Alex woke up slowly, just enough that he could pretend that he was still asleep, there wasn"t a need for that though, but he was scared. The idea of waking up to a world of bad news did not sit well with him. He knew Yun Fao would be fine, but Louis was in even worse situations amongst the three of them. At this point he could also agree that he wasn"t dead in anyway and that he wasn"t hallucinating his mother with white hair in that h.e.l.l Arena, after she was right besides him, and his head was much more cleared now than before when he was suffering from a sever depletion of energy and his injuries.His mother slept besides his bed side, her now long white hair splayed allover the pillow she was sharing with him. This was also part of the reason why he pretended he was still asleep, he was grasped tightly in her arms, it was weird feeling, and his mother smelled good...…Alex didn"t know how to place it, but all he could say was that she smelled like a mom; a.s.suming there was such a scent in existence. He was torn about whether to pull back, or just remain there for fear of waking her up, there were probably a hundred things he didn"t understand about this woman that"s his mother, so he wasn"t exactly sure how to feel or treat her, that it"s were very complicated between the both of them.
"You"re awake…" it was more of an observation than a question, and all Alex could do was nod his head in agreement.
"Your friends are fine, Louis was it? That kid is in a medical induced coma, the toxins in his body should be completely Neutralized in another three or four days, he"s receiving the best care the Wudang sect has to provide, so he"ll be fine, he"s built of sterner stuff as opposed to most people. The toxin in his body should have killed him in five minutes after Injection, but his body was surprisingly tough, and his light element Mana affinity helped him survive until he could get proper help.
As for Yun Fao, he"s already up and moving about, the injuries to his hands had healed, he needs lot"s of bed rest, but he"s been getting enough of that for the last two days. Broken bones have been fixed and internal injuries taken care of before they could escalate to something else. You on the hand were like a desert, there was not a single drop of Qi left in your body, and since your body is attuned to is usage and absorption, it"s what fuels and powers your organs.
A minute after we save you all of your systems shut down, it took a lot resuscitate you and make sure you"re stable enough to move. But you"re fine, your energy levels are back to normal, but you"ll be staying away from any sort of physical exercise for the next two to three weeks, rest and enjoy the wonders of your peak. I hear you"ve only been in and out of the house and to the red chrysanthemum tree at the edge of the mountain, and this is a literal mountain, there"s much to be seen, like the garden and hot springs behind it.
Take a vacation, rest up a bit and heal, you would need it. I"ve sent for your sister and your friend, they should be back in a month. Everyone else apart from the disciples who are already dead have been safely returned back to the sect, some bodies could not be recovered, but there was less casualties than was expected for throwing a bunch of kids into a Dimension that would kill even me and give your grandfather a little bit of a challenge. But it"s okay, your safe now, trust me...."
Alex just let her keep talking, he got the feeling that she needed the rea.s.surance more than he did. Alex couldn"t imagine any sort of grief apart from the fear of loosing her son; that would cause his mother"s hair to turn white overnight, sure she looked really beautiful and bada.s.s with it, but he knew it must have taken a toll on her, it made him wonder where his father was at the moment, he knew the old man would have wanted to be here, but then again things weren"t as simple.
Alex laid there and let her go on and on about a whole host of different and mundane things, they spent two whole hours lying on that bed, and in that time she taught some of the fundamentals of cultivation, told him stories, spoke of her experiences, of her childhood and then of his sister. She told him about how she grew up, the troubles the mischievous girl got into, and the equally ingenious ways she used in getting out of it, Alex did not even realize the pa.s.sage of time of his discomfort, he was just happy remaining right where he was, safely with arms that would do anything to shield him from the world.
"There"s one last thing you need to know, in order to save you we had to make an agreement with the Emperor, you remember the man in the gold suit right? Well he was the only one with a planetarium that had coordinates to the Dimension you guys were stuck in, he asked for something that we couldn"t give him, only you could."
Alex had a bad feeling about this, he wasn"t exactly sure what was required of him, but the emperor didn"t have the best reputation amongst a whole lot of people, and that was mainly due to the fact that he and his royal family we"re seen as Invaders, he was not a native of earth and has tried with all of his power to suppress the growth of any earth born cultivator that could challenge him and his rule, chief amongst them being Alex"s grandfather.
"What did he want from me?" it was then Alex understood why his mom who hardly spoke, had spent the two hours talking about random things, she just had no idea how to tell Alex what the emperor asked for, which meant it was going to be pretty big.
"He wanted to betrothed you to his daughter, the youngest princess." Alex blinked his eyes and then moved his head back, raising and eyebrow as he looked at his mother.
"That"s it? Seriously? I though he was going to ask for my liver or something, isn"t it just to get married? Why did you make it seem so desperate?" Safe to say Zhang Suiyan was completely caught off guard, of the hundred and one reactions she expected her son to give her once she told about the betrothal, she didn"t even consider that he would somehow be.....chill about the whole thing.
"But wait! What about Anya?" Alex asked, with the last traces of Innocence in him that had survived the travails of the cultivation world.
"You can Marry Anya too if you want, or rather it she agrees to be a second wife, Alex matters of the heart are extremely complicated, and Anya might not necessarily want to be a second wife or even want to share you with anyone else. This news might change the way you guys see each other or feel about each other, a woman"s heart is a fickle thing, it"s easily broken." Again Alex raised and eyebrow and couldn"t help but chuckle and shake his head.
"You"ve not known Anya for long, I mean how would you, you guys sent her away the moment she got here. I"m sure she"ll be angry, but Anya is simple, that"s what I like about her the most. As long as this princess doesn"t hurt me or get in Anya"s way, she"s fine with anything, besides I"m only fourteen, why do I have to worry about all this love stuff, it"s too complicated and it causes more problems than it"s worth. This is a simple matter Mom, the emperor wants to keep an eye on us, but did you consider the sheer fact that a marriage to the royal family also gives us a way into their own camp, we could see their own games face to face and deal with it. The emperor is our enemy isn"t he?" Alex asked his mother as got up from her embrace sitting up to look at her.
"He is, but he"s not just our enemy Xiao Feng, he"s the enemy of freedom. Not much is said, but our Zhang family used to be protectors of the first Emperor, rulers born of this world before the Lu family came from a higher plane to conquer us. They revolutionized cultivation, made us stronger, more powerful, but they"ve been on top ever since, and they"re tyrants, vicious ruthless and the prosperity of the Heaven Empire is only a front, we"re in chains." Alex c.o.c.ked his head to the side, before answering.
"I don"t really care about all these things, all I know is that he"s after grandfather and he"s suppressed the Zhang family for decades. And quite honestly it has nothing to do with me, by I"m a part of this family now, and that makes me a target too. So I rather be in control of my own destiny, but you"re all too far away from the emperor to deal any real damage, you need to be closer to him. I was told that this life is a game of power after all, and power goes beyond how hard you can hit or how fast you can hit a person, no one is that overpowered. You need real power, and this is a way to get it, to protect myself and my family. The only thing I"m really terrified of...... is Anya."