Lucien was settled at his private study with Sora and the children when Elias stepped into the room.
"Your Grace,"
Elias announced, his voice trembling with an emotion none of them had heard from the steady head steward in decades.
"Forgive the sudden intrusion... but you have visitors."
Lucien frowned slightly, lifting his head.
"And they say they are from Earth."
Lucien froze.
["Oh would you look at that. This day has finally come."]
Behind Elias walked Lady Fransia, wheeling her heavy hard-shell suitcase smoothly across the polished marble floor. Right beside her, Zelda slung her oversized backpack onto the floor with a heavy thud, while two wide-eyed, trembling maids followed nervously behind, carrying smaller travel bags.
Silence settled over the massive room.
Sora looked between Lucien and the guests, dumbfounded.
While the children stared at the strange, modern luggage and the noble face of the young woman standing before them.
Elise and Elysia exchanged bewildered glances, while Tristan instinctively rested a hand on his sword hilt before relaxing at Elias's peaceful posture.
Lucien dropped the parchment he was holding. He looked at Fransia's and Zelda's faces, failing to recognize their physical features, yet instinctively convinced that they were his family from Earth.
"Mother Walker...? Mellisa...?"
Lucien whispered, his voice cracking. He took three quick steps forward, stopping right in front of them.
"Your bodies... what happened?"
"It turns out Earthlings can't cross over with their actual bodies, Lucien,"
Fransia explained softly, offering a warm, familiar smile.
"So now I am a fallen baroness Fransia and Mells is my sweet noble daughter—Zelda. But it's really us."
"And we brought the luggage with your favorite snacks,"
Zelda added with a proud grin, gesturing to the hard-shell suitcases and her solar-powered setup.
"Though Sir Sweeps-A-Lot, your dirt roads were an absolute nightmare for rolling wheels."
Lucien let out a quiet, breathless laugh, tears welling in his eyes as he walked around the desk.
"You... you truly made it across the spatial rift."
"Of course we did,"
Fransia said firmly, stepping forward and pulled Lucien into a warm, motherly hug before he could react.
"Did you really think I was going to let my son return to another dimension all by himself?"
Lucien stood frozen for a second before wrapping his arms tightly around her, closing his eyes as a heavy, fifteen-year weight seemed to lift from his shoulders.
Elysia's eyes sparkled as she leaned over to whisper to Elise.
"Are those... the family members father always talked about from Earth?"
"They are,"
Elise replied softly, a rare, genuine smile touching her lips.
"I used to think it was only childhood told to us about our other father. But to think it was all true."
"Lucien, isn't this a lovely surprise?"
Fransia giggled pulling away from the hug.
"Indeed it is. Mother allow me to introduce the family quickly."
He pointed first to Sora and Sora leaned closer with a slight bow.
"This is Sora. He is Cassian's mate and the father of that boy."
Lucien pointed at the nineteen-year-old Aurelian, who stood tall with a calm, sharp gaze.
"He is his first born, and his name is Aurelian."
Aurelian stepped forward and offered a polite, respectful bow.
"It is an honor to finally meet you both. Uncle Lucien spoke of you often."
"Oh, my goodness,"
Mrs. Walker gasped softly, her eyes warming as she looked at Aurelian and Sora. It was actually a surprise to find out that Kagen had built a family in this world.
Not to mention Sora was even a different species.
'It seems very common for males to marry and even bear children here.'
Fransia walked closer to Aurelian and Sora and greeted them with a hug.
"It is good to finally meet you all. These past few months–...I suppose years in your perspective Kagen has been worrying so much about you. It's good to finally meet my grandchildren and the people that have entrusted their hearts to him."
"We are happy to have you here as well Mother. At least that reassures me that he will stay with us forever."
With that. Lucien then turned to the three teenagers standing beside the table.
"And these are my children with him—Elise, Elysia, and Tristan."
Tristan jerked his head to Lucien surprised.
'Why is father including me?, did he make a mistake.'
"Tristan eyes forward. Where are your manners?"
"S-sorry father."
Elysia immediately stepped up with a bright smile.
"Welcome to Arden! We've heard so many stories about Earth!"
"We are honored by your arrival," Elise added with a courteous nod, while Tristan offered a firm, quiet bow.
"Welcome, we are happy to have you with us."
"Such well mannered children. Lucien you did a good job raising them."
Fransia chuckled, overwhelming them with hugs. Something they were very unfamiliar with. But Elysia loved it, after all she was a princess with no knowledge of boundaries.
Zelda looked around at her nieces and nephews with a wide grin.
"Nice to meet you all, I am Mellisa but here they call me Zelda and I'm your Aunt. Look we brought a whole backpack full of Earth stuff, so we have a lot to catch up on."
