*-Lotus-*
It's now been four months since Roxy arrived. Rudy has successfully caught up to me, so we were both officially intermediate level mages, or so everyone thinks. Secretly I may or may not be an advanced level mage. What? Did you expect me to just sit there and wait for him? I had to keep myself entertained somehow, and I don't really want to make too many leviathans. Fanta and Gran were doing just fine. Speaking of Gran I had finished my wristband for Roxy a while ago. The day after I got my Sin actually. I've made some discoveries with that, but more on that later.
I hadn't figured out how to give it to Roxy. I thought I'd be able to just walk up and hand it to her, but anytime I approached her with the intent of giving it to her I get real nervous. Why is this making me nervous? I'm Khaos Konton gods dammit! I am married to Death herself, and have faced some of the most powerful gods of my world. Why is giving a wristband to a woman I like so damn hard?!
So yeah I'm still holding onto it.
Paul still doesn't remember the previous timeline, but he's been coming around to me. Especially when I started giving him tips on his swordsmanship. He said he didn't want advice from a kid, so I just told him that it was info that Reida gave me. He didn't question it and immediately started taking the advice.
We'd spar every now and again. He chocked my freakish strength up to me having crazy powerful touki, but I don't even use Touki when we spar. I hold myself back, even if he gets a big head when he beats the 'Water God's Master.' I'll let him have this for now. It's better than dealing with him being all pissy anyway. My opinion of him is... not great, and his boisterous prideful attitude makes it a bit difficult for me to like him. But I know it'd make mom sad if I didn't get along with him, so I'd try. Even if it's just the bare minimum.
Mom has been spoiling me rotten as always and Lilia has also been spoiling me in her own way. She gives me slightly more food than everyone else. I'm pretty sure Rudeus noticed, and maybe Paul. Not too sure about the latter. Maybe it's because I'm nice to her? I can see the small pieces of anxiety she has when she's around Rudeus for too long. He seems to freak her out with his perverted looks and grins. She gets the occasional anxiety spike when she glanced at my constant smirk, but I've been suppressing those with my Despair domain. I'd rather her not be scared of my smile. Playing with people's fears isn't the best when dealing with major feelings, like the fear of a specific person, or a fear gained through trauma, but simple anxiety caused by a smile would be harmless.
Today Roxy was out in town giving Rudeus and I a day to relax since today was meant to be one of her teaching days. Rudeus doesn't seem to be a big fan of relaxing though. He tried to just sit down and hang out earlier, but he started getting pangs of anxiety of becoming a NEET again. If Rudeus being a reincarnate wasn't confirmed to me before, it was then. Seems my brother used to be a bit of a slothful fellow. He eventually grew restless and went to the yard to practice magic. I was perfectly contempt to sit in the kitchen and do nothing. I had decided to use my human form for today, so I looked the same age as Rudeus.
I was pulled out of my thoughts as a plate was sat in front of me. On it was two ham sandwiches.
"Thank you Lilia."
"Of course Young Master Lotus. If you ever wish for something to snack on just ask. It's my job to prepare food for you and Young Master Rudeus."
"I'll keep that in mind. Say, when was the last time you took some time to just relax and snack on something Lilia?"
"There is no need Young Master. I eat plenty during my meals. Besides I have work I must get to."
I examined Lilia as she worked. Her posture was prim and proper, but she seemed to be putting most of her weight in her left leg. I wonder why? Would it be rude to ask? Would she be mad I was watching her close enough to notice something that small? Oh! Idea!
"Wanna make a deal?"
"A deal?"
"You take a break. Just to relax, or snack if you want. In return I'll help you with your work. I've gotta burn all these calories somehow."
"If you wish for me to rest then you just have to order me Young Master, and I don't need any assistance with my work. I'm perfectly capable."
"I'm not saying you aren't capable. It's just that sometimes people need rest and they don't realize it. You work from sunrise to sundown and the only 'breaks' you take are the five minutes you give yourself to eat during breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and when you sleep. It's important for you to take some time for yourself."
"I suppose that if the Young Master wishes for me to rest so badly I have no other option. I shall take a short break and then resume my work."
"Good. It's important to let your body rest. How about some stories to pass the time? If you tell me a story from your past, then I'll tell you one of mine."
"I suppose that could work. What would you like to hear about?"
I tapped my finger on my chin.
"Hmmm. How did you come to work for Paul?"
"Simple really. Before I came here I worked as a Royal Handmaiden in the Asuran Palace Harem. I would serve the ladies as a lady-in-waiting, but if I had to I was able to use my skills as an intermediate level water swordswoman to protect them. One night I was tending to the princess whenever an assassin broke in and attacked her. I was able to fend off the assassin, but I got a grave wound in my leg in the process. The dagger had been poisoned, and while the wound was healed the poison had done its damage. My leg hasn't been the same since. Since I could no longer serve as a body guard I was cast out. When working with royalty one can here many important things. I fled in fear that I would be killed to ensure my silence. That's when I came across a job posting for a maid/caretaker. I came here and got the job. I believe you know the rest."
I couldn't help but feel like Lilia was leaving something out, but if she didn't want to talk about it, then I wouldn't force her to.
"To think I went from tending to a princess to a god. Who would've thought."
"Ah. I suppose you would remember that huh?"
"Yes. 'The God of Nothing' is what you referred to yourself as. If I may be bold enough to ask, Young Master Lotus. How did you gain such a title?"
"I suppose there is no reason that I shouldn't tell you. I do only ask one thing though."
"Yes?"
"Don't tell Momma or Paul. Do that and I'll tell you my story. Deal?"
I held out my hand, and Lilia looked at it curiously.
"Deal."
Lilia shook my hand. I summoned a ring of silence to ensure that no one could be listening in on our conversation, and I told her my story. Starting from the birth of Khaos Konton all the way to my death as Thorn Hanabira. I told it all through my staff, since I wanted to save my spoken words for real conversation.
