Chapter 91: Home (Epilogue Story One)
Chapter 91: Home (Epilogue Story One)
Once Mother died, the monsters fighting the hunters on the streets disintegrated. The hunters had surprised and shocked expressions on their faces, but after a second, they began to realize that they won.
But before they could think of cheering, the hunters fell to the ground in pain. They gritted their teeth as the abilities/powers within them began to disappear.
For the ones who were M-levels and under, the pain was not bad as the ones who were above. And the SS-levels had it the worse.
It was happening all over the world as powers, monsters, and dungeons disappeared for good.
Back at Mother's palace, Neban and Siren sat in the cracked building, waiting for everyone to wake up. Neban did not feel his powers leaving as Mother took them away before, and he had swallowed a weird thing that gave him some.
Siren leaned on Neban, looking bored like they wanted to sleep.
Neban started to turn back to normal as his appearance from the powers disappeared. And even though the powers did not show on the surface anymore, he could still feel them if he focused.
A few more minutes passed when Theo was the first to wake up. The boy moved in Neban's hold as his eyes slowly opened; he felt like he had been sleeping for long hours.
When Theo fully opened his eyes and Neban entered his view, Theo jumped in excitement and buried fear. He wrapped his arms around his father, burying his head in Neban's shoulder as he cried. Theo also felt dizzy from the quick movements.
Neban's face softened as he rubbed Theo's back. "It is okay, buddy. I am here. You are safe; nothing will ever hurt you again."
"Pa-Papa," Theo cried, finding it hard to speak. For the first time, he felt his actual age as words failed him. Theo was overwhelmed with emotions.
Neban continued to hold and rub Theo, whispering words of reassurance in his ear. Theo cried and cried, not stopping anytime soon as he trembled in his father's caring hold.
Neban's parents were the next ones to wake up. They sat up as the sounds of bones cracking resonated in the area. They rubbed their eyes, feeling sluggish.
His mother was the first to lay her eyes on Neban. She quickly moved, crawling on her knees as she did not care for her dizziness and loss of balance. Her arms wrapped around Neban and Theo when she reached them.
"Son," She cried.
Neban kissed the top of Theo's head then his mother's cheek. He wanted to wipe his mother's tears, but his arms held Theo. "Mom, everything is okay." He tried to reassure her.
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When it came to comforting people, Neban was the worst at it. But his mother understood like she always did since he was young. She nodded, still holding onto her son and grandson as tears continued to blur her vision.
Neban looked towards his father, who stayed in his spot watching them. Neban could see all the unspoken emotions on the man's face. Like Neban, his father was not an emotional person and barely expressed himself.
But he could see that his father was feeling the same thing as his mother: fear, relief, and love. Neban nodded towards his father, who did the same to him.
He knew his father cared about him as much as his mother did.
His mother finally let go, wiping her tears away as she took a deep breath. She patted Theo and Neban, she kept touching them because they were finally together and safe.
She turned towards Siren, who stayed quiet, leaning on Neban with a tired expression. "It is good to see you too." Neban's mother spoke to Siren.
Siren hummed, "You don't have to say anything to me. I am more of a background character."
Neban snorted while his mother shook her head, but she did not say anything else.
Then, Owain, Wey, and Isona began to wake up. Isona's hand quickly flew to her protruding stomach, rubbing it as she sat up. Owain and Wey sat up, trying to get rid of the dizziness and tiredness they felt.
They all had lingering pain as their powers/abilities left them in their sleep.
Their eyes landed on Neban and the others as Wey and Isona moved. They crawled to Neban, wrapping their arms around him and Theo.
Having Theo, Isona, and Wey in his arms, Neban felt like crying. His eyes watered as his heart felt full, but the tears did not fall.
"Neban!" Wey and Isona simultaneously cried.
Neban repeated the exact words to them as he told the others. But he kissed them as his lips lingered on theirs for a second longer. He let out a shaky breath, his hand wanting to touch Isona's stomach.
"I am happy they both are safe. Mother did not do anything to you, did she?" Neban asked.
