Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2198: Solmara Region

Two days passed quietly inside the Langford Family grounds. Grey rarely left the courtyard he had been given. Most of his time was spent either talking with Reynolds and Kyle or sitting in silent meditation, letting his body fully settle after the continuous fighting of the previous weeks.

On the morning of the third day, a knock sounded at his door.

Grey opened his eyes. ”Come in.”

Kyle stepped inside. He did not bother with long greetings. ”I’ve been ordered to supervise one of the border cities.”

”Which one?” Grey asked.

Kyle unfolded a small map and pointed to a marked location near the edge of the Harp Region. Grey studied it for a moment and nodded.

”We’ll go with you. It’s in the same general direction we’re heading.”

Kyle looked mildly apologetic. ”Sorry. You barely got any real rest here.”

Grey waved it off. ”It’s enough. I’ve rested more here than I have in a long time.”

They left the room together and found Reynolds near a small lake just outside the main manor grounds. Void was stretched out on a warm rock beside him. Once Reynolds heard the plan, he simply stood up and brushed the dust from his clothes. There was nothing more that needed to be said.

The journey to the border city was calm. Gnome activity in the Harp Region remained low, and they encountered no trouble along the way. They stayed two additional days with Kyle while he settled into his new post. When it was time to leave, the three of them parted cleanly. Kyle remained behind to carry out his duties, while Grey and Reynolds continued south.

Their path now pointed toward the Solmara Region on the Southern Continent.

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Three days after leaving the border city, Grey and Reynolds stepped out of a teleportation array into a busy square. Two guards stood watch at the edge of the platform. The moment the duo appeared, several powerful auras locked onto them from different directions. The two visible guards also shifted into ready stances.

”It’s you.”

A surprised voice cut through the tension. Grey turned and saw a young man climbing the steps onto the platform. The face was only faintly familiar. Grey searched his memory, trying to place where they had met before.

The young man stopped a short distance away and smiled. ”Grey Dawson. What brings you here?”

The moment the name left his mouth, the probing auras that had withdrawn earlier came rushing back even stronger. Grey’s expression darkened slightly. He released a sharp pulse of his own spiritual sense, cutting through the intrusive scans. The surrounding senses retreated at once and did not return.

The young man burst into laughter, clearly amused. ”Serves them right.”

”I’m only passing through,” Grey replied in his usual calm tone. ”I decided to visit the O’Brien Family while I’m in the region.”

He kept his expression neutral, careful not to reveal that he still could not fully recall the young man. The other nodded in understanding. He was clearly aware of the connection between Grey and the O’Brien Family. They exchanged a few more polite words. At one point the young man invited Grey to visit his own residence, but Grey declined without hesitation.

Only after they separated did Grey fully place the young man’s background. He was from the Vaerghal Family. The realization brought a complicated feeling. Grey’s history with that family was tangled. It was from them that he had once obtained the dragon blood essence which later allowed him to form his dragon scales and the special ice domain. Later still, he had followed members of the Vaerghal Family to meet the dragons in place of his father and had entered a small world where he acquired another blood essence from a dead genius of their line. Because of all that, he preferred to keep his distance. There was no way to know how they would react if they learned the full truth.

Grey and Reynolds left the square soon after and made their way toward the O’Brien Family manor. The presence of the teleportation arrays Grey had built years ago made the journey almost effortless. Many regions had requested his help with arrays once news of his ability spread, and the Solmara Region had been one of them. He was quietly grateful for that work now. Without the arrays, crossing such distances would have taken far longer.

The O’Brien Family manor recognized Grey the moment he arrived. Guards stepped aside respectfully, and word was sent ahead. Ellis’s father, still the Family Head, came out personally to receive them.

After the initial greetings, Grey asked directly, ”Is Ellis here?”

”He went out with his uncle to track a group of Necromancers,” the Family Head answered. ”They should still be in the area.”

Grey thought for a moment. ”Can you tell us the location? We’ll go meet them.”

The Family Head did not hesitate. He gave them the exact area and shared what little information they had about the rumored strength of the Necromancers. Grey and Reynolds did not stay longer. They left the manor and headed straight for the canyons.

As they flew, Grey found himself recalling the first time he had come to the O’Brien Family looking for Ellis. Back then Ellis had also been away on a mission, and Grey had been forced to track him down and help deal with a group of bandits. The memory felt strangely distant now, as if it belonged to a different time.

The canyon came into view after a stretch of steady flight. Following the directions they had been given, they soon located a small shack built against a flat section of the canyon wall. The structure was well hidden. From most angles it was nearly invisible. Only someone actively searching the area would notice it.

Grey and Reynolds landed some distance away and approached on foot. Just as they drew close to the door, a figure burst out from the rock wall itself, shooting straight toward them.

Both of them reacted instantly. Grey released a wave of invisible repulsive force through his space element, pushing the attacker back several steps. At the same time Reynolds’s body flickered with lightning. In the blink of an eye he appeared behind the figure, a crackling lightning blade already resting near the man’s neck, ready to end the fight in a single motion.

Neither of them followed through with a killing blow. They stopped once the situation was under control.

Grey took a proper look at the attacker. It was a middle-aged man in the Seventh stage of the Sovereign Plane. While he was still studying the man, the door of the shack opened and Ellis stepped out.

Ellis froze for a moment at the scene in front of him: Grey standing calmly in front of his uncle, and Reynolds holding a lightning blade close enough to kill.

His brows twitched.

”Grey.”

Grey glanced at Reynolds and gave a small nod. ”Rey.”

Reynolds dissolved the lightning sword at once and stepped back to Grey’s side.

Ellis’s uncle stared at the two young men in open shock. He had not expected their reaction speed or the strength behind their movements. The pressure he had felt in that brief exchange made it clear that both of them were far stronger than what they portrayed.

Ellis let out a short breath and walked forward, a complicated mix of surprise and familiarity on his face as he looked at Grey.

”How are things with you?” Grey asked as he looked around the ledge they stood.

Ellis nodded, ”I’ve been good. You on the other hand, have been causing quite the storm.”

Reynolds chuckled, knowing if he had not been with Grey during these, he too would’ve asked Grey the moment he saw him just like how every one of them were doing. It had to be said that Grey’s impact was massive on the battlefield against the Gnomes.

Grey could only give him a short details before asking how things were going here.

It was during this short conversation that Ellis’s uncle found out the person he just attacked was the legendary Grey Dawson. He was only a Seventh stage Sovereign and had heard of Grey killing Peak Sovereigns even though he was only a Ninth-stage Sovereign.

’He couldn’t help but be grateful that he didn’t try to outright kill them but only attacked with the aim of forcing them back. From how the duo reacted, he knew they also had no plans of harming him and were only protecting themselves.

”They’re hiding very deep in the canyons. We tracked them to a series of tunnels some days back, but lost them again.” Ellis told Grey their current situation.

Grey closed his eyes for almost a minute before looking towards a certain direction, ”Is it that way?”

Looking at the direction Grey pointed Ellis nodded, ”Yes.” He then froze and asked, ”But how did you know?”

”Good instincts I suppose.” Grey shrugged, forcing an eye roll from Reynolds who knew Grey could sense the location of Gnomes.