The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 18

It was a strange feeling being more nervous now, meeting my family, more than when I first appointed a king while in the midst of the most powerful people in the world.

"Whew~ let’s do this Sylvie."

"Kyu" She responded, my excitement spreading to her.

The dull sound of metal clanging on metal rang surprisingly loudly.

Unexpectedly, I could hear the faint pitter-patter sounds followed by a childish voice. "Coming~!"

A maid opened the door together with a little girl. Immediately upon seeing me, she hid behind the maid.

The maid looks at me curiously, evidently surprised to see an eight-year-old knocking on the door of a noble’s estate.

"Ahem, nice to meet you. My name is Arthur Leywin. I was informed that my family is currently residing in this manor. Do you mind if I speak to them?" I give a slight bow, Sylvie rocking on my head.

Before the confused maid could even respond, I heard an all too familiar sound in the background.

"Eleanor Leywin! There you are! You have got to stop running to the front door every time someone..." My mother stopped mid sentence and dropped a small bowl of what looked to be food for... my sister.

I look down to see the girl with dazzling brown eyes, looking at me with innocent curiosity. Her light ash brown hair shimmered with a much prettier quality than Father’s but I knew who she had gotten the color from. Her hair was tied into two pigtails on the side of her head above her ears.

I struggled to peel my eyes away from my little sister and turned to face my mother. My vision going blurry as tears filled my eyes, I said one thing I knew she was waiting to hear.

"H-hi Mom. I’m home." I gestured a small, awkward wave, not knowing what to do if she couldn’t recognize me.

Fortunately, my fear didn’t come true and she raced towards me at a speed I swear was faster than Grandpa Virion’s, but that might’ve just been because of my blurry vision.

"Oh my baby! Arthur!!" She arrived in front of me and collapsed on her knees, her arms around my waist, gripping with all her strength, afraid that I might disappear again if she let go.

"You are alive! The Voice... I knew it was you! *sniff* You’re back now! Yes, you’re home now. Arthur, my baby!" That was all she managed to sputter out before breaking down into a bawl.

I couldn’t even manage a complete sentence before shut my lips tightly in order to hold back my sobs.

I couldn’t help but think while my head was buried in my mother’s shoulder: you could be an all powerful, immortal tyrant but when you were in front of your loved ones, the ability to control emotions betray you.

I kept repeating in half gurgled sentences that I was alive and that I was home, that I wasn’t leaving. My mother was a flurry of emotions. She was happy that I was back and alive, she was mad that I couldn’t come back sooner, she was sad that I had to be away from them and how hard it must have been for me all at the same time.

At one point, Eleanor walked to us and started patting Mother’s back. "Mama. There, there. Don’t cry." But after unsuccessfully comforting her, she began crying as well.

"Arthur!" I turned my head, face still wet with tears to see outside the sprinting figure of my father drenched in sweat. I guess the maid had told him I was back.

He didn’t stop as he reached us and simply slid on his knee, hugging all of us as we all almost toppled over.

"Arthur! My son! Look how big you are. Oh my God! You’re back, you’re back!" My father was cupping my head in his hands to get a better look at my face. He broke down while placing his large hand on the back of my head, bringing my forehead to touch his.

Our little family reunion continued on. My mother sobbing uncontrollably, embracing me, and my oblivious little sister crying with her, as my father and I just looked at each other with tears in our eyes, all of us glad that we were finally together.

Eventually, we had all managed to settle down.

We were sitting on a couch, my mother right beside me with Eleanor on her lap. Father was sitting on a chair he pulled up, facing me, his elbows on his knee as he leaned forward. Mother was holding my hands and still tearing up every time she got a look at my face.

"Are you okay now? Did you at least eat three meals a day? You slept while dressing warmly everyday right? Oh my baby. Look how big you are now." Tears escaped her eyes as she squinted and smiled.

She was stroking my hair as she planted a soft kiss on the crown of my head. "Thank God you’re back. I’m so happy," she whispered, her voice still trembling.

Eleanor was looking curiously at both Sylvie and I while the baby dragon was sitting up next me attentively observing the three unfamiliar humans.

