The citizens stared at Arav walking on the road, their gazes were filled with envy and curiosity greatly felt by Arav. At the same time, Yaksh kept wondering about the strange man. They all went past through the city and now the very first entrance of the castle was in front.

The gate was showered with ornaments and decorative items while the path leading inside was covered with flower petals, leaving the place appearing as if waiting for an esteemed arrival. All this caused Yaksh’s thoughts about the man to be replaced by disbelief from the sight.

[DHUM!....DHUM!...DHUM!]

As Arav crossed the front gate, a path made from marble with a garden on both sides appeared. The twelve huge muscled men wearing blue clothes who stood right beside the gate, began beating on the huge drum in front of them, the strength of the sound produced made the ground tremble. In the very next instance, dozens of women wearing blue garments appeared out of nowhere and began dancing around the path while occasionally throwing flower petals on Arav and Yaksh entering the castle. Yaksh was understandably flabbergasted, he just gazed around while utterly failing to hide his widened eyes.

[KRR!!!]

They all, at the last arrived at the final entrance of the castle, that was a large metal door. It opened and revealed an old man with long silver hair standing while wearing a bright smile on his face. Six men wearing blue clothes, which appeared to be more expensive than the ones Arav and Yaksh had seen until now, also stood behind the old man while sharing his smile. By the luxurious attire and the long robe behind him, Arav managed to guess the identity of the man.

“Greetings to his Majesty..” Arav said while slightly bowing his head,

“Ho Ho…No need for formalities, son.” Arav’s bow failed to complete as he was interrupted by the sudden embrace of the old man. Arav’s eyes widened while his heart began racing wildly, he felt a strange connection to this old man that attempted to flood his eyes with tears. But it seemed the old man did not possess as strong of a heart as the dragon lord, Arav felt the clothes on his left shoulder getting wet while the old man’s breathing became unstable and rough.

“Grandfather?..” Arav uttered words that even he did not anticipate. The old man opened his arms and slightly distanced himself from him, revealing his teary eyes which were oddly accompanied with a smiling face. He moved towards Arav’s left and placed his hands around Arav’s shoulders.

“This old man waited for you for far too long..” He said while moving forward, the six men in front quickly moved and cleared their path inside. Yaksh kept standing with awkwardness radiating out of him, as he failed to decide whether to enter or not. Arav slightly turned and looked at him, his gaze answered Yaksh’s questions and he began following them.

They walked through a long corridor and finally entered a large room. The room had walls painted blue with the floor made out of strangely shining rocks that reflected the blue light. The old man pointed towards a wide seat in front of them. Arav and Yaksh moved and sat on the seat and found a long table with various food items waiting to be consumed. The old man sat in front of the table, in the opposite direction of them;

“Ahem!...I would like to apologize for the strange behavior I previously displayed..” The king coughed and spoke in an awkward tone.

“...You look just like her…except the black hair.” The old man pointed at Arav’s head,

“Is everything alright?...Grandfather?” Arav presented a sudden question that startled the king, his eyes shivered momentarily but the next instance his wrinkled cheeks stretched and wore a long smile;

“Ho ho…that’s a strange question to ask son, everything is better that alright…MY GRANDSON HAS RETURNED!! HOW CAN I BE ALRIGHT?! I AM BARELY MANAGING TO CONTAIN MY HAPPINESS!!”

‘Woah!..’ Yaksh’s mouth opened widely while he dumbfoundedly stared at the king’s completely changed demeanor;

“...You and the kingdom…they both aren’t well..” Arav spoke again, his eyes showed a slight tint of red while intensely staring at the old man.

A silence ensued in the room, the old man’s smile slowly disappeared with his expression getting clouded by worry;

[WOOSH!]

Suddenly, a mass of dark red energy appeared on their left. Yaksh got goosebumps all over his body but he kept himself seated as Arav did not even flinch.

[FWOSH!]

The energy disappeared with a man wearing black clothes appearing;

“You are indeed correct, young master, and I would have been surprised if you hadn’t noticed. But can you explain how you arrived at this conclusion?” Aizen walked and stood beside the old man and asked in a polite tone;

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“The entire place is covered in masking magic…But why is there a second, even stronger barrier at the back of the castle?” Arav asked with a smirk, surprising both the old man and Aizen.

‘Marichi!’ Yaksh felt his brain suddenly lit up;

“I traveled from the main entrance to this castle but strangely enough, not a single child could be seen in the entire city. Twelve warriors with an elite level of hiding skill followed me from the moment I stepped inside. Why would the kingdom have its best warrior residing near the entrance?” Arav suddenly turned towards Yaksh;

“He is an elf. It is true that his abilities aren’t that great…But you managing to sense my true identity through his magic was still impressive….too impressive for a human.”

Arav and Aizen intensely stared at each other, while their hostility leaked outside of their body, making the atmosphere heavier. Yaksh’s eyes began turning green with a slight amount of green energy surrounding his bracelet.

