The Heritor of Illipia

Chapter 29

Nearing the end is such a saddening thing, but at least things are going to come to a close.
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        Things had gone relatively well for them in Lanox. Ara didn't have many problems as she helped with fighting off the creatures of the forest that felt the need to take advantage of Lanox's chaos. It had already gotten dark far before the time Ara returned. The smell of much needed food met her when she and the others returned to where Aisha, Lu, and Ciel were watching the campsite.

        Zhu was also there with their prisoner, Rose. He was likely annoyed by the robot companion she owned that had refused to answer any questions or remain still for that matter. Zhu was forced to restrain the both of them with his tails. "The boy isn't here. I sense that he is not in a good mood at the moment," Eun commented within Ara's mind.

        She was correct. (Y/n) was nowhere to be found even so late at night. Neither was Ykuei, but Ara wasn't really able to tell where he was regardless. The hybrid child was often lurking around with invisibility active. It also seemed that Ara and Eun were not the only ones to notice (y/n)'s absence. "Is (y/n) not back yet?" Elsword asked as the returning team members neared the fire. Aisha shook her head and Lu pointed off towards the woods.

        "He won't say anything and he's been in the same spot the whole time. Ykuei asked us to help him, but we don't know what's wrong," Ciel explained. Ara didn't hesitate to head towards where Lu had pointed. Elsword and Chung followed as well hoping that they could solve the problem. When they reached him, he was sitting on the ground with his back against the tree he had been sitting in when Ara first left.

        "Are you okay?" Ara asked even though she already knew that he wasn't. She had to start the conversation somehow. (Y/n) looked at her with dull emerald green eyes. For some reason, his aura was partially active, yet Ara was unable to tell until seeing the color of his eyes. "No, I'm not. I've never felt this trapped before," he admitted with his blank stare.

        "What happened? Did Zhu say something to you? Maybe Ykuei did..." Chung probed. He got no response, not even a glance. "You can't expect us to help you if you won't tell us what's wrong. We're your teammates now. Not just that, but we're your friends. If there's anything we can do to help, we'll do it without a problem," Elsword spoke up. His words seemed to gain some attention from (y/n), but his overall state of depression did not change.

        "I don't feel like talking about it, okay. I'm not in the mood right now," (y/n) muttered. Ara refused to accept that as an answer. "You said that before I left and now you're in worse condition. There's no way I'm leaving without some sort of explaination," Ara firmly declared. It upset her to see (y/n) like this. He'd been through a lot. That much was obvious, but now he had allies to help him get through anything.

        "I'm going to die tomorrow," (y/n) quietly said. His expression sadened and he stared at the ground as if searching for something, anything at all to strike his interest. "That's foolishness. How could he be so certain that he'll die tomorrow. We haven't even decided to attack Scar yet!" Eun exclaimed. Ara agreed with her, but she also knew that there was a reason for (y/n)'s words. "Die? You won't die. Illipia is on our side. She's got our backs," Elsword said.

        (Y/n) shook his head at him. "She's the one that's going to kill me. Ykuei told me what happens to those chosen by the godesses. Aside from Ishmael, none of them are allowed to give direct aide to anyone. It's a sin that doesn't come without a price," he explained. Of course Ykuei had told him something ridiculous like that. Ara personally found it hard to believe that Ykuei was trustworthy, but the elf demon child had done nothing to harm them.

        "Illipia is the goddess of light and life. She doesn't kill. That shouldn't be possible," Chung said. He had to be right. If anyone knew about the godesses, he certainly did. He was given a royal education being in Hamel all his life. The lore of their world was one of his required studies. "That's not entirely true," (y/n) said. And it was then that he told them everything he knew about how his death would take place. He gave them Ykuei's warning and told them of Scar's plan.

        Ara knew he hadn't lied about it. He was the very last person in the El Search Party that would lie about such a thing. How could a goddess be so cruel? "There's no way to know if that day is tomorrow, right? Illipia may still need you to be her inheritor after tomorrow," Chung muttered. He wasn't the only one that still held on to the small amount of hope left. The situation was bleak beyond reason, so even that was hard to manage.

        "I could ask her right now, but hearing her would disrupt my calm. I don't want to harm any of you," (y/n) said. He clearly didn't think anything of Chung's optimistic theory. "Calm? You're sitting under a tree feeling sorry for yourself. That's called being depressed, (y/n). You forced me to function, so now I have to return the favor," Elsword said. The red head immediately regreted his words when (y/n) shot him a glare.

        It wasn't the glare that had scared them all. It was the change in color of his eyes and increase in aura. "I've come close to death more times than anyone. I don't like this situation any more than you do. I get that you're trying to help, but you're alive, Elsword. You're still living and you've always seemed to be unafraid of death until you experienced it yourself. Look at things from my perspective for a moment. I'm sick of all of this," he fumed.

        "He's reached his human limitation for tolerance. He doesn't even realize the limits of his power. It's miraculously increasing. To think that Zhu was able to create this..." Eun noted. (Y/n)'s gaze went to the ground as he began to ignore them. Although he seemed to have calmed down a bit, his eyes remained red and his aura was still swelling with power. It was frightening.

         "You get one hour. After that, I'm draging you nack to camp whether you want to come back or not. We've got a final battlw to plan for and you'll need to be well informed. The rest can be discussed early tomorrow morning, alright. We've got your back, so rest easy for a bit," Elsword said with a sigh. They had no choice but to leave him.

        "What did you mean by that, Eun? You said Zhu created something," Ara inquired as she headed back with Elsword and Chung. "That fox meant to kill (y/n) before it could reach this point, but now the power that Zhu had been cultivating belongs to (y/n). I believe General Zhen may have increased the growth rate of that dangerous power," Eun explained.

        None of what she said made any sense to Ara. "I don't get it," she quietly muttered to herself. "Quit simply put, (y/n) has the potential to overthrow even the most deadliest of foes. His mother would be weak in comparison should he awaken that power. Zhu meant to cultivate it for himself, but this would have made him too powerful. It's quit miraculous really..." Eun mused.

        Before Ara could question Eun any further, a petrifying aura shot through the forest. Ara wanted to turn back and go to save (y/n) from whatever it was, but she couldn't move. Not only was fear a major factor, but the fact that Ara had never sensed such power also played a part. "It's happened already? But what set him off? We left him alone," Eun said.

        "What are you talking about? You're saying that thing you just mentioned already happened?!" Ara mentally whimpered. There was no way for her to confirm it. She, along with Elsword and Chung, we frozen in place. It wasn't just them either. All of the search party and any living creature within (y/n)'s radius had felt the force of his tolerance finally snapping. And if that wasn't enough, Elria and Henir, the highest beings of power, became aware of his existence and potential threat to them both.
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Looks like an explaination is coming up soon. But I just had to put an Ara chapter in here at some point. Until next time you excellent readers!