*-Rudeus-*
Man I think I'm the luckiest reincarnator ever! Not only do I get to learn magic, but my teachers are two incredibly cute pre-teens. They both even seemed to be super talented. One of them was a Saint ranked water mage. That was Roxy. The other was Lotus. She had a kind of mild tomboy energy, but she acted so much like Roxy you'd think they were twins. She used magic that A Textbook for Magic didn't list in it's pages, and Zenith had never heard of it either.
Not only that but Lotus used her magic without using an incantation. And even further past that they were able to control their magic after they cast the spell. She stabilized mom's tree after it broke and constantly controlled that ink stuff she used for writing in her book. Once I fired a spell I couldn't move it, but they did it with such ease. I truly had the best teachers.
*-Lotus-*
I slowly opened my eyes and found that Roxy was still holding me. Unlike last night that comfortable feeling was gone and I was starting to feel uneasy. Using shadow step I shifted out of the bed and quickly swapped myself out for a pillow. Cleansing myself with space magic I went downstairs and found a maid cooking some kind of stew.
"Hm? Oh you must be Lotus. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Lilia. The maid of this house."
I took my book from under my arm and wrote out my response.
I am Lotus. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
I have a small bow as I turned the book towards her.
"There's is no need to bow. I am beneath you in the hierarchy of this house. You are the Young Master's teacher after all."
I suppose that's right. Where is Rudy?
"Currently he is still asleep, but he should be waking up soon. The madam is still asleep and the master is training outside."
Thank you very much.
I should add that to the back of my notebook.
I went outside and found Paul swinging his sword downwards in the same position over and over again. He turned around once he saw me approaching.
"Oh hey. Sleep good?"
I nodded as I examined him. He was training shirtless and was sweating quite a bit. There were some women hiding behind the stone wall ogling at him.
May I make a request?
"Depends what it is. Remember what we talked about?"
I do. I wish to request a moch battle. It's been a while since I've fought someone strong and I'd like to make sure I don't lose my strengths.
Paul was clearly confused after he read what I wrote.
"You sure? Magician versus swordsman in an area this small gives me a pretty big advantage, but if it's a spar you want I'll be happy to oblige."
Paul took a stance and I did the same. The magic stone bracelet around my wrist started rotating.
"Go!"
Paul launched forward and dove forward with a horizontal slash. I dodged to the side and jumped back. Paul tried running to me, but as his foot came down to touch the ground I opened a small opening to the void. His foot fell inside and he started falling to the ground, but caught himself with his hands, pulled himself back up, and back flipped backwards. Really bad move on his part by the way. Had I chose to I could've made a larger opening after the backflip and he'd have fallen straight into it. But for the sake of a longer battle I chose to keep all void openings barely larger than his foot.
He changed up his stance and slowly started approaching me. He was being more conscious of where he was stepping and what I was doing. Suddenly he flashed and was right in front of me with his training sword above his head. I shadow stepped sideways and got struck in the side. His attack was a feint. As soon as I dodged he swung in the direction I moved in and hit me. Poor Paul stared down in disbelief at the wooden sword that was now firmly stuck in my stomach.
"Wuh! How'd this happen?!"
After I felt that he was still putting force behind the sword after hitting me I shifted my chest from physical void to liquid void and then back to physical again. The short amount of time was enough for the sword to get half way through my chest.
I let the sword be pulled out and Paul jumped backwards. His eyes were focused more than before. Every move I made was being watched with the eyes of an S-Ranked adventurer. He got into the same stance as last time and just as before he flashed and was in front of me. Expecting a feint I blocked where I thought he was gonna hit me only for him to bring the sword down right above my shoulder on my neck.
My vision got blurry and I slowly fell unconscious.
When I woke up I could faintly hear voices.
"You hit him way to hard! Why were you even fighting him in the first place? He's barely older than Rudy!"
"Look he's the one who asked for it. Literally! Plus you didn't see what I saw. He's crazy powerful! Look I bet he's gonna wake up any minute now!"
"Paul with the mark that was on his neck I wouldn't be shocked if it caused enough trauma for him to be unconscious for at least three more days."
I slowly got up and rubbed my eyes.
"See I told you!"
I looked over and saw Paul sitting at the table. Zenith was walking towards me with a worried look on her face.
"Lotus are you alright? Please forgive my fool of a husband. He can get carried away when it comes to this sort of thing. Is your neck still hurting? Are you hurt anywhere else?"
I didn't feel like my neck was hurting. I looked around for my note book and found it on the small table beside the couch. I picked it up and started writing in it.
It's okay I'm not hurting. I actually quite enjoyed the spar with Mr.Paul. It was fun. I hope you'll let me fight him again in the future.
I could feel a grin spreading across my face as I let Zenith read the book.
"Sheesh. Still that really did leave a bad mark on your neck. Where'd it go?"
I tilted my head in confusion. Sure he hit me pretty hard, but would it have been enough to leave a mark? It did hurt when he hit my neck though. Unlike my stomach I hadn't been able to turn my neck or my head to void yet. Those required a lot of time and focus. I'd have to spend an entire night on each one. I guess he must have hit me right above where the void body ended.
"Is everything okay?"
Looking over at the stairs Rudy seems to have woken up. He walked over to the couch and looked at me worryingly.
I'm fine. Just let my guard down in a spar with your dad. He's pretty strong.
Rudy glanced over at Paul with a mad look on his face. It wasn't really anger. More like... jealousy?
So whose ready to learn some new magic?
That certainly got his attention. Rudy's head quickly turned to me.
"Let's do this!"
Once we got outside I used void magic to conjure us some stools and a table.
"Where's miss Roxy?"
