"What? Rory can regenerate just like I can? This little girl has quite a few surprises hidden from me, doesn't she?" Dilan exclaimed with a faint smile on his lips, while playing around with the little daughter of Ailee and Oliver.
The little girl was called Emilie and she was a very curious young lady, who loved to play with the tiny blobs of mana Dilan created in front of her.
"We heard rumors about your return but we didn't see you…so we dispelled them as false rumors…" Oliver said quietly, trying to maintain a low profile.
But it was already too late for that…way too late. Dilan and the others understood that very well, and it looked like only Oliver failed to understand what the gazes that lingered on them truly meant…or maybe he couldn't even perceive them because he was too focused on Dilan.
After the meteorite shower had destroyed Shiron, Dilan hadn't seen Oliver and Ailee anymore. That was why he had presumed that they died in the meteorite shower. Little did he know that they had moved to the Headquarters in the Sanctum before it had been too late.
Dilan had been very busy after the meteorite shower and he didn't spend much time in the Sanctum. Thus, he didn't really meet Sarah and Pierre often, only when he needed their potions.
"It's good to see that you're alive. The fights against the Sun God are getting more troublesome by the day. If it continues like this, our stock of potions will be used up in the blink of an eye and our armies won't have any instant healing potions or other means to gain an advantage against the disadvantages of numbers we face…" Sarah grumbled and she was just about to curse when Pierre started to rub her back gently.
"Please calm down, Honey. It's not good to be too agitated…think about the baby," Pierre said, smiling lovingly.
Dilan's right eyebrow lifted and he looked at Sarah's belly before he moved over to look at the bunch of children they already had. While Oliver and Ailee had two children, Sarah and Pierre already had seven.
'I guess it wasn't that bad if they could get seven kids through the last 27 years…' Dilan joked to himself, only to end up shaking his head at his bad jokes.
He thought about Rory for a moment and the fact that she seemed to have gotten some powers from his Undying Origin Ability. That was pretty good because it allowed her to fight against the Sun God with the help of the others.
The Undying powers that dwelled inside Rory were weak but there were still enough to heal mortal injuries, no matter how long it would take.
Dilan spend a little bit more time with the four Ascenders, who had started their journey with him in the Rian Mountainside hospital. It was nice to see that more familiar faces had survived and it gave him the necessary strength to meet up with the others.
'Fuck…did I just jinx myself?' Dilan nearly cursed out loud when he saw Williams, Sven, Siegfried, and his sisters standing near the doors of the cafeteria, staring down at him with impatient glares.
"Looks like more people are waiting for me…probably to beat me up…see ya!" Dilan could only say before he left the two couples with their happy families.
Seeing and talking to the two happy families, who had overcome 27 years of the Primordial Ascension's Fourth Awakening, was quite motivating.
Dilan momentarily forgot about the pain he had to go through in the last 10,000 years as he approached Williams rather than his sisters…and he gave him a tight hug, surprising Williams the most.
The middle-aged man stiffened, his arms stiffening in the air as Dilan patted proudly on his back.
"You guys did an amazing job. You brought back light when the only thing they could see was darkness. Be proud of yourself, and look at what you've built up with your blood, sweat, and tears…I could have never achieved what you guys did…you did great!"
Dilan's words pierced deep into Williams' heart and mind. He couldn't move for a long time until his arms finally sunk down, where they hangled down his shoulders, trembling lightly.
Williams didn't say a word, he couldn't. However, Dilan could clearly feel the emotions of his fellow comrade. Their hard work had paid off, they created a real Sanctum for humans and monsters where nobody could hurt them.
And it was not on them to keep this Sanctum protected, no matter what!
Dilan was not sure how long they had to fight, hide, or even run away, until they had finally gotten their hands on the flying island. He didn't know how many casualties the conquest of the flying island caused, let alone how many died protecting the flying island afterward.
His knowledge about the current situation on Milarn was still insignificant, but all of that didn't really matter because he could clearly tell that Williams and the others had suffered a lot to make everything possible.
Every single bit Dilan had seen after waking up in the ginormous bed had been built with the blood sweat and tears of his comrades, and he was proud of that.
Dilan was not sure how long it took Williams to regain control of his body and to stop trembling, but the middle-aged man gently pushed him away.
"Thank you…but I think you need to greet your sisters rather than talking bul…thanks…"
Dilan smirked when he realized what Williams wanted to say but he followed his comrade's advice and turned toward his sisters.
"Sorry that it took me so long!"
His words have multiple meanings but both Marie and Lara understood exactly what he wanted to convey. They smiled at him vibrantly, tears trickling down his cheeks.
"Was about time for you to wake up, idiot!"
"Welcome back!"
Dilan started to smile and he stepped forward, giving his sisters a tight hug. They responded to the hug by returning to embracing him, and it was at this moment when Dilan noticed something.
"You got stronger."