The next morning, Emilia was at the kitchen beginning her morning preparations for the cooking that she had to perform for the day. She was an expert chef, trained by her mother and then trained under the Sword King’s wife, Marina, and Lakshman’s mother, Lakshmi. All three women praised her cooking and so did the people that ate her food to this date, so she was confident in her cooking skills.

That morning, however, she could not focus on the task at hand and kept getting distracted for some unknown reason. She kept picking up the wrong tool, seemed to struggle cutting up the vegetables the right way and ended up cleaning the same dish over and over again absentmindedly.

A few minutes later, Ondine entered the kitchen to be of help for her and was surprised to find that the kitchen was in a kind of mess. Half-cut vegetables left to kitchen tools lying haphazardly with Emilia preoccupied in cleaning the same dish over and over again.

“Emilia?” Ondine asked gently and surprised Emilia out of her reverie into the present. “What’s this about?” She gestured at the kitchen around them and asked, “What have you been doing all this time?”

“Um…” said Emilia slowly as she stared around the kitchen desk with a bewildered look on her face. “Let me fix this up.”

She laid the dish she just cleaned the umpteenth time before moving towards the other side of the kitchen desk, but was stopped when Ondine grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her.

“No. You’ll just get in the way. Your mind’s clearly someplace else. Out,” said Ondine with a bit of firmness in her voice and she gestured towards the kitchen opening.

Emilia stared at her for a moment in silence before she let her shoulders drop and said, “Lucky hasn’t woken up yet. He’s still sleeping.”

“Well, that’s a good thing but letting it get to your head is bad, Emilia. Give him time. He’ll be fine and Amaranda said he will be, so believe it,” said Ondine reassuringly with a smile on her face. When Emilia looked unconvinced, Ondine smiled softly at her and said, “Okay. Why don’t you stay with him and make sure he is alright? How does that sound?”

Emilia was startled by her suggestion and she turned towards her before asked, “What about the cooking? The breakfast for the girls? For us?”

To that, Ondine placed a hand on her chest and smiled confidently as she said, “Leave that to me. I might not be as good of a chief like you, but I’m confident that I can cook just as well as you. Besides, I’ll have Sumara help me out. Right?”

At her last word being a question, Emilia turned to the kitchen open and was surprised to find Sumara standing there with a soft smile on her face.

“Sure.”

“Sumara? What’re you doing here?” Emilia asked while looking surprised to see the Manjuvad Demon Clan member standing at the opening.

“Ondine said she was going to help you out and since I had nothing better to do, I thought I’d come and help out so that I improve my cooking skills as well,” replied Sumara with a wink that surprised Emilia. “Anyway, I’ll lend Ondine a hand since I also learnt the basics of cooking from Lakshmi and Mariana when I was training Lucky in magic when he was just a kid.”

Emilia looked between them before shrugging her shoulders in defeat and saying, “Oh… Alright.”

She left the kitchen reluctantly, but she was actually quite glad about the turn of events to allow her to stay with her husband. The previous night, the women and chose to leave him alone for the night because of how exhausted he was and they slept in the other rooms. She was worried and opted to remain in his room but was taken away because they worried she might stay awake all night without sleep.

As it turned out, she did not get a wink of sleep as she constantly worried about his wellbeing for the duration of the night. As soon as sunlight began seeping through the closed window curtains, she got off her bed and went to his room only to find that he was still deep asleep with no sigh that he had woken in between.

So she was glad by the turn of events and quickly climbed the stairs and entered the room he was in while fast asleep. She drew up a chair from the desk in the room and sat next to his bed and stared at his sleeping peaceful face.

Feeling anxious of him not waking up despite the sun being up and about, she grabbed his closest arm and held it gently with hers as she muttered, “Come on, Lucky… Please be okay…”

She sat in that position for some time until the boredom got to her and she lightly placed her hands on his chest and closed her eyes while thinking, “Just a small nap. Just a small… nap…”

Before she knew it, she was fast asleep with her hands holding her husband’s hand gently in her hand. Like that, the two slept in their positions and it took a few more hours before he finally woke up.

