Jade's Path

The mention of Jade's name caused the Demon King's expression to grow cold.

Ty, with whatever remained of his heart, felt a sinking pain, resulting in the flames on his back intensifying, forcing him to drop to one knee and grip his skeletal shoulder as he buckled in pain.

Elithira chuckled and remarked, "How can you even be in pain? You're literally just bones. You have no tendons, muscles, or veins that should be reporting pain. For all intended purposes, you should just be an emotionless skeleton."

Ty slowly picked himself up as the flames receded, and the pain subsided. He admitted with a shaky voice, "Yeah, I don't get it either. That sounds more fun than this."

The Demon King, not losing his composure, explained, "You can thank for that pain to your spirit itself that is imitating the fibers of a real body through your spiritual energy of Reiesencia. While it can allow you to use different abilities, it also acts as your vessel, amplifying your pain even more. But that doesn't matter right now."

"Before I send you to Alexira, I want to update you on what's been happening in the Mortal Realm."

Noticing Elithira's playful demeanor, Ty shifted once the Demon King mentioned Alexira. Ty, naturally curious, asked, "Who is Alexira?"

Elithira responded with her head hung, "It's a place, not a person," as she just walked back to the table and took a seat.

Ty tried to speak out another sentence but the Demon King interrupted, placing a crystal-like orb on the table. He then pressed his index finger on the center crystal, causing an array of images to manifest in front of them, forming a giant, single glass-like picture.

"What is all of this?" Ty's jaw nearly dropped as the Demon King proclaimed, "I have eyes and ears in every dimension that exists, as unhappy as that makes the Angelic Race. There isn't anything that doesn't hurt them, right?"

"However, the point is, I had some personal drones watching the New York City area before and after your death in the hands of Erebos," he continued, clicking a button and highlighting the fateful park where Ty was killed.

Ty burst out, proclaiming, "I knew it all along!" 

Ty's sudden outburst caught the Demon King off guard, and he couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean by that?"

"Those 'Drones' that you call them. Those are birds, right?"

"Yes. And?" The Demon King nodded as if stating a matter of fact. 

"I always thought it was abnormal with their number and how they would always be watching everything. During the football season back in college, my friends and I always thought that these birds were just drones to help the government keep tabs on us all," Ty began to laugh, stating, "If only I could go back and show them we were right all along."

The Demon King seemed a bit perplexed at this sudden outburst, raised his brows and informed, "Sorry, your government doesn't use the birds, actually, it's too hard to maintain them. Instead, they simply train people to walk around all day. But that doesn't matter."

"This matter concerns your girlfriend, Jade, who just so happened to go looking for you the night you were dying," as he said that, the Demon King pressed another button on his crystal, showing the night of Ty's death and the scene when Jade was holding his dead body, crying and screaming, "I will find who did this to you!"

Ty, not finding anything odd, responded, "Yeah, and so what? I remembered a bit of that before everything faded away."

The Demon King then continued, "Do you remember this?"

As he said that, the scene in the hologram changed, while Jade was crying with tears in her eyes, a woman with long pink hair emerged from the outskirts of the park, bowing down and with tears in her eyes put a hand over Jade.

Just watching the event unfold, Ty muttered, "No-no, I can't say I do." 

"Everything after that was simply dark until I got here. Who is that, and why should I care?"

The Demon King responded, "You should care, because this woman is known as Ashaiki Tonistone, someone whom I've been watching for the last 15 or so years with enjoyment."

"You see, Ty, not everyone loves the Angelic Race, however, I don't just hate them because of our troubled past. Given your very situation, you should know very well as to how sloppy they are at their jobs."

"Ashaiki has a strong-willed group of five other unique individuals and also has the support of a handful of big-name companies who are helping her in funding her endeavors. The fact that she went out and met Jade could be a sign that she is looking to utilize your lover's pain and suffering to achieve her goal."

"Lastly, before you head out on your mission for the 'Ocular Veil,' I have a small gift for you." Saying that the Demon King retrieved a small shard from his pocket and approached Ty.

"You'll only have about 10 minutes before its effects wear off, so do make the most of it, okay?"

With utter confusion in his mind, Ty simply responded, "What?" before the Demon King placed the shard in his palm. 

Within the blink of an eye, Ty found himself back in the mortal realm in front of his and Jade's apartment.

Shocked and confused, he looked down at his hands and saw a timer on his palm counting down from 10 minutes. Glancing back up at the rusty door in shock, he saw the number "232" and tried to open the door but his effort turned out to be futile as his hand simply phased through the door handle.

"I guess that makes me a spirit, huh?" Ty mumbled, walking through the door, quickly realizing that he might as well just be some spirit they see in anime. He walked into their apartment, which didn't seem to have changed since the last time he had been there. Looking at the clock, which showed 5:30 a.m. on October 10th, Ty was shocked as this would mean that only a day had passed since his death.

Walking through the apartment, he found Jade lying asleep on the couch with a half dozen empty boxes of tissue, while the tissues, used and crumbled up were all lying on the floor after her endless hours of crying.

Ty muttered, feeling slightly pained, "She must've cried herself to sleep many times," trying to grip his shirt in agony and guilt for his death, he went down on his knee and tried to wipe a tear from her face, and to his astonishment, it moved for only a slight moment before the timer on his hand spoke out, "5 more minutes."

Before Ty could curse or complain, he blinked and found himself in a golden space with Jade, who asked as she sniffled, "Ty, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Looking back down at his hand that read "4:45 seconds left," he pulled her closer to him, giving her a tight hug, before saying, "I guess I was able to visit you in your dreams, huh? I guess I will count myself lucky."

"Listen, Jade, I don't want to see you crying anymore, okay? I promise I will come back. It's just going to take me a bit of time for that." 

With tears still flowing down her warm, red cheeks, Jade uttered in confusion, "How is that even possible? I saw you dead and held you in my arms."

Ty explained, "Well, let's just say I've made some powerful friends who will help me do what it takes to help me get back to you, no matter what the price might be."

Wiping her tears, Jade started to laugh, "That's just like you, isn't it? Making friends was always an easy task for you, huh?"

"You sure this isn't just some dream?" she asked with a pained look on her face.

Showing her his hand as the timer ticked down, showing, "1:24 seconds left," Ty replied, "It's all real. I was given this time to come back to you for just a moment and let you know to take care of yourself."

"And while I wasn't given too much information on this Ashaiki chick, my friend makes it sound like she is pretty strong to some degree. So be cautious about whom you trust, but if your gut says to trust her, then do so!"

"I have had complete faith in your decision-making skills since the day I met you, so do your best until I make it back, okay?"

Wiping the tears away, Jade nodded with determination, "I'll do whatever I can from here. And I promise, I won't give up,"

As she gave a big smile, and the timer let out a beep before saying, "TIMES UP,'" zipping Ty away as Jade shook herself up, grabbing her cheek, feeling the warm touch of a finger that parted the last of her tears.

Ty's green eyes returned to a full set of green as a tear appeared from his concave skull, as he uttered, "Thank you. I'm ready for whatever comes next."

The Demon King, grinning with excitement, said, "Good. You're gonna need it!"

"Now, let's discuss the broken world of Alexira and what you need to do to obtain the item that we need."