Chapter 849: Goodbye Porvale (Patreon)

As Tomas continued to descend, the surrounding light dimmed until, by the time his feet touched the dirt, the people in the square could look at him without being blinded. Wherever his body touched, life sprouted from it. Even now, I could see the brown patch of grass under his heels turn green.

Nobody moved. Everyone was staring at the boy they had known all their lives with their mouths hanging open. Appearance-wise, Tomas looked more or less the same, the differences were subtle. His skin now had a soft, gold healthy shine to it that one would expect from the noblest of lineages. His hair was now the colour of wheat before a harvest. The biggest change was his eyes, they were mesmerising: gold with a thin ring of purple around each pupil. As for the robe of purple energy that had enveloped him, it was now gold as well, giving him an angelic appearance.

If I were being honest, I had no idea what to expect when someone became the spirit of a sun, even though the crystal had reassured us that Tomas would still be able to walk through the streets and spend time with his parents like before. A part of me had still wondered if his true form would be a giant made of fire, or a faceless figure that the villagers would worship for the rest of time. However, to see him looking more or less the same, it gave me a sense of comfort, and I was sure that the villagers preferred this form too.

“Is that…?” Rani squinted from behind the well. “Is that really the miller’s lad?”

“Can’t be,” Brida whispered, her grip on the stone rim hardening. “Whoever this is, he looks more noble than the boys in the city that me daughter wants to run off to. This…this isn’t our Tomas. I’m sure of it.”

The cracking of joints announced Old Teller pushing himself off the ground as he used the well for support. “For almost seventy years, I prayed to the big blue ball in the sky.” His voice was trembling. “Every mornin’ and every night, I never missed a moment, did I? Ask the woman, the wife. But who…who do I pray to now? A boy I saw soiling his pants ten years ago?”

“Ye’ll not be prayin’ to a lad who nicked me pears last harvest,” Brida snapped.

“I did apologise and give them back,” Tomas spoke for the first time, his voice sounding just as they remembered, but I my cultivated senses could detect the natural pressure behind it. The pressure of a higher being. “You still haven’t let it go, aunty…”

“It’s cause ye only gave me back the cores, boy!”

A snort from the back of the crowd triggered the rest of the square to laugh, it was a shaky laughter, but it was better than nothing, especially considering they had thought the world was ending five minutes ago.

When the laughter died down, Henrik raised his fists into that badly taught salute, then seemed to decide it was the wrong thing and dropped them again. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he spoke.

“We thought ye were a gone one, lad, we thought ye walked into the sun and it ate ye.”

“It didn’t,” Tomas shook his head. “I’m part of it now, or it’s part of me. I’m not sure. I’m still trying to sort out all the new things running about in my head.”

For a moment, it looked like Henrik was about to ask more questions, but then he shook his head and sighed. This was clearly above his pay grade, and he had accepted that. The same couldn’t be said for Maya. She stood there with arms crossed, staring at Tomas with narrowed eyes, which I could tell made the boy uncomfortable by the way he struggled to meet her gaze.

“Son?” the miller called out, helping his wife off her knees. “Is it really ye in there? Or is this the sun wearin’ me boy. Tell it to me true, eh. Me and yer Ma can take it.”

“It’s me, Da. I promise,” Tomas smiled. The smile was so bright that it literally lit up the surroundings, forcing the shadows back. “I still remember the day you let me hold the chisel and I dropped it on your foot. Don’t worry, I’m still your son, I always will be. No matter what happens.”

“You…you’re so warm,” his mother whispered, her hand caressing his cheek gently.

“I’m a sun now, Ma. I’ll always be warm."

“Good,” she laughed, even though it sounded more like a cry. “You were always too cold come winter. Stealin’ the blanket off your da.”

“Ya daft, daft boy,” the father murmured, grabbing his son by the back of the neck and pulling him into a hug so tight that if Tomas hadn’t been supernaturally enhanced, I seriously would have worried about his ribs cracking. “Ya coulda died.”

