Chapter 609: Reunion [Part 1]
Along with the rest of the citadel members, Thalen was able to take care of things, curb and control them from escalating.
Since Ryan, Northern, and Shin were already under the temporary canopy of the citadel, there was not much that the civil servants could do.
At last, after all the questions, they let the questioning go. The Lieutenant and his subordinates, however, were nowhere to be found even before the government let them go.
Northern was a bit disappointed; he thought he and Lieutenant Dante had at least become somewhat acquainted.
But the dude left with no goodbyes.
'It's probably all for the best. He has things he is doing, after all.'
Northern sighed and folded his hands. The three of them were standing while they waited for Thalen to wrap things up.
After a while, the headmaster of the Tharion citadel arrived at their front.
Northern, already pissed, frowned as Thalen got to their front.
"What is it with all the questions? Is this how it usually goes?"
Thalen shook his head, "No, this usually does not happen. But aside from the death of the governor, an entire cathedral was destroyed. The government would want the person that caused the destruction of the cathedral to be found."
He looked at Shin and the rest of them, "And you guys were certain that this elf did all these?"
Shin smiled and nodded his head.
Northern had no idea why, but it seemed the entire team had lied on his behalf.
'What a waste of lies...'
Whether or not they found out what he had done was not going to stop him from doing the things he wants to do or going where he wants to go.
It would have definitely become a bother, but Northern was sure he would still be able to walk through it, anyway.
"The government seems to now have a lot on their plates with the death of the governor. This could be the beginning of a major coup in the government."
Thalen was speaking, but his eyes were out of focus, his hands below his chin.
"This could be an opportunity to tap into how this will affect the market before anything does. If it's a coup being led by Lieutenant Dante, it would cause a serious uproar for a while..."
Alystren shook his head slightly and stopped him, making Thalen look at him with the first sentence.
"You are wrong. That guy, he was an Ascendant the last time we saw him and we knew how strong he was, did we not. He is a Paragon now and is ten times stronger than whatever he was before."
Thalen narrowed his eyes, "What are you trying to say?"
"Dante... he has grown very strong. Let's not think lightly of this matter."
Northern exchanged a brief glance between Alystren and the citadel headmaster.
Then he looked down, 'I guess I kind of understand now. That airship, the earthquake, the death of the governor also, was all caused by him. That explains why he left early.'
Northern exhaled and removed his face from the ground.
'Well, I wish him great endeavors in all his dreams.'
He fixed his eyes on Thalen, who was looking at Alystren with a strange expression on his face.
Whatever encounter they had with Dante before, both of them knew. His eyes were asking silently if Alystren was really saying this despite all that.
At least, until Northern's voice cut the sharp silence like a knife through butter.
"So, where from here?"
Thalen sighed.
"The government business is the government business. We should go to the citadel, and I shall continue finding your mother from there."
"There's no need for that. I found my mother."
Thalen's brows lowered intensely. "What?"
Even Shin's eyes blazed. He realized Northern was really serious about that time.
"You mean you found her? Where is she?" Thalen asked, looking around.
"Don't worry, headmaster, she is somewhere safe."
Thalen left a suspicious look on Northern for a few seconds. It had been a short time that he had spent with the white-haired boy.
But he kind of knew when Northern didn't want to share something. He exhaled, closing his eyes and opened them.
"That's fine then. We shall proceed back to Drywall, and from there you can make whatever decision you want to make."
Northern nodded. They were all about to start moving, but Northern suddenly stopped and
spoke out.
"One more thing..."
They all paused and turned to him.
"I need to know something." His eyes drifted to Alystren, then to Thalen. "Who are those hijackers?"
"What hijackers?" Thalen inquired with a puzzled expression.
Northern turned his face to Alystren, "I'm surprised you haven't reported this to the
headmaster yet."
Alystren washed his palm down on his face with a deep exhale.
"Please. Not here. Not now. I was waiting until we board a ship, at least."
"Well, I've been thinking about it. I want to know if it has anything to do with what happened
in Arcadia since our arrival. Why was it when we came that a Lieutenant of the military suddenly strikes and killed the governor who we happened to be staying at his house at the time?"
Thalen paid attention to what Northern was saying first, then he turned to look at Alystren, exhaling again.
"It's not wrong of you to think like that, but like Al had said, this is not a matter for a place like this. We have a private airship; we can discuss this matter there."
Northern examined the Headmaster and Alystren, discovering that the headmaster's
expression at least held a hint of honesty. He responded.
"Alright. Give me a moment to fetch my mother. I will meet you at the airport."
Northern immediately vanished before anyone could say anything.
Instantaneously, he arrived in the Limitless Void and was greeted by Jeci, Lynus, Night Terror,
Black Mamba, Corpse Eater, Revant, and Bairan.
Bairan, most especially, even though he was the oldest and most mature-looking, had his
eyes glittering the moment Northern's form appeared in the Void Palace.
He could already even sense it milliseconds before and had exclaimed with a bright
expression.
"Master is coming! Master is coming!!"
Northern made a weird expression as he saw all of them waiting altogether. He had never seen them like this and wasn't used to this respect, this crowd.
'Weird... very weird.' He shook his head rigorously for a moment and walked away, leaving all
of them.
Northern stood in the dark metallic door that separated him from the room his mother was in.
He had felt her presence ignite while he was absorbing Chaos but was too busy to spare another thought. He was sure that she was awake.
But she had not made any attempt to break out of the place or even scream. It made him a bit confused and curious.
At the same time, the Eisha he had always known was a calm and calculating woman who would not flare up no matter how disoriented the situation was.
No matter the chaos, she would calmly observe and calculate and come to the best answer.
Growing up, he had seen times where the answer to solving a particular mystery would be right there, but he and Shin would often miss it because of their impatience. Then she would just come and bring it out for them.
Whether it was when they were looking for a thing or when they were arguing about a certain
knowledge.
She was a very beautiful and intelligent soul. But again, she and Shin had caused him to not be knowledgeable about a lot of things.
Which made things more than rough for him in the early days.
Northern didn't know why such a thought was coming to his mind when he wanted to fill his
head with how perfect she was, but he exhaled, steadying his breath and mind.
Then he shoved the thought out of his head and opened the door. Eisha was sitting on the bed cross-legged with her baby in her hands. She raised her head as
the door opened and a white-haired boy walked into the room.
Her eyes widened immediately when they beheld Northern, whose lips after entering curled
with a trembling smile.
"Mother."
She stood up with the baby in arms and gently dropped it into the cradle.
Then she turned to Northern, slowly moving closer, her eyes shaking, tears marinating her
eyeballs.
"Northern? My son? It's you?" Her hands moved slowly and shakily.
"Yes, mother. It's me, Northern." His voice was low. He closed his eyes, taking in the genteel
and warm touch of Eisha's hands as they made contact with his cheeks.
Her lips trembled as they opened, as they shook, so did her voice, her cheeks, and her eyes.
Tears streamed down her face.
"I-I-I th-thought I lost you..."
Northern placed his hands on her hands, shutting his eyes more tightly.
Something was wrong. Why? Why could he not bring himself to shed tears?
He was shutting his eyes tightly and drowning in the moment as much as he could, but he felt
nothing, nothing at all.
It felt like there were no tears left to shed.
Northern opened his eyes with a pale smile-deciding to let go of the thought and focus on
his reunion with Eisha.
"I'm sorry, it took me this long to come back."