Kingdom of Green-Deralus:

When they reached Emerald, Merissa took them to a clothe shop where she bought some funeral clothes for them. They were wearing black pants made of a very soft material which ended just before their ankle and a normal t-shirt having sleave length extending till their elbows.  

“Gee thanks for the clothes.” Alex said as he looked at the price. It was quite expensive from what he knew about the economy here. Alex and Nina already came wearing whatever decent black clothes they could wear. But Merissa told them wearing the proper traditional clothes is considered good manners here.

“Don’t sweat it kid, I am rich.” Merissa commented as they left the shop.

“Rich and living in a rundown shop.” Alex muttered as he gave an unamused expression. This got him a punch on the head from Merissa. Nina just smiled helplessly. In the few days she trained under her she had pretty good grasp of Merissa’s personality. And she understood quite well, that while on the surface Merissa and Alex had a tussling relation, they seemed to have become caring of each other.

After that they took a cab to the graveyard.

Nina, “Must feel nice to come here without being a fugitive.” Alex only nodded with a slight smile as he looked outside the window. A lot of people had gathered for the funeral. The place was flooded with people from outside the gate till the buildings. Even the reporters were here as they recorded the procession. Though they weren’t allowed inside the graveyard and neither they dared to barge in. The name Xerxes once again held respect amongst everyone.

Though some reporters tried to get close to Alex because until recently he was one of the most wanted fugitives.

Barren Convo spotted Alex and his group and since his unit was maintaining the line, he led them ahead into the building. People were giving their respects in an orderly manner by placing flowers on his grave. Unlike previous half broken tombstone Xerxes grave was built magnificently. There was a large stone made at the top which was inscribed with his name and the year’s he was born and died.

Alex and Nina followed the other people and paid their respects. After a while a few people came forward to say a few words. Augustus was one of them. As time passed people began to leave. Many people weren’t even able to enter the building and they had to pay their respects from outside. Alex and Nina realized that there wasn’t much difference between the funerals in this world and earth.

Alex’s group of three were still waiting since Merissa said that someone had wanted to meet him. When there were very few people left, Augustus who was also present for the funeral approached them.

Augustus, “Thank you for attending the funeral.”

“Well, he kinda kept me alive, it’s the least I can do.” Alex said shrugging his shoulders slightly.

After a little chat with Augustus two people walked over towards them. They were in plain black robes, same as Merissa.

“Hello.” The female one greeted. They were of some other race as their eyes were yellow and they had slight fur coming out from their face.

“Hi…” Alex replied not recognizing them. But he was getting a feeling that he had seen them somewhere. He also felt a familiar presence from them.

“Allow me to introduce. This is Albado Moon and Natalie Moon. They are the children of the great mage Xerxes Moon.” Augustus said as he pointed at the man and woman respectively.

“And this is Alex Morgan whom you have heard of and his friends Nina Kristen and Merissa Bloom.” Nina and Merissa were taken aback a little when they saw them. As for Alex since he had a strong bond with Xerxes not long ago, he recognized them but only as their childhood faces.

“You guys have grown.” Alex muttered dreamily. Everyone gave surprised glances at Alex’s words. He immediately understood where he had gone wrong and apologized.

“We were wishing to meet you for a long time.” Albado said.

“We cannot thank you enough for saving our father from that cursed stone and helping in restoring his honor by shedding justice on the Soul Stone.” Natalie added as they both bowed before him.

“Oh! You don’t have to be so polite.” Alex said as he became quite uncomfortable.

“You should know that I only made it alive thanks to Xerxes, plus it was all him, you could say he got himself out on his own from all the mess.” Alex said as he scratched the back of his head slightly. Natalie and Albado only smiled at Alex’s kind words and thanked him.

“You can come visit us whenever you want if you come to this world, we’ll be delighted to have you.” Natalie said as they took their leave after chatting a few minutes with Alex and the group.

“I’ll remember your words.” Alex replied.

As Alex watched them leave there was pinch of sadness in his heart since Xerxes never got to see them grow up. He came to know from Augustus that shortly after Xerxes disappearance and him being declared dead his wife passed away as she became overburdened from all the hate and disgrace of the people. Nevertheless, Albado and Natalie were strong mages who rose through ranks in the royal guards and now Albado worked as a very high-ranking officer in the Ministry of Justice and Natalie worked as a renowned surgeon in one of the biggest hospitals in the kingdom.

“Xerxes would have been proud of them.” Augustus said as he put a hand on Alex’s shoulder.

Alex only nodded after which they left the building and headed outside the graveyard. Augustus left shortly after that.

Merissa, “Okay we should head out too.”

Alex, “You guys can go ahead I’ll meet you at transporter station.”

Merissa, “Why? Do you have something important to do?”

“I’ll explore a little, at least it’s better than going shopping with you both.” Alex said as he made an unamused face.

“It’s training related.” Nina said as she rested her hands on her hips.

“Let him be, he’s just a kid after all. You better meet us there or I’ll leave you here.” Merissa said as she left with Nina.

“Yeah, yeah sure.” Alex said as he watched them leave.

“Oh! who do we have here.”

Alex turned around to the familiar voice.