Fast forward a few weeks after the disastrous events caused by the Thagdas, the world of the water realm is back to normal. The wounded merfolks had been healed to its perfect state, the coral buildings had been repaired and the Golden Castle is back to its prime glow.
The land has undergone a renewed vigor.
"Are you sure you don't want to tell them you are leaving? You know we owe you this peace we are experiencing. Right Hugon kid?" Dash said calmly, facing Elric who stood at the exit tunnel towards the azure of the Elemental realm.
"I told you, call me Elric. Eeeeel, Rick!" Elric complained.
His back commanded a comforting presence, almost in the eyes of everyone, Elric is the most powerful hero that has ever existed.
Except for those who have already lost their loved ones that Elric failed to revive, a hard and unforgiving feeling made them bitter when it comes to mentioning Elric's heroism. Elric, on the other hand, understood them and did not bother to console. He had his reasons he refused to share nor explain.
"And also, I am not a hero. I brought a calamity to your land so I deserve to leave as fast as I can." Elric calmly said. He rubbed his head in an apologetic gesture.
"But you can at least tell the princesses you know." Dash insisted and added, "Those three are dead on having a crush on you. If you don't mind though, you could leave them some of you-"
"I gotta go." Elric did not finish listening to the small turtle. He released his Wings of Fire and leaped towards the vast purple sky of the azure. Romantic feelings are something he is not thinking at the moment. His mind is fixed on resolving the looming threat of the Ancestral Dragon's essence in his body or risk witnessing the dark fate of the world as what the Great Seer Mhata revealed to him.
"But you could at least take me with you!" Dash chased after him in his giant turtle form.
"Are you crazy? You are the Lord of the water realm! You have responsibilities now! You punk turtle!" Elric scolded.
"So what? Who's gonna touch my realm? Those Dragons!? I dare them to do so! I have now completely comprehended my powers as the Lord of the Water realm. I am more than willing to accept some challenges! I want to see their ugly Dragon face getting super stomped by my super body!" Dash replied with a confident smirk.
Elric shook his head in helplessness and stopped to face the chasing turtle. His Wings of fire blazing brilliantly behind him, creating a beautiful contrast compared to the deep-purple azure of the Elemental realm on his background.
Seeing that Elric stopped from advancing, the turtle stopped himself as well. Like a dog, wary of its master's gazes.
"Listen to Dash." Elric calmly said. A gentle smile could be seen in his glowing handsome face and added, "The places I am going to is far more dangerous than before."
Dash remained unmoving on his place, Elric's words don't scare him supposedly.
"The Great Seer Mhata warned me to go alone to the Realm of the Earth, Air, and Lightning. There is a good chance that if you leave, the water realm could go on another disaster and they need a figure like you to remain united."
"The princesses are already there, I am pretty sure they can handle it. After all, they have the royal blood flowing through there fins, capable of fighting back even those terrible Thagdas." Dash explained himself.
"The Holy Providence doesn't lie in choosing you, buddy." Elric smiled and added. "You have a good and faithful heart. You have been strong and have an unparalleled determination to save your people."
Elric moved closer to the head of the giant turtle and rubbed his big scaly head.
"You are the best and most powerful Lord of the Water realm and my best friend. Time may come that I may not be here to help and protect the water realm. Can you do me a favor to protect this beautiful kingdom the Great King Mahar made please?"
Dash looked at Elric with a conflicted look on its face. As much as he wanted to join Elric's adventure, his main duty now is not to accompany the latter but to serve as the Lord of the water realm. He could not turn down the expectation of the people, the Holy Providence and the wish of the late Great King Mahar.
The only thing he would lose is missing the rest of the adventures of Elric in the other elemental realms.
After careful thinking and gentle words of explanation of Elric, Dash finally nodded slowly- agreeing to stay at the water realm to do his bidding as the Lord.
Elric smiled, as he hugged the giant turtle's head.
"That's my boy." Elric praised the turtle with a comforting voice. Dash could not help but let lose some tears out its big beady eyes.
