Chapter 754: The Journey Back, Witnessing the Volcanic Clouds from Afar (1/2)

Day 155 - 11:21 AM - Visayan Sea, Central Visayas, Philippines

About half an hour before noon, three creatures flew over the dangerous Visayan Sea. One was an enormous reddish-black dragon, another was a giant black ash-colored bird with silver primary, secondary, and tail feathers, and the last one was a black horse with wings. On the back of these creatures, people sat while carefully watching over the surroundings.

Of course, it was no other than Mark's group. They were already on their way home.

”Uncle, can I ride on the Pegasus later? Please?”

Emika cutely tried to request Mark as they rode on Chaflar's back.

The Pegasus, Greos, was as large as a regular horse. Only two people could safely ride on it. Three if one was a small child. At this moment, it was Edzel and Pearl that was on its back.

”Later.” Mark strictly replied. ”With how 'lively' you are, you'll likely end up falling from its back for no reason.”

Hearing that, Emika pouted. However, she could not refute him either. There was no way that she could promise to sit still on the back of Greos. Besides, she had no experience riding on the back of any animal alone. The back of an animal like a horse was easy to fall off, after all. It was unlike the backs of Chaflar and Trua, who were large creatures.

It was also the perfect timing for Edzel to separate from the group. Although the peak of his anger had already passed throughout the night, he was still awkward towards Pefile and Celine.

That was something that could not be forced, no matter how much Celine wanted to spend time with her son. They should take it slow. After all, only time could heal the wound of the heart.

In any case, Mark had many things in mind to bother with other people's family problems.

The encounter with the Visayan Goddess of the Sea and Underworld, Magwayen, had given Mark quite an amount of information to digest.

First was more clues about the existence of realms.

Mark had already heard a bit of this subject from Bathala. The fact that Bathala himself came from not just another dimension but another realm. It was a realm lower than the one that Earth's Universe belonged to and the same reason that Bathala was weaker compared to other Gods of Creation that came from a higher realm.

From the conversation last night, it seemed that one of the goals of the gods was to ascend to a higher realm. It was also the reward that the Eyes decided to give the remaining gods hidden on Earth to make them help with the incoming disaster.

It meant that there was something to it that made the gods want it. Even a supreme god, like Magwayen, was tempted to that offer.

Mark wanted to ask more about it as he was curious. Although he had some theories, most of them came from things he remembered from novels, manga, and the like. He was not sure whether it was the same as the actual thing.

However, before Mark could ask Nineteenth, who had the authority over such information, the Eye in question had already left.

When Mark and Pefile went out of the chambers after meeting Magwayen, the only person left outside waiting for them was Fourth. As for Nineteenth, she already left without a single word for Mark. It was quite strange considering how she seemed to want to maintain a suitable behavior in front of Mark.

It was not surprising for Mark, however. During the conversation with Magwayen, Nineteenth was already showing signs of unnatural irritation. Though rather than prejudice towards foreign Gods as an Earth's protector, it was more like she hated them to the bone.

This might be one of the reasons why Nineteenth was the only one among the Eyes who was not tasked with personally handling the hidden gods and was left to support in the background instead.

Nineteenth leaving the place, however, removed the chance of Mark learning about it. On the other hand, Fourth seemed to have no authority to divulge the specifics of the topic. It was like before when Mark inquired Fourth about Aimee.

The second thing was about the happenings never told within the myths. Kaptan's death because of a fatal injury, for example.

It was not a shocking thing, of course. It was just most humans never paid attention.

Most myths told and passed from generation to generation were not necessarily from the people subject of the myth. A whole lot of these legends and stories, possibly all or at least the majority, were renditions of the events told by the mouths of ancient people. Not everything was true, while some were exaggerated.

The third thing was about the existence of Kahilwayan.

One would think that such a place would exist in another world only connected to Earth through the so-called gates. It was similar to how Asgard and Mount Olympus were depicted in many works of literature.

However, it seemed that, by what Magwayen had said, Kahilwayan was actually a god-created sub-space that was made on Earth. It gave Mark more work to do in the future, but it could end up as a good thing.

While those thoughts lingered in Mark's mind, Mei called him.

”Gege, something is odd.”

”Hmm?” Mark turned to Mei. ”What is it?”

What Mark saw was Mei's eyes dilating, indicating that she was using her abilities. Her attention was on the shallow area of the water.

”I don't know, but doesn't the water look too low.”

Mark also stared at the area where Mei was looking. There, they could see large corals sticking out of the water. The water plants were also crumpled on the water surface. It indicated that the leaves of these plants were longer than the height of the tide.

At this moment, Berrak spoke on the radio.

”Boss, it seems like the Earth's magnetic field is going haywire.”

”Now that you mention it.”

Mark picked up the radio with a frown. Now that Berrak mentioned it, he also began to pay attention. He had lightning abilities, and electricity and magnetism had a direct correlation. It was rather faint, however, for Mark to feel it immediately.

As for Berrak, it was actually not him but his Thunderbird, Trua, who noticed. Animals had higher sensitivity to their surroundings, and birds, especially migratory ones, use magnetic fields to navigate.

”It should be an effect of the Planteray Debris,” Mark stated. ”It might also be the one messing up with the tide.”