Chapter 38 - Mavel's Dilemma P3
~38.3~
*****
Over the rest of the weekend, Maya and I spent almost all of our time together. She even started sleeping with me the night we started dating. I never imagined I'd find love in this mortal world. It was such a happy time. And waking up next to her was wonderful.
The following Monday was something I was mischievously excited for. Come fourth period, I walked into the class with Serah and Stella, and Maya was already there waiting for us. As soon as she saw me, she jumped up, ran over, and hugged me.
"Hi, Eli!"
"Hi, Maya."
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a certain pair.
Claire and Ellen, there you are.
"What do you wanna do after school today?" Maya asked.
"Hmm, I was thinking of sitting in on Rhia and Aira's elective class, then maybe ice cream?"
"Ice cream sounds wonderful! You want to sit in on their class? They're taking swordplay after hours, right?"
"Yeah, they're taking combat staves in school hours and swordplay after."
She smiled brightly. "That sounds like fun! I wonder if the instructor will mind. Probably not?"
"Not sure. Worse case, he doesn't let us and we go get ice cream early."
"Are you sure? I'm happy if it's just the two of us, but wouldn't the others want to go?"
A loud sigh interrupted us. Sure enough, playing it up in front of them triggered a reaction, though they didn't go as far as they did last Tuesday. They stayed seated and Claire said, "You got on our cases about giving Maya a hard time, but now it looks like you're leading her on."
"How are you going to lecture other people when you're being so blatant about it?" added Ellen.
I shrugged. "I'm not leading her on at all."
"If this isn't flirting…" Claire sighed again. "As much as I hate to admit it, even I feel bad for her right now. Is six times not enough?"
I eyed Maya. She was completely unfazed. She just gave me a nod, so I turned back to pair and said exactly what I talked about Saturday. "Seventh time's the charm."
The pair exchanged glances and looked at us with that classic eye blinking face. "Pardon?"
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Ellen asked.
"I'm saying exactly what you think I'm saying." I took Maya's right hand with my left, interlocking our fingers.
I had expected the pair to scoff or get pouty, but they did neither. To my surprise, they giggled with a smile.
"Congratulations, Maya."
"You better take care of her," Claire added.
Their sincerity was a surprise. Of all the ways for them to react, they reacted as though they actually cared about Maya. It felt strange to me after how they acted before, but I could tell they were being genuine.
Maybe they're not so bad after all. I'll keep my suspicions, but this is a welcome change.
Maya being ever unbothered simply led me to our seats and started chatting about whatever she felt like talking about until class started. I was happy just to be there with her.
*****
After school, everyone at our villa was planning to start sparring together. Cel and Chris were in a different weapon class. Though they were in swordplay, there were too many swordplay students for one class. In fact, there were several. Serah was in my swordplay class, and Stella was in theirs. I also found out Rhia and Aira were taking swordplay in an elective after school hours.
The way the schedule was set up, we had four academic classes and club before lunch, then three martial classes after lunch. The martial classes had to be one mana class, one magic class, and one weapon class. That was the end of the normal school day, but there were two elective classes after the normal school day.
A bell rang every day from the start of school until the end of the elective classes. The bell ringing signified when to change classes. The bell also rang twice five minutes later to signify class has begun.
Bell 1: 8:00 - Academic Class 1
Bell 2: 9:00 -Academic Class 2
Bell 3: 10:00 - Academic Class 3
Bell 4: 11:00 - Academic Class 4
Bell 5: 12:00 - Student Clubs
Bell 6: 12:45 - Lunch
Bell 7: 13:30 - Martial Class 1
Bell 8: 14:30 - Martial Class 2
Bell 9: 15:30 - Martial Class 3
Bell 10: 16:30 - End of Day/Elective Class 1
Bell 11: 17:30 - Elective Class 2
Bell 12: 18:30 - End of Elective Day
I didn't take any electives, since they were all weapon classes. I had no interest in taking optional classes on subjects I had very extensive experience with already. Being a transcendent, I had ample time back home to learn them. Few could compete with my right hand, and none could compete with my left hand holding a sword.
In school, everyone was required to take a mana class, a magic class, and a weapon class, collectively labeled martial classes. Each student had to take a variety of mana and magic classes throughout their tenure at the academy, with a few optional classes in each.