Dash remembered the time when he was watching Elric through the realm border between the human and elemental realm.
With the command from the great Seer Mhata to watch over Elric and save him from the human realm, he monitored Elric through the Viel of the Realm's Border. It was the border only accessible by the Elementals to move from the elemental realm to the human realms and vice versa.
The Viel of Realm's Border is like a planet-like mirror that reflected everything that is happening in the human realm. This is an enchanted place full of mystery, hidden deep in the black water of the azure.
Dash remembered seeing this place for the first time through the guidance of the Great Seer Mhata. He watched the images of the events happening in the human realm in a fast-forwarded scene. This is thanks to the time ratio difference between the two worlds.
Dash's mission was to fetch Elric right away to the Elemental Realm once he took the Ancestral Dragon's Essence. How he knew about it was thanks to the prediction of the Great Seer Mhata.
However, an unexpected scene happened when the Dragon King and Queens arrived together with the interference from a group of advanced humans and a bunch of unexpected add-ins.
This caused Dash to hold himself or risk exposing himself to the Dragons and Ancient Humans who had been fervently hunting Elementals for their selfish intentions.
Dash failed to grasp the timing and was forced to watch as Elric got into a battle to the death with the Dragon Kings and Queens of the human realm.
Fortunately, Elric managed to overpower them with mere trampling and uncontrolled madness which ultimately lead to the God Reckoning Tribulation. The power of the most powerful Dragon tribulation brought him Dash the space he needed to finally snatch Elric from the human realm and bring him swiftly to the world of the Elemental realm, and the rest was history.
Now, before Dash is the same human that he saved. The only difference is Elric's renewed mind, body, and power.
This human has experienced life and death battles out of his stupid curious decision to come out of a rainy night, looking like an excited dumb nerd chasing after a falling Dragon from the sky.
It all started from simple lighting, and it was a lightning that Dash and Elric will always remember.
Thinking about it, Elric could not help but recall Leese. He wondered how she was going after that event. Never did he knew, the unexpected damage he had caused to her and her whole Dragon clan.
Compared to the depressed and helpless Elric he once knew, Dash could not help but smile with gladness while looking at the magnificent figure of Elric. The blazing Wings of Fire decorated his back like a Radiant God waiting to dominate the entire realms.
Every second count. Elric remembered that three days in this world is equivalent to one month in the human realm.
He took a lot of time trying to heal the millions of injured merfolks back to their peak state. He helped in fixing all the destroyed places even when some of the water folks refused his help. Cursing him despite his earnest intention was a daily scene for him.
The only difference is that they do not curse him in the open, or they would risk getting the bad side of this human or worst, the Lord of the Water realm would punish them for ungratefulness. After all, Elric and the new lord of the water realm are known to have known each other very well.
Despite the constant bickering of the little turtle for Elric to stop helping, Elric insisted on giving back to helping the merfolks without reserving anything of his capacity.
Elric did his best to fix and heal everyone and everything back that would eventually lead to him passing out from overusing his healing ability that would sometimes cause the mermaid princess to happily take care of him. Every time he passed out, he would take a whole week of sleeping before waking up and repeating the same fate as before.
Elric has spent a total of four months staying in the Elemental realm, an equivalent of ten years has passed back in the human world considering its abnormal time ratio of one day in the elemental realm is equivalent of one month in the human realm.
And finally, at this moment, the expected farewell has come.
Elric has to go to the next elemental realms, to finish the mission he must do to save himself - and quite frankly, the world.
Elric hugged the giant turtle again for quite sometime before letting go. With meaningful gazes, they stopped exchanging words but just calmly smiled with each other.
Their contrasting silhouettes created a beautiful scene of a fire winged-human and a giant turtle floating in the middle of the azure.
Their eyes connected with a mutual nod. An unbreakable brotherhood was born between a so-called "Hugon" and Lord of the water realm; an exciting future awaits between each of them.