"Do you know the consequences of lying about this?!" he asked, grabbing the man by his throat. He didn't care if the person was a senior or not.
"He is telling the truth," the others also agreed. "We also wish this was a lie, but so many things have changed ever since you left."
The Other Gods started telling everything that happened from the moment they were attacked, to his Caen's mother sacrificed herself to hold Ezekiel back to give everyone a chance to escape.
Caen's grip loosened as he took a few steps back in disbelief. His heart sank, and a mix of sorrow and rage washed over him. His mother, the Queen, was gone. He felt a surge of guilt for leaving her behind and not being there to protect her.
Elysia and Fortunay, too, were shocked and devastated by the news. They knew how much Caen loved his mother and what a significant loss this was for him.
Even though he didn't listen to her instructions and often argued with her, but in this entire world, she was the person he loved the most. He had never seen his father, so his mother was the only family for him in his eyes.
The Elder Gods tried to comfort Caen, but their words felt distant. He couldn't even hear what they were saying, as if the entire world had gone silent at that moment.
He felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility, knowing that he should have been there to prevent this tragedy. If he wasn't stubborn and left the home, he could've been there for her. He would never have let her sacrifice himself.
He raised his head, his eyes turning blood red. "You all... ran away? You all left my mother behind to die?!"
"We wanted to stay behind, but we couldn't even find her. And her commands were clear. She used her authority to instruct us to save the younglings and abandon that place," the Elder Gods explained.
"If it was up to us, we would've sacrificed our lives instead of her. But..." He paused for a brief moment. "That's why we were looking for you all this time! Because only you can lead us. That man...I don't know how he did it, but he can also use the Abyss. Only you can stop him."
"Under your lead, we can kill both of those bastards and have our revenge!"
All the Elder Gods were filled with anger as well. They felt ashamed that they had to abandon their homes. They also wanted to go back and fight those invaders under Caen's lead.
They would've felt even better if they had found Janus as well, but they didn't even know where to begin the search for Janus. Not a single person even knew where he had gone. At least they knew that Caen was in the Lower Worlds but they didn't even know where Janus was.
Hearing their words, Caen couldn't help but remember the person he fought on earth, wondering if that person was also involved.
"Which two?" he asked. He looked at the God of Mirage and commanded, "Show me what they looked like."
The God of Mirages raised his hand, casting a Mirage before Caen using his memories. He didn't show just a still image. Instead, he showed moving scenes from his memories.
He showed the entire battle where Gabriel held them back while Ezekiel broke the barrier.
Seeing the scene, Caen couldn't believe his eyes.
"How can it be? How can he be there?" he whispered to himself in disbelief.
The person in the Mirage was someone that wasn't supposed to be alive! In fact he had killed him with his own hands so it should've been impossible for him to be alive.
On the other hand, Ezekiel seemed unfamiliar. It wasn't the person he met on earth. Everything that he saw went against his expectations.
"Are you talking about Ezekiel?" One of the Elder Gods asked confusing Caen's question to be about Ezekiel.
"Even we thought that he was dead, but we later came to know that he wasn't dead. Your father had trapped him in the Abyss, where he stayed trapped all these years while we thought for him to be dead," another Elder God replied.
"We just don't understand how he managed to free himself from the Abyss? And why after all these years? Just what changed recently?" He openly wondered. "It's not as if someone else can enter the abyss and free him."
As he spoke, he didn't notice that Caen's fists were clenched so tightly that his palms had started bleeding. He realized something.
Gabriel's return and Ezekiel's freedom... He felt that both of those had something to do with him.
He shoved Gabriel inside the abyss after pulling his heart out, thinking for him to be dead and eaten by Abyssal Beasts. But now it was clear that Gabriel hadn't died for some reason.
Not only did he not die, but he met Ezekiel! He felt that Gabriel was the person who somehow freed Ezekiel from the trap. Indirectly, all that happened was because of him.
Ezekiel was free because he refused to listen to his mother. If he hadn't gone to kill Gabriel, Ezekiel wouldn't be free, and his mother would've been free. In that sense, the main cause behind his mother's death was himself.
A sense of dread washed over Caen as he realized that his past was catching up to him, intertwining with the present in an unexpected and dangerous way.
"Your Highness? Are you alright?" The Elder Gods didn't know why, but Caen had suddenly gone Silent. His face was pale and his eyes focused on the Mirage.
They didn't know what he was thinking about, but they could see blood dripping down his hands.
The Elder Gods could sense the torment within him. With a steely resolve, Caen made a decision– he would confront his haunted past! He had made a mistake, but that didn't mean the people who attacked his mother were free of guilt!
They had taken the most precious person from him... A person that was never going to return.
