The walk had led me to a lone house perched on a slightly leveled cliff, with its own little beach area extending into the ocean below. It was a beautiful residence, almost reminiscent of the modernized beach houses of the nobles in my old world. The sun was now in full view, casting its golden glow over everything.

I hesitated before knocking on the door, feeling nervous for some reason. Rye let out a tired sigh and plopped down on the ground, “Just go in already. It's not like they’re strangers.”

I laughed at his words and how right he was.

“By the way, do you think I should be outside like this?” Rye asked, glancing down at his furry form.

“It's fine,” I said as I stepped up and knocked on the doors. “Just maybe don’t talk as much.”

“Coming,” a feminine voice sounded behind the door.

As the door opened, my eyes were met with emerald green eyes that brought back memories of my childhood. The woman's eyes began to tear up as she smiled, and I didn’t even get time to react before she embraced me into a tight hug.

“Fal! Oh my goodness, my baby, it's great to see you. Oh, how I’ve missed you.” She caressed my hair, “Your hair has grown. A-and you’ve grown. A lot.”

“I’ve missed you too, mother,” I said, feeling tears prickling at my own eyes.

My father peeked at what was going on and when he saw me, he instantly darted to the door, “Son! How are you here? What is going on?”

My father looked older, with a full beard and long hair tied up, similar to mine.

Soon we were all in a group hug that lasted for a good while. Eventually, though, they let go and started questioning me even more than before.

“Come in, sit down.” My mother said, and she beckoned me into the living room.

I could smell breakfast cooking as I walked in. My father ran back to the kitchen, “Let me just finish up with breakfast, then we can talk.”

He ended up making me a plate as well, and we began talking at the dining table.

“Why are you here? How are you here?” My mother asked, concerned. “When you stopped reaching out on the communication crystal, I got worried, but I assumed you were fine or Zeph would’ve visited.”

“No, I’ve been okay, really. I just came to see you guys, and I took a warp gate ride. I was on a little adventuring journey for a while as part of Zeph’s training and decided to stop by.”

“Well, that's no issue for us,” she replied with a smile. “But what do you mean by adventuring journey?” My mother's eyes narrowed, and I was soon brought back to all the memories of this serious-looking face. She was a lovely mother, but a strict one. “Zeph didn't leave you all alone, did he?”

“Well, yes. But it was mostly my choice. It was the best thing for my training, mother, so don’t be mad at Zeph,” I said. I had no idea why I was trying to save his ass, but on the other hand, my words mostly held the truth.

She let out a sigh, “Well, if you showed up here, I guess that means you’ve been doing pretty well for yourself. I’m still going to give him a piece of my mind when I see him though.”

“I guess that's fair,” I laughed.

My father didn't seem particularly bothered at me going off on my own and instead asked, "How's your training been going, anyway? How much stronger are you?"

“He just got back from a who-knows-how-long journey, and this is the first thing you ask, Melvin?” My mother let out a sigh. “I swear, you boys will be the death of me.”

I replied, "Training has been going well. I've reached the dark blue stage."

My father smiled, and my mother gasped in surprise. "You're not lying, are you?" my father asked. He looked at me and then my mother. "Honey, he's serious."

"Son, that's amazing news. At your age, it's unheard of," my mother said.

My father stood up and said, "Fal, do you remember when we decided to have Zeph train you?"

I nodded, already knowing where he was going with his words.

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"I told you that when you got strong, you could actually spar with me instead of just my golems," he said, looking across the house out the glass windows and onto the beach. "What do you say?"

My mother stood up as well. "Just hold on now, Fal should at least get some rest before--"

"It's fine, mother. Really. I want to." I stood up as well. "It's one of the main reasons I came."

We began making our way down to the beach, and my parents finally noticed the little feline beast trotting beside me. "I see you've gotten a little friend as well. Tell me about that," my father asked, taking a step onto the beach sand.

"He's my familiar," I responded.

"Oh?" He cocked a look back at me, surprised. "Having one of those is a gamble. I trust you've chosen a good one?"

"I believe I have. I won't be using him in the spar though, so you don't have to worry."

"I like your confidence, son, but while you were away, I wasn't just sitting on my ass and growing a beard," my father said as he distanced himself from me. I truly looked at my father for the first time since arriving. I hadn't noticed it before, being too distracted by seeing them, but he grew stronger. Much stronger.

"Light blue stage, if you're wondering," he said as if he was reading my mind.

