The door opened, and the hydra and its child turned toward Arthur. The child looked wary, but his mother held his hand and nodded. Then, he relaxed before standing up, staggering.

"I am sorry for what I did," the child apologized as he bowed down. "I was scared and hurt, but I did something bad."

"You raised him well," Arthur said as he walked into the room. "I appreciate your apology, but I am not the one who deserves it."

"My child is regretting his actions," the hydra woman looked unconvinced that he was guilty of anything. "As his mother, I want to fulfill his wishes and make things right."

Arthur watched her standing up as he realized that rather than fixing anything, she wanted to kill all humans for what they did. The child staggered to him and held his sleeve.

"I... think that something bad will happen," Kaya said as he grabbed his hand. "Those people took away something from me, and I think they will use it for evil."

"And you don't want to take it back?"

"I don't want to be evil," the child said with a shake of his hand. "I don't care about those crystals. I just want to go home."

"Me too, Kaya," Arthur sighed as he crouched to meet his eyes. "I will do everything I can to make sure that no harm will befall the people."

"Thank you, mister," sighed the child in relief. Arthur smiled and stood up, gesturing for the hydra woman to follow him.

The two left the room and walked through the gardens. The surrounding people were looking at him with apprehension after the last announcement.

"I heard a few humans talking. It seems you have a way to send them back to their world, and you are willing to give it to them."

"That is indeed the case," smiled Arthur and nodded. "However, I have a different proposal for them."

"A proposal?"

"Yes," nodded Arthur. "I can make them join my city and give them a safe place to live. All of them have lost their previous lives after they came here, and they must be attached to this world."

"I fear they will refuse. This place is separated from the rest of the world, and they have no reason to join your city."

"I am afraid that is wrong," sighed Arthur. "I received an item from the creator of this place, and it was the one separating this city from the rest of the world."

"You ruined their homes. So it seems," she smiled. "Are you going back home since you can?"

"You guessed that I am from the other world," smiled Arthur. "I can't go back now. I am afraid that a temporal divergence is different than a simple merging of the two worlds."

"Are you trapped in the past, kid? However, is that not better for your future? You carry the strength and knowledge of the future, and you can build an empire using it."

"I am not sure I can change anything, and I am too tired for a new start in a different world," thought Arthur to himself. "I want to gather my followers and return to our world."

"What does that have to do with me, human?"

"I want to ask you for a favor. I will leave this world eventually, and my city needs a guardian. You are the strongest and most trustable being I know, so you are perfect for that."

The woman halted her steps, looking at him with shock. Then, she laughed rough and untamed laughter that came from her heart.

"I am," she stopped, "speechless. You want me to leave my people and take residence in your city?"

"This world is full of calamities. I can send you to a better place, together with your son, where you can live for hundreds of years without disturbance."

"Interesting," the woman looked intrigued. "I still can't leave my followers."

"Are they truly your followers, or minions that are afraid of you? I am sure that you killed every threat the oceans have, so you can leave them now. Retirement is not so bad."

"You have a fine tongue, human," she grinned, showing her sharp teeth. "I accept your proposal. However, until we leave toward the other world, I need a place where my son stays away from the dark bastards. "

"That is an easy matter," smiled Arthur. "Welcome to my city, guardian."

***

"Are you sure about that proposal, Arthur?" asked Ori when they were alone in his pavilion, a day after the meeting with the councilmen. "Some people might choose to go back."

"I never said when I will grant them that wish," he replied. "However, I have no intention of keeping people here against their will. We know best how much suffering there is in staying away from family."

"My family is here now," smiled Ori. "Ark is my family, and I have no intention of going back."

"I need you to go back, Ori," Arthur turned toward his friend. "I need someone to trust with my city after I send it to Earth."

"This is..." Ori froze in place. "You want to send Hidden City to Earth? I cannot say that I expected that, even from you."

"I can't leave my people here while I go back to safety," sighed Arthur as he stood up and walked toward the shelf, pulling a bottle of liquor. "I want to strengthen my city, build it, and then send it to Earth."

"Wait, wait," Ori frowned as he stood up from his chair. "We are from the future, Arthur. If such a city existed, then we should know about it! We can't change the future. That is too risky!"

Ori was agitated and for a good reason. Arthur's idea would change the balance of the world and possibly cause wars. However, he looked at ease, pouring both of them a drink.

"I had the same fear when I first had this idea," he said as he gave Ori the drink. "However, I realized that I had no reason for such a fear because this is what I am supposed to do."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ori as he took the glass, confusion written on his face.

"I am sure that you can think of a city that appeared out of nowhere and grew up to be a power that no one dares defy," he sat on the couch and took a sip of his glass. "Bitter."

"A city..." muttered Ori before he had the same epiphany that Arthur had earlier. "Are you talking about Runera?" he asked with disbelief.

"Bingo, my friend," Arthur grinned. "We are building the city of Runera, and I knew that I forgot something. I have seen it before, and the tree in that place, Mother of Mana, is the same as the divine tree that my city has."

"You are arranging the past to fit the future," Ori started chuckling with a speechless expression. Then, he chugged down the glass of liquor before going after the bottle, gulping it down.

"Are you alright?"

"I just need the insanity to accept your idea," huffed Oriole as he slammed the bottle to the table, and Arthur blinked his eyes. "You are doing the work of gods, Arthur. We should not change the future as we desire."

"We already did, Oriole, my dearest senior," smiled Arthur as he gulped down his cup. "If you want to maintain the future, then you need to help me with this. Can you imagine a world without Runera?"

"I... We are not sure if Hidden City is Runera," objected Oriole. "If we make one wrong thing, then we will create calamities and mess up the natural order of the world."

"The natural order, huh?" sighed Arthur as he placed down his cup. "There is no natural order, there is no heaven, and there are certainly no gods. Those powerful people are the ones who try to merge the two worlds. We need to go against the natural order if we want to stop them."

"You don't want to merge the two worlds?"

"I finally got to know the last piece in the puzzle," grinned Arthur as he leaned forward. "The reason that the awakeners try to go beyond the gates is not their sole desire, but also the desire of the guardians."

"The guardians..." repeated Oriole with a frown. "Those are ancient people, and there is no way that they have survived to this day."

"They have, but they are simply not in our world. So the reason that they want the two worlds to merge is that only then they can descend and rule it."

"How did you learn of this?" questioned Ori with suspicion. "Arthur, you know that I will believe whatever you say, but your words are simply incomprehensible."

"The truth is often the one most overlooked. I learned this from my father," Arthur spat the last sentence. Ori seems to have noticed Arthur's dissatisfaction with their reunion, so he asked no more.

"That means.... not only we need to send Hidden City to earth, but also fight the whole world to prevent them from going into the dungeons."

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