[BL] Guardians of Fate
Chapter 114 - 24: Our Childhood Friends [4]

Chapter 114: Chapter 24: Our Childhood Friends [4]

"Hey. Are you there? Can you hear me?"

There was a stunned silence before a familiar voice uttered, "...Luke?"

Luke’s features softened, and his lips slowly curved into a smile. "Zach," he said, unable to hide the relief in his tone.

"Luke?" Zach’s voice was trembling. "Luke, is that you?"

"Yes. It’s me. I’m sorry for deactivating the commcrystal."

". . ."

"Zach?"

". . ."

"Zach," Luke tried. "Please say something."

". . ."

"I know you’re mad at me, but I really had no choice. I couldn’t take the risk of having you chase after me. I know you too well."

". . ."

"Zach?"

"...I’m glad."

"What?"

"I’m glad you’re okay."

Luke let out a breath, his whole body relaxing in relief. The thoughts that were buzzing around in his head finally calmed down at the sound of Zach’s voice.

It was a mixed bag of feelings, to be honest. On one hand, he was glad that Zach seemed fine. But on the other hand, he felt guilty and conflicted.

Now that they were on their way to Ravencoast, Luke’s mind began to wander. It seemed that Ardyn and Leon were coming along with him — even though the latter still seemed a little hesitant — which meant that he already had three of his Guardians with him.

But what next? He still had no plans to become an official Summoner. He had no intention of saving the world and its people. He just wanted to live a peaceful life.

But what about his Guardians? His village wasn’t exactly the friendliest when it came to those who bore the Otherworlder Mark. It was the place where he suffered the most, but it was also the only place he could call home.

Because he had nowhere else to go.

Where would these two live then? Ardyn was an Otherworlder who had just arrived here yesterday. Leon, on the other hand, was now a fugitive. They had no home anymore.

If he let them live together in Zach’s house...

The family barely even has enough to eat three meals a day, Luke thought in dismay.

Not to mention that the villagers would never help them out.

"Yes, I’m all right," Luke said softly. "But I’m suddenly in a bit of a pickle."

"A what?"

"We have a dilemma on our hands now."

"What do you mean? What happened?" There was an urgency in Zach’s voice.

"I... may have met with two of my Guardians."

Silence followed after that.

"Uh, how did that happen?" Zach asked, sounding like he was caught off-guard.

"I don’t know, either." Luke leaned back against the seat and looked out the window.

An hour had probably passed by now. He didn’t recognize the landscape, which meant that they really had taken a different route from the main road. It was a rather narrow path, though, with only trees and fields surrounding it. There were hardly any signposts to indicate where they were going.

A royal carriage was certainly useful. Since it usually carried important people like the king, the queen, and the duke, it had various secret routes mapped into its navigation system to get to its destination as covertly as possible.

"Okay, just..." Zach sounded tired. "You’re coming home right now, right? Mom and dad are really worried about you."

"Yes. I’m currently on my way."

"All right. We can talk more when you arrive. Where did you sleep?"

"I... didn’t."

There was another beat of silence before Zach’s heavy sigh reached Luke’s ears. "I’m not surprised," he said.

Luke blinked. "You’re not?"

"Luke..." Zach’s voice turned quiet and serious. "Last night, I could feel it."

"Feel what?"

"Your fear."

Luke froze.

"It fizzled out as quickly as it came, but I still felt it," Zach said quietly. "The emotion didn’t come from me... but from you

. I felt your fear so vividly that I couldn’t forget it no matter how hard I tried. It was so jarring, honestly."

Luke instantly felt a pang of guilt. "Zach, I..." His voice slowly trailed off as he realized that he had nothing to say to that.

He guessed that it was the moment when he got caught by the priest and then fell through the trapdoor in the church.

Of course Zach would have sensed that. After all, they had a bond, and a strong one, at that. They were connected to each other much more compared to Leon who only had a vague vision and a sense of foreboding when Luke was in danger.

"I didn’t know what to do, Luke," Zach said. "I knew that something had happened to you, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t go to where you were. I was so worried that I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept waiting for you to contact me, even though I knew you wouldn’t."

The mental image of Zach looking pitiful as he paced his room and tossed and turned in his bed made Luke feel another pang of guilt.

"I’m sorry," Luke said solemnly.

And that was all he could say at this point because he knew. Last night, he had predicted that this would happen. The moment he decided to deactivate the commcrystal, he had already considered the consequences of such an action.

And by some odd twist of fate, he got to meet Ardyn and Leon because of it.

"Yeah... You’re sorry, but you don’t completely regret it," Zach pointed out.

"That’s true," Luke admitted.

"You never change, do you?" There was a note of amusement in Zach’s voice that made Luke think that his friend was not as upset as he had expected. Then again, Zach rarely got angry, and if he did, it didn’t last long. He barely held grudges, either. "Well, as long as you’re alive and something good came out of it, then fine. I concede."

"Something good?" Luke inquired.

"Well, you said that you met two of your Guardians."

"Yes, I did." Luke turned his head to look at Ardyn, who was still sleeping peacefully. It didn’t look like a very comfortable sleeping position, but they weren’t close enough friends yet for Luke to just scoot over and help Ardyn lie down on the bench seat.

He might feel some discomfort in his neck once he wakes up, Luke thought.

"How did that happen, by the way?" Zach asked curiously. "You said that you went to the Silver Kingdom, but you refused to give me the details of the exact loca—"

"Angelbay City," Luke provided. "That’s where I was last night."

"Ah, I see. You went to Angelbay Ci — what?!" Zach exclaimed in astonishment. "You went to the capital of Elfroien?!"

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