They shook their heads.
Owain watched them before shrugging and crawling over to join them in their hug. Neban laughed, surprising the others a bit.
Theo seemed to have stopped crying a while ago. Feeling the warmth of everyone, especially his father's, he ended up falling asleep, which is a surprising thing seeing how he had been asleep for a long time already.
They sat there, not caring to leave yet, as they enjoyed each other's warmth and company. Even Siren had not said anything. They stayed where they were, almost falling asleep.
After an hour passed, they began to quiet down as Neban looked towards the window, gazing at the night sky.
"Let's go home." He told everyone.
Everyone smiled, minus Siren and Theo, who had fallen to sleep.
"Yes, let's go home." They agreed.
Neban turned back towards everyone's smiling face, wondering how he became so lucky to have them in his life.
He and Theo would never be lonely ever again because they found their permanent home with everyone here.
****
One Year Later:
When it came to the world, humans always knew how to adapt and change to anything that happens. Powers/abilities were no more as everything went back to how it originally was twelve years ago.
There were no hunters, no porters, no dungeons, no one doing impossible things; even the companies dealing with those things disappeared.
Everyone went back to standard days and regular jobs.
Laws changed back to how they were, and the government destroyed the equipment, money, and Orb of Yon that dealt with the dungeons.
They went back to what they usually did before the dungeons. Power lay with status and class, not with levels and abilities.
The money that the hunters and porters already had, they got to keep. But for some hunters to maintain their wealthy status, they had to find high-paying jobs.
And other hunters had to go back to school since some dropped out to work in the dungeons.
Even so, there were no problems.
Neban sat on a bench with a cat in his hand, watching an elementary school. Most would say it is downright creepy, but Neban swore he only watched it for his son.
He looked through a window, seeing Theo speak with other students. It felt like someone stabbed his heart because he always had his son with him.
A few months back, Wey and Isona convinced Neban to take Theo to school. They told him that Theo needed interactions with others. Neban fought with them as he did with his parents.
Even when they told him that for Theo to not turn into him, he needed to go to school, Neban kept his foot down.
But he finally gave in when Theo requested it, saying he wanted to go out and be in school.
When he and Theo were alone, he held onto his seven-year-old son, crying for the first time since forever.
Theo had to comfort him, but he cried too.
And when it came to sending him to school, both were reluctant to let go. But Theo made the first move to move his hand away and walk-in. Neban felt his heart breaking.
So, since then, he could not stop himself from finding a spot around the school to watch his son.
'Do you know how much of a creep you look like? Let it go already; there comes a time when the bird has to sprout their wings and leave the nest.' Siren broke through his thoughts.
He pinched the cat in his arms, which was Siren. Siren screeched before stretching his hand with their claws.
'Shut up. I know that. It is still challenging because I had Theo by my side for six years.' Neban sighed, taking in one last glance at Theo before standing up.
He held the cat in his arms, walking away from the school.
'As you repeat every time, I see that. But it is good to give Theo the space to interact with others. If you never did and kept him locked up, he would only learn to resent you.' Siren responded.
They purred, rolling around in Neban's hold. Neban rubbed their head as he frowned.
'I know that. Just give me time. Also, when did you start getting wise?' Neban questioned.
'Since I've become bored with the peace and started reading.' Siren responded. They hit Neban with their paw when he stopped rubbing them.
Neban internally smirked before teasing, 'You could read big books?'
'Don't get bit.' Siren threatened, showing off their sharp teeth in their cat form.
Neban internally laughed before surrendering, 'I give.'
Neban walked down the sidewalk, looking up at the sky. It has been peaceful.
He smiled before disappearing into the shadows before anyone could see him.
****
I decided to change things around. There will only be one epilogue chapter (this one) while Theo's story (story two of this novel) will now be 50 chapters rather than 45. And at the end of Theo's story, there will be 9 extras of both stories. You can either stop reading here or continue to read Theo's story (it will be 10 years later from when Mother just died, and he was 6 at the time, making him 16 for his story).