Chapter 62: The end?

Ethan stepped through the portal and found himself standing in a familiar place—his city. The skyline stretched high above him, the streets bustling with the usual midday traffic. Everything looked just like it had before he left for the School of the Guardians. The same familiar billboards lit up the sidewalks, and the faint hum of life around him felt comforting, yet surreal.

He glanced up at one of the nearest billboards, where bright letters flashed across the screen with the date: August 12th. Ethan froze. It had only been a week since he left for the school—only a week since everything began. But it felt like an eternity. The loss of Greg, the chaos of the wasteland, the rise and fall of Eldoria, all of it seemed so distant, so much more than just a few days.

Shaking off the creeping sense of unease, he pushed forward, making his way down the street. The city was just as it had always been—people hurrying to work, cars honking in the distance, the sound of children laughing in nearby parks. But everything felt... different. It was as if he had been gone for far longer than a mere week.

Ethan finally reached his home and stood outside for a moment, taking it all in. The house was the same. The small yard, the porch with the rocking chair his dad liked to sit in. He could almost hear his father calling out to him in that deep, familiar voice.

And then, as if his thoughts had summoned them, he heard the front door swing open.

"Ethan!" his dad's voice rang out, followed by the rapid footsteps of his elder sister, Ava.

Before he could even react, both of them were there, rushing towards him with open arms.

Ava was the first to reach him, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. "You're back! You're really back!" she said, voice cracking slightly.

His dad, grinning from ear to ear, clapped him on the back. "Good to have you home, son." His dad's face, weathered by time and hard work, held a deep, unmistakable sense of relief.

"Yeah, it's good to be back," Ethan said, unable to keep a small smile from tugging at the corners of his lips.

They pulled him inside, and he took a moment to look around the house. It felt like everything had stayed the same, like no time had passed at all. They sat down in the living room, his dad settling into his favorite armchair, while Ava perched on the couch next to Ethan.

"So, how was Guardian School?" Ava asked eagerly, her eyes wide with curiosity.

Ethan chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "You have no idea," he said, still unsure of how to explain the otherworldly experiences he'd lived through. The life-and-death moments, the ancient kingdoms, the supernatural creatures. He couldn't exactly tell them everything, not yet, maybe never.

Instead, he deflected with another smile. "It was... intense. Really intense."

Ava gave him an incredulous look. "Intense? That's all you've got?"

Ethan hesitated, glancing between his father and sister. They seemed... so normal. So blissfully unaware. It was as if the past weeks—no, the months—had never happened. The wasteland, the demons, the kingdom he had fought for, it was as if it had all vanished into thin air.

They kept asking him questions—about his classes, about the people he met, about what it was like—but every answer he gave seemed unsatisfactory to them. He could feel it in the air—this sense that they were so far removed from the reality of his experience. Their reality had been reset, erased.

And then, Ava asked the question that made Ethan pause.

"Wait, so how come it only took you a week to finish your training? You were gone for so long, but it's like... you didn't even miss a beat."

Ethan's eyes narrowed, a fleeting sense of dread creeping up his spine. This was where things got tricky.

"Time flows differently," he said after a long moment. "Here it was a week, but over there... it was much longer. It's hard to explain, but it's just how things work in the other dimension."

Ava blinked at him, clearly not fully understanding, but nodding anyway. "Okay, if you say so."

His dad let out a low chuckle. "You kids and your complicated worlds."

Ethan smiled, though the weight of his hidden truth still pressed down on him. He could feel the pull of Eldoria in his mind, the memories of what he had experienced there. But for now, he was back home and that should be enough. He'd have to resume school and continue hiding the fact that he was a vampire from the rest of his classmates. He really hoped his superior intellect was going to be enough to get him back on track with all the lessons he missed when he was away on worlds saving adventures.

Back at Eldoria, the shifter with the amber eyes that recognized the scent of Kael and Ethan before they went to join the rebellion in the camp stood in the midst of the forest.

"I don't see how surrendering control of Eldoria to the elves will help our cause." He said, speaking to the figure in front of him.

"Patience, child. What we have given them is the illusion of control."

He blinked, confused. "The illusion of control? But… how will this help us?"

"With Ethan and Gregory out of the picture, we can easily take back what is rightfully ours which is everything that belongs to them." His grin widened as he spoke, eyes glinting with cold ambition.

"Master Kael, do you have a plan on how we'll do that?" He asked, his voice full of doubt.

"Definitely," Kael replied cryptically.

"And are you going to tell me the plan?" the leader asked.

"Definitely not but trust me when I say..." Kael paused for a bit before continuing.

"This war is far from over."