Chapter 87 - Four Years

The wind blows aggressively, making the trees sway and dance. The leaves swirl around as it falls on the ground peacefully but then it got thrown away when a group of humans sprints across the forest.

They didn't stop for a rest and continued sprinting as if they have been chased. Dodging every corner and obstacle, for them, wasn't an annoyance or a hindrance but rather a challenge that added to the fun. 

They did that multiple times until they arrived at the waterfalls. The sound of the splashing water makes them excited and didn't hesitate to jump down on the water. Feeling the fresh cold water hit their skin as they swim upwards to catch their breath.

"Wah! That was nice!" 

The group laughed as they went to the land and dried themselves. They played around once again and went back to a different location and sprint without stopping to take a rest. They have been doing that as some sort of exercise to train their body.

It didn't take long before they arrived at an open field where a woman is standing with a smile forming on her lips. She's wearing male clothes but her face is still feminine even though she had a male haircut.

The leader of the group walked towards her with a warm smile and kneeled before her which the rest of the group followed.

"Master, we have arrived," Alexjin bowed his head and kissed the hand of his master.

Geraldine looked at the man before her, wearing a black wet tunic and his hair have remaining water droplets that fall on his skin. Geraldine couldn't help but chuckle.

It's been four years since they are living together, hidden away from the public's eye. Alexjin becomes the man that she always wanted. Tall, strong with a dominating aura that a single look from him can shake a man's core.

"I see. You all grown up so well," Geraldine looks at the children behind him who have grown up so well that you won't think that they used to be slaves.

"Master!" They said in unison and continued bowing down.

"All of you, raise up. You don't need to bow all the time," Geraldine waved her hands and the group stands up and shows her their wide smile. 

"Let's go and eat. Aurelie must be waiting for us," Geraldine turned her back and started walking as the rest followed her.

For the last four years, they spend together. Geraldine makes them train non-stop until they reached their limits but also rewarded their hard work. It was tough and small or big fights happened all the time because of misunderstanding but at the end of the day. They are still a team that worked together.

For Geraldine, she's finally created a group that would support Alexjin back and is loyal to him no matter what happened and for Alexjin, he became a man who is fully committed and loyal to her and will follow each of her commands.

Her plan went smoothly when she decided to stay inside the house and trained them. She also pushes aside other things she needed to do such as the Stygian cards, as she planned to search for the lost cards when she goes back home. 

For now, she's focused on the medicinal plants that she grow and stored for years and tried every possible way to ease the pain that Aurelie felt. Two years ago, Aurelie's symptoms instantly becomes aggressive and the pain she felt in her chest continued.

Alexjin knew about it as he can hear the muffled screams of her mother each night and when Geraldine healed her but no matter what they did, Aurelie's sickness is still incurable.

They closed their store one year ago so that Aurelie can take a rest and focused on her health but even though she is sick. She still tried to work around the house to exercise her body by doing some light chores and Aaila is the one who assists her since she's her teacher in the Fire Element.

Geraldine's arrange marriage has been canceled because she's been missing for four years without any trace, even her shadow. She doesn't care much as there's still money that goes towards her wallet as Gavriel still ordered the mana pills regularly without any missed days. His business became popular in the Empire that everyone is curious who is his supplier but because of the contract, Geraldine didn't answer back to those who wanted to reach her for the pills. For her, the more people involved, the more trouble would come.

Going inside the house, she saw Aurelie sitting alone in the kitchen while sipping the medicinal tea she recommended to ease the pain in her chest. 

"You're back!" Aurelie greeted and was about to stand but she wobbled and started coughing. Alexjin instantly runs to her side and assists her.

Geraldine could only look behind with meaningful eyes because she knows that Aurelie's time has come to an end and anytime soon, she'll take her last breath. Even though she decided to heal her from the moment her symptoms showed, it's useless. She felt pity and guilt as well because she will use her death to do the final canvas to Alexjin.

She used to tell herself that she doesn't need to get attached to the people she's using but the feelings can't be stopped once you have been with that person for a long time.

Going to her basement, the poisonous pollens floating on the air as she inhaled it and combines it with her body. After all the years she spends cultivating her poison intake. She's now immune to any poison and needed to take a higher dose of poison each time she needed to cultivate to the higher level.

She also unlocked some of her mana locked inside her body and her practice of Black magic grew each day. As for the poisonous butterflies, they still feed to her blood and because she grew stronger, the butterflies evolved into something much stronger than before especially the red-colored paru - paru.

Geraldine focused on her black magic that she completely forgot about her Light element and only cultivated some of the magic. She planned that when the time comes, she needed to go back to her family's residence, she'll become a Saint so that her family won't force her to marry someone she doesn't love because of their own greed. 

Looking at the table, pieces of stones scattered around as they glowed in different colors. It was the experiment that she has been working on for years as the stone that can let a man use magic as well. She hasn't let the males tried it yet because she wasn't sure of the side effects and was afraid that it could harm them or even lead to death.

Picking one of the stones, she gives it a bit of her mana that was stored inside in hopes that it could help it becomes successful. 

"The game will about to start," she murmured and put a rope around the stones to make it into a necklace. Feeling satisfied, she put it inside a tiny box. It was her parting gift to the kids and Alexjin.

Her eyes went to the box that was placed at the corner of her room, it was always been there and her heartfelt heavier the longer she looked at it because it was the dress that Aurelie will gonna wear in her death stored inside and thinking about it broke her heart it two.

"If only I could change your destiny then I could have done it sooner but I can't. Even though some events have changed, some cannot be bend. I'm sorry, Aurelie. I could not save you," Geraldine's knees weakened as she kneeled into the ground. She wanted to cry and let out all of her feelings but there are no tears left to cry.

She just looked into space as her heart filled with void. After shedding tears for a few nights that she's unsuccessful to heal her that's the time when she slowly accepts Aurelie's faith.

"I really became a soft person," she muttered with a laugh and look at her hand that was turning into silver but then after a few seconds it was back to normal.

It is also a question she wanted to ask the almighty one. Why is her hand would turn to silver even though she's not using it? Is there a limit to how long she's gonna stay in the past to change it? Will she go back to being a spear again?

These thoughts keep on invading her mind and the memory of her turning into a spear hunts her. Geraldine didn't want it to happen again and this is also one reason that motivates her to move further to her plans because there are days when she thought that she'll just live in Bagyoo town peacefully and forget all of her hatred but she knows she can't escape.

After all, she only borrowed her current life.