章 87: Allies 10

Two weeks have passed since Xavi and Lily arrived at the D family's mansion and tomorrow was the day the four of them would set out for the I family.

The day went by quickly with everyone training. In this week, since there were no corpses for Lia to train, she only strengthened her physical capabilities and did some 'soul work' as Xavi suggested.

Which meant, she spent hours sitting and focusing on her soul to see if she could piece them back together or how she could draw more power out of her soul.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like Lia made much progress and she was getting slightly frustrated. As she sat outside in the backyard, she sensed someone approaching her.

"Lia," the voice made her open her eyes and turn around to face Mika.

"What's wrong?"

Despite their interactions still being awkward and unnatural, they slowly got used to each other. Being forced to train together and interact with each other everyday left them no choice but to endure the other's existence.

Lia didn't hate Mika and her feelings towards him weren't negative, unlike Mika who couldn't stand her. It was easier for Lia to initiate conversations with him than he with her, so she was surprised to see him approaching her first.

"Are you really going to take down the Ghost King?"

One thing Lia learnt from being with Mika was that he was blunt to a default.

"Is it really because you want to stop him or is because of your revenge for what he has done to you?"

This line of thought, Lia has revised many times and each time she came to the same conclusion,

"Both. I'm not going to hide it. Partly because I don't want his plan to succeed and have everyone die and partly because I want to make him suffer."

Since Mika was an ally now he deserved to know the truth and Lia didn't want to hide anything from her allies anymore.

For a while, Mika didn't say anything. The sun went down, making way for the oncoming evening.

Mika ran his hand through his hair before nodding, "Ok. Erm… let's head in. After dinner, we'll discuss our plans for tomorrow."

With that, Mika turned around and headed inside. Lia stared at the white veil in front of her, before getting up and following Mika inside.

Elder D was present at the dinner and eagerly told everyone about his younger days before moving on to Mika's childhood.

Since Mika was an only child and he couldn't go out as he wanted he has been very lonely and didn't learn how to make friends or how to be social.

Mika didn't show it but his words urged his father to stop the embarrassing stories of him. Everyone had a good laugh until Elder D finally decided to set Mika free.

In the end, everyone was a lonely person, no matter how hard they tried to hide it, no matter how happy they seemed. Especially the hidden families having to hide and be stuck in one place bore the consequences of it.

After dinner, Lia thanked Elder D and he wished them a safe journey. Since Mika refused to have anyone in his room, they all assembled in Lia's. Sitting on the ground, Mika pulled out a map of the Veil. He turned to Xavi, "You know where the I family is?"

Xavi nodded and marked two spots, "This is the I family and this is the U. I'm not particularly clear about their exact locations but it should be in these cities."

"The first is the I family? Wouldn't it be more reasonable to go to the U family first? I is on the opposite of ours."

"That's because I'm not completely sure about the U family's location. It's the vaguest, so it's easier to first go to I then U then," Xavi drew a line, "to Mistand."

"Even Mistand?"

"Are you worried?" Lia wasn't mocking Mika but she was curious why Mika seemed reluctant.

"A bit."

"Is it that bad?"

"Not exactly but…" Mika stared at the map, "For a hidden family, no for immortals to choose to reside in Mistand or even worse the Nevelerand, they're dangerous."

"Maria says the T family is ok, at least the successor. She hasn't been personally in Mistand," Xavi also knew the danger going to Mistand, that was why he was pushing everyone so hard to train.

"We're going to be fine, right?" Lily noticed the tense atmosphere and tried to reassure herself.

"It should be fine," Lia smiled and Mika felt the goosebumps crawling up his skin. He really couldn't get over Lia's 'nice' personality, it was too strange.

"Mika, are you sure the journey will be easy?" the scar the games left on Xavi weren't easy to remove.

Mika nodded, "No need to worry."

After they've talked over everything they went to bed. There wasn't much Lia could do than to wait. Morning came and the four of them stood in front of the mansion. Elder P wasn't present as he had to leave the night before for some business.

The servants bowed at the stairs and gave their wishes for everyone's wellbeing. With that Lia and the other three once again set out to continue their journey through the Veil.

In front of the white veil, Mika held his hand out to lead them through it. As natural as possible, as if it was a given, Lia took his hand and then took Xavi's who held Lily's.

Mika's face blanked and Lia could see how uncomfortable it made him. Lia wanted to tell him that it wasn't the first time they had skin contact but decided to brush it off and only said, "Shall we?"

Mika rigidly turned slowly getting used to it and manoeuvred them through the Veil.

"How do you know where to go?" Lia was interested how anyone could navigate through this dense gulf like place. The two times she did it, she only blindly charged through it and luck was on her side, so she more or less found the way.

"There are pointers," Mika pointed at four different spots in the air but neither Lia, Xavi nor Lily could see anything.

"I see," was the only thing Lia said and didn't want to pursue this conversation.

However, she occasionally glanced around to figure at those pointers but was left speechless how Mika could detect them and she didn't.

Lia turned to Xavi and Lily who both shook their heads. This point was given to Mika. He finally won against her. No matter how many times they fought, he was always defeated by Lia.

Past the white veil, they walked through the landscapes and entered several cities as a shortcut. Since the Lords knew Mika, they didn't encounter them or their awful games.

Soon they ventured into another city that was abandoned, a stark contrast to Rag. It was odd once Lia thought about it, how the hidden families within the Veil didn't keep in contact nor knew about each other.

However, when Lia inquired Mika about it, he only said that it was because they hid from the Ghost King and in the 1000s of years they've grown apart. Only the name 'hidden families' was what bound these strangers together and it was Lia's task to unify them.