Alice felt that the “handshake” was taking quite some time, so she interrupted the stare competition between her brother and Eris.
“Ahem, if we don’t tell mom about this, she will rip open a crack in the barrier, which I believe wouldn’t be good for anyone so…”.
Aster felt the slight jealousy on his sister’s voice and he was amused by it.
“Looks like tonight I will have to precede a little family “reunion” … not like that wasn’t the plan since I knew mom was coming anyway”, he thought as he let go of Eris’s hand.
“Alice is right… Eris do you need anything else to create the gate?”.
Eris doubted for a second but she still answered.
“Just be ready to help me recover my spirit energy and everything will be fine”.
Aster took out a little bottle full with a liquid which was a mix between red and gold before handing it to Eris.
“Mm? another kind of soft drink?”, she asked.
“You are new to the team so I will let it slip this time, I don’t let those who fight at my side suffer… on any way understood?”.
Rya has been listening and evaluating every word that Eris has spoke since Aster looked at her when they were outside of the city, so she could tell that although Eris didn’t elaborate too much, she was telling the truth, with only one exception.
“A spiritual form Is basically an extension of the conscience, a generic way to see it is that your soul is projected outside of your body, to avoid it being forcefully dragged to the cycle of reincarnation you protect it with your spirit energy, the stronger the soul is, the more spirit energy you will need to keep it in the material plane, I have Hyperion as my anchor so even when my reserves were near to zero, I managed to stay here”.
…
“But she has been in her spiritual form without supplying spirit energy to it for quite some time, so if her reserves suddenly go down… she is in danger of her spirit form collapsing, which will lead to her falling in coma or more likely to her death”.
After listening to Rya’s explanation, Aster was a bit angry, “perhaps going above the heavenly conqueror realm makes women become really stubborn… why can’t you ask for help if you need it”, he thought.
While Alice, Sarina and Kana had no clue of why Aster was helping Eris recover before she created the gate, Eris on the other hand did know why, but she was surprised by it.
To be trusted to must trust first, when she said helping them was a leap of faith, it was no joke, Eris was well aware of the possible consequences in case Aster couldn’t help her recover on time, but she was willing to believe in her judgement of him, and on the fact that the cosmos tree didn’t reject their contract.
“Were you perhaps testing if I was being serious about fulfilling my promise?”.
Aster shook his head, he answered while remembering a certain “book girl”.
“Not really, let’s just say you aren’t the first woman I get to know who is stubborn enough to not ask for help… just because you were originally stronger than me”.
Eris laughed, she took the bottle from Aster’s hands and swallowed in one go, she sat down cross legged and closed her eyes to refine the “elixir”, not without saying.
“That being the case, this queen will gladly accept this sign of trust… thank you”.
While Eris was enjoying the feeling of absorbing spirit energy for the first time since she arrived to this plane of existence, Aster and the girls left the room to not interrupt her and to contact Lilia.
Of course, Alice has never hesitated to tell her brother when she didn’t like something, or when she had a doubt about something.
“Why did you help her before she created the gate… she might be telling the truth but that doesn’t make her trustworthy?”.
Aster smiled; he dragged her closer to him before telling them what could have happened if Eris used the scarce spirit energy she has been saving up for thousands of years.
Alice sighed.
“Fine, that was the correct thing to do, but still until she helps us bring mom to this planet, I will keep an eye on her… you have a thing for damsels in distress after all”.
Sarina had a weird expression on her face, “I agree with her but… am I not also a part of that category as well?”, she thought.
Aster shrugged.
“You know I have a good eye for this kind of things, on any case she won’t get stronger with what I gave her, it’s only enough to help her not suffer any backslash”.
Leaving that little episode aside, Sarina contacted Sylas to warn him about what was happening, unlike the other entity which claimed to be the cosmos tree, Eris did appear face to face and directly spoke to them, so they were more inclined to believe her.
Sylas was starting to get a head ache.
