Riven kept staring at the burnt ruins as he wiped his eyes with his hands. Then someone nudged him on the shoulder, and he turned around and saw Null staring at him.
A heartbeat later Null asked.
"Why have you brought us to these ruins?'
Riven didn't say a word; instead, he pointed towards a certain hole just beside the waterfall and said.
"You see that hole? That is an entrance to a tunnel which leads somewhere inside the Vrekhar base."
Riven couldn't forget that particular hole; he still vividly remembered Vrekhar soldiers jumping from it and falling into the river before swimming towards the shore.
Before Riven knew it, Null, Gravitor, and Forest Princess had dismounted — leaving only him. He didn't get off. He commanded the wolf to charge straight into the ruins.
The moment the wolf took a few steps forward, Riven saw the ruins floating in the sky, and it rushed towards him until it directly hovered above his head.
Riven's eyes narrowed, if they fell onto them then it wouldn't end well for him. So he turned around and he saw Gravitor engulfed in a blue aura — Gravitor was responsible for this. Then Null stepped forward and asked.
"Where are you going?"
Riven pointed towards the ruined city and said in a cracked voice.
"This is the town that I used to live in with my family before Vrekhar burnt it down. I want to have a final look at my childhood home. So you guys go ahead and I will catch up with you."
Null stared at him for a few seconds, glared at Gravitor, and then the ruins of buildings fell to the ground — not a single one hit either his wolf or him.
Then Null turned back to him and asked.
"Alright but how long will it take? We can't proceed without you."
Riven didn't reply; instead, he looked at the sky, which was clear enough for him to see the sun. The sun was clearly above the horizon — it meant there were around 1-2 hours left before nightfall.
And it shouldn't take him long to have a look at his home and return. So he lowered his head and said,
"I will be there before the sun sets."
The Forest Princess's voice echoed.
"You'd better, otherwise the trees around you might get very angry."
Riven said nothing — he commanded the wolf forward and it obeyed, galloping through the ruins, weaving left or right at his command.
A few minutes later, a small house appeared in front of him and the upper section was completely obliterated.
As Riven stared at it, he commanded the wolf to stop and it obeyed. He got off the wolf but he didn't immediately walk towards the entrance, instead willed an entrance to his domain to manifest near him.
After all, reaching the tunnel entrance meant climbing up to it—and if the wolf was there with him, he'd have no choice but to abandon a valuable combat asset.
This was another reason why he had told Null and the others to go away. So that no one could learn the true extent of his powers.
Soon a hole in the fabric of reality was created. From the hole, a bright golden light illuminated the entire area. He stared at the wolf and commanded it.
"Enter it."
The Wolf didn't enter immediately instead it started to howl loudly. Riven kept issuing command after command telling it to enter the domain.
But the Wolf didn't even move a single inch, it started to strike its own body but before it could harm itself anymore, a chain shot out from the hole and wrapped tightly around the Wolf.
The chains dragged the wolf into the domain and the hole disappeared like it wasn't there in the first place. Then something whispered into his ears.
(Your Subject has been successfully stored.)
He ignored it, stared at the place where the wolf was standing with narrowed eyes, and mumbled.
"That beast doesn't obey my commands sometimes — why is that?"
Riven didn't know and he didn't want to dive deep into this subject right now. He turned around and stepped inside the house.
The room had no light source of its own — sunlight filtered through instead, dim but enough. The moment he entered, a sharp stench of rot hit him.
He covered his nose and continued walking. A heartbeat later, he halted his steps as he looked in front. There was a large photo hanging up on the wall in front of him.
There were four people in that photo but the photo was covered with dried-up blood and only a single person was clearly visible.
That person was none other than Riven… Riven just sighed and locked his eyes just below the photo.
He saw two skeletons leaning against a partially destroyed wall. His expression remained unchanged as he walked towards the two skeletons. He rested his hands on the two skeletons and said in a cracked voice.
"I am sorry Mom and Dad… I am sorry that I couldn't save you."
These were the remains of his parents. He clearly remembered leaving them in the exact position months ago. The last time he saw them — they were still breathing but now only their skeleton remained.
He couldn't save them. But he could give them a proper resting place. So he struck the hardened floor with his bare hand— it cracked with ease. He dug one grave, then another, all using just his bare hand.
He laid one skeleton inside the grave then covered it with soil and repeated the same process for the other two. He rubbed the surface of the two graves and whispered.
"Rest well… mom and dad."
Giving his family a proper burial place was the least he could do for his parents. But his work wasn't complete — not yet. He still had to find the remains of his little sister and give her a proper burial.
On that dark day during the time Vrekhar soldiers invaded, she was in her room so her remains should technically be there. With a heavy heart, he started to walk to his sister's room.
When he reached it, the door wasn't there, it was completely missing. He stepped inside the dark room and took a look around.
Although it was dark inside, he still could see what was inside. He saw only debris — there were no remains or any kind of rotten smell.
He walked towards it. When he got closer, he felt his body hair standing up — not in fear but in realization. He quickly rushed towards it and grabbed it. He kept his palm open and stared at it.
A small pendant with a small stone inside it, glowed brightly. He pressed the pendant against his chest as tears streamed down his face and then he mumbled.
"You are… alive my sister… I will find you even if I have to travel to the depths of hell itself."