Oath Visit

“You must have the most stunning inner world I’ve ever seen,” exclaimed Seth, staring at the vast space.

Pearl supported her head on Seth’s shoulder and followed his gaze, “Whenever I was at my lowest, a new world in which everything was perfect appeared inside my mind. World after world, devoid of all the difficulties of the real one kept appearing, allowing me to have a place where I could hide from everything.”

“Still, despite their perfection, the darkness of my reality always found a way to seep inside, taking away their brightness and pulling me back into the depths of darkness. That all changed when you appeared, brighter and more real than everything my mind could ever create.”

“You, all alone, pushed away the darkness inside my soul and covered it with your warm and soothing light.”

“Thank you again, Seth. Thank you for coming into my life.”

Seth sighed and said, “You give me too much credit.”

“Not at all,” whispered Pearl as she moved around Seth, arrived before him, and met his eyes. “I don’t care if the whole world hates you; if you become a monster that reaps all life inside the world, you’ll always be my sun. And it’s not just me. I’m sure all of us are already just like these worlds, revolving around you and looking up to you as our sun.”

Seth smiled and didn’t argue with her any longer, “Thank you, Pearl, for your words and for showing me this.”

Pearl nodded, and both disappeared from space.

In the real world, Pearl and Seth opened their eyes simultaneously, the sweat from their earlier act still covering their bodies, not having time to dry up yet.

Seth supported himself using one hand, moved Pearl’s pink hair from her face, and smiled back at her. “How are you feeling?”

Pearl looked down at the mark covering her waist, moving her hand over it before nodding as her smile grew even more prominent. “Never been better.”

As she rejoiced in finally joining Seth as his lover, the mark on her belly appearing as proof, she felt something shaking deep inside her and looked back up at Seth.

“Someone else also seems to be waking up.”

Seth chuckled and caressed her cheek. “It’s not my fault you are so beautiful. Remember, I lost the ability to control my body freely. It will calm down in a bit.”

Pearl bit her lip and moved her legs behind Seth’s thighs, holding him in place after only pulling halfway out of her. “Does it have to calm down?”

“Weren’t you scared just before?” asked Seth, swiftly thrusting back into Pearl’s depths.

“Ahhh~~” Pearl let out a passionate moan, her head lifting and seeking Seth’s lips.

A few hours later, Pearl and Seth were sitting side by side, the bed covered in the marks of their love. Pearl was panting hard and staring at the ceiling as she said, “Damn, can’t believe the others have been experiencing this all this time while I was left on the side to dry.”

“They didn’t come to me with dreams of becoming a knight,” said Seth matter-of-factly, eliciting a slight pout from Pearl.

After cuddling around for a few more minutes, Seth cleaned them both and sat up, covering himself with a new set of clothes.

“Do you have to go?” asked Pearl, sitting on her belly and watching Seth as he got dressed.

“I do. After what happened with Lisa, I must visit Oath as soon as possible. There’s also the announcement of my return, preparing some contingencies for the situation in the north, and I also need to see the Council to check on the horror situation.”

“Can’t you just take a break and spend some time here with us?” asked Pearl with a sigh.

“After getting you all back, I feel that if I stop running, I might lose you all over again. There’s no way I can let something like what happened with Kronos repeat itself. I must also catch up since everyone has already surpassed me in cultivation.”

Pearl released a resigned sigh and turned around, laying on the bed as a lingerie set manifested on her body. “Fine... I’ll just rest for a while; come find me if I can help in any way.”

“Do you want me to send Caitlin to you?” asked Seth, knowing she most likely was still quite sore.

Pearl shook her head with a smile, “Nah, I want it to pass naturally. This pain symbolizes our union, and you already destroyed the sheets.”

Seth nodded and bent down to kiss her lips. “Alright. I’m going now.”

After Pearl’s nod, Seth reappeared in Maya’s office, finding her and Hollie looking through some papers.

“What are you two doing?”

“Damage control on your party with Lisa and taking care of the announcement of your arrival, even tho people already know about it,” said Maya.

“How did it go with Pearl?” asked Hollie.

“Good. The mark was applied with no issue, and she’s now resting. How long until I have to make the announcement?”

“Tomorrow, most likely. We can do it quicker on TV, but it would be better if you appeared in person. You’ve been missing for so long that some people barely remember you, and others only know you from the history books.”

“Tomorrow’s fine. I’ll leave everything to you while I visit Oath quickly.”

“About that…” added Maya, “I forgot to tell you about it, with everything going on, but Cain has been waiting for you to return. He needs a favor from you….”

“Cain?” asked Seth in confusion.

“Yes. Do you know that he and Molly had been crowned King and Queen by Henrietta?”

