Upon hearing the emperor's words, Tai-chi respectfully asked Leah to enable him to leave. She slowly and sadly let go of his arm with a look of sadness across her face.
"Oh, Tai, I don't have to believe my father would allow me to visit you during those times."
She thought to herself.
Tai-chi bowed to both the Emperor and the imperial princess then turned around and walked to the exit where guards escorted him out.
(At the Verniel Mansion)
"Back so soon?"
Ray asked as he watched Tai-chi step out of the carriage. Ray had blue hair and eyes that matched the skies. He was currently wearing a grey suit with lavender purple assents.
" I get it, so you didn't want me to come back is that it?"
Tai-chi said jokingly.
" Your sense of humor needs some work."
Ray promptly responded.
" Come on cut me some slack will you? I just got back and you already insulting me? Real cool Ray, real cool."
Ray then noticed beyond the gates that people were sneaking around and asked Tai-chi about the situation. With him just responding with-
" Oh yeah, I'm under house arrest."
" The palace knights are supposed to keep an eye on me in the shadows but as you can see, there not doing a very good job at the moment. "
"Is that so?"
Ray said with paperwork and schedules in hand. He then read aloud the long list of unfinished business Tai-chi needed to address.
Tai-chi was exhausted at just hearing the extra-long list and denied doing any of the tasks read. Instead, he went to his room, threw himself on the bed, and closed his eyes.
As he did, thoughts of Stella flooded his mind.
"I wonder what Stella's doing right now?"
"Hmm, maybe she's playing games or reading."
"Perhaps cleaning or scrapbooking ."
" One thing I'm sure of is that she's probably trying to reach the last bit of snacks at the top of the cupboard by now."
"But she's too short to reach them."
He chuckled.
"I hope she doesn't try anything crazy to get those though."
"Hah ...I miss her already."
Tai-chi sighed before completely falling asleep in the cream-colored bedroom.
The next day
The whole situation of him being sent to earth was so very strange he thought. He did not understand how he was able to be sent to another world but he didn't care.
What he was most worried about was if he would be able to go back to his love.
He stared out the window and saw the lunar moons. In Avalon, there are a total of four gigantic moons visible across the entirety of the land. They are usually far apart from each other but the strange thing was, two of the four were aligned one behind the other.
Curious about the situation at hand, he went to his secret archive located in the deepest room of his mansion and searched for books upon other world transportation. He searched through a mountain of books until he stumbled upon something, it was a book with the world tree on its cover also known as the entrance and exit of Avalon. He quickly opened the book and started to read on the spot. It stated,
"Otherworldly creatures that live beyond the world of Avalon are called humans which dwell upon a planet called earth. These creatures have very short lifespans."
"I know that already."
Tai-chi said as he turned the ancient pages swiftly but carefully until he found a chapter titled 'Otherworldly Transportation'. He immediately started reading. He read the entire book that had over eight hundred pages.
" The world three is the portal to a distant realm where lower life forms exist. These fragile creatures were descendants of elves that chose to leave Avalon behind and live magic-free life. As a result of that, their magic slowly faded, ears were no longer pointed, their hair slowly lost its bright colors and their life spans were greatly reduced."
"The portal to the devolved elves opens once every thousand years at the alignment of two lunar moons. It only stays open within a period of two months. Thereafter, another thousand years is required before its opening again."
Tai-chi's expression then turned from hopeful to sadness after he read those words.
" Two months? that's it !?"
Tai-chi had already spent two weeks on earth. This meant that there were only four weeks left until the closing of the only way to see Stella again. He knew that Stella would not be present a thousand years from then. Now aware of the truth, Tai-chi placed his hand and clenched his chest before collapsing onto the floor at painful reality.