Chapter 382: KAELEN’S RETURN
The chamber had grown tense after the soldier’s sudden announcement. Drake exchanged a glance with Neana, both rising almost immediately. "Come," Drake said with a rare gleam of relief in his eyes. "We should greet them."
Neana nodded, her expression calm but her stride quick. As they stepped out of the chamber, they were joined by two others already moving toward the great hall: Kang, Ethan’s father and the current Vice Commander of the Grey family’s forces, and Christopher, Kaelen’s fellow student at Pacesetters Academy and wielder of the Crimson Blade.
The anticipation hung heavy in the air as the four advanced together. Whispers carried down the corridors as servants and guards peeked from corners, sensing the momentous return.
When the great doors of the hall opened, the figures stepping inside froze everyone in place. Kaelen stood at the front, his cloak torn from travel yet his presence steady, Kelvin and Ethan at his sides. Behind them, Guinevere and Morris followed with visible fatigue, but unbroken determination. Relief washed over Drake, but the feeling didn’t last.
Two more figures trailed behind.
At first glance, they seemed almost mundane—an ordinary man and woman, dressed in unassuming garb, their expressions calm, unthreatening even. But the instant Neana’s sharp gaze landed on them, her breath caught.
Her instincts screamed.
Drake’s hand twitched toward his blade, Kang’s brows furrowed, and even Christopher, who had drawn countless duels at Pacesetters, felt a chill settle in his marrow.
Because what stood before them wasn’t ordinary at all.
It was Judgement, one of the dreaded Eternals—his presence muted but unmistakable. And beside him, the Elemental God, the very being whose essence was interwoven with Morris’s destiny.
Their forms looked deceptively human, stripped of all grandeur, yet the sheer weight of their existence pressed against the hall like a silent storm.
"Impossible..." Kang muttered, his voice low but sharp. "Those are... Eternals."
Christopher’s knuckles whitened on the hilt of his Crimson Blade, though he knew drawing it would be futile. "What in the name of Aetheris... are they doing here?"
Drake’s face darkened, though his voice remained composed. "Kaelen... you’d best explain this. Now."
Kaelen, weary but unshaken, stepped forward. "Because they chose to walk beside us." His words carried steady conviction, though his companions behind him still looked rattled from the long journey.
Drake’s voice was sharp, authoritative. "Explain, Kaelen. Now."
The young Dragonyx nodded. His gaze briefly flicked to the two silent Eternals, then back to those before him.
"At the Isle of Halor, while we pushed ourselves to the edge of life and death to grow stronger, we stumbled upon something sealed... something ancient. The place where the Celestials kept these two sealed." His tone hardened. "And those seals broke when we were getting stronger to face Endless. And in the process, these two awoke before us—not in the glory of their old selves, but stripped down, ordinary to the eyes of those who do not know. The Celestials had no further use for them... so they abandoned them like broken tools."
Neana’s brows furrowed, her voice low and tense. "And you brought them here? To the heart of the Human Territory?"
"They are not our enemies," Kaelen replied firmly. "They’re our chance." His eyes narrowed, his voice cutting with grim certainty. "Endless... the Eternal we’ve been fighting against all along... he’s their brother. If we have any hope of stopping him before he drains the last vein of mana in this world, we need them."
"And how sure are you that they won’t repeat history again?" Kang suddenly asked with a solemn look on his face.
Judgement finally spoke, her voice a calm rumble that silenced even the bravest guards. "We do not ask for your trust. Only your recognition that fate has turned, and we will see this war to its end."
The Elemental God’s smile was faint but weary, as though carrying countless centuries of silence. "Mortals, Celestials, or Eternals—it does not matter. The world will break again if Endless is left unchecked. With Kaelen, we will stop him. This is an act of apology to what we did in the past."
The hall fell into stunned silence, the magnitude of Kaelen’s revelation suffocating them all.
Drake’s fists tightened at his sides. Neana exchanged a glance with him, both silently weighing the impossible reality before them. Christopher lowered his Crimson Blade, but his heart pounded so violently he thought it might shatter his ribs.
For the first time in centuries, two Eternals had chosen to stand with mortals.
The camp had finally settled into a rare calm. Drake and the others, after heated words and suspicious glances, at last welcomed Kaelen’s party into their midst. Relief passed through the group like a warm breeze after a storm.
But just as the quiet seemed to take hold, Lila suddenly staggered forward, her face pale, before rushing out of the gathering.