“Hohoho..Well done…son, well done..” Suddenly the king spoke in a prideful tone, catching even Arav off guard;

“Indeed my majesty..Young Master Arav is far more amazing than the legends could ever convey.” Despite covering his face, his smile could be seen in his red eyes.

“As for your answers, please follow us.” The man spoke, while the king stood up from his seat. Arav and Yaksh obliged without saying anything, as not even an iota of hostility could be sensed from the two individuals in front of them. They both went outside of the castle and arrived in front of a large forest.

“You might also ask,,”why is there a large forest in the middle of the city?”” The king spoke while trying to imitate Arav’s tone. That was met by a blank expression from Arav and an annoyed expression from Yaksh.

"Ahem!" The king faked a cough and signaled something to Aizen;

[WOOSH!]

The entire forest began waving and in mere seconds, a large space meters deep in the ground was revealed. Hundreds of houses covered the ground with gardens, wells, markets made on the correct spots. A large black coloured sculpture stood at the center of the city that was similar to the one in Padma kingdom in terms of size, but its face could not be seen as it faced the other direction.

The place’s location or the houses filling it failed to surprise Yaksh and Arav, as that emotion got reserved by the inhabitants of the place. Yaksh could not believe in his own eyes as he saw thousands of elves living in buildings that weren’t any less luxurious than the ones he had seen outside. He turned towards the king;

“What is this?” Yaksh asked in a low voice that possessed his sense of disbelief;

“They call it The paradise” The king said with a proud expression;

“Current world is filled with animosity against demi-humans, but this is a place which they can safely call home.” The king continued while stepping forward;

“What is the reason behind such hospitality?” Arav asked in a calm tone, but his eyes showed that he somewhat expected the answer;

“The dragon lord…Pralaya” The king spoke in a respectful tone, while his eyes brightly gazed at the long sculpture in front of them.

Yaksh’s heart skipped a beat, as he heard an unexpected name from an even stranger person.

[HUM!]

Yaksh, Aizen and the king turned towards Arav in surprise. Arav's feet created a yellow energy platform and he rapidly flew towards the large sculpture.

“Arav?!” The king worriedly exclaimed, but Arav’s mind was too busy to listen to him;

Arav flew from the back of the sculpture to the front, and the moment his gaze fell on the face, his eyes widened with an intense ringing sound filling his head.

[FLASH!]

‘Huh?’ Arav woke up in a familiar yet strange location. He looked at his hand and found a small amount of red energy leaking outside of it. The room was dark, the only illumination source being a few lanterns in the corners with the distance between the floor and the roof being in meters.

[TAK…TAK…TAK]

A few steps could be heard in his left, Arav was surprised by the sudden movement of his own head as he was not the one controlling it. A man wearing blue clothes and with long silver hair entered the room, upon seeing him, Arav found himself getting out of the bed and forwarding towards the man.

“I greet the lord..” The man in blue clothes went on his knees and bowed his head;

“You are late…Chandra…” Arav heard himself speak in a familiar voice, soon realizing it was the voice of himself from his past life.

“I was dealing with a few important matters..”

“...How is your wife’s condition?” Pralaya asked again but this time in a more calmer tone;

The man lifted his head and gazed at him;

“Today her ninth has been completed…she was going through immense pain…” The man answered in a worried tone;

Arav found himself suddenly turning his head away from the man and gazing outside the window, his vision zoomed in at a rapid rate and got closer to a source of bright yellow light that was a long distance away from him.

“The world is about to be engulfed in chaos…I have a final request for you..” Pralaya replied while turning his head towards the man again;

“I will complete your order with my life…” The man answered while standing up;

[WOOSH!]

Prakaya’s hand summoned a dark energy, which began forming symbols in the air. The man stared at the phenomenon in amazement while appearing as if he could not understand it even in the slightest;

[HUM!]

A red energy rushed outside from Pralaya’s raised hands and entered the symbols, turning them red in the process.

“This dragon seal has a part of my lifeforce, transfer it to your upcoming generations. When the time comes, they will realize its use..and at that time, a huge sacrifice will be required.”

[BHUM!]

The dragon seal turned into a mass of red and black energy and entered the man.

“I..I don’t understand…You are aliv…”

“This life is nearing its end.” Pralaya responded;

Tears flowed out of the man’s eyes while he looked at Pralaya;

“I…will ensure the fruition of your order my lord..”

[FLASH!]

“Ugh!’’ Arav found himself lying on the ground inside a crater. He looked around and saw the worried gaze of Yaksh and the king, while he was surrounded by elves in all directions.

“What happened?” Yaksh anxiously asked while stretching his arm towards Arav. He silently grabbed his hand and stood up.

“Son, are you alright?” The kind asked while stepping forward.

Arav nodded and then looked up at the face of the sculpture.

“Grandfather,...We have a lot to talk about.”

[Chapter 22: END]