NOVEL NEXT Chapter 68: Homecoming
The ARK-003 sliced through the shimmering dimensional barriers like a knife through silk. The air around the ship crackled and sparked as it crossed from the Curtain's twisted realm back into normal space. After weeks of floating through a world where up could be down and gravity played by alien rules, the return to regular physics felt like waking up from a fever dream that had stretched their minds to the breaking point.
Most of the expedition team lay sprawled in their bunks, snoring like bears after hibernation. Their bodies had finally given in to exhaustion that had been building for weeks. These warriors had faced horrors that would give normal people nightmares for years, and now they slept the deep sleep of the truly drained.
Only Alfred and Thorne stayed awake in the control room, their eyes scanning the instruments like hawks watching for prey. Even in familiar space, they couldn't afford to let their guard down. One moment of carelessness could still kill them all.
"We'll reach the Ackerman estate in six hours," Alfred said, his smooth voice carrying a hint of satisfaction. He adjusted his perfectly pressed uniform and allowed himself a small smile. Whether he was happy about the mission's success or some secret plan of his own was anyone's guess.
Thorne grunted and nodded, his enhanced senses reaching out like invisible fingers to probe the space around them. "The family's going to want answers. Khan's message crystals have been dead quiet for two weeks. They're probably chewing their fingernails down to the bone by now."
The two men sat in comfortable silence, each lost in thoughts about what waited for them at home. Politics, debriefings, and questions – lots of questions.
---
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away at the Ackerman estate, a different kind of waiting was happening.
Abigail sat in the garden with her maid Lily, pretending to enjoy afternoon tea while her heart hammered against her ribs like a caged bird. At ten, she had the poise of a young lady, but inside she was still a scared little girl whose big brother had vanished into the most dangerous place in known space.
The garden around them burst with color – roses red as blood, jasmine white as snow, and ivy that crawled up the stone walls like green fingers. But Abigail barely saw any of it. Her mind was elsewhere, counting days and praying to anyone who might listen.
"It's been almost three weeks since they left," Lily said carefully. As head maid, she could speak more freely than most servants, but she still had to watch her words around sensitive topics.
"Twenty-two days," Abigail corrected, her voice sharp as a blade. "Twenty-two days since he promised he'd come back and fix everything." Her crystal-blue eyes stared at the garden gate as if she could will her brother to walk through it by sheer force of wanting.
Lily studied the girl with worried eyes. She'd raised Abigail from a baby, watched her grow from a giggling toddler into this serious young woman who carried burdens too heavy for her small shoulders.
"Temple expeditions are dangerous things, young miss. Even the strongest warriors sometimes..." Lily trailed off, searching for words that wouldn't crush the hope keeping her charge together.
"Sometimes die," Abigail finished flatly. "You think my brother's dead. That the temple ate him like it ate everyone else who tried."
The words hit Lily like a slap. She wanted to lie, to wrap the girl in comfortable fairy tales, but Abigail was too smart for that. She'd figured out the ugly truth all on her own.
"I think," Lily said slowly, "that your brother is brave and strong, but even brave, strong people can fail when facing things that killed everyone before them."
Abigail's laugh was bitter as winter wind. "You don't get it, do you?" Her small hands clenched into fists. "You didn't see him those last few weeks. The way he trained like a man possessed, pushing himself until he collapsed, then getting up and doing it again."
She turned to face Lily, and the maid was startled by the fire burning in those young eyes.
"I watched him practice for hours every single day. Not normal training – crazy, obsessed training. He wasn't just getting ready for some expedition. He was turning himself into something that couldn't lose, couldn't fail, couldn't leave me alone in this mess."
Lily felt a chill run down her spine. There was something in Abigail's voice, a certainty that went beyond hope or wishful thinking.
"But even with all that preparation—" Lily started.
"He looked me in the eyes," Abigail cut her off, her voice dropping to a whisper that somehow carried more power than a shout. "The morning he left, he looked right at me with that same expression he gets when he's about to do something impossible. When Fenix makes that face, when he really decides to do something, the whole world bends to get out of his way."
The conviction in her words made Lily's protests die in her throat. Maybe it was foolish, but something about the girl's faith made her believe too.
"He promised he'd come back," Abigail said with finality that could have moved mountains. "And when Fenix promises to protect his family, death itself better find somewhere else to be."