["Holy Knight of Edrath...are you not forgetting someone?"]
Lucien's expression hardened as that same realization hit him. He was busy being surprised by their presence forgetting the most important thing of all.
Cassian.
"If the portal formula you used brought you directly to Edrath today..."
Lucien murmured,
"Then Kagen must be back as well right?"
"Indeed and now that you mention it Lucien, he only told us where to go before parted but not where to find him and we thought we would find him here already. Has he not landed?"
"He is in the royal palace. That's where his body has been waiting for his consciousness.
Lucien looked back at Fransia and Zelda across him.
"Elias will see you both to the main guest quarters. Eat, rest, and make yourselves at home. Sora and the children will stay here to keep you safe."
"Where are you going, Lucien?"
Fransia asked, concern lacing her tone.
"To the capital,"
Lucien said, strapping his dark leather broadsword sheath to his belt in one swift motion.
"I am going to fetch my beloved."
Without waiting another second, Lucien swept past the heavy doors, his black cape billowing behind him as he hurried down the corridor to mobilize his fastest shadow-steed.
"Oh he's so cool."
Zelda noted, clapping her hands excitedly
*****
The shadow-steed moved like a blur of dark lightning across the valley, its hooves leaving faint trails of blue embers along the dirt highway. Lucien leaned low over the reins, his black cloak whipping wildly against the cold mountain wind.
His mind raced faster than the beast beneath him.
Fifteen years.
He had waited.
Fifteen years.
"Cassian, finally..." Lucien muttered into the rushing wind, digging his boots into the stirrups as the shadow-steed accelerated toward the distant, glowing spires of the capital city.
"You are finally home."
["And that means I will finally feed on the dormant Cassian Valemont right?, I wonder what a royal soul tastes like."]
"Jerga.."
["Yes?"]
"Did you have to ruin the moment for me?"
*****
Meanwhile, inside the warm, sunlit lounge of the Arden Estate, a very different kind of chaos was unfolding.
"Okay, so this,"
Zelda said, holding up a small, rectangular piece of plastic with absolute gravity,
"–is called a power bank. It converts sunlight into energy to charge our personal mini-scrying mirrors like this one."
Elysia, Elise, Aurelian, and Tristan were all leaning over the low tea table, their eyes glued to the items Zelda had unpacked from her oversized travel bag.
Elysia gasped, reaching out a tentative finger to touch the smooth metallic case.
"It stores lightning magic without an elemental gem? How does it hold the charge?"
"Science," Mellisa grinned knowingly.
"Or wizardry. Honestly, I just plug it in and the phone charges up."
Beside them, Fransia sat comfortably on a velvet sofa, holding a steaming porcelain cup of herbal tea that Elias had personally prepared for her. Sora sat across from her, his silver-and-emerald robes draped gracefully around him, watching the teenagers with a rare, relaxed warmth in his soft eyes.
"They're good kids, Sora,"
Fransia said gently, setting her cup down on the saucer.
"Kids?"
"I meant Children darling–... you and Lucien raised them well."
Sora smiled softly, shaking his head. "Lucien bore the heaviest burden. For fifteen years, he kept this family together, protected us from harm, and spent every night in his study patiently waiting for our beloved Cassian to return to us. He never gave up hope and that motivated us to wait as well."
"Neither did Kagen,"
"Wait, you call him Cassian here right?"
Sora nodded with a soft smile on his lips.
Fransia murmured, looking out the grand stained-glass window toward the western forest.
"He talked about Lucien and this world constantly. He was so worried about leaving us behind... but he couldn't leave his heart behind either."
Sora reached across the table, taking her hand with a quiet, profound respect. "Thank you for bringing him back to us, Mother."
"Oh, sweetie,"
Fransia chuckled, patting his hand warmly.
On the other side–
"Hey, guys, look at this!"
Mellisa's voice popped up loudly from the floor. She had unzipped a side pocket and pulled out a family-sized bag of sour gummy worms, tossing one directly into her mouth.
"Earth delicacies. Who wants to try one?"
Tristan picked up a translucent green worm with two fingers, examining it like it was a unknown magical potion ingredient.
"Isn't this... poisonous?"
"Only if you eat the whole bag,"
Mellisa deadpanned before breaking into a grin.
"Eat it, sword boy, it's sugar."
As the room erupted into quiet laughter, Sora looked at the strange hard-shell suitcases resting by the door, then back at the cheerful family gathered around the table. For the first time in fifteen years, the cold gloom lingering over the Arden Estate felt like it was finally beginning to melt. But except for one fact.
Ruby.
'Lucien needs to send her away as soon as possible. A scheming woman like would do anything to ruin this for us.'
*****