The Ancient Genes

"What are we going to do?" Janet asked as she looked at Elly and Aria. 

They had left Kain in the hall and were currently having a meeting in the kitchen, planning their next action.

"Sending him back is the only way to avoid the situation and the sooner we do, the better it is…." Elly said with scrunched brows.

"But what if he asks for Lisa?" Janet asked with a hint of worry on her face.

"All of us being here isn't a good idea. You go and ask him what he is here for. If he asks for Lisa, just try to make him return. Say that she is fast asleep and if it doesn't work, try something which can stop him until we think of something." Aria said and then dialed Janet's number on her phone and made her pick it up.

 "It will help us to know about the situation." Aria further added as she looked at Janet.

Janet gave a nod before walking out of the kitchen with a glass of water.

Aria looked at her back with worry all over her face. Only she knew that the problem was much bigger than they actually thought it to be.

….

"Here…" Janet said as she passed on the glass of water to Kain.

"Thanks…." Kain took it with a smile.

Janet took a seat on the couch and looked at him with curiosity, "Why are you here, so late?"

"Well, you know how Lisa is loved by my father. That spoiled girl hadn't sent a good night message today and father is dying out of worry." Kain asid with a frown as he shook his head, "If I hadn't seen him walking out and asked where he was going, it would have been him sitting here at this moment not me."

Janet felt sweat on her face and the other two in the kitchen were too not in a good condition after hearing that. If the Mage King really came, it would be impossible to hide anything from him.

"You are worrying for nothing, Lisa had fallen asleep after exhausting herself. She danced all day in celebration of Aria's discharge." Janet made up a lie and spoke with a smile plastered on her face. It seemed as if she was born to lie. 

 "It's good then. But I will have to take a look or father won't be at ease." Kain said and Janet's face turned pale.

Plan A had failed. Now she had to go for Plan B and stop him until Elly and Aria came up with something.

Kain suddenly looked around and asked, "Where are the other two?" He had seen Aria and Elly. They were definitely up.

"Umn...they are preparing something for you."  Janet said with a sweet smile.

"It's already so late, you didn't need to do that. I already had dinner as well. I will just get going after seeing that spoiled girl." Kain said as he slowly got up from his seat.

Janet felt that the situation was getting out of control. She had to do something. Suddenly, an idea struck her and she slightly moved her finger covering the microphone of her phone before speaking, "You sure about that? Elly is cooking for you. You really wanna leave that. Your score is already on 0. Do you want it to go in the negative?"

Kain immediately stopped and looked at Janet before speaking, "You sure it will help?"

"Definitely, just appreciate her cooking. It will definitely give you extra scores." Janet replied.

"Fine then…" Kain said as he sat back on the couch.

Janet finally felt a relief and released her finger from the microphone and spoke making sure that they could hear it on the other end of the phone as well.

"Just wait for it. Elly will definitely cook something great for you."

Elly on the other end frowned hearing that and she looked at Aria.

…

On the other side….

Lisa's cries were all Max could hear. Slowly her mother's movements stopped and whether she was dead or not was unknown. After all, Max couldn't sense it.

Valatrix looked at Lisa who was crying. There was a complicated look on his face and he sighed, "So you were an ordinary girl after all."

"I will leave you, just like I promised. Because the ordinary you is not what I want." Valatrix said as he turned around and disappeared.

It seemed that this was the last card that he had for Lisa's awakening and it had failed too.

But his last words made Max frown, it meant that this guy might come back if Lisa awakened. This b*stard was playing with words. It was indeed true that he never said that he wouldn't capture Lisa again but still, Max felt that he was one nasty guy. It seemed that he was blinded by his goal and had lost his rationality. After all, no normal person would put a little girl through what he did.

A bit of time passed and the first person to arrive was the Mage King.

Max could only describe the scene as heart wrenching. The calm smile that he maintained as he smiled at his daughter trying to assure that everything was fine made Max felt his heart ache. He had definitely earned Max's respect. The Mage King picked Lisa with one of his hands and his wife with the other. Max didn't know what was going in his head. But as he turned around and took a step forward. And the moment he did, the pavement slowly started to crumble into the sand and it began to spread quickly.

Max saw as the entire city turned into dust, the people in the houses screamed but luckily nothing happened to them.

Suddenly, Max turned around and saw a huge pillar rising which almost touched the sky.

It was then that Max recalled the place, this place was pretty famous. Especially this monument. The Pillar or Ragnara, also called the Pillar of Dust. It was a village in the southern end of the capital. It was named Ragnara. There was a myth that a sand demon had inhabited the place and turned it into this state overnight.

