A week had passed since Alexander got swallowed by a veil tear and things had never been the same since.
The academy, with the help of the Orbital Guards, had performed several deep space scans and had yet to pick up Alex's signal.
"I'm afraid the boy is nowhere near the empire's territory. Even with the help we solicited from the other regions and sectors, all the scans came back negative.
The operator wanted to say, but the principal stopped him with a raised hand.
"Keep searching and don't stop until you find something, even if it would take a year."
She received clear instructions to find the golden boy, dead or alive, and she intended to do just that.
When the academy students learnt of the reason behind the emergence of the veil tear and the subsequence disappearance of Alex, they were shaken to the core.
"To think this planet nearly got destroyed because of the reckless actions of one student."
"What do you mean it's not true? The veil tear appeared only because he did something foolish. What if the veil tear did not swallow just him and took all the planet along?
"We would have all been dead!"
Some students blamed Alex while others sympathized with him. The majority did not even know how the veil tear appeared.
All they knew was that Alex did something and a veil tear emerged.
Then, there was the take of the general populace of the empire.
"Looks like our miracle boy has run out of miracles. Do you think he will survive this time?"
"Who knows? Even if he does survive, what are the chances that he would be displaced on a habitable planet? Not to mention, the universe is crawling with void creatures.
"Here in the human territories, we are relatively safe, but trust me when I tell you, it's a shit storm out there."
While everyone had their own take on the phenomenon, the ones who were hit the hardest were Alex's family, Julia and then Ross.
The former hardly smiled and could barely step out of the house. Sarah had even fallen ill and couldn't do anything as she was bedridden.
"Sweetheart, you need to eat something, please."
William begged his wife to eat something as she had barely eaten anything since the incident. It broke his heart to see his family fall apart the way it did.
And there was nothing he could do as he was just as wounded. The gaping hole in his chest had refused to heal ever since he heard about what happened to his son.
"I want my son back; I want my Alex…"
Sarah wailed for the umptieth time, barely feeling any strength in her body. The others could not bear to see their mother break down in such a manner.
For Olivia, she took a break from her job while Aaron took a break from school. The boy could not focus and would be seen from time to time crying for the loss of his big brother.
Ross still blamed himself for the incident and had become a stoic person. He barely paid attention in class as his mind was always wandering.
Everything reminded him of his best friend and it hurt him deeply. He dedicated all his time to training, hunting and getting as strong as possible as he held on to the hope that Alex was still alive and would return just like he did before.
He barely spent time outdoors and would always be cultivating or learning about the universe and all of its known dangers and how to navigate them.
Meanwhile, Julia stopped coming to school altogether and hadn't still regained her composure since Alex's disappearance.
She would stay in her room all day long and cry from time to time. And hearing Julia sob like that broke his father's heart.
He had tried everything, but the girl refused to step out of her room.
Finally, her uncle returned from his mission, and while he had heard what had happened, he couldn't abandon everything and return.
"Uncle, please you need to find Alex. He's somewhere out there, I know it! Only you can find him, please… uncle!"
Julia pleaded with her uncle with tears running down her once beautiful and charming face. After many days of crying and no self-care, Julia became something akin to a zombie.
Nothing mattered to her anymore. She did not return to the academy and only stayed at home. She couldn't calm down and only stopped when Zol promised to do as she wished.
Naturally, to help the girl recover, Zol made her make a series of promises after she heard what he said.
"I'll do everything in my power to find Alexander. However, what would he say if he were to return and find you in this state?
"What's more, if you wish to find him, you must have the strength to do so yourself."
Realizing the truth in his words, Julia nodded and promised to do as she was told.
Of course, even though Lord Zol made that promise and had every intention of keeping it, he knew in his heart that the chances of the boy being alive were little to none.
Even if the void and its related things were taken out, there were still void creatures and other creatures out there in the universe.
Regardless of what he thought, Julia took his words as truth and returned to school.
Of course, things did not return to how they were.
"Ross, I plan on getting strong enough to go find Alex by myself. I can already tell everyone is already giving up, but I'm not."
She spoke with determined eyes, staring directly into Ross's eyes.
"Took you long enough," Ross revealed a shallow smile with folded arms. He was wondering when Julia was going to come to her senses and start getting stronger.
"Alexander is our friend, and only we would wholeheartedly dedicate ourselves to finding him. There is no time for moping around, Julia. And I'm glad you're finally on board."
The two friends nodded as they made a silent promise to grow as strong as they possibly could, setting themselves on a path that set them apart from the rest.