"It seems you've been through a lot, Young Master."
"I suppose you could say that. It's been quite a ride, even if not all of it's been a good one."
"Well it certainly explains the Young Master's actions when he was younger. Could it be that Young Master Rudeus has also reincarnated?
"No. Rudy's soul is as fresh as could be."
I think I'll cover for Rudy. From what little I understand about him he doesn't want anyone to know about his reincarnation, and as the older brother it's my responsibility to look after him after all.
We chatted a little longer, but Lilia eventually decided her break was over. I took Roxy's bracelet out of the void and turned it around in my hands. For the umpteenth time I searched every nook and cranny to check for any defective areas, and for the umpteenth time I found nothing wrong.
"Could that be a magic item Young Master?"
Lilia had been casting glances at the bracelet, and she seems to have finally decided to ask me about it.
"Yeah. It's a present for Roxy I finished a while back. She told me about an... issue, that she's had for a while, and this bracelet can help fix it. I just don't know how to give it to her."
"Oh my. If I didn't know any better I'd think you were proposing to her. How presumptuous of you."
"I- you- Huh?! Now wait just a minute you and I both know that's not what this is! It's a gift to help Roxy with something! That's all, I swear!"
"So quick to defend himself. I don't think I've ever heard Young Master Lotus speak so loudly before."
I grumbled quietly as I ate another plate of snacks Lilia made me.
A few hours later Roxy came back, and sat down with a sigh. I activated my staff and spoke to her.
"Long day?"
"Yeah. There was a bunch of stuff wrong with the fields. On top of the current drought there's a bunch of rocks in the fields and under them. It wouldn't be too much of a problem, but the quantity of them is an issue. It's exhausting work."
I slid the plate Lilia had placed beside me to Roxy. I saw a smile tug at Lilia's lips as she turned around. Roxy took one of the sandwiches and started eating it.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
We sat there in silence as Roxy ate and Lilia cleaned dishes and made sandwiches at the same time with shocking efficiency. She glanced at the loaf of bread she was slicing the bread from and squinted at me. She had had most of her focus on the chores she was doing and hadn't noticed me practicing my time magic by reversing the bread and ham thanks to a small illusion.
"Young Master. What's happening with this bread loaf?"
"Well I wouldn't want my appetite to affect our food supplies, so I enchanted it. I swear it's completely safe."
"Right. Miss Roxy, did you know that the Young Master has something to give to you?"
"Really? What is it?"
Roxy looked at me as she chewed her sandwich.
By the gods, why did Lilia have to gain a sense of humor now of all times. And her comments from earlier certainly aren't helping.
I reached back into the void and pulled out the bracelet.
"I made this for you. It's a magic item, kinda like the pockets."
Roxy tilted her head and studied the bracelet in her palm. Her usually sleepy eyes were brimming with curiosity as she looked at every part of the bracelet.
She slid the bracelet on and shook her arm a bit. She smiled as she saw that the bracelet didn't fall off.
"Thank you Lotus. I don't often wear accessories since it's hard to find anything in my size not made for children. I'm glad to see it matches my robe and hair as well, but you said it was a magic item? What does it do?"
'Well assuming it works, you should be able to hear me right now. Can you?'
Roxy continued to fiddle with the bracelet.
"Yeah I can hear you. Is something the matter?"
'Roxy. I'm not using my staff or my mouth.'
Roxy looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
'You looked real sad when telling me about your old village, so I thought I'd make you something that lets you speak telepathically. Try thinking what you want to tell me.'
Roxy stared at me shocked. The bracelet slowly rotated around her wrist and her irises started waving through blue and green.
'A magic item for telepathy? If something like that existed then I'd know about it. But he said he made it?'
'So it does work. I'm hearing you loud and clear.'
'He heard that?! And what's going on with his pupils?'
Roxy started fidgeting with the bracelet as her nose turned a little red. An adorable trait of Roxy's was the way she blushed. Anytime she blushed it'd start at her cheeks and spread across her face, unless she blushes from embarrassment. Then her nose turns red and it spreads to the rest of her face.
'The same thing happening to yours probably.'
'So this is telepathy. I'm actually using telepathy?'
'Yep. Congratulat-'
My thoughts were immediately cut off as Roxy grabbed my collar from across the table and slammed her lips onto mine. I swung my arms a bit before using space magic to steady myself.
Roxy let go of my collar and placed her forehead on my shoulder. She was breathing heavily and felt warmer than normal.
'He actually did it. Of course he did. He made the impossible possible after hearing my story. For me.'
'And I'd do it again too. Anything you ask of me, I will do for you. I love you, Roxy. I mean that with all the sincerity and care in the world.'
Roxy sat back in her chair and smiled at the bracelet as she spun it around her wrist. She wasn't used to telepathy and her thoughts were constantly slipping into my head.
I could feel her joy and happiness slipping into my head. Her joy that if she were to meet any other Migurdians they wouldn't pity her, or turn her away like before. That one day, if she could gather up the courage, she could return to her home village and see her family again. To see them without that barrier that used to keep them apart. It could've made her cry from joy.
I moved to sit beside her and wiped a tear on her cheek.
'You okay?'
Roxy smiled again as she looked at me.
'Yeah. I'm just...'
Words flooded my mind as Roxy tried to think.
'Happy, amazed, overjoyed, shocked...'
'I'm happy. With this. With you. It's nice, all of it.'
'I'm glad you're happy. You being happy makes me happy.'
Roxy giggled as she looked behind me.
'I can see that.'
I looked behind me and could see my tail wagging like a dog on the happiest day of its life. I tried slapping it to stop it, but my hand passed straight through it. My tail kept wagging.
