Tribal Sign-In: Immortal At The Start-Chapter 259: "You Didn’t Have To Say It."

"Giants?" Rion mumbled, and Dora injected, "Is she talking about the ones you had told me about?"

Hearing her question, everyone furrowed their brows and looked at Rion with a puzzled expression.

"My mother told me about them," he deflected the question before it could cause more than reversible damage.

A look of understanding appeared on Yuura and Zaelyane’s faces, but the royal daughter still stared at him in confusion.

Sensing her distress, Zaelyane explained, "He is the son of Leonara’s former princess."

A surprised expression appeared on the royal daughter’s face, and she mumbled, "Is that true...?"

Rion nodded as he finally allowed Dora to set foot on the ground.

Although out of his embrace, she still stood beside him, hugging his arm with a tired expression on her ghostly pale face.

"That’s interesting," the royal daughter whispered under her breath.

However, Rion still heard her.

His brows knit together, and he asked, "What is?"

She turned towards the heavenly tree as she answered with a faint smile tugging at her lips, "Around a thousand years ago, the first king, father of Leonara, had met the giants and earned a prophecy from them. This prophecy was the core of Leonara’s determination, but it has yet to be fulfilled."

Upon listening to her, Rion’s lips parted by themselves.

"The dark star that split the polar shall unseal the old doors lying beneath the sun’s path."

"That’s the one ..." The royal daughter stated without looking back, and Rion decided to throw her off her feet.

The corners of his lips lifted into a smile, and he declared, "I have obtained the dark star. I just need to find the old doors."

"Haha!" She held her abdomen as she burst into laughter.

’Laugh all you want, once you find out that it’s the truth... you’ll lose your mind.’

Rion stared at her with an amused expression, and Yuura whispered in his ear, "What’s the dark star, my liege?"

He smiled. "It’s the flame that had transformed a normal forest into the purple fog forest."

Yuura’s jaw fell so low that it could touch the ground, his gaze shifted to the royal daughter, and he whispered, "Stupid elf..."

The royal daughter finally stopped laughing and said while looking at him with a deeply amused expression, "Sorry for that, but you just said the funniest thing I’ve ever heard."

"What do you mean?" Rion probed deeper.

"According to the royal daughters of the past, that prophecy was a lie so you can’t obtain the dark star," she explained.

’A lie...?’ He frowned, his eyes shifted towards Zaelyane, and she shrugged in response.

"But I literally have it with me," Rion announced with furrowed brows.

The royal daughter shot him a humorless expression and said flatly, "There’s no need to continue this any further—"

Before she could finish, Rion stepped forward and removed the aura revolving around the center of his heart.

The left half of his body turned purple, veins bulged all across his figure, and demonic energy spilled out of his pores.

The royal daughter’s eyes widened comically, her expression slowly changed between shock, disbelief, and finally acceptance before she swallowed hard.

"H-How do you have it?"

He grinned. "I snatched it from its previous owner."

The royal daughter stared at him as if she were staring at a monster and muttered, "We will talk of this later."

Her gaze shifted towards Dora, and she asked while offering her hand to her, "Tell me, girl."

She pointed at the heavenly tree.

"Do you wish to stay with him as he treads the danger to find your cure, or do you want to sleep in the embrace of the Mother until he returns?"

Dora’s grip around his arm tightened, and she looked at Rion with a troubled expression.

Rion smiled, moved the strands of hair falling on her face to the back, and mumbled, "It’s your choice, Dora."

Dora nodded.

She looked at the heavenly tree and said, "Because of me... everything required more time and preparation than it should have..."

Rion didn’t say anything, he just listened with a smile... even if it was forced.

She gazed into Rion’s eyes. "I know you don’t see me as baggage. I know you are fine with me following you... I am not. My whole life, I’ve tried my best to one day be of use to you, but the way I am right now, I am just a weight that is forcing you down..."

"That’s not t—"

She placed a finger on his lips and mumbled, "I know, Rio. I know."

Tears gleamed at the edge of her eyes as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.

Rion did the same and remarked inwardly, ’You didn’t have to say it... You didn’t.’

After about two minutes, they loosened the hug, and Dora mumbled with a smile, "I’ll wait for you."

"I will come back as fast as I can," Rion responded, magma of determination flooding his eyes.

Her smile widened, she closed her eyes, and her lips met his.

He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss.

The royal daughter watched them with a smile, though a blush had snuck up on her face.

A few minutes, later they broke the kiss, Dora took a few quick breaths, and said, "Huff... Next time huff... I won’t lose."

"Yes, you would," he responded with a cheeky grin.

She chuckled and offered her hand to the royal daughter.

The royal daughter took her hand, helped her walk near the heavenly tree, and muttered after placing her palm on the trunk,

"hO, rehtoM! enihT rethguad seirc rof enihT htmraw, enihT nerdlihc ksa rof eht deef. sihT efil sdeelb fo worros, sihT dlihc sehsiw ot eviler."

(Oh, Mother! Thine daughter cries for thine warmth, thine children ask for the feed. This life bleeds of sorrow, this child wishes to relive.)

Wooden creaks resounded throughout the area as the heavenly tree’s trunk opened like a moon, and bright green light poured out of it.

Flowers and saplings grew on the ground which was blessed by the light, and Dora’s body began to regain its color.

"Step in," the royal daughter whispered.

Dora nodded as she took a final glance at Rion with a smile and stepped inside the heavenly tree.

The heavenly tree then closed itself, but for some reason, Rion’s Zone was now able to check its insides.