Chapter 17 - Lord Alcheus
After flying at really high speeds for a few moments with Aerracles utilizing his powerful vision and hearing to know where Sharon and Jake were, he eventually discovered where they parked their horse-drawn garage and slowly lowered himself to the ground with Ethena who floated right beside him.
While Sharon and Jake who were in the carriage and were intensely worried for Aerracles's safety, were immediately taken out of their worrying states when they heard Aerracles's voice.
"Mrs. Sharon. I am back. Haha." Aerracles said and grinned, while Sharon who had been excessively worried about Aerracles, immediately swung open the door of the carriage and rushed down from it with her delighted son to see Aerracles.
But just before she could rush towards Aerracles to first embrace him then ask if he was fine and how he was able to find them so quickly, she saw Ethena standing right beside him with a radiant smile in her face.
Immediately realizing who Ethena was since she had seen her taken to the sky many moments ago to face the Blaze Immortals, she quickly bowed deeply at the waist in both fear and awe at her.
"Please, straighten yourself. It's fine." Ethena smilingly said while Sharon fearfully objected and decided to remain in that bow.
Actually, one couldn't blame Sharon for behaving in this manner, as she basically understood who Ethena was; an Immortal that possibly possessed the power to entirely level the city and many others if she got upset.
"Mrs. Sharon, it's fine. You can come out of your bowing position." Aerracles said after seeing that Sharon still remained in her reverent bow for Ethena.
Upon hearing Aerracles's voice, although still scared, she began to slowly straighten herself till she was standing upright again. However, she didn't dare to look at Ethena in the eyes, as she couldn't tell whether that will cause Ethena to see that as disrespect and become wrathful then simply reduce her to nothing but mist of blood.
Both Ethena and Aerracles saw this and only smiled. Aerracles then walked forward towards Sharon and asked with a gentle smile in his face, "Are you okay, Mrs. Sharon? Hope you didn't sustain any kind of injury back there at the trading ground?"
"No I didn't. I am fine. Thanks for your concern, Aerracles." Sharon said while Aerracles gladly nodded his head.
He then asked further, "What about your son? Hope he also didn't sustain any injury back there?"
"He didn't. He is also fine." Sharon said while Aerracles nodded his head again.
Seeing how Sharon was relaxed before Aerracles, but was greatly tensed around her, she broke a smile in her face and decided to approach Sharon.
The moment she appeared before Sharon, Sharon began to shake. If not that Aerracles was also standing beside her and served as some sort of fortress for her, she could suddenly develop severe panic attacks and fall to the ground, where she will directly slip into the unconscious state and be out for days.
"Miss Sharon, you don't need to be this terrified of me? Do all Immortals occur to you as horribly evil entities that wreak colossal havoc and great destruction wherever they go? Well, if they do occur as that to you, I am unlike them. I am a pure, loving and compassionate Immortal that brings peace, calmness and happiness wherever she goes. So, you don't need to be this tense and frightened before me, okay?" Ethena said while Sharon who seemed like every move that Ethena made could destroy her, nodded her head in comprehension.
"Good!" Ethena said with relief in her voice.
She then said further with a sly smile appearing in her face the next moment, "I can see that you are very relaxed around Aerracles. But do you know who he really is? He is nothing like you humans, and he is also nothing like us Immortals. He is an elite-class Warring Angel who came visiting your world from his really distant Angel World. Yes, that's who he is."
Once Ethena said that, Sharon shook in great surprise. Although she had been suspecting all along that there were many mysterious things about Aerracles that she wanted to decipher, she just couldn't bring herself to believe what Ethena said, that Aerracles was actually an Angel.
So, she had been interacting with an Angel for the past two weeks? It was totally unbelievable to her.
She then looked at Aerracles who only looked back at her with a smile in his face and said with the confirmatory nod of his head, "Yes, she is right. I am an Angel. One of the strongest and highly-skilled in my world."
"Shut up, Aerracles." Ethena playfully shot at Aerracles who only glared at her with a smirk expression manifesting in his face.
Ethena then said further with a tone of mischievousness sounding in her voice as she looked back at Sharon, "Don't mind him, Mrs. Sharon. He is strong, but not all that strong. And he is not that skilled in combat. But he tries his best."
"Haha." Aerracles burst out laughing while Ethena made a funny face at him.
Actually, Ethena was doing all this to allow Sharon feel relaxed and free around her as she did around Aerracles.