'Hahaha! Don't make it stop. It's adorable!'
'I wield the domain of despair. Fear bends to my will! I'm not supposed to be adorable! I'm supposed to be terrifying gods dammit!'
'Terrifyingly adorable that is.'
I suffered through a couple more minutes of embarrassment until Lilia called Rudeus in for lunch. Lilia made some beef stew and finished making the plates as Mom came back.
"Hello Madame. Is something the matter? You're home much earlier than normal."
"It's just that I ran out of some herbs at the clinic. I think some wood may have come loose somewhere. When I went to fetch some medicinal herbs for a women's cold I found that a couple bundles of my herbs had withered. They should've been fine for three more weeks thanks to the magic implement I got, but it doesn't seem to be working."
"Oh my. That's no good."
Those herbs were incredibly important for mom's business. They were important enough that they took up most of the garden space. Mom was the village healer and would heal injuries and sicknesses in exchange for coin. Her prices were set lower than any other healer, since most in this village couldn't afford the actual price.
However, even then it was hard for people to afford it, so as an alternative she also sold medicinal herbs dirt cheap. Any herbs that didn't sell and died were used as fuel for a magic implement in the clinic's store room. It used dead plants as fuel to keep a certain area around it in perfect condition to store other plants. If the implement wasn't working then Mom really could be in a pickle.
I shifted my staff on my shoulder and spoke through it.
"If you'd like, I could look at it. I'm pretty good at making magic items myself. I may be able to find out what's wrong."
"That'd be a big help. Would it be okay if we went after lunch?"
"Works for me."
I ate 3 bowls of stew in the time it took for Mom to eat 1. Once she was done we set out for the clinic. To avoid getting odd looks from the villagers I hid my eyes so that they appeared as black lines on my face. I'd probably still get some odd looks, but there wouldn't be anywhere near as many.
"So Lotus. You're quite close to Roxy. Aren't you?"
Mom peaked at me as we walked. Curiosity sparkled so much in her eyes I thought I saw galaxies in there.
"You could say that, yes."
"She seemed rather happy earlier. She was fiddling with a bracelet the likes of which I'd never seen before. Do you know what it was?"
"It was a gift. All Migurdians are born with the ability to communicate telepathically, but Roxy wasn't. The bracelet I made for her lets her use telepathy. She was rather happy about it."
"People often are happy when they get gifts from the one they like."
I looked away as if something in one of the fields caught my eye.
"Oh come on. You know you can tell me. I've seen the way you both look at each other. You even sleep in the same bed. That is unless one of you are sleeping on the floor."
Something in the fields shifted the wheat.
"I wouldn't want to label us with anything... no one sleeps on the floor."
"You both traveled together before you got here too. At least that's what you and Roxy said, right?"
"That's right."
The thing in the field grew closer. One of my domains flared.
"So if you could call yourselves one thing what would it- eep!"
I grabbed Mom by the arm and pulled her back as an Assault Wolf jumped out from the field to attack us.
"Lotus get behind-"
"Kill it."
My shadow rotated to point at the Assault Wolf and three Assault Wolves that looked like they were made of shadows jumped out of it and attacked the other Assault Wolf. I steeped back and held my held out to my right as another wolf jumped at me. I grabbed it by its snout and shoved it to the ground. A hard punch to the neck snapped its neck and collapsed its windpipe.
The shadows killed the other wolf swiftly. They walked to me and I pet each one before they melted into my shadow.
"What was that?! Are you okay?!"
Mom held my cheeks as she turned my head to check for bruises.
"I'm fine Mom. It's one of my domains. I summoned a beast to fight a beast."
Mom released a sigh of relief as she let me go.
"You had me worried Lotus. A word of warning next time please."
"Sure."
We continued our walk and eventually arrived at the clinic. Mom brought me to the back and we entered the clinic's storage room. In the corner of the room was a copper contraption that looked like a like a furnace. In the center of the machine was a latch that you'd open to insert dead plants. The top of the machine was lined with what looked like shower heads.
Mom went over to a small desk and got a small envelope out of a drawer. She opened it and pulled out three sheets of paper.
"Here. These are instructions on how the implement works. I tried looking over them to solve the problem, but I haven't been able to figure it out. If it's not a problem with the implement then that means that something happened to the building, and that's gonna lead to a bunch of other problems."
"I'll look over everything. Since it might already be broken I assume you'll have no issue with me taking it apart?"
"Do as you see fit. I put it all in your hands. I'll be up front if you need anything."
Mom went up to the front. Probably to watch for more customers. I glossed through the instructional papers Mom had given me.
Essentially the machine decomposed the dead plants into mana and used that mana to power magic circles engraved in various parts of the machine. There were magic circles in the shower heads, walls of the machine, and floor of the machine. The magic circles in the shower heads released small traces of water vapor to keep the plants moisturized. The circles on the sides of the machine controlled the temperature in the room to make sure the plants didn't get too hot or too cold. Lastly, the circle on the bottom of the machine acted as the wires that tied everything together. The bottom circle distributed mana to all the other circles.
To start things off I checked the compartment that held the dead plants to see if there were any damaged spots where something could have gotten out or in. It all seemed fine so I moved to the shower heads. They came part simply by twisting them. There were multiple tiny magic circles for Waterball engraved into each one. All of those magic circles were fine, so I moved onto the temperature circles.
I had to remove the storage compartment and the top of the machine to actually see the temperature circles. They used Heat Island to heat the metal of the machine, and that controlled the temperature of the general area. Those were fine too. The bottom had small handles to grab with one finger each. I looped my fingers on both sides, twisted it, and the bottom cover popped up.
I looked down and immediately found the problem. A rat had somehow managed to nibble through the bottom of the machine and made a nest. It had bitten straight through the magic circle. Now I had one of two options. I went back to the front desk and found Mom doing some paperwork.
