Merlin immediately recalled what he was going to do, and that was to take Ariel and Silver on their playdate.
'Neph said she'd relay the message to Saint Tyris immediately she returned, it's been over ten minutes so I guess it's safe to go now' Merlin thought as he immediately went into his soul sea and checked on Kai, and surprisingly, the handsome archer was already on the Chain Isles.
"Guess I'm the only one left…"
He immediately stood up and left his room, heading downstairs where he met Ariel and Silver already dressed and ready to leave.
"Alright… let's head out"
"Is everything done?" Silver asked.
"Mm" he nodded.
"What of Silky?" Ariel looked up at him.
He patted her shoulder, "I'll go get her after we get there"
"Okay" Ariel nodded.
He placed his hand on their shoulder, then used [Travel] coupled with the scene from his memory, to send them to the Chain Isles.
The scene changed into the familiar colorful setting of the Spirit World, and then in a second, it changed again.
This time, Merlin, Ariel and Silver appeared beneath a blue sky, the green grass stretched endlessly and wind bellowed their hair.
"Woah… this place is nice" Ariel commented as she looked around curiously.
"It is indeed…" Silver commented.
Merlin let them look around while he searched the surroundings for Kai, it was the scene in the archer's point of light that he used to anchor his [Travel].
"Hey there Merlin"
While Merlin was busy searching for Kai on the ground, the archer greeted him from above.
"Yo Kai" Merlin looked up and waved, "and it's Jayson when I'm in this form, please don't go exposing secrets that could cause wars"
"Ah…. sorry" Kai smiled sheepishly as he lowered himself to the ground.
"Hello there Lady Silver and little Ariel" Kai greeted Silver and Ariel with a respectful bow.
"Hello" Ariel waved while Silver merely nodded in response.
"So… I should first lay some…" Merlin was about to start speaking when a change in the surrounding picked his attention.
He casually looked upwards to the sky, and hovering above them was a beautiful lady with golden brown hair and lake blue eyes, her skin was fair to the look.
'Sky Tide' Merlin noted her name in his head.
He curiously turned to Silver, and saw that she was also staring up at Saint Tyris with a calm expression.
For a moment, Merlin briefly considered who would win if they fought, just like anyone who had done power scaling in their life, the sight of two powerful Transcendents was one he wished to witness.
'Honestly , in terms of environmental advantage, Sky Tide wins this round, but in any other scenario, Silver would probably win, but it would be difficult…' he came to a conclusion internally.
The moment his thoughts concluded, Tyris finally lowered herself gracefully to the solid ground. She looked around, giving them a polite nod, then she turned to Silver and spoke in a calm voice.
"Hello, I am the keeper of this citadel, you may know me as Saint Tyris"
Silver regarded her with a slight nod, then replied.
"I am Silver, this is Ariel, and he is Jayson"
Tyris nodded in response, then spoke again, but this time with a more serious tone.
"I suppose you and your companions are the ones Princess Nephis spoke of"
"That's right…" Silver answered calmly.
Merlin and Kai opted to stay quiet, after all they were both Masters and Government workers. Ariel was simply watching the interaction from beside, for her it didn't matter who talked to who, as long as she ended up with a new playground.
"I understand… forgive my bluntness, but I find it difficult to believe that…" She looked between Silver and Ariel, "two Transcendents and an Ascended would casually come to my citadel just to spend time"
Silver stared at Tyris for a few seconds, then turned to Merlin, her gaze seemed to imply the words;
'I thought you said you handled it, why am I still dealing with this'
Merlin looked at her and sighed.
'When you have too many enemies, even the bugs around feel like they might have hidden recorders inside…'
"Saint Tyris… forgive my bluntness, but I doubt your citadel has anything of interest to us, except the interesting view"
He spread his hands.
"Think about it, if we were on some secret mission like you suspect, why go through the stress of bringing two Saints when the delicate balance between the Government and the Great clans is already hanging by a thread"
He sighed.
