Chapter 217

"So what now?"

Lane tilted her head as she looked at the organ on her palm, the eye was throbbing and Lane felt repulsive holding it. They now have two eyes but they were unfamiliar with how to use them. Lane felt sick touching this, she knew that this eye came from a person. She started thinking how awful he/she suffered, the Shadow Demon was really a brutal creature. Carving out the eyes of a person was inhuman no matter how much explanation they say. 

"Wait, I will call Miriam."

Niña started dialing and contacted Miriam, however, what she got was a bullish reception, the signal was nonexistent and the sound was static only. She sighed and cast a glance at Lane, the teenager nodded and understood what she was saying just by her eyes. Lane activated her Skill and called forth a humongous tree under the ground. 

Lane and Niña ride the tree as it continued growing reaching 150 meters in height. They escaped the fog and the city became clear although all they saw was a wide haze covering the place. Aside from that, they saw the rift shining and throwing Methuselahs out in the sky. 

Now, the signal was surely better, Niña dialed again and this time, her call was answered.

"Niña…"

"Miriam, tell me how to use these eyes."

Niña didn't listen to Miriam's hoarse voice, she proceeded to speak about the eyes, this matter was important. 

"A- about that, based on what I know, I think you have to put the two eyes together and aimed them at the rift. I'm not sure how long will it take to close the rift, but I'm confident that it will. The eyes have the power to do that." 

The only one who could assess the true power of the eyes was Cedy since it was his power anyway. Miriam only had second-hand information, but she was still confident that this would work. 

"Okay got it."

"W-wait!"

Niña almost ended the call but Miriam's anxious voice caught her off guard, Niña tilted her head. She returned her phone near her ear and listened to her. Niña felt that Miriam had an important thing to say. 

"Niña… I want you to listen. I will give you the coordinates, help Mikael, he's in grave danger right now."

………

……

…

Lane sighed, she was on top of the tree she created. Beside her, the two eyes were glowing and looking at the slowly shrinking rift. Lane was alone in this place since Niña had a crucial thing that she needed to do. 

The aghast Niña was pale as she listened to Miriam, she wanted to immediately go but she halted her steps, Lane needed help in closing the rift. It was obvious that thousands of Methuselahs would charge at the eyes to stop the closing of the rift. It would be dangerous to let Lane handle all of them. 

"Just go, I can do this on my own."

"B- but-"

"Sister, I know how much you suffered, please go, B-brother Mikael needs you."

Lane was still awkward to calling Mikael a brother. 

Niña was in crisis but Lane was the one who urged her to go to Mikael. She knew how significant Mikael to Niña's life, he is her anchor. Saving the Earth was important but saving her loved ones was far important since they were the reason why they kept striving. Lane understood that saving the world was bullshit if you couldn't save your loved ones. For her, the world was bleak if she would lose her family.

"Brother needs you. Go, I can handle this myself. If something happened… I can use Choco."

Lane hesitated to say Choco's name since the dog is her family, Choco was not an Item. Still, she decided to say his name to ease Niña. 

Her sister won't go if she didn't have enough excuses. Niña widened her eyes as she understood what Lane was talking about, she sniffed and groaned a little, Lane is now a mature woman. She couldn't believe that the little girl she saw in the Punishment would turn into a great woman. Niña approached her and gave her a flare signal, in case something happened, all she had to do is to shoot it. Niña would surely come back after she finished her job. Lane accepted the Item and nodded.

"No matter what happened, you must live. I don't care if you can't close this rift and even these eyes are not important. If danger arises, escape, understand? You can leave these disgusting eyes if you want to."

Niña seriously stated, Lane's life was greater than this city. It was a fucked up reasoning but it didn't matter, the world was fucked up anyway. 

Truth be told, most people are selfish and they only do things for their own good, they had their reasons why they do this. Only abnormal people like Kyle Rockwell would put their lives on the line to save the Earth. Few people would sacrifice themselves just for the betterment of the Earth, especially if they don't feel the tension and utmost need. Just like how humans continue using non-renewable resources, they knew that it may cause a great effect on the ecosystem but they keep using it. The world was slowly dying but the majority of the population don't care, they focus on their lives and disregarding the future of the next generation. 

"Don't worry, I will not die."

Assurance was said, Lane won't die here, she still has something that she must do. She still does not apologize to her family. On top of that, she wanted to see her cute little nephew, she wanted to see Lemar since she only saw him in pictures. Yup, Miriam sent her a lot of pictures, urging Lane to visit her.

"You better be."

Niña smirked and started dashing away, she had to move fast. Mikael was in danger. She was a bit confused why that Princess helped Mikael. Belle did not have any reason to save him but something was tugging Niña. Niña felt like another venom was creeping around Mikael. 

'I already have a cat to think of, and now you're saying that even that woman is moving to my property, hell no.'

Niña gritted her teeth when she heard that Princess Belle saved Mikael and disappeared right after. Niña had foreboding intuition that telling her that someone was getting bitchy. 

"Not in my house, woman."

Niña vanished and even Lane couldn't feel her presence anymore, she returned her focus to the rift. Lane had things that she needed to do, the two eyes beside her were redirected to the rift. Using her vines, she controlled the eyes and pointed them at the rift that was pouring Methuselahs. 

It seemed like this night would be a long one, Lane sighed and stone her expression. She extended her hands at the upcoming enemies.

[Dominic Toretto is right, you can do everything as long as you have family. Nothing beats family.]