282 Call Of Duty (1/2)
”LUNA, do you know what's going on between Julian and Solenn?”
”I have an idea, Lord Wixx,” Luna answered the Red Phoenix's question. Right now, they were walking back to her room after Tilly asked them to leave. Only the Supreme's immediate family remained in the room. Even Solenn was kicked out. ”But I didn't expect Lord Julian to be that bold. I thought he was the gentle, obedient kind.”
Lord Wixx laughed at that. ”Well, Julian has Tilly's blood. It's only a matter of time for his stubbornness to show.”
She just nodded as a response.
To be honest, she was distracted because she was a little nervous about the mission that Tilly gave her.
She wanted to go with the Supreme and her family but at the same time, she wanted to confront Stella. Even though she was the reincarnation of Elaine Moonchester, Stella was still her sister. They were born with the same parents in this lifetime, and she practically raised her little sister before Lahara took her away from her.
Once I get a hold of Stella, she'd get an earful from me!
Well, she was hoping that her sister hadn't changed that much.
”Luna, I want to bring you to Solarium.”
Now that got her full attention.
She stopped walking. Then, she turned around and faced Lord Wixx. He looked serious as he stood before her while looking at her straight in the eye.
”I know now that gods are greedier and more selfish than normal humans,” she said carefully. Her statement also applied to Tilly and Duke Nystrom. They were great people, no doubt about it. But she couldn't deny that the Supreme and the Black Serpent had made selfish decisions that messed them up. ”But Lord Wixx, I don't think this is the right time to act on your selfishness. Your sister and her family are sacrificing their lives to save this empire from the Moonchesters.”
”Still, I can't help but worry about you,” Lord Wixx said seriously. ”In the past you, I lost you when I took my eyes off of you for a moment.”
”You lost me because you didn't choose me.”
His eyes glowed menacingly but she knew that his anger wasn't directed at her. It was directed at himself. He couldn't even refute her accusation.
”I'm not blaming you for that, Lord Wixx,” she said. ”I understand that your clan needed you more back then. It was your duty as their guardian to protect them. And one of your obligations during that time was to leave an heir for the Fire Mage clan. The Supreme wasn't able to conceive a child then, so it was up to you to have one.”
”Luna”
”I was a Moon Priestess back then and most of your people saw me as an enemy,” she continued even though reliving the past also hurt her a little. ”To appease your clan, you had to choose the Sun Priestess over me.”
He shut his eyes tight as his jaw clenched hard.
”I know that your duty outweighed your love for me and I accepted that,” she said firmly. ”Lord Wixx, I respected your choice back then so now, it's your turn to respect mine.”
Lord Wixx opened his eyes. The pain or regret that she was expecting to see where nowhere to be found. He just gave her a distant look, then he nodded politely. ”I understand, Luna,” he said in a formal tone. ”But if you need my help, don't hesitate to call me.”
***
”WHERE do you plan to go again?” Tilly asked Julian while trying to calm herself. Kiho's hand was gently patting her back in an attempt to soothe her. But frankly speaking, she still felt agitated. ”Julian, our family has finally been reunited. But you're saying that you want to go somewhere else with Solenn?”
She could see the fear in Julian's eyes even if she didn't mean to intimidate him.
Even Solenn who was usually confident and arrogant couldn't meet her gaze.
The only ”chill” one in the room was Winter, of course. But her youngest son was looking at his brother as if the latter just grew two heads.
This is making me feel bad.
She was surprised when Julian said he would ”run away” with Solenn. It sounded like the two would elope. Of course, that gave her a mini heart attack.
Julian is still my baby.
”I'm not mad,” she said because she didn't want to scare Julian and Solenn. ”I'm just a little upset. So please tell me everything that I need to know.”
Julian took a deep breath before he spoke. ”Mother, I asked for Lady Solenn's help so please don't scold her,” he said carefully while looking at her straight in the eye. ”I asked her to help me get to the Plane.”
She was shocked to hear that.
Winter looked clueless, of course.
But Kiho wasn't. Her husband seemed to be upset with what he heard from their son because all of a sudden, the room turned cold.
”Julian, do you know what the Plane is?” Kiho asked sternly. ”Only dead people can get to the Plane.”
Winter gasped when he heard that. ”Brother, you're not planning to die, are you?”
”I'm not,” Julian assured her brother. ”That's why I asked Lady Solenn for help.”
She turned to Solenn, hoping that she didn't look scary for the young princess. ”May we know how you plan to help our son, Solenn?”
Solenn gulped before she spoke. ”I plan to put Julian into a semi-permanent state of death.”
Once again, she was shocked to hear that.
Semi-permanent state of death?!
Even Kiho didn't seem impressed because the room turned colder. ”Solenn, it's not that we don't trust you,” he began carefully. ”But putting someone in a semi-permanent state of death is dangerous. I can see what you're trying to do. But the Plane isn't a place that you can easily enter and leave. That's the place where different gods reside after all.”
”Kiho is right,” she agreed with a firm nod. ”Plus, the fact that you're putting my son in a semi-permanent state of death is more than enough reason to not give our permission to this ”mission” of yours. Why do you need to go to the Plane anyway?”
”I'm suspecting that some ancient being is messing with our rebirth, Mother,” Julian said in a mildly impatient voice. That was the first time she heard her son used that tone on them. ”People with our lineage shouldn't have gaps in our memories. But the memories that we retrieved from the Sun God are still incomplete. I want to go to the Plane to personally check on them.”
”You made a valid point, son,” she said, acknowledging the fact that Julian realized it when it didn't cross their mind before. There was already too much on her plate, so she was glad that her son noticed the thing that she overlooked. ”But I still won't let the two of you go. Kiho and I will deal with the Plane later.”
Her husband nodded in agreement.
”It might be too late by then, Mother,” Julian insisted in a firm voice. ”Once you get to the Great Fire Tree, your binding vow with Lady Nia Moonchester will be over. I'm sure the divine war will begin by then.”
”I agree with Julian, Aunt Tilly,” Solenn said seriously. ”The best time to ”visit” the Plane would be the time that the gods are too busy watching the divine war on earth.”
She hated to admit this but the young princess had a good point.