Finally after another hour, they were finally in headquarters airspace, the ariel and space patrol team had already been informed about their arrival, so a group were waiting for their descent as they watched the big spaceship slowly descend , anyone who looked towards the direction of the ship were immediately aware of the arrival of someone big and those in higher positions could immediately infer who it was that owned the beautiful blue and white space cruiser, after all, it was custom made for only those at the top and each one of them had distinct features so it was easy to know which was whose. Finally, the ship landed and after a few minutes, a flight of stairs materialized to the ground beside a part of the ship that seemed to be a door shrouded in white light, the group of people waiting outside were all wearing curious looks on their faces save for two people at the back, a man and a woman were conversing with one another while keeping their eyes trained on the door. "…how do you think the child of the battle king would be?" the woman with a beautiful on her face spoke up, as she said those words, a light flashed through her eyes and she seemed to think of something, then a deep voice replied to her question, "I can't say, we'll know when we see him"
"The other heirs have been in headquarters throughout their lives, the advantage they have would pose a little bit of trouble to him though, too bad that woman always insisted he stay away from here till "he's ready", hmph..", the woman she was she talking about was definitely Ijin's mother but when she mentioned her, her brows seemed to squeeze themselves together, the man beside her noticed it but ignored it, he seemed to be used to it, it was a situation he wouldn't dare mediate in, even the man in question had problems handling it, "let's just wait to see, I guess". As they were talking, they noticed that people were finally descending on the stairs, a woman was at the forefront of the group, with white hair and skin, she gave off an oddly elegant vibe, mysterious yet undoubtedly beautiful, as she came into view and she reached the grounds of the headquarters, the crowd of people gathered in front of the ship except for the man and woman at the back all performed a standard salute in a military pose, "welcome back, Centurion Maria", as the salute echoed through the air, the woman with such an extraordinary post nodded with a serene gaze, "at ease", the group of people behind her consisted of three other adults and three young adults, those who had just saluted looked at the three boys with curiosity wondering who among them was the heir, it was relatively easy for them to identify who it was as they were able to recognize the distinct silver hair that only those of the Alpha-Layk family possessed in the legion, what did confuse them was that another youth with a proud air around him was the one standing at the forefront of the three boys like he was the one, for a moment as they watched them come down the stairs, they wondered if they were perhaps mistaken, they didn't notice the mischievous glint in his eyes, but the attention was taken from him as the group had completely descended from the stairs and reached the two figures at the back who seemed to have significantly high positions within the legion, it was until they reached them that the man in the two placed one hand over his chest and bowed slightly, "welcome back, Centurion, it's nice to see that you brought back my old friend with you", at the end of the greeting, the white haired man standing behind Maria who had an upset expression on his face for an unknown reason suddenly frowned deeply, "Kasali, surely you haven't forgotten me have you, it has been a while since this old man has seen you, you seem to be exactly as you had been from years back" the man had a mischievous smile on his face has he taunted this "old friend" of his. "*hmph* you don't seem much different yourself", feeling embarrassed he snorted a reply, as it seemed like they would continue the woman who refused to say a single greeting to the returning spoke up "Enough of that, the both of you… Maria you're finally back, you disappeared for a year and only came back now, we wondered why but it seems you had to bring your son back to take his rightful post as a Layk hm?, he definitely has a semblance to his father, I'd say he is no less a genius just like his father, allow me to welcome you to the legion, I trust you'd be the best your father expects of you", 'I haven't even met him yet…", Ijin was confused with the enthusiasm shown to him, it wasn't wrong but it felt like more than the usual unless they were related which it didn't seem like he was, he was told other than his father his only relatives were his grandfather, an uncle with his wife and their only daughter, there was an incident in the past that dealt a significant blow to the legion in which a lot of people lost their lives even including a good amount of the higher-ups , the legion still hadn't recovered which was why they were being a little more quiet than usual.
In any situation, he never heard of any female relative other than his uncle's wife and daughter, his uncle's wife was dead so there wasn't a single elder female relative he could think of, but one thing had was a particular sixth sense that he never failed to listen to and it told him not to mention anything at the moment, hence he kept quiet but the look in his eyes expressed his emotions for a split second which couldn't escape the woman's eye, "You're wondering who I am right, Maria didn't mention anything about me, now why is that?" when she asked why she looked to Maria, obviously asking her, looking outwards Maria had a calm expression, there was a rising anger and frustration within her, but holding herself she replied coolly, "I didn't think it necessary to tell him, there was nothing much to say". "Nothing much hm, oh well, I guess I'll just introduce myself… my name is Katherine, I am your dad's closest friend, I'm also in a way your mother's rival but we don't see each other as that, so you can call me Aunty Kate.". at this point he knew why he felt he shouldn't voice out his question, but it was an inevitable introduction, Ijin looked to his mother and saw her looking calm but he knew she definitely was as calm as she seemed, so it turned out his father…, he couldn't even dare think about it, he felt blank and just as everyone was quiet for different reasons, a voice was heard in the silence "this is a juicy situation, hehe", looking back at Ayo who had a pleasantly surprised look on his face he made note to warn about such situations later, at this point it was hopeless. Just as Ayo was imagining all sorts of things that could have happened in the past based on what he heard, he felt a strong tug on his ear, "OUCH!?!", the tug turned into a twist and he felt his body shiver with pain, he couldn't help but yelp with a pained look but what was weird to Ijin who was watching in terror was the fact that he could obviously see Ayo's face twist in pain and shout out, there wasn't a single sound heard from him, he couldn't be faking it so it was like his scream was blocked off, this made his pain unknown to those who weren't looking at him and everything was quickly returning to normal while he felt pain nobody knew off. Ijin had no choice but to look away to avoid feeling more pity for him.
