Sorry for the late release, the chapter got deleted and I had to rewrite it a couple of times
Third Person
Change is inevitable. Everything that exists will change if allowed time. All living things, in every plane of existence, is bound by the form of change we call growth. Whether growth is accepted or not, its idea embraced or discarded; growth will occur to every man and every woman, every child and every parent. The young grow old, the childish grow mature. Friends grow close and lovers, apart. Chicks grow into chickens and ducklings into ducks. The never ending love of a couple can grow too. The concept of undying affection for one another may not change but the relationship itself will grow different. He didn't know she poops back then and she didn't know what to think of that. Now they know every little detail about each other and live happily ever after. Narrator digresses.
Growth and change are inevitable yet, the man kneeling before Theun seems to have not changed at all. Indeed he does look much older and his appearance, much more mature. His attitude, however, seems to be as childish and he seems as dense as the day Theun plucked him off his world and put him in this one. Giving him more time might be able to cure him of his childish tendencies but being able to retain such tendencies after 25 years is a miracle in itself.
Theun POV
When Faeha told me to research this world more deeply; I told her that the charm of adventure was in the discovery. I bet she is laughing her head off about my "discovery". To see things never seen before and to learn of things anew, that was what I wanted. The fewer the connections I had with a world, the better the experience was what I believed. Sure, I might encounter someone who worships Mlithru as a god but that was fine if they didn't know who I was. However, the man kneeling before me knows exactly who I am and to make matters worse, he rules the country I am currently in. He can so easily spread the news of my arrival in this world and my presence will be known to the neighbouring countries within the week. I won't be able to walk the streets without a disguise and my freedom would be non-existent.
"If I may be so rude to ask, why has Lord Mlithru come to our world" -Rusaria
Why indeed... I understand that I will need to give them an answer but telling the people who worship you that you're on vacation isn't something I would like to do. Call it the pride of a god if you like but I rather they see me as a serious God instead of a powerful man. Running away would be easy but that wouldn't solve anything. In fact, running away might result in Alex alerting the nation that there is a god running around among them. The only thing left is to convince them I'm here on official business. Alex mentioned that he was following my orders from the time we met 30 years ago, so telling him I'm here to reward 30 years of service seems reasonable. I can only hope that he doesn't ask for something too difficult. If anything, I could try to contact Faeha to help me, but that is a last resort.
"I'm here to reward you for your services over the years Alex. I would also like to travel the world and see how much you've changed it. I would like my presence unknown to the rest of the world, so please do keep quiet about this. Now, if there is anything you want Alex, simply ask me now." -Theun
"After all that you've given me, I'm ashamed to ask for more but I must. 25 years ago, the Devil Lord planned to curse me during our battle. Alice intercepted his curse and took it onto herself. The Devil Lord was distracted with channelling his curse, I was able to kill him before he completed it. Alice seemed weaken and her mana was never the same afterwards. She told me that not being able to use her mana was a small sacrifice to save the world from the Flaming Legion, but recently her health has been declining and even Lena can't see anything wrong with her. If it isn't too much to ask, I would like to ask you to heal Alice."
"I am currently under some restrictions to visit this world, so I cannot guarantee her a cure. However, if it need be, I will ask Alaria to cure her. Let me check your condition first, Alice. Come, lie down before me."
Alice does as she is told and lies between me and the others. I might not have any experience in healing, but hearing what Alex said about the curse and her mana disruptions, I believe that this curse may be related to the soul. When it comes to matters relating to the soul, no one besides Alaria can compare to me. I place my hand in front her chest and begin to channel mana into her body and find the source of corruption. As I guessed, the corruption is taking hold in her soul and is eating away at her from the inside. With my knowledge of the soul, removing the cancerous mana running amok in her soul is only a matter of time. I believe that if any magician in this world has knowledge on soul magic, they'd easily cure Alice as well but if I recall correctly, soul magic is a forbidden art here.
"I believe that I can cure Miss Alice of her illness, but it is a slow and arduous process. I hope no one disturbs me or her until i am done. I don't want any of you to interfere no matter what happens, unless you want to kill her." -Theun
I begin by placing my hand her chest. I do hear a few fussy gasps and shuffling of feet, especially from the king, but I ignore them and pour mana into her body. I hear a loud crash comes from the door behind me, but I ignore it and continue to work on Alice. I hear several footsteps enter the hall followed by a few gasps. I hazard a look and turn to see a group of people that include Sandra, Christi, Kayden and Jor, along with a group of blue robed men and women. Sandra is glaring at me menacingly with pure white fury burning in her eyes, while she has one hand raised and pointing at me. Her hands clearly shaking, as she struggles to contain the rage within her body, as she looks at me; over her mother and a hand on her breast.
