CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: DEPARTURE.
All the fairies in the hall hailed and cheered for their king and queen with all their hearts, some were even in tears, others wore warm smiles while the rest approached the table and took their seats.
"You know you have to raise a toast at least to start the feast." Ashley whispered softly to Kevin who looked at her and then looked at the fairies before him then with a thought a cup floated to him along with a jug that poured a red liquid into the cup.
The cup then floated to his hands and Kevin raised his cup and the fairies went wild again with cheers as the feast began.
Other fairies were not present in the hall but began to prepare other halls and create new buildings since all fairy kind were traveling to this part of the world for their first feast in centuries.
Kevin took a sip from his cup and was so surprised with the texture and taste of his drink that he had to question Ashley.
"What is this?" Kevin turned to Ashley who only delighted in answering his question.
What you are tasting is a simple fruit blend made with terrazit, apexnuts, draconic essence, and red grapes. Ashley answered without skipping a beat.
"Apexnuts? Draconic essence?" Kevin asked with widened eyes. He wondered if these peaceful-looking fairies killed a dragon or something and he almost didn't want to ask about the apexnuts.
"Oh so it's the naming that is putting you off… give it here." Ashley said as she took Kevin's cup from his hand and sipped from it.
"Hmm, this is good." Ashley said as she closed her eyes and relished in the flavour.
"Give it back!" Kevin said as he tried to collect his cup from Ashley but her hand didn't budge. Kevin then looked at her as if he was giving her a warning but then Ashley shocked him by helping him drink from his cup as she guided the cup to his mouth slowly with her free hand behind his head to help keep him from choking.
Kevin's face reddened a little at that but drank from the cup, the fruit mix was unlike anything he had ever tasted after all.
The fairies who saw this clapped and resumed their feasting. Ashley then willed a dish containing a different assortment of chopped meat to float to her hand as she began feeding Kevin.
"Nah, I think I can eat by myself just fine." Kevin said but saw a look of disappointment on Ashley's face.
Kevin then took deep breaths and let Ashely feed him two pieces of chopped meat.
"Thanks. I will take it from here." Kevin said as he began to eat from his dish.
*****
That part of the continent began to get filled with fairies with every passing hour. The feast still continued even after a day, but Kevin teleported back to his workshop.
"After all that you still want to return to your boring life back on earth. I know many male earthlings would wish they were you in position right now. You can literally have anything you want." Sophia appeared immediately after Kevin.
"And I know many people who will still see a decorated prison as a prison still." Kevin said as he began to make his final arrangements.
"A prison? Maybe at first. But look at you now, you are like a god, a messiah in the eyes of the fairies." Sophia argued.
"Yes, and it is only so because of a moment of hesitation from you if not I would be a car battery for this world all just for your petty revenge." Kevin said while working without even turning to spare Sophia a glance.
That last reply from Kevin cut through her like hot knife through butter as she contemplated what to say. She knew nothing she said would change Kevin's mind, if someone like Ashley whom Kevin tolerated couldn't do it then who is she to do any better?
"So you are telling me you didn't even enjoy the company of Tessia or even Queen Ashley?" Sophia asked.
That question created a pause in Kevin's work and thinking but he soon resumed what he was doing and ignored the question.
"Anyway, if you ever want to come back here just think of this place." Sophia said as she walked away with her head down and dispersed into nothingness.
"My goodness, I know I watched this from far away but I could still feel your coldness." Ashley said as she walked out of a transparent portal that broke the space in Kevin's workshop.
Kevin turned to her as his clothes transformed to that of a long-fitting black trench coat, a dark blue shirt with a silver-coloured infintum Cuban chain resting on his neck, fitting denim trouser, and black boots.
Before leaving the forbidden weapons facility, he made sure to help himself with some valuable infinitum amongst other things.
"I can't say I don't like the look." Ashley said as she looked around and saw that Kevin's preparations were complete. It was night and the guards that were stationed at Kevin's place had already joined the feast that seemed never-ending.
"Say, why don't I join you?" Ashley asked as she inched closer to Kevin.
"No. Besides you have a responsibility here." Kevin replied coldly, his previous conversation with Sophia still left him a bit edgy.
"Oh." Ashley said as her figure shrunk, clearly shaken by Kevin's coldness.
"I can leave and those bastards in the council will be happy anyway. The reason they are even quiet and docile is because of your presence here, the moment you leave things will get political again. So no, I think they have things all figured out here." Ashley said refusing to be brought down by Kevin's earlier remarks as she steeled herself.
Taking Kevin's hand and letting mana flow from her left hand to his right she leaned in and kissed Kevin on the cheek.
"I know you probably have someone waiting for you back at a place you call home, I hope one day you can come to see this place as home too." Ashley said as she withdrew herself and stopped herself from leaving.
That action left Kevin speechless, bamboozled, hoodwinked, led astray to the land of imagination, and flat-out stunned! Kevin without saying any words looked at Ashley one last time and disappeared from her vision but appeared on the ship.
He started the ship and the ship let out a low hum. Ashley excused herself from the area by using a portal to reappear high above the clouds. Kevin with a thought warped his ship into the sky and applied the camouflage feature which made the ship completely transparent in the air. Looking at planet Sylvie, he activated the hyperdrive function, and the ship tore through a hole in space and left a streaking trail of light for a second and wasn't seen again.