"Rest assured, we're just here on a picnic, if you want to stand right here and watch, that's fine…"
Tyris regarded Merlin for a moment, then looked at Silver. Seeing that the Transcendent had nothing* intention of doing so, but if something were to go wrong on her account, her position in the clan would take a hit.
It had already taken one when she decided to kill a Saint because of Changing Star and her cohort, doing anymore would make the White Feather Clan look like a liability.
"Why would a Saint be interested in taking… a picnic?" Tyris asked her last question.
Silver looked at her and smiled lightly.
"When you live long enough, you tend to lose a sense of connection to the world, and that isn't the best state any human should be in… do not forget, the term demigod means 'half human and half god', embrace both sides"
Tyris seemed taken aback for a second, but she quickly regained her composure and nodded.
"I understand… enjoy your stay"
Tyris nodded, then with a gush of wind, she lifted off the ground into the sky, heading back in the direction of the Citadel. As for watching them, she would designate the task to one of the Ascendeds in the Citadel.
Merlin stared at Silver as he nodded inwardly.
'As expected of Silver, old people really have wise word… and Silver's old enough to be Tyris's great grandma'
"I feel like you're thinking something rude"
Silver's voice snapped him out of his thoughts as his eyes finally registered her face staring down at him with a deadpan look.
"Is this a woman's intuition… scary" He muttered to himself.
"No… I was just thinking that you look good" he answered calmly.
Silver stared at him for a second, then sighed and turned away as she told him.
"Muttering to yourself right beside a Transcendent is the same thing as announcing it to the world you know…"
"Ha ha" Merlin chuckled nervously then turned to Kai.
"Kai my friend, sorry for the slight delay" He spoke while patting Kai's shoulder softly.
"Like I was saying, there are a few rules to follow while you help me watch Ariel, first, no fighting nightmare creatures"
"I understand, I'll keep her away from them," Kai nodded.
"Second, if there's any sign of the crushing, you take her away, understand?"
"Yes… make sure she doesn't fly far enough to get in the range of the crushing"
"Finally, no diving into the sky below"
"I understand," Kai nodded.
Merlin nodded, then turned to Ariel.
"Okay Ari, my friend Kai here will be your play pal, he can fly and he's fun, so you, him and Silky can go anywhere you want, but you have to listen to him okay?"
"Okay" Ariel nodded.
He turned to Kai, "no hide and seek"
Merlin placed his hand on Kai's shoulder and transferred the Dimension Ring to him.
[You have lost a memory.]
"Anything edible inside the memory belongs to you guys, and maybe anything else that Ari wants that's inside…"
He thought for a second, then continued.
"As for the payment for your services, we'll talk about that later"
"Alright…" Kai nodded.
"Huh?" Merlin sounded dumbfounded.
"What? Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't this supposed to be the part where you say, 'no need for payment, we're friends' and all that"
"Should… I have said that?"
"You know what… don't bother, if you say it now, it becomes odd" Merlin waved him off.
Kai fell silent for a moment, then asked.
"If I say it now, would you insist on payment?"
"Ofcourse not, who do you think I am?" He scoffed, then turned to Silver.
"I'll be back, if you guys want to leave early, you know how to reach me"
With those words, Merlin immediately activated [Travel], and vanished from his spot. The next place he reappeared was the top on the highest rock column in the Rocky Plains.
He felt the breeze brush his skin, the Rocky Plains maintained a cool temperature despite not having any grassland in it.
Merlin stood there feeling the wind roll over him, then his lips parted and he sighed helplessly.
"I really should've brought Ari along, how am I supposed to catch a flying nightmare creature now?"
He looked around, scanning for any sign of the Silk Bat's appearance, or even any white creature. After looking around and seeing none, he closed his eyes and whispered to himself as he used [Divination].
"Silky's location…
Silky's location…
Silky's location…"
After repeating it seven times, his vision changed, and the first thing he saw was himself, however the perspective was from a view even higher than where he stood.
The Dream Divination ended and he looked up, circling around the top of the mountain was the Fallen Devil, Silk Bat, it was so high in the sky that he wasn't able to spot it the first time.
