Chapter 445 Worries

Fan'r let out a frustrated sigh as he turned away.

"My own son doesn't listen to what I say… Why did I even have them then?" Fan'r muttered.

"Now ,dear," Mother Wang stood up and grabbed her husband's hands. "They learned from the best. All of our children would put their lives on the line to protect what they love."

"They have life spans while others don't!" Fan'r looked at his wife. She frowned at him and nodded.

"I know, dear. Remember, Fan'r, lifespans are something given to people who have a short time to do great things. That's why most of our children left for the bigger Villages. So they could do great things. Don't put too much pressure on Philp. He's following in your footsteps." Fan'r groaned in frustration as he seemed to nod in agreement with his wife but not really agree.

"A Cursed One…" Lee Seng pushed himself onto his feet. He stumbled and Lily managed to prop him up, moving him towards the wall to balance himself on. "Worst than a Demon Fox?" Everyone looked at him. "What? I wanna know? Is it worse than a Demon Fox?"

"It can be." Lily nodded. "Why are you mentioning that? You and Keng might be in the same Realm. You two can get back together and stop that." Lee Seng's gut feeling made it hard for him to make a decision.

"After I check where he is." Lee Seng pushed himself away from the wall. "For now, your brother is safe, I think… I need to track my partner down." He began to move when Lily blocked him.

"Like that?" Lily asked. "You look like you're gonna pass out, Lee Seng."

"I don't have time, Lily. I don't want to become a…" Lee Seng stopped himself.

'I can't tell them about the other thing…' Lee Seng's vision turned to black as he began to fall.

"Lee Seng!" Lily shouted.

Sometime later…

"Will he be okay?" Lily asked. She sat in the living room looking at her Father as he walked out with one of the Villagers.

"He's stable. He just used too much energy." The Villager answered. Lily stood up, nodding. "He needs rest and I've put some ointment on him to calm the migraine he's been having. It seems like his mind is muddled with damage. I've tried my best to help him, but there's something stopping me from helping him fully. I've done all I could."

"Thank you for your help, Chima. I know it's been hectic ever since the Ire came in, but you still made time for Philip's savior." Fan'r bowed.

"Don't mention it, Fan'r." Chima waved. "When I heard someone managed to heal the Cursed afflicted Philip, I wanted to know who this person was. I can't believe it's a Twin Spirit. He managed to remove the curse as well. In all of my Fox Spirit years, even I haven't attained that sort of power. This one must be very special to the Sun gods."

"Special, indeed." Fan'r nodded. "Well, I shouldn't hold you here for conversation. There are many injured and we should go on with our duties. Thank you for your help, Chima."

"Anytime, Fan'r." Chima nodded. He turned to look at Lily and waved at her. "Goodbye, little one. When your friend wakes, let me know. I would like to properly introduce myself."

"Will do, Mr. Chima." Lily waved.

"Come, I'll see you out." Fan'r motioned. Fan'r and Chima walked out of the house as Lily turned her attention to the hallway. It was quiet in the house. Lily sighed and moved down the hall. She entered Jacob and Isaac's room and listened to the quiet breathing of Lee Seng. Lily sat down on the floor and adjusted the blankets.

'I wonder what happened to you and Keng.' Lily thought. 'For now, rest.' She patted his chest and stood up. She began to walk to the door when it opened revealing her brothers.

"Hm?" Lily quietly raised her eyebrows. She stepped out, closing the door.

"How is he?" Bright asked.

"Fine." Lily replied. They moved to the living room and all sat on the floor.

"He's not the guy we met yesterday?" Jacob asked.

"No." Winn shook his head.

"They look exactly alike." Bright pointed out. "Winn and I may be twins but we have our subtle differences. They're like… children who haven't really distinguished themselves yet."

"It doesn't help that we put him in Keng's clothes." Winn scratched his neck.

"And how's Philip?" Lily asked. "You guys just came back from there, right? Is he doing alright?"

"He's fine. Mom insists on staying by his side until he makes it through the night." Jacob replied. "Lee Seng did some great work on him, though. I heard he removed a Curse."

"He did." Bright and Winn replied in sync.

"He's that powerful? Isn't he just a three-tailed Fox?" Jacob raised his eyebrows.

