Gaya's eyes watered as the ethereal figure took the shape of a woman who looked extremely similar to Gaya but more dominant and majestic. Even if the figure was ethereal, her raven black hair seemed to be fluttered in the air as though they were the wings of an angel. The woman was tall, her perfect structure was covered by metallic black plate armor from her neck to toe. She radiated a fearsome warrior vibe all around her. Her perfect jaw structure would make anyone think that the god themselves sculpted her personally. Regardless of her ethereal form, her green eyes glimmered, reflecting the golden sun rays of the setting sun.
Craning their necks out of the satchel, Vedora saw the woman floating a couple of meters away from them. Even Ayag was speechless and felt as if she wanted to bow towards the woman. They had never seen such a woman with elegance as the woman before them. In addition to her dominant vibe, she was someone who could be said to be a country toppling beauty. Even Lailah paled in comparison to the woman in terms of beauty and grace.
"Baby girl" the two words that came out of the woman's mouth sounded like music. Gaya lost all control of her body as she collapsed to the ground on her knees. Tears poured out of her eyes.
"Mo…Mother…" Gaya's voice broke in overwhelming pain in her heart. The images of her mother in her mind flashed across her eyes. She couldn't utter any words through the lump in her throat.
When her mother died, Gaya was just three years old. Still, she had clear memories of her mother playing with her, teaching her to read, teaching her to fight, and showing her how to rule over people. It had been twenty-five years since she last saw her mother.
Gaya wanted to dash towards, hug her mother and never let her go.
"Baby girl, what did I tell you about crying?" Gaya looked up to see the smiling face of her mother. She couldn't help bursting into tears. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the tears from gushing out of her eyes. The pain in her heart exploded into tears.
"You are Gaya's mother?" Ayag asked while Gaya was sobbing her heart out. Despite the question, Gaya's woman didn't even take a look at Ayag,
"She is just a soul fragment left behind. She can't see us or hear us. It's a recording" Cain explained to Ayag,
"Baby girl, if you are here, that means that idiot from the Fisher family was still alive. Listen to my Gaya, I don't think how much of this message will remain at the time you're hearing" Gaya saw the gentle smile on her mother's face disappear,
"Since you are here, that means the prophecy has started already. Listen to me carefully baby girl" Gaya looked at her mother without batting an eye,
"You must find the Dark Lord, Gaya. You must find him" Gaya was stunned by her mother's words.
"The Skyhall spies are everywhere Gaya. You must find him before they do. They are not what everyone thinks they are"
"Mother…are you alive?" Gaya asked. Despite what she heard from Cain, she still hoped her mother would be alive.
As though she had heard Gaya's question, Gaya's mother sighed,
"Find the dark elf in the tree baby girl. He will have answers to your questions and help you find the Dark Lord. “The ethereal form of her mother started to flicker as her voice became distorted for a few seconds.
"You can find him…Akilan Realm…be…Skyhall…Tree" her voice became more and more distorted as her figure kept flickering,
"Dark Lord…only he can save this world…find him" Whenever Gaya's mother uttered the words Dark Lord, Cain noticed the idolizing look in her eyes. It seemed as though she was worshiping the Dark Lord. He also noticed the vague resemblance of Ghost's choice of black in Gaya's mother's armor.
"Salesi…Stay away…Skyhall…Guardians…your father…puppet" Gaya couldn't make sense out of her words. However, she felt a bolt of electricity running through her spine hearing her mother talk about Salesi. Gaya was stunned to see her mother actually know about Salesi because her father married Salesi after her mother died. She shouldn't know about Salesi yet she seemed to know about Xanali's mother.
"Mother don't…don't leave..me… again" Seeing the ethereal form of her mother flickering and losing its glow, Gaya quickly picked herself up to run towards her.
"I love you…my baby girl" just as the words escaped Gaya's mother's mouth, her ethereal figure disappeared into thin air. Gaya's finger touched the glow before it completely faded away yet she couldn't stop anything.
