I felt it the moment we crossed over to the other side of the portal. Earth felt different, devoid of the mana I was used to that permeated the air on Nagalise. Cici stumbled as she came through, but I was there, holding her to my side.
"You okay?" I asked, and she smiled as she patted my arm.
"Yes darling. Just jolted me is all." She said, her posture already straightening out, yet she still wrapped her arms around mine tightly. No complaints from me.
Suddenly, a box appeared in my field of vision.
[Framework Access is limited a range of 30 meters around any portal.]
Note: You will still have full access to your Class, Stats, Skills, and other benefits and powers that have been granted to you, but Framework assistance will cease until you are within range of a portal once again.
Portals Discovered: 1
Portals Undiscovered: Unknown
"Huh... that's interesting. Cici, do you see this?" I asked her, and she nodded.
"Yes. I see it. Hmm, I don't think I saw this the first time I came through here. Although, I wasn't really in the best state of mind back then." She said, and I pulled her into my side sympathetically.
"Come on, lets get out of here." I said, and we began walking towards the stairs.
"Ugh... damn stairs." Cici groaned, but then she squeaked the cutest damn sound as I lifted her in my arms princess style.
I didn't even say anything as I began walking up the stairs with her in my arms, and after the shock of being lifted so suddenly wore off, she buried her face into my chest.
"Mmm... such a sweetheart." She cooed at me, making me smirk.
"I figured you might still be sore after this morning." I joked, making her flush, and then giggle.
"You're so bad." She said, lightly thumping my chest.
"You say that, but how many times did you ask me to not stop?" I countered, making her flush again.
"That's... fair. It felt so good." She breathed out the last words, her body shivering slightly at the thought.
Before we knew it, we arrived at the top, and she once again used her magic to open the entrance, allowing us to step outside into the warm breeze. I looked up at the bright sky, trying to decipher what time it was just by the height and brightness of the sun. It looked to be around noon, but without a watch or a phone, I couldn't be sure. First thing's first, I needed to go home and grab some things.
"Cici, we need to go to my apartment. I need to get a phone, and some money. And then we are gonna go and see my mom. If it's early enough, I can go and catch up with her while my dad isn't even home. Provided it's a week day." I began muttering at the end, as I truly had no damn idea what day it was, what time it was, or even how long I was truly gone.
The whole weird time thing wasn't helping either. Each hour on Nagalise was a day here, which made no sense, but then again, becoming the Abyssal Flame Patriarch didn't make sense, and yet here I was. I put Cici down, and grabbed her hand.
"My place is wherever you are, Eli. I'm actually excited to meet you mother... but not as excited to meet your father." She said, making me laugh bitterly.
"Yeah... I'm not too excited to see him again either, but it won't be for too long, hopefully. He will pay for laying his hands on my mom." I growled the last part, and Cici squeezed my hand a little tighter.
"He will. And then we'll bring your mom back with us and show her what a family should be like." Cici said, and hearing that calmed my racing thoughts of bashing my dad's head into the coffee table.
"You're right. Come on, lets get going." I said, leading her back the way we had previously come.
We walked through the woods, the growth of the trees and the plant life around seemingly more than when we came through here beforehand. We walked in companionable silence until I saw my hometown in the distance. I really was back here, huh? I didn't even feel like I was home, nor did I feel any nostalgia from seeing it again. It just felt empty to me, and I honestly was already ready to go back to the place where I truly belonged.
I looked down at Cici, and my heart fluttered in my chest. She was just so gorgeous that it barely seemed real. Her white hair shone in the bright sunlight. It wasn't a natural hair color here on Earth, but people have been dyeing their hair weird ass colors for a good while now, so I didn't think it would draw too much attention.
"It seems different this time. Like I can actually properly appreciate it." Cici said, her arm wrapping around mine.
"Yeah... home sweet home." I muttered.
