CHAPTER 89: FORGING A NEW ERA WORTHY OF HIS RETURN

But even with such a horrible statement about him out in the public that showcased his preference to the world Mika wasn’t embarrassed.

Not really.

More than anything, he was touched as Mina wasn’t trying to seduce him, this was simply a desperate, clumsy act of a girl who simply didn’t want someone important to walk out of her life.

She had no way to keep him here, so she made up something outrageous, something she thought might tie him to her in the future.

And it made his chest ache in a way he wasn’t used to.

Because the truth was, he’d been here before, faced with the choice of getting closer to someone and risking their safety, or keeping his distance and protecting them from afar.

And in the past, he had always chosen the latter.

He had lived carefully, cautiously, like a sage walking a narrow mountain path, never indulging too deeply in anything that might cloud his judgment or tempt fate because of wanting to keep his desires in check for the sake of maintaining his relationships with Yelena and the others.

But now?...Now he was different.

This girl, with her stubborn grin and teary eyes, had lit something in him. And he realized that he wasn’t living bound by the same old self-imposed rules anymore.

He remembered that he wasn’t the old Mika anymore and right now, he wanted to see that smile again. He wanted to see her grow, to see this village flourish.

So he made a decision.

He would go home, yes. But he would slowly master the element of Chaos, no matter how long it took, so that he could come and go between realms freely.

He would even defy the Will of the World if he had to and make a way around it. Because he was done letting life pull him along without taking what he wanted in return.

"Mina..." He said at last, his voice steady.

She looked up at him, still stubbornly holding her ground, even if her cheeks were flushed from her own ridiculous claim.

"You know what?" Mika smiled. "Let’s do that."

Her eyes widened.

"I don’t know when I’ll be back." He went on. "It could be a month...a year, a couple of years...maybe even longer. But I will come back. And I will visit you again. That’s a promise."

The words hit her like sunlight breaking through a storm.

"But..." He added, his tone firm. "You have to promise me something too."

She nodded quickly. "Anything!"

"By the time I come back, this village won’t be the same. It’ll be stronger, bigger, more alive than it’s ever been. And you..." He tapped her forehead gently. "...you’ll be the one responsible for that. You’ll make sure this place grows into something worth coming back to."

For a heartbeat, Mina simply stared at him, her lips parted in disbelief.

She had spoken those earlier words to him, the teasing, the plea, as nothing more than a desperate, last-ditch gamble. She hadn’t actually believed it would work.

She had just wanted to cling to something, anything, that might keep him from walking away forever.

But he had taken her seriously. More than that...she had changed his heart.

Her chest tightened, and before she could stop herself, she stepped forward, speaking so quickly and with so much emotion that her words tumbled over each other.

"I will!" She blurted. "I most definitely will, Mika! And when you come back, you won’t even recognize the place, it’ll be completely different! I’ll build new homes, bigger than the ones we have now."

"I’ll make the streets wider, make farms everywhere, bring water to every house! I’ll build walls to protect everyone, towers, bridges, no! Castles and armies! All the way to the end of where you can see!"

She clenched her small fists, eyes blazing.

"I promise...I’ll build a powerful kingdom worthy of your return."

Hearing this, Mika couldn’t help but chuckle softly at the conviction in her voice.

"Good girl." He said with a small, approving nod. "I’ll be waiting for that."

But Mina wasn’t finished. She glanced away for a moment, then peeked back at him shyly, fiddling with her fingers. Her voice dropped, hesitant, almost embarrassed.

"And...um...when you come back, I’ll also be...plump. And thick. And...have a nice body. Just like my mother."

She looked up at him with sudden boldness.

"So...I’ll be ready to give you my body then, too."

Mika’s smile faltered for a second.

"...Alright, alright." He said, patting her shoulder in a half-hearted attempt to downplay her words. "That as well."

She grinned at that, satisfied, and took a step back.

It was time.

Mika slowly stepped onto the waiting boat, its wooden deck creaking faintly under his weight.

Mina also stepped back, her eyes never leaving him. She knew now that he was going, but she no longer feared it. She had something better than his presence. She had his promise.

Years...decades...even until the last moment of her life, she would wait for him. Gladly.

But still...

As the boat began to rise into the air, Mina suddenly cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted up to him.

"Mika! Can you...give me something? Something to remember this moment, and to remember you by? Please! I want something of yours that I can keep until we meet again!"

Mika paused, his brow furrowing. He hadn’t expected that. What could he give her?

Then his eyes lit up. "Alright...I have something."

Reaching into thin air, he suddenly pulled out a thick, leather-bound book. Its edges were worn, the pages faintly yellowed from years of turning. With a flick of his fingers, he guided it down through the air until it floated gently into her hands.

Mina caught it and hugged it to her chest.