Every weapon class was optional, but each student had to take one every term. You could take swordplay one term, archery another, and hammers another. Or you could take Swordplay I, Swordplay II, then Swordplay III. Though everyone was heavily suggested to at least take the first of each weapon class to at least have some training to fight against them.
Rhia and Aira were taking a class for combat staves together during school hours, and a swordplay class in the first elective period after school hours.
Maya, Lena, and I got curious and decided to start sitting in on their swordplay class. It was the same instructor we had for swordplay the previous hour.
"Lady Elise, you three want to sit in on this class?" said Instructor Shaw. "But you don't even have to come to your own swordplay class."
I shrugged. "There are two students in this class we're friends with."
He was hesitant, but allowed it. "Very well. If you wish to sit in, you may do so. It's the same as your class an hour ago, so we're about to go over the weekend assignment."
I could already hear murmurs about us. "They don't have to take their own class?" "Yeah, I heard about that. They're good enough that they only need to show up for tests."
"Class, you must also have heard that Lady Elise is a skilled mage and can use Princess Eglantine's soundproof barrier magic." The instructor gave them a look of 'shut up'. "Lady Elise, if their gossip annoys you feel free."
I gave the class an evil smile. "Of course." I spotted Aira and Rhia and walked over to them. "Hi!"
"You're really spending an hour after school to hang out in our swordplay class?" Aira asked.
"Yeah. I want to watch." I smirked. "If one of us were taking archery, you would be curious, no?"
"Well..."
"You got us there," Rhia said. "I'd want to watch."
"Marie Vermilion."
What? Marie?
I looked around, and sure enough it was her. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, voluptuous figure. She looked and sounded so much like me that we could use colored contacts and look like twins.
But I thought nobody from back home was here.
"Eli?" Maya asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I know her. We went to school together in Aindrea."
"Wouldn't she have gone to school in the Vermillion Duchy?"
"Normally yes, but our school had something she wanted that Vermillion didn't."
"What's that?"
"My aunt was a part-time weapons instructor while I was there. She only taught swordplay twice a day, but her classes were full. Marie and her brother Liam came to Aindrea just to have Alice as a teacher."
"Lady Elise," the teacher called. "Lady Marie is requesting you be her sparring partner."
Without a word, I stepped through the crowd and greeted her. "Hi, Marie."
"She's greeting a ducal daughter without a title?" "First the issue with the princes, now-"
"You will all be silent," Marie said adamantly. "My friend may address me however she wishes." She smiled and jumped at me. "Hi, Elise! I missed you!" She hugged me right there in front of everyone.
"I thought you were going to the Wavecrest Academy."
"I was, but then Charlotte ended up coming here, and you're here, so Liam and I decided to come here instead." She let go and stepped back a few paces. "Shame we have no classes together."
"We can remedy that next term."
She smirked and readied her sword. "You've made quite a spectacle of yourself already."
I shrugged. "Well... yeah, I did."
I readied my sword as well and the instructor said, "Begin!"
She jumped forward with a forward lunge. I parried, redirecting her sword to my left, but she was ready for that. She quickly countered, grabbing my right wrist with her left hand pushing it up where my sword couldn't counter hers again. Then she pulled her sword back, but before she could hit me, I broke free and pulled my sword down, catching hers just in time to keep from getting struck.
"You're as good as ever!"
"Not bad yourself."
She pulled back and took her stance. She stood sideways with her left foot forward and right foot back, holding her blade next to her face toward me. Her right hand gripped her hilt up to the guard, and she gripped with her left hand behind it.
Just like Alice taught us. I wonder how Alice learned that stance. It's meant for a katana, but works just as well with a standard long sword.
I readied myself, taking a defensive stance and gave her a nod. She jumped forward and we exchanged several blows in rapid succession. Marie jumped back and readied herself for another attack, but the teacher called it.
"You pass, Lady Marie," he said with a sigh. "How are so many of the first years this year so talented that they can skip Swordplay I, maybe more."
"I don't know about anyone else, but Elise, my brother, and I were trained by Lady Alice Aindrea," Marie said, matter-of-factly. "Her course was rather intense, but I learned a lot from it."
The instructor's face went blank. "Lady Alice Aindrea… Elise Aindrea… it didn't click until now." He looked at me. "If I may ask, Lady Elise, how long have you been training with the sword?"
