Chapter 67: MEMORIES
Azrael stared at Ariel as he walked away.
[Do you believe what he said?]
The system asked.
"I do not care about their politics. It is none of my business," Azrael replied as he continued walking toward the gathering place.
Although he had not decided whether to participate in the competition, he knew if he ever participated, he was going to do it fair and square.
Most people were already there.
The vast majority were knights.
In fact, Azrael could say with confidence that he was the only student who had made it.
"Knights are so disciplined," he said with a smile.
He hummed quietly to himself as he folded his arms, eyes closed, as though he wanted to shut the outside world off entirely.
"Okay, seems like we will have to proceed without the rest," Eriksen said, his voice cold and detached as he addressed the crowd.
Azrael furrowed his brows.
Was Eriksen really going to leave without the students?
That was the one thought sitting in his mind.
He did not have to wonder for long.
The floor lit up beneath them, essence drifting upward as a circle came into view.
Before anyone could comment on it, a blinding light erupted from the circle, washing over everything.
Azrael covered his eyes with his palm.
But the light died almost immediately, fading as though it had never been there.
Slowly, everyone lowered their hands and took in their surroundings.
They were back at the clan estate.
The exact spot they had departed from earlier that day.
Eriksen floated above them with regal calm.
"For those of you who lost a comrade, do not let that weigh you down," he said.
"Use it as fuel and push to grow stronger."
’I hope that worked as a farewell speech,’ he thought to himself.
"Also, take everything you collected from the expedition to the clan’s logistics building. Your merits will be calculated there."
He disappeared in the next moment, not waiting for a response.
The knights looked at one another with furrowed brows.
"Nobody died though," one knight said to his companion.
"Well, except for the students who did not make the rendezvous in time. But even they will get there eventually."
Azrael looked around for less than a breath before turning away and walking toward the main castle.
"I wonder what I am about to hear," he muttered to himself.
[Are you scared of your own father?]
The system asked, rolling its eyes.
"How would I be scared? Can you not see how warm and pleasant he is?" Azrael replied with a short laugh.
The system responded with a laughing emoji.
Meanwhile, the other students were only just reaching the agreed meeting point.
"Look, we are the first ones here," Zephyr said to Nyx.
"Well, technically I was the first, but I can share the credit with you."
He leaned against a boulder as he said it.
Nyx shook her head.
"Look around you. Can you not see the footprints?" She asked.
"And the lingering essence in the air," Sirris added from the side.
Zephyr blinked.
"Did they leave us behind?"
Nobody answered, but the silence was answer enough.
"Do not panic. Let us go outside first and check," Zuriel said before anyone could spiral further.
They wanted to argue, but thinking it through, the suggestion made sense.
The rift pulsed with spatial energy as they walked through it.
A wave of disorientation hit them on the way out, but it was quickly suppressed by their robust physiques.
"Seems like we were truly left behind," Malaric said with a long sigh.
The guards stationed at the rift’s exterior looked at the approaching students without particular interest.
"You can rent a transport vehicle for a hundred tier one soul cores," one of them said.
It was a routine occurrence for some trainees to miss the rendezvous and find themselves stranded.
"One hundred?" Nyx frowned at the price.
That was essentially everything all of them had gathered across their entire time in the rift.
And they were expected to spend it all just to get home.
"Wait, even Azrael made it before us," Zephyr said suddenly.
At that, the conversation about transport costs stopped entirely.
Everyone shifted to the more pressing question of how someone with Azrael’s reputation for tardiness had beaten all of them to the rendezvous point.
It had become a running assumption among them after his first day of class.
Regardless of how punctual he had been since, the impression had stuck.
"Move away from the entrance. This is not a place for you to stand around discussing your friends," one of the guards said, his tone carrying genuine irritation.
The students snapped back to attention quickly.
"Should we just walk back to the estate?" Valdren suggested quietly.
"No," Zephyr replied with a wide smirk, shaking his head.
"I have a better plan."
He looked at the sky for a moment.
"We will have to walk to the residential area first though."
The students did not object.
"As long as your plan works, a few miles of walking is nothing."
He nodded.
With that settled, they began moving toward the residential area.
None of them felt the need to rush. No constructs, no essence enhanced movement.
It was a rare moment of quiet after everything the rift had put them through.
While all of this was unfolding, Azrael had already reached his father’s office.
He looked at the two stoic guards flanking the door and shrugged.
He raised his hand to knock.
The door swung open on its own.
Beyond it, the sight that revealed itself made something shift in Azrael’s chest.
He had seen this person in the memories countless times.
He had found himself wondering when he would meet her, even though he knew he was not supposed to feel that way about someone else’s mother.
And here she was, sprawled casually across a chair as though she owned the entire world.
A single word left Azrael’s lips.
"Mom."