Chapter 215: Separation II
Mai tried to remain calm, but it was hard to. She looked at him with worry etched on her face.
"Mai, send me back." Aramith looked in the distance, but he wasn’t seeing anything in the realm. IN his mind, he could see a worried Mozrael, one he’d seen many times when they were younger.
Mai could already tell what he was thinking about and shook her head.
"I tried earlier, but...it didn’t work."
"I wasn’t awake then, right?" Aramith asked calmly.
"Yes..."
"Try again now. I need to leave." He clenched his fists, looking resolute.
Mai floated to his side, hesitating before raising her hand.
For a while, nothing happened. She was trying to find a pathway for him to exit.
It was difficult and seemingly impossible because anytime he entered the realm, he was just separating his soul from his body and shifting it into his cultivation realm, which existed within his body.
But now...both parts were inside his realm, and she wasn’t sure how to get his body out of his body.
After trying for a long while, Aramith told Mai to stop.
He sat down dejectedly, his mind running fast, searching for solutions to his predicament.
The only thing that helped was the flow of time within the realm.
"I should have enough time to figure this out."
Aramith’s sense of urgency was still there, but now he was calmer, and his calm spread to Mai as well, letting her relax.
A certain culprit, noticing its captor was relaxed, struggled quickly and got out of her grasp.
"No stop!"
But Mai was too slow.
The puppy jumped into Aramith’s arms, assaulting him with its tongue.
Aramith struggled a little before separating it from his body, holding it a few inches from his face.
It barked twice, wagging its tail so aggressively it might have broken off.
Mai stopped her attempt to retrieve it, but couldn’t remain calm.
She knew the whole cause of it all was this puppy, but as to how it manipulated space to cause this to happen, she couldn’t figure it out.
The stupid animal could only bark and play around. How was she going to ask it for answers?
Apart from that, she felt something might go wrong again if it gets too agitated again, but she didn’t say.
"Mai," Aramith called, observing the puppy.
"Yes?"
"This thing is connected to what happened, how?"
Mai shook her head. "I don’t know how, it’s odd."
A thought crossed his mind, and he turned to her. "Before I entered here, I felt...different." HE remembered the excitement he felt earlier, but he didn’t pay attention to it. Now, looking at Mai...
"You felt different? How?" Mai asked.
"Excitement," Aramith narrowed his eyes slightly.
Mai remained silent, but felt uncomfortable from Aramith’s gaze.
"Are...you okay?" She asked.
"I don’t feel wrong or unwell, but are you okay?"
"Am I okay...?" She didn’t understand the question.
"Mai." Aramith stood up.
She moved back a little, feeling discomfort.
"You’re different from when I first met you. It’s not much, but your emotions are not as stable as when we first met."
"Wha...?" She felt an ominous feeling, but didn’t fully understand him.
Aramith looked at the excited puppy in his arms.
"You started to change when it appeared. We’ve ignored it too much."
Mai’s mood plummeted.
"Mai, you would have been able to notice any changes within my realm, but this one went unnoticed, even though it had an effect."
Mai’s form dimmed slightly, and her expression looked so sad that she was about to cry.
"I failed you, master," she fell, saddened by this discovery.
If only she’d been more attentive. If only she’d done what she was supposed to do more efficiently, nothing would have gone wrong.
She’d been in the realm for so many years, but when something affected it, she didn’t notice.
She didn’t even search the origin when the puppy appeared, and she didn’t try harder to find out why all the wolves in the realms submitted to it as well, as if it had the same position as Aramith.
She allowed this to happen, and now Aramith was stuck.
Even now, she knew the puppy was the culprit, yet she didn’t focus on it. How did she fail so miserably?
Aramith went to her side and held her hand gently.
"I’m not blaming you, Mai. Even I didn’t notice."
Mai shook her head. "You’re outside, I’m inside. I should have noticed first."
Aramith frowned, then glanced at the seemingly harmless puppy. Mai was emotionally unstable again. She should have been a lot more stable and clearheaded.
"I believe it’s responsible for clouding our minds, which is why you didn’t notice anything until now. It’s not your fault."
Mai shook her head, and two crystal tears streamed down her face.
When they hit the ground, the whole realm shook violently for a second.
Aramith frowned, and he was now unsure as he thought of these two beings who had a greater effect on his realm than he did.
"What are you?" Aramith looked at the puppy.
It tilted its head and barked, gently this time, and Aramith felt like he was looking into the eyes of a person, and not just an ignorant puppy. The sensation disappeared almost immediately.
He sat next to Mai, waiting for her to calm down.
With a wave, he summoned all the wolves within the realm.
THey all appeared before him in rows, about five hundred in total, bowing before him neatly. They all had their eyes closed in submission to their two masters.
"Go and find any strange passage," he commanded them.
They all stood up like an army and split into four, then exploded into wisps of darkness as they scattered to accomplish the task given to them.
Each group took a cardinal point, making sure to roam the whole place.
Even though they lived in the realm, they wouldn’t know everything that happened, so there was no way they’d know of such changes if they didn’t search.
He put the puppy beside him, and it leaned closer, resting its head against his leg.
