With his sorrowful and gentle voice the skeleton's glowing eyes seemed to blink as he continued, "It's been too long since they passed. Enough of that it's time for you to go back, isn't it."
As the skeleton spoke Adrian's mind became lethargic as his eyes closed.
******
Waking up, Adrian sensed a familiar aura slumped over to his side.
"Zero? Is that you?" Adrian called out confused by his lack of sight
"You're awake! Yeah, it's me." Zero quickly responded
When lifting his head Zero saw Adrian, groping his own face, more specifically his eyes.
Just this little action caused regret to course through Zero. The more Adrian felt his eyes the more Zero dug his claw-like fingers into his leg.
Even without vision, Adrian's heightened senses could hear the tearing of flesh and blood fitting the floor.
After such a reaction Adrian quickly understood what had happened before he passed out.
"It's ok. I don't need eyes anyway. Not only do my other senses make up for the loss, but Sakura taught me a different way to experience the world anyway…" Adrian rambled in an attempt to ease the tension in the air
Hearing Adrian's rambling the trio, previously fast asleep in their cloud-like bed, jumped up fully awake rushing to, who could only be described as, their father.
All the while Zero waited to interject into Adrian's rambling.
However, as soon as he saw a spot to do so three 'spirits' pounced on Adrian.
Dee, being the first to reach Adrian's side, quickly scanned over his body determining it would be ok before jumping into his father's arms like a rabbit.
Qi saw Adrian's head jerk back so she quickly climbed up and used her fluffy tail to soften the impact of Adrian's head with the altar.
Fue on the other hand saw an opportunity to check her father's eyes and flew on to the top of Adrian's head to do just that.
Watching this comical scene Zero held his palm to the ground recalling the blood that had fallen then quickly joined in the pile hugging Adrian.
"Next time, let me go first when something appears here." reminded Zero in a cheerful yet exasperated tone
Sitting back up while pulling Qi into his embrace Adrian jokingly said, "Sure thing. If a mysterious island appears in MY pantheon I'll let you have the honors."
Without blinking Zero responded saying, "You better."
Rolling his eyes, Adrian asked, "How long was I out for?"
Before Zero could even open his mouth Dee chimed in with the most innocent voice saying, "Deddy was asleep for 38 hours, 41 minutes, and 13 seconds!"
Both Adrian and Zero exchanged looks of shock before Zero responded saying, "He's right. After I did my best to fix your injury, I set a timer and he was only 2 minutes and 14 seconds too fast."
Dee's voice full of childhood spite came back with, "No. I'm right."
Dee sighed calming down part-way through, "You just said you started it after you patched Deddy up. I started counting as soon as I saw him."
Adrian looked at Zero with pity before shrugging and consoling Dee by saying, "Of course you're right and Uncle Zero is wrong. I believe you."
With Qi in his arms and him talking to Dee Fue was jealous and pecked Adrian to get his attention.
Almost instinctively Adrian responded with, "Ow. Come on, why'd you do that?"
This loving atmosphere continued all the while Adrian felt as if he had forgotten something important.
His memories from those lives he lived were hazy and dream-like but they were still there.
But something happened towards the end of his dream that he couldn't quite remember.
Adrian could only shrug off such a hazy feeling when a lifeless gray message panel appeared.
[Return to your body, it will reform now that you have met the requirements.]
Adrian nodded between the message and the loving atmosphere here and chose to say, "Alright guys. They need me back. Love y'all. Bye."
As he spoke he stood up taking a deep breath in, closing his eyes, and by the time he exhaled his body had reformed back on the ninth and final step.
When he instinctively opened his dull eyes his ears were greeted by a vastly different atmosphere as no sounds were shared between the two however Adrian could hear the crackling of energy all around him.
Gravity similar to a blackhole bore down on him physically from above while white hot mental knives stabbed into his mind.
However, none of that could compare to the danger he felt from the two inky-black shadows that looked like himself and Zero.
Other than the soft hum of electricity from the energy clouds, silence befell the area.
Adrian's ears constantly moving, unable to see nor activate omniscience without Sakura's guidance, he could only rely on his ears.
Stripping his shoes and closing his lame eyes once more, Adrian felt more connected to his senses as his steps launched him through the clouds of energy straight at the enemy.
Once in range of the two they started emitting a low clicking sound seemingly to mask their movements.
Unlike the shadows Zero faced, these entities seemed capable of individual movement and thought.
As the inky duo flanked Adrian he stumbled after landing in an incredibly dense pocket of energy.
Still not used to his body and Sakura for some reason not responding, Adrian lost track of the shadows as their movements were drowned out by the electric hum and their clicking.
To escape from the energy clouds Adrian activated his Mythos ability, God's Breathing.
With a simple inhale the energy in a 20-foot radius was sucked into his lungs instantly transforming into overflow life force.
As the flow of energy went through his body, not only did it free his movements it also helped to map his new body structure in hopes of getting used to it faster.
Unfortunately during the time it took for him to fully intake the energy, the shadows appeared at his sides launching Adrian 50 yards.
As Adrian was flung he gripped his side gasping for air as the impact of those kicks felt like being shot with a 50-caliber bullet.