Ning chuckled when he heard Chase being worried. Ely couldn't help but chuckle as well. "He does have a spaceship. Do you want to use that?" she asked.
Chase gave a dry laugh, unsure if they were joking or not.
"Don't worry, that's not what I was suggesting," Ning said. "My transportation medium is faster than anything you can find in any part of the world."
"And it is not a spaceship?" Chase asked again.
"No," Ning said as he stood up. Ely did so as well and walked up next to Chase. Chase tried to step back a little, but Ning grabbed his arm before he could do so.
Ely grabbed onto Ning's shoulders and the next moment they disappeared.
To Chase, he was in his apartment at one moment, and in the next, he was somewhere outside.
The warded his eyes against the blinding sun for a second as his pupils dilated to let enough light in for him to not wince. It took a few seconds and he put down his hands and finally looked around.
His face showed a sign of shock when he saw that he was in front of the dungeon where he was supposed to meet his guild members.
"H-how did we get here?" he asked.
"Teleportation," Ning said simply.
Chase was surprised when he heard that, but it wasn't any more surprising or shocking than anything else that was happening today. "Did we appear here suddenly?" he asked while he looked around at the people that went past them. "How do they not see us?"
"They do," Ning said. "I've just put a slight anti-perception veil on us, so they won't be looking at us."
"Anti… what?"
"Anti-perception veil," Ning said. "It makes people not want to focus on you when they look towards you. It's a simple skill I learned recently."
"I… see," Chase said. He hadn't understood what Ning had said at all.
"Alright, before you go," Ning said as he brought out a bracelet. Chase was only wondering what it was when Ning suddenly placed it on the man's wrist.
Chase got a little worried and tried to take it off, but it wasn't coming off. He tried it again, but no matter what he did, it wasn't coming off.
"What did you do? What is this?" he asked angrily— as angry as one could get in the face of aliens.
"Don't worry about it. It won't harm you or anything," Ning said. "It just makes you unable to tell anyone about us. You see, we do have to remain a little careful."
Ely looked at Ning with a knowing look and Ning simply shrugged. He didn't want to tell the guy that it was to protect him from any threat and let him know if he was in danger where even the bracelet couldn't save him.
Ning felt that telling this to someone who was so afraid would only make them more afraid and untrusting of their words. Instead, telling half truth that could be accepted was the better way to go.
"Hey Chase, you're finally here. The leader is asking for us all to gather inside." A girl rushed out the gate and called him.
"Oh, hello Anna. I'm coming," he said before slowly turning towards Ning and Ely. "So, uh… will I see you guys later?"
"Of course," Ely said. "Your sister is back home. You won't get to be away from me for long enough."
Chase gulped a bit and nodded before leaving.
Ning smiled a bit and looked at him walk off. "Do you think he likes her? His voice definitely changed a little when he saw her," he said.
"I don't know," Ely said. "He was pretty afraid of us. Maybe he thought she would be in trouble for seeing us."
Ely's own voice was getting a little higher as well. Ning hugged her with one arm and consoled her a bit. "It's alright. He'll understand in a day or two," he said. "Just wait for him to realize that his dead sister is truly back home again."
Ely nodded and wiped what little tears she had been holding back this entire time.
"Also, your brother must've been way too shocked," Ning said. "He didn't recognize me at all."
"Are you really that recognizable though?" Ely asked. "I'm starting to doubt it. Maybe they have just heard about you and have never actually seen you."
"I suppose that might be it as well," Ning said. "So, where to next? I don't think he'll be out for quite some time."
"Let's just go back to the apartment. I want to spend some time in my old home," Ely said.
Together, the two of them returned to the apartment. Ning sat down on the couch and let Ely roam through the room, looking at the many things that were the same and the many things that were different.
A few minutes later, Ning heard Ely sob again. She was inside a room that wasn't being used for anything but hoarding whatever was unneeded to Chase. Ning walked in and saw a small portrait at the top of a young woman with an infant in her arms and another small boy by her side.
There was a man that looked similar to Chase in those pictures, and they all looked happy.
"Is this your mother's room?" Ning asked her.
Ely nodded and continued crying.
Thousands of years would take away the love one felt for one's family. Ning had been sad after hundreds of thousands of years. Compared to that, Ely's time was minuscule.
He let her cry as he thought that was the right thing to do.
After crying for a while, Ely went to her old bedroom and put on her favorite movie in the DVD player that was in there.
The player didn't work, so Ning had to fix it quickly before the movie started playing again.
Together, the two of them spent the next few hours watching the movie in silence, interrupted occasionally by a few giggles here and there.