"GET AWAY FROM MY MOMMY!" -Sandra
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Sandra POV
Even though I left Theun alone with my parents and aunts, the Hero's Party, I still feel uncomfortable. Theun has shown exceptional battle prowess, it doesn't necessarily mean he's just a warrior. The brilliant beam of light that came from the Aviri Forest was most likely caused by him and I've never heard of anyone capable of doing something like that, let alone a warrior with no magical talents. I suspect Theun is hiding his strength; for what reason, I cannot say. I understand that the Hero's Party should be able to deal with anything they are faced with, but that was 25 years ago. These days, I rarely see father or mother do anything out of the ordinary paperwork. Aunt Lena still heals the occasional sick people and Aunt Rusaria still teaches magic to the exceptionally gifted.
As insurance, I gather 5 court mages and instruct 4 of them to ready their most powerful and accurate spells, I wouldn’t want a misfire and accidentally hit someone on our side. The fifth Mage is instructed to observe the situation with his
Moments later, the Mage tells us that someone from the Royal family side has left the others and is between Theun and the others. The action is slow however so I assume they deliberately walked between Theun and the others. Before I can formulate a theory of the situation, the Mage tells out to inform us that Theun has begun pouring mana into the person before.
Thinking its best to barge in before it's too late; I kick down the door to the throne hall and run into the large room. Before Theun is Father and Aunts, all on their knees and mother is lying in front of Theun. Her eyes are closed and she does not react to our intrusion in anyway. To make matters worse, I see that Theun is currently fondling my mother.
"GET AWAY FROM MY MOMMY!" -Sandra
Theun POV
Before I can even begin to explain the situation, I see 5 small bolts of mana fly towards me with a sixth one failing behind them. 3 of them are coated in fire, while the others contain water, earth and air mana within them. The bolts of energy are dispersed as a blue dome made of hexagonal shapes coalesces around Alice and I. Turning my head I see Rusaria wielding a staff in both her hands. The king has gotten off his knee as well and places himself between us and Sandra's group.
"Just what do you think you're doing here?" -Alex
"What are YOU doing here?" -Sandra
"..." –Rusaria and Lena
"..." -Theun
"We are curing Alice so please, calm down and lower your weapons." -Rusaria
Sandra shoots me a look before she slowly sheathes her sword and lets out a sigh of relief. I don't make a guess as to why she is relieved however, as I can't even try comprehending the mind of humans. Her father is a prime example of how humans are incredibly complex yet simple creatures. I return to concentrating on Alice and feel the threads of mortality that binds her soul to her body unravel.
Third Person
Theun slowly lifts his hand away from Alice, and within his grasp is a teal coloured globe with ominous purple splotches here and there. This is the soul of the woman before him, the soul of Alice Dalton. Originally a soul is pure green and gains a blue hue as it matures. The more blue the soul is, the older and more mature the soul. The purple that is contained in this soul however, is the malignant mana that is eating away at it, fuelling its growth as it consumes the entire soul. Everyone present has their eyes glued to the beautiful orb as Theun lifts it up and continues to work on removing the cancer within it.
For the next couple of hours, Theun continues to slowly dissect the soul of the purple mana as he cures Alice of this curse. Every few moments, a small purple area will grey out and the teal colour, slowly restored. No interruptions are made throughout the operation, a blessing for Alice since her soul is currently exposed to the world. Theun sighs in relief and slowly lowers the orb back into Alice's body. When the orb gets within a few centimetres of her body, thin white threads lash out and attach themselves to the soul. The white threads slowly pull at the orb until they completely envelop it in white before absorbing it back into the body. For a few minutes, everyone watches Alice in bated breath as she lies on the ground. No one dares to raise their voice; the atmosphere is a peaceful yet ominous silence. The quiet is interrupted as Alice takes a deep breath of air before shooting up into a seated position.
“Are you okay mother?” -Sandra
“Aww, what happened to mommy?” -Alice
Sandra’s face transitions to a bright red colour as she recalls her sudden outburst earlier, apparently her mother wasn’t as out of it as she had originally thought. However, Sandra is relieved that her mother appears to be fine.
“How are you feeling Alice?” -Lena
“I'm fine Lena. Besides being a little tired, I feel rather well. I can even cast some spells again.” -Alice
Alice opens the her hands and a small torrent of wind appears above her palm,
“You should refrain from using mana for a while and focus on resting for now. Don’t exert yourself too much for the coming weeks.” -Theun
“Thank you.” -Alice
“Thank you, Mi-“ -Alex
*SLAP*
Before Alex can finish his sentence, he is slapped by Alice. She is grinning at him but her eyes reveal a sense of hostility. Alex is dumbfounded for a few moments, not knowing why his wife just slapped him. He looks to his other wives but they also show some hostility in their eyes. He finally realises his blunder and remembers that Theun told him that he wanted to roam the world incognito.
“Why did Aunt Alice slap daddy?” -Christi
“He was being inappropriate dear.” -Rusaria