Where The Dead Ones Go Book 3 -Emirate-

Chapter 20

"All is well, but the moment I am of age to take the Cretonian throne, I decided to secede it to the House Freedel, the retainer of our family for countless of centuries, thousands of years," he nodded at the archduke who bowed deeply at him, "However, they are as stubborn as ever. They refused the title of the grand duke and settled in using the archduke instead. Supposedly to wait for my or my heir's apparent return to lead Cretonia. Eons passed, and still, Freedel clings to the notion that somehow I can sit again to that throne your ancestors has insisted on keeping empty and decided to stand at the foot of it instead."

Yosefo inclined his head sadly and nodded, "That is basically the long and short of what House Freedel has done since the fall. Seeing you here, I dare to hope that somehow, you can come back to us finally."

"I already paid the ultimate price to even exist as a shadow of my former self to save not just the empire, no, the empire that we know of are no longer here in all intents and purposes. Our Majesty and we are here to make sure that our respective provinces will be saved and experience life way more than what we have before. To lead Cretonia is nothing but a dream of a dream, so to speak," Barius said plainly that left Yosefo forlorn and hopeless, "Ascending to the grand duchy's throne may be one of the paths that I should have taken. But the time for me to choose has finally gone away and we can no longer change a thing."

"Barius..."

He looked down at me and to my surprise, he gently touched my lips and my friends gasped when he wiped away a drop of blood that just appeared because of me overexerting myself just to give him a corporeal physical form.

"There are a lot of times that His Majesty, the late emperor has given me the chance to return home to Cretonia should I wish to do so and he will not hold it against me," he confessed as the archduke gasped when he heard that while my retainer glanced at him, "If you really have the ancient scriptures of Yurgo and the other noble families, you already know why I didn't, right, Yosefo?"

The leader of the Cretonian Union smiled sadly and wiped away the tears from his eyes with renewed motivation and acceptance, "He, Archduke Yurgo, has written in his personal memoirs that the day before you disappeared with the empress, you told him personally that though it pains you to leave him and the other houses behind, you don't want to go. But this sacrifice that you have made is your way of making sure that Cretonia will survive on what is yet to come. All you can wish for is that you will never be forgotten."

"And he did it by slapping my face on every available portrait at the government building of Cretonia and erecting statues of me on all corners of the province," Barius said whimsically that made Narcine and Eonia giggled despite themselves as Yosefo smiled lopsidedly as if embarrassed as to what his ancestor has done.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, there's not a single Cretonian complaining about the proliferation of your statues and portraits, Grand Duke," Eonia said frankly that made Narcine giggle even more.

"You are easy on the eyes so no complaints whatsoever," the demiurge of Persephone piped in that made my retainer sigh in resignation.

"Well, I don't want Her Majesty to be in pain anymore. I am sure His Majesty, the new Emperor Consort will not be pleased if he sees his wife collapsed on the day of his wedding, well, not on the banquet, if you all know what I mean..."

I gasped when he joked about something like that that made everyone here burst out laughing as I feel my face redden in embarrassment.

"Barius! How could you?!"

"I just want to see you again flustered, Your Majesty. After all that we've been through, I and the rest of your loyal comrades are getting terribly worried that you are neglecting to show any emotions," he then voluntarily willed himself to slowly disappear into the light once more but not before playfully saluting at Yosefo, "Sorry to dash your hopes, descendant of Yurgo. Looks like you would have to continue warming the throne for me. But welp, who knows? Anything goes in this world of ours."

And with that, he completely vanished into dust motes leaving me once more and returning to my soul where he and our companions are residing until the fated day when we will once more stand side by side against the very thing that destroyed everything that we ever cared for in this world and the last.

We continued chatting and enjoying each other's companies until suddenly, the whole banquet hall becomes silent and Morris pointed at the Balcony where Kairos is slowly walking towards to and the two familiar winged deities descending for the starry skies above.

"Mother..."

I slowly stand up when I saw once again the very goddess that I never expected to be here this day accompanied by her brother and the two are still wearing the uniforms of the Auxiliary Class.

Morris gasped the moment they landed softly and looked up above them before offering their hands to a very beautiful and shimmering goddess wearing a gown as if made from the starry night skies itself.

Her gorgeous black hair is peppered with brilliant diamonds that shine like the stars above and her eyes are glowing in seemingly perpetual white luminosity.

The goddess thanked her two escorts as she let them guide her hand-in-hand towards the interior of the banquet hall as she smiled at each and every mortals and immortals who greeted her upon her arrival.

Kairos bowed deeply before him as she did the same when they finally met and allowed him to guide the three of them towards our direction as I walked towards their direction slowly.

"Forgive me for taking away your mother and uncle on the very important day of your life, Your Imperial Majesty," the apologetic goddess said as I humbly presented myself to the deity who represented everything I lost in the past and everything that I yearned for in the future, "If I am to regain my corporeal form even for just mere moments, I need the two deities who embodies hope and death, the beginning and the end for the mortals that I ever loved. It is my deepest wish to meet the ones who gave my son a home and a family that I can never provide on my own."

Kairos and I smiled at her as we saw the god of wealth bringing back his playmate to finally meet his parent at long last.

"Mother?"

"Hyro, my son, it is I indeed," the breathless mother gasped when she finally saw her child she yearned for so long, "I am here, as I promised a long time ago."

Mortals and immortals alike shed a tear for the separated mother and son as they finally embraced one another like they will never let go of each other.

"You're here mother! I love you..."

"And I love you more, Hyro..."

