By a hill area, the left side having a steep uphill climb while the right side descended into a valley, the two n walked down that road that led to the hillside neighborhood.
Adam slowly walked behind Zephyr, a person he didn't expect to et.
Today was a strange day; eting two mbers of the Council of rcenaries—in the real world nonetheless-was an unexpected surprise.
He didn't ask where he was being taken, but he had a feeling it was sowhere important.
After a long walk later, they arrived by gated community.
It looked abandoned, the weed-covered driveway going through the middle of the overgrown houses.
It seed like it was a nice place, like twenty years ago.
"This is the place where the first outbreak of Dark Plague happened in the Navy Town." Zephyr said, opened the rusty gates, and entered the neighborhood.
Adam thought about asking how he knew about that, but decided against it and instead just followed after him.
They went past most of the houses-Zephyr's steps seed quick as if he knew exactly where he was heading.
It didn't take them long to arrive at the abandoned house at the end of the street.
It looked nice, like a house straight from a coloring book, but that would've been twenty years ago; now it was dilapidated and sad-looking.
However, by the front gate, there was a rusty sign, half of the words erased, but it was easy enough to see what it was saying.
"Ho of Palestar's." Zephyr read it aloud. "That's where your parents lived before the Dark Plague, y'know."
"How do you know all that?" Adam asked.
"It wasn't just your mother and father that lived. They lived alongside your father's parents, who also perished in the Dark Plague."
"..." Adam stayed silent.
He also knew that his grandparents died in the Dark Plague, which made the mory two tis as painful.
"However, there was one more person living there." Zephyr said. "Your father's brother, your uncle."
"That's..." Adam looked at him with a shake in his eyes. "What's your na?"
"Zephyr Palestar." Zephyr said with a chuckle. "I haven't used that na in a long ti." "You're my uncle?" Adam frowned. "Where the fuck have you been for the last twenty years?" Zephyr sadly smiled. "Around a year, or was it two years before all that Dark Plague shit, I left. There was an argunt; I was young and stupid. I removed myself from this family.
"Traveling across the world, I had no other aning, and so when I vinished traveling the entire world, I found out about Mortal Online, where I had now spent another decade.
"I just spent ti traveling around Mortal Online. I'd seen places I'd never imagined and t people I'd never forget, but ultimately, it was all just a distraction from the pain of leaving my family behind.
"I never knew about you nor that my brother and she... died. I only found out that in the tutorial of yours, you looked just like your father with your mother's eyes, and that's when I thought about contacting my brother again.
"I tried, and after digging up, I found out he has been dead for twenty years."
"Holy..." Adam sat on the fence and buried his face in his hands. 'I spent my entire last life without finding that out?'
Zephyr looked at an old kid's bicycle on the overgrown lawn and rembered when he paddled it down the street as a child while his brother pushed it from behind.
"Why did it take you another year to contact ?" Adam asked.
"I had to gather my courage to do that first, and because I am a coward." Zephyr sighed. "This place was not kind for . I had a lot of bad mories here."
"What now?" Adam asked. "I doubt you'll be staying here. I am sure you have a life sowhere."
"I would ask you to co with , but I know you will refuse ." Zephyr said. "I don't want you to abandon your life here."
"There's another reason why you ca to today, isn't it?" Adam looked at him with a knowing look. "The war."
"You're smart, unlike your father." Zephyr tried to say a joke, but when he rembered his brother, his mood turned sour. "Also, yes."
"You want to join your faction." Adam scratched the back of his head. "Is that the main reason for your visit?"
"I have never used the Palestar na in Mortal Online before." Zephyr said. "With you on my side, I'd like to change that."
Adam just let out a deep sigh.
It was a troubling matter.
On the other hand, he knew what happened to Zestruction in the future, and he doubted he could change the outco as the war was fought between giants and titans of the rcenary
world.
"I couldn't care less about the war before." Zephyr said. "I thought it was finally ti to retire as I finished traveling around the entire New World like a year ago.
"I still have so floors undiscovered in the dungeon, but I have a feeling they won't be cleared in my lifeti.
"I thought the war would be my last hurrah. I don't think my faction will win it. I doubt we will survive through it.
"I have now changed my mind. I want our family to sit at the throne. I finally have a purpose
in this life."
"Well, what's your answer, nephew?" He asked and offered his hand. "Join my side so that our family na doesn't stay in shadows. Palestars are destined for much more."
Adam opened his mouth, the words leaving his lips as he answered.
...
At the dawn of the morning, around four in the morning, a door of the bedroom opened, and Adam, tired like a log, stumbled over to the bed to catch a wink of sleep.
It had been a very exhausting day.
With the fight with Victor, long traveling between Ebonreach and the wasteland, then eting with Bartholow and ending with a discussion with Zephyr.
However, when he ca by the bed, he noticed that there was a lump under the coves, and when he moved away the covers, he saw that Alice was sleeping on his bed, looking as beautiful and adorable as ever.
Adam lay beside her and looked at her sleeping face, the soft breath leaving her lips every now
and then.
When he was about to sleep as well, she muttered sothing before her eyes slightly fluttered
open.
However, her eyelids barely opened, looking like a slit.
"You're back..." She muttered. "I was waiting for you... but you didn't co, so I fell asleep..."
"Why did you wait for ?" Adam asked.
"I was worried..." Alice whispered sleepily. "Also, what I said earlier..."
"Its nothing..." Adam lay on his back, gazing up at the ceiling. "You're interested in her?"
"I've seen your look." Alice said. "You like her."
"I've nothing to do with her." Adam put his arms under his head. "I used to. We used to be very close. But not anymore."
"You want to, though." Alice said and traced her finger across his chest. "I always wondered what you were doing in there. You spend weeks, sotis months at the ti there, and I
always thought that you must have soone else there."
"How does that make you feel?" Adam looked at her with a soft look.
"I don't know..." Alice said.
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