"Hm? Oh Lotus. Done already?"
"Not quite. I found the problem, and we've got two options. The problem, by the way, being the rat that somehow chewed through the metal and broke the circle that controlled the mana in the machine."
"A rat? How could a rat chew through metal? Not that it matters now I suppose. What are our options?"
"Well we can either get some scrap metal and fix the machine good as new, or I can make you something new and better than the machine you've got."
Mom tilted her head in confusion.
"Could you do something like that?"
"Sure. Wanna see some more magic I learnt a long time ago?"
With a happy nod Mom followed me back to the store room. I handed her my staff and raised my arms into the air. A grey circle appeared on the ground. I had used my mana to create a summoning circle. Typically you would use ink to draw one, but if you had enough mana and a good enough idea of what you wanted to create then you could make the circle with your mana.
I pulled one of the shower heads to me with space magic and pushed some mana into it to get a bunch of water. The water splashed down onto the circle and made it blue. Now for the final touches I reached down and pushed a little life magic into the circle making it shine gold. I thought of what I wanted and slowly pulled away from the magic circle.
Back when I still lived with the leviathans, we needed a way to grow food for some of the herbivores living in the area. The area hadn't been developed enough to provide for them, so I made these leviathans called Ventgardens. They looked kind of like jellyfish, but you could safely go in and out of them, and inside of them was a miniature biome.
What I created here wasn't too different. It was essentially a string of non-sentient Ventgardens that hung down from the cieling and clung to the wall. They looked like flower pots made of glowing blue glass. Simply by motioning to them they would come to you no mana required. There was a medium sized vent garden in the middle of the room. It would act as the storage for dead plants, and a small search area.
"There. Put any dead plants or any compost material in general in here. Also, by putting a hand on this Ventgarden and thinking of the herb you need it'll bring it to you. Any plants put in these pods will easily remain fresh for up to 2 months."
"Wow. These are beautiful Lotus."
"Thank you. Be sure to put the dead plants here when you have any. It is a living organism, even if it isn't sentient. The dead plants will give it nutrients. And don't worry about it dying if the plants take so long to die that you have nothing to feed it. These things can go without food for a long time."
I petted the main Ventgarden as I spoke about it. It was warm under my touch.
"Well that problem is solved I suppose. I already told the villagers I'd be closed for today, so shall we return home?"
"I suppose we shall."
I grabbed my staff and we left the clinic. As we walked outside we nearly bumped into a man and his daughter.
"Oh! So sorry. I'm afraid I'm new here. My name is Laws."
Mom shook the man's outstretched hand. Then I realized the man's ears were pointed. He was an elf. His daughter peaked out from behind his leg. She had green hair and red eyes. I waved and she hid behind the leg again.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Zenith Greyrat, and this is my son Lotus. You must be the new guy Paul was telling me about."
"Yes. Once me and my family get more settled in I'll be helping Sir Paul and the other knights hunt and patrol in the forest. I'll be going by to formally introduce myself. So far we've only talked through letters. He seemed quite relieved when he heard a hunter would be moving to Buena."
Mom squatted down and placed her hands on her knees.
"And who is this little lady?"
"Oh, this is my daughter. Her name is Sylphiette. Say hello Luffy."
The girl stepped forward and gave a slight bow. It wasn't very stable, but she didn't trip.
"U-um. Hello."
The girl quickly stepped back behind her father.
"She's a little shy."
"I can see that. Well don't worry little Sylphiette there's nothing you have to be scared of."
Thanks to my cat ears I was able to hear a faint whisper.
"What's wrong with her hair? Why is it green?"
Sylphiettes's ears twitched. Could she hear them?
I looked up and saw that Mom and Laws were still having their conversation.
"And what's with that one's ears? I guess that freaks often band together."
Tears started pooling up in Sylphie's eyes.
"Luffy, what's wrong?"
Laws got down on his knee as soon as he heard Sylphie sniffle. I looked over and saw the group of eight year old kids staring at us trying to look like they weren't just whispering about us.
I looked back at the now crying girl. Suddenly an image flashed in my vision overlapping with Sylphiette. I saw a boy with green hair with steaks of orange. He was crying and asking me why everything had to hurt so much. I blinked and the image was gone.
"Don't worry about it. I'll deal with it."
"Huh? Do you know what happened Lotus?"
I turned and started walking to wards the kids. They looked at me trying to figure out what I was gonna do. Once I was fairly close to them I stomped my foot on the ground and used elemental water magic to create a dome of ice around us. It was colored so dark you couldn't see through it. I would've used earth magic, but my earth magic is terrible.
"Hey! What is this!"
"You made that girl cry. Will you apologize?"
The group of 4 boys stepped closer together.
"Why would we apologize to that thing? Haven't you ever heard of the Superd? They have green hair and a red gem on their forehead just like she does. What if she's a Superd? She'll kill is!"
"She's not a Superd. She doesn't have a gem on her head, but if you don't go and apologize then I'll kill you."
My shadow spun and three shadow wolves surround me. Let's see. I haven't used my sin that much since I got it, but I think I have enough control to pull this off.
I felt my sin burn and my body started growing taller. My hair slowly shifted colors and a red gem appeared on my forehead. For added effects I made a spear out of ice and opened all my eyes. I grabbed the children's fear of the Superds and focused it solely on me.
"Now unless you wish to become my meal you are going to apologize to her, and if you even think about telling your parents about me, then I will rip you limb from limb. Does everyone understand?"
The kids all nodded. Two of them had even peed themselves. As I shrunk back down to my human form I pulled the moisture from their pants and put it in the ground.
"Now I'm going to collapse this dome and everyone is going to apologize. Don't even try to run. I'll drag you back myself if you try."