***

Lakshman felt his conscious surfacing from a deep dark world and felt a shade of light hitting his closed eyelids. He slowly and steadily opened his eyes and it took him a moment for his vision to focus before realising that he was lying on a comfortable bed as the light streamed through the closed curtains.

It took him a few seconds before sensation returned into his body and felt something, slightly heavy, on his chest. He lifted his head a little and saw that his wife, Emilia, was sleeping with her head on his chest while holding one of his hands. Momentarily, he was amazed to find her sleeping there and briefly wondered why he was there before remembering the events of yesterday that led him to sleep there.

“Ah. I collapsed from exhaustion,” he muttered and yawned hugely before smiling cheerfully as he said “I guess she’s been looking after me for some time now. Well, time to wake up. The question is… how?”

With Emilia lying on his chest, he did not really have much room to move his body in a way it would not wake her up and understood that she was very tired to be sleeping on his chest like that. So, he decided to use an unorthodox method of getting himself off the bed without actually waking her up. To achieve this, he muttered the technique out loud in a quiet voice so she could not hear him and suddenly wake up.

“Doppler.”

In an instant, a copy of himself materialised beside his bed and he stood with a smile before quickly walking to the other side towards where Emilia sat. He leaned forward and gently lifted her into a sitting position while keeping her head steady so that she was not awoken from surprise. This allowed the real Lakshman to quickly get off the bed and his copy lifted his wife before laying her gently on the bed to rest.

“Better she gets some rest,” said the real Lakshman and his copy turned into light before flying into him.

He quietly walked towards the door and gently opened it not make any noise and glanced at her with a smile on his face before closing it behind as gently as he opened it. Once he was outside, he sighed headed towards the stairs and descended to the ground while hearing the voices of Ondine and Sumara happily chatting from the kitchen as well as a good smell.

“Oh. So, they’re working on the cooking,” he thought with a smile on his face. “From the smell, I bet it’s going to taste good. I look forward to it.”

It seemed his stomach also agreed because it growled hungrily at that moment, causing him to grin to himself. As soon as he reached the floor, he headed straight for the living room and found his twin sisters sitting there as they waited for their lunch.

“Annayya?” Priya asked with a bewildered look on her face upon laying her eyes on her husband.

“Are you okay, annayya?” Indira asked with an immediate concerned look on her face.

He nodded his head at them as he sat down beside them and said, “Yes. My body’s a little sore, but it should be all set very soon. By the way, what time is it? I feel like I slept for a very long time.”

Indira nodded in agreement as Priya said, “It’s lunchtime right now, annayya. You’ve slept the entire morning.”

“Oh? That explains why I’m feeling so famished,” said Lakshman with a grin on his face and he rubbed his stomach to emphasise how hungry he felt. It made him realise something and he asked them, “Did Emilia have breakfast? I saw her sleeping in my room, but…?”

As he trailed off, Priya looked sadly shook her head and replied, “No. Vodina went up to take care of you and seemed to have skipped breakfast.”

“More like, we just didn’t think of waking her up because of how deep asleep she was,” said a familiar voice from behind and he turned around to see Sumara carrying a tray with two plates on them for the twins. She laid them down on the table for each of them to eat before turning to Lakshman and said, “Is she awake?”

Lakshman shook his head and Sumara raised an eyebrow with a stern look on her face as she asked, “Why not? The poor girl hasn’t eaten breakfast and could probably do with some food in her system.”

“Sorry, but I didn’t know, otherwise, I’d have brought her with me instead of letting her sleep some more,” replied Lakshman honestly while feeling bad about himself, which Sumara noticed and smiled in return.

“It’s okay. You good as well considering she didn’t sleep at all last night. Anyway, I’ll go wake her up and bring her down,” she said before turning around and walking towards the stairs while calling to Ondine to make lunch for their husband as well.