My father was looking at Sylvie with a curious expression but he didn’t mention her. Turning his gaze to me, his eyes softened and he kept shaking his head, repeating how big I was now. It must be a pretty fulfilling yet miserable feeling for a parent to see how big his son had gotten but not being there with him the whole time to witness it.

"Ellie, say hi to your big brother. He was away for awhile but he’ll live together with us from now on. Come on, say ’hello’." My mother gently urged my sister.

"Brother?" She tilted her head, reminding me of a confused Sylvie.

She cupped her hands over my mother’s ear and whispered something inaudible.

"Haha yes, that big brother. The one I always told stories about. He’s the one."

My sister’s eyes started sparkling as she looked back to me. I couldn’t help but now wonder what stories Mother had told her.

"Hai Brother~!" She beamed, waving both of her little hands at me.

"Hello Eleanor. It’s nice to meet you... sister." I laughed, patting her head in response.

Father spoke up now. "Arthur, we were devastated after that incident, and we barely believed it when you communicated to us through our heads. Tell me, how’d you survive the fall?"

It took awhile for me to explain everything from the beginning. I withheld some information that I thought might not be good to tell them just yet. I explained to them that I subconsciously wrapped myself in a protective layer of mana and I was lucky enough to hit a bunch of branches on the cliff before landing in a stream. From there on, I told them about meeting Tess and how she was almost kidnapped. After saving her, she led me to her Kingdom and I stayed there.

"You said something about an illness that kept you from coming back sooner. What was all that about? Are you cured now?" My mother chimes in, a look of concern on her face.

Shaking my head, I explain, "You don’t need to worry about that anymore. I guess there was a sort of instability in my mana core that made it so I had episodes of pain. It was really bad at first but luckily there was an elder that knew how to cure it. The process was slow but he assured me it wasn’t threatening if treated consistently."

Relief replaced the prior look of worry and she silently patted my head again.

"So what’s the story with this little friend of yours?" My dad just chuckled, finally bringing Sylvie up.

"Haha, while I was travelling, I stumbled into a mana beast’s den. It was only the mother and she was badly injured. A little bit after I was there, she died. While I was looking around, it seemed like she was guarding something so I picked it up thinking it was something valuable but I didn’t know it was an egg. She hatched only a couple of months ago so she’s still a baby. Say hi to Sylvie."

I picked her up, holding her body so her limbs dangled like a kitten’s.

"Kyu~!" She purred, as if saying hi to everyone.

I didn’t exactly tell my family a lie when I said this but I had already promised myself to tell them everything only when I was older and more capable.

I then asked them to update me on everything that happened to them after we had separated. The only thing I was able to tell from seeing them through the water divination the first time was that they lived here in Xyrus, but nothing more so I was exceptionally curious.

After Father explained what happened since then, my mother chimed in. "That’s right! The Helstea family had gone on a trip but they should be arriving back today. They’re going to be so surprised when they see you, Art!"

I turned to face my mother. She hadn’t changed much since I last saw her. The only thing that I did notice was that she’s lost a bit of weight and was slightly paler in complexion. My heart ached since I knew this was caused from stress and depression after losing me. Father’s body was actually much more built now. Coupled with his beard, he looked a lot more rustic than he had before. I guess working as an instructor for the Helstea Auction House guards had gotten him in shape as well.

"Dad. What color is your mana core now?" I asked while Sylvie made her place back on the top of my head, tail swishing in content.

A confident grin emerged from his face as my father proudly replies, "Your old man broke through from the light red stage a couple years back and is a dark orange mage."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. At the age of early thirties, my father was doing pretty well for himself. The average mage that didn’t attend school usually stagnated at the light red stage, maybe dark orange if they were lucky. Of course it was different for the elites who had a much purer lineage and had access to better resources, but for a standard mage, my father was doing well.

He then asked me, leaning closer, "I bet you only asked me so you could brag yourself. Let’s hear it, what stage are you at now?"

Scratching my cheek, I mumbled, "...light red."

My father had already been leaning forward on his chair, but after hearing that, he stumbled completely out of his chair. Even my mother let out a gasp in surprise.

"Holy shit!" my father exclaimed.

"Shet!" Eleanor echoed, laughing at my father falling.