The joy of seeing Lucifer was rather overwhelming, but I could not stop the feeling of loss when I noticed he was alone. In my head I could still feel my connection with Hylia
It was faint and it gave no indication of her direction, but it was still there. I at least knew that she was alive. But this did not cover the sense of loss that I felt by her absence.
Lucifer seemed to notice my sadness and spoke. "The others are gone. It has been more than 5 years since we appeared here, and they could not wait any longer. They stayed here for 6 months, but eventually they decided to leave. I would have went with them, but I was unable to leave. I was physically stopped by some kind of barrier. When we discussed it the only conclusion that we came up with is it's because I am your familiar."
"Because of this I have stayed here alone for 5 years. There are no enemies to speak of other than some regular beasts that avoid the dungeon entrance. Because of this I could not even level. Fortunately the beasts still could be used as food so I did not go hungry."
I caressed his head while he spoke, the fact that 5 years had passed while I was in the dungeon was amazing, for me it had been less than a day. The last 5 floors had been non stop battles, which did not allow for time to rest. 5 years and 5 floors. That meant each floor had taken roughly a year to complete. If this held true for the other floors than a total of 15 years had passed between the time I entered the dungeon and the time I left.
In 15 years the once beautiful Skyhigh city had degraded to such an extent, this could only mean that big things had happened in Kaos during my absence. I could only sigh to myself at the thought. When I looked down at Lucifer he seemed rather content.
"Do you know which way they were headed?"
Lucifer appeared to be lost in thought for a few moments, our companions had left almost 5 years ago after all. After what seemed like an eternity he finally spoke, but his words were not comforting.
"They did not have a destination, and if they did I do not remember it. They left to the north, but they could have changed directions at any point in time. "
I nodded, I had honestly expected as much. We had made no concrete plans as to what we would be doing after we left the tower. I could only hope that I would somehow be able to come into contact with her.
With that in mind I knew of one entity that would have access to that kind of information. I quickly told Lucifer my plan, and we headed towards our destination. Our destination was in the city. or rather what was left of it, so it did not take us long to get there.
The outer walls of the War Goddess's church had been complete demolished, and all of the buildings were in ruins. I did not pay it any mind, I was not a follower of the goddess and could care less about what happened to her temple.
Despite this I was rather anxious about the condition of the inner sanctum of the church. The purpose of coming here was to get I formation from the goddess after all.
The entrance to the main church had fallen into ruins, much like the buildings around it. The walls and ceiling had carved in, leaving only remnants of the once stout building. There was no sign of life at all in the church, not even the sounds of insects could be heard. I took this as a good sign, as the goddess would not tolerate anything relating to her enemy to be present in her holy abode.
As I traveled deeper into the church I was able to see the extent of the damage that the fall of the city had caused to the inhabitants. Skeletal remains could be seen laying where they had fallen. Most of them had been crushed by depression from the falling church, or worse impaled from below as the ground cracked and jutted up through them.
They were the first bodies I had seen since arriving back on Kaos, and I could only image they were still here because the goddess had not allowed intruders into the church. I sighed as I looked at the massacre before me. I was not a follower of the goddess, but I could not leave the bodies the way they were. The scene was actually rather unsettling.
Because of this I delayed my entrance into the part of the church, telling myself that it was for the benefit of the poor souls that had perished here, and not because I was putting off confronting my own anxiety.
The work was physically intensive, on multiple occasions I would have to lift boulders that would require several grown men to lift. Because of my insanely high stats this kind of work was rather easy, and served to give me a reference to how much more powerful I was now compared to when I had first come into this world.
I couldn't help but compare my current self, and elite half dragon, and my old self a jobless goblin. The fear and excitement I had when entering this world had been extremely high, even if I was only facing the weakest of creatures. I had struggled to make only the simplest of progress, and grasped at any form of strength that I could get.
This desperate grasp for strength had made me a target of several gods and goddesses, and even made me an heir to one of the most infamous Necromancers in the history of Kaos. I still had as of yet to escape from his grasp. I could only shake my head at my own nativity back then.
I had grown from those mistakes, and the person I am now could not compare to the weak goblin that had been born into this world. I could only guess that this was the result of growing up. If you combined the time I had spent in the tower, in Kaos, and on Earth I was over 20 years old mentally. I could no longer be considered a child. Despite the fact that my current body was only 16, and only appeared to be around 13.
I had spent a considerable amount of time in this world, and could not easily remember what it was like back on earth. In fact the thought of earth and the person I had been back then had been incredibly blurry. I could no longer recall the face of the mother who had cared for me for 16 years, and my previous self had become a mere shadow. I could not remember how I looked, and it was incredibly difficult to remember that I had once been male.
I knew that in the not too distant future that these memories would completely fade from my mind. I had found a home here on Kaos, and I had no intentions of ever returning to the life I had before. With this reflection I completely cast of my old self, and any thoughts of ever returning to earth. I was Yuri Morningstar, a half dragon that belonged to the world of Kaos.