Chapter 124 - Returning To Neuval

Zell walked back inside of his grandfather's tomb and the old king reformed before him. "I am still here. Did you have no luck, my grandson?" The old king asked.

Zell held out his hand and showed the old king the small sliver of wood. "If you take this, you will be returned to the cycle." Zell said as he held his hand out for his grandfather to take it from him.

The old king stared at the small piece of wood and thought about all it meant to be reborn. He hesitated, unwilling to end his own existence. "Please put it in my hand for me." He asked softly. "I cannot find the strength of will to do this myself."

"I understand." Zell said as he steeled himself to set his grandfather free. He walked over to him and placed the small piece of wood into the old king's hands. As he did the old king's entire body began to glow until finally, he vanished from sight. "Goodbye grandfather. I hope your next life is filled with joy."

With the key in hand Zell left the tomb and flew back to the village where Jeff was waiting for him. He landed next to Jeff and showed him the key.

"I see you have the key." Jeff said. "That is excellent. Tell me was it as easy as you thought it was? Sometimes visiting the graves of relatives can be hard."

"It was nothing I could not handle." Zell said. He felt sadness for the loss of his grandfather who he just met, but knew he was better off not being trapped. "Now take me to the books please."

"Right, follow me." Jeff said as he turned and walked to a corner of the village. He got down on his hands and knees and pulled up a piece of grass that covered a locked steel door. He held his hand out to Zell. "Key please."

Zell handed him the key and Jeff used it on the locked door. As the mechanisms inside moved a loud click was sounded through the area. Jeff opened the door and revealed a hole in the ground with a steel ladder that descended into the darkness.

"Okay your books are down here in this chamber." Jeff said as he started to walk away. "Take what you need, and I will lock up when you are done."

Zell climbed down the ladder and found himself in a massive chamber beneath the ground. Fully encased lanterns lit up as Zell reached the floor and they illuminated the chamber around him. Thousands upon thousands of books were piled in the chamber. Zell scratched his head at the arduous task before him.

"Shit that is a lot of books." Zell said. He thought back to the images he watched with Yrag and recalled what the cover of the book looked like. It appeared as if all of the reproductions all had been perfectly recreated so Zell hoped the cover would match.

He used his insane speed to check the books one by one. After searching through six thousand four hundred thirty-seven books, he finally found the one he had been searching for. The language that was unreadable to everyone was English. "That's why Rose could read it where everyone else failed." Zell said.

He started thumbing through the book but was disheartened by it being mostly the ravings of a made man. There was an entire school of magic he called necromancy chronicled within the pages. Spells for life draining, creating undead, and curse magic. "Where is it?" Zell said as he was getting frustrated, that he could not find the portal spell that Rose had used.

When he was at the last five pages of the book, he had found it. Descriptions of a way to be transported across the multiverse using the power of stolen soul power. It exploited the cycle of death and rebirth to make the travel possible.

Just as a fresh unclaimed cleansed soul is able to travel through the multiverses freely, this magic made it possible to trick the system and allow anyone to travel freely. The book spoke of how he successfully created portals to far away lands. Lands of magic and swords as well as other lands of science and technology. He found the spell to travel to the most advanced universe that the past necromancer had found. He figured that was the most likely place that Rose went.

Zell closed the book in his hand and teleported back to Neuval's throne room. The room was empty as it was the middle of the night. Zell had spent the whole day away on his mission. He walked the halls of the castle checking the rooms but could not find any signs of life.

Finally, he made his way to the royal bedchamber, hoping to find his mother at least resting inside. As he opened the door there was no one inside. On the bed was a bloodied note with a dagger through it. The dagger looked unlike any Zell had seen. It looked as if it were high technology and did not belong in this fantasy world. He walked over to the note and picked it up.

[Dearest brother, I have captured our worthless mother and the demon lord. I have taken them to a place that you cannot follow as I have the only key to its existence. If you wish to see either of them alive again then I hope to find your dead body waiting for me when I return in three days' time. Please use this dagger and plunge it deep into your heart.

You are just too dangerous to keep alive and after racking my brain trying to figure out a way to kill you it hit me. The only person strong enough to kill you big brother is you. So do the world and me a favor. If not, you will be responsible for the deaths of our dear mother and your demon lord friend. It was quite a surprise to find you had befriended the demon lord and ended the war in such a short time. But more hostages are always nice, so thanks.

Rose.]