"Alright let's head inside, there are others waiting to see Ijin, if you don't mind", giving an excuse to leave all this behind Maria moved forward with Katherine moving aside to walk by her side "no problem, let's go together". The group of people that came to welcome them looking at this scene first assumed it was a happy reunion or a visit where everyone was happy but looking closer to see two slightly old looking men, one gloomy faced and one with a smug smile, both staring at each other, two women at the fore walking with hidden thoughts in their eyes and a young adult who looked to be acting out a miming scene that gave off such real emotions of pain in a setting like this… they became confused and wondered what was going on. Walking through the gates and past the surroundings that gave off a futuristic feel they got to a device that looked like the one in the ship that could teleport them, only in a bigger size. Getting on it there was a rapid flash of light and they were gone, at another place deeper in the floating island, the group appeared on the same device after which they repeated the process again, the device was what Katherine explained to be a teleport platform and they continued to move toward a building in their view that was as majestic but smaller in size compared to the ones they saw outside, getting closer Ijin was able to see a plaque on the wall by the left, on it were the words "ALPHA-LAYK VILLA", which allowed him to realize that was supposedly his ancestral home, the home essentially owned by the Alpha-Layks, the gates were open wide like it was inviting all to come in but Ijin couldn't see that many people around, infact other than the group of people he was with he couldn't see any another person present, it was mostly stretches of grass with trees and bushes that came to his sight. As they entered, he noticed how different this place compared to the outside, it had few techy settings and was mostly like a normal Earth type mansion, he was able to easily relax here since wasn't used to the sights he kept on seeing before reaching here. They walked up the steps leading to the double doors in front and as she placed her hand on the handle, a light that he was now used to seeing flashed on Katherine's hand and the door seemed to move without any effort. They came into a hall that was the reception area with bright lights all around, the wooden floor that was said to naturally be expensive at an age as now gleamed and reflected the lights making it look even more spectacular and elegant, in it they saw a man waiting like he had been expecting them with two females beside him, one was a little girl, that looked to be around ten years old and a middle aged woman that had a close resemblance to Mathilda, the woman who was beside Kasali and was the one who kept him from erupting previously ever since the incident with the man that was with Katherine previously. The man had a head full of silver and a smile on his face as he walked towards them, his focus changing from Maria to Ijin then back to Maria then he spoke up with a thick voice that emphasized his big build "Welcome back Maria, it nice to see you brought so many familiar faces back with you and one with a hair so like his father's haha, welcome back", he felt a tad embarrassed as he was mentioned, the color of his hair although the same with this uncle in front of him was more dazzling to the eyes with a bright silver, he saw the dull silver of his uncle's and wondered why he had the hair that seemed more feminine in comparison. "Ijin this is your uncle Dayo and your cousin Daniella, beside Daniella is Mathilda's twin sister Gracey", "Haha, kid come over here and give your uncle a hug", with bubbling enthusiasm he pulled Ijin into a hug, it was hug that was as awkward to him as it was suffocating, he was quickly losing air, "oh stop squeezing the boy to death, you blockhead, can you not control your strength better" Gracey the twin sister stepped in to save him as she noticed the change in his complexion, "hello there boy, I'm Gracey Steim, I hope you had a good time coming here, I trust my sister has been feeding you well on Earth right?", she enthusiastically reintroduced herself as she ruffled all over him, "dear sister I know you know that I'd never slack on my cooking duties with the young master, why don't you come give me a hug", Mathilda after holding herself for a while finally came out and pulled her sister into a hug and very soon started talking about so many they both missed.
The girl who was introduced as his cousin ran over to greet them and first jumped into the waiting arms of his mother who picked her up and ruffled her up while mumbling some words to her, she gave off a cute vibe with her single ponytail, her hair was black but still had the characteristic silver mixed here and there unlike Ijin and his uncle but she was still a cute one , then he heard his mother ask after everywhere quieted down a bit "where's grandfather Alex?"
"This old man is right here where he wants to be haha", a booming from behind them was heard as a slightly dark skinned man with silver hair walked in with a hearty laughter.
As people who didn't know that many people here and quietly watched the introductions and reunion going, they were overwhelmed with the atmosphere of happiness that was present everywhere they looked, soon Ayo and Damian were also pulled into the crowd along with the rest who came with, they felt awkward at first but soon managed to mix in, then they felt how different this place was than they first expected it to be and realized they might be able to miss home for a while with the happy family right here in front of their eyes.