Maylia and Afyne couldn't hold me like they wanted to, upon the advice of the healers, so I had to wait until the healers left before I changed into my nightgown. Maylia and Afyne changed as well and I climbed into bed. They laid down beside me and stared at me with a forlorn look in their eyes.

“Get over here.” I said and held my arms open.

“But... the healers...” Maylia started to say while Afyne slid in and hugged me.

“I didn't tell them about my Regeneration or my Self-healing.” I whispered. “They think I'm going to be sore until tomorrow and I'm fine right now.” I smiled at her, and she slid in behind Afyne and kissed me.

“Hunter, what happened?” Maylia asked. “I've never seen something like that happen before.”

“I told the queen the truth. My energy interfered with the teleportation spell.” I said. “The first time was completely by accident and it sent me part way across the planet and I landed in the elf lands. This time... well...”

“You did it.” Afyne said, her voice full of wonder, then her emotions tried to bubble out of her. “You did it on purpose!”

“Shh!” I said and gave her forehead a quick kiss. “I told you that if given a choice, I'd chose to stay.”

“Oh, Hunter!” Afyne gripped me tightly and kissed me as her eyes overflowed with tears of joy. “Thank you... so much!” She sobbed and ducked her head to my chest and cried.

Maylia put her arm around Afyne and held her while we let her cry as much as she needed to. “I want to thank you, too.” She said. “I didn't know what I was going to do with you gone.”

“You were going to be a good guardian, of course.” I said and smiled. “It's just too bad that Jessica didn't take my hand.”

“Josh!” Afyne exclaimed loudly, then covered her mouth and whispered. “You kept Josh here, too.”

“He just had a baby. I might not like him very much, with him being a snot-nosed kid with almost no social skills; but, he's gotten a lot better over the last year or so... and he's built up his personal character. I couldn't let him be taken from his newly-formed family, not if I just realized some way to maybe let us stay.” I chuckled. “I'm just glad we weren't scattered across the planet this time.”

“You didn't know what would happen and did it anyway?” Maylia asked, then she laughed. “Will a teleport spell work on you at all? You haven't had any luck with them!”

I laughed too, then leaned over and gave her a kiss. “I'll be discussing this with the queen tomorrow morning and I'll let her know what really happened today.” I said. “Let's get some sleep until then.”

Maylia nodded and we both gave Afyne kisses on her cheeks. She didn't blush from the double attention, which meant she appreciated it for what it was and not what she originally thought it was. We weren't trying to embarrass her, we were showing her that we loved her in the simplest way possible.

“Goodnight.” The three of us said at the same time, laughed because of it, then drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

*

“So, he disrupted it on purpose.” Queen Celestina said in contemplation. “I wonder how?”

“We don't know.” The mage said and dismissed the viewing bubble. “We've gone over the casting and nothing showed up at all. One second, the spell completed, then the next, he and Josh were across the room and had gravely injured themselves, while the other three occupants were sent back to where they came from.”

“You confirmed this?” Queen Celestina asked, and the mage nodded.

“The only odd parts were Hunter and Josh. It was like they were... expelled from the spell.”

The queen shook her head. “What a price to pay to try and not be sent back where they are supposed to go.”

“The healers that checked Hunter said that he was actually happy.” The mage said. “He was suffering a lot of pain and admitted that he took the brunt of it to protect Josh.”

The queen sat there for several minutes to consider her options. She had been concerned when the Acolytes of Light had approached her for a private meeting a week ago and informed her that the summoning contract had to be completed as soon as possible. She thought that was a bit excessive, considering that the heroes had been adventuring almost non-stop for a year and a couple of months and deserved a break.

The acolytes then offered proof that one of their members had actually had their goddess embody her for several minutes and literally told them that the heroes needed to be sent home to remove their influence from this world. Queen Celestina couldn't refute it or deny that the evidence existed.

Now she didn't know what to do.

