The Flower of Separation

"Teo."

Lillian blinked, puzzled.

"It is rude to address somebody as you. Teo is my name."

A wanderer who gives their name, huh? This is truly interesting; it seems she can use him. For a human to turn into a dragon and even obtain the mark of the dragon god means he is no simple person. But before she can use him, she ought to learn more.

"Then Teo, I am Lillian."

"Lillian, Lili-!" His eyes suddenly widen. "Are you Falzo Lillian? The great Empress of the Adestra Empire?" .

Uh, wait, what? What is he talking about?

"My name is Ageha Lillian." Lillian corrected.

"Is your husband not the great mage, sir Lucas?"

Lillian became startled at the mention of Lucas. How does he know about Lucas? If he is a wanderer, he should have no knowledge of this world. Is he truly a wanderer? She scanned him up and down; his clothes are unique. She has never seen such a thing before, so it is clear he isn't from here.

Teo suddenly drew back as though he had just realized something. "I realize it may be rude to ask, but how old are you?"

"Twenty-five."

At that comment, Teo mumbled. "So there are three more years before then."

What is he talking about?

"I apologize; it seems I have the wrong person. I think I understand my situation better. This is the world three years ago before the world merger occurred."

"World merger?" Lillian repeated.

Teo bit his lip, and Lillian quickly interjected. "If you are worried about this distorting your time frame, please rest assured."

Lucas will surely use his powers to make sure nothing goes wrong. Moreover, she doesn't want him to stop; she is genuinely intrigued about where this man came from.

"I came from a land far from here, and yet at the same time, it is close by. I do not know how much information you have on it during this time, but other worlds exist beyond this Empire. Some are easy to reach, you can go by boat and travel by sea. During this time, people may not see it because there is a large barrier restricting entry to outsiders. But all these islands contain different Empires."

"Something that simple?"

Teo nodded. "It is, but most people are unaware because of the barrier."

"Then-"

"To break that barrier, one will need a powerful mage by their side. A mage and a woman with powerful light magic."

'It seems it won't be here then. Does that mean I ought to send Lucas to the Empress side? I did consider that for a bit when my father set things up. But when Lucas came rushing to me, I decided against it.'

Even if it is Lucas alone, she wants somebody to remain by her side.

"So, is that what you did?" As far as she can tell, this man is not a mage.

"Yes that is what Lyn, the current Empress in the phoenix empire did. She and her second husband, Sir Rhys traveled at sea and eventually reached another place. The barrier was not normal; it was protected by a guardian spirit of the mountain too. It was not easy. I was worried about those two and wanted to chase after them, but I could not leave the Empire be.

During the time her first husband became sick, Lyn dismissed all her retainers and tended to him. So there was nobody left who was trustworthy enough. When she finally received the Empress title, her husband died during the ceremony."

'That must have been painful. For some reason, I can sympathize.'

"She married her second husband, six months after only due to the pressure of the Kingdom's elders. Initially, the Empire was divided into several Kingdoms, Mist, snow, lightning, rain, and earth. But towards the end of her Queen reign, she managed to unite everybody, and thus we became the phoenix Empire. It took some time for her to obtain the title since it meant dismissing all the leaders of the Kingdoms."

Lillian looked intrigued as he continued to speak. This is the first time she is hearing so much about another world she wants to learn more about.

"At first, it was a political marriage, but they settled whatever differences they had and became a true couple. It was during that time there were rumors about a whirlpool of magic appearing randomly in towns. The Emperor decided to investigate and discovered the possibility of crossing other realms. It seemed he had been researching this for a long time, but it was the first time he got a proper clue. The Empress feared that something would go wrong, so she went with him. It was a good thing because, in the end, they found that some of the whirlpools led directly to another Empire."

"So," Lillian trailed off. "There are two ways to get to another Empire/time?"

Teo nodded. "The whirlpools, however, are rare. During this time, I do not think they have appeared as frequently."

It seems this person is quick to grasp the situation. He must have sensed her interested tone.

"What about this world merger?"

"It is exactly as the name implies, a way to merge the worlds. While there were some islands, one could travel by boat. There were some in a closed space from the rest. We learned that these Empires were originally in the same time-space, but due to heavy destruction from war, there was an agreement among the survivors. They would all go off and create their own Empires. The original world, however, was not the world I lived in." He paused. "This is the original world."

Lillian blinked when she heard those words. For some reason, it makes sense. Some areas in the Empire look like they have been damaged heavily by mass destruction, and some buildings are hard to restore. There is also an area her father prohibits people from entering- it seems she has a lead on this.

"How did you merge things?"

"The woman with light magic and her mage in this world are the ones who connected the worlds."

"So they just have to join their magic?"

"Their magic has to become one." Teo averted his gaze. "It is only when two souls become one can their magic merge together."

Lillian immediately understood his words and felt a pang in her heart.

'Does that mean Lucas will get together with the Empress?' She recalled their interaction and clenched her fist. Indeed they make a good couple. It was the first time she saw Lucas speak to another female so comfortably, and he even admitted that the Empress is interesting.

But no, there was something about it that did not seem right to her. Moreover, when she listened to this story, it felt very familiar to her.

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