I put a finger on my chin and thought about it. "One day, I picked up a twig and started swinging it. I was two. I was training with wooden swords at three, metal rods at five, and edgeless swords at seven."
"She's been using a sword that long?" "Is she a prodigy?" "She's the one who cast that huge explosion magic last week." "What is she?"
"A genius!" I replied as I snapped my fingers and placed a soundproof barrier around the rest of the class. "But I'm not even in this class, so let's not talk about me, eh? I'm just here to observe, or I suppose assist if Instructor Shaw requests it." I gave him a nod and rejoined my friends, who were in a compartmented section of the barrier.
The instructor sighed and continued calling names. Every single student requested that I test them, but the instructor denied everyone. Only when he called Aira's name, did he allow it. He had noticed I was being friendly with Aira and Rhia, so I figured that's why. I sparred with Aira, then with Rhia, and the teacher dismissed the class.
"Elise, let's hang out sometime!" Marie said before we parted ways.
"Yeah, of course!"
*****
After school, as planned, everyone at the Villa gathered to spar. The others that didn't sit in on Rhia and Aira's sword class were having tea until we arrived, with the redhead elves in tow.
After sparring, we had tea and refreshments. I tried to get Serah and Stella to be part of that, but they refused and served instead. I reluctantly accepted, but I told them they would have to participate sometimes, which they agreed to.
As Rhia and Aira were leaving, Rhia asked to talk to me and pulled me aside. She held out her hand and indicated she wanted to talk telepathically.
I took her hand and asked, "What's on your mind, Rhia?"
"Aira visited you the other day."
"Yes. We discussed a variety of things."
She was hesitant to talk, but pushed through. "She told you with my permission, of course, but you know I'm transgender now."
"Yes."
"I understand that a lot of people view things in a binary and based on birth, but I felt I had to at least ask and get told no rather than not ask at all."
"Ask me what?"I should make it clear that being transgender isn't important to me, but I want to hear her out first. That last sentence… she's likely been struggling with this since the night Aira came to talk, maybe before that and Aira was simply less inhibited about approaching me.
"Aira requested that the two of you date, in elven fashion. She wants to get to know you."
"Yes."
"I want to get to know you better as well. But I understand that my being transgender may-"
"I accept."
She had been looking to the side, likely afraid of the answer she was expecting, but the answer I gave her took her by surprise.
"You accept? But I didn't even-"
"Being cis or transgender doesn't matter to me. And besides, cis women and transgender women have something in common."
"What…?"
"Take away the suffix, and you get to the part that matters. You are a woman. It doesn't matter what other word prefaces that, you are what you are. And more importantly, from how you approached me I get the feeling that you've been working up the courage for a few days now."
She bashfully nodded. "Aira encouraged me. She said that you're even more wonderful than we thought. And your kind words from the party that evening stuck with me. I grew interested. I would like to get to know you better, preferably following elven culture."
I gave her a warm smile. "Of course! Aira and I have planned an outing Wednesday evening. I understand you and Aira are a couple and I'm guessing you might want to have a group date. If that's right, I'm okay with it, but I personally would like to have at least one date with each of you separately, if that's okay. Wednesday will be just Aira and me. Would you like to claim another evening for just the two of us?"
She nodded again. "Yes. My evenings are free Wednesday to Friday. Aira and I are going somewhere Saturday. Sunday is open, and next Monday and Tuesday evenings are also open."
"My Thursday is open, my Friday is not." I paused for a moment. "But there are a couple of things that you should know before anything. I've already told Aira. It's no secret, so she may have mentioned it already, but Maya and I are girlfriends now."
"She told me, yes."
"I just wanted to make sure you're aware of that before proceeding."
"You are very thoughtful, Eli. Aira and I also talked about this before she visited you. We were both unsure about becoming polyamorous, but agreed to try, since we both developed an infatuation with you. She came back that night elated and I felt happy for her."
"Compersion."
"Pardon?"
"It's the word to describe feeling happy over another person being happy. I think it's wonderful to have that."
She smiled brightly. "She noticed, too. Aira is very perceptive."
"Indeed. I need to talk to Maya about this. She has already told me she's fine with me dating Aira, and even suspected you might want to as well and encouraged me to accept if it came to that."
"She did?"
"Yes. Maya is also perceptive, but not the same sort as Aira. Aira seems to be very good at noticing and picking up on things. Maya doesn't do that as well, but she predicts things. She guesses what will happen based off what has already happened and she's pretty good at it."
