Chapter 424 Friendships

A yellow thread floated in the air. Keng looked at both of them, unable to notice the thread.

"W-what?" Keng asked.

"Yellow. Huh." Vox'su nodded turning to look at Hydran. "Do you think they'll be connected to each other for a lifetime?"

"The thread says so, right?" Hydran raised her eyebrow at Vox'su. "Lily Wang and Keng. Fate tied together."

"But there's another one, too, sister." Vox'su pointed. He looked at his sister and she simply shushed him.

"In time he'll know. For now, Keng," Hydran spoke drawing in Keng's attention. "Contact me through Hydrosphere when you are ready to go to my people near Pea'ir. You two will meet who is supposed to guide you. Understand?"

"Yes, m'lady." Keng nodded.

"I shall leave now. I must inform your brother and Tear'a about this. Do what you must. And here." Hydran tossed the trident back to Keng. Keng caught it and watched as it split and shifted back to the daggers. Hydran nodded at her brother before dissipating into water. Vox'su sighed and looked at Keng.

"Well, you met one of the many family members of Daros." Vox'su nodded. "It seems like something interesting will happen before we deal with our little problem, yeah?"

"Y-yeah?" Keng tilted his head confused. "So what did you want to talk about, L-Lord Vox'su?"

"About our friend. But also the problem that seems to be occurring here." Vox'su poked his forehead. "There's a lot of trapped energy in your head, you know that?"

"Trapped? I'm trying to get the energy cleansed." Keng whispered.

"Of what? It isn't bad energy."

"Bad? What about the… Wait, how do you know I have headaches and stuff?"

"What don't I know about you?" Vox'su shrugged. He began to pace around. "You're starting to feel the effects of the Fox Spirit. You're in an interesting spot because you're unique. The first of the God King's Fox spirit-kind to come.

"But I'm not here to talk about that." Vox'su spun on his heel to look at him. "I'm here to inform you about what's to come. Lee Seng, your brother, your Vessel, whatever you want to call him… He will die if you don't go back to save him."

Vox'su moved closer to Keng. Keng gulped as he tried to fight his emotions from escaping. His stomach felt like it was dropping lower and lower. It was the feeling he wanted to suppress so much. He didn't want to think about Lee Seng but here he was thinking about him.

"I know you don't want to think about him. I know you want to suppress what you feel, but remember he and you are too intertwined now to stop." Vox'su patted Keng's shoulder. "But do you want to lose everything just simply because you don't know what to do? I can show you the way. I light the path and you walk it. That's how this works."

"But what if I don't want to? What if I'm… Not good enough to save him?" Keng whispered.

"Not good enough?" Vox'su smiled. He gave Keng another pat and nodded. "You are worthy. Why would my brother and I have chosen you then?"

"Huh?"

"Vox'su and I came to Lee Seng and you, ourselves. Even though I didn't want to really interfere with such a task, we still did. We both chose you. We both recognize you as ours. Rox'su and I are always intertwined. We both rise and fall in the sky. When there is one of us, there is two of us. That's how it goes. You and Lee Seng are like that. Your problem is his problem. His problem is yours. If you don't wish to solve one's problem, the other will suffer.

"Remember the story you saw on the doors? Rox'su and I had our shared time of wanting to be separate. We couldn't, though. That's how it is with you and Lee Seng. You can't be separated for long even if… Your skills say otherwise."

"So what do we do then? If I can't be away from him and he can't be away from me, what're we supposed to do?"

"Figure out how to live in harmony with each other. Figure out how to rise into the sky together and descend it together. If you can find that harmony while being yourself, you will be as peaceful as can be."

"So you just came to tell me that or…?"

"I also came to do this." Vox'su grabbed Keng and pulled him in. Vox'su began to whisper something in another language. The next thing Keng knew, he was standing near the Tomb. The suns were higher in the sky as a glowing silver and gold mark caught his attention. It was the mark of the twin suns, gold and silver.

"What's this?" Keng stared it. "Didn't he say he was gonna do something? Why did he just mark me… again..? Is it again? I don't remember…"

"Oh! Keng, you're back?" Lily waved.

"Yeah, just got… back." Keng waved walking to meet Lily. "What're you up to?"

"Nothing much. Warming up the leftover soup." Lily focused on Keng, tilting her head in confusion. "Where'd you get all your stuff?"

"Oh this?" Keng looked down. "Zixin came to give it back. It seems something happened to the Elder and Gorrum gave me back my stuff."

"Ah, are they okay? The E-Elder didn't seem all great yesterday."

"I think he's fine now."

"Well, you wanna go in and eat?" Lily pointed behind her.

"Sure." Keng nodded. The two walked inside together.

"So where did you go this morning? Did you go hunting?"

"I did." Keng nodded. "I went to try to find the Majestic."

"Did you find it? I assume you didn't since you're here." Lily moved into the kitchen and grabbed the ladle. She began to stir the leftover soup as Keng sat his bag down in his room and entered the kitchen.

"I found it. It's on the Rock side." Keng nodded.

"Rock side? What rocks?"

"Oh, I named that part of the forest that because of all the weird rock chunks. I found the Majestic there and it lead me to this place and I met Lord Vox'su and Lady Hydran."

"You did?" Lily shouted with excitement. "What did they say to you? Is Lady Hydran as pretty as they say?"

"S-she was extremely pretty, yeah. She wanted my… No, our help with the Merfolk problem Elder Jyu'so mentioned about last night."

"Merfolk problem? Why me? I thought it was just you."

"Yeahhhh… Lady Hydran said you were needed. I dunno why, but once we're ready to go, I'll use Hydrosphere to take us there." Keng tapped at the dagger strapped at his side.

"When? Now?"

"Oh, no… I may have a limited amount of time, but I want you to see your family. Isn't all of your brothers coming?"

"Yeah, but wait. What do you mean you have a limited amount of time. Isn't two years a long time?"

"Yeah, so… I don't have two years. I have, maybe four months at best here."

"And how are you going to get out if Elder Jyu'so's mark is preventing you from leaving?"

"Dunno. Vox'su was supposed to tell me something or give me something but all I have is this tattoo." Keng tapped at his left hand. He turned his hand to show her. Lily moved closer to examine it and nodded.

"The Mark of the Suns." Lily nodded. "Do you know what it does?"

"Nope."

"Well, when you leave you'll know right?"

"Yup. So for now let's eat and get ready to leave for your family, huh?" Keng smiled. Lily nodded and the two started to work together to get food on the table.

They devoured the rest of the soup and Keng sighed, patting his belly.

"You think I'd be fat from eating all this food." Keng chuckled. "But I'm as healthy as can be. Ahhh, I wish I could get some more of this kind of food."

"Wait 'til we go to my home. You'll be wishing you hadn't said that." Lily chuckled.

"Oh really?" Keng leaned forward. "Do you think that'll happen?"

"I think you'll enjoy the food. Has Lee Seng had Chinese food before? My mom makes some good food."

"I haven't actually eaten a Earth meal before. It's just memories, so I wouldn't know what they taste like."

"Well, you can experience it for yourself in a couple days. When did you wanna leave?" Lily asked standing up and taking her bowl and cup with her.

"We could leave now if you want. If not, we can leave tomorrow." Keng shrugged, following her.

"It'll be a couple day journey. Are you okay with resting in the forest?"

"I did it two days ago. I think I'll be fine."

"Cool. Let's leave in a bit then. I'll clean up this area and we can go." Lily nodded. Keng nodded and set the dirty dishes in the sink.

"I'll check the other rooms while we're at it, then."