Chapter 301: Three Weeks Left.

Leno turned around and walked over to his mother, Lidia. He bent down and placed the back of his hand against her cheek.

"This is... strange."

Lidia held on to his hand, still trying to process how old her son had become in such a small amount of time.

"I feel an inexplicable connection to you and father. You are both special to me. A small beat in my heart is telling me so. I can’t... describe this feeling in words, but I welcome it dearly. Do you know what this is, mother?"

Lidia smiled warmly as small tears crept down her face. She held his hand tightly.

"I’m happy to know you still love your parents, even after growing up so fast."

Leno looked at his hand in Lidia’s.

"Love..."

He slowly pulled his hand back.

"I see. So that’s what I sensed between those two."

Leno made a small gesture towards Maria and Jacob.

"I welcome it."

Slimo walked up to his son and embraced him softly before letting go.

"You definitely get your good looks from your mom, you know that?"

Leno scratched his neck.

"I know that now."

Suddenly Sheeby walked up to Leno and pushed her head against his hand for attention. Leno, without using any strength, pushed Sheeby back with one finger. He looked deeply into her purple eyes. It looked like they had a small conversation with one glare. Sheeby backed way and flapped her wings around while looking at her fellow dragons surrounding her.

Leno looked into the sky, his golden eyes glimmering in the newfound light.

"Ah. I feel two others. One of their emotions is terribly out of control. It is as if it is changing on a whim. The other is full of pure agony and wrath. Something tells me that we are opposites. I can feel these emotions, but I can’t seem to understand them at all. How strange."

"You feel Zalo’s emotions? And that other one..."

"Zalo... his name sounds familiar like a lost memory. A being of frost appears to be the cause of the other feeling."

"How do you know that? What is happening?"

Leno looked at Jacob with his glowing eyes.

"It appears mother and father are not the only people I am currently connected to right now."

"You’re connected to Zalo and the Frost Monarch? Is it because you are The Great Serpent?"

Leno hesitated slightly.

"I am no Serpent. I am L-Leno. That is the name my parents have bestowed me, so that is the name I shall go by."

Even though Leno didn’t answer his question like he had hoped, Jacob still assumed that was the case. However, Jacob began to wonder if they were talking to Lidia’s child or the Serpent Deity who was meant to be Zalo’s opposite. Questions flooded his mind such as: are they the same person? Can they be the same? With no way to answer those, he decided to keep himself silent, but Leno somehow was able to read his confusion that showed on his face.

"You are confused, Jacob. Is there something I can clarify?"

"Sorry. It’s just that Sheeby called you the Great Serpent when you were born, and your power feels like something only a god is capable of achieving. The Great Serpents power is supposed to be a direct counter to Zalo’s, and simply being around you is enough to suppress this mark he cursed Maria and I with. So, are you sure you aren’t the Serpent?"

Leno rubbed his arms and looked around himself before smiling innocently at Jacob.

"I don’t see any scales on me. Do you?"

Jacob laughed to himself and shook his head.

"I guess not. Sorry about that."

"No problem at all."

Leno turned towards Slimo.

"Father, I have to tell you something important. It has to do with the current state of this world."

Slimo raised an eyebrow.

"Yes? What about it?"

"Zalo appears to be controlling ninety eight percent of this entire world. The only ground you are all standing on is the mere two percent under my control. We need to attack Zalo immediately."

Zalo choked on air.

"I-Immediately?! But you were just born! We just named you, Leno!"

"I know, father. However, Zalo is growing more powerful by the second. If we don’t kill him in the next three weeks, not even I will be capable of stopping him at my full potential."

Everyone’s heart dropped.

"Did you just say we have three weeks to defeat Zalo?"

"I did. Do you not think it possible?"

"Leno, that simply is not realistic. It took us weeks to simply travel towards this continent. It would be months before we can even reach Zalo! Not to even to mention how we will possibly defeat him."

"I can take everyone back."

"What? How?"

"Watch this."

Leno strolled over to a dragon who bowed its head as Leno approached. With a single touch of his finger, the dragon turned into thousands of tiny shards of light before zipping away in an instant.

