PAIN AND REUNION

Leaving the Alchemy House and every hero in awe, Lucas used his remaining essences to teleport himself into an empty alley.

"Damn, it hurts all over," Lucas tried to walk but, he felt excruciating pain all over his body.

Lucas tried to keep his eyes open while leaning on the wall.

"How did I get here?" Lucas mumbled, finding himself in the empty alley.

"This body is too weak to withstand the extreme essence output," Lucas fell to the ground.

"Cough, cough," blood came out of Lucas's mouth. "Arrgh," blood vessels burst open from his hands and legs.

"Damn it, essence overload, not good," Lucas coughed blood. He began to lose his consciousness in overbearing pain and lost blood.

"Must keep my eyes open, can't die like this," grinding his teeth, Lucas sits up, leaning on the wall.

"Ha, if the people of the Scarlet Maiden attack me now, it will be all over," a painful grin appeared on Lucas's face, laughing at his carelessness.

Although it was hard for Lucas to maintain his consciousness, He tried to calm his mind and began to stabilize the rampaging essence in his body.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps closing in. The footsteps stopped. Lucas can tell that someone strong is standing in front of him.

"I was searching for.....," a familiar voice came from the person standing in front of him.

"Father," Lucas sighed a relief.

Lord Rosewarth burst in anger, "Who dares to hurt my son?"

The whole town started to shake as if an earthquake is occurring. People were stunned by the pressure and killing intent coming from Lord Rosewarth.

Lord Rosewarth took his wounded son in his arms and used his skill [RUSH]. In an instant, they were standing in front of the Alchemy House again.

Seeing the situation, the Alchemy House fell into panic. Doctors and alchemists came running towards their Lord.

"Heal him," Lord Rosewarth ordered.

"If anything happens to him, none of you will see tomorrow's sun," said Lord Rosewarth, laying Lucas on the nearby stretcher.

He kneels beside his wounded son, "Lucas, Who did this to you? Give me a name."

"I won, father," Lucas laughed painfully.

"The Scarlet maiden and his brother attacked him first," the old alchemist replied while preparing medicines for Lucas.

Lord Rosewarth stood up, clenching his fist.

"No... Don't do it... It's my fight, this pain, I will pay back with interest," Lucas said in a weak voice using his last strength before losing his consciousness.

The old alchemist and Miss Bella explained everything that occurred in the Alchemy House to Lord Rosewarth.

"Was he correct?" Lord Rosewarth asked Miss Bella with a cold glare.

"Yes, I failed the experiment because of temperature control," Miss Bella spoke with fear in her voice.

"If he was right then, why did you let them fight?" Lord Rosewarth grabbed Miss Bella's throat and slammed her on the wall.

"With your power, you could have easily stopped the arrogant bastard of the Scarlet family, yet you didn't," screamed the angry father, "Your pride didn't allow you to accept your mistake," He slammed Miss Bella again.

"Arrrg, please forgive me," Miss Bella screamed in fear.

"Get out of my nation, and if I ever see or even heard of your presence, I will kill you then and there," Lord Rosewarth threw Miss Bella towards the guards near the door.

"Guards take her away," ordered the Lord.

"Forgive me, I tried to stop them but, Lucas wanted to fight," begged Miss Bella.

"Yes, you did try to stop but only after seeing the Rosewarth Family crest on his gloves," Lord Rosewarth points at Lucas's blood-soaked gloves.

"I made a grave mistake... Please don't throw me out in the wilderness... My Lord, forgive me," Miss Bella screamed in agony.

The guards dragged the alchemist away.

[Sizzzle] Black smoke began to rise from Lucas's body.

"What's this?" the old alchemist screamed.

Everyone present there looked towards the old alchemist.

"Clear the room, everyone, out," Lord Rosewarth ordered, noticing black scales on Lucas's hand.

The alchemists and the helpers left the room.

"Grandpa Eric, what happened to Lucas?" inquired Lord Rosewarth with a worried face.

"I have never seen such a thing in my entire life," the old alchemist examines the black scales that appeared on Lucas's hand.

"This is, this is DRAGON SCALES," the old alchemist's eyes glittered in amazement.

The old alchemist turned towards Lord Rosewarth, "How could you do this to your son?" he screamed.

"What are you talking about?" Lord Rosewarth asks with a worried face.

"That's a contract, a soul contract," the old alchemist spoke while examining Lucas's hand.

"Now that Lucas is in a weak state, the dragon might be trying to take over his body," the old alchemist spoke with a worried face.

"Or, the dragon is trying to protect Lucas from the recoil of essence overload," Lord Rosewarth spoke while touching the shiny black scales on Lucas's hand, "I never knew about the contract," Lord Rosewarth sat down beside his son.

"All we can do is heal his wounds and wait," sighed the old alchemist. While bandaging Lucas's wounds, the alchemist spoke, "I can only put medicines on his wounds, and using healing spell might affect him since his essence is not unstable."

[Lucas's sea of consciousness]

"So tired."

"It hurts like hell."

"Need to hold on."

"Concentrate, Lucas, stabilize your essence," Lucas heard the old familiar voice of a woman.

Without asking any questions, Lucas began to meditate.

Three days passed, Lucas finally managed to control his essence.

"Tell me, who are you, and why are you helping me?" Lucas inquired while getting up.

Lucas was surprised to see the dark violet color of his sea of consciousness has turned into light green. There was a large mirror standing beside the Golden Book of Knowledge.

"You want to know who I am?" a calm voice came from the mirror.

Lucas walked towards the mirror and tried to see, but it didn't reflect any image.

"You are a mirror, a talking mirror, hahaha," laughed Lucas in amusement.

"Mirror, you say," a cold voice came from the mirror, interrupting Lucas's amusement.

"If you want to see my original form, touch the mirror. I want to see how you laugh then," scoffed the voice of the unknown woman inside the mirror.

"My bad, my bad, don't be angry," Lucas spoke with a happy tone because for the first time, the unknown woman answered his question and even want to reveal her identity.

"Thank you," Lucas bows down. "If not for your help, I would have died," Lucas spoke in appreciation.

Lucas took a step forward and touched the mirror. A gust of cold wind rushed towards him, "Ohhh, so cold." Lucas shivered.

A bright flash of violet and green essence erupted from the mirror.

"Damn, first cold and now bright," Lucas put his hand on his eyes.

"Finally, I get to see you with my own eyes," a familiar voice came from the turbulence of two bright essences.

"Emilia," tears began to fall from Lucas's eyes, "I failed to save you before forgive me, Emilia," Lucas fell on his knee and began to cry.

A woman emerged from the bright clash of two essences. Violet eyes,

black curved horns on head, scarlet hair.

Raw green essence began to weave itself and covered her naked white body. And, the violet essence began to tie up her scarlet hairs.

"Not your fault, I found you in the demon castle dying, I made a decision to save you... A life for a life, but I don't remember much," Emilia replied, holding Lucas's hand.

"When I woke up, I was in that mirror with all this otherworldly knowledge in my head," replied Emilia in a sad voice.

"It restricted my movements, so I did all I could to guide you till now," replied Emilia.

"All I know is the third book has all the answers we need," Emilia replied, clenching her hands.

"I will never let you go ever again," Lucas held Emilia's hand and spoke with determination in his eyes.

"I know, my love, I know," both Emilia and Lucas hugged each other.

Tears began to fall from their eyes as they embrace each other after an eternity.