"Isn't that basically assuming things?"
"It can be viewed that way, but I would say she makes educated guesses rather than assumptions."
Rhia glanced over at Maya, who was chatting with Lena and Aira. "She does seem to be rather special, and she's very kind. Just like how I can understand that she quickly grew interested in you, I can understand how you quickly grew interested in her. You're both amazing people."
She looked back and saw me smirking at her.
"W-what?"
I switched to a smile and said, "If you ever develop an interest in anyone, I wholeheartedly encourage you to explore it. You have Aira to talk to already, and me as well if you feel comfortable with that."
"You sound as if you're implying I'm interested in Maya as well."
"I'm not all that romantically intelligent when it comes to other people's feelings toward me, but I am somewhat able to tell when others have an interest in people I care about. Just imagining someone else being interested in Maya makes me smile."
"I feel the same about Aira." She giggled while watching the others. "You said Thursday is open? Would you like to go out with me that evening?"
"I would be delighted."
*****
"Kye, I have a question," mom said.
Sanae and I both glanced at her at the same time, and she paused for a second.
"What is it?"
"I was just wondering about your power."
"Yes?"
"You described yourself fighting monsters of various ranks, up to SS," she said. "I was wondering how those monsters compare to the ones we've seen here. We have rankings up to SS. How does it compare to the living world?"
I exchanged glances with Sanae. She smirked and took the question for me. "If you recall the beasts Eli fought in her first year, and the one Allison fought last year, they were classified as S-, S, S+, and SS, in that order. Those rankings are the same as in the living world. They're classified in the system, so it's no coincidence either."
"Then that monster that Elise effortlessly defeated?"
"Was as powerful as the beast I killed last year," Allison said. "Perhaps more."
She glanced at Mabel and Velarus, "Then the fact that you are SSS Rank in the living world means-"
"They are SSS here in Elysium, too," Fia said. "Same system."
"So then when Elise and Maya compared their power that night at the party… Elise said SSS5… yet you were only eighteen."
"There's a very important key difference between there and Elysium, and that's in the very description… living world. Elysium is a realm of the afterlife, nobody here has a living body, save for the occasional living visitors. We lead very real lives here, but that doesn't change the part where inhabitants of Elysium are dead."
"The link between the body and soul is something we've talked about before," I said. "Where the soul can only send so much mana through the link to the body. The body itself is made of mana. You may bleed. You may feel the flesh of your loved ones when you hug. You have DNA, everything! Those sensations are real. Everything about the body of a dead soul is just like the body of a living soul… except the made of mana part."
"That's why you have to strengthen your body so much to safely wield mana through it. Too much puts an incredible strain on your body. When Eli used Aether Drive and Mana Burst together in that first battle in the academy, she nearly destroyed her body, because it wasn't strong enough to handle the level of mana she was using. She could force it through the soul link, which grows with the body, by the way, but her body wasn't strong enough. It's not so bad in short bursts, but five hundred thousand seconds?"
"In the living world, there are no such restrictions," I said. "Elise Aindrea possessed the full power of the King of the World, Elysia Alexandria. And that becomes apparent to everyone at the world tower."
"A living body is not made of mana, so there's no danger of an extreme amount of mana overloading anything. There is no link between the body and soul, as the soul resides directly in the body. Even as powerful as Elysia Athas was before we split, and as powerful as I became as Alfia Athas… it was just a drop in the bucket of our Transcendent power. I was able to best Zalen, Zaldin, and Zane, despite them being living souls, and having SSS power at the time. But it required far more time to build up to that power for me than them because they were living souls whereas I was, and still am, no different from a dead soul, despite having the genetics of my living world body."
"SSS and even S5 were nothing to Elise Aindrea. You'll find that out in detail when we get to the world tower section of the story."
"I see, but Kye…" mom said," you said living souls reside directly in their bodies, but you've shown us before that our souls are inside our bodies."
I snapped my finger and the room was instantly filled with rainbow mana and everyone's soul was visible, living and dead alike. "Indeed. You can see the soul of a dead person as if it is within their body, but it's not that simple. Look at Mabel, Velarus, Mavel, and Evelyn. Each of them have their souls radiating through their entire body. Whereas the rest of us…"
"It just looks like a flame."
