“Are you sure the two of you want to do this?” Ian asked. “You might not like what you see.”
“I’m ready,” Wendy said firmly.
Est didn’t say anything and just nodded his head.
The three were planning to enter William’s Sea of Consciousness using Ian as the medium. They wanted to know if there was anything else that they could do in order to help the boy regain consciousness.
Wendy lay on William’s right and hugged his body, While Est lay on his left, holding his hand. Ian transformed into her spirit form and lay at the edge of the bed, cradling William’s head.
“Synchronization,” Ian softly muttered and her spirit power enveloped all four of them in a blue bubble.
—-
“T-This is Willliam’s Spiritual World?” Wendy covered her mouth with a hand as she looked at the unbelievable scene in front of her.
Ian had said beforehand that a person’s Sea of Consciousness reflected the inner thoughts of each person.
Wendy’s breathing grew ragged as a pang of pain spread inside her chest.
She gazed at the broken sky that was similar to a cracked egg shell. Huge portions of the sky had fallen into the sea like pieces of debris from a collapsed building. The sea under their feet was gray, which also reflected that the gray world was on the brink of complete and utter destruction.
Wendy’s eyes suddenly found something red amidst the grayness of the world. She immediately ran in that direction with tears streaming down her face as she cried out the name of her beloved.
“Will!”
The image of the cheerful Half-Elf that hugged her every night, kissed her every night, and made her feel safe and secure, flashed inside her mind as she neared the fallen boy that was surrounded by the “debris” that had fallen from the heavens.
A pained and sad wail reverberated inside that dying world as Wendy held William’s soul in a tight embrace.
Est looked at William from afar and cried. She covered her lips with her delicate hand as her body trembled in pain and suffering.
Ian, who stood beside her, wrapped her arms around Est and pulled her close.
“It’s fine,” Ian said softly. “It will take time, but he will definitely recover. I will do my best to make him recover.”
Est hugged Ian tighter as her tears fell down like rain. She blamed herself for what happened to William.
“If only I was stronger, this wouldn’t have happened,” Est said between sobs. “It’s all my fault!”
“No,” Ian assured her. “It’s the fault of the Demons. If not for their vile actions, none of this would have happened. You, Wendy, and William are just victims of their evil schemes. Don’t worry, as long as the three of us work together, we will be able to restore him to his peak condition.”
Ian said these words, not only to reassure Est, but to reassure herself as well. She knew that it would take a few months for William to recover. But, she needed to be strong in order to prevent the two girls, who also liked William, from blaming themselves for what had happened to him.
She hoped, with every fiber of her being, that the boy would soon open his eyes and tell them that he was fine.
——
Twenty miles off the shore of the Southern Continent, several ships had anchored themselves.
They were the Cruisers from the Silvermoon Continent and they were waiting for the right time to invade the Southern Continent.
Soon the sounds of bugle horns broke the peace as several Warships appeared ten miles away from their formation.
Elandorr, the nineteen-year old prodigy of the elves, peered through his telescope to identify the newcomers. It didn’t take long for him to recognize the flags of the Human Warships that belonged to the Kraetor Empire. Elandorr had already been told that there might be other forces that were planning to invade the Southern Continent aside from them, but he wasn’t too worried.
There were four Elven Archmages that had accompanied them on this mission, and they were more than enough to deal with any situation in the open seas. Also, his grandfather told him that, if possible, he shouldn’t pick a fight with the Humans until they arrived at their destination.
“Put the fleet on high alert, but do not engage the Humans without my order,” Elandorr ordered.
“Yes, Young Master!” his subordinate replied and immediately issued Elandorr’s orders.
Elandorr stared at the Human Fleet and sneered. His Clan was one of the factions within the Silvermoon Continent that detested Humans. This was also why he was chosen among the other Eleven Prodigies to be the Grand Commander of this mission to invade the Southern Continent.
The Ancient Elven Families had long wanted to prove to the world that they were the superior race, and all other races should bow before them. If not for the fact that it took many years for the World Tree to fully recover, they might have launched an invasion long ago.
It could even be said that this mission to conquer the Southern Continent was only their first step towards World Domination.
Elandorr believed that after this mission ended, he would be one step ahead of his peers in being able to court the Elven Princess who had accompanied them to this mission. Although the King of the Elves had taken a backseat when it came to politics, and allowed the Elven Council to take over, it didn’t change the fact that all the Elves still showed him their utmost respect and reverence.
Just as the Elves were observing them, a handsome young man in his late teens looked back at the Elven Formation in the distance.
He had a smile on his face as he casually waved for his men to stand down. Just like Elandorr, the young man was in his late teens and was hailed as one of the strongest warriors among the young generation in the Kraetor Empire.
His name was Jason, the fifth prince of the Kraetor Empire. His mission was to stake their claim in the Southern Continent and make his cousin sit on the throne as an Empress.
For the young teen, this mission was a walk in the park because there were very few forces in the world who would dare get in their way. He was not afraid of dealing with the long-eared Elves, whom they treated as slaves in the Central Continent.
He was even looking forward to their future clash with the Elven Race so that he could bring back some beauties to warm his bed.
Jason was not only strong, but very intelligent as well. He knew that this was not the time to fight with the Elves because they needed all of their manpower to conquer one of the four Kingdoms that held the axis of power in the Southern Continent.
Until then, he would leave them alone and settle their differences after they had landed on foreign soil.
Both young commanders were belittling each other’s races inside their minds. Even so, they still tolerated each other as they waited for the moment when the skies of the Southern Lands would change their color.
That was the sign that the time was ripe to charge forward and stake their claim among the rich and fertile lands of the South. It was also the prelude, for an all out war that would reshape the balance of power between all the warring factions that were vying for supremacy.
