Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1471: Tomb

Khan wasn’t someone ordinary teleports could handle, especially when Liiza was with him. Yet, a short call from his now-unfrozen phone solved the issue, making him appear in a place he had never thought he would see again.

Nobles enjoyed many privileges. The oval room Khan had teleported to would have normally featured scientists and technicians, but only silent stillness expanded in his bright eyes.

Of course, an additional light shone alongside Khan’s. Liiza was with him, holding his hand while carrying Yeza with the other. Their daughter had fallen asleep after the previous bath, and surprisingly, the teleport didn’t awaken her.

Khan lingered in the empty scene for a few seconds before stepping forward, leading Liiza off the oval platform and outside the building. Usually, an escort would have welcomed them, but no one was in sight.

The nostalgia and emotional memories that rushed through Khan’s brain and mental connection filled Liiza with curiosity. She studied every detail of that landscape of metal streets and curated gardens attentively, her senses stretching as far as the most distant buildings.

“This was my first training camp,” Khan revealed. “It’s like the human version of [The Pure Trees].”

Liiza knew what a training camp was. She had visited the human one on Nitis before Khan arrived on the planet, but no retorts escaped her mouth. That wasn’t the time, or mood, for their usual jokes.

Khan suppressed a sigh while his cells came to life, lifting his figure. Liiza promptly followed him, ice crystals forming under her feet to allow her to rise into the sky, too.

The couple restrained their pace but still reached a decent altitude rather quickly. Khan stopped at that point, and Liiza lowered her eyes, which now could encompass the entirety of the training camp.

Liiza’s vision didn’t stop at the training camp. Something bigger and definitely more striking expanded past its edges, making Nitis’ cities pale in comparison. A thick arrangement of massive buildings stretched in the distance, crowded with so many traces of life that Liiza couldn’t even attempt to count them.

“That’s Ylaco,” Khan exclaimed. “Apparently, I visited it, but I don’t remember much about it.”

Liiza had to admit the immense city did put things into perspective. She wasn’t a stranger to technology anymore, but those massive displays of engineering mastery remained incredible. Humankind might be terrible at understanding mana, but it was undoubtedly great in other fields.

Still, Khan didn’t head for the city. Instead, he led Liiza in the very opposite direction, flying over the training camp to arrive at the squalid blocks past it.

The slums displayed the dark side of the Global Army in full sight. The shabby buildings and dusty streets expanding past the training camp showcased the price humankind had paid to achieve greatness.

The quote from Monica’s father couldn’t be more accurate there. Millions had to starve so that a few could reach for the stars, and that stark separation between the city and its slums couldn’t exemplify it better.

Of course, Liiza and Khan weren’t there to ponder the human nature and the moral validity of its approaches.

“This is where I grew up,” Khan revealed. “The streets have changed. They always do. The buildings did, too, but this is the place.”

Needless to say, Liiza’s curiosity intensified. Ylaco’s slums were nothing more than a chaotic arrangement of shabby, brittle, and dirty buildings, but they became the most interesting place in the world nonetheless. After all, that was where her husband had spent his childhood.

The Niqols had a unique way of raising their young, but Liiza immediately understood that was no place for a kid, which was what Khan had been back then. That dirty world was nowhere near appropriate for a childhood, forcing resourcefulness and pragmatism to replace innocence in order to survive.

Obviously, Khan had already shared pieces of his childhood with Liiza, but that shabby landscape completed the picture. To a certain extent, everyone was a product of their environment, and Khan was no exception. Still, Liiza could confirm he was one of the good ones.

The scenery couldn’t stop the couple for long. The two soon proceeded forward, heading for the place where everything had begun.

The only exception to the slums’ chaotic arrangement stood slightly ahead. A vast stretch of the place had crumbled into a small hill of melted metal, terrain, and dust, which soldiers protected all the time through metal fences and direct surveillance.

The habitations around that protected area also looked to be better off. They were still shabby, but were slightly less brittle and dirty, as if their inhabitants had the liberty of taking care of them.

The soldiers standing guard at the fence had been warned about Khan’s arrival, but that was mostly to reassure them about whatever could happen next. They had orders to give the Prince some privacy, so they didn’t move when the two bright-eyed figures descended right inside the protected area.

Khan couldn’t help but ignore his surroundings when his feet landed on the dark-grey mess he had caused what felt like a lifetime ago.

However, words kept escaping Khan’s mouth, both meant for Liiza and himself. “This is where the Second Impact happened, where the Nak’s mana tainted me.”

Liiza retained her meaningful silence, glancing at the blue scar on Khan’s chest while sitting down alongside him. The place was obviously dirty, but neither of them cared about that.

“There used to be mines here,” Khan explained. “I worked here for a while. It was one of the best jobs, and I was small enough to venture into narrower tunnels.”

Khan lowered his free hand, scratching that dark-grey surface. The place had achieved a decent structural integrity after crumbling, but Khan could dig through it with his bare hands. Except, he didn’t.

“This is where I found my mana core,” Khan revealed. “The same mana core inside my neck. I had my father implant it right after a valiant battle against a Tainted rat.”

Khan scoffed, unable to refrain from wearing a sad smile. Liiza leaned on him to make him feel her presence, but he reached for Yeza instead, carefully placing her above his crossed legs, as if wanting to show her to someone.

“You hopeless drunkard,” Khan called someone who couldn’t hear him. “This is Yeza, your granddaughter. Luckily, she doesn’t resemble you at all.”