Meeting his Father

Noah spent the rest of the day comforting Alice till she fell asleep. He then got up and checked his phone to see it was 8 PM.

He had also gotten quite a few messages. He went through the messages from his butler, confirming that he could start school tomorrow.

Other than that, he had gotten messages from his father.

'Come meet me at the airport, I have something to give you. It's a letter left by Alice's parents for you.'

His father had finished what he had to do and had come to Country S for him.

Noah had planned on ignoring his parents, he would never be able to forgive them for not taking care of Alice and stopping him from seeing her. But a letter from Alice's parents, he had to go and read it.

The situation confusing to him and that he wasn't seeing the whole picture. The suicide of Alice's parents and his parents not letting him meet Alice both didn't make sense to him. His parents would never tell him anything.

Noah got ready and left the house. Alice was soundly asleep so he quietly walked out and closed the door.

After getting off the elevator on the ground floor, Noah pulled out his phone and opened an app. He tapped on once and waited.

A few minutes later a white car stops in front of him. Its design was sleek and curvy, its body was as if it was one continuous surface. Its wheels silently turned until they came to a stop in front of him on the road. The car door automatically pulled open and rose to reveal the inside.

Two seats with a large screen extending in between them. The chairs were laid back and made of high-quality leather. No steering wheel or driving options it was completely automatic.

Noah sat inside and tapped on the touch screen putting in the location he wanted. This was the uber he called to take him to the airport. Compared to the normal car with a driver, this was expensive and was few in number, so it was hard to ever get a ride in one.

The car doors closed as Noah got comfortable.

"Your journey will take 2 hours and 10 minutes. Please wear your seatbelt." A robotic voice said to him as the car started to drive again.

Its wheels speeding up as it drove effortlessly. The inside of the car was completely still as you couldn't feel the car move.

Noah laid back looked out the crystal clear windshield to see the towering skyscrapers dotted with lights passing by.

...

The car slowed down as it entered the area for the airport. It entered through the gate and made its way through the maze of roads leading to different buildings.

Noah's destination was different to the building he had arrived from. His father was staying in the VIP area.

The car took turn after turn as it made its way closer to the building which was located far from the entrance gate to the airport.

The car took a final turn and entered a lane leading to a majestic gold gate. The car slowed down as it drove to the gate. The touch screen inside the car changed to red as a notification appeared on it.

'Scan invitation or Pass to enter VIP zone.'

Noah opened the invitation his father had sent him on his phone and put it in front of the touch screen in the car. His phone screen was scanned and he was successfully verified. The car sped up as the gate in front of him opened.

'Welcome to the VIP zone for Royal Airlines!' The screen displayed the writing with a gold background.

The car sped up as it led him straight to the place his father was staying. He got off and had the car wait for him to come back.

Noah entered the private room. His father was sat on a sofa wearing reading glasses as he spoke in a foreign language, his hand swiping on the touch screen in his hand.

Noah sat down. His father looked at him and then ended his call. And kept everything down.

"I had to leave in a hurry so I ended up missing you. So how are you? Is everything okay?"

"I'm sure you already know. Can I have the letter?"

"I know you're disappointed in me but you should still respond to your mother's messages, she's worried sick." Noah's father said as he picked up a suitcase from his side. He used his fingerprint to open it and took out two letters.

"Anderson left these two letters one for you and the other one is for Alice, I was supposed to give you your letter on your 18th birthday, as for Alice I am supposed to give it to her on her 19th birthday. If you had waited a bit longer I would have given you the letter on your birthday 2 weeks ago."

Noah took the letters. They both were in black envelopes.

"Why are you giving me both now then?"

"I've already disappointed my son enough, I'll let you decide when to give it to Alice."

Noah opened his letter while putting down Alice's.

"Dear beloved Son In Law, Noah

If you are reading this you must have already turned 18. If your father kept his promise to me, he made sure you and Alice have been completely separated for the last 4 years. So don't blame your father it was a decision we as your parents made, for both of your safety.

Noah as you know your mother in law's heritage is quite special. She was born in a special family where descendants can see into the future. As you might have guessed my wife saw a vision. The future she saw had frightened her immensely.