"That..." Mika said from above. "...is one of the books I read when I was young, called ’The Forgotten Kingdom Of The Radiant Sun’. It’s one of my favourites."

"It’s about a man who came from a great, powerful country and traveled across the sea until he discovered a new land, one with people and a culture completely different from his own.

"At first, he only meant to stay for a short while...but slowly, he fell in love with them. Their ways. Their dreams. He helped them build their society, improve their lives...and in doing so, he learned more about himself than he ever had before.

"It’s a story about how two people from worlds that couldn’t be more different can still come together, change each other’s lives, and create something beautiful."

His voice softened. "It seemed...fitting. For us."

"Is this alright?" He tilted his head. "I’ve also made sure that the book reads in your mind so that you don’t struggle with the language. Or...do you want something else?"

But Mina shook her head fiercely, her eyes glistening.

"No. This is perfect. I don’t want anything else...This is more then enough."

Mika smiled, his expression warm. "Then...it’s about time I left."

"Farewell, Mina..." He raised a hand in farewell. "I hope to see you again."

"...But with a much more plump figure like you promised, I guess."

He gave one final chuckle and then, just like that, his form flickered, and he was gone.

The boat, too, vanished into nothingness.

The villagers stood in stunned silence, murmurs rippling through them.

Mina’s mother felt her own chest tighten, knowing her daughter must be breaking inside. She started toward her to comfort her, only to stop in surprise.

Mina wasn’t crying.

Instead, she turned on her heel and walked straight toward the village’s central altar, the sacred one dedicated to Lady Elna.

Confused, the villagers followed her.

When she reached the altar, Mina didn’t kneel to pray. She reached up, took the small stone monument representing their goddess...and set it gently aside.

Gasps erupted from the crowd, blasphemy!

But before anyone could speak, the village head raised his hand. "Quiet."

The murmurs died instantly.

Mina then stepped forward and placed Mika’s book atop the altar, right where the goddess’s idol had been.

And when she turned to face them all, her eyes were no longer those of an innocent child.

They were the eyes of someone who had already seen the future.

She let her gaze sweep across every face in the crowd, the silence stretching until even the wind seemed to pause to listen.

"From this day forth..." She began, her voice steady, ringing with an authority far beyond her years. "There is no more Lady Elna."

A few villagers flinched, others widened their eyes in shock but Mina didn’t waver.

"Lady Elna...perhaps she did protect us once. Perhaps she has watched over us for many years. But when our time came, when our lives, our homes, and our children were at stake, she turned away. She abandoned us. She left us to die."

Her voice hardened. "And I will not worship someone who turns their back on us in our darkest hour."

She stepped closer to the edge of the altar, raising her chin so that the setting sun caught her face.

"Because in that moment, when we had nothing left...another came. A new saviour. One who saw our suffering. One who chose to act, not because we were his people, not because of some ancient pact, but simply because it was right.

"He changed everything. He brought us out of darkness...into the light."

Her hand pressed against the book as if it were a sacred relic.

"So, from this day on, we will worship him, and him only. We will not bow to anyone else. We will not pray to anyone else...Because it was he who saved us. It was he who gave us hope again. And for that, we will dedicate the rest of our lives to him."

No one spoke. They didn’t know what to say, only that her words struck something deep inside them.

And, in truth, every single one of them knew she was right. He had saved them.

Mina’s expression then softened into a gentle smile as she turned back toward the book. She whispered, almost like a prayer:

"For our saviour...My saviour...I will wait. I will wait until the end of time, until the day he comes back."

Then she looked up again, her gaze sweeping over the crowd, now sharp and unwavering.

"Until then, I will make this place better."

"I will change everything, everything, for the better."

"I, Mina Vanhourn, Daughter of Dietries and the proud Granddaughter of the 54th head of the village Meldor will show him a future for this village he never could have imagined."

And in that moment, she also realized that even if that Lady Elna had abandoned them, had given them no miracles, even though they were left to suffer, she was still the person who had brought Mika here.

Even if it was ultimately his own decision to save them, that connection still began with her.

And because of that, a faint, knowing smile touched her lips as she carefully set the stone monument back, this time placing it behind Mika’s book, as if acknowledging it as only second place.

Then, with a quiet, satisfied smile, she lifted her gaze and looked back at all her people.

Her eyes gleamed with a dangerous, burning light.

It was not the spark of childish excitement anymore.

It was the blaze of a dream that would devour obstacles, burn down the old, and forge the new.

A fire had been lit in this little girl’s heart, a fire that would not go out.

It would change everything.

It would engulf the world and usher in a new era of prosperity.

And all of it...All of it because she wanted to prove herself to the man who changed her life and showed her the light in the darkness.

...while Mika himself didn’t know that the next he saw Mina and this humble realm, that won’t be so simple anymore, he would be so shocked by everything that had changed that he would almost drop down to his knees...