Kinzie stared at the slave collar, which was disguised as a decorative choker. It was lying in on her bed in front of her, no longer secured on around her neck. She had been out on a mission when she heard a click and it fell off, however, in that moment she didn't have the time to think what happened and only picked it up until she was back home.
The collar around her neck had been her security for the last 10 years. Whenever she missed him, she would touch it. Whenever she was nervous or sad, she would touch it. The tight hold around her neck was a constant reminder that he was still alive and would eventually find his way back to her.
Now though, she was confused and distraught. What did a slave collar coming off on its own mean? It meant that the control beacon was destroyed. This normally wouldn't be that big of a deal as storage items, including dimensional rings could be destroyed. The only problem was that she knew where Kayn placed the control beacon for her collar.
She wasn't aware that Kayn didn't have his mana core in the normal spot, but she had watched him place the beacon right where one's mana core should be. She assumed he had put it right beside his core for safe keeping.
If her control beacon was destroyed, the possibility of Kayn's mana core also being destroyed was high. Which likely meant that he had died. She wanted to hold on to hope, but the more she thought about it, and after discussing it with Rowen, even he said the most likely reason was his death.
In a final moment of desperation, she sought out Charlotte who was currently operating as a healer for the small town they were staying in. Charlotte had taken Lara with her to keep her safe and instruct her as she grew up, leaving Rowen and Kinzie to pursue their own needs in order to set up their own new lives.
The two elves would still visit regularly and Charlotte welcomed it as Lara was familiar with the two and had grown quite attached over the years. Kinzie approached the house where Charlotte and Lara were staying, and before she could even get close to the door, a beautiful young girl, a teenager, shot out of the building.
"Kinzie!" The teenager shouted as she glued herself to Kinzie's body like a koala.
"Hey Lara, how are you? Have you kept up with your studies?" Kinzie asked as he patted Lara's head.
"Of course! I want to show brother how smart I am when he comes back! Plus, Grandma Charlotte will scold me if I slack off." Lara pouted, but then tilted her head as she let go of Kinzie and saw that she seemed saddened.
"Are you okay Kinzie?"
"Ah? Oh yes, I'm okay. Speaking of Grandma Charlotte though, is she here? I would like to speak with her," Kinzie said after she shook the sad thoughts from her head. Hearing Lara say that she was studying so hard to impress her brother, who might now be dead, pulled on her heartstrings.
How was she supposed to tell this bright young girl, who had been waiting for her brother's return for more than 10 years, that he wouldn't be returning?
"She's here. She should be with a patient right now, but I don't think it will take long. If you want, I can make some tea for you while you wait for her." Lara spoke as she led Kinzie inside the building by the hand.
The two entered the house through the residential entrance, on the other side of the building was a business entrance. Charlotte had the building built in a way where she could keep the business side and private side of it separated, aside from a single door that bridged the two.
Lara had Kinzie sit on the couch in the living room before skipping off into the kitchen and putting a kettle of water on the stove to warm up. Magic was a wonderful thing for those who could afford it, and the oven-stove top combination device they owned was powered by a rune beast core stone of the fire element, allowing it to heat up on its own.
After she began the heating process, she went to the healing business side of the house to alert Charlotte of her visitor's presence. Fortunately, it was quite late and she was on her last patient of the day, so she didn't have to send anyone away in order to meet her guest.
Soon, Charlotte entered the living room and sat opposite of Kinzie while Lara served the two ladies tea. After serving herself some as well, she sat down next to Charlotte with a big smile on her face. She always enjoyed Kinzie's visits, mostly because Kinzie would play with her or give her sweets whenever she came.
Charlotte, seeing the serious expression adorning Kinzie's face, and the lack of a certain item around her neck, looked to Lara and spoke. "Lara, could you go to your room for a bit? I have adult things to discuss with Kinzie."
"But I'm almost an adult! Why can't I listen in?" Lara argued back as she was within a couple years of what was considered an adult in this world.
"Lara, not this time. Please go to your room." Charlotte spoke in a stern voice which Lara recognized to be her 'no room for argument' tone.
"Okay…" Lara stood up and slouched with her head down as she trudged out of the living room to the staircase. However, when she got to her room, she only closed the door and then snuck back down the stairs so that she could listen in to the conversation still.
Unfortunately, the first words she caught from their talk were directed at her.