Max never believed it but was always curious, now he knew how it happened and that this structure wasn't a pillar but a tomb.

…

A few more days passed and Max had seen a lot. 

The distress in the Walker family had piled up and Lisa had developed a trauma. She seemed to be on the verge of breaking down and becoming incapable.

It was then that Max saw an old man visit. Max had no idea who he was but the fact that both Lisa's Dad and Grandfather were polite to him automatically made him one of the top level figures in Max's head.

"This is the only possible way left for her. I can lay down a sealing formation on her memory. She wouldn't remember anything to this date. It would be a new start." The old man said as he stroked his beard.

"As long as it can save my daughter, I will do anything Elder." The Mage King begged as he looked at the old man. He had lost his wife and now he didn't want to lose his daughter.

Max didn't find it odd. Even the Mage King would beg when it came to his child. Max didn't know how this king really was but he was sure of one thing. He was a good father.

As for the a Formation on a person's memory,  Max had never heard of it. It was evident that this person was probably at the pinnacle of mastery in Formations.

"You don't need to do that. Even though Valatrix was not a part of my family, it still doesn't change the fact that he was part of one of the Ancient Family." The old man spoke with a sigh.

Max's guess was correct. And now, he knew that this old man was definitely someone from an Ancient Family as well. Max would make sure to avoid him if he ever came across him.

Why?

Because what Valatrix did had made Max think about it. There was some way which these Ancient Families used to identify a person carrying the genes of other races.

This had made Max even more vigilant about them.

Max saw the old man drawing the mana from the surrounding and he gently touched Lisa's head. With that, Max felt his surroundings go dark again.

It was a bit sad that she would forget everything about her mom, but if it could give Lisa another chance on life, it would be something that even her mother would wish for.

Max slowly took a step forward and the darkness surged from his body. It began to consume the darkness present inside the cocoon.

"This really has a bad feeling to it…." Max mumbled as he continued it. It would have been harmful to Max in the long run. But Max had the spirit energy, a calm and cool energy which could consume other entries as well converting into one of its own as long as given enough time.

Max was sure that he could work it out. It might take him more time than it did when converting mana but he was sure that he could do it.

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

Max could feel the thump. It seemed he was close to the heart. It was weird for the fact that he couldn't see anything and had to depend on his ability to perceive the darkness.

"It's here…" Max muttered as he raised his hand and sliced apart the layer of darkness with a swing of his hands.

The darkness immediately parted away revealing Lisa's body which was being pulled inside the cocoon. The darkness had reached up to her neck and was slowly creeping up.

Max put his hands inside and immediately felt a danger, he didn't hesitate and at his single command, the darkness from his body collided with the cocoon and Max pulled her out.

With Lisa on his back, Max immediately gathered all his energy and shot his fist upwards directing everything he had towards it.

The rippled caused enough space to open up and Max felt his connection with the Spirit World.

"Come!"

The spirit energy immediately exploded into action. But the next instant, Max felt the cocoon repairing itself and his connection started to become weak once again.

On the other side, Sera clenched her hands feeling Max's situation as the hole opened up.

Suddenly, the tattoo on Max's chest lit up and a thin aura covered his body as a slight transparent crown formed on his head.

Max suddenly stopped and looked at his palm. This feeling, he had experienced it once. But right now, in the spirit world, it was stronger than ever. He felt like being one with the spirit energy itself.

Max looked ahead and spoke, "Move!"

A single world and the spirit energy drilled its way into the black cocoon opening a path for Max and crushing all the negative energy around.

Max immediately felt the bad sensation wearing off and he took a step forward as he carried Lisa on his back.

"Hmmn?"

As the negative energy was pushed back, Max found that the surrounding had changed. There were tiny fragments of white light all around.

Max looked at one of it and found it to be a part of Lisa's memory. The ones which had occurred after the horrible event.

It didn't contain those nasty feelings like the ones before.

Max smiled and let it be. He didn't want to invade her privacy further and began to walk towards the entrance.

But as he passed through one of the fragments, Max's feet paused and he turned around. He seemed to have caught a glance of it.

Max touched the fragment after a bit of thought and the next instant, he found himself standing near the auditorium. The place was familiar.

It was the Arcane Academy.

The banner outside read, The Cultural Night, 3030.

…

Outside, Sera and the rest of the gang were waiting for Max eagerly. It had been quite a while since the exit had formed in the cocoon but there was no signs of Max coming out.

As Sera had almost started to cry, Juju released a cheerful cry and Sera raised her head to see Max walking out with Lisa on her back.