Chapter 125: The Long Road Home
The hovercraft hummed quietly.
Its mana engine produced only a faint vibration beneath Kai's feet as it followed the narrow road cutting between the forest.
The desert had long disappeared behind him.
Only scattered mountains remained visible in the distance.
Kai looked back one last time.
Nothing.
Not even Chocomint's hovercraft could be seen anymore.
"...Take care."
He whispered.
Then turned forward again.
The road stretched endlessly.
Quiet.
Peaceful.
Almost enough to forget everything that had happened.
Almost.
Hours passed.
The Forest slowly disappeared behind him.
Grasslands replaced trees.
Birds returned.
The smell of soil replaced dry sand.
Everything felt...
Normal.
Kai wasn't.
His hand unconsciously reached into his pocket.
The coin.
Dr. Z's coin.
He rolled it between his fingers.
"...Muscle City."
He quietly repeated the name.
Magic Circuits.
The surgery.
The laboratory.
The memories.
The Memory Node.
The Archive.
Every answer seemed to create two more questions.
He sighed.
"...One thing at a time."
The coin disappeared back into his pocket.
The mountain path began climbing upward.
Kai slowed the hovercraft.
The familiar cliffs surrounded him once again.
Then—
He saw it.
The battlefield.
The wind carried silence through the valley.
Kai stopped the hovercraft.
"...This is where..."
His expression slowly changed.
The memory finally connected.
He had fallen.
The Cockatrice-like monsters.
Andre.
The cliff.
The river.
The Forest.
Everything lined up.
Then...
His smile disappeared.
"...Andre."
Silence answered him.
He looked around.
No footprints.
No body.
No signs of anyone.
Only the aftermath of battle.
Kai scratched the back of his head.
"...You're probably alive."
He laughed quietly to himself.
"...You always are."
Andre was absurdly difficult to kill.
If anyone could survive being stranded in a desert...
It would probably be him.
"...You'll yell at me later."
Kai climbed back onto the hovercraft.
"I'll take that over finding your corpse."
The engine started again.
The mountain slowly disappeared behind him.
The road became familiar.
Very familiar.
Kai had traveled it before.
Only now...
He wasn't the same person.
He could sense mana.
He understood pieces of a forgotten language.
He had memories that weren't his.
Or rather—
Were his.
Just...
Not from this life.
He looked at his own hands.
"...Magic Circuits..."
He quietly muttered.
"...So that's my next step."
Not now.
Soon.
Very soon.
As the afternoon passed—
Another problem slowly pushed its way into his thoughts.
"...Alice."
He groaned.
Then another.
"...Raj."
Then another.
"...Noah."
"...Eric."
"...Nish."
One after another.
Faces appeared inside his mind.
Then—
Chocomint.
Kai scratched his head.
"...How am I supposed to explain this?"
He imagined walking into Asphyxia.
"Hey everyone."
"Good news."
"I found Chocomint."
"Bad news."
"He's not coming back yet."
Kai immediately winced.
"...Yeah."
"That sounds terrible."
He tried again.
"He's alive."
"He's safe."
"He's with the Order of Karma."
"He said he'll visit when he's ready."
Kai frowned.
"...Still sounds terrible."
He sighed deeply.
Alice would probably smile.
Then cry.
Raj would ask dozens of questions.
Noah would immediately start asking where the Order was located.
Eric would probably ask if they had interesting architecture.
Nish...
Would simply ask if Chocomint was truly safe.
"..."
Kai smiled.
"...Yeah."
"That sounds like them."
Then Brennan crossed his mind.
The smile faded.
The wind carried them away.
For a long while—
Kai simply drove.
Watching the road.
Watching the horizon.
Thinking.
The journey to Oheyo had given him answers.
It had also given him responsibilities.
Magic.
The Cult.
Dr. Z.
The Order.
Muscle City.
The Archive.
Every road now seemed connected.
And somehow...
Every one of them eventually led back to him.
Kai tightened his grip on the controls.
"...Guess there's no turning back now."
The hovercraft accelerated.
Far ahead—
Beyond the rolling hills—
The distant outline of Asphyxia slowly appeared beneath the evening sky.
Home.
At least...
For now.