“I’m getting tired of this whole situation, whatever I will tell Orson to prepare the army… if what that other woman said is true then a total war will be falling over us anytime soon, be careful lass”.
Aster on the other hand distanced himself from the girls to talk with Lilia, like always it didn’t take even a couple of seconds for her to answer him.
“Darling!!! What happens? I’m still creating the array to pay you a visit ♥”.
Aster smiled.
“I found an easier way to bring both you and Aria to Prasil mom, but you will have to be in the space ship you mentioned before… also keep your guard up just in case, if it works then you will be here in les than an hour, the gate will open 50 kilometers away from the portal”.
“You can’t wait to see mommy hehehe, okay I will be ready for when the gate appears, by the way, the people from the sand mountain sect suddenly entered the dimensional tunnel followed by that Ritz guy, but it hasn’t been too much time, so they shouldn’t have arrived yet”.
“Things turned out to be different than what we previously thought, Eris who we thought it was the “nether vine” came to see us and explained what truly happened, Rya listened to everything and she agreed with me that she was telling the truth, the “cosmos tree” has some control over the dimensional tunnel so that’s probably why they were able to travel through it”.
…
For a moment Aster didn’t hear Lilia answer which made him thought the talisman was failing, until she spoke with a slightly accusatory voice
“Darling, I might be overthinking but how many new “family” members are waiting for me and Aria in that planet?”.
“Ahem, let’s leave that conversation for later mom… but at the very least there is one”.
While Lilia didn’t know what to say, Aria who was also listening couldn’t hold back her laugh.
“We made a bet before leaving the azure sky planet, so I’m eager to know who won”.
Lilia mentally sighed, “I told Alice to keep an eye on her brother, the next time I will also go with them, so my darling focuses his attention on me ♥”, she thought before answering.
“I guess it was to be expected, but tonight you will have to make up for the lonely nights both me and Aria have been going through”.
Aster nodded; he saw the girls and even Eric coming to where he was sitting, so it was time to finish the transmission.
“I can’t wait for that, be careful on the way”, he said before keeping the talisman on his spatial ring.
“Brother, I heard from miss Sarina that the woman from before will help you to bring others from outside… can you ask her to also bring uncle Ritz here?”, asked Eric.
Aster shook his head.
“I just spoke with my mother, both the sand mountain sect and the people from the barbarian heart sect have already entered the dimensional tunnel, with the difference in the flow of the time, they will be arriving here tomorrow”.
Eric nodded.
“Okay, uncle Ritz has a couple of tricks up his sleeve so he will be fine, the gates have been reconstructed, I will go to see how is Sofia’s father doing”.
Eric left and a couple of seconds later Eris came out of the mansion, unlike before her spirit form looked more solid, even her expression was livelier than before.
“I feel alive again, thanks for that… if you are ready then let’s start, I felt the portal activating, a couple of mortal transcending and a sea of knowledge cultivator are coming to Prasil”.
They took some distance from the city, since Lilia and Aria will arrive in a space ship, the gate needed to be created in an open space.
Eris took a few steps ahead, and with a wave of her hand a section of about 300 meters of space in front of her cracked, she did some signs with her fingers which Aster didn’t understand and runes similar to the ones he saw on the rock formation around the portal in Zartia appeared near the space crack.
“The gate is stable, unlike the lame portal created by that woman, there is no time lag, so as soon as those on the other side enter, they will appear here”.
Eris’s words were confirmed a moment later when a black space ship crossed the gate until it was completely floating in the sky of the city.
This was the first time, Aster and Alice have seen the space ship Lilia and it was quite different to what they expected, it was at least three times bigger than the beast skull which Ritz operated.
The spaceship didn’t last too much time floating in the air, contrary to what its big size suggested, it landed quite smoothly, a moment later the lateral gate opened and Lilia’s image flashed until she was next to her son, and without caring about other she dragged him into her embrace.
“Darliiing, I missed you so much ♥”, she said as she rubbed her face against his, Aster felt a couple curious gazes on him, one was definitely Sarina but the other one wasn’t Kana but Eris.