Chapter 573 (1/2)

Everyone had gathered around in the living room. Shaqira was lying on the sofa, and her body length meant that the entire sofa was completely taken up. Rollie was very unhappy when she saw this. She meowed for a good while to signal that the sofa armrest was her territory. It took Hao Ren a box of cat biscuits to distract her.

Shaqira took a curious glance at the various unusual creatures at home. “I’ve never seen a place like yours. There are so many different races mingling together. Won’t they fight? I’ve heard that werewolves and vampires are mortal enemies.”

Hao Ren pointed at Vivian and Lily. “They did fight when they first arrived, but things have gotten better. A harmonious co-existance is the motto of this place. Regardless of what sort of fight you’ve had outside, once you’re here, you’re family. The lanky guy seating across you is a demon hunter by the way.”

Shaqira’s tail automatically shrunk as she heard that. However, that was the extent of her surprise. “Whoa! How did you do that?”

“Is it me or does the siren not seem to be that afraid of demon hunters?” Hao Ren whispered to Vivian as he noticed Shaqira’s reaction.

Vivian nodded. “I told you before. The sirens are the only race that were not hunted by the demon hunters. Even if they were to meet, its usually without conflict. So to a siren, the demon hunters are just a scary-sounding bunch.”

“So, how did you end up like this?” Nangong Wuyue had also transformed into her serpentine form. Perhaps it was easier to gain Shaqira’s trust this way. She used her tail to point at the latter’s. “Why are you hurt? Why are the dwellers of the deep catching their own people? What were the royal guards up to?

“It’s a long, long tale. Let me start from the beginning.” Shaqira took a deep breath as she told her story, “I came to shore 100 years ago amongst the last of my batch. I remembered that there was a war going on back then… It was chaotic. I even got hit by coastal artillery. We followed the instructions of our seniors who had left before us and split up before looking for otherworldlings who were hidden. I first went to South America and lived with a group of werewolves. After that, I came over to Asia—”

Hao Ren interjected. “We already know that part. Did your people still work as a group after that? Do you still keep in touch?”

“We do, but very sporadically.” Shaqira’s tail was poking about with Wuyue’s. “We all knew where our batch went, as well as how many met with accidents and where they resurrected. But aside from that, nothing else. We all had our own mission, and that was all we needed to worry about before we waited to be summoned back to sea. I never expected to receive bad news from the deep.”

Hao Ren was intrigued. “What was your mission? Was it about the prophecy of the Day of Return? What is that prophecy about?”

Shaqira looked hesitant, and the sharp-eyed Vivian caught it. “Is it something that you can say? I suppose you can tell us since you’re already spreading the message to the otherworldlings in various sanctuaries. Small as we are here, this is still one of those sanctuaries.”

Shaqira had a rather complicated look on her face. “That’s not it… It’s… I don’t know how to explain it to you. We were only meant to bring word to the rest. The prophecy was passed down to us by the Queen herself, but she never explained the meaning of the prophecy to us.”

Everyone present looked at each other while Shaqira tried to jog her memory. “Umm… Let me recall… The original prophecy was something like this: ‘The Day of Return is coming, an ancient power from our homeland is summoning its lost kin. The darkness shall end, and a glorious dawn like that of the ancient times awaits all. A gate will open, and you will hear a voice, But before that, rally your kin, and let everyone have the opportunity to bask in the glory of the Day of Return. No one shall be left behind.’ This was what Her Majesty told us. Our task was to bring this word to all otherworldlings on land. Occasionally, we had to explain it based on our own understanding.”

“So, the whole ‘Day of Return’ is based on these few lines?” Hao Ren blinked. “And all of you just memorized these lines without actually finding out what they mean?”

Lily tilted her head as she added, “Some families actually mentioned that your kin were all very mysterious, and the prophecy sounded more like a con-job than anything. So, it was really all down to you guys not being sure on how to explain it?”