As she went upstairs, Sonia asked her what was going on and upon learning that her husband was awake, she quickly came downstairs while Sumara headed for his bedroom. The moment she reached the landing, she activated her wings and used them to fly through the air as she leapt towards the entrance hall.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Lucky!” Sonia said as she reached him and managed to land before giving him a hug while he sat down. He was a little surprised, but he returned the hug and she drew back from him while smiling as she said, “How are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” replied Lakshman and she sighed deeply in relief before she said, “We were all so worried about you yesterday when you suddenly collapsed and needed our help to get you to lie down on your bed. I thought of being with you last night, but Ondine said that we’d better of leaving you in peace.”

He chuckled and replied, “Oh well. Anyway, where is everyone?”

Sonia nodded and immediately replied, “Yes. Venezuela, Erza and Cantia left for the kingdom right around breakfast and these two left around that time before returning a few minutes ago. Tetra and Silvera are still sleeping after getting bored and saying they’d sleep after having breakfast. Atem is currently upstairs in his room reading a book about a story or something and I just contacted my Godfather to send me my clothes because I don't have any at the moment.”

“Oh. Right. I do remember him telling me he would send your belongings over as soon as the rush during his ascension as the Angel King settles down,” stated Lakshman with a nod of understanding.

A few seconds later, Sumdara came down the stairs with Emilia behind her, who was still feeling a little sleepy. Priya watched them go into the kitchen before She turned to Sonia and asked, “Um, vodina, didn't we get a message from Mariana? I think a Phintex Raja arrived to deliver it to annayya.”

“Ah! You're right! Good of you to remind me of it,” said Sonia and she beamed at the young girl and Priya smiled in return. She turned to her husband and said, “Mariana sent us a message this morning stating that Dominic would be visiting our house around lunchtime.”

“Really? He got back from Bazaraka Continent?” When his wife nodded, he smiled in triumph and said, “I think that's what he's coming to see me about. Maybe, but there's a high chance of it.” He raised his voice and said, “Ondine! My lunch!”

Ondine, who was already on her way out of the kitchen, replied in a hurries voice, “Here.”

She quickly walked towards him and stood back as he began to eat his food at a very fast pace. Feeling that he might choke, she quickly hurried away to fetch him a glass of water.

“What's the rush? Eat with ease,” said Sonia softly with a worried look on her face.

“He said he'd be here around lunchtime so I'd better eat quickly before he catches me like this,” replied Lakshman between a mouthfuls of food. As she stood there and stared at him with a bemused expression on her face, he asked, “By the way, have you eaten?”

“Yes. I've eaten already. Remember? I tend to earlier than most people because of my diet timings,” she replied and he nodded in understanding while eating his food.

He almost done by the time Ondine returned with a water glass in hsnd and finished his food in a matter of minutes. Both his wives and sisters were amazed by how quickly he ate and the top speed in which he drank the water glass before setting it down on the table.

“When there's no time, you eat like there's no tomorrow!” Lakshman said with a grin on his face.

As the four girls were surprised, a Phintex Raja warped outside and walked in before seeing Lakshman and kneeling before him as he said, “Your majesty. I've come to escort the young ladies back to  Astral Academy.”

“Sure,” said Lakshman and he turned to face his sisters before patting them on the head as he said, “Study well.”

The two girls did not say anything to his encouraging words and merely nodded their heads in return. Setting their plates down and Ondine took them and headed towards the kitchen as theh rose to their feet and walked outside with Lakshman following behind them to send them off. They waved at each other momentarily befote the Phintex Raja used Warp spell and transported out of there.

He sighed and turned around to walk back into the house, but as he reached the staircase leading to the varandra, he froze. it was because of the sudden meateralisatio of two mysterious people behind them through his Elemental Sense, he recognised one while the other was fairly new but he had a guess whom ir belonged to.

“Hey, Lakshman,” said the voice of his best friend, Dominic.

Lakshman whipped around and upon laying his eyes on the returned Sword Titan, he smiled widely. He knew, a while back, he had shouted at his friend out of annoyance but he never really feit it and only did it in order to push him to man up and change. Now, seeing Dominic in front of him made him realise the man had changed mentally by a great deal.

They walked towards each other and clasped each other's hands before Lakshman said, “Welcome back! How was the journey to Bazaraka Continent?”

