The Highpeak sisters remained dazed, looking at their family heirloom harmonizing with their ancestry grounds.

They waited patiently as the energy being emitted from the ground enveloped Bia.

And eventually, the hand that had been holding onto the old pen for the whole time began scribbling on the magical paper.

---

"Where's mommy?"

"She'll be coming soon. Are you hungry?" Ed asked.

The teenage kid and his young brother, Peter, rested against an altar with a block of glass in it.

Ed and Peter Aravyz were part of a small branch of the ancient < Dragons > Clan.

However, due to internal conflicts and a wave of purge from the current leadership, they had their father taken away as a criminal earlier this week.

The main line of succession meaninglessly threw treason and whatever else against their family and other branches, despite them holding no power.

Yet, despite being hunted for no apparent reason, their parents still had preparations. And that's how the brothers ended here, hiding away and waiting to see how the conflict evolved.

The young boy didn't understand much and was getting angry at being stuck here, despite the teenager's best effort into making it into a seamless playtime.

But while he kept his facade to calm his brother, the teenager kept growing worried about their family. And this cold and dreary room didn't help.

His mother told him they would be safe here, but Ed didn't understand. If that was a secret-abandoned location, was this what the new leadership was hunting?

However, despite the kid questioning his mother, she didn't answer and left hurriedly to look for their older sister.

And staying behind, the teenager indeed found this place to be a perfect hideout. It had a magic system with supplements that kept them fed, and despite the low temperature, this place kept them healthy. It was even too good to be true.

He even saw it first hand, as his young brother intense seasonal cold disappeared instantly.

Despite being an isolated place, it had everything they needed to survive short term.

"I miss mommy."

"You should sleep for a while. Who knows, maybe when you wake up, mom will be here."

"You lying," Peter whispered while hugging his brother.

Ed expected his brother to cry again, but it didn't happen. Instead, the room energy twisted while it calmed them down.

Their parents hadn't initialized them into magic. So the kids only fell into a trance while enjoying the comfort since they couldn't understand it.

"He's indeed lying. You won't need to sleep."

Ben Higgs appeared on their side without them noticing.

Hearing the soothing voice, both kids turned and looked at this elder covered in black tattoos.

Yet, despite the sudden sight, they weren't surprised or afraid. Instead, the kids felt safe and calm due to the room's influence.

"Sorry, you're the last since you hid in such a good place."

The teenage boy stood up, hugged his brother, and stepped back despite the conflicting feelings.

He didn't feel threatened, but he still concluded that was how he was supposed to act.

Ben smiled at the kids, supporting himself with his old walking stick, his bizarre appearance in the open.

"Sir, did you come to help us?"

"Oh, surprising. You still hold scraps from our promises?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"My father told us some bedtime stories."

"I see, something minimal, but that survived even if you forgot most of the rest."

"Where's mommy?" The younger boy asked.

"She's safe and waiting for you."

"And daddy?"

Ben remained silent and shook his head.

"Later, you can ask your mother and sister. Give me a minute, and I'll take you to them."

Ben Higgs walked to where the kids were trying to sleep. In front of the glass block, he placed the walking stick against it. Following, he put his hands on the altar before whispering some gibberish.

The young kids stared at Ben without blinking as the glass quickly melted.

"He might notice it," Ben whispered.

"Well, let's go."

Ben turned around, walking toward the kids, kneeling, and hugging them.

The kids didn't react to the sudden embrace by trying to walk away. Instead, they only closed their eyes as they felt the weird fluctuations around them.

The teenage boy hugged his brother tighter as he felt his mind jiggling around despite his body staying static.

The experience was so off-putting that they didn't even notice when Ben stopped hugging them. They instead remained lost in their nausea. At least until they began hearing his mother and sister as they hugged them.

Leaving the kids with their mother, Ben walked to the center of the room.

Before talking, he took another look around at the small crowd. He had retrieved every single individual that still harmonized with the foundation left behind by Ginn.