---
The ARK-003's passage through Human Domain airspace didn't go unnoticed. The ship's energy signature blazed across detection screens like a comet, impossible to miss despite Alfred's attempts at stealth.
In Beaumont Province, which sat right next to the old Ackerman lands, heads turned and eyes narrowed. The Beaumont family had grown fat and powerful while their neighbors withered, and they watched everything the Ackermans did like cats watching mice.
A figure stepped out standing on his mansion's highest balcony, his enhanced vision tracking the ship's path. His gold-trimmed robes fluttered in the wind, and his jeweled fingers gripped the stone railing until his knuckles went white.
"So," he murmured to himself, "the little Ackerman boy actually made it back. Interesting." His smile was sharp as a shark's tooth. "Very interesting indeed."
Throughout the province, windows opened and servants whispered. The ship's confident flight path told a story – this wasn't the desperate escape of survivors. This was the triumphant return of conquerors.
In guard towers and manor houses, enhanced senses catalogued every detail. Energy readings, flight patterns, even the subtle vibrations in the ship's hull were noted and filed away. The Beaumont spy network was legendary for good reason.
Nobody spoke their thoughts aloud, but the same question burned in every mind: What had the Ackermans found in that cursed temple? And more importantly, how much would it change the game?
---
At the Ackerman estate, alarms chimed softly as sensors detected the approaching ship. Khan Ackerman strode from the main building like a general preparing for battle, his every step radiating authority despite the stress lines carved deep around his eyes.
Behind him came a small army – servants, guards, administrators, everyone whose life was tied to the family's fate. They moved with nervous energy, hope and fear warring in their faces.
But it was Abigail who moved fastest. Despite Lily's protests about proper behavior, the ten-year-old ran toward the landing pad like her life depended on it. Her fancy dress flapped behind her like wings, and her carefully styled hair came loose from its pins.
"Miss Abigail!" Lily called, chasing after her charge. "Please remember your manners! This is an official reception!"
Manners could go jump in a lake. Abigail's heart was too full of hope and terror to care about looking proper. She needed to know – now – whether her faith had been rewarded or crushed.
Ghost moved like liquid shadow, positioning himself to protect the family while his enhanced senses reached out to probe the returning ship. His face was stone-calm as always, but his eyes missed nothing.
The moment his perception touched the familiar energy patterns inside the ARK-003, his expression shifted slightly. The change was tiny – most people would have missed it – but those who knew Ghost recognized surprise, then satisfaction, then something that might have been impressed approval.
"Still breathing," he muttered, and those who caught his words heard grudging respect in his voice. Surviving what they'd faced was no small feat.
But as his analysis went deeper, as his enhanced senses catalogued the spiritual signatures in greater detail, Ghost's eyebrows climbed toward his hairline.
"Well, I'll be damned," he said quietly. "They didn't just survive. They got stronger."
The ship touched down with mechanical precision, landing thrusters kicking up clouds of dust and steam that rolled across the platform like fog. Through the swirling mist, figures began to emerge.
One by one, the expedition members stepped into view. They moved with confident grace, like people who'd faced hell and walked away with their heads high. The assembled household began to clap and cheer, relief and joy bubbling over like champagne.
But when the last figure emerged from the mist, when Fenix stepped onto Ackerman soil with fluid movements that spoke of power earned through impossible trials, the cheering reached levels that could probably be heard in the next province.
Abigail's carefully maintained composure exploded like a dam bursting. Tears streamed down her face as joy hit her with the force of a tidal wave. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, could only run toward the brother who'd kept his promise against all odds.
"Welcome home, big brother!" she screamed as she launched herself at him like a tiny missile.
Fenix caught her easily, his enhanced strength making her feel light as a feather. He spun her around, both of them laughing through their tears, and for a moment the whole world consisted of nothing but a brother and sister who'd found each other again.
Around them, the estate erupted in celebration. Servants danced, guards threw their helmets in the air, and even stern Khan Ackerman allowed himself a smile that lit up his entire face.
But in that perfect moment, as Abigail buried her face in her brother's shoulder and felt the solid reality of him holding her safe, nothing else mattered. Not politics, not power, not the dangerous games nobles played with each other's lives.
Her brother was home. Her family was whole. And the real adventure was just beginning.
The universe, as Abigail had predicted, had indeed bent to accommodate Fenix's determination. Now they would all see just how far that bending could go.