Seeing that the tenseness of Sharon's body had radically dropped, she asked pointing at Jake who was watching them from the side with a seriously-awed look in his eyes, as he couldn't believe that he could actually get to see both an Angel and an Immortal in his lifetime, "So, Mrs. Sharon, is that your son? He is good-looking. He will actually grow up into a strong and handsome young man."
Jake heard that and couldn't help but break an overly delighted smile in his face, since that coming from an Immortal was really something. The praises spoken by Ethena alone, felt like items of matchlessly great value to him.
"Alright, everyone. Let's leave here. It's time to return to the village." Aerracles said while Ethena and the others nodded their heads in agreement.
...
After getting into the carriage with the carriage immediately taking off into the distance to return to the village, Jake who was young and full of questions to be asked, looked at Ethena and questioned, "Hello ma'am. What's your name?"
"My name is Ethena. And yours, young one?" Ethena asked looking at Jake who had this intense expression of gladness written all over his face since she said those nice words to him.
"I am Jake." Jake politely answered.
"Nice name, Jake." Ethena said with the nod of her head.
Jake then asked further with an inquisitive expression manifesting in his eyes, "Miss Ethena, what are you doing here in our world? There should be nothing in our world that will be able to awe or fascinate you."
"Haha! Well, on the contrary dear child, there are many things actually. There are so many of them to list. Anyways, just understand that your world is beautiful, and that I am here to enjoy the elements of beauty that it possesses to the greatest of my satisfaction." Ethena replied while Jake nodded his head in adoration.
He then directed his gaze towards Aerracles who only broke a smile in his face and asked, "Aerracles, you didn't mention to us that you were an Angel."
"Yes, I didn't want to. I wasn't sure if you guys will be able to take it. So, I decided to keep my secret to myself. But now that it has been exposed to you people, I guess you and your mother should be fine knowing that I am an Angel." Aerracles said while Jake nodded his head in understanding.
"Are you in our world for the same reason as hers?" Jake abruptly asked with a curious look creeping up his face.
"Yes, Jake. The same reason." Aerracles answered while Jake gazed at Aerracles with nothing but serious admiration in his eyes.
"Wow. You people are really something." Jake said.
He then said further with a deeply astonished expression in his face, "I can't believe that I actually have an uncle who is an Angel, and an aunt who is an Immortal. I am basically indestructible. Haha." Jake said and laughed, while Aerracles and Ethena only smiled.
...
Under a seemingly purple, vast cloudless sky that had numbers of people dressed in really expensive dresses shooting here and there like actual comets to places that they wanted to visit, was a really gigantic and imposing building that was nothing but grand and utterly majestic in appearance. This building that was astoundingly immense in size and gave the absolute feeling that not even the rarest resources were spared in building it, was so grand and magnificent that if a mortal was to stare at it, he or she could immediately slip into the unconscious state, as they wouldn't be able to withstand the glory and mightiness exuding from the building.
This building, without surprise, was the Fire God hall. Then seated on a massive throne that seemed to be forged from solidified lava in a particular oval-shaped hall, was someone that looked roughly a hundred and twenty years old in age. But this person was far more than that in years, since he had been around for more than hundreds of millions of years.
Then with intense fiery brilliance that could possibly surpass that of the sun shining forth from within his towering body, and boundless surging flame exuding from his entire body, giving nothing but the feeling that he was nothing but a limitlessly powerful God that was born from purely destructive flames, the person seated on that throne and wore a really expensive regalia that was befitting for someone of his level, looked at some people bowing in front of him in both awe and adoration and asked to confirm what they mentioned to him in total disbelief, "Kyrill and his men were destroyed by Princess Ethena of the Scarlet God Hall?"
"Yes, Lord Alcheus. She destroyed them using her strength." One of the people bowing before Alcheus said.
"Impressive! She is beginning to grow. I like that." Lord Alcheus said with a deeply impressed smile appearing in his face. But no one could see his smile as he was completely covered up by this intensely bright flame that burned in a rather terrifying manner around his whole body.
Then when his facial expression changed in the next instant, as it became grim and darkly upon pondering about some things that actually gave him severe fright, he said, "She can't be allowed to grow past the stage that she has reached, or it would spell great doom for me and the other Lord Immortals that are wary of the incomparable apocalyptic power that she possesses. And now that she has foolishly and selfishly left her Scarlet God Hall where she was under regular protection to visit the inconsequential human world, we must do everything in our power to annihilate her before she is able to return."