In the ash field, Michael watched the Skyhall soldiers dig up more and more caskets from the ground. Unfortunately, Vedora's body eluded his X-ray vision altogether. The body was far too deep in the ground. If Andohr hadn't given Skyhall the exact coordinates, they wouldn't have unearthed Vedora's body in a million years. He knew everything that happened to the past Dark Lord, so Andohr was able to exploit his mistakes. Having no idea Vedora's adult body was in the ground, Michael patiently watched the Skyhall dig up more caskets. He lingered above the dig site for almost an hour, and all the soldiers did was dig.
"I don't see a point hanging out here any longer," said Cain.
Michael didn't wait for others to agree. Instead, he turned around and flew away from the place. After seeing the mural on top of the mother tree, Michael decided to leave Itonys and the demon's grave. Initially, he planned to spend a few more days helping the wood elves, but he changed his plans. He thrilled himself to achieve full speed, leaving a dark lightning streak in the sky. Vedora tightened their tail around Michael's neck as they never experienced such high speed. It took them two hours to reach the ash field from the mother tree earlier. However, the return trip only took forty-five minutes. When Michael pushed himself to the brink, several tiny lightning bolts appeared and crackled around his body.
To Vedora's surprise, Michael didn't go to the tribe but came to the mother tree. He landed right before the stone pillar, creating a shock wave around the tree.
"Why are we back here?" asked Sarba.
Boom!
Michael punched the stone pillar as it exploded into bits and pieces. All it took was one punch for Michael to erase his past self's mistakes. Honestly, Michael didn't think the past Dark Lord had made a mistake by killing Vedora. Although Michael didn't know the reason, he knew how hard it would have been for the past Dark Lord to kill Vedora. But no matter what, he wouldn't let history repeat itself, and he broke the pillar as a gesture of his promise to Vedora.
"Our past is meant to guide us, not define us. We must not give out past the power to dictate our future," Michael looked at his shoulder where Vedora was looking at the pebbles on the ground and said. They slowly flapped their wings to see Michael in the eyes.
"He is right," started Sarba.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"The past Dark Lord left this behind because he wanted us to see it and change our future,"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you both," Cain rolled his eyes. Usually, Cain remained silent until his response was absolutely needed. However, when his siblings tried to grow a hatred toward Ghost, he immediately came out of his shell and tried to talk some sense into them.
Sarba and Cain turned their gazes toward Ayag.
"I am not mad at Ghost, idiots. I am just confused why they fought each other to death," said Ayag.
"Whatever the reason might have been, we do not need to dwell on it," said Michael.
"Can we just stay here for a moment before we go back to the tribe?" Sarba looked worried as Michael nodded and went to the mother's tree's edge. He sat down and put Vedora beside him. The two of them looked at the magical world before them in peace. As they drowned themselves in the beautiful sight, Vedora slowly approached Michael and jumped on his lap. Then, the three heads snuggled against Michael's stomach and tried to embrace him with their small wings.
"You are family, Ghost. " We would never hurt you, and we know you wouldn't too," Ayag's eyes became watery as Michael rubbed their back gently.
Michael was about to open his mouth when he saw the silhouette of the past Dark Lord in the sky. It only lasted in the sky for a mere moment, and Michael could swear he saw the past Dark Lord smile at them before disappearing. At that moment, Michael felt something changing inside him, like something heavy, had been lifted off of him. The more Michael learned about the past Dark Lord, the more he understood why he decided to reset the entire universe. At first, it felt a bit extreme to Michael, but he sympathized with him after learning about the dark parts of his life. If he had lost Gaya and been forced to kill Vedora for some reason, he would reset the universe too. He wouldn't let that happen, no matter what.
The two of them spent almost an hour on the mother tree before returning to the tribe. As usual, the wood elves greeted him with bright smiles and cooked meat since Tazkin and the others could hunt efficiently using the crossbows.
"I hope you had a pleasant journey, my lord," Kirat said as Michael sat on his throne. For a few moments, Michael didn't answer Kirat.
"My lord," Kirat called Michael again. He looked drowned in his own thoughts to Kirat.
