CHAPTER 374: CHAPTER 374: PAST LIFE MIRROR

"I wouldn’t feel anything," Kael said.

The silence between the father and son reigned for a few seconds.

Father’s shoulders quivered terribly. He had expected that response but when he heard it, it hit differently.

That ego which all lions had wanted to break free, he wanted to challenge his son again. It felt odd to him that someone who had once been beneath, someone who had once depended on his strength for survival, now treated him like this.

But now that he was close to the end of his life, Father’s mind was clear.

"I see," Father said, releasing a deep sigh.

If only he had evolved fast. If he had focused on increasing his individual strength, everything else might have followed, but he instead spent time fighting off challenges and making sure that no lioness or offspring disrespected him.

It was unknown how many children he had fathered and how many were still alive.

Kael knew that from the moment he had left the Hot Lion Pride, there would have been a couple more cubs that would have been born. Some would have died early on, some would have grown and would have gotten expelled from the pride.

Kael was not concerned with the whereabouts of these brothers and sisters of his. Just because they shared the same blood didn’t mean he would suddenly start looking for them or even change his attitude towards them.

Burdo was a clean example of what Kael liked and hated.

While father was busy doing his stuff, Kael was busy building his kingdom. There was a lot of difference between the two like the fact that Kael was a Primordial Lion. Father was not going to beat that at all.

But another difference stood out. Vision.

Kael had a vision for where he wanted to be and what he wanted to achieve. Father did not, even if he did, he did not work towards it.

He had grown comfortable until it was too late.

Father was mediocre, he was a mirror of who Kael had been in his past life, the average man, or less than average.

Father had basically made the same mistake that Kael had made in his past life. He had grown complacent.

While everyone grew stronger, he accepted complacency over the little power he had.

Now, he was left behind.

And there was absolutely no one he could blame for how he turned out, just like how Kale couldn’t blame anyone for how he ended his past life.

"Why are you so worried about how I feel? Is there something special about it?" Kael asked, a hint of mockery hidden in his tone.

Father chuckled softly, his aura had turned melancholic.

"You are the king," Father said, "You are strong, and you command a lot of strong creatures. You are the Apex of the world.

Who wouldn’t be worried about how you feel? You may not care about others’ validation, but others definitely care about yours.

And even I, as much as I hate to say it, care about what you think of me," Father said solemnly.

Kael stared blankly, he wasn’t moved at all.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don’t hate you. In fact, what I feel when you die is what I feel when anyone else dies.

Nothing,"

"I know, I know," Father waved his hand.

"What’s the point of this conversation?" Kael asked, a look of impatience appearing on his face.

Every second he spent with Father felt like a second permanently lost doing something worthless.

"I hate you," Father said as he turned around, finally able to stare Kael right in the eyes.

Kael tilted his head slightly and raised one of his eyebrows.

Father was... crying.

Two lines of tears streamed down Father’s face.

He was scared of dying.

"I hate you, I hate what you’ve become, I hate that you remind me of what I could have done.

I regret ever being your father,"

Kael’s spirit sense washed over his father without the latter knowing. He knew better than to believe the words of anyone.

Indeed, Father didn’t mean what he was saying, but at the same time, he also meant it.

He was in pain, and the constant reminder that he was going to die was not making things any better.

Kael was probably going to live for a few more hundred years with the kind of power he had now. His children and consorts would live long as well.

Father knew this.

But how long had he lived? Compared to the others, Father had not lived long at all.

Chronologically, Father was not even fifteen years old which was the lifespan of the average ordinary lion. Biologically however, he was pretty old.

And it pained him.

He had evolved first and awakened his Lionheart before Uncle so he was naturally going to live longer. But he wasn’t satisfied with that.

There was so much to live for, so much to experience.

The awareness that Kael, his son, could have attempted to save his life but didn’t, ate him up.

No one was going to save him, he realized that he should have saved himself a long time ago.

"It’s okay," Kael said, he couldn’t be bothered about how this father of his felt anymore.

"You’re going to die, just like Uncle and Pavel died.

I won’t mourn you, and no one will make me.

You would not see me again, not even at your funeral. There are bigger and much more serious games to play than this father-and-son bullshit,"

*WHOOSH!*

As soon as Kael finished his sentence, he disappeared, teleporting away and leaving his Father on the beach.

Father dropped to the floor, soaking his knees and robes in the salt water.

He sobbed.

He didn’t want to die, he really didn’t.

Alas, the king wasn’t interested in him staying alive. Today, seeing Uncle’s dead body in that grave opened his eyes and showed him just how much he feared death.

That was the main reason why he wanted to talk to Kael. To see if Kael could find it in his heart to save him.

However, it was clear now that Kael’s heart had gone cold and detached. Not even his father’s tears could move him.

"You’re scared too..." Father muttered softly to himself as he thought of Kael.

####

At the location of the wooden pyramid, the three magic shuttles hovered silently above the ground, casting a silent shadow upon the land.

Space twisted near the base of the wooden pyramid as Kael appeared.

His suit was white and spotless and his beautiful golden eyes were fierce. His face remained calm, clearly unaffected by whatever his father had said.

So what if he was dying?

Why would he avenge Pavel? What value could he have possibly extracted from killing a powerful lion who killed Pavel who had never been of use to him?

The lion that killed Pavel has completed missions and has kept his Lionhood Bar above seventy percent.

Kael had checked.

That lion had been more useful to Kael in his own little way than Pavel had ever been in his whole life.

Kael quickly shifted his mind to other pressing matters, like the elephants and the commotion currently happening in heaven.

Kael looked to the sky, his eyes seemed to pierce the blue curtain that covered the whole world.

’It’s fading faster,’ Kael muttered. He was thinking of the protective spatial shield that was surrounding the planet Eridoria.

It would soon fade away completely.

The arkship was no longer siphoning all of the planet’s Origin Essence. Even if Kael re-erected the spatial shield, it wouldn’t last more than a few weeks or months.

It would just be an attempt to delay the inevitable.

So, all Kael could do now was make preparations. But no matter how many preparations he made, it didn’t feel enough.

The elephants were not making things easier. He would love to have them on his side but it was getting frustrating to keep them alive.

Kael was just one bad mood away from pressing the big button on the arkship that would shave off chunks of the planet, killing the elephants in the process.

But that would also kill many other useful subjects of his kingdom.

A flash of purple was seen from the corner of Kael’s eyes. He didn’t need to check, he already knew it was Ruda who was coming over.

And from the spirit frequency and surface thought she was currently having, Kael guessed that she was coming over with some naughty and lecherous ideas.

Kael smirked.

A golden screen appeared in front of him.

The lion system had gotten more advanced since its creation and now had many minor but interesting features.

He navigated to the private chat to see that he had pending messages from different people.

Priya, Exalon, Thawne, Adolf, Alora, some Lion Kings...

Kael frowned, it was already happening.

He opened Adolf’s message first as it was rare for Adolf to send a message directly to him.

More so, it was a voice record message, a feature that Kael had installed not too long ago.

...

Adolf: KAEL, PLEASE HELP ME, SEND SOMEONE, ANYONE. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY DID TO MY FATHER.

PLEASE, I NEED HELP, IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU...

...

The voice note ended there. Adolf sounded like he was panicking.

Kael frowned, wondering what had happened. Then he checked Alora’s message.

Hers was a simple text chat.

....

Alora: Kael, Adolf is dead, and his clan has been wiped out.