Tearful Reunions

“I have a lot of preparations to do,” John told one of his patrons. “Can you send me back now, please?” he asked Lady ****.

“Very well,” she told him as she waved his hand, which caused a light to form around him. “And remember, John Newman, when the time comes, the armies of Hell will march by your side,” she said in a cold voice before he was teleported back to the barrier of his fight.

John looked around and saw a dozen people in the barrier. Gali, the twins, and a bunch of rescue personnel were performing medevacs of the injured scouts from the fight. He looked around at the damage the fight had caused. The ground was more like small ravines or gorges with how much of the very earth had been displaced from the fight between the dragon and Izanami. The sheer power he saw here let him know he was still a nobody, a nothing, a weak man pretending to be strong. But no longer. John would not allow this to happen again. He will gain the strength to beat any enemy. No matter if they are man, monster, dragons, or even a god. He will find whatever power he needs, whatever allies he needs, and do whatever he must, to ensure him and those he cares about are safe.

“Ohn! Ohn! JOHN!” The voice started off muted but got louder until it finally snapped John out of his own head. Miho and Mikuru were wrapped around him, their arms firmly interlocked behind him. It was as if they let go he would disappear and they would never see him again. He lifted his arms and wrapped them around the two girls, which startled them but they still looked up with tears in their eyes.

“Why are you two crying?” he asked as he kissed both their foreheads.

“You seriously don’t know?!” asked Miho in an angry tone.

“Come now, Miho, he may not have realized it,” Mikuru said in an attempt to calm her sister down.

“Realized what?” he asked.

“You’ve been gone for eight hours! We...we thought….WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!” yelled out Miho as she squeezed even more. Eight hours? That can’t be right. thought John as he processed what Miho had told him. I was only with Lady **** for an hour or two tops. And the fight could not have lasted hours. Wait, could this barrier have a time dilation effect? If that dragon wanted to **** me for information, that would make sense. That’s probably it!

“This barrier must have a time dilation effect built into it. Who knows how long we’ve been gone according to the outside,” John informed his two assassins.

“We know, and it’s been disabled since we got here,” came the calming voice of Gali. Miho’s outburst had caught her attention and so she made her way over to welcome her king back. “I disabled it when I was given control of the barrier, my lord,” she told him as she bowed before him.

“Good thinking, Gali,” John said as he took another look around. He saw the scouts being carried out on gurneys, many strapped down so they would not involuntarily fall out of them. “How are they?” he asked, as he motioned with his head towards the scouts. Gali let out a sigh.

“Half are dead,” she started. “The other half we will spend the next few days healing and hoping they will regain full functions of their bodies,” she said in a sad tone.

“Gali, you and your acolytes are some of the best healers I’ve ever seen. I have full faith in all of you that you’ll heal them all,” he told her with a smile on her face. She reciprocated his smile as his words brought new vigor to her.

“I will not let you down, my king. I swear to you that I will have them all back and ready for action as soon as possible!” she pledged to her lord.

“No,” John told her. “Make sure they are well rested and fully healed before they go back to action. We are about to go to war once again and we’ll need everyone well rested and in top shape,” he informed her.

“Of course, I will make sure that is done,” she promised him. An acolyte quickly came up and spoke to Gali as John slowly pried the twins off of him. “We have recovered the last of the scouts that were here. Shall we return to the kingdom?” asked Gali.

“Yes, let’s go. I have a lot to talk about,” John told the girls. The four of them silently made their way out of the barrier and to the transportation room in John’s house that would take them back to his kingdom. John’s mind raced with what he had to do, what needs to be done, what needs to be said, and what to prepare for. He was about to have a very busy schedule and had to be ready for that.

John’s mother was there waiting for the group as they exited the transportation room of the castle. He could see that she had been crying for hours while being worried sick about him. Yuria had a similar look on her face as she tried to hide behind his mother. Her pregnant state, however, made that hard for her to do.

“Sweetie! I’m so glad you are ok!” Brenda said as she brought her arms up and rushed towards him.

“Master!” cried out Yuria as she waddled behind Brenda. John did not say a word. He merely moved forward and embraced both of the girls in front of him.