"What did you say?" Michael asked, snapping back to reality.
"Is everything alright, my lord?" asked Kirat. Thilve couldn't help overhearing Kirat and approached the two of them while Tazkin was helping the other crossbow bearers perfect their aims.
"It will be soon," said Michael. Then, with a flick of his wrist, Michael took out the copper ring and the silver coin he snatched from the panther. Like a magnet pulling the iron closer, the copper ring pulled the silver coin almost instantly.
Ding!
The silver coin hit the copper coin. Michael felt the copper ring frantically vibrate as the silver coin radiated a dim glow. Soon, the silver coin glowed as bright as a torch, making the wood elves around Michael close their eyes. Suddenly, the light shot straight above Michael and opened up a vortex in the air. Michael was surprised to see the coin open up a portal in a blink of an eye. He thought he would have to ask the system or do some work to activate the copper ring. But on the contrary, the copper ring opened up a portal using the coin. How the coin was able to open up a portal was still a mystery to Michael, but he was glad it did.
Seeing the weird swirling hole in the air, the wood elves gasped. When the Dark Lord first appeared in their world, Kirat saw a portal just like this portal before. In fact, Kirat saw the Dark Lord fly through this portal. Hence, his heart sank when he saw another one appear above them. The old man knew their god was about to leave their world.
Michael took a step forward and placed his hand on Kirat's shoulder,
"I am not abandoning you all. I will be back soon,"
"But my lord, can't you stay with us a bit longer?" Thilve panicked as Tazkin dropped what he was doing and came to stand beside his wife,
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"My lord, is there something we can do to change your mind?" asked Tazkin, only to see Michael shake his head.
"There is something I must do in my world. As I promised before, I will build a portal connecting this world to mine. I can't do that from here,"
The wood elves looked gloomy, and some even cried. However, they knew they couldn't change Michael's decision even though they wanted to.
"Can we come with you, my lord?" Tazkin stunned everyone with his question.
"As much as I like for all of you to come into my world, I cannot take anyone with me at this moment," Michael slowly shook his head. He stepped back and raised his head to see the swirling vortex. As his feet ascended from the floor, the wood elves dropped to their knees one by one. Many, including children, sobbed to see the Dark Lord leave their world.
"Please come back soon, my lord," Kirat's voice stuttered. He was on the verge of crying out loud.
"Lady Ayag, don't forget what you promised us," one of the elven girls purred as Ayag nodded with a smile.
"I won't. And you people better be safe and sound when we come back. Otherwise, you will have hell to pay," Sarba shouted as tears rolled out his eyes. But they were not tears of sadness. On the contrary, Sarba was happy that they would be able to visit their world soon. Granted, both Vedora and Michael wanted to spend more time in Itonys as there was so much more to explore in the world, yet they had no choice. To Michael, his journey through the demons grave and Itnoys seemed cut short by an invisible force. Nonetheless, it was his choice to leave and build a portal back into the castle. Now that he had gathered everything he wanted from Itonys, the dark army's financial problem would soon be history.
On the bright side, Michael couldn't wait to see Gaya and Nightmare and tell them everything that had transpired. When Michael was just a few inches away from the vortex, Michael took out a modified earpiece and mirror from the system storage. He had to convert all the ten million gold coins into badass points to modify them. It was worth the price, though.
The earpiece and the tablet-sized mirror floated toward Kirat.
"You can use them to contact me if there is an emergency," Michael emphasized the word emergency because he knew the wood elves would call him every day otherwise.
"We will meet you soon," These were Michael's words to them before he disappeared into the vortex. Meanwhile, Andohr felt the vortex open in Itonys using the artifact he gave the beastmen tribe a long, long time ago. The coin Michael used to create the vortex was made by none other than the God of time and space himself. So naturally, Andohr felt it when Michael used the coin.
Andohr creased his dark brows sitting on the throne.
"So one of those idiots managed to lose one to my nemesis," Andohr clenched his fist. This act of foolishness alone was enough for Andohr to wipe out the beastmen kingdom. Luckily for them, he had more pressing matters on hand, like reanimating Vedora's body/