'After all when you're already so high up, you don't usually go looking for things higher'
He waved to the Bat not knowing if it could understand him.
"Hey… get over here, I don't have time you know!"
Surprisingly, the Fallen Devil, as if hearing his words, dove down in his direction. Merlin naturally raised his hand to guard, but he didn't react as his [Danger Sense] hadn't warned him yet.
The Silk Bat flew lower, until it landed right in front of him.
'The only guess I have is that, since Ari is my echo, I can at least control her thralls'
He mused to himself as he stared at the Fallen Devil. When his Supreme self wished for Ari to recover her memories, he also severed a few connections between him and her.
For one, the law of absolute command that echoes have, it doesn't work between them. The only connection they had was that he was able to return her to his soul sea when he wanted, and the recently discovered one of being able to control her thralls.
"I guess I really should have Ari make more friends…"
He chuckled to himself, then turned to the Silk Bat.
"Alright, I'm taking you to play with Ari, but you need to learn a few rules… first, if you meet anything stronger than yourself then run, second, no diving down into anything lower than ground level, third, protect Ari… understand?"
The Fallen Devil stared at him with its large eyes, as if trying to process his words, then it tilted its head and let out a weak sound."Wuuuu…"
Merlin stared at it for a few seconds, then nodded.
"I'll take that as a yes"
Merlin walked forward, then placed his hand on the Fallen Devil, then they both vanished from the top of the rock column, and reappeared on the Chain Isles.
"Silky!" The moment he arrived, Ariel flash stepped into a tackle with the Silk Bat.
'I doubt I could've avoided that if it were me'
"You're back… with a nightmare creature?" Kai alternated confused looks between him and the Fallen Devil.
"Yeah… this is Silky, Ari's thrall, you'll be flying alongside them"
"Ah… I see" Kai answered helplessly.
"You'll get used to it buddy, none of us in this cohort is normal" Merlin comforted him.
Kai raised an eyebrow, "I'm pretty normal myself"
He gave him a flat look, "do you have a girlfriend?"
"No… why?"
"You see… you're this good looking and still no maiden… you think that's normal?"
"Isn't it?" Kai lowered his head, slightly embarrassed.
"No buddy… it isn't" he shook his head helplessly.
'Good thing I managed to escape the curse of Chastity Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessing…'
He turned to the side, and saw Ariel already mounting Silky as she prepared to fly off.
"Hey… don't forget what I said out there okay?" He reminded her.
"It's alright, I remember well" Ariel nodded happily.
"Off you go then…" he smiled, then turned to Kai, "if I see a scratch, I'll have your head"
"Haha" Kai chuckled, "you can count on me"
"Weeee!!" Ariel cheered as Silky's wings flapped and they rose to the sky.
Kai lifted off the ground effortlessly and followed after them. Merlin watched them fly into the sky with a smile, he had already recorded Kai's flight right now, and it was successful.
"You seem bothered," Silver's voice sounded from beside him.
He took a deep breath and sighed.
"Sigh… I am, I have this strange feeling in my gut that something might happen to me, but sadly, I can't tell what"
Silver stayed quiet for a second, then asked, "are you scared?"
"No… I haven't felt fear in a while, I can't even remember what it's like, I guess being strong and almost immortal took something away from me too…"
"Now, when I think of a strong enemy, all I calculate is my chances of winning or escaping, and even if I die, I know I can come back, at worst I'll be weakened for a while… things like that tend to take away the feeling of fear" he sighed again.
Silver stared at him, then smiled, "you want to go see that film about yourself again?"
Merlin subconsciously shivered as his mind registered the thoughts, "I might still have a little fear left after all" he chuckled.
Silver nodded with a light smile, "so what important thing do you have to do in the city?"
"It's basically a test… I'm not sure if it'll work, but if it does, then my information gathering skills might just be pushed up a notch" he smiled proudly.
"You have information gathering skills?" Sliver immediately poured chilled water in his words as she smirked.
"Haha… really funny Silvy" he scoffed, then muttered to himself, "I'm just hoping it works out well"