Chapter 225 - Homebound

"Anything?"

Oliver turned to Jack and shook his head. They've been at it for a few minutes now with nothing to show for, causing Oliver to look over the ledge.

"Maybe we're too high up?" Jack added, worried that they might have been wasting their time here.

"You're getting impatient, I know," Oliver clicked his tongue in frustration, "Which is why I suggested you guys wait in the car. Nothing's going to happen if you keep bugging about it, man."

Jack nodded as he turned around and looked at the Ark City skyline. As he did so, Oliver looked at Strider and focused his attention on finding Neana.

But, despite their efforts, there was nothing.

"Damn, there's too much noise," Oliver cursed as he looked over the walking citizens on the ground level. They went about their day no different than before the New World. It was, well, not what Oliver expected.

"Noise? It's pretty quiet up here," the gnome disagreed.

"Not that kind of noise," Oliver turned to the group with both hands on his hips, "It's that there are too many people. It's impossible for Strider to make anything out with the number of random smells out there. If only we had a sort of long-range scanner."

"That kind of tech only belongs to the military, my man," Jack answered, arms crossed, "And, even if we do get something like that, I don't think we can use it to single out a person. No piece of tech could ever do something that specific."

"So, what do we do now?" Oliver sighed and rubbed the back of Strider's head, "Got any ideas, anyone?"

"Well, what about your new powers?" Jack suggested, "Can't you use the shadows or something to find her? It'll be like going to the beach with a metal detector. Who knows? Maybe we'll strike gold."

"That's not gonna work," Oliver shook his head as he walked to the stairs that had brought them to the roof, "The shadows only have a limited range. I can't throw them out in random places and hope we'd find the needle in the haystack. There has to be a better way."

"We're going on foot?" Jack asked, aware of what Oliver was thinking.

"Yeah, let's go."

That said, Oliver and the group proceeded to exit the parking building and walked around the busy streets. It wasn't long until someone took an interest in them or, at least, in both Strider and the gnome. Their strange appearances caught the sights of many as the group kept walking.

"Don't you think we could've done this, oh, I don't know, a little more discreetly?" Jack whispered to Oliver, who didn't seem to mind the looks they got.

"We could," Oliver smiled, "But that kinda defeats what I'm going for here."

"What's that?"

"We're drawing attention to ourselves. Really, it's that simple," Oliver's eyes narrowed as he looked around, "You'd be surprised how things spread like wildfire here. And, sooner or later, Neana would show herself."

As Jack understood what Oliver was going for, Strider's ears suddenly perked up. Oliver and Jack noticed it when Strider ran off on his own, leaving the rest behind.

"Follow him."

Oliver ran first, with Jack not far behind. The gnome, on the other hand, used earth magic to propel himself forward. He rode a small piece of rock taken from the ground as a platform to traverse. The three of them ran towards Strider and soon stopped at a dark alleyway.

"Wow," Jack sarcastically said, "This isn't sketchy at all."

"Not the time," Oliver's eyes narrowed at Strider, who suddenly looked up into the sky. "We're going up," Oliver added as he acted without hesitation and scaled the side of the buildings next to him. It took him less than five seconds to reach the roof.

"Nea?" Oliver called out to the only visible figure in the area. To which, that person turned around and approached him.

"Oliver? Where's Rynold?" Neana asked, a bit surprised to see him.

"Really?" Oliver raised one of his eyebrows in suspicion, "That's the first thing you ask? Are you that worried about him?"

Neana looked at Oliver, unamused. She needed an answer as these past three days were nothing but anxiety and paranoia. She had barely slept at all as she kept looking for him.

"I don't know where he is," Oliver answered solemnly, "The truth is nobody does. From what I've gathered, he's in an audience with the gods now."

"You're fucking with me."

"Since when did you start swearing like that? Oh my god, Rynold rubbed off on you, huh?" Jack mocked as he appeared along with the gnome and Strider. They stood on a rock platform big enough for the three of them. It was a comfier ride than how Oliver scaled the building.

"No, I'm not fucking with you," Oliver answered, ignoring Jack's comments, "That's the most logical explanation of where he is right now. Whether he's fine or not, well..."

"He's fine," Jack interjected with great enthusiasm, "You guys know how Rynold is. He's tough. He can handle himself just fine. You know that, right?"

Oliver didn't really like lying to Neana like that, but he nodded. Neana noticed the reluctance Oliver had while he did so, but she didn't bring it up. She knew better than anyone here that Oliver worried for Rynold, even though he wouldn't admit it.

"Yeah, I do," Neana smiled as her face visibly cleared from any worries, "He can take care of himself. I'm sure of it. I was just worried, is all."

"Okay," Oliver nodded, "Still doesn't explain what you're doing all the way out here, though. Kind of a weird place to look for him, don't you think?"

"We've got a lot of catching up to do," Neana chuckled as she approached, "But, one thing's for sure, though. I did miss you guys."