Once again they all nodded. I collapsed the dome and watched them all slowly walk to Sylphiette. Mom looked worried at the kids, but looked even more worried when she looked at me. The kids went to Sylphie and made shaky apologies. As soon as they were all done they ran away.
"Lotus... Are you okay?"
"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"You're not smiling."
I reached up and sure enough my lips were pulled downwards.
"I suppose I remembered some unpleasant things. I'm gonna head home now. Have a good day Mister Laws, same to you Sylphiette."
I hopped onto a Void Chelicerate I pulled from the void and rode home. Whispers of voices long gone tickled my ears. Only when I landed at the house did I realize I was crying.
*-Roxy-*
"So there's a curve in this one? Wouldn't it be easier to just straighten it out?"
I sighed once again as Rudy complained about his hand writing. He wasn't as good at writing as he was at casting spells. His writing was jagged and stiff. When he needed to curve a letter he'd stiffen his arm and it'd look shaky and ragged.
Suddenly the door opened and Lotus came back in. His ever present smile was gone and he quickly went up the stairs without so much as glancing our way.
"What's up with him?"
Rudy watched as Lotus went up the stairs. Lilia came over and sat down.
"Miss Roxy, why don't you go check on Young Master Lotus. I'll help Young Master Rudeus with his writing."
I got up and smoothed out my robe.
"Thank you Lilia."
I walked up the stairs and opened the door to our room. I could barely see Lotus's head peaking over the other side of the bed. His hair kept shifting between blonde, blue, and white.
"Lotus?"
I walked around the bed and saw him holding his knees to his chest with one arm as his other hand scratched the right side of his neck.
"Hey are you okay? What happened?"
I sat down beside Lotus. His breathing was hard and uneven. His eyes were shaky and dull. I reached out and touched his shoulder. He didn't even notice. I tried to talk straight into his head with telepathy, but as soon as I tried to use my bracelet fog appeared in my vision. It blurred everything and once it cleared out I found myself in some kind of ornate plaza. Children with odd features ran around me.
One had tentacles coming out of its back, one had eyes on the back of its shoulders, and one had an orange horn sticking out of its head. All of their skin was oddly colored, ranging from cloud white to green, pink, red, and a whole menagerie of other colors.
"It was a beautiful place. A paradise built so they could live in peace."
I looked over and Lotus was standing beside me. His smile gone and eyes dull. He started walking forward and I followed him.
"Lotus, what's happening?"
"We're in my memories. Unfortunately we're in a not-so-pleasant one."
He kept walking.
"But how? And why?"
"Whenever you experience something traumatic if your brain thinks you can't handle it it locks the memory away. It's a defense mechanism, but my brain doesn't work like that. Instead my brain just forces me to live through each memory to the point that it doesn't affect me anymore. It's called memory repression. Once your body thinks you're ready to heal it releases the memories. I just watch it all play out on a loop until I'm ready to move on, or I pass out."
"Lotus... ca-"
"Lord Khaos!"
I couldn't understand what the voice said, but my mind gave me the answer. Like it was translating for me.
I was cut off as someone ran past me. It was a boy with green and orange hair. He had a large gash on his shoulder. It was only when his blood flowed upwards that I realized we were underwater. Lotus followed him and stopped when we saw a tall man with three sets of eyes. Beside him was what looked like a teenager. She had brown hair and scaly brown skin. She had antennas tipped in fluorescent green light and her eyes were shining blue.
"That's you isn't it?"
"It is."
"What's happening?"
"This is the day the leviathans started to get hunted, as well as the last."
"Lord Khaos! Th-there's hunters!"
Khaos knelt down and brushed a wound running along the child's shoulder. The wound closed near immediately.
"They're by the border. I tried to stop them but... I wasn't strong enough."
Khaos patted the boys head.
"It's alright Arthur. Go let the healers heal your leviathan form. I'm sure it took more of a beating than your human one."
Khaos kept his smile as he patted the boys head and watched him run to the infirmary.
"What are you going to do master?"
The girl spoke in a slightly scared tone.
"I'm gonna go investigate. I'm trusting you to protect this place. If things look like they might take a turn for the worst, then I want you to release the Garg."
"Yes sir. Be safe."
The man rose in the water and shot off in the direction the boy had come from. Our surroundings blurred and we found ourselves in the middle of a coral reef. At least I think that's what this is called. I had only heard about them from Kant when I was still traveling with her.
I looked around and saw Khaos clenching his fists hard enough to draw blood. It swayed in the water and slowly floated upwards. In front of him was 3 dead leviathans, all turned belly up. Two were odd looking whale creatures. They looked more like rocks with tentacles. The other was a more traditional whale. It glowed beautifully. I'm sure it was a majestic creature. Its blood glowed as it swayed in the water.
"Reefbacks and a Glow Whale."
I looked at Lotus. His hair was covering his eyes and he to was clenching his fits.
"The leviathans. It's 2 Reefback leviathans and a Glow Whale leviathan."
A bright light suddenly flashed onto us and I looked up. A hulking creature loomed over us as the light beamed down. Khaos unclenched his hand and then clenched it again. The creature was crushed into a spiked ball with a shriek as red blood and black blood spurted out of it.
It was then that I realized that it wasn't a creature. It was made of metal.
"What was that?"
"It's called a submarine. It's a vessel made for underwater exploration, and as seen here, it can also be used for combat. The black liquid is the oil that fuels the machine."
"Oh."
Khaos turned and was about to launch back to the leviathan base whenever a boom sounded out around the area. He swung around and quickly waved his hand in an arc.
What looked like a pointed cannon ball was suddenly knocked into the ground a ways away from Khaos. It blew up and Khaos was pushed through the water. He rose his hand to crush the submarine, but another boom rang out and another pointed cannon ball hit him in the side and exploded on impact. I was gonna ask Lotus what they were, but he beat me to it.