"In truth, all dead souls in Elysium exist within the core space," I said, glancing at Eve.
"That's right. In the core space where the primordial throne is located, every soul is there, except for the ones sleeping in the pods in Alexandria on Gaia. Their souls are still in their bodies in a slumber-like state."
Mom looked back at me. "Then what about you, Sanae, Alethea, and Mavel? Your souls are split, and Mavel's soul looks no different than the other living souls, while yours and Alethea's are just like a dead soul."
"Alethea and Mavel both have their halves inside their living bodies," I said, "but Maya is in a mana body right now, as are Fia and I."
"I'm confused. How does any of this work?"
"For most of us, and even Sanae and me, our dead-slash-mana bodies are linked to our souls, even though our souls are still in the Living World resting in our bodies. For Maya, it's slightly more complicated."
"Maya split her soul into Mavel and Alethea," Fia explained, "back in the living world, so Alethea while still living there and even her slumbering body now appears the same as any other living person. At the time, Mavel's half resided in Maya's body, and Alethea's half resided in a new body. And when we entered Elysium, like Elysia and everyone else did, she entered into a mana body as a child."
"Alice and Ian were the only exceptions," Alethea said, eyeing the purple haired woman.
She shrugged and said, "Evelyn, too, technically. She very temporarily used a mana body before she got sick of it and decided to just take the role of The Primordial from our father."
"Can confirm," Evelyn said lazily. "Good thing, too. Turned out he was corrupted by Phantom, like Zaldin and Zane. Azriel and Ezra are okay. But anyway, everyone entered Elysium…"
"Right," Mavel said. "After the lot of you entered Elysium, think of it like a VR dive, her soul half remained in her living body. In Elysia's case, Kye and Sanae's halves both reside in Elise's body. Separate from each other, but coexisting. Maya put my half in this body, and because this is a living body, my soul half isn't linked to it, but rather is inside it. Just like any other living body. Alethea's looks like a flame because her half is still inside her living body and she's linked to it."
"So then, your and Alethea's… original's body is also in a pod right now without a soul?" mom asked.
"Correct," Mavel answered.
"So then what about on Gaia? Maya created a body to put half of her soul into while at the time the other half, you, remained in her own body. How did you explain that officially?"
"The official story on Gaia was that Mavel and Alethea were sisters," Velarus said, "because a demon producing a child on their own, is illegal for the same reasons that close familial relations having children together is illegal. Birth defects."
"Alethea took Maya's role and name in public as Elise's wife while Mavel was revealed to be a sister we had who had just reached adulthood in demon terms," Mabel continued. "Thus, both were known to the world as princesses of Nacht and Weltwald, while one was known to the world as a queen of Alexandria."
"We agreed that I would take over the role of Maya in the living world, which I still handle, by the way," Mavel said, eyeing me and Sanae, "running Alexandria BY MYSELF!" I gave her an apologetic smile. "Yeah, smile all you want, Eli. I want one of you to start commuting to Alexandria and f*cking help me."
"Language," I said with a smirk.
She stuck her tongue out at me.
"Anyway…" Velarus continued, "the birth defect thing wasn't a concern for Maya, because she manipulated the conception, likely how she manipulated yours earlier," he glanced at Mavel "to remove the possibility of defects. But for regular people who can't do that, birth defects are not rare for a child born from siblings, thus it's illegal, so they were legally siblings. I, for one, am glad the mother-daughter thing is over."
"Vel and I offered several times to our daughter to simply make her a sister she could put her soul half," Mabel continued. "Even though she absolutely could do that, she wanted any possibility of Vel and I succeeding to result in an actual child, rather than a body for her soul half."
""I still stand by that,"" Mavel and Alethea said together. They looked at each other and giggled after.
"If I wasn't already accustomed to hearing crazy stories from Kye, I would not believe this," mom said, looking at me. "But considering all that's happened since you were born…"
"Sorry for the trouble," I said with an apologetic smile.
She shook her head. "A parent should always accept the trouble their children cause."
I felt a smile creep across my face, then a frown, followed by a sigh.
"What's the matter?" mom asked.
"I'm feeling a bit melancholic. This won't last forever. Someday we will destroy Phantom, and the existential threat to Gaia and its afterlife realms will be ended."
Astarte, who had been quiet throughout most of the storytelling, finally spoke up, having heard her own nickname a few times. "Hearing 'Gaia' is strange to me still."