“Perhaps things will be better in the morning.” The mage offered. “I'm interested in finding out what he did to disrupt the spell. After we know that, we'll have a better idea of where to go from there.”

Queen Celestina nodded. “Make sure that I have some alone time with Hunter and his two companions before the others are brought into the meeting. If he doesn't offer an explanation that satisfies me, we will need to ask him... directly.”

“Yes, your majesty.” The mage said and stood, bowed to her, and left the room.

*

The next morning, I awoke to breakfast being delivered to our room. I thought that was nice, until the server told us that we were to go directly to the meeting after eating. I knew then that it was for expedience and to stop us from meeting the others beforehand. Maylia, Afyne and I ate and changed into our fancy clothes and I left off my blast shield. We were met by a court attendant and brought to the meeting before everyone else. The queen and her daughter were there and waiting for us.

“Milly!” “Afyne!” Both girls said loudly at the same time and ran to each other and hugged. They both had to act restrained when they had met at the boat, because they were out in public. In private, they could both act like they wanted.

“Why don't you show Afyne the things that have changed in the castle since the last time you saw each other?” Queen Celestina asked.

“You're not going to believe it!” Milly said and took Afyne's hand. “Mother commissioned a monument for the people that died during the vampire purge!”

“No way!” Afyne exclaimed. “It must be huge!”

“It's bigger than my room!” Milly said and the two girls left the room and talked animatedly. “They're still compiling the names to put on it, too.” She said. “They can't decide if they want titles and classes added, because that would...”

Their words were cut off as the door shut. A second later, I felt something cover the room and a mage came into the room.

“All right, Hunter.” Queen Celestina said. “Tell me everything.”

“Okay.” I took a deep breath and let it out. “In the beginning, there was only the void. Pitch blackness seemed to be all there was, except that it wasn't. There was something there...”

“Not everything everything!” Queen Celestina said, her eyes both hard with accusation and full of amusement. “About the summoning ritual and your ability to interfere with teleportation.”

“Oh, that.” I said with a smile, then explained how I had done it accidentally the first time without realizing it, and how that had changed my entire journey on this planet. I then explained how I had remembered doing it and tried to do it on purpose this time, except I had pushed myself out.

“Your energy really can disrupt the spell?” The mage asked.

“With unpredictable results. I knew I would be shunted away, because it happened before. Since I did it consciously and with purpose this time, I was sure that I could do it before I was sent anywhere else.” I said. “I still could have been sent somewhere on the planet; but, I concentrated on Maylia and Afyne and my connection to them, with the hopes that they would anchor me and keep me close by.”

Queen Celestina thought about what I said and then she told me what the acolytes had told her about 'needing' to send us away. It was both a surprise and to be expected. Once our collected usefulness was no longer needed, we had to be removed. Of course, now that I knew that we were no longer needed, I was wondering why. The cracks were all over the world, and yet, we had only cleared two kingdoms of them... then I realized what had happened.

They knew.

The divine beings must have found the source of the cracks! I thought.

I was immediately tempted to call upon god to see what was going on, then fought that urge. Doing it in front of the queen wasn't the best option at the moment, so I resolved to meditate later and would try to get some answers, which assumed that he would be willing to share them. I've felt that he's been keeping tabs on me, ever since my Presence was completed, and I haven't had any need or feeling from him that he wanted to talk. The queen, the mage, and Maylia stared at me for several minutes while I gathered my thoughts, then I spoke.

“The gods and goddesses know where the cracks are coming from.” I stated out loud. “More than likely, they know why as well.”

Queen Celestina opened her mouth to say something, then she closed it. She tried again, then stopped.

“Yeah, I'm not sure what to say about the acolytes wanting us out of the way, either.” I said. “Except that they do their goddess' bidding without question and she probably wanted us out of the way for a reason. Using them as proxies to have you send us back will put the blame squarely on your shoulders if anything happens and heroes are needed.”