"Hello, since you're all here, I'll be explaining a part of it."

The people watching him began to listen even more carefully.

"You've lost the grasp of your legacy, and I'm not here to give it back. Instead, I'm here to bring you somewhere else where you can safely live without being extorted.

The golden age is gone, and I wasn't and still ain't involved in the maintenance of it.

However, there is a drastic difference if you come to this new place. It's safe, but it's not somewhere you can freely cultivate your greed. You won't be as unrestrained. The rules will be strict, and you'll live in partial isolation.

If one of you, or your descendant, grows high hopes, that place won't support those dreams. The village won't keep you as a prisoner, though. But you can only leave, alone or with your family, without looking back.

Let's start with a bit of context."

Ben raised his walking stick and ordered the surrounding formation to start the awakening process.

Rules entrenched inside the < Dragons > bloodline strung into action, building new knowledge inside their descendants' heads.

The information included the strict rules, details about the past, Ben, and the backup village.

And while they couldn't revive their lost techniques, alternatives had been prepared that would fit the new place and new lifestyle.

Seeing the thorough preparation included in their rescue awed struck them.

"Your bloodline's failure to maintain an intentional connection to this place woke me up. I'm unsure how you failed since I was unconscious, but that doesn't matter. I'll follow up on those old promises and then return to slumber while waiting for the end of time.

And to be fair, no one then bet on this lineage lasting this long. No one expected you to cross the million years mark.

Well, anyway, I won't be asking if you accept. If you consent with your mind, the formation below your feet will do the rest. Bloodline cleaning and reshaping, protocol imprinting, and everything else."

"Can't you help daddy?"

"That's a bit complicated, kiddo."

However, Ben was interrupted as the formation began acting alone.

The whole mechanism below and surrounding Sunset City began to tremble.

Spirit energy floated from the ground and moved around.

And after a few dozen seconds, Ben turned around and stared at the space to his right.

He could barely see it, a ghostly biped figure.

Ben smiled.

"I won the bet."

But there was no response for the vague figure. Instead, it only came closer to Ben, as if trying to look right in front of their nose, despite having no eyes.

Ben felt his head wanting to explode as nature's inclinations went crazy. Being connected to the world, he knew this was an intervention.

But he also could see the figure struggling, even after so long. So, sadness took over his heart, as he guessed it was unlikely for them to meet again.

"The world has no chill. It might implode."

Blood veins bulged in Ben's arms and head as his body became unstable.

And as if responding, the ghostly arm waved, commanding the ancestry ground.

The formation immediately healed everyone and powered them with some energy, filling them with vigor.

"This definitely makes things easier," Ben whispered.

He could also guess that the world outside was spiraling into madness due to nature's insane response.

But he didn't think much of it, and once the figure dissipated and went somewhere else, Ben moved too.

"I'll be back soon," Ben said as he raised his walking stick and activated the teleportation technique.

Since he was going out alone, he didn't need to hug anyone and just disappeared in front of everyone else's eyes.

Ben then appeared at the < Dragons > castle front gates.

He remembered this place, but he wasn't here to sightsee.

As soon as he solidified, Ben commanded the formation to sprout small plant-like branches. They rose to the place above the gates, where the current leadership of the city pinned the body of the last person that intentionally harmonized with the legacy Ginn left.

The vines enveloped the headless body and then the head, which was a bit higher.

Ben didn't bother looking around at the other bodies. He only commanded the vines to come down.

As soon as this man died, the mechanisms below the city began to change. It was only a question of time until Sunset became uninhabitable again. And that woke Ben up.

The city was full of people, and people still led this place. However, their connection to Ginn and his friends was almost nonexistent. And not only that, but they also had been, for generations, slowly erasing those who had a link.

"It's going to be a slow journey back."

Ben commanded the vines to form a coffin-like structure, where only Eduardo Aravyz's face showed.

Unfortunately, he couldn't teleport back since he could only do so with someone that possessed some of the active < Dragons > bloodline. So, he could only walk.