Chapter 145: Final Task

After bidding the Clades farewell, the children went back to regroup with the royals. The dryads had fetched them from wherever Verdania had sent them.

"That was so rude, you could have just told us to stay here, there was no need to send us off to a random mountain," Veronica said, and her brother nodded.

After a bit of whining, the dryads brought them all to the Tundra. Now that things had calmed down, and there was neither a war nor a Beast Tide, the wilds looked calm and beautiful.

"Go find Ingrid, and tell her we said hi," Eleftherios said, before dragging his sister away.

Now that the four were left alone, they were confused as to what to do. The royals wanted to be done with the task as quickly as possible. Even though technically they had no duties, they each led a faction of millions of people. They were as busy as can be, but no matter what, they could not go against the words of a God, let alone two of them.

Ra was perfectly clear when he told them to obey whatever Eleftherios said. The dryad himself looked and felt harmless, but both of them knew that was an illusion.

"Let me lead you to her, we happened to be acquainted." Ciaran broke the silence.

Veronica was startled, but both Diana and Perseur had expected it to some degree. Diana never doubted Ciaran had a plan, or would come up with one soon, and Perseur was starting to learn that the boy was attracting Gods like honey did to flies.

Ciaran could picture what the rest were thinking, but he didn't care. He wanted to be done with this mission even more than the royals. He was tired of the relentless cold. And he wanted to be left alone so he could study magic with only Diana by his side.

He led them to the cave where he had stayed when he and his partner took some time away from each other. To him, it was the home where he started learning how to become the Storm. To the girls, it looked like an average cave, if slightly bigger, and to Perseur it looked like a death trap.

As a Rank Eight, he could feel the monsters that were sleeping inside, and he had no desire to go anywhere near them. When the other three entered, however, he had zero to no choice.

Soon they were greeted by the bats. The creatures were a little agitated by the newcomers but they calmed down when they saw the group was with Ciaran.

"You survived, good." Was all they said, and then left them alone.

"Don't take it personally, they are great friends once you get to know them. Real softies too, don't let their size and appearance intimidate you." Ciaran said as he left some baked goods to the bats as gifts. He had grown quite fond of his former roommates and wanted to do something nice for them.

He even liked the bear, even if she was a massive jerk.

Perseur heard what the boy said, but seeing as this colony of bats had more than a dozen powerhouses, each stronger than him, he chose to remain cautious.

Soon enough they found the bare herself. She looked like a regular bear now, as she was peacefully resting in her usual spot.

"You have grown out of your ignorance since last I saw you. It usually takes a few decades for that. Here for another lesson?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

Perseur was frozen solid, the others felt her indifference, but he could tell what the being in front of them was, and if one of them wasn't actively trying to play nice, mortals felt nothing but fear.

"Nah, my Master wanted us to meet you officially as our final task here Ingrid. He also said to give you his best. Strange he didn't say anything about your soon-to-be kid, is it a secret?" Ciaran asked, and the girls glared at him.

He was being rude to their host, and Diana even smacked him and told him off. Perseur was mortified and didn't dare move. Pregnant women were prone to mood swings, he did not want to know what pregnant Gods were like.

The bear just looked at the children, slightly amused. She then stood up and looked Diana straight in the eyes.

"Come to my home in Auroria and we will talk there girl. As for you Ciaran, seeing as I already appointed you Godfather of my boy, a 'formal greeting' would be little more than a joke." She said.

"When? I don't remember accepting anything like that. "Ciaran said, and the bear projected their little training sessions, and how she casually slipped that she was pregnant, and asked him to be her cub's 'friend'.

"You conniving bag of flees. You tricked me!" He protested, but the bear just summoned a pile of snow and buried him in it.

"I will be waiting there. Try to make it for the birth, or I will eat your two companions, not your wife, of course, we have manners in the North." She said, and then left.

Ciaran grumbled, and Diana laughed. Veronica was slightly annoyed at their antics, but then Perseur finally opened his mouth.

"We were just casually threatened by the Goddess of Wisdom you fool. Do you really think she was joking?

If we don't make it for the birth of her child, which by itself is a damn miracle, we will die." He said, his voice quivering.

The First Prince hadn't been in this much danger in decades. Even the Beast Horde could only give him a challenge, his life was never in danger. The dryads could kill him if they wanted to, but they weren't known for casual murder.

The Goddess of Wisdom was however known precisely for that. Some of the ancient records even called her the Goddess of Apathy, as she had casually made entire species disappear whenever she felt like it.

'And this brat didn't even flinch when talking to her.' He thought.

Perseur knew Ciaran was well aware of who he was talking to, and he was even aware of her nature, and yet he still talked to her normally, even daring to curse her out.

He knew his half-sister got herself a fearless partner, but this was pushing the boundary of madness. He was even appointed Godfather of her future progeny. That was a greater honor than being appointed Monarch of the Kingdom of Auroria.

Technically speaking, he was already guilty of high treason, or he would be if Ra hadn't declared the boy as his friend.

"Ciaran, how do you know so many Gods? In all my life, if we don't include the most recent part, I had only ever met Ra." Perseur couldn't help but ask.

The boy just smiled and unleashed his Storm. It raged, and it wanted to devour the prince and his sister.

It was dangerous to just look at the element now, as it drained your soul, even whit the smallest of interactions.

"Gods, I have found, are just very old people, who are bored out of their minds with their own immortality. I am an interesting person, and so they flok to me, simple as that." He said as he turned to leave.

Veronica's mind was still numb from the revelation that God had promised to kill her. Diana agreed with Ciaran, as in a way, she too got attracted to him because he chased away her boredom, and Perseur couldn't help but agree with the boy.

Even some of the older powerhouses were like that, so it made sense for timeless beings to be plagued by boredom too.

"Wait, are we really going to just barge in the Kingdom? With this lineup? Seriously?" Veronica was starting to regret not getting mowed in the invasion.

" Think of it as a vacation, just you, your brother, and a lovely new couple… Never mind, your right, this is horrible. Let's split up and cover more ground, I will go with Diana, and you two can do whatever." Ciaran said, reminded that his quality time with his girl was taken away.

Feeling the increasing rage of the Storm, Diana just gave him a smack on the back of the head.

"We can play around, even if they come with us, Rony." She said, and when the three of them looked at her weirdly, Ciaran was more pleased than ever, she when beet red.

She wanted to protest her partner only understanding dirty things when it was convenient for him, but to her horror when she established a mind link, he wasn't.

'Are we going to cause a mess in the Kingdom too?'

Those were the thoughts running through his head. She was relieved he was still innocent and just nodded her head.

The two royals saw that and misunderstood. Thinking they had their work as chaperons cut out for them.