Seth’s eyebrows rose in surprise, the memories of the parallel timeline briefly passing through his mind. The same thing had happened there as well.

“I didn’t know, but I understand. What about that request?”

“With Cain being an ascended and Molly, well… human, there had been some issues. When Molly started aging, Cain came here and asked around the academy for a way to keep her young. However, while life energy could technically reverse her aging, her soul will still decay, so I instructed the academy to inform him there was no way they could help.”

“To keep him from probing further, Henrietta had told him of what you did to her, affinity changing. Now that you are back, Cain will ask you to do the same to Molly without a doubt.”

“That’s indeed an issue… I’ll see what I can do,” said Seth. “I’m going to Oath now. I leave everything here in your hands.”

“What about Lisa? She had already returned to her reconstructed apartment, but we don’t know what she’ll do next,” asked Hollie.

“She didn’t run to Oath as soon as she recovered?” asked Seth in surprise.

Hollie shook her head.

“Leave her be for now, but be ready to incapacitate her if she does something dumb. If she teleports to Oath, let her do it.”

As Hollie nodded, Maya added: “If you’re going to have Henrietta teleport you to Oath, have her accompany you as well. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“I already planned on having her come. I need her help with what I want to do there,” said Seth.

“Good.”

After pacifying Maya, Seth kissed her and Hollie before teleporting to the city outskirts, where Henrietta was lying on her back in the tall grass.

“I can’t believe you sent me here to shoot my energy at the sky while you’ve been fooling around with Pearl.”

Seth chuckled and extended a hand toward her. “Let’s go to Oath.”

“Oath?” asked Henrietta, grabbing his hand and pulling herself up.

“Stuff to do, old people to meet,” replied Seth as Henrietta broke space, and the two disappeared inside the space tear.

When they next appeared, they were on the same hill Seth had first walked to Oath all those years back. Looking at the city now, while it was not as impressive as Endora’s capital, it was nothing like the one in his memories.

“Can you find Lisa’s family?” asked Seth as he looked over the splendid city.

“I already know where they are,” Henrietta sighed. “Want to go there now?”

“Yeah.” Seth barely finished his word as space warped around them, and they both appeared in a large garden at the city’s edge. On a simple bench, two old people sat and fed the birds flocking down from the sky.

The birds flew away with the pair’s appearance, and the old couple turned simultaneously toward them.

“Your Highness,” said the old man with a slight nod.

“The years have not been kind to you, Saif,” said Seth, waving his hand and freezing the old man in time.

The woman on the side, Julie, brought her hand to her lips and let out a weak laugh. “This brings back many old memories, Your Highness.”

Seth smiled at the white-haired old woman and nodded, “I couldn’t help myself. How have you been, Julie?”

Julie looked down at her wrinkled hands and sighed, “I’ve had better days, but I guess that’s the difference between you ascended and us humans. Time will never look as favorably on us as it does on you.”

“You look the same as you did the first day I saw you.”

“Time has been nothing but a bitch for us too, Julie. Trust me,” said Seth with a laugh, coming closer to Julie.

“Why have you come here? I doubt you will come all this way to exchange old stories with already half-dead people.” Julie asked as she opened her tired eyes to look straight into Seth’s.

“To keep a promise and return something to you,” said Seth as he turned towards Henrietta. “Can you manifest the human heart, Henri?”

Henrietta, watching silently on the side, hesitated for a second before lifting her hand, the sword mark on her hand coming to life and drifting forward to hover before Julie.

Julie looked at the strange-looking mark ask asked, “What is this? It feels familiar…”

“Touch it, and you will know.”

Julie nodded and lifted her wrinkled hand, gently touching the floating treasure. Her eyes widened when she came into contact with the heart, and her mind blanked out shortly after.

“What will you do if she accepts it?” asked Henrietta, already knowing what had happened in the past.

“I have fulfilled my promise. Whatever happens next is Julie’s choice. I would lie if I said I didn’t hope she would reject it deep inside, but even if she does, I’ll still have to make some unpleasant things from here on...”

“Because of Lisa?” asked Henrietta.

“Indeed. I need Julie to give Lisa the push she needs so I won’t have to be the one to do it, and for that to happen, she needs to accept those memories. How I wish things -“

“Your wish came true.” Henrietta sighed as she interrupted Seth, turning to look at him. “She’s trying to absorb the heart inside her soul. Should I let her have it?”

Seth shook his head, “Just let it nurture her soul and body. It’s useless to you anyway for now, and once I get Isabel back, you can draw the heart back inside your body. She might die at any moment if we don’t do it.”

Henrietta waved her hand, and Julie’s body was engulfed in flames, the human heart slowly entering her body.