“But I didn’t da,” Tomas whispered. “I’m still here. We’re all still here. That’s what matters.”

“Me don’t care, boy.” The miller shook his head. “Don’t ya ever do that again without askin’ yer ma first. Who do ya think will get the wors’ of it if some’ing happen to ya. Me, boy, poor ol’ me.”

Floating beside the obnoxious statue and watching their reunion, I forgot about the Otherworldly Entities, the cracked sun, and world souls. All I could think about was my father back in the Cultivation World. Without a doubt, he would say the same thing, word for word, just with a more understandable accent. It…it felt like it had been years since I had seen them.

“Big brother!”

My head turned to the side to see Liara charging across the square with her arms wide and throwing herself at my legs, which were only two feet above the ground. Instead of catching anything, her arms passed straight through them, making her stumble. Had it not been for Cobb grabbing hold of her shirt from behind, the girl would have been sprawled on the floor right now, crying.

“I…I wanted a hug!”

“Yeah.” I scratched the back of my head, which felt strange in soul form, but it was more of a habit than anything else. “I don’t have a body right now.”

Seeing the girl’s eyes well up and her bottom lip tremble, I lowered myself until I was at her eye level. Even though I couldn’t pat her head, or hug her like she wanted me to, I would still try my best to give her the goodbye she deserved.

“Are you…are you really leaving?”

“Yeah. I have to go home. I have people waiting for me.”

“You need to visit!” She jabbed a finger through my formless form. “You have to see Liriel’s duck when it’s big.”

“It’s already big,” Liriel murmured from a few feet away with a red face.

“Bigger! When it has its own little ducks!”

“I can try…” I began.

“But trying isn’t promising.” The girl’s eyes narrowed.

“I know. That’s why I said try. Ducklings grow fast. They will grow faster than you will.”

“Okay,” she humphed, then put her thumb out at me. “Promise you try.”

“I will try,” I smiled, holding out my own thumb.

As expected, when she pressed hers against it, it went straight through, but she giggled anyway, so that was good enough for me.

“I’m gonna be stronger than you when you come back.”

I looked behind her to see Cobb standing with crossed arms, refusing to look at me.

The serious expression on his face brought a smile to my own.

“I'll look forward to it.”

While Cobb dragged Liara back to her parents, I noticed Maya walking up to me, her arms folded as always.

“So, that’s it then,” she murmured, staring at a spot somewhere over my shoulder. “Yer just going to go like that.”

I didn’t say anything. We both knew that was the reality of the situation.

“Well, I guess it’s time I say a lil something.” She looked down and kicked a stone across the dirt. “I…I know I can be difficult and I didn’t trust ye, but I…I want you to know even if ye not from Porvale, yer still one of us. We…we won’t forget ye.”

“I also won’t forget you,” I whispered. “You’ve taught me more than you know. You just don’t remember it.”

That made her meet my eyes, and I found them to be watery, though she did a good job of blinking to hold them back from spilling. She looked me up and down and frowned. “Can’t even shake yer hand.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She sniffed hard and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Just…whatever world ye’re goin’ back to, don’t let ‘em push ye around. Ye hear me? Don’t be like our Tomas.”

“I won’t,” I laughed as a cry of “I heard that” came from the boy, who was still being hugged by his parents. They did not want to let him go.

“Good.” She turned on her heel. “Now go before I say somethin’ soft.”

She marched back to Henrik without looking back. I still saw her rub her eyes twice before she got there. Out of everyone in Porvale, Maya had been the one who put herself at risk to save others, and she didn’t want to ask for help for herself.

Just as I was about to say my final goodbye to Tomas and return to my world, the air shuddered, the water in the well rippled, and every single dog in the village began to howl and whine. I understand immediately why. A pressure descended onto the square, and even though the source was far away, it was something I had never sensed in this world. Honestly, at time I hadn’t thought it was possible.

“Me ears poppin’,” Rani said, rubbing her ears. “Why me ears poppin’?”

“Is the sun breakin’ again?” someone shouted.

