Chapter 449 Limited Time

Saviors Tomb, Daros Realm

The sky was growing darker by the minute as Gorrum and Jyu'so climbed the stairs into the Tomb. Magical crystal lights glowed as the smell of food was permeating the air. Keng kept himself busy as the noise of the Tomb door opened. His eyes flickered over to watch Jyu'so scamper in with a large sack of items.

"My sister doesn't surprise me in the least! I can't believe she asked for that much gold in return for these items!" Jyu'so set the bag down on the couch and came over to Keng as Gorrum made a beeline for them. "A present! A present, she said! 'It would look awfully bad if you didn't come bearing gifts for the Wangs!' Bah! My presence should be enough, no?"

"Enough, Elder. It's good that we bring presents for Mr. Fan'r and his family. We cannot cause anymore issues!" Gorrum reminded his master.

"Yes, yes!" Jyu'so waved. "Is the food done?"

"Just about." Keng nodded.

"Good. I want to eat." Jyu'so waved his fingers and plates, bowls, and silverware began to fly out of their cupboards and set themselves up. The food began to move and set themselves in serving plates and bowls and make their way past Keng and the others. "Come on. Let's eat!"

Jyu'so turned around and made his way to the dining table. He lifted himself up, pulling the chair with his shadowy arms. He set himself there as Gorrum and Keng followed behind. The two began to sit when Jyu'so started to move food onto his plate.

"Why must we go to Fan'r?!?" Jyu'so grumpily asked. "It's already enough we have what we need! Why do we need to go there?!?" He turned to burn a hole through Keng's head as Keng scooped some rice onto his plate.

"I already told you, Elder Jyu'so. Hydran needs Lily to come with me!" Keng impatiently explained.

"We could just snag her and be done with this! We don't need to waste anymore time! That banishment spell only lasts for a month! One. Daros. Month! We don't have time to dilly-dally!"

"I promised Lily we would go after her eldest brother, Isaac, came back. He should be back by the end of this week. After the party is over, we can go." They ate in, somewhat, silence as Jyu'so grumbled. They ate their dinner and Jyu'so quickly planted himself on the couch and continued to mutter as Gorrum and Keng washed the dishes.

"So what was that all about?" Gorrum asked.

"What was what all about?" Keng asked.

"Lee Seng. That wasn't Lee Seng, but it looked like him. Who was that?"

"I thought the Elder made it pretty obvious. It's the thing inside Lee Seng. What his father did to him when we were captured."

"That was unexpected. I did not think I would get to witness you two in the same place. I was wondering how he even managed to find you but we were met with that demon instead." Gorrum shook his head. "Do you know what it wants?"

"Being stabbed through the heart didn't answer that?" Keng asked, sarcastically. Gorrum elbowed him.

"I can deal with one of you being sarcastic and impatient, but not both of you. Explain yourself properly before I reopen your wounds." Gorrum threatened.

"I think he claims to want me. I think he was trying to erase my existence so he could have complete control over Lee Seng."

"What would happen if he did that?" Gorrum asked.

"What would happen would be our impending doom." Jyu'so replied. "You didn't feel it, Gorrum? I thought you mastered the art of seeing what isn't there."

"That I'm not sure of." Keng replied to Gorrum's question. "He seems very hellbent on getting full access to that body."

"Lee Seng's quite durable and lucky. I can see why someone like that demon would want complete access to Lee Seng." Gorrum nodded.

"So what will you do, Keng?" Jyu'so hopped off the coach and wandered over. "How will you get your Lee Seng back? Will you fight the demon?"

"What else am I to do?" Keng shrugged. "Ask? I don't think he'll want that. I'll just have to crush the monster myself and free Lee Seng's soul."

"And how will you do that? You've lost a portion of your power." Gorrum asked.

"I've lost just a little bit." Keng shrugged. "It's not the end of the world. I can still get it back."

"You'll need to kill the thing possessing Lee Seng and get your power back. It stole your power and left you to fend for yourself. You're at a disadvantage now. You're weaker." Jyu'so pointed out.

