Chapter 265: Funeral (1)
"Yes of course,"
With a serious face and a deep breath, Moby followed the butler through the long, wide, expansive, almost maze-like hallways of the Griffith family household, seeing the faces of a few maids and servants that did not look all too optimistic, unlike all the other times.
"We are finally here, lord Griffith, miss Griffith along with the young mistress are waiting for you on the other side,"
Albert spoke, opening up the large, rather familiar doors of the dining room, showing him an all too familiar scene once they opened, only this time, the room was nowhere near as cramped or crowded as when they were at the party which now fully displayed the room's grandeur.
There, on a big table in the middle of the room, he saw 3 figures quietly eating their meals, their silent gaze directed straight at him as soon as he entered the room.
His back straight, full of confidence, Moby elegantly strode towards the table ahead with the butler still to his side, an odd feeling in his heart seeing Jayden's face once more that he shook away immediately and disregarded like it was nothing as he took a blue seat out from the table and sat down where there was food already prepared for him, Jayden sat directly to his right.
"So… How was it? Did you find any success?" Mason casually broke the ice of the sombre atmosphere as he cut a steak on his plate.
"To be honest, it didn't work out as well as I expected. The pain she is feeling inside is almost drowning, I'm surprised she's even got a will to live and had not just killed herself by now… BUT! I think I made a little bit of progress, I managed to touch her and even play a game with her. I'm sure with a little more time, I'll be able to get her back!"
Moby's resolve was clear to everyone on the table, Jayden looking at him with a tender smile.
Although Moby was still putting on an act as to not completely disappoint and let Jayden down, he was technically not lying, and he still planned to see her again no matter how many times it took until he brought her back to her senses.
"I'm happy to hear that! When my daughter and I tried to do the same it didn't work out too well… Even when we tried to surprise her, make her laugh, or catch her off guard, it simply didn't work. I'm so glad to hear you had better success than us! Right now, she's not mentally stable enough to go outside let alone go to school. But, please, after today don't hesitate to come here if you ever want to visit her again, our doors are always open to you,"
"I will gladly take you up on that offer," Moby nodded back.
"So, anyways, has the military figured out why those shalkers attacked us?" Moby asked, taking a bite of his pasta as he was trying to see if the military knew the shalkers' true intentions or if they were fed some other story.
"Currently, no one is sure… That captured shalker leader Joseph and I barely managed to subdue isn't willing to speak a word, or even type anything. It's really odd. Right now all we have are speculations but we believe they're fairly accurate. According to the shalkers, those were simply a small rebel army and were not under their command. We're not sure if they're telling the truth but it's all we got to go by. So, we assume those shalkers wanted revenge on me and Joseph for killing one of their high leaders during the war, so they tried to kidnap or kill our children, which they managed to half succeed…"
Mason instinctively looked warmly at his own daughter, feeling deep gratitude that she was still alive, Moby slightly shuddering once more hearing about Alex's death.
"Yeah…" Moby responded mellowly.
'Avilia, I assume it's your mute spell that's doing this, can you explain it and its limitations to me later on?'
He asked, leading to Avilia inwardly nodding in his head.
"Don't worry, we all know it wasn't your fault. Your friend was taken hostage and they even threatened to bomb the entire school if you didn't comply with their demands which included telling nobody. To be honest, I would have done the same if I were you too. If anything, your seen more like a hero. If you don't mind me asking, how in the world did you manage to hold off that shalker for so long? Even if it was toying with you, that's still really impressive,"
'Hmmm? Bomb the school? You must have changed the story a bit to justify some of my actions since we can't really reveal the secret of a demonic, all-powerful contract paper… Smart!'
'Of course! You can always count on me!' Jayden smiled back at him, her mood slightly elevated as she gave him a mental thumbs up.
Moby nodded in approval of Jayden's actions before he looked up and answered Mason's question.
"It was simply my spirit mode, I had never used it from before but after Alex died, the spirit really resonated with me and it allowed me to do what I did. I can't do the same thing now… Maybe that was only a once in a lifetime thing, who knows,"
"I see, I understand,"
Mason took another bite of his food before looking at the time on his watch.
"Hey, I know that you and my daughter have been hitting it off pretty well. I'm so happy for you two. She's told us how much you saved her so many times and how much of a good person you are and we couldn't be happier! Thank you so much for putting up with her! I know that she can be a handful sometimes,"
"Mom!" Jayden spoke, trying to contain her expression as she continued eating.
"Ow sweetie! It's so refreshing to see you act like this! So, anyways, we've been thinking… Our sweet little Jayden had recently asked us to give her private lessons. It will all be very basic training at the start since she had not even got past that part and I think you would also be able to benefit since your ability is so young. We might not be able to share with you all of our secrets and such, the secrets could wait until you two get married."
"Mommm!"
She covered her face slightly, her mother chuckling at her antics before continuing.
"But, I'm sure we can provide better training than what you receive at your school. So? What do you think?"
Moby thought about her offer slightly, before he heard Avilia's words in his head that she still has many things to teach him about like some of the stuff she managed to do in the fight when she took over his body. And, if he had to choose between an all-mighty demon lord or a strong human as a teacher he would of course choose the obvious answer, even if one of them included quality time with his girlfriend. What had happened to him the other day opened his eyes and made him realize how much more important power was, especially now that he knew that he was being hunted by all-powerful aliens from all around the universe...
"I accept your offer. But, I might not be able to show up every time since I have some personal training I have to do,"
She nodded back at his words.
"Very well. That won't be a problem,"
She smiled, both she and Jayden not seeming disappointed at all as Jayden tightly gripped his hands as they were eating, the memory of Avilia's earlier words popping up in his mind before he shook them away to the back of his head.
*BEEEEEEEP*
Suddenly, a sound came from Mason's direction, before he pressed a button on his watch to stop it.
"It's time… It's time for the funeral… Do you want to go to the Hart family mansion with us?"
Mason stood up, his plate empty as he wiped his hands clean with a cloth.
"Yes... of course!"
Moby felt odd pain and comfort hearing those words as the memories rushed back into his head, glad that he woke up in time to attend the funeral, Jayden's hands holding his own once again becoming tighter.
"Good, let's go then… Albert! Clean the table and meet us in the car to drive us to the Hart estate!"
*****************************
It was only a 30-minute drive from the Griffiths to the Hart mansion, which seemed comparable in size to each other, the Hart mansion seeming slightly smaller.
The parking lot around the house was crowded with cars as far as the eye could see, people wearing all black with sad expressions on their faces walking up the long purple steps to the open mansion doors.
Not too long after, Moby along with the entire Griffith family followed suit, instantly being recognized by the servants acknowledging their presence with a nod as they were personally escorted to the outer garden of the mansion, an area far towards the back with various graves lined up, the names engraved on them all ending with the last name "Hart".
The area was fairly minimalistic, with an air of sadness and death filling the garden of various standing people wearing black gathered around a dug-up grave and an empty casket, a purple bearded middle-aged man and his wife standing at centre stage with a stern, cold face like he was ready to give a speech, Moby and the Griffiths going to some sort of VIP area, Joseph giving them a look of acknowledgement before starting his speech.
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