The Injuries That Aren't Visible

*Knock* *Knock*

"Come in."

With that a lone man entered the room and approached the woman sitting at her desk.

"Reporting."

"What is it"

"Scaleth seems to still be in the Astral Zone currently. If this goes on any longer there's going to start being problems with the people and the other two clans."

Even hearing that she didn't stop working as she kept writing document after document. With no reply the man patiently waited until she was ready and stood still like a statue,He was used to such a sight after all. Finally after a couple of minutes the sounds of flipping pages and the scribbling of writing finally came to a stop as she finished and looked up. Stretching she relaxed her body in her chair as she began to think of the problem at hand.

"Do you know how long he's been in there?"

"Currently it's almost been an hour."

"An hour..."

Running her hand through her now greying hair she sighed. Looking at that sight the man sighed. At one point she was youthful and full of energy like any young person but over the years he had watched her age and now it seemed like she was coming to her end soon. From a beautiful maiden to this was saddening to see.

"Well give him another hour and if he hasn't come back by then send people to check on him."

"What of the other two then?"

"Let them be suspicious and if they pester you make up some excuse. It's not like he'll be there much longer. I doubt they'll start using force for such an insignificant thing especially at this time."

"You mean the successor's throne coming soon?"

"Indeed, we all have to be prepared for it after all. It's why I hired that brute in the first place."

"Very well, I'll be off then."

With that she watched as he faded into the light and disappeared from her vision and senses completely. With the new successor showing up in the head city's clan she had been struggling to prepare for it just like the other two and because of that they had less manpower than usual dealing with training all the young folks to prepare them for it. Winning meant a marriage between whoever won and would increase their power expedentionally and that was something none of them would pass up. With that power it would put them in the dominant position between the three which they had been constantly fighting for in the past years.

"Hopefully one of those brats can do it."

With that she went back to her work.

Carefully and as slowly as possible Eli held Tearia in his arms as he went back home. He didn't want to injure her if possible so he was being as delicate as he could be. "Poor girl..." After a couple more minutes he landed in front of the inn and walked inside only to be greeted by his wife sitting in his chair with her arms folded tapping her arm impatiently. However the second she saw them she jumped up and rushed forward. Seeing Tearia she almost froze in disbelief but soon heard her quiet breathing and calmed herself down.

"Where are the other two?"

"Th-..."

Stopping himself he didn't know how to reply to such a difficult question so the only thing he could do was tell her the whole story from what he saw but first they needed to help their granddaughter.

"I'll tell you later, For now take Tearia and make sure she's okay. Afterwards we can talk."

Unfortunately she already had a pretty decent idea already about what happened as she grabbed Tearia and took her to her room for treatment. Seeing his wife walk off he walked to the back porch and took a seat on the bench and began to patiently wait for his wife to return which wasn't too long. Soon the sounds of her quiet footsteps entered his ears as she made her way to him.

"So this is where you went off to, It's rare to see you here first."

Taking a seat next time him, she let out a sigh of relief while leaning on him.

"How is she."

"She had some back injuries and a few cracks in the bones of her neck but they'll heal with time. The cuts she received as well have already started to heal with what medicine I gave her. Time will heal it all so I'm not too worried about that instead I'm worried about the injuries I can't see. So tell me what happened."

"Better than I thought, which is good, Though I don't know the full story so don't expect too much from me."

"Doesn't matter, tell me"

"Alright."

With that he recounted all the events that he had witnessed to her and everything he had heard and even guessed. Finishing his story after some time he heard his wife sigh beside him.

"Not far from what I thought but why didn't you stop Xilo."

"Stop him? He was lucky I didn't kill him at that moment let alone bother to help him. If he gets himself killed the only person he can blame is himself. What idiot blindly runs deeper into an Astral Zone."

"You Know that Isn't fair. Though I'm curious about the form you described him in. Did he seem stable to you?"

Thinking back on it he focused in on what Xilo was doing and the way he was acting before answering.

"No, His actions seemed irrational and random for the most part. The only time it felt like he had some clarity was the small bits when talking to our daughter or when he finally left. Why?"

"I was just curious that's all because well anyone would probably be angry in that kind of situation it seemed a little strange coming from him. But I guess anger is a powerful emotion that can change anyone."

The way he appeared though was the least of her worries or cares. She and Eli had seen quite a few similar cases in the past. Though they weren't nearly as drastic as Xilo's which she figured it was just his ability.

"Hmph."

He didn't want to agree with her because it was his daughter in the bad position but he knew she was right in the end. Hell he had done similar things plenty of times in the past. Changing the subject he spoke up again after a moment of silence.

"So what do we do about Tearia then?"

"Besides trying better ourselves to guide her, nothing really. She has to decide where she wants to go from here. Though it's not like we were much help before..."

Both released a silent sigh as they sat there waiting for the time when she would wake up again thinking about all the ways they had to change taking care of her. Maybe after the death of Tearia's parents they had also gotten lost along the way somewhere drowning in their own sorrow. But this was a wake up call for them as well.

*Rip*

Dodging once again Xilo ran into another tree branch that tore a bit of his clothing while passing by. Covered in dirt head to toe he continuously ran with Xelfia in his arms trying to keep her safe. At first there was only a couple of Beasts hunting him which he could deal with but as more time passed and he ran further and further more Beasts started swarming him to the point he was getting overwhelmed.

"I need to get out of here. Fast."

Dodging another attack he pushed forward again.