Shaun took Eli into one of the smaller private rooms, knowing that this would be the real goodbye. He had planned for this but he wasn’t looking forward to it. Once they were truly alone he said his goodbye.
“I am leaving, I don’t have a choice. But I am not abandoning you, you will always have a piece of me with you till the day you die. Use it well and remember me. And you never know, we might meet again someday.” He placed his hand on Eli’s shoulder then pulled him into a hug.
“When are you going?”
“Soon. I want to run the dungeon on max but after that……… If I could bring you with me I would.” He let go of Eli and took a step back.
“I know. That what I have I got from you. If it wasn’t for you I would still be in the city living in an orphanage and wishing for something better. You have given me everything. And one day I will repay that, because that’s what brothers do.” Brothers. He had never vocalised it but he did look at Eli like a little brother. That’s why he was willing to take a risk.
“This is for you as well. Be careful with it, show it to no one. But if you practice with it you might find something to help you grow.” He took out an orb filled to the brim with his ice affinity. He had made it knowing he was leaving and wanting to give Eli something that he could use to help grow his affinity.
Eli took it from his hand and when he concentrated on it his eyes widened. “This is so much more powerful than mine. How did you…”
“Don’t ask, and don’t tell anyone about it.” He cut Eli off before he could ask the question. He still needed to keep some secrets.
“That’s what you meant that apart of you would always be with me, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, but like you said, we are also brothers, we have that too. Now go to your team, they can’t run a dungeon without their leader.”
“We will see each other again. I will make sure of it.”
After that Eli left him alone in the room, he took a deep breath and more than a few moments to collect himself, he then set off for some more goodbyes. This time his destination was Eric’s office.
He took his time making his way there, taking in the sights and feeling of the castle, silently saying his own goodbye to the place. He hadn’t been here long but a small part of him would still miss it. His life on Earth since the integration had not been easy, but he had made some good memories here.
When he did finally make it to the office there was some commotion inside, pushing open the door he saw Eric and Gabe but he also found Yarila in attendance. None of them looked happy and they had been mid argument before he entered the room.
“Good, we were hoping you would be around, great timing as well. We have an issue, Viv has decided that since she was blocked from teleporting here that she would make her way on foot. We were just…..discussing….what to do about it.” Eric looked more ruffled then usual and didn’t seem to know how to deal with this situation exactly.
“Shaun.” Yarila gave him a small bow. “I suggest that we meet her and come to an agreement. I have been well informed she has no control over the D grade area but she does have control over where we elves are living. We do not wish for her to take out her anger on us since we have sided with you. The choice is yours though and we will back you in whatever you choose to do.”
“Letting her get her claws in now will just give us even more trouble later, we turn her away, send her back. She has no right to this school or the D grade area.” Eric was taking a hard stance but he did look at him at the end to confirm that what’s Shaun wanted to do as well.
“You all need to figure it out yourselves. It is up to you how you deal with Viv and the school and the D grade area.” They all looked at him, mostly annoyed but also a little taken back at his flat out refusal to get involved. “I came, not to get involved, but to say goodbye. It’s time.”
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Eric and Gabe knew what he was talking about and their expressions reflected the change, they now just looked sad and like they wanted to argue. Yarila though looked shocked.
“Where are you going? To claim other settlements? My people will follow you, let us come, please.”
“This is something I have to do alone, I am sorry Yarila. But, if you wish to take your people and find a settlement that is just yours, talk to Eric, the settlement crystal here has world teleportation, find more of your people and make a settlement your own if you want to.”
“But…..where will you go?” The look on her face was a look of defeat, his words, his tone, it left no room to argue.
"I have a path that I need to travel alone for now. But one day, you never know, we could cross paths again.”
“And I am guessing, wherever you go, the stone will not work.” The stones Eric and him used to communicate were only useable if both people were on the same planet. Eric knew that, which was why he had asked the question without asking him if he was leaving the planet.
“They will not.” A sad silence filled the room and no one made a move to say or do anything further.
He made the first move, walking up to Gabe and giving him a hug, he didn’t say anything but they didn’t need to. He did the same with Eric and even Yarila. When he stepped back he cleared his throat and moved the conversation to more practical topics.
“I have given the kitchens a lot of high grade meat. Also….” He walked up to the resource crystal and deposited most of the crafting material he had from the dungeon within. “There is some interesting drops from the D grade dungeon, when the crafters here are ready I suggest you let them look at the cores, they are more useful than you would believe.”
“Will you ever be back?” Gabe whispered his question to the room but everyone heard it clearly enough.
“If I do come back, it wont be for a very long time. I plan to stay out of the way of the factions and their war. To do that I need to get as far from here as I can.”
“A very long time…..so years?”
“Centuries, maybe longer. You never know though, something may bring me back. Or, if everything works out we may even run into each other in the multiverse somewhere. If that happens though, I would suggest caution in being seen with me.”
“Just answer me one question, please? Is it all connected? What happened in the tutorial, the mess with the factions, you leaving now to somewhere you wont say and then giving a warning we shouldn’t be seen with you in the greater multiverse?” Yarila looked confused at the question, she knew some of what Eric was asking but not enough to fully understand the wider implications of answering it.
“Yes.” Eric gave a few nods of his head as he processed the confirmation. He probably had a theory he hadn’t vocalised and what he said probably confirmed some of what he thought.
“Life is going to be pretty boring without you here, you know that right?”
He laughed at that, what Eric really meant was he would cause less trouble for Eric to clean up. “I doubt you will be bored for long. Now, lets move to the settlement crystal and I can officially give you the reigns of this place. Its time I officially step down as Emperor.”
All three of them followed him to the settlement crystal, when they arrived he placed his hand on it and pulled up the menu’s he needed. The first thing he did was fully hand off the F and E grade areas to Viv. The moment he did he lost complete access to them and his title of Emperor took a dive down to one of the lowest titles he could get in the chain.
Then he did the same thing with the D grade area, he pushed all rights and authority to Eric and just like that he lost the title and any control he had over the settlement.
“Its all done. You are now the one who owns the settlement here, and with it, dealing with Viv is now your problem.”
“What should we tell her when she asks about you?”
“Tell her I used the crystal to teleport halfway around the world to explore. Tell her that when the year is up that I have no plans to stay on Earth and will be going out to explore the multiverse. That’s what you should tell anyone that asks.” All three of them agreed to what he had asked and finally all he had left to do was use the token and head to The Alliance.
“Can we stay until you leave?” He thought about it but decided that it would be best for him to be alone to take out the token.
“I need to do this alone. Thank you though, all of you. For sticking with me and fighting by my side.”
After one last round of goodbyes they left the room, leaving him alone to take the final step. Taking out the token from his inventory, he held it in his hand and closed his eyes. All he had to do was activate it and he would be sent straight to The Alliance.
He didn’t want to delay it any longer, knowing the longer he stood here the harder it would be. So he sent his mana into the token and squeezed it in his hand. He felt the moment it fully activated, the token releasing a great amount of power to not only send him across the multiverse but also break through the restrictions placed on him around not being able to leave Earth for a year.
One second he was standing in the room next to the settlement crystal, the next he felt himself consumed by darkness. He was finally on his way to his people. He didn’t know how long the trip would take exactly, but what he did know was that when he got there is life would be changed forever. He was ready for his true life as a Nephilim to begin.