Queen Celestina grit her teeth and let out a little growl, which completely destroyed her veneer of composure. “I'll have them all strung up by their ankles in the city square if that happens!”

“Maybe not Evangeline and the baby.” I said in a placating tone. “I didn't just violate the laws of magic and kept Josh here, only to have his wife and newborn child be prosecuted for her mother's and goddess' potential crimes.”

The queen's face went angry for a second, then it went back to her professional blank face. “Yes, only those that were involved at the time will be treated that way.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” I said.

The mage looked at me accusingly. “Why aren't you advocating for leniency for all of them?” She asked. “They are just being used! Can you really stand by and...”

“Yes. If something happens, and I suspect it's going to soon, they are guilty.” I said. “Unless you can cast the mind block spell on all of them and then interrogate them individually to see who would still do their goddess' bidding.”

“That... well...” The mage went quiet as she thought about it. “Some of them do seem to be a little more like fanatics than others.” She said. “You raise an interesting conundrum.”

“Yeah.” I chuckled. “The problem is that most of them would do it anyway, without considering the consequences.”

“It's true.” Maylia said. “I've had experience with fanaticism. Once you're caught up in it, it's just... normal... and easier... to act that way.”

“I agree.” Queen Celestina said. “Hunter, what do you plan to do?”

“The first order of business is to take Dawn home to the Second Choutia Kingdom.” I said. “After that, I'll be trying to close more of the cracks.”

“What about the mage, Grania?” The queen asked.

“She claims that she doesn't have a home anywhere near here.” I said. “It's a partial lie; but, without asking her directly where she lived before, I can't find out the truth.”

“Then ask her directly.” The mage said. “I can give you a compulsion spell if you need it.”

“She's a mage of unknown potential.” I said. “She can probably feel or even see a spell being cast on her. I don't want to know that badly.”

“Then what are you going to do with her?”

“Nothing.” I said, and the queen, the mage, and Maylia looked at me in disbelief. “I thought about bringing her along; but, without proving her loyalty, it's not safe for the people I care about to have her around.”

“You're just going to drop her off somewhere?” The mage asked, surprised and incredulous.

“No, I told you. I won't be taking her when I leave.” I said. “She has enough gold from the queen to go anywhere she wants and make any kind of life she wants, so that's what I'll tell her when everyone shows up for the fake meeting.”

“It's not fake.” Queen Celestina said. “We really do need to discuss what happens now, especially with Josh and the acolytes.”

“You can't tell them that you don't trust the acolytes for forcing you to get rid of the heroes, because that will tip them off and they'll start working against you openly. You can only accept that they have their sorcerer priest now and will grow more powerful.” I said and saw the realization on the queen's face. “As for me, I'm taking my party and leaving the kingdom as agreed, when my task here was done.”

“My list...” Queen Celestina started to say.

“I'll try to work on the remains of it as I progress across the kingdoms.” I said. “With this kingdom as a guide, it should take about a year for us to do each one... assuming the number of cracks remains consistent for the size of the lands.”

“Three more years.” Queen Celestina said. “Will it really only be that long?” She asked, then she let a small smile show on her face. “Yes, that will be fine. Look what you did for my kingdom in only a year, and we've been summoning heroes and raising adventurers for decades.” She nodded. “Very well. I will grudgingly accept Josh remaining, as long as the acolytes share their summoning ritual and we can figure out how to work it to send you back where you came from.”

“I would appreciate that, your majesty.” I said and bowed my head.

The 'real' meeting started ten minutes later and everyone was brought into the meeting room. The queen told them of the conditions that had to be implemented, with Josh being allowed to stay with his wife and child as long as the acolytes shared the summoning ritual in its entirety and didn't hide anything. The head acolyte agreed wholeheartedly and one of the acolytes stepped forward and handed over everything that they had used in both the summoning and unsummoning parts, as if they knew that would be required.