My own mother looked at me before raising an eyebrow teasingly, "The last time I met you, you didn't even have a boyfriend and now, you are already married?! Who in Gearth taught you be so decisive and to take initiative? I doubt it's your classmates, Vivet."

Two loud coughings can be heard and when we looked at a table a few steps away from ours, we saw the goddess of discord and her daughter pretending not to know anything but at the same time, making it known that they are to blame.

"I should have known," the goddess of hope said as Eris drank her glass full of wine in one gulp before giggling sarcastically, "But I will not say that it is a bad thing. To be perfectly honest, it did help you a lot, right, my daughter? Not just in battle but also in your love life. I will not raise any concerns about this."

The god of death clapped the back of his son and nodded at him approvingly, "So far so good, my Morris. Now, if you can find yourself a lovely bride for yourself and give a few grandchildren then I will be fine."

"Now now, Thanatos, I am sure that my daughter will help him work it out," mother said as the goddess of the stars approached us with her son in her loving arms, "Seeing you meet the child you yearned for is enough payment for all the troubles you caused us, Asteria."

The starry goddess nodded gratefully as she gave Hyro back to me, "I am forever in your debt, and you know it. Not only did you helped me meet him, but your daughter also gave him a loving family. It is so much more than I can ask from you all."

"He will lead humanity beyond you, Lady Asteria," I said solemnly as the starry goddess looked at me with her bright eyes, "That much I can promise you and I will do all that I can to make sure it will happen soon rather than later."

She bowed at me before touching the face of her son fondly as she prepares to meet Zeus and other immortals, "Do what you must, Vivet. The path that you chose is the only path that you alone can finish on your own accord. On the fated day, the stars themselves will descend from the heavens to clear a way for you to blaze through."

And with that, Asteria bade farewell to her son who thanks her for everything and she told him that I and Kairos are his parents from now on in Gearth but she will always be his mother in the stars above.

Ms Irene and Mr Atomo then took care of mother and Uncle Thanatos as they lead them to the buffet table to eat with my friends following them with the leader of the union leaving me with my family all alone as we head to the balcony to spend a little time alone.

"Vivet, will we be able to deliver the promises that we made?"

I looked at my husband who conjured an ephemeral clock made of black light in his right hand that is stuck at midnight.

"Will we truly leave a continent, no, a world far greater than what you have reigned over to Hyro?"

I nodded solemnly at him as we looked at our son who is sleeping already in my arms peacefully, "We must, Kairos. After all, what kind of parents are we if we don't give nothing but the best for our child?"

"I am just worried..."

"About what?"

He then raised his clock above his head before unleashing its time-stopping powers, "About the price that we must pay in order to achieve that, Vivet."

"No price is too great if it means that we can secure a grand future not only for Hyro but for the whole Gearth. I once turned my back on Tiera, I will not do so again. By the skin of my teeth, grovelling and crawling if needed, I will succeed, Kairos."

"Why do you care so much about others?" he asked that made me fall silent, "Is it because of your position, or is it because of guilt?"

I inclined my head at him and smiled sadly, "Maybe both? That and I want our friends and loved ones to enjoy the things that my people did eons ago. Isn't it wrong for a person to wish nothing but the best for the ones he or she cares for the most?"

"No. It's just, I've got a feeling that this will not be as easy as the immortals make it sound," he replied in a worried voice as he glanced at the unmoving immortals and mortals behind us inside the banquet hall, "Aside from Apollo, Athena, Ares, Hera and Artemis, most of the Olympians and their close allies are treating Typhon as something that can be quickly dealt with."

I heaved a heavy sigh and shrugged my soldiers to show that I expected as much, "I never expected them to fully understand what they will be facing even though some have already been beaten soundly by Typhon eons ago. Maybe they forgot how terrible and powerful he is, many will underestimate him of course and outside the goddess of darkness and her spawns with Khronos, only a select few will truly appreciate the unmeasurable capabilities of what we are dealing with."

"And you already know how to circumvent it?"

I looked at my husband and shook my head, "Circumvent? No, we will not turn around and look for another path nor we will jump through hoops just to think of a way to defeat him. No. We will face him head on and let the immortals themselves experience themselves the horror of our opponent firsthand."

"Are you telling me that that is your plan of action all along?" he asked in shock as I just nodded quickly, "That you are going to just meet Typhon in battle face to face?"

"Yes. Besides, I doubt with the Olympians at the helm, they will not try any other tactics than charging forward with all that the strength and power they can muster," I said matter-of-factly as I hugged our now fast asleep son, "Then and only then, will they realize the futility of their action and experience true trepidation to bring their overconfident senses back to reality."

"If they managed to escape the battle existing to rue the day they underestimated our adversary," Kairos said quietly and I just inclined my head at him, "Unless, it's your plan to let them taste defeat first so that they can truly learn their lesson?"

I laughed softly and looked at my own trembling hands, "Maybe? I would be underestimating our opponent if not for the fact that my very empire crumbled and fall to him. I and Khrnos know what he is capable of, unlike other mortals and immortals. Our class knows just how much strength he can bring to be bear. The fools will have to learn their lesson the hard way so that they can witness with their very own eyes the terror that my people did that day. So that those who had forgotten about the horrors of The Fall will remember just how much at stake is here now that we are backed in a corner without any escape plan."

"Vivet..."

"Yes, Kairos. Mortals and immortals alike, they must know true desperation and defeat before they can appreciate the light and hope they so underestimated," I said in a cold voice that made my husband look at me forebodingly, "After all, would you truly appreciate hope and light enough to fight seriously for it have you not experienced darkness of nothingness firsthand?"