Two years had passed since Alex, Venedikt, and Andrei ventured into the Ancestral Realm, while in the real world, only two months had slipped by, and as agreed, they were back in the real world for a day.
The trio sat quietly in the training chamber cantine area, eating their food in a heavy silence with unspoken tension.
Their emotional state was understandable, given that this was only their second meeting in two years, and each of them knew it would end before they knew it, only for them to wait another year before they saw each other again.
"I wonder how much we will be changed when all this ends?" Andrei, ever the open book, was the first to speak.
"We will still be who we are, just a bit more mature, maybe a bit colder, and much stronger, but at our core, we will remain the same," Venedikt replied in a measured tone.
"I am not complaining as I love the ancestral realm, but it's also tough not seeing our families for an entire year,"