"What do you mean?" Lanti asked.
"As you know, Gaia and Hikarimaru are the names of Astarte's and Astraia's weapon forms," Fia said. "One is the Sword of the World, and the other is the Sword of Light. Your souls are very old souls from the living world, from well before any of us were born there, thousands of years before. One from Ancient Arcadia, and the other from Ancient Yamato. You all know about Arcadia, but Yamato is another story. It's the continent on the opposite side of the planet where Phantom began his conquest."
"Yamato existed in our early lives," Mabel said. "Velarus and I went there together two times in our youth when we were engaged to meet the emperor of Yamato. The second time, something seemed off about him. Not a few years later, the entire continent was covered in miasma and monsters started appearing on the continents closest to Yamato."
"Soon after is when I frequented the frontlines," Allison added. "You lot weren't born in Arcadia yet."
"Yes," Fia continued. "So, the two people known as Gaia and Hikari were the most powerful swordswomen in the world in ancient times. Gaia was named after the world, and Hikari was named after the light that brightened the world. But, you were mortal, so you did eventually die. And after the world tower, when Elysia properly installed Elysium in this world, you and every other dead mortal soul began reincarnating within Elysium. And now here you are Astarte and Astraia, still retaining the abilities you possessed as Gaia and Hikari."
Astraia looked between me, Fia, Astarte, and Lanti. "Is it possible for us to recall our lives back then?"
Fia hesitated to answer, so I did. "It's not supposed to be possible for a mortal to remember any past lives, but it seems anyone living in proximity to a Transcendent can recover their memories. Yami remembers her life as Chloe Arbell and a few other past lives now. Louise remembers some of her past lives. A handful of my classmates that knew us in past lives have started to remember those past lives."
"But none remember lives where they didn't meet any of us Transcendents," Fia said. "My guess is that our presence affects mortals to a degree. The more we're around them, the more they're affected. Since you didn't meet any Transcendents when you were alive, I don't think you'll remember your time in the living world."
"I see. Hmm…" Astarte looked up at her blonde sister and asked, "Have you had strange dreams in the past couple decades that we haven't talked about?"
"Sparse, yes," Astraia answered. "I dreamed a few times of that tower on Arcadia in Kye's memory magic."
"You have?" I asked.
"Yes."
"I have as well," Astarte said. "Almost every one of my dreams had it in them."
"Only some of mine did."
"I'm sorry if that's…"
"Those dreams sound like memories," I said. "Maybe you can recover those memories. Kari, shall I take a look at them later?"
"Of course."
"Kari," Astarte said. "Do you remember a particular silver haired woman in any of your dreams? Silver hair and silver eyes wearing strange clothes compared to the rest? More like the clothes I've seen in Maya's memories."
That especially caught my attention, and I exchanged glances with Fia, Aya, and Mavel.
"Hmm…" Astraia mumbled. "I think so. I remember the clothing style."
I snapped my finger and created an image of who I thought they were talking about.
Lady Luna.
"This woman?"
"Yes," Astarte answered.
"I think so, yeah," Astraia said.
"Your dreams are definitely memories," I said.
"Who is that?" Astraia asked.
"You'll see soon enough in the story. Or you can look in my memories to find out if you want to know right away."
"I'll wait for the story to catch up. Though, I am curious about our lives there. If there exists any knowledge of that ancient history, I should like to learn of it."
"That can be arranged," Mavel said. "Mom, dad, between the three of us, I think we have people who can gather such information."
"Indeed," Mabel said. "There are many stories of a thousand years ago that are not lost to time."
"We'll collect that information, then I'll generate some books here with that information for you to keep."
"I would be very delighted," Astraia said.
"I would as well," Astarte said, earning a raised eyebrow from her sister. "What? Just because I don't read as much as you, doesn't mean I don't read at all. I like stories. I'm especially interested in a story about myself that even I don't know."
Astraia chuckled. "Indeed."
"Anyway!" I said. "We've sidetracked for long enough."
"Ah, just to double-check on something," James said. "This is pertaining to your story. The others, at this point in the story, do not know they are Transcendents? Only you do? And at some point each of them recalls it?"
"Yes. It's been mentioned sparsely, so I'll clarify," I said. "When I was exiled, the rest of you followed me from Eden to Gaia."