"I'll give you to the count of three to get to your room before I punish you, Lara."
Once Charlotte heard the door shut and pushed out her senses again in order to confirm Lara was actually inside the room this time, she pulled out a special device that was enchanted with a silencing barrier functionality.
"Haaa, that child, she becomes more willful every day. I also don't know how much longer I'll be able to suppress her core from forming. Kayn once told me his parents gave both him and his dead sister items that would suppress their nature after their core formed. I don't have a way to create such an item for Lara, we need Kayn for that. However, it looks like something has changed."
Charlotte spoke, but her eyes were directed at Kinzie's neck. Once her eyes drifted back up to Kinzie's face and saw the tears forming in her eyes, she couldn't help but sigh.
"It doesn't mean he's gone just because the collar disengaged. Maybe his dimensional ring got destroyed in some accident, it's nothing to worry about. He's been gone for a while now, but until now no changes occurred. Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet."
Charlotte was a little worried despite her words. The slave collar was active despite Kayn being in an entirely different world. This meant that despite the beacon being so far away, since the beacon existed, the collar remained clasped. In conclusion, the beacon had to be destroyed, but that only could happen if his ring was destroyed or he did it himself.
"You don't understand!" Kinzie shouted. "He put my control beacon inside his body for safe keeping! I watched him place it just under his torso where mana cores are formed!"
Finally, Charlotte's expression shook. She knew his core wasn't truly there, but if something kept where a regular core should be was destroyed, had he really died? Did he fail in trying to get back and his body was destroyed in the process? Then something occurred to her, didn't Kinzie have the control beacon for Kayn's collar?
"Kinzie, do you still have the beacon for Kayn's slave collar?" Kinzie's eyes widened when she heard this and she immediately stood up.
"I'll be right back Senior!"
It didn't take long for Kinzie to return to Charlotte's home, but her expression was even worse than when she left. The orb that used to be lit up signaling that it was activated, was now dull.
Little did they know, but Kayn's soul strength had risen so much that it deactivated the slave collar's hold over him. Unfortunately, these two wouldn't be able to know of that fact and could only assume the worst.
"What-What do we do now?" Kinzie managed to stutter out, trying to keep her emotions in check.
"We move on." Charlotte spoke with a solemn voice. Even she was at a bit of a loss, but this wasn't the first time she experienced the death of an ally.
"Since I can't suppress Lara for much longer, I'll need to find a way to keep her aura in check to prevent the dangers that he was worried about. I will most likely close my little healing shop down until I can solve this issue. As for you, I truly cannot tell you what to do."
Kinzie began bawling her eyes out at that point. After trying her best every single day in order to catch up to him even a little bit, all her effort was for naught. Her heart felt like it was ripped from her chest, it was almost worse than when her parents died. The feeling was different, but it felt just as excruciating.
As her sobs continued, Kinzie barely managed to sputter out another question, "What-How are we supposed to tell Lara?"
"Leave that to me child. For now, go home and rest. Discuss it with your grandfather after you calm down a little. After that, you two can decide where you want to go from here. If you want to stay close so you can keep visiting Lara, feel free. Or if you want to leave this place, that is also a choice you can make. I will no longer be adamant in my requests to keep you two close to me."
Charlotte had been keeping Kinzie and Rowen close in order to protect them, which she knew probably felt a little bit suffocating to them. Now that the most likely outcome was his death, she no longer had a good reason to restrain their movements.
"I'm sorry it came to this." Charlotte spoke as she stood along with Kinzie. Kinzie didn't say anything in return, but instead slowly trudged to the door with her head down, holding the collar that used to be around her neck, tightly bound to her body.
Charlotte watched as Kinzie slowly walked out of her home and just down the street to where Rowen's shop and their home was located. Charlotte watched the once bubbly and active elf from behind, she looked so small in this moment, but there was nothing Charlotte could do to comfort her.
Once Kinzie was safely in her own home, Charlotte entered her own home before closing the door. She dropped back, leaning against the door and sighed. She never had any children herself, and Lara was as close to raising a child as she had come. She even allowed Lara to call her Grandma Charlotte.
She was dreading breaking the small girl's heart. She tried so hard every day, just for the day that her brother would eventually return to her. To prove that she was every bit worthy of being his sister. What would happen to her once she knew that day would never come?