few short seconds, but felt like an eternity until I was suddenly waking up in my body."
"So...what you're trying to say is that you guys weren't there?" Omarion was trying to decipher it, but we noticed the sudden switch in his eyes before he was grinning like an evil mastermind. "I have to admit, your wife is a cunning woman who'd do a fine job being an evil queen."
"Your praise makes me want to kill you," King Wyatt dryly stated, which made Vladimir laugh.
"Good, but my curiosity lies in how your wife was able to conduct such a powerful spell? Explain it to my lost counterpart for me, will you?"
He was gone before King Wyatt could scowl at him.
"Vladimir," Omarion quietly growled, as if his counterpart god could speak back to him. He rolled his eyes as if he got a response that was dissatisfying and returned his attention to us.
King Wyatt decided to take the reigns of explaining what Vladimir had requested.
"What Faith conjured up was an extremely strong fae spell that triggers supernatural disassociation. Compared to the normal definition of disassociation where the mind has a break of how it handles information, supernatural disassociation is where the soul is given a break from one's body. It's one of the hardest abilities to achieve, and an interesting fact is that the only successful masters of the ability are female." He paused to make sure we were following along before he carried forward. "What the serum you drank did was put your bodies in a coma. That's why it felt like you passed out. Putting you in a coma would give her the opportunity to use her fae abilities to create 'puppets' or, in this case, replicas of your bodies. She then used supernatural disassociation to move your souls from your real bodies to your replicas. That's exactly why you four didn't feel well and were experiencing an 'in the clouds' moment," he revealed. "The replica thrives on the flow of magic that revolves around nature. Even with Earth's enhancement in technology and a decrease in natural habitat, the flow of magic is enough to sustain the realism of the replicas. That's exactly why even Cassandra and Castalia were unable to notice the difference."
"Then why has it taken you all so long to return? I grasp the fact that you were all sleeping, but if the replicas were destroyed, doesn't that mean the souls returned to the bodies?" Omarion inquired.
We looked to King Wyatt to explain. He answered, "When the replicas are destroyed, the souls are forced back into their rooted bodies. However, being 'forced' back into your host is far more exhausting to the soul and the individual's body than being summoned back by the castor, or in your cases, Faith. The bomb was indeed unexpected. Therefore, Faith wouldn't have determined the need to summon your souls back to your bodies. The aftereffect of forced return is a delay in awakening time."
"You sure know this in detail," Omarion muttered.
"As Faith's husband, I need to know the pros and cons of such a skill in case it causes her harm."
A thought popped into my head, and I side-glanced at Otis to see we shared the same wavelength of curiosity.
"How do you know all of this when you've purposely kept your distance from your family?" we asked.
That had all eyes on him.
He sighed. "Due to the circumstances of what occurred upon these lands, I was designated to keep watch. Though there are rumors of the land being inescapable, I was one of the few who could enter and exit the lands. This place is also very close to Quilzurashi's kingdom. They knew of the truth and passed it down during the generations while upholding the secrecy of such information. That gave me the opportunity to live there and guard these lands. I would be here if things suddenly went further astray than what was already paved by the land's own demise. I already knew Faith and our relationship had been strong enough for us to focus on our commitments, but things strained with the issues that revolved around Constantine and later, Cassandra and Castalia. As much as I wanted to be there for Faith, the other three kingdom leaders ordered that I remain as the guardian of these lands. With Wilfried brewing malicious plans in various avenues, it would be too much of a risk for me to go back and forth between these lands and the fae world to see