"They're called torpedos. Just think of them as cannon balls that explode underwater."
Khaos flew through the water and slowly spun to a stop. His enter left side was covered in ice in an attempt to protect himself, but as the ice flaked off you could see a deep wound on his side. A small socket opened on one of the submarine's, but before it could do anything it was bitten and dragged along the ocean floor by a large green leviathan. Its head was roughly in the shape of a dragon, and it had what looked like arms hanging down from it. Small spots going down its neck to its stomach glowed orange.
"Why does that look familiar?"
"It's Arthur's leviathan form. The Sea Dragon leviathan."
The leviathan roared and spewed flames from its mouth onto the submarine it had drawn across the floor. The flame melted onto the submarine like lava and quickly melted all the way through the machine.
The other submarine turned and fired a torpedo just as it was being crushed by Khaos. The torpedo was aimed at the leviathan's face, but was shook off course and instead hit the leviathan and exploded its stomach.
"No no no."
Khaos used the water to propel himself to the leviathan. He raised his hands and magic circles made of blue light appeared on his palms. The exploded gut of the leviathan slowly started to close, but it remained bloody and bruised.
Khaos waved his hands and the water around him and the leviathan glowed.
"Come on big guy. I'm sure the empress will fix you right up. It's gonna be fine. It'll all be fine. Don't worry."
From the way he spoke it was hard to tell if Khaos was talking to the leviathan or to himself.
"What happened to it?"
"It wasn't fine."
Our surroundings blurred again and now we were inside a large room lined with herbs and liquids I didn't recognize. Khaos was sitting on a small bed as he held Arthur. Beside them looming menacingly was the Sea Dragon leviathan. The teenage girl from before was swimming all around the Sea Dragon. A peak out of a window showed many other sea people trying to look inside, and I could see above them a gigantic pitch black leviathan with spots of bioluminescent colors running along its body.
"The Gargantuan leviathan. Also known as the Garg."
"Thanks. Who's the girl swimming around right there?"
"That's the Sea Empress. Now that I think about it I don't think I gave her a name. Once my second life started she took over as leader of the reef, and we just started calling her different names for grandmother."
Lotus's eyes weren't as dull as before. His voice was still cold and his smile wasn't there, but his eyes had some life in them. I walked over and took his hand in mine.
"Thank you."
We watched as Arthur cried in Khaos's arms and the Sea Empress put some kind of yellow jelly on the Sea Dragon's wounds.
"Why does it have to hurt so much."
"I'm sorry Arthur. Just hang on a little longer. She's almost done applying the enzymes. Once she's done the pain will all go away."
The room blurred for a second, and when it stopped we were still in the same room, but the lights were off. The Sea Dragon was motionless as it floated above the bed Khaos was on. It only took me a second to realize it wasn't breathing. Khaos was laying Arthur down onto the bed when the Empress's antennae glowed and her head jerked up.
"More submarines?"
She simply nodded.
"Once he's settled activate the magic circle I have you. It'll begin the fusion."
Khaos disappeared in the blink of an eye, and our surroundings blurred as we were pulled along with him. All we saw when we got there was crushed metal and blood floating through the water. A man in some weird armor was trying to swim away from Khaos, but he was being held in place. Probably by Khaos with water magic.
"P-please! Spare me! We haven't done anything! I swear!"
"Then why is your submarine loaded to the teeth with explosive weaponry. I know the difference between an exploration vehicle and one made for war."
"L-look man! We just were told that there were some monsters that the scientists wanted to dissect so we-"
The man's sentence cut off as he was split in half over and over again. Khaos walked up to him and pulled some piece of the man's clothes to him. He looked at the language I didn't understand and he started to rise in the water. This time, instead of the surroundings blurring, we followed him.
We rose above the ocean and saw ships like I'd never seen before. They were absolutely humongous and made of metal. Some kind of flying machines kept going up and some came down to land on the boats.
Huge lights turned on and put Khaos in a spotlight. He was in the air on top of a typhoon of water.
"Identify yourself at-"
Khaos raised his hand and a huge tentacle rose and smashed one of the ships into the water. What I assumed to be was an artillery piece the size of one of my village's huts aimed at Khaos, but a wave slammed into the boat causing the large bullet to fly past him.
Two tsunamis closed in on opposing sides and crashed everything together. More tentacles rose up and pulled the boats down. Some of the flying machines flew down and fired at Khaos, but their bullets were all blocked by a huge chunk of ice that rose from the ocean. Orbs of ice started appearing in the sky, and a huge worm shaped leviathan with a steaming orange horn shot from the pillar of ice and pierced through one of the machines. It stabbed into one of the orbs of ice and jumped from one to the other. Each time it took down at least one of the flying machines until it stabbed back into the pillar of ice in the ocean. The orbs of ice fizzled into snow, and Khaos looked down.
He pointed his palms to the ocean floor and 10 large individual magic circles appeared under him. From each one a slender white leviathan with pointy mandibles fell into the ocean.
"They're called Void Chelicerates. They're the leviathans my old mandibles came from."
Khaos went back into the water and we went with him. The Void Chelicerates were merciless as they hunted down and killed every human they found. They tore every bit of metal they found into scrap. After what felt like hours everything went still, and then I was back in our room at Zenith and Paul's house.
"It was only 2 or 3 days later that I hunted down and killed every worker of the company that led that charge. Its scientist's greed was its downfall. Not even a week after that is when I made my deal with Dorei and died. Stabbed through the neck. It was a month before my rebirth that Arthur survived merging with his leviathan."
"Is that why you were scratching your neck earlier?"
"Yeah. It was a really bad habit I had back in my second life. I had finally managed to break it after some therapy sessions with Death, but I guess the memories triggered it. I'd do it anytime I was anxious or scared. It was also my most obvious tell if I was lying or not. It was just a little delayed. About 5 minutes after I lied the left side of my neck would itch until I scratched it. Whenever I was scared or anxious I'd scratch the right side of my neck."