That said, Neana threw her arms around at both Oliver and Jack, causing them to be a part of a group hug. Even though Oliver never cared for physical displays of affection much, this was nice.

"So," Jack pushed the conversation forward as the embrace ended, "What do we do now? I don't even think there's anything for us to do at this point but to go back home."

"I'm cool with that," Oliver nodded, then turned to Neana, "Nea?"

"There's someone I need to pick up first," Neana answered as she started walking in a specific direction, "Come on. I'll explain on the way."

Using the rooftops like vigilantes, Oliver and the group followed Neana to a military camp in the middle of the city. Along the way, she explained the encounter Rynold had with the kid with no name. She elaborated on the fact that the child's care and safety fell on Rynold's shoulders. And, with him gone, it now fell on Neana.

"So, you're saying Rynold picked up a stray? What's that about?"

Jack expressed his concerns as to why Rynold would do such a bizarre thing. It would've been acceptable if Rynold had chosen to ally with an adult. But, a child was certainly something out of the ordinary.

"The kid's special," Neana answered as the group landed on the ground, "He's nothing like a regular kid. Or, well, any regular person for that matter."

That said, the conversation went on as Neana explained what she knew. Everything about what Rynold had told her, she explained to Oliver and Jack. They kept talking as they soon reached the inner area of the military camp.

"We're here," Neana said as she knocked on the door of a small building. There wasn't anything remarkable about it as this was where they stayed for the time being.

After that, Neana introduced the kid to the rest of the group. Oliver and Jack happily welcomed the child, even though they didn't know how to act around him. Not only that, but Neana also introduced him to the gnome, whose fascination with the child was something rather unorthodox.

Regardless, they exchanged pleasantries as Oliver, Jack and Neana entered the small building.

"Okay," Neana sat down on the bed as she addressed the matter at hand, "Mind telling me what happened to you guys?"

"Uh, where do we start?" Jack looked at Oliver with a confused look. Over the past few days, they've gone through hardships that were hard to put into words. But, as Oliver looked back at Jack with the same look, he then shook his head and sighed defeatedly a second later.

"Here's how things went down..."

Oliver explained everything that happened to him, with Jack adding side comments ever so often to help the story sound more cohesive. Each sentence he formulated in his head took Oliver a lot of effort to phrase correctly. He wanted to make the series of events less harmful than it seemed.

"What?" Neana's furrowed eyebrows looked at the two of them with a strange accusing tone in her voice. "I'm sorry, you did what?"

"We trained the soldiers in the West Blockade," Jack nonchalantly responded, "Really, it's not a big deal."

"And you're sure that's safe?" Neana turned to Oliver, clearly pinning some responsibility on him.

"Yeah, I am," Oliver nodded, "They needed to have a fighting chance against any magical threat they'd come across. We helped them out to make sure that they could at least stand their ground."

That said, Neana waved her hand in dismissal and motioned for the two guys to continue on their story.

Oliver explained almost everything. He added that his relationship with the devil inside him was better than it was before. He also explained the new powers that came along with the Equal contract.

But, despite almost revealing everything, Oliver kept to himself how he had unlocked these new powers. He realized just how important it was for the devil to keep its origins between them. Other than that, though, Oliver didn't hide anything else.

"So," Neana let out a deep breath, "That's that, huh?"

"Not really," Jack suddenly denied, acting a bit out of character, "You didn't really explain what went down with your family."

"What? I did, didn't I?"

"No," Jack shook his head, "You just told us that you're not talking to them anymore. You're not really saying anything else about it. So, spill. You can't gloss over something like that. Especially not to your friends."

"There's nothing else to say," Oliver outright denied, "I'm fine. I already told you what happened. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You know," Jack scoffed, "That'd probably work if you're talking to people who don't care. But, you're in a room with your friends here."

Before Jack could say anything else, Oliver shot him a glare. It was a sign for him to stop talking, but Jack continued anyway.

"Look, if you don't want to talk to us about it, then that's fine. But, you have to understand that we're your friends. We're here when you need someone to talk to. It doesn't have to be now or anything in particular, really, but we're here."

Oliver gave a subtle nod as a response, causing Jack to back off. It was a bit out of character for him to say things like that, but Oliver appreciated the effort.

That said, Oliver's voice suddenly turned hoarse as he said the words, "Let's go." It might've been a sign of Oliver's heartache, but neither Jack nor Neana pointed it out.

The three of them soon stepped out of the building with Oliver first out the door. From there, Neana told the guards that they would soon be leaving while Oliver pulled the teleportation stone from his inventory.

"Should we really just leave?" Jack shared his doubts.

"Rynold'll come back home," Oliver nodded as he gripped the stone in his hand, "We shouldn't wait for him here."

As Neana met up with the group soon later, Oliver smashed the teleportation stone on the ground, enveloping the group in bright light. They were going home.

=End of Volume 4=

=Mech God in the New World will return on December 1st.=