Future Past

It was getting hard to hold it in any longer. Most people can hide secrets for years. Some even take secrets to their grave. 

This wasn't a secret I could hold in. It held the weight of our entire world. I knew my will wasn't strong enough to hold this burden alone. 

The last three days have been hard on me. I could barely look Ryan in the eyes. I could see that he was suspicious of me. His tone had been lower than usual and the looks he gave me were concerning. 

Most people would not have noticed it but I did. Not only did we grow up together, I was married to him for 20 years. 

It would be a shame if I missed those signs. 

"So I choose to send your soul back...that makes sense. It's something I would do." was the first thing he said. 

He didn't seem to even care that we would have to fight against many realms shortly. He didn't even seem to care that we lost the fight at the very end. 

"Ahh...future me must have loved you even more than I do now." he said. I didn't get it. Why did he have to put this burden on me if he loved me so much? He could have just taken the burden on himself like he always did. 

"Why would that be?" I asked. 

"That has to do with a secret I'm not ready to share yet," he said shrugging. The bastard had a cheeky grin. 

I grabbed his collar and lifted him slightly off the ground. 

"No! You have to pay for your future decision! Tell me now!" I demanded. 

"You are not ready for the whole truth of who I am. I told you years ago when we were younger. I would tell you that secret once we were officially married." he said.

That was a lie. My eyes were starting to water.

"But you didn't! You didn't tell me who you were." I said with tears dripping. 

"Waoah What do you mean?" he said with a panicked voice. 

I put him down and he cupped my face in return. I looked up at him and he attempted to clear my tears with his fingers. 

"It started the day of our wedding. The declaration of war between the empire and an alliance of kingdoms." I explained. "You had to head to war as soon as our marriage ceremony was over."

He stared at me with a solemn look. 

"Let me guess, I promised to tell you after the war was over." I was surprised when he said this. 

"You said you would but you never got the chance. After the kingdom war, the gods announced the realm war." 

"Hahhh...there I go setting flags again." he sighed and said something strange. Sometimes he spoke phrases or worse I didn't recognize. 

"That being said, I'll keep the promise this time. It doesn't matter if I have to go to war. I'll tell you before I leave." he said. 

I kind of knew he would say this as he didn't like to repeat mistakes and break promises. He despised these 2 things. Even now, I was sure he was hating himself internally for breaking the promise, even though he had not done it yet. 

"I'm sorry Elina!" He suddenly hugged me. His embrace was warm and tight. I liked it this way. 

"Thank you.." I squeezed out. He didn't have to apologize for the future but he did. I honestly needed it. I didn't want to feel this burden ever again. 

I can't let him hold the burden forever either as it would end up falling on me at some point if I did. 

I steeled my nerves and broke out of his embrace. This time, I would make sure he kept his promise. 

"I will go to war alongside you." I said with confidence. He looked at me with a slightly surprised face. He really didn't expect me to mature this fast. 

It wasn't fast my love, it took 20 years of war for me to mature. But my will was still so weak. 

"Are you sure?" he said. He didn't attempt to stop. me. He had realized my intention.

"Yes! we can't stop the incoming war but we can sure as hell crush them." I declared. 

"That's the Elina I fell for!" he yelled as he embraced me one more. This time, I reciprocated. 

There were no guarantees but he trusted me and I trusted him. We will do our best to overcome everything that is thrown at us. 

-------------------

The reason I had cultists not know of the commander's presence on the estate was so they wouldn't escape. 

In the last timeline, they fought Uncle Thomas and the commander. They ran away before the family's elders could come out to catch them. 

In the last timeline, they knew of his presence so they had better preparation before attacking. This let them escape as soon as they felt the presence of the hidden elders. 

This time, they attacked earlier and hadn't prepped as well. Ryan's attack has also been faster and more aggressive than last time as well. We didn't have a clue about Aunt Jenny's husband, Uncle London's involvement until later.

"I think the blood cult would have attacked us regardless of whether we hit them or not," said Uncle Thomas as he sipped on some green tea. 

"Yeah. They had too many men and they didn't even wait to retaliate. It means they had the personnel in place and were going to do it anyway." Ryan added. 

"Correct. According to you, Anton London is behind this. He could have been planning on attacking the Zocratens with this force. They could have been damaged beyond recognition if that happened." 

Uncle Thomas had always been just as good as Ryan when it came to analyzing details. The two had often collaborated on many things for the clan. 

"There must have been a dispute between London and the cult for the plans to change. Did you capture them all uncle?" I asked. 

"They sent three 7th-tier warriors and a single 7th-tier mage. With the commander's help, we were able to apprehend them all."

'Did we get to keep them all?" Ryan asked. 

"No. The commander took all the grunts and locked them up for trial. We got to keep the 7th-tier mage though. He took the 3 three warriors.' Uncle Thomas might have done his best but there was no way we would get to keep more than that mage. 

The imperials were strict with the cultist, once they got their hands on them, they would not hand them to anyone else. 

We are an exception this time as they had attacked the Vornix estate. As an upper noble, they need some sort of trophy from the battle to keep their honor. 

Ryan also had to interrogate the mage so we could implicate Anton London. 

"Well then uncle, let's get this over with. There is a lot we have to prepare if we want this to be clean." Ryan got up from his seat and his uncle followed. 

"You should head home now miss Elina. Your parents must be waiting. I have sent the medicine you needed." uncle said before he left the room. 

Ryan was about to leave as well but he froze when he heard this. 

"Medicine? What is he talking about?" Ryan glared at me as he stomped over. 

Shit! I forgot to tell him about my core!