"I'll have to keep that in mind. But... how are you feeling?"
"Honestly? I don't know. I'm not really feeling much of anything right now."
I stood up and sat on the bed. I patted the part beside me and Lotus climbed up. I pulled him into a hug.
"Then we'll stay here until you feel better."
We sat there for a while without saying anything. Eventually, without moving, Lotus spoke just two words.
"Thank you."
*-Lotus-*
Truthfully, I'm not a big fan of opening up to people. However, talking like that to Roxy and then her hugging me for an hour straight really helped improve my mood. We went downstairs and had a late lunch. It was honestly more of a snack since for once my appetite wasn't as large as it normally was.
"Is everything alright Young Master Lotus?"
I shifted my staff as I ate a bowl of stew.
"Yeah. I remembered something I thought I had moved on from. I was wrong though, but I'm all better now."
Lilia gave me a curt nod and went back to dusting the surrounding area. An echoing voice sounded in my head as Roxy spoke to me using telepathy.
'Just so you know. If you ever have anything you need to talk about, you can always come to me.'
'Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.'
I finished my bowl and Roxy brought Rudy and I outside for a magic lesson. Today would be Rudy's first shot at an advanced level spell. The only reason I knew it was in Roxy's lesson plan was because she nearly chanted the entire incantation for Earth Dome in her sleep. And yes, I learnt the hard way that sleep chanting was actually a thing, and it could be really dangerous. This was the first time she had done an advanced level spell though. Normally it's just a water ball or two, but she did do an intermediate level spell one time. And yes I was watching her sleep, but one, I have issues falling asleep, and two, she was absolutely beautiful when she slept.
"So what are we learning today Miss?"
"Well today Rudy, I'll be teaching you both an advanced level spell. To keep things simple and safe we'll be casting the earth spell Earth Dome. Here. It's the incantation."
Roxy handed both of us a piece of paper with an incantation written on it.
"Lotus you go first."
I nodded and started with my spell. I spoke the spell with my staff, but actually had to silently cast Earth Dome giving it the illusion that I cast the spell normally. Speaking an incantation through my staff would not result in a spell being cast.
The dome rose up and Roxy walked around and knocked on it. A small bit of it crumbled away.
"Hm. Next time you try it you need to put some more mana into it. Okay Rudy's turn."
Oh well. Earth magic was never my forte anyway. Water and wind were always my specialty, and my sun domain was the only reason why my fire magic wasn't abysmal.
Rudy spoke the incantation and a dome the same size as mine rose up in front of us. Roxy examined it the same way she did mine.
"Good job Rudy. You got it spot on."
She gave Rudy a thumbs up and he smiled meekly.
"Let's practice these for a while and we'll move onto the other elements. Once we get to the fire spells we will have to go somewhere else though."
Rudy's meek smile faded. I felt a spike of fear come off him and the word scopophobia popped into my head. The fear of being exposed and being stared at by others.
"Do we have to? Can't we just do it here in the yard?"
"Oh no. Those spells are way too dangerous and destructive to use here. We need to go out past the farm land for these. I actually already have a place in mind."
Rudy swallowed and didn't say anything. A villager came over and asked for Roxy to help with something. There was a potential monster sighting near the fields, and the knights were dealing with a separate monster sighting near the forest. Roxy gave us instructions on what to do for the rest of class time and then ran off with the villager. Rudy's fear slowly faded away as he practiced summoning and dismissing the Earth Dome.
I propped my staff on a tree and sat down. Gran swam down and curled up in my lap like a cat. I started petting her as I watched Rudy's fear fizzle out. I channeled mana into my staff.
"I'll talk to her about it. The whole going out of the garden thing."
Rudy paused and looked at me confused.
"Why would you do that? You heard her. The spells are too destructive. We... have to go outside."
His fear rose again.
"Look. I don't know what happened that made you scared of being watched, but if I can do something to not make you that scared then I'll do it. I can see that fear. It's not normal."
Rudy looked at me. It felt like he was reevaluating me.
"Why do you do it? Smile all the time, I mean?"
"Do you want the real answer or the answer I give everyone when they ask?"
"There's 2 answers?"
"Well anytime someone asks I use a quote from one of my favorite songs. I tell them that you're never fully dressed without a smile. In reality my smile is a mask. If I let my face reflect my true feelings I would look depressed as all hell. Plus it gives people the idea I'm a psychopath, which means they usually don't wanna talk to me. I don't particularly like talking."
"But you talk like... a good bit through your staff."
"There are people I actually like here. Ever seen me talk to Paul?"
"Um... maybe once? With the staff?"
"Exactly."
"So uh... why aren't you practicing your spell?"
"Earth magic has never been my forte. I've tried getting better at it, but even after months of practice it won't get better. See?"
I brought my staff to me and cast Earth Dome with so much mana you could actually see it with the naked eye. The end result was the same thing as when I tried earlier. A thin and brittle dome of what barely classified as stone.
It crumbled away without any input.
"Oh."
"But through the use of old magic I can mimic the result."
To prove my point I instantly created a dome of ice around us, and then collapsed the dome.
"I'm sure Roxy will understand."
"But how are you gonna convince her? About the garden thing, not the spell thing."
"You know how when I first taught you void magic I had you fire a ball of void at me?"
"Yeah?"
I moved so Mom's trees wouldn't be behind me. Gran watched on interested in my movements.
"Hit me with your strongest fire spell."
"Wha-"
"I already told you I've been burned alive before. I wouldn't be telling you to do this for no reason. Now come on. Blast me."
"You better not get hurt from this."
Rudy held his hand out and charged up the intermediate level spell, Ex-flame. He charged it and got ready to fire.