One of the things she saw was Alice's death.

You might not know this, but we are not alone in this world. There are many other beings outside of humans. Currently, we are being assimilated into their universe.

Your mother in law was able to see the location of such a gate connecting to this universe and we had entered it. What Lillian saw was that others were able to figure out that we had possession of the gate, and started to hunt us. This would be the start of our misfortune.

So what we had to do was to completely disappear. We both planned on entering the new world with Alice completely before things escalated. However, there were restrictions at play and we couldn't bring Alice with us. Staying any longer meant death to all three of us. This meant we had to abandon Alice.

We tried to change the future but Lillian continued to see even worse futures from her visions as time went on. We have finally decided on a plan, for this, we must leave without Alice.

So we leave our daughter to you. We have had you separated to have you and your family removed from suspicion. And to remove Alice as being used as a hostage or target for information.

Now please take care of our daughter, although you haven't married I have long since seen you as my son. She has been alone for so long, life must have been incredibly hard. But I believe in her, she has her mother's strength and will be able to pull through.

Lillian has seen the future and the best time to reunite would be after your 18th birthday.

As a parent, I have failed. But I have trust in you Noah. So I ask as your teacher and a father to take care of her.

Yours sincerely

Anderson Rhinehart

Noah quickly processed everything in the letter. From what he understood, Alice's parents had committed suicide to enter the eternal battlefield. They didn't go through the gate to hide its location. Thinking of this Noah had another thought.

This gate was likely to be similar to the access point they had entered from, but this was 4 years ago. This was before the mana waves had started and the eternal battlefield was letting people in.

Naturally, this was something he knew. If he died in either world during the synchronization period, they would only die in one of the worlds and live on the other.

He now had more questions such as who was hunting them down? What did they see in the future?

Since he was supposed to get this on his birthday, which was the day after he had arrived in country S, a day after Alice jumped. How did that work into the future Alice's mother saw? Did she not see Alice jump or did she see him saving her?

Tears suddenly filled his eyes. He wasn't crying out of sadness rather a relief. Overwhelming relief. Those years of effort allowed him to be a day earlier. But that was enough for him.

He was able to save her.

Noah calmed down. And then thought about how something in the future must have changed as there is no way Alice's mother calculated the time wrong.

Noah looked at his father and said, "I understand why you did everything, but I still can't bring myself to forgive you."

"Do you think I told you all this for your forgiveness? I don't need such a thing. Just come visit sometime."

"I'll think about, have you found anything about the people who were hunting them down?"

"I'll send you the information I've gathered over the years. I haven't been able to find the culprit, Anderson didn't tell me who it was but I have been able to find out people who might know about them."

"Anything else?" Noah asked.

"That briefcase over there, Anderson left it with me saying that you would know what to do with it. Take that as well." Noah picked up the briefcase and recognised it. He then put away Alice's letter left his letter on the table.

The letter was written in a special ink that would disappear soon after contact with light. By now it was only a blank piece of paper.

Noah holding the briefcase got back into the car. He set the location back to Alice's apartment.

...

Noah reached home and saw that Alice was asleep. He sat next to her as he thought of what to tell her.

At first, he thought of telling her the truth. But then started to falter after reading the information his father had collected.

The enemy was powerful, he wasn't someone they could deal with.

He thought of how happy Alice would be if she found out that they were alive.

But then he thought of how devastated she would feel if something had gone wrong and they had died in the eternal battlefield. Although it was unlikely, they might have been killed in the eternal battlefield.

In the end, he delayed the decision. There must have been a reason Alice's parents said to give the letter on her 19th birthday.

As for the briefcase, he knew what was inside without opening it. Looking at it reminded him of a strong burning sensation near his left shoulder. It was the tools needed to perform the branding ceremony for the Secret of the four seasons: Autumn Style. Alice's father gave it to him so that he could perform it on Alice.

Noah hid the case in the suitcase he had sent to him by Sebastian. The ceremony had to be done when one reached the age of eighteen. His circumstances were different which allowed having it done eight years earlier. Alice however would still need to reach the age of eighteen, there were still a few months until then. He planned on keeping hidden till then.