"Oh right..."

Mars was currently in an inn that was located in the easten NNE, he was like a little kid before christmas, unable to sleep

'Hopefully they are all okay...'

This was the last time they had to rest before they reached Green river, so to say the least Mars was anxious after all it had been over a year since he had been home, who could say what had happened since he had been taken away by that s.h.i.+tbag administator

'I should get some more sleep...'

Mars closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep, but even after half an hour of regulating his breathing and laying perfectly still was he unable to fall asleep, one thing that didn't help was that 78 that lay beside him in the bed was a rudy sleeper and had a hard time staying still when she slept, currently Mars could feel one of her legs laying ontop of his stomach

'Yeah this isn't happening.... let's meditate for a bit...'

Mars crawled out of bed after unwrapping 78 from himself and sat down on the wooden floor with crossed legs and began to clear his mind before he began meditating about the nature of energy and the nature of his mandate... As the sun gradually rose he could feel its energy through the walls of the inn, all of those light seconds away was a giant fusion reaction on going that was fusing hydrogen into helium as those thoughts pa.s.sed through his head it dawned on him

'Energy is omnipresent...'

Mars flet the nature of his very being change slightly as something within him suddenly clicked then suddenly he heard Info's voice

[I felt that from here... Congratulations Mars, you are have reached the first threshold of your mandate, a task very few living G.o.ds before you have managed to accomplish before their life ran out]

Mars gave a smile before he opened his eyes that seemed to s.h.i.+ne slightly in the still dim west facing room, then he quickly began packing and when 78 gradually awoke half an hour later Mars was sitting on his backpack meditating, when she looked at him he opened his eyes and gave a very charming smile

"Let's go"

"...Okay, I'll get dressed quickly"

78 could feel something was different about Mars, yet she could not really put her finger on it so she decided not to think to hard about it and quickly got dressed, then the two of them checked out of the inn and called Victoria that jumped out of a nearby shadow before they prepared to fly out of the city

"...Let's race until the forest Victoria"

"You're... On"

Mars picked up 78 and raced after Victoria that already had set off and within two and a half hours they had reached the Mother forest

"Okay.... I admit it, you win Victoria"

"Yay..."

Mars put down 78 and looked into the forest, then without saying anything he began walking into the forest, 78 followed after him and so did VIctoria, after walking for a few minutes Mars stopped and looked around before he gave a nod

"They should have seen us in the mirror by now... Let's fly again"

78 looked a little confused but still gave a nod as Mars picked her up in his arms, Victoria jumped into her shadow and began speeding south through the forest, Mars and 78 rose above the trees before Mars also began speeding south, after a few hours they arrived in the inner forest and landed again 78 looked around, she was standing in the middle of a plantation along with Mars and Victoria, Mars floated up and picked a fruit from one of the trees and handed it to her

"Here try this"

"Sure"

78 bit into the fruit, it was very ripe and a taste of mint spread out in her mouth which made her smile

"Like it?"

78 gave a nod as her mouth was occupied with eating the mint fruit, Mars gave a smile and began walking south, Victoria and 78 followed after him, soon they could see the walls of Green river, the walls looked like they were made of living trees and was covered with leafs and reached about 10 meters tall, Mars walked towards the walls without bothering with finding a gate, as he neared the walls they suddenly began opening up a small pa.s.sage where the group of three walked through the walls and emerged on a lively street on the other side of the walls, 78 looked around

"This sure is packed with people..."

"Yeah, well Green river is a city with a high population density"

78 gave a nod and followed after Mars, but after walking a few hundred meters she walked up besides him and grabbed his arm a little tighter then she used to as she looked around the unfamiliar surroundings, tall building reached towards the branches of the giant tree that covered the entirety of Gree river city, 78 had never seen buildings like this and was very surprised quickly asking Mars

"Mars, what are those buildings?"

"They are called sky trees... I have one of my own with a penthouse in the top five floors''

"I see... Then which one is yours?"

"Hmm... It should be that one over there"

Mars pointed to a sky tree that stood a couple of kilometers away, 78 gave a nod and squeezed Mars' arm a little tighter, soon a group of soldiers in ceremonial armor suddenly showed up, they stopped in front of Mars and 78 and one of them spoke

"Mars, the elders are waiting for your arrival"

"I see... Well let them know that they aren't my top priority, let's go 78"

78 gave a nod and looked over at the soldier before she stuck out her tongue as they walked past, the soldier's eyelids twitched, if not for the orders he received mentioned not to provoke Mars or the ones around him he would already have slapped 78, but alas he could only give a sigh before he and the other soldiers in ceremonial armor began walking back towards the giant tree to report what they had been told by Mars...

"And here we are..."

Mars and 78 stopped in front of his building and Mars took a deep breath before he stepped in and walked over to the mana elevator and selected the topmost floor, after a very tense 30 seconds a ding sounded out and the doors opened, from there they stepped out of the elevator and stopped in front of a door

"...Mars you're shaking"

"Yeah I noticed..."

Mars took another deep breath and reached into his pocket and took out a key he had not used in over a year, sliding the key into the door Mars slowly turned it and unlocked the door before he took another deep breath and pushed open the door before he gave a sigh and walked into his home, at this point 78 let go of his arm and walked besides him instead of clinging to him, Mars didn't even notice this as he was as tense as he could be, he suddenly felt that the usual hallway was as long as the journey he had undertaken to return to Salen and he very much wanted to run away

'Come on... Move...'

Mars stood still just past the doorway for a few long seconds before he slowly began walking forwards and soon he reached the living room and combined kitchen where he saw the back figure of one of the people he had dreamed about seeing for the past year, she had not noticed him yet as she was working in the kitchen while humming a tune, though suddenly the fluffy ears on the top of her head twitched and she turned around while speaking

"Great timing could you help m...e..."

a crash sounded out as Elsa dropped the mixing bowl she held in her hands, the bowl broke and spilled its contents on the floor, but she couldn't care less as she looked at the youth she had dreamed about so many times in the past year that now stood in front of her, a single tear suddenly formed in her eye before it was followed by another and then another, Mars dropped his bag to the floor and slowly stepped closer to Elsa before he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close as she cried silently

"You're... home right?"

"Yeah"

"This is real... Right?"

"Very real, want me to pinch you?"

Elsa looked up into Mars' face as she gave a sweet smile as she spoke

"No I want you to kiss me"

"...Well I can do that"

Mars ever so gently kissed Elsa that suddenly shuddered before she suddenly warped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, for a small moment only the two of them existed in a world of their own