He narrowed his eyes. "The rest of you?"
Allison remembers being Alice, but James doesn't remember being Ian. So James doesn't remember being Xanith Alexandria. Allison recalls using the name Xana Alexandria on Gaia, but I'm not certain if she recalls being my aunt in Eden. And mom… Layla, doesn't seem to know she's a shard of Evelyn's soul, who is both Evelyn Aindrea and Xera Alexandria on Gaia, and my mother in Eden.
"Pardon. I meant that in general, not at you specifically."
He sighed in relief. "For a moment there, I thought you were implying that I was also-"
"She was," Allison said, glaring at me.
"You're just blurting that out?"
"You may as well have. You're putting everything on the table about your own life, so I'll do the same. Yes, I know the names Xera, Xana, and Xanith come from my sister, me, and my brother in Eden." She turned to James, who was looking at her with a 'what-the-hell' expression. "James, your soul name is Adrian. You were Ian Aindrea on Gaia, and Xanith Alexandria was your official name in both as a member of the Alexandria Royal Family. It was no accident that the three of us ended up Elysia's guardians on both Gaia and here."
"'The three of us?'" Layla asked. "You can't mean me. Evelyn is right there. But she wasn't Kye's guardian here, I was."
I tapped my foot and glared at my Transcendent mother.
"Fine," she said. "Cat's out of the bag anyway, thanks to my sister. Here's I'll make it short and simple. When Elysia was exiled, the three of us followed her to Gaia, except we chose to land around thirty years prior to when Elysia was born as Elise. I was born first as Evelyn Aindrea, then Adrian was born two years later as Ian Aindrea, then Allison was born two years after that as Alice Aindrea."
"Allison is my soul name, by the way. I've led you to believe it was Xana, but no. Xana, Xera, and Xanith are names we adopted when we became royalty in Eden's Alexandria, and we reused them for Gaia's Alexandria."
Evelyn glanced at Layla, who was looking at her in disbelief not at what she was saying, but at what she was expecting her to say.
"Alice and Ian's bodies and souls are resting in pods back in Alexandria, and James and Allison are here are no different that the rest who entered Elysium. Except in Atlantis, I put them and a shard of me," she didn't look away from Layla, "here ahead of time to prepare for everyone's arrival. This is the final reincarnation for everyone in every other worldline. Layla, you are a shard of me. Not quite like how Kye and Sanae are halves of Elysia. Just a shard, but you are still your own person. There, everything's on the table now. Every Transcendent that followed Elysia to Gaia is known. Me, Xana, Xanith, Maya, Adele, Adara, Luma, Azalea, Kaede, Kyra, Liya, Lux, Ariel, Anna, and Adriel. Well… there are three others. One is Phantom, but the other two… it's not my place to reveal them since they are still under the radar to the rest of you."
I glared at her again. "Even I don't know who they are."
"You could probably find out if you tried hard enough, but I'll leave it at that, and so should you."
"No. I won't leave it at that. Who are they?"
She shook her head at me. "I'm not telling you. Unlike Maya, Adele, Adara, and Luma, they didn't want you to know they followed you here."
"There are only a few people outside my spouses who would follow me in the first place."
"And that's why I said you probably could find out if you tried."
"So it's somebody's soul I never looked deeply into…"
"Perhaps."
"Hmm…"
It's somebody who was extremely loyal to me. It's likely they orchestrated things to be sure they'd come into contact with me on Gaia. So it was very likely somebody I knew. There were two of them…
I turned and looked at Lily and Ally with my eyes glowing rainbow. They averted their eyes, seeming uncomfortable that I was looking, but I felt no resistance as I peered into their souls.
I don't believe it.
My eyes widened, and my mouth fell open. Fia noticed and looked as well.
"Oh. I didn't see that coming."
"You looked, too."
"Yeah."
I pulled myself together and connected to the sisters telepathically. "You already know."
Neither said anything.
"Lily, Ally… please tell me. I can see…"
Both remained silent, though I could tell they wanted to talk.
"It would mean a lot if you would tell me."
The two exchanged glances, then looked at us. Lily started, "We only wanted to support you as we always have. Unlike the others, we knew right from the start who we are."
"But you stayed silent, even masking yourselves when Elise tried to identify everyone who was Transcendent."
"Yes, Princess," Ally said. "We had already decided in Eden that we would remain as shadows on Gaia."
