building. 

"That's your parent's house. Uncle isn't around now, but Aunt Martha should be inside." 

Conor led him into the place and the visage of Martha coming from one of the rooms appeared before their eyes. 

"Grey, you came." She said softly. 

"Yes, mom." Grey's reply was just as soft. 

Martha could hear the tiredness in his voice. When they first reunited, she didn't see this part of him, maybe it was due to the way they reunited. However, this time, just from what he said, she could tell that he had gone through a lot. 

Conor saw them and didn't say anything, leaving in silence. 

Martha opened her arm and Grey walked into her embrace. 

"It's okay Grey, everything is alright." She caressed Grey's hair while he was in her embrace. 

Grey was already slightly taller than her, but to her, he was still her baby. 

After a few minutes of silence, she let go of him. 

"Come, tell me everything." 

Void and the bunny leader were at the side, looking at them. Neither of the duo could understand what Grey or his mother were feeling at the moment. Void was only attached to Grey and he had almost always been with him, the bunny leader on the other hand didn't really feel any emotion for anyone. 

Grey sat down beside Martha and started telling her of everything, from the day he left her back in Red City till now. 

Martha didn't stop him even though she knew about some of these things. By the time he was done, it was already late in the night. Lucas was present at that time as well. 

"You've gone through a lot, luckily, you haven't been alone." Martha said after some time. 

"You've grown. A little impulsive at times, but you've grown up to be a fine young man." Lucas commented. 

"Void, I heard you like shiny things, you can have this pearl. It's a defensive treasure I found a few years ago, I have no use for it, so you can keep it." Lucas tossed a pearl at Void. 

Void caught it with a single leap and his eyes glowed with intense light. 

"Do you have any for this little guy? He's very jealous." Void pointed at the bunny leader. 

The bunny leader moved its nose in annoyance from how Void addressed it. From what it recalled, Void wasn't with Grey the first time it saw Grey. So technically, it saw Grey before Void did.