Dominic grinned and replied, “Thanks and yeah. It was pretty different to what I expected ot to be, but it turned out to be alright and I even made a new friend!” He moved to the side and allowed the stranger to allow the stranger to move forward.

The War Titan held his arm out to Lakshman and introduced himself by saying, “Hi. I'm Nara. Nara Sumhara.”

Lakshman clasped his hand felt the strong muscles in his hand Ashe firmly said with a smile, “Hi! I'm Lakshman and I'm also known as the Phoenix Titan. It's a pleasure to meet you, Nara.”

“Same goes,” replied Nara, who quickly assessed the strength of the other person from how strong their hand grip was. He smiled to himself and thought, “Mmm. He's pretty strong despite not possessing any kind of extra muscle for display. Quite impressive.”

Meanwhile, Lakshman made his own assessment on the War Titan and thought, “He's strong. I can sense a large amount of energy ready to be unleashed at any second. Great. This proves that he truly is the War Titan that had seen battles more often than not.”

As they let go of their hands and stepped away, Lakshman turned to Dominic and said, “See! It's not so difficult to win if you've got the right attitude!”

Dominic nodded in reply and said, “Yes. I'm a different man now and I don't plan on repeating those mistakes again.”

Lakshman smiled at his friend and ushered them towards the house and while they were on their way, Dominic became curious and asked, “Where's the Dragon Titan. I thought I'd find him here.”

Those words momentarily stumped Lakshman and he was lost for words to explain the drama that had occurred yesterday. By true luck of his nickname, a solution appeared a moment later when a teleport bubble materialised out of thin air. The barrier ball quickly dispersed and revealed Smarana, Ash, Sevedant and Lagron standing inside of it while looking bad tampered.

“Woman!” Lagron said loudly to Smarana with a serious look on his face. “I told you I'd rather fly my way over here than rely on anyone's help!”

“Okay, but tell me how you would've gotten here? You've never seen the location of the house and I don't believe you've been here before to find it. So how would you have found the house all by yourself?” Amaranda asked telepathically in a bad tempered voice.

Lagron raised an eyebrow sarcastically and instead of answering her, he decided to reply with a question by asking, “How difficult is it to find in this forsaken place?”

To those words, Sevedant interjected by saying, “Not forsaken. Full of greenery. Very peaceful. Lovable. Admirable. Learn about it.”

“Well, I don't give a damn about any of that!” Lagron said irritably.

While they argued with each other, Dominic and Nara stared at them in surprise while Lakshman groaned.

“Who's that guy? He's pretty loud,” commented Dominic with his eyebrows raised while Nara nodded in agreement while staring at Lagron in silence.

Lakshman sighed heavily and said, “The answer to your question is that.” When the two of them turned and faced him with confused looks on their faces because of his vague answer, he said, “He's the Dragon Titan.”

Nara widened his eyes in surprise and Dominic slowly turned to gaze at his friend with an eyebrow raised as if he found it hard to believe. When Lakshman nodded at him with a frank expression on his face, Dominc slowly turned back to face Lagron with a look of utter disbelief on his face.

“He’s the Dragon Titan?!” he asked incredulously with eyes widened by surprise. “I mean, I can sense the immense power coming from him and all, but… He’s way too arrogant and prideful.”

“Mmm. He, sort of, reminds me of me in a lot of ways,” said Nara in quiet voice with a smirk on his face. “Prideful, ruthless, not caring about what others had to say.”

“I don’t think you’re nearly as relatable to him as you think,” said Dominic and Nara turned to gaze at his friend with a look of interest. “First off, you were a bit welcoming of a challenger, so you treated me with some level of respect and nearly didn’t have the same pride as him when you told me I need to take you down to prove my point.”

“Mmm? Really? I thought was a pretty prideful and arrogant myself,” said Nara with a look of surprise.

Dominic shook his head and said, “No way. You instantly knew I was weak and instead of fighting me, you kept insisting that I should go back, train some more and come back when I got strong enough to challenge you. I doubt that guy, over there, would be willing to do that. Besides, I don’t remember you being loud, or being someone that dominates his surroundings!”