Hell, I might have needed Rye after all, I thought.

"Impressive," I said.

When we were both a good distance apart, my mother called from the sidelines, "Alright boys, when I say go, you can start. The first one whose knee touches the ground or falls, loses."

We both nodded at her words, and she held her hand up high. There was a slight pause, like time itself had stopped, and the ocean wind blew on the beach between us that was soon to be our battlefield. The silence was tense. I was eager to see what I could do up against my father now that I was older.

"You ready for this, son?" my father asked with a smile.

"More than ready," I replied with a grin.

I couldn't help but smile, and from afar, I could see him doing the same.

Finally, my mother swiped down and yelled, "Go!"

Mana surged through my body as I unsheathed my dagger and dashed towards my father. Wind coalesced and sharpened my weapon, and I went in for a strike at his left side.

However, my attack was swiftly blocked by a golem that instantly materialized before me. It was made of the hardest and sturdiest earth I had ever encountered. I was even more surprised when it countered with an uppercut aimed straight at my jaw.

I quickly pushed myself back with a gust of wind, barely evading the blow. "I don't remember them being this fast," I said, catching my breath.

"Well, you were a child," my father replied calmly.

I sent multiple crescents of wind at the golem, cutting it into pieces, some of which flew past my father. He barely avoided my attacks, having to conjure a wall of earth to protect himself.

"My main advantage is my defense, son," he said from behind the earthen wall. "Let's see how you fare."

Four golems made of mud then appeared before his wall. They were shaped like knights, as if my father had his own personal guards. Each of them conjured different spells of water and earth, sending them at me.

I ducked and dodged water balls, bullets, spears, and shards of earth. At the use of water, I surged ice magic through me and instantly froze every single water spell that came into view. I then dashed toward the golems, destroying them one by one until there was none left.

I finally had the chance to destroy my father's earthen wall with a wind torrent spell, but when I caught a glimpse of the other side of it, he was gone.

I felt my instincts tingle, and I instantly turned around to see my father shooting a wave of earthen spikes towards me. I tried to move, but my feet were trapped in what looked like mud.

"Dammit," I muttered, casting a last-ditch spell. I pulled water in from the ocean, and a wave formed before me. I instantly froze it, using it as a shield from the earthen spikes. I then used the excess water to make the mud less thick, allowing me to escape and shadow step behind my father.

The speed of my shadow step had improved tremendously, and I started using it as a sort of trump card. I went for a low sweep kick at my father's legs, but he noticed and dodged.

Even though my father was a caster, his hand-to-hand combat skills were nothing to scoff at. He retaliated with a flurry of earthen bullets, but I shadow stepped and dodged all of them, and soon I was on him.

But as I was about to strike, I noticed something. Looking at his face, I could see that it had been sculpted from some material, with parts of dirt visible beneath its cracking skin. I wasn't fighting my father; I was fighting a doppelgänger, a clone of some sort.

However, I realized it too late. I felt the cold and hard pain of a boot hitting my side, no doubt enhanced with mana, and I was brought to my knees.

My father laughed. "I'm glad it took you so long to notice," he said as his clone golem faded into the dirt. "It's a little spell I picked up over the past couple of years."

I stood up, "It's a useful spell. Very useful."

"Yeah, it's sort of my trump card," my father replied. "The fact that I had to use it says a lot. You've grown, son. Very strong indeed. And seeing you use more than two natural elements as well, it was hard to keep calm in battle." He patted me on the shoulder, “I'm proud of you, son.”

“Thank you, father.”

My mother stormed over, Rye following behind her “Are you boys satisfied?”

“Yes, I think that's enough for today, I can’t speak for tomorrow though.” My father turned to me, “How long are you planning to stay? You should stick around for the big announcement for tomorrow.”

I tilted my head, “Big announcement?”

“Yeah, Fal, Haven’t you heard the news?” My mother asked, “The summit was this year. The kings and queens of every kingdom in Lotia will be speaking unitedly all across the continent. Did Zeph not mention stuff like this during your training?” My mother’s eyes went pensive, “Actually, knowing him he probably didn’t. This is your first one too, so I believe it would be best for you to stay.”

“I was planning on staying for a couple of days anyway,” I said.

My mother crouched down and petted Rye, “That's good, I want to spend more time with this little one, anyway.”

Rye fully gave into my mother's pets and fully flopped over onto his back, awaiting a belly rub.

'You look retarded' I voiced to him.

‘Hey! Don’t judge me, Fal.’