Chapter 104: Secret’s Out

Solomon ran so hard and fast that he left clear indentationsin the soil from his boots.

Sunrise was still hours away. The air outside was cool and crisp as winter slowly approached the realm.

And yet, Solomon was burning.

The fire in his chest screamed at him with deafening roars. The pressure between his ears was so great that he could not form a string of thoughts.

Instinct was the only thing still driving him. He moved out of fear of what he would do if he stayed.

Solomon had come to realize that he hated feeling powerless. He hated it even more after becoming a deathless.

Sitting across from a man he hated to his core while he talked about aimless nonsense was bad enough. What made things worse was hearing him mention Nila.

Would he resort to brainwashing her as well in an effort to get closer to Solomon? The sheer fact that he couldn’t deny the possibility was enough to send him spiraling into madness.

He wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him so desperately that he could barely see straight. As his vision became filled with red, his body began to reflect his immense anger.

His skin roughened and turned black, like charcoal.

Cracks spread along his skin, revealing the magma-like blood underneath his flesh.

His clothes burned beyond recognitionwhile his boots melted right off his feet. Solomon’s headache worsened until he could barely stand. And yet, he knew he had to keep running.

The last thing he wanted was to cause another incident.

As he stumbled, he called out for the one being he could rely on.

“Mercy..!”

Flames licked at the ground as an umbral horse rose from the nothingness.

Solomon hurled himself onto his beast’s back mid-run. As he lay across Mercy’s back, dark horns began to sprout from the sides of his head.

“Get me… as far away from here as you can…!”

–

Back in Yari’s bedroom, the mood was slightly less somber.

Subtle giggling arose from the bed as a very playful water spirit danced around in the air.

“She seems more excitable since the last time I saw her.” Jiaoying smiled.

Yari’s face warmed. “She is simply showing out for the sake of it… Please do not feed into her childishness.”

As if to illustrate her point, Nereid stuck her tongue out at Yari and inserted her thumbs into her ears.

“B-Back inside with you!”

Yari held up her gem, and Nereid resentfully went inside.

“Aww. I was having fun.” Jiaoying pouted slightly.

“Please do not encourage her antics. It only further fuels the delusion that she is actually funny.”

Natureally, the girls roll over to face each other without saying a word.

They stare at each other for quite a long while, simply admiring the grandeur of each other’s faces.

That was, at least until they began to think about the man they were missing.

“…Earlier, when Bear was having that nightmare…” Jiaoying shifted in bed uncomfortably. “I’m pretty sure he said the name ’Uriel’… Do you know anything about who that might be..?”

Yari grimaces slightly. “That…”

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and the sound of frantic footsteps.

“Auntie! Are you here??”

Jiaoying and Yari rolled out of bed at the same time and comically hit the floor.

“J-Just a minute!” Yari called.

She hurriedly rushed over to her discarded bathrobe and wrapped it around her uncovered form.

“I-Is… someone in there with you?” Nila asked from outside.

“N-No, sweetie, why would you think that??”

“I can sense someone in there with you!”

Jiaoying sucked in her aura.

“Now I can’t feel anything but you! There is someone in there!”

Yari and Jiaoying looked towards each other with helpless looks.

Slowly, the bedroom door opened, and Nila’s jaw hit the floor.

Jiaoying stood behind Yari, hoping that it would make her a bit less noticeable. It did not.

“H-Hey there, kiddo…”

The elf stumbles backward as she points a trembling finger.

“W-What is this…!? I was led to believe that you and friend Solomon were in cahoots!”

Yari blinked, unsure of how exactly Nila could have possibly come by that information. “’That… well.. It’s a long story.”

“You need not tell it.” Nila held up her hand. “I am more than thrilled to know that Solomon was a weaver of lies, and I shall dole out the appropriate punishment to him at the proper time!”

“Actually…”

“I cannot indulge in a moment of idle chatter with the two of you right now, no matter how desperately I would like answers to this craven development! But Solomon, the big-lipped liar, is in trouble!”

“”Trouble?”” Jiaoying and Yari tensed up in unison.

Nila nodded bitterly. “Grandfather took him to his office some time ago… I-I think he is going to try and enforce disciplinary action on Solomon for his actions in Darrod.”

Jiaoying’s face immediately turned red. “Oh, gods… H-He knows about that??”

“Master Abel told him! If he hadn’t stopped Solomon, he would have cut the short-nosed instructor’s nose off!”

Yari and Jiaoying blink slowly, no longer exactly sure of what Nila could possibly be talking about.

“What are-”

Suddenly, Nila raised her finger and pointed beyond both women. “What is that!!?”

When the pair turned around, they could see the object of Nila’s focus.

Rising into the sky, illuminating the dark night, was a great pillar of fire.

Yari immediately recognized the particularly vibrant orange color of the flames. Her expression darkened, and her voice became deadly serious.

“Nila, dear… Go to Solomon’s room and get Raizel. Then you both need to meet us at that pillar.”

“But why-”

“Go, child, we don’t have time for questions.”

Biting her lip, Nila nodded as she rushed out of the room.

As soon as she was gone, Yari and Jiaoying set themselves on the task of getting dressed.

Jiaoying hopped around the room to pull her pants over her butt as quickly as she could. “Do you think, ugh, this might’ve been a part of what he was going to tell us earlier..?”

“…I am almost certain of it.” Yari zipped up her dress and donned a simple robe. “He was correct about one thing though…If he doesn’t have a good explanation for his actions, I’m definitely going to be upset with him.”

Jiaoying nodded grimly in agreement. “What were you thinking, Bear..? Why would you attack an instructor..?”

“Who cares about that!” Yari was on the verge of pulling her hair out.

“Didn’t you hear?? He told my niece about us!”

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