Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 36 Crossroads - To Return or not to Return?

Or rather, he had been frustrated since the moment his sealed memories and powers awakened.

No, even before that. Since his first memories whether before the Arena as an orphan street-rat or in the Arena, he had no pleasant memories except Moira. And even then, living on the edge of life-and-death, unable to savour his relationship with his lover...

It soured his emotions further. He had simmering over for a long, long time.

And now, faced with the prospect of having his desires fulfilled in an instant, it was definitely enticing; truly truly tempting.

But he couldn't. And that made him even more upset, though as usual, he barely showed his emotions.

"...I choose to keep the ring."

"WHAT!!! DON'T BE STUPID! Ok ok, I know you accidentally said the wrong right. One more time, what do--"

"No, Sir Kizorik, I'm certain about my answer." The pure-eyed boy looked earnestly at his contracted demon as he spoke, "I... Can't make that choice, even if those offers, those powers are so sorely tempting..."

His face dropped slightly and his eyelids drooped as he explained further. "Even with the coordinates for Earth, I still need the means of return, right...? Then that can wait until I've understood the travel methods available and the cost involved. I imagine... It's not going to be cheap... So it doesn't matter for not whether I exchange for that or not..."

"As for power... For what? To grab Moira from her happiness, reunited with family, her people, her future path of radiant growth in her country...?" He shook his head helplessly. "I love her! That doesn't mean I want to rob her of her own path of advancement... And... She's still so young..."

A sentimental look crossed his eyes as he dusted off the sand and dirt from a nearby tree trunk and sat down on the mossy surface. Then he winced as he sat - it wasn't very comfortable.

"And I believe in her love for me, and my love for her. What Love Potion... That's not love. That's slavery!" He turned to look the penguin square in the eyes, the smouldering determination in them causing the hellion to look away in embarrassment. "...And if I truly love her, I'll have to learn to trust her. Whether now..."

He looked up wistfully at the stars in the sky and blinked twice, slowly. "...Or one day once we're married."

"Finally, about revenge on the All-Heaven Divine Empire, about rushing home... To Earth..."

He breathed in deep, the cool night air refreshing him and soothing his lousy mood.

"I..."

"...What if..."

He asked Kizorik a simple question with an absolutely straight face and limpid, clear eyes carrying no hint of falsehood, but also filled with hesitation, doubts and double-mindedness.

"...What if I don't want to go back to Earth anymore...?"

The penguin fell off the boy's and bumped its head on the group, sputtering, "W-what! No! You, you can't! You..." Then realising that it had lost its composure, it stood up and gathered itself, arranging its feathers while rubbing its sore head.

But as it spoke, it grew in consternation, nearly hopping up and down on the soft ground as it fired off reasons quickly back and forth with the contractor it relied on fully for growth.

"What about your family! Surely they need you right...?"

"I... I'm an orphan..."

"Brothers and sisters...?"

"...None?"

"Relatives? Anyone at all???"

"None...?"

"...Not even one at all??"

"Not even one at all..."

Looking dumbstruck for a moment, the demon quickly gathered its wits once more and continued.

"L-look, you... You must have people you care about righ-- Oh! Yeah! How about friends? Comrades? Teammates? They need you to warn them right...?"

"...All dead..." His heart felt even more depressed at the thought, but this did achieve the penguin's objective slightly; he felt resentful and wronged by his brothers and sisters' deaths at the hands of the invaders; remembered the unwillingness in his heart that had caused him to cry out from the depths of his soul for a second chance at life - not for him to have a warm and romantic lovey-dovey life, but to exact his revenge and defend his homeland...!

"What!!! But, but you know..." The penguin looked to be at a loss of what to say, then its eyes brightened as it thought of a new approach. "You know that you're a loyal, what, Malaysian-born person right...? Definitely you have a duty born out of being bred and brought up in that land! So you need to..."

His thoughts drifted off even as the penguin spoke at length, too caught up in his reminiscing to hear what Kizorik said any longer.