Gaya remained at the place where her mother was just a few seconds ago. She picked the pendant from the ground and held it so tight in her hands. After a few moments, the tears rolling out of her eyes finally stopped. Gaya whipped off the tears off her face. She stared at the sun setting down into the distant horizon. To others it was sunset, for her, it felt like a new sunrise. The pain and grief transformed into joy because she slowly began to realize that her mother might still be alive. As far as she could remember, her mother died twenty-five years ago but clearly, her mother was in the Fire Realm twenty years ago. If she was dead, she wouldn't have met the old man from the Fisher family.
There was no explanation except the possibility that her mother might still be alive and she faked her own death for some reason. Otherwise, she wouldn't have known about Salesi. When she thought about everything her mother said, she ended up with more questions than answers. One of the questions was how the hell did her mother know about Ghost; The Dark Lord.
"Let's go" Ayag flapped their wings as they ascended to the air from the satchel. With a few more flaps of their tiny wings, they successfully landed on Gaya's shoulders.
"I thought our trip to the Fire Realm was a complete failure but I'm glad that I'm in the wrong" Sarba gently rubbed his head on Gaya's face. Even Ayag moved her head towards Gaya's face before wiping the tears off her face.
The three heads of Vedora hugged Gaya and spent a few moments in silence. Their love gave warmth and much-needed fearlessness to Gaya.
"Where are we?" Ayag asked while still resting her head on Gaya's cheek.
"All I know is we are definitely out of the Fire Realm," Cain sighed. He felt safe after a long time. He couldn't wait to go back home.
"Great. We can finally go home"
A gentle smile appeared on her face along with an unwavering remote in her eyes.
"I am coming back home human. This time, we are going to find my mother together"
***************************************
While Gaya was stuck on the border of the Ozer continent, Michael was enjoying the peace and calm of the night sitting on Baron Totonk's throne.
He initially planned to teleport back to the crypt to deal with the pirates but Azazel informed him that the king of Bredia had sent an envoy to deliver him some documents as well as the promised funds.
Michael had to return to Bradford and deal with the funds. Fortunately, Elder Sandra who was responsible for managing the sect's financial side agreed to manage the financial side of the kingdom too. Hence, he felt relieved because she was really good at finance. If Elder Sandra was born on earth, she would have made millions or even billions managing funds through her firm.
The throne hall reminded him of his biggest mistake to the date since he came to this world. He had lost control of himself. Although it could be viewed as a weakness or potential threat to himself in the future, he saw an opportunity. That mad persona of him was indeed crazy. However, he also felt extremely powerful in that state. If he could somehow control himself in that state, he would be one step closer to ruling this world.
As he was thinking about a way to control himself in that state, a golden ball of light appeared out of nowhere in the throne hall. He was stunned as the golden ball of light dashed at him.
He almost dashed out of the throne when the golden ball of light stopped before him a couple of meters away from him. Then, the golden ball of light slowly opened to reveal a silver-plated envelope.
The envelope was glimmering in the chandelier light. It slowly floated towards Michael. Looking at the envelope, Michael frowned. Carefully after ordering the system to scan down the letter, Michael reached out to grab the letter floating in front of him.
The letter had the name 'Ghost' written in gold with beautiful calligraphy. When he touched the envelope, it opened automatically revealing the letter inside.
Dear Mr. Ghost,
Your talent of Alchemy has been noticed by our table of elders and
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Mazeroth, Academy Of The Arcane.
Term begins two weeks from the time this letter reaches you. We await your arrival by no later than 31.
Your uniform, books, and other equipment will be given to you when you reach our academy grounds should you choose to accept the invitation to join Mazeroth.
Please sign your name on the down right corner if you accept the invitation. You will be teleported to Akilan Realm. When you arrive in the Akilan realm, our groundskeeper Gilrine will receive you and guide you to Mazeroth, Academy Of The Arcane.
Yours Sincerely,
Kayla Martin
Deputy Headmistress
"What in the actual fuck is this?" That was the first question that appeared in Ghost's mind after reading the letter.
*******************************
Hi my wonderful readers,
I have read all your concern about Michael losing his calmness and change in personality, I can reassure you that this is just a bump in his journey. The story has just started and the real action will begin from the next arc.
P..S – The reason for me pasting the author's thoughts in the chapter itself was to get the readers of pirated sites to change their minds and come to WN.