"I said strongest. Come on Rudy. Hit me!"
Rudy grit his teeth and the flame turned blue. The fire wildly shot from his palm and flew towards me. I pointed a finger and flicked it right before it hit me. The flame twirled around me and curled into a ball in my palm.
"How'd you do that?"
Rudy looked shocked as he focused on the blue ball of fire in my palm.
"It's called a domain. I have full control over the sun and things related to it. So the sun itself, light and fire. See?"
I snapped my fingers and with a 'woosh' everything went dark. The only light came from the fireball in my palm. I quickly snapped my fingers and everything returned to normal. I flicked my hand and the fireball fizzled away.
"It'll all be fine."
Rudy sat down since he was low enough on mana that he was getting tired. He really put his all into that attack. Im excited to see just how strong he'll get in the future. A few minutes later Roxy ran back through the gate.
"Are you both okay?! Everything got really dark all of a sudden!"
I looked up at the cloudless sky.
"Yeah. It was just a giant cloud, or someone might've made the sun disappear. Who knows?"
"The sun... sigh. Lotus if you're gonna do something crazy at least send me a warning."
"Sorry. Say can I talk to you about something?"
Roxy walked forward and closed the gate.
"Sure. What's up?"
"It about-"
I was cut off as Death fell and landed in front of me. She had her scythe drawn and had barrier armor highlighting her limbs like armor.
I raised my staff and summoned the Void Chelicerates.
"What's wrong?"
The white circles that glowed on the veil of her hat looked around. Slowly she got out of her stance and let out a sigh of relief.
"Death. What's wrong?"
"Poseidon is here. The girls' found the coordinates of this universe and his magic was pooling out of it in waves."
"Pun intended?"
"Not the time for jokes."
"Yeah yeah. I know."
"Who's Poseidon? Like the god?"
Rudy was more confused than anything. Then he was scared. He let out a bit of info from our world, but no one was gonna call him out on it. Death and I were the only ones who knew who he was.
"Let's all get inside."
"No. The longer I stay here the higher the chances he finds you, and that's assuming he hasn't already."
"So what do we do."
"As soon as she saw it Shi started making spells left and right to help. She's such a daddy's girl. Much to my dismay she somehow managed to find a universe where time magic hadn't been destroyed yet, and learnt a spell to create a dome effectively frozen in time."
Death pulled out multiple scrolls.
"These scrolls are the multiple steps for a single spell. It's the best solution she came up with in 8 years her time."
"Oh my. She cares so much." I said sarcastically as I wiped away a tear that wasn't there.
"Come on. We need to do this as fast as we can. This will make you essentially invisible to anyone looking for your mana signature, aura, or soul. You also won't show up if someone's looking for you with magic. There's a menagerie of other spells that let you control your presence as you see fit, and limit your magic output to avoid detection. It'll limit your power, but you'll be able to remove these limiters at a moments notice. They aren't like your old ones."
My old limiters did something similar, but it took time to remove them. The one time I needed to remove them... I wasn't fast enough and the Godkin were slaughtered.
"When you say a moments notice..."
"The instant you want them gone. Shi finished the spell in less than 2 years. The rest of her time was spent lowering the time it took to remove the limiters. She considered the spell a failure until it took less than a second to release them."
"Sigh. What'll we do with her?"
"Cherish her, love her, and give her anything she needs to fuel her experiments. Now come on. We need to do this."
Death summoned some skeletal hands to hold the scrolls as she removed my shirt and started painting symbols on my chest and arms in ink. Next she put shackles on my feet and wrists.
"What're these for?"
"Giving the limiters something physical to bind to drastically reduced the time it took to remove the limiters. They fade away once the spell is cast, but you can summon them and use chains attached to them to fight. Dae tried them out and described it as being both fun and very effective."
"Neat."
Once Death finished the preparations she had the hands float and hold four of the pages near the shackles. She read the last sheet of paper silently and put her hand on my chest. She closed her eyes and I could feel her mana run through me like pushing ice through my veins. A huge eye grew on my chest looked around then closed. The symbols faded, and the shackles had light reflect around them as they disappeared.
"So... how do you feel?"
"Weak. Way weaker than before."
I was limited to about 5% of my full power. I tried going 100% and I did immediately. I then reactivated the limiters and my power went down again.
"Huh. Shi said it was supposed to make you drowsy?"
"I don't feel," a wave of nausea and fatigue slammed into me, "Oh! There it is. Ooooh. Sooo~ sleepyyyy."
And then I fell. I slept through dinner. I'd had a long day.
Good to have another chapter out. Been a while, huh? This chapter was mainly to show a bit of Lotus's backstory, along with the reason why he made his deal with Dorei. As well as the introduction of his limiting factors.
Lotus tells Rudy a bit about how and why he talks when Lotus says he prefers not to talk. It's basically he likes Roxy and Lilia, he sees Zenith as his real Mom, and he genuinely wants to get to know Rudy better. He only talks with his real voice when talking to someone one-on-one. If he's talking to multiple people he always uses his staff. The only exception to this is Death. As long as he has the words for it he will always speak to Death with his voice. As for Paul... let's get onto the next topic!
If you don't know why Laws calls Sylphie "Luffy" then I'll tell you. He calls her that in some translations and I just think it's a cute nickname to only have her parents call her when everyone else calls her Sylphie or Sylphiette.
Roxy somehow taught Rudeus advanced level fire magic without ever leaving the yard in front of the Greyrat house, and that doesn't make sense. We've seen how destructive intermediate and advanced level fire spells can be and it shouldn't be possible to teach him those spells without leaving the yard. Plus it gives me a chance to have the brother's bond. So there's that.
And the limiters aka restraint levels as Lotus will refer to them next chapter are direct references to Hellsing Ultimate. There's gonna be a more in-depth explanation on them next chapter.