'That's true. I am at a disadvantage… My Light and some of my energy was taken from me… Who knows what that thing will do to Lee Seng now…' Keng sighed.

"I will just have to try harder then." Keng set the clean bowl on the towel rag and turned to look at Jyu'so. "We'll deal with the problem at hand, first, which is the Merfolk and then I'll figure out how I'm going to reclaim my power from it." Jyu'so narrowed his eyes at Keng. He could feel something was off.

"Something's different about you, boy. It isn't the fact what I did was wrong and you might be scared of me, still. No, it isn't that at all… What is wrong with you?" Jyu'so moved forward, lifting himself up in the air as he peered into Keng's eyes. Keng quickly turned away and plunged his hand into the clean water. He fished for the next plate and quickly tried it off and set it on the towel rag.

"I-I don't know what you mean." Keng lied.

"Something's definitely wrong." Gorrum agreed. He set the last plate down and turned to look at Keng. "What happened to you? Did that demon do anything else to you?"

"I-It didn't do an-anything. It-it's nothing! It's nothing! You don't have to worry about it!" Keng lied.

"Liar." Jyu'so grabbed Keng's arm, turning him. "I know you're lying. You make it so obvious my lie detection magic doesn't even need to work! What happened to you? Tell us."

"UGH, FINE!' Keng pulled his arm away from Jyu'so and took a couple steps backwards. "I lost my Light!" Jyu'so and Gorrum looked at him in surprise. Keng had told the truth and now they were acting the way he thought they would. Shocked. "This is why I didn't want to tell you guys! I lost the one thing that makes me a Blessed of Vox'su and now I'm not sure what I should actually believe!"

"Calm down, Keng. Let's just take a step back for a moment and think about this." Gorrum moved both of his hands downwards like he was trying to calm Keng's nerves. "Did you lose your Light or did something affect your Light?"

"I'm pretty sure I lost it!" Keng replied.

"What were you doing when you lost it, then?" Jyu'so asked.

"I was fighting a cursed dryad during the Ire."

"You fought a curse? Did you kill it?" Gorrum asked.

"No, I didn't kill it. Lily's older brother, Philip, took on the curse by offering himself up to become cursed."

"Is he dead?" Jyu'so asked.

"I'm unsure." Keng shrugged. "I… I…" Keng looked down.

'Do I tell them? What would I even say…?' Keng sighed as he fiddled with his fingers.

"All the more reason we should check." Jyu'so sighed.

"I got scared." Keng quietly spoke. The two older Foxes looked at Keng. Sadness and shame plastered itself across Keng's face and body language. "I ran away be-because I thought I killed him… Because I couldn't do my job. Who knows if he's alive or not, but I didn't feel Lee Seng until that fight happened."

"You didn't feel him until that moment?" Gorrum asked. Keng nodded.

"We mustn't waste more time then." Jyu'so spoke up. "Let's go now. We need to see what has happened to him and make sure the curse is truly gone."

"I watched Philip kill it myself." Keng looked up at Jyu'so.

"But did you feel its energy subside? You have much to learn about Curses. A Curse may physically die but it doesn't its dead. It could spiritually be alive still. We need to handle this properly or else it'll just come, again."

"How do we do that? I barely know anything about Curses. I only knew how to kill the Conqueror because Lee Seng read about it."

"You have knowledge of those who came before you, Keng. It's sitting right at your fingertips. All you have to do go to that library and find what you've been looking for." Jyu'so motioned.

"We'll dive into the knowledge of the Saviors that came before you and figure it out together. I've always wanted to read their books, but they never allowed me anywhere near it."

"For good reason, too." Gorrum remarked. "Do remember how aggressive you were with them. They didn't like you for a reason."

"And now a new leader stands before us, head down." Jyu'so motioned. "There is still time in correcting the wrongs, Keng. You can cleanse the land of the curse with the knowledge of all of the Saviors that came before you or you could simply wallow in your shame and guilt about what that boy did for the sake of his own family and friends. The choice is yours. But if you want my opinion, I say it's time for you to find answers and fix the problems at hand… If you're up for it."