Nara stared at his friend in surprise before chuckling to himself and said, “Oh. That’s good. I felt strange after watching him and wondering if I looked like him.”

His friend shook his head just as Lagron walked over to them with the other three behind him and asked, “Hey idiot! Explain why you put to me to sleep!”

Lakshman sighed wearily and said, “I didn’t put you to sleep knucklehead. It was Amaranda.”

“Yeah, I know it was her because she told me earlier, but what I want to know is why you gave her the idea!”

“Again, I didn’t give her the idea to put you to sleep. I only suggested that you’d rest and she took it into her own hands of putting you to sleep.”

“Oh? Well, if that’s the case, then it’s good because if it were someone else, I would’ve pulverised them!”

Lakshman raised an eyebrow and asked, “Isn’t it your fault for falling for such a simple spell?”

Lagron instantly got angry at those words and he said in annoyance, “I was tired. What would you expect? Huh?” To that, Lakshman did not reply and just looked towards Dominic and Nara, whom Lagron noticed as he turned to face then. “Who’re you two?”

Dominic forced a smile onto his face and moved forward with his hand held out as he said, “Hi. I’m Dominic Rutherford. The Sword Titan. It’s good to meet you, Dragon Titan.”

Lagron merely looked at the outstretched hand before he looked at the man that held it out and said, “I’m Lagron and yes, I’m the Dragon Titan and I also don’t shake hands with weaklings.” He ignored the astonished look on Dominic’s face and turning to face Nara before asking, “Who’re you, beast-man?”

Nara noticed that the Dragon Titan had ignored his friend and narrowed his eyebrows in anger as he replied, “Nara Simhara and I’m no beast man. I’m the War Titan.”

“The War Titan?” Lagron asked with a raised eyebrow in surprise as he looked him up and down. “I don’t see how that title matches what you are, beast man.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t see how you, being titled the Dragon Titan, has anything to do with your stupidity,” commented Nara with a smirk on his face.

Lagron realised the War Titan was picking a fight with him and he replied scornfully, “Right and I see how it makes sense to some since it’s coming from a total idiot.”

“Says the guy with a loud mouth.”

“Oh? Oh? Oh? That’s interesting since you have a beast face and has a larger mouth than me.”

“It’s still not enough to match the sound of your loud annoying voice.”

Lagron stared at him for a moment in silence before he said, “Honestly, I don’t we know why I bother making conversation with a simpleton like you.”

“Oh, I can think of a reason,” said Nara and he made a thinking pose as if he was thinking about something deeply before saying, “I think it’s probably because you’re an ancient relic that’s forgotten how to make proper conversations and create relations with other people. Loser.”

Those words left a great impression on Lagron as he stared at Nara with a fixed expression before his anger boiled over and he clenched his fists in rage.

“Okay! That’s it! I’m angry now!” Lagron shouted as he glared fiercely at Nara.

“Bring it small brain!” Nara replied back with an equal fierce look on his face.

The two were about to make their move against each other when Lakshman quickly got in between of them with his hands raised towards each other as he said, “Enough! Both of you, stand down! Okay? You’re not enemies; you are allies! Try to get along with each other!”

 “Why should I get along with that guy?!” Lagron shouted at him as he gestured at Nara, who snorted and turned away. “There is no a single shred of respect from the moment he first talked to me!”

“Well, you did disrespect Dominic and being his friend, I kind of know how Nara felt at his friend being ignored,” thought Lakshman, but he knew Lagron would fly into a rage if he knew and instead said, “Calm down. Let’s just talk this over after going inside. Okay? Go on.”

After being gestured into the house, they slowly walked into the house while rigidly avoiding each other while Dominic stood in between with a perplexed expression on his face. Amaranda, Sevedant and Ash went inside with her eyes closed as requested by Lakshman as he did not inform about her ability to Dominic or Nara.

“Man… I have to deal with this…” he thought unhappily and sighed deeply before making his way into the house.

At that moment, a fluttering of butterflies slowly descended towards his house from the sky and the voice of the God of Energy said quietly, “Soon. We’ll meet soon enough, Lucky.”