Cici leaned into me as we made it to the street, and we wasted no time as we made our way towards where I used to live. My apartment still should be there, as the government gave me that place due to my illness, and they actually would pay for the whole year before I had to go and apply for the assistance again. I had a secret stash of money in my room, as well as various other things. Hopefully the phone I stashed in there still worked. If not, I'd have to go and buy a burner or something.
We got a decent amount of stares, but we paid them no mind. A few of the men we passed gave Cici some lewd looks, but my murderous glare at them caused them to turn away quickly. On the flip side, I got some interesting and sultry looks from a lot of women as we walked, but none of them held a candle to my woman. That and Cici's glare that actually spilled a bit of her aura out of her actually made their faces pale before they ran off. I chuckled.
"Easy love. They're just regular people." I said, and Cici huffed.
"They shouldn't be looking at you like that." She pouted, and I was going to retort, but given how I felt when men stared at her, I just said nothing, and rubbed her palm with my thumb.
"We're almost there." I said, turning on to my old street.
A few more steps, and I was staring back up at my old apartment complex. I felt many feelings, but the main one was that this was where my bond with Cici began, and now we were back again. The rest of them didn't matter, as my memories of this world that were actually good were so far away at this point that I cared little about them. The only thing I cared about was my mom.
"Come on." I said, pulling Cici forward, and entering my old apartment complex.
As we climbed the stairs, I realized that I didn't have a key to get inside, that being lost along with original outfit. Not that it mattered. I could easily destroy the lock, grab the shit I needed, and then leave. I would probably never be coming back here after this. Once I reached my old room, and I stared and blinked rapidly, as I heard voices coming from inside. Cici heard them as well, and we both got a bit closer, and put our ears to the door, hearing people on the other side mid-conversation.
"Few months until we have to leave!" A woman yelled, stress evident in her tone.
"What do you want me to do???" A man yelled, and I couldn't help but notice how familiar these voices sounded.
"No fucking way..." I muttered, and Cici just gave a confused look, "It's Keith, and Rachel."
That caused Cici's face to scrunch up, before anger clouded her eyes. She knew just how much these two had hurt me. The look in her eyes honestly made me love her even more.
"I don't know, maybe keep a damn job! You lost your goddamn apartment. We got lucky that Eli's apartment was still paid for, and that you had a key! And those people you've been hanging around?? You're gonna get yourself killed for nothing! You don't even make that much money from them!" The voice that I realized belonged to Rachel screamed.
"And we still have a few more months to figure it out! So stop bitching at me! Once I'm fully in with them, you'll see. We'll have more money than we know what to do with!" The voice belonging to Keith said, "I feel like you cared more about when Eli just vanished than you do about me!"
"He was our friend, Keith! And what we did to him was wrong! I will admit that I hadn't loved him like that in a long time, but the way we went about it was wrong!" Rachel said, those words solidifying in my heart.
I had known for a long time, I had just refused to see it. Refused to believe it. It was ultimately for the best, as I now knew who had my back, and who didn't.
"But you just didn't care! You said he was dying soon anyways, so it didn't matter! What kind of shitty friend are you?? And now I'm stuck with you??" Rachel yelled, and that was followed by a loud smack, and a painful sob from Rachel.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Keith yelled, but all I heard were Rachel's sobs.
I didn't love her anymore, and I would never take her back. That being said, I still cared enough to not want her to get hurt, because at least she could see the error in what she did, and how it effected me. I broke the door handle, and stomped inside. The two paused their bickering, and what I saw pissed me the fuck off.
Keith stood stunned as he stared at me, trying to figure out who the big scary asshole was that just broke into the apartment. My goddamn apartment, mind you. And then there was Rachel, tears streaming down her face, a giant red hand print on her face, as she stared at me in confusion, before she studied my face, causing her eyes to widen, and her tears to stop as recognition hit her.
"E....Eli?" She whispered, her words causing Keith's eyes to widen.
"Yeah." I growled, my footsteps shaking the floorboards as I walked towards Keith, anger burning in my eyes.