'Jayshree... Hajiro... Samuel... You left your families behind to join the frontlines of conflict... Though you were always quiet, I would see how you always quietly looked into the distance, as if remembering your dear and loved ones...'

'Mia... You no longer have family left after they pillaged your home village and left a scorched land... But I know you love your country and nation more than any one of us...'

'Jessica... You thought no one knew... But I noticed... Your ring you kept in the secret compartment of your bag... And the picture of your man, fiancee or boyfriend that you would take out and kiss longingly... He... He surely needs to know what happened to you...'

'Adrian... You're just an idiot... But you left behind a loving wife and a young daughter... I... I'll protect them for you...'

'And Robin...'

He clenched his fists tightly as waves of emotion and pangs of loss pulsed across his heart, causing his chest to grow tight, so tight he could barely draw in his next breaths.

'I'll find out why. Who, or what was it that made you abandon all your ties to us...? Blood-forged bonds formed in the thick of battle, where race, nationality, gender, everything ceased to matter and faded away in the light of brotherhood, in the light of surviving to live and see another day...'

'I'll find out your story... You're... Not the kind of person who would betray your brothers and sisters... I'll... Find out the reason behind it all! And...'

His eyes lit up with a fire, one that would not go out until it had consumed everything; its enemies, the hindrances between it and everything else that dared to stand against the legendary mage's desires!

'...And wipe out whoever schemed against us, those dark hands behind the curtains, and make sure their souls won't even have the chance to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation!!'

His mind returned to reality just in time to hear the conclusion of its tirade.

"Boy! Long story short, no more discussion, final decision, foregone conclusion!!! YOU. MUST. GO. BACK!!!" The cute penguin was practically shouting in his face by now. It scrambled up his chest with its little claws and flippers and up to his face to confront him.

Then it hopped off, folded its arms haughtily and faced away from him as it delivered its final line of argument, "Don't forget you need to go back for your countrymen and Earth! By now with 15 years passed, who knows how much trouble they're in from those traitors on the inside!..."

It looked over its shoulder at him, looking caring and worried - which gave Lars a chill. This was too out of character for the penguin...

"You need to hurry back..."

All this confused Lars. Since when was the penguin so caring and concerned for him or his Earth...? But his mind worked quickly, piecing parts of the puzzle before him together.

'...!'

'Maybe... There's something the demon is looking for on Earth...?' His mind drifted to the mysterious and inscrutable yet mighty necklace Sara had given him. The demon did mention that it found him only because of the necklace...

But it looked like his selfish desire to dump his responsibilities and abandon the lives of his homeland wouldn't be carried out. Turned out that his new partner had a shared goal - to seek something out on Earth...

"O-okay, I mean, I'm just telling you my honest feelings... There's no one else I can talk to about these kinds of things from my past life..." He felt pretty down; looked pretty down, crestfallen and heavy burdened by his own conscience that bound him from just pursuing whatever it was his selfish and passionate heart desired to do.

The journey home would be long, arduous and likely fraught with danger. And that was just the travel there! Afterwhich he would unavoidably be sucked into the War between Worlds once more, as a powerhouse of his homeland...

"For now, just focus on figuring out how to get back to your Earth, and to your London PCBE, whatever its called! And along the way, I'll guide you on what things to exchange for."

Worried that the fresh contractor was discouraged from the insanely high bar set on him, the crazy prizes and unconvinced about the need to return to his planet, the demon tried to comfort him. "Look, I'm serious, don't worry about it. Rome wasn't built in a day right? Heh, that comes from your world, heh heh..."

While Kizorik was still speaking, an idea occurred to the golden-haired Lars. The mage gripped the sword Brightstar in his right hand, then with his left, he undid the knots that kept the scabbard bound to his belt. He presented it to his contracted demon and asked, "How about this...? How many AP is this worth...?"

"That..." The penguin's eyes shone like diamonds as it laid eyes on a tasty morsel, its first meal in countless years...

"That is worth..."

Chapter end