The queen glanced at me and I gave her a tiny smile as we shared a knowing look, and she told everyone the second condition. Since the summoning ritual had failed to send me back, she believed that she could no longer have the 'chosen hero' in her kingdom. As such, I was to be exiled until such time that the ritual could be completed. Only a slight uproar greeted her words, and she held a hand up to quiet them.

“It is with a heavy heart that I do this. Hunter and his party have been a godsend to my people and their work will be spoken about for decades... nay, centuries... to come.” Queen Celestina said. “However, he is a singular existence that shouldn't be here. His influence has been felt all over the kingdom and his personality draws other powerful people towards him.” She smiled. “Had this kingdom been a democracy, I have no doubt that he would have given me some trouble during the election.”

“Some!” Evus the guard exclaimed and everyone looked at him. “Ah... I'm shutting up now.”

That made quite a few people laugh.

“As you just saw.” Queen Celestina waved to Evus, which made almost all of us laugh, because we understood what she meant. “You can have a few days to get any necessary affairs in order, buy better equipment and supplies if required, then you will be escorted to the border of the Second Choutia Kingdom.”

“Thank you for not making it an immediate expulsion like others have, your majesty.” I said and bowed to her. “I will use the time wisely.”

“I would expect nothing less.” Queen Celestina said and her eyes roamed over the other people in the room. “You are welcome to stay and...”

“No, thank you.” Allirynn said. “We go where Hunter goes.”

Everyone in my party nodded, and the queen let them see a small smile for a brief moment.

“Then once again, I thank you all for your services to me, my kingdom, and its people.” Queen Celestina said and bowed her head to us. Everyone bowed in response, and then we were led out of the meeting room.

“Where to first?” Maylia asked.

“I'm tempted to sell off or trade all of the armor and weapons I'm carrying, except...” I stopped talking for a moment. “I get the feeling that I'm going to need them.”

“Then go with that feeling.” Imiryl said and held Allirynn's arm. “You haven't been wrong yet.”

I nodded and we left the castle and started to gather provisions for the trip. Since we didn't know what the conditions and supply situation was going to be like in the other kingdoms, we loaded up with a lot more than we normally would take. Extra horse feed, dry and wet rations, and fresh food with both fruits and vegetables, were packed into large saddle bags and into bags of holding. Both Afyne and I had a few pieces of chickens and a few eggs left and we agreed to space them out to make them last that much longer.

Afyne had taken to her lessons in Presence like a duck to water, once she learned that mana was just a different form of Presence and she could feel the difference. That had made me very proud of her and I tested her with it. She really did know the difference and I rewarded her by going to the tailor shop that we had visited before and pretty much bought out the whole store. We had clothing for every occasion that you could think of now, and then we visited teachers for her various skills and classes. I bought all the materials that I could, including books, training items, and both real and wooden weapons.

With two new bags of holding that were quite full, we went back to the castle to spend the last of the evening relaxing. We got undressed to have a nice long soak in the tub, and Maylia commented that I wasn't using the time wisely, as I had told the queen. I tickled her sides and she laughed and tried to run away, so I attacked Afyne next, then I chased the two of them around the large tub.

Afyne spent most of the next day with Milly and her guards, so I had all that time to be alone with Maylia. She didn't complain that I was wasting my time after that.

On the third and last day, we all gathered together and toured the monument that was being constructed for the victims of the vampires. It was huge and had a lot of names on it already. The people working on it said that it would be taken apart when it was completed and moved into the city center. That way, everyone that came to the capital would see it.

“No one wants to be reminded of it and no one wants to forget.” I said as I looked at it. “Eventually, people will see it and not be reminded of what happened; but, they will remember because it's right in front of them.”

Several of the workers nodded in agreement. We all left there to have a good meal in the common room and then headed to bed. Tomorrow was the big day. My exodus from the kingdom.

It seems to happen a lot. I thought in amusement as I hugged Maylia and Afyne close, then fell asleep.