"Lila!" Charlotte’s voice rang as she hurried after her.
Before Kaelen could react, Lila turned unexpectedly—her eyes shimmering, her expression breaking apart—and threw herself into his arms. Kaelen froze, wide-eyed, utterly caught off guard. She pressed her forehead against his chest, trembling, her hands clutching his tunic with desperation.
"Kaelen..." her voice quivered, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Don’t you dare leave me again... Do you hear me? I—I thought I lost you. I can’t... I can’t endure that again."
Her words poured out in a flood, breaking through the stoic shell she usually wore. The tightness of her embrace and the raw ache in her tone carved straight into Kaelen’s chest. Slowly, almost hesitantly, his arms wrapped around her, steadying her shaking frame.
"I promise..." Kaelen whispered, though his own heart weighed with the danger ahead. "I won’t leave you behind."
But in the very next moment—her bloodline stirred.
It wasn’t like before—it was stronger, fiercer. The air around her shimmered violently as scarlet threads of light burst from her body, her mana veins trembling as if something ancient and divine was answering her emotions. The ground beneath their feet quivered.
"Lila—what’s happening?!" Kaelen panicked, holding her tighter, trying to steady her body as it convulsed.
Charlotte’s expression darkened with sudden clarity. "It’s not her... not entirely. One of you guys divine powers is reacting with her bloodline, Kaelen. That’s what’s pulling her into this frenzy!"
Kaelen’s heart sank, realization hitting him. He first glanced at his blade resting calmly at in it’s sheathe, then at Kelvin before shifted his gaze towards the two Eternals.
"But whose divine power is it?" He eventually asked after not deducting who it might be himself.
"That.... We have no idea" Neana suddenly said with a helpless look on her face.
"It’s the Elemental Eternal that is causing this" Eternity suddenly spoke up within Kaelen which caught his attention.
"The Elemental Eternal? How sure are you of this?" Kaelen quickly asked with a skeptical look on his face. "Are you being serious right now? Have you forgotten who I was before I merged myself with you!?" Eternity asked back with an irritated tone.
"Oh, sorry about that" Kaelen quickly said with a wry smile on his face before he turned to the Elemental Eternal and said. "Can you reduce your presence even further?"
"Me?" The Elemental Eternal quickly asked with a surprised look on his face. "Yes, you are the one causing this. And before you ask me how sure I am, don’t forget who I have now become" Kaelen replied with a stern look on his face.
Seeing and hearing this, the Elemental Eternal quickly did as he was asked. And immediately after, Lila finally began to calm down which gave the others a sigh of relief.
"I will like to take her to a place she can rest, can anyone if you direct me a place?" Kaelen quickly asked as he carried Lila into his arms.
"Sure, follow me" Charlotte replied before she took Kaelen away from there to a place that Lila could rest.
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A small chamber gradually fall into a serene atmosphere as footsteps echoed away, leaving only Kaelen and Lila in the silence.
Kaelen looked down at Lila in his arms. Her breathing had steadied after the Elemental God muted his presence, but her complexion was still pale, her body trembling as though the bloodline inside her was wrestling against invisible chains.
"Lila..." Kaelen whispered, brushing aside strands of her hair from her face. "How do you feel now?"
Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing her icy-blue eyes dimmed with exhaustion. She gave him a faint smile, fragile yet warm. "Better... thanks to you. It’s like the pain just... vanished."
Kaelen exhaled in relief, but his chest still tightened. He had never seen her in such a state, so vulnerable that it gnawed at him.
Before he could speak again, Lila suddenly reached up, gripping his sleeve weakly. Her voice wavered, soft but urgent.
"Kaelen... don’t ever leave me again. When I felt that pain... I thought I’d lose myself. And the thought of you being gone too... terrified me."
Her words hit him harder than any blade could. His gaze softened, and for a moment, all the weight of battles, gods, and Eternals seemed to fall away.
He held her closer. "I’m not going anywhere. Not now, not ever. I’ll stay—no matter what comes."
Lila’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. She rested her forehead against his chest, her trembling finally fading as his heartbeat thudded steadily against her.
And in that silence, Eternity’s voice continued to stir faintly in Kaelen’s mind:
"She’s stronger than you realize. But her bloodline... it reacts deeply to the Elemental God. If this continues, some really nasty choices will have to be made."
Kaelen’s jaw tightened, though he hid it behind a reassuring smile for Lila. For now, she needed peace, not burdens.