"Did anyone look for Keng?" Lily asked.

"There's scouts and soldiers out there because of the Ire, but none have seen a Silver Fox." Jacob shrugged. "He couldn't have just disappeared like that."

"When Keng disappeared out of thin air… It's like Lee Seng was replaced with him… I wonder if they're connected." Lily theorized.

"Just cause they're twins doesn't mean that they have that connection. Bright and I don't even have that connection." Winn pointed between him and Bright.

"We might be telepathically connected but nothing crazy like that." Bright shook his hand.

"Sooo, what do we do then? He'll wanna look for his partner when he wakes up." Lily looked over at the hallway.

"Don't worry so much about that right now. We still have our duties to attend to. Let him rest for now. Tomorrow you can deal with what happened to Keng." Jacob patted Lily. "You stay with him and make sure he's fine. We'll periodically pop back into check on you, Kay?"

p Lily nodded and walked her older brothers out. The last bits of sunshine was slowly fading into the black and purples of night. There was still fog lingering about as the village streets were empty.

"Alright, see you guys. Be careful." Lily waved.

"If you need anything, I won't be too far. I'm on guard duty, alright?" Bright told his sister. Lily nodded and they all gave each other a wave before splitting. Lily watched her brothers go together. This wouldn't be the last time they would leave her like this, but a sense of uneasiness still sat in her chest.

The Next Morning…

Lee Seng's eyes fluttered open. The smell of herbs and something spicy alerted him. Lee Seng slowly pushed himself up, noticing a sleeping Lily wrapped in blankets as a sleeping Jacob slept with his back facing him.

'Where am I?' Lee Seng rubbed his eyes. He looked down and noticed his bandaged body. 'Why am I in gauze wraps?' He pinched one of the wraps and smelled the herbs and spice coming from it. 'It's coming from there… Why?' He noticed he had some shorts on and grew even more confused.

"Is this his stuff?" Lee Seng whispered. Exactly on cue, Jacob woke up. He rolled over and noticed his sister sleeping next to him. His eyes quickly went over to the awaken replica of Keng looking at him. "Oh, did I wake you?"

"No." Jacob sat up. The sheets fell, revealing his ripped body. Jacob had a strange mark on the side of his rib cage. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Why all the wraps?" Lee Seng asked.

"Oh… Healer Chima said it's for your body's energy. You consumed too much and then used my father's energy, so rebuilding that energy would be tough without that herbal paste." Jacob explained as he took the blanket off and put it on Lily. He wore sleeping pants that went to his calves. "Come outside. You can wash up in the back and we can figure out breakfast." Jacob cracked the door open and waited for Lee Seng.

"O-okay…" Lee Seng nodded. He stood up, dropping the blankets onto the floor and following Jacob out of the room. Jacob shut the door behind them and led them to the back door. Just like Keng, he lead Lee Seng to the small building in the back. Jacob took Lee Seng to the back, opening the door and revealing an unused bathroom.

"This is the bathroom. If you need to relieve yourself, do so before taking a bath." Jacob stepped into the bathroom and moved into one of the stalls. Lee Seng awkwardly stepped into one of the stalls and relieved his bladder. "Lily told me you showed up because Keng disappeared?"

"Y-yeah." Lee Seng replied. "I think that's the reason why… I'm not really sure what to do. This has never happened before."

"Well, we can search around. Bright, Winn and Lily could probably take you to the sight they saw him last. Maybe someone who's good at spotting energy could track him down for you." Jacob stepped out of the stall. Lee Seng turned and unlocked the stall, pushing it as he followed Jacob over to the "sink" area.

"I should be able to pick something up if we go to the site. I just need more context on what happened. Bright was pissed when he saw me, so I'm not sure what to expect."

"Well, you can get the full story from the others." Jacob looked at Lee Seng as he washed his hands. "I think Bright and Winn are up. They might be in the hot springs on the other side of this building. Let's check."

"T-there's a whole hot spring in this building? What crazy spell did you cast on this?" Lee Seng asked.

"Spell?" Jacob chuckled. "More like intricate runic writing. Come, let's get washed up. I'm pretty sure you don't wanna smell like medicinal herbs and spice."