“No, the sun is fine,” Tomas said, his head snapping to face the east. “It’s something else."

At the edge of the square, Eda had gone completely still, her eyes flashing gold, staring in the same direction. Despite the fear evident on her face, I could see the determination to keep her word – to die for these people if needed. Which was seriously impressive, considering that the aura was something this world hadn’t given birth to in thousands of years – Rank 9. But how was this possible? How did someone break through to Rank 9 so fast? I thought it would take a few good years before a Rank 8 returned, never mind the peak of this realm.

Tomas’s gaze met my own, his eyes were wide, and I could see the unspoken questions in them. What’s going on? What do we do? But then he blinked, the realisation hitting him that I couldn’t do anything in spirit form, and now that he was the spirit of the Golden Sun, the responsibility was all on him.

“Go.” I smiled at him.

He looked at me, then his parents, who seemed worried, and then at everyone looking up at him with expectant expressions. “Can…can you come with me?” he asked quietly, so only I, who had supernatural senses, could hear. “Just this once? Please.”

“Of course.”

I didn’t even have to think about it. This wasn’t something he was used to, and that was fine for him to admit. For the past few months, he had been the passenger while I had taken the reins. Whenever we had encountered a problem, he had turned to me, and that wasn’t a habit that would break just because he was the strongest being in the world.

But before we left, I needed to give the village one final goodbye.

“I never planned to come here,” I admitted to them. “When I woke up with an arrow flying at my face, I had no idea what was going on. But seeing what you were all going through, I knew I couldn’t abandon you. I had to save you. It took a lot longer than I expected, and I experienced some things that I wish I could forget, but one thing that I will never forget is Porvale. Thank you…thank you for accepting me as one of your own.”

For a second, nobody spoke, then the whole square erupted in cheers.

Old Teller was waving his cap. Brida was crying into Rani's shoulder. Henrik was giving another final attempt at a formal salute. Maya had uncrossed her arms and was nodding slowly. Era was whispering a quiet goodbye that reached my ears. The kids were being held back by the parents, who knew that this goodbye would go on forever if they let them at me again. And the dogs, confused about everything, started barking again.

Sure, the village was loud and messy, but to me it was genuine, it was perfect.

Then Tomas waved his hand, and everything vanished.

“Oh,” he murmured, sounding surprised. “I didn’t think that would actually work.”

We found ourselves floating high above a city that I had never been to in my time in this world. Frankly, it was massive, and I could only assume it was the capital of this country. There were nine rings of grey walls surrounding it, and each ring was the size of one city by its own. At the centre sat what looked like a medieval castle, it towered over everything else. This must be where royalty resided.

But we weren’t the only ones with our sights on it. A few hundred feet from us, a man was floating in the air with a smile, and his right hand was outstretched as though he was going to grab a hold of the castle and crush it within his fist.

I had to admit, the man was the typical handsome middle-aged man you’d expect in a cultivation world, with the long mane of black hair falling down his back and everything else that came with such a status.

But I didn’t care about his looks, what I cared about was the aura reeking off him. This was a genuine Rank 9 Golden Sun cultivator.

Tomas looked at me, and I could see the self-doubt in his eyes.

"You got this," I reassured him. “This is now your world to protect.”

He nodded slowly, swallowing hard, before turning to face the floating man.

Watching his back, I realised this was the last time that I would be there to act as his mentor.

After today, he couldn’t rely on me for reassurance, or to fix things when things went horribly wrong, because they certainly will, it was only a matter of time for an immortal like him. And it would be his job to carry the fate of the world on his shoulders, even when everyone below was shouting at him for getting it wrong and making mistakes.

This…this was the end of our story together, but it was the beginning of his own.

A/N

Tomo, I will release the final chapter of the Two Suns World. After that I will take a week off and we will return with the Cultivation World

Tomo, we get to see what restrictions, if any, that Tomas has with his new role as the Spirit of the Golden Sun, and Ke Yin's final goodbye to Tomas. Comment below what you think Ke Yin will get from the Two Suns World for having saved it.

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