Chapter 549: Regret

"Finally!" Aiden exclaimed, heaving a tired, exhausted sigh, as the large stone door was pushed back to its original position, leaving him by himself that he oh so desperately wanted. Ever since he stepped foot on this strange new realm, he barely had any time to rest. 

From one disaster he fell to the next, barely managing to keep up at this point. Turning his gaze towards where he could sense the vague connection is hinting towards, Aiden could only sigh and hope that the other's situation is at the very least not like his.

After their small scene with the commander skink at the premises of this underground city, his two faithful guards escorted Aiden to a secluded spot outside the city limits to the western edges. There, after some extra trekking, passing through several markers and traps set by their faction, they arrived at what the guards called 'home'. 

It was a series of carved out entrances to the supporting cavern walls, which they then lead into what seemed more like the skinks' true creation rather than the unique city that Aiden was fairly certain going purely by its familiar design that it was made by some other race, most likely humans of the past.

Arriving at the home, Aiden saw several other striped skinks, mostly in tattered, ragged clothing each holding onto or just simply carrying stone-made spears with them. Their attire, compared to the flamboyant commander from before, was quite a sad sight. Skinks ranged from a wide age demographic, with both sexes at a roughly equal presence going on about to their daily duties. 

Still, as they spotted the approaching trio, each and every one of them stopped in their tracks. A small smile appeared on their weary gazes as they fervently greeted the approaching Aiden, disguised as the elderly robed priest. 

Reverent, zealous greetings, cheers welcomed him as he entered what seemed more of a hastily built up base of operations than a living, breathing suburban section of the Draconian Skink's city.

He silently nodded and smiled at the crowd that formed a path towards the central, largest cave entrance, allowing their Master to pass through with ease. 

The scene was shocking, to say the least. Puzzled by what was going on, Aiden could only stare in silence, and try his best not to fall out of the character he held up until now. Still, seeing all those honest, happy, and elated gazes he was receiving, he felt a touch of guilt for the first time. 

Could he have made a mistake? Was the priest he gobbled up wasn't as bad as he first thought, guessed? What was actually going on with these people, who are all these people? 

'I really need to process these memories… Questions just keep coming up and I can't understand anything…' He lamented inwardly, forcing a stern, distant look on his face as he crossed towards the largest cave. 

As they approached the entrance, a skink, wearing a similar, matching robe but with a slender physique stepped out of the darkness, and walked towards their group. The skink raised her arm in a hugging motion as she increased her speed with each of her steps.

A wide smile stretched over her scaled, golden-striped head as the figure threw her hands over Aiden's neck and hugged him tightly, radiating an unmistakable familial warmth. Feeling the overflowing emotions of the happy young female Aiden's heart was further twisted, feeling immense guilt and regret over his previous actions.

"[Reptilian] Papa! You got back safe and sound!" The little girl exclaimed as tears began to swell at the corner of her large, mustard yellow eyes. She hid her face in Aiden's chest, only now noticing the large gaping hole in his chest.

Her face instantly twisted into a frightened look, she sniffed at the dried-up blood before she voiced her concern. Recognizing its familial scent, she became more and more worried.

"[Reptilian] Papa… Is this… your blood?" She asked with a concerned gaze, whispering only so that they could hear. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

Aiden could barely withstand the churning, sharp pain in his heart as he kept listening to the little girl. Still, he forced a smile on his face, as he gently shook his head in response.

"[Reptilian] It's nothing serious, I got into some problem, but as you can see, I got out fine." He did not try to hide whose blood that stain actually was. From how the girl acted it was clear that she recognized the stench and could match it with her father's. So, without any other option, he could only admit it and come with a vague response that wasn't a lie. 

He actually felt that if he were to come up with some story, the girl would spot the lies. 

"[Reptilian] Nothing serious?!" The girl exclaimed with a shocked gaze, hearing her father's dismissive answer. "How could it be 'Nothing Serious', papa! Just look at the size of this hole!" She exclaimed touching the rims of the gap on his chest. "You cannot escape from this! Tell me what happened! Who hurt you!" She retorted. Her eyes were flickering with a mystical light as her anger reached new peaks at the notion of some harm that could have come to her beloved papa. Aiden was shocked when she could feel the familial sort of presence, the power that loomed over the entire underground world ever since he got here. 

He looked at the girl with surprise. 

"[Reptilian] Nothing bad happened, calm down." He said, separating from her for a bit and gently patting the top of her head. "Papa just got into some trouble, but in the end, I gained more than I had hoped." He revealed with a mischievous smile on his face.

Before the girl could ask, he put his right index finger over the girl's mouth, shushing her in the process. He added with a warm tone.

"[Reptilian] I will show you later. For now, I need to return to my room and rest. I am drained after all that happened today. I promise to explain everything tomorrow, okay?"

"[Reptilian] You promise?" The girl asked with large puppy-like eyes.

Seeing that Aiden nodded with a smile.

"[Reptilian] Yes, I promise. Now-"

"[Reptilian] Don't forget, you promised! You know you can't lie to me, papa!" Before Aiden could finish, the girl squinted her eyes, gazing sharply at her 'father', she gave her warning. 

Not giving him a chance to respond, she then turned around, began to pull Aiden's hand back to the cave. 

"[Reptilian] Come and rest then papa! You have to regain all your strength so that you can tell me what happened! I will not let those that hurt you go!" She exclaimed with an assured tone. The way she spoke seemed to suggest that the little girl carried many more secrets, she had some deeper connection to the owner of this looming presence…

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