The Ancient Genes

"Ah! Lilly!" Levi immediately hugged Lilly in tears after seeing her. The poor little girl had been away from her mother for so long.

"Do I know you sister?" Lilly asked in confusion while blinking her innocent looking eyes.

Obviously, Lilly didn't know Levi but she did do know about the little girl. After all, she had been there by Lithiya's side all along.

"She is Big Sis Levi," Sera took the responsibility to introduce her and Lilly kindly bowed to her before greeting just like she had been taught by Lithiya.

After that, they entered the bamboo hut and Lilly's eyes immediately shined and she shouted in joy, "Mommy!!" before running towards her while crying.

"Mommy! Why aren't you saying anything?!!" She asked while shaking her but there was no response from Lithiya and this only made her cry even louder.

Max sighed when he saw her hugging Lithiya's arm and crying while she laid there without any movements. He then walked towards her and went on his knees before hugging the little girl, "Mom is asleep now Lilly. But she will wake up soon. I promise. Until then, we will occasionally come here to meet her, okay?"

"Will she waked up, if I be a good girl?" Lilly asked while looking at Max with those eyes full of tears.

"Of course! Didn't we get to meet her because you were a good girl all this time? I am sure she will waked up soon as well." Max said with a smile as he wiped her face.

"Umn.." Lilly nodded with her lips trembling as she tired to pull her tears back in.

Andriel and Levi smiled looking at the love between the pair of siblings.

"Me too!" Sera shouted and hugged Max from side.

Max smiled at her before pulling her in as well when Andriel came dragging Levi alone to get their share of warmth as well.

…

The next day arrived and Max packed his stuff and left after bidding his farewell and headed towards the Express station with Janet.

Yup, she was going as well.

It seemed that Elly had already asked Janet to come along and they had planned to leave after the competitions in Orca were over. But her Grandfather had suddenly asked her to leave tomorrow with Max. So, she had to change the plans and Janet had no problem with it as well. So, it wasn't two of them anymore but three of them.

When the two arrived there, he saw that it was a bit crowded than usual. It was most likely due to the competition which had increased the number of people around.

"Where is she?" Janet looked around while Max called Elly and confirmed her location before meeting up with her.

"You two are late." Elly said looking at Max.

"What do you mean late? Its still 20 minutes early." Max replied while pointing at the time on his phone.

"Lets go and search for our seats!" Janet said with a smile and took the lead while Max and Elly followed behind.

Max could sense that there were four strong presence around. Two of them had been following them from Edwinson House and were there to guard Janet while the other two were there most probably for Elly.

"Are you hurt?" Elly suddenly asked looking at Max. She had seen it in the news this morning that Doctors had advised Max to withdraw from the competition. Apparently Max had no such plans but the Competition authorities decided it on behalf of him not wanting to put his health at risk

"Nah..that's just a lie," Max shook his head before replying, "They just don't want me anymore."

"Did something happened with Lisa? She had been acting weirdly at times. I saw her grinning for no reason a few times during broadcast." Elly asked looking at Max.

"Yeah, I saw a few memes going around the net on her yesterday. I bet she isn't going to like that." Max said as he shook his head.

"I know but will you answer my question first instead of changing the topic so skillfully." Elly stared at Max.

Her instincts were terrifying and she had caught Max in an instant. He actually didn't think this was the right place to bring it up.

"Well, I hope this has nothing to do with that mark on your neck." Elly further added.

Max froze.

He immediately took his phone out and used the screen to see his own reflection on it. And soon it became clear to him.

'Andriel!!!' He screamed inwardly.

It was definitely her job.

No wonder Elly came down so aggressively on him. It wasn't just instinct but proof as well and that too right in front of her eyes.

'Sigh!'

Anyway, Max didn't have any plans to hide anything.

"Well, if its her, I can't say anything I guess. But that was definitely unlikely her. Just what kind of situation did you guys got into for things to escalate?"

"Don't make assumptions and even if you do, just don't accept it like that. Are you crazy?" Max really didn't know how these two girl's brain worked. Andriel was an alien so it was acceptable to some extent. "Anyway, lets reach Trinity first, we will talk about it then."

It wasn't the right place to discuss these matters after all.

…

The three entered their cabin when Max finally realized something. The seats were paired up. So, someone had to seat alone.

It turned out to be Janet.

After all, Elly's grandfather must have made sure to get her the seat beside Max.

But there was a problem her with Janet. She had a scary looking guy right beside to her on the adjacent seat.

Looking at Janet's face which was screaming 'I don't want to seat with him' and feeling Elly's sharp piercing gaze from the side, Max had to gave up his seat to her. It wasn't a big deal, the sit was just in front and the two were right behind him. He just needed to turn around once to see them.

….

The three took seats and waited for the departure.

After 20 minutes the thing took off and within half a day, they were out of the Capital City, Orca.

The journey was a peaceful one and Max with his blindfold still on acted asleep for the next two days spending his time trying to gain control of his new powers in the spirit world while occasionally having a chat with the two and going around to have meals in the cafeteria compartment.

"It seems you have gained quite a lot of fan," Elly said as people kept recognizing him.

Max really didn't know what to say as it seemed that he indeed had gained a few new fans.

"Where are we currently?" Janet suddenly asked looking at Max.

"Ishtar.." Max replied.

They still had a half the way to go.

As the group returned to their seats from the cafeteria, Max saw that the scary looking guy had left and a beautiful girl looking a bit older than him with blue hairs had taken his place.

"Is it your seat?" She asked with a smile finally taking notice of Max.

"Yes," Max nodded.

"Can I have it, please? I like being near the window pane.." She requested him and Max couldn't refuse her at all as it seemed very childish to him. Not to mention, she looked a bit familiar for some reason.

"Yeah, I don't mind." Max nodded and took the seat beside. He was going to jump straight into the spirit world anyway but the two people behind didn't seem to be happy with Max's behavior and were staring at him.

He just ignored their gazes and was about to go into the spirit world when the girl beside asked, "Are you Max from Arcane Academy?"

"Yes," Max replied with a forceful smile. It seemed he wasn't going to have peace here.

"I really like your team!" She said with a smile and happiness seemed to have filled her face.

"Do you have anyone favorite among the group?" Max asked randomly, he didn't want to appear rude as it seemed he was the going to be the face of their Mercenary group in future.

"Yeah, I really like Lear." She replied with a proud smile.

It was expected, this was Ishtar after all. It was a good thing that people had started to like Lear here.

"I have heard you two are good friends. Is it true? How did you two meet?" She suddenly asked as Max was thinking about how to close the conversation.

Max looked at her eyes and realized that he seemed to have met a fan girl.

With two people staring from behind and another from his side, Max knew that the peace had lasted long enough for him. It was time to bid farewell to it