"I just sent that dragon over towards the continent. He should be there by now."

"You mean... you can teleport people by turning them into light? How does that work?"

"Perhaps it is because they were a Luminator. I am unsure how it will work in Jacob or Maria’s case since they are marked with that dark symbol."

Slimo rubbed his head.

"This is crazy! I can’t send my one-day old child into a battle!"

Squabee whispered into Sarah’s ear.

"Can he really be called a child? I mean, look at him."

Sarah rubbed her face.

"Squabee... I’m blind?"

"Oh, yah. Sorry. He looks old by the way."

"I think I got that."

"Father, I know what it seems like, but there is simply no other way. We have to act now or we all die."

"I have to be dreaming. Lidia, please knock some sense into our boy!"

Lidia tried speaking but couldn’t find any words.

"I’m sorry, Leno. I just... can’t allow something like that to happen."

"If you truly care about me, truly care about your companions, you would help me fight. I will be leading these dragons towards him myself if no one helps me."

"Leno. You can’t."

"I’m sorry mom. I will admit I am woefully ignorant of how this world works, but my feelings are real and I feel that this is the right choice."

After three minutes of silence, Lidia finally decided to stand up on her shaky legs. She balanced herself on Slimo as she looked into her sons’ eyes.

"What kind of mother would I be to stop you?"

Leno smiled and looked at Slimo.

"Father, please tell me anything you know that may strengthen our group in the next three weeks. I know I said we should be fast, but strengthening ourselves would provide us the best possible advantage."

Slimo had been waiting for this question. He had been thinking this exact scenario over and over in his head for months living inside of this jungle.

"I do. Do you mind if I throw some ideas at you?"

"Why would you want to throw something at me?"

"No, it’s a metaphor. I’m just asking to share some ideas."

"Oh. Then, yes please."

"Zalo’s power is directly tied to his influence, correct?"

"For the most part, yes. But the power he absorbs from that influence stays within himself."

"I see. That means we should try and take out as much land as possible from him before we attack. You said the world was ninety eight percent corruption. That means the ice freak must be corrupted a majority of the time if your numbers are accurate."

"What are you suggesting?"

"We don’t know if your light powers will send Maria and Jacob all the way back to our continent, but could you bring them towards the third one to take care of Zalo’s friend who thrives there?"

Leno blinked slowly as he pondered his father’s suggestion. He looked over at Maria and Jacob, studying them carefully. Suddenly, a wide smile appeared on his face.

"Wow. I must say that no one wasted their time while I was growing inside of mom. Those two will be plenty to handle the deity that resides there."

Jacob wanted to drop to his knees.

"Really?! Us?! We can kill a god?!"

"No Zalo. I can’t tell what it is, but the frost creature residing there seems more like a false god. Perhaps that what he always was in the first place."

Squabee raised her hands.

"What about the rest of us?!"

Slimo continued.

"Everyone else needs to follow Leno somewhere we’ve been before. I think we should recruit some allies before this fight."

Lidia looked at him confused.

"Allies? But... we are all that’s left."

"There’s a small chance we aren’t. Remember that place we got trapped in that Enki had to free us from?"

"The time leviathan...then you want us to recruit the queen and her jester?!"

"I do. That Jester in particular could be just as scary as Zalo with his power. However, there is another place I must journey alone."

"You’re going somewhere yourself?! Where?!"

"There is a powerful man I wish to seek out. If I can’t find him, I will rejoin you all in the time leviathan. If not, I will be coming to the final battle with a very strong ally. He is the immortal man who we met in the forest all the time ago, the Traveler who split the earth so effortlessly. I wish to seek him out now that I am much stronger."

Leno walked over to Maria and Jacob without wasting any time.

"It was nice to meet you both. If you are wondering how you are going to travel back home after, defeat the frost creature and see for yourself. I’m sure you sense it inside yourself already. The change that is occurring."

Hearing those words from Leno strangely made Jacob feel slightly fearful of the coming battle.

"Until the final battle, my friends."

Leno placed his hand on Maria and Jacob’s shoulder.

Both of them blinked away leaving behind nothing but their footprints in the soft earth.