"Why? Why not just… tell me?"
"It was what we decided. We wanted to support you-"
I jumped up and rushed at them, teleporting them away with me the moment I grabbed their wrists. Fia followed me.
*****
I cried into my hands with Fia's hand on my back. I felt both a sense of betrayal and overwhelming loyalty at the same time. Liliana and Aliana were with me at every step, just like Maya, Adele, Adara, and Luma.
They were with me in so many of my past lives in the stars above Athas, and came to Atlantis with me.
None of it was an accident.
They had asked my mother to send them to me in every possible lifetime. They orchestrated entering Gaia where they could be near me… Serah and Stella. They followed me to Athas, they followed me through the stars, and they followed me to Atlantis, making sure they would be born close to me.
"I didn't even question it. It never crossed my mind that you would be them. Liliana Seraphim and Aliana Seraphim. You have the same names here. You have the same appearances here. But I was so used to you already before I recovered my memories that I didn't even question it."
"I didn't either," Fia said. "And I never lost any memories even once. I didn't realize it was them. I looked into your souls to check when I first saw you and heard your names, but I didn't see anything."
"No, you wouldn't have," Liliana said. "That's how we wanted it."
"But why?" I looked up, and the sisters took a step back seeing my face. I could only imagine what they saw when they looked away with pained expressions. I stood up and stepped closer to them. They backed up until they hit the wall, and I didn't stop until I reached them and hugged them tightly. "I wish you would have told me."
Fia was somehow holding herself together better than I was.
"Princess, I-"
"No," I cried. "Don't say anything. Just…"
They understood what I wanted and held me. They led me to the bed where they sat down on either side of me, hugging me together.
"Did you ever even consider telling me?"
Aliana nodded. "Every day."
Liliana echoed her. "Every day."
"Earlier when you told us to talk to you about anything… that was the closest I came to blurting it out."
"Yes. It reminded me of growing up in Eden. How you were always so kind and protective of us in school."
I smiled. "You eventually became my attendants and guards. You were strong enough to compete with Adele, Adara, and Luma. But…"
"I'm not ready to talk about anything deeper than that, Princess," Lily said. "Please give me some time to sort things out in my mind now that you know."
"I ask the same, Princess," Ally added. "Now that you know who we are… my mind is in the past right now and I don't think I'm in a state to make any decisions about anything."
I nodded hesitantly. "Okay. But please, when you are ready… talk to me, okay?"
"I promise, Princess."
"I promise, too, Princess."
*****
I was set to go on a date with Aira and Rhia on Wednesday and Thursday. Maya and I were planning to spend some time with only each other Tuesday night, but we had to get through the rest of Tuesday first. The day was going by quietly until lunch.
Our entire group, including Lanti, were seated at one of the larger tables eating together. After finishing our food, we had tea.
The youngest prince was upset about something again and didn't hide it in as he walked past our table. "Must you always be such a showoff that you have to interfere with other student's classes?" He was clearly talking about when I sat in on Rhia and Aira's swordplay class.
I rolled my eyes and didn't respond, but that only triggered him more.
"You are the most insufferable person I've ever met."
"Allen," Lanti called from across the table. "Why are you being rude to my friend?"
"Eglantine?"
"Yes. Hello, brother."
"Hmph." He grunted and walked away.
Once he was gone, Lanti looked at me and said, "Eli, you don't have to put up with his words."
"His words are hardly worth paying attention to." I shook my head and picked up my cup of tea. I hadn't yet had a sip.
"You are quite mature to simply ignore people who throw such toxic language around."
I shrugged and took a sip of my tea. Before I could lay the cup back on the saucer, I felt something. I narrowed my eyes, quickly sat it down, and covered my mouth with my left hand.
"Eli?" Maya said, looking at me curiously.
I coughed and felt a strange warmth on my hand. It was covered in blood. "What?"
"Eli?" Lanti said. Everyone could see that I was looking at my hand. I didn't know what expression I had on my face, but the fear I felt was genuine.
Their eyes widened the moment I felt a bit of warmth trickle out of my mouth and down my chin.
""Princess!""
"Oh…" My vision grew blurry and I had trouble staying steady. Maya had already stood up, ready for anything. I looked up at her and smiled as I felt myself fall over. "I love you."
*****
Revision: 2025-4-12