Roxy isn't really a morning person. She should be awake right before breakfast is done.
"Oh okay. So what are we starting with?"
Using space magic I conjured up a whiteboard I could use to draw and write with void magic.
I drew out a quick diagram of an arm and hand and how magic flows through them.
Okay. Since the magic I know doesn't have any incantations it's likely you'll have issues when learning these spells for the first time. We'll start with my specialty, Void Magic. This is what I use for writing and a bunch of other miscellaneous tasks. We'll start with these.
Channeling a bit of mana I formed a forcefield around us. It made everything inside look black with a white outline. Inside of us were veins that looked just like the ones I drew on the board.
I cast this area around us so that we can see how the mana is flowing through us. Now I want you to focus on these veins here.
Three veins all lit up on the board.
Imagine your pouring out a cup of water. You want to try and empty the mana in these veins.
Rudy looked down at his right hand. He focused and focused, but found that he couldn't get all the mana out. He was able to get some out so we know he can do it at least.
We decided to take a small break after Roxy came outside.
"So how's it going?"
"Lotus is showing me all sorts of crazy things. I think I'm starting to lose my mind."
"Haha. Welcome to living with Lotus."
What's that suppose to mean?
"Oh nothing."
A week had past by and Rudy's studies were going well. Roxy was slowly working with him on beginner level magic. When it came to my class though things were a bit harder for him. He was finally able to learn how to use his individual mana veins, but other than that we have struggled to make progress. Things would be easier if I could talk instead of having to write everything down. Hopefully I'd be able to solve that issue tonight.
I had fully converted my body to void so I was able to shadow step through smaller shadows, and I traveled faster. Shadow travel wasn't instant. You didn't immediately teleport to wherever you were going. You just moved through the void really fast. If the place that you were hoping to travel to is close then it could be considered instant movement. But making sure to watch the time I noted that it now takes me about 5 minutes to get to Rosie's inn when it should around a month..
Stepping out of the shadow I could hear Rosie talking to someone. It seemed that they were enjoying a meal together. Rosie looked towards me and smiled.
"Oh look who it is! Tom this is the boy I was tellin you about. He's such a charmer. Oh and he's the nicest little man you'll ever meet!"
The man relaxed his face and stood up. He bowed slightly and introduced himself.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. As you heard from Rosie my name is Tom. From the way she talks about you it seems we all share similar appetites."
I suppose we do. I am Lotus. It's a pleasure to meet you as well Sir Tom.
"Why you weren't kidding Rosie. The manners on this boy truly surpass many of the noble brats I'm forced to work with."
"I know right? Oh! Hang on I'll be back in a second."
Rosie rushed to the back storage room and quickly returned with a large box. It made a loud thud noise as it fell on the ground.
Peaking inside I could see multiple chunks of iron, copper, and even more miscellaneous ores.
This is far more than what I was expecting. How much do I owe you Miss?
"Oh don't worry about it. The guy was a real piece of work, so in the end you ended up getting Tom and I dinner, if you catch my drift."
I see. Thank you very much Miss. I promise to get you payment sooner or later. Enjoy the meal!
"Oh just call me Auntie sweetheart, and like I said don't worry about it. The meats nice and tender so you've got no debt to pay."
"Thank you for the meal little Lotus. If you ever wish to gain a proper education or some noble manner lessons ask Rosie and she'll send for me. Though from the way you act I doubt you'll need them."
Bowing in thanks I stored the box of ore in the void and shadow traveled back to the house. I would've stayed and chatted but I had work to do. Since tomorrow was Roxy's turn teaching Rudy I had plenty of time on my hands.
I went down to the living room and was shocked to find Lilia sitting in a chair knitting something.
"Master Lotus? What might you be doing up at this hour?"
Work.
"Ever the diligent type I see. If I am in your way please tell me and I shall move."
Oh no it's fine. I was actually coming down here to make something myself.
"Oh? If it's food your after I can make you something. The master said he wouldn't feed you but I can't agree with making a child starve."
It's not food no. I'm not hungry. I'm actually about to make something to help me teach Rudeus better.
"I see. Than I hope it goes well."
Sitting across from Lilia I summoned the box of ores.
Let's see we've got Iron, Copper, some lead, a bit of nickel, and... what's this?
I pulled out a metal ingot. It seemed similar to iron, but it had mana flowing through it. Was this the mana made iron Rosie was talking about?
Looking back in the box I saw a pouch and a note.
The merchant won't be needing these anymore. I've got no use for these things so I'm givin ya his whole stash.
XOXO Aunt Rosie!
Peaking into the pouch I found a bunch of small magic stones. In between them all was a stone the size of my hand. I'd definitely need to pay Rosie back later.
Placing some of the copper, mana iron, and the large mana stone in front of me I got ready to start working. I could see in my peripheral vision that Lilia had put her knitting materials in her lap and was watching me curiously.
Using space magic I picked up the iron and copper and cut them into small thin noodles. I linked and threaded the wires together. I left room in between them so that mana could safely flow through. This process took two hours.
Next I started making the casing for my creation. Since I had it I figured I should use it. Using some of the leftover mana iron I formed a case in the shape of a microphone. I added a swivel to it so that it could either be straight like a staff, or the top could be leaned forward like an actual microphone. Getting the case right and strong enough so that it would withstand extreme amounts of magic wasn't necessarily difficult. Just time consuming. This process took another two hours.
For the second to last part I used the rest of the mana iron to form a long handle. To get the texture, length, and width right it took about half an hour.
For the final step I opened the case and put the magic stone inside it. I then closed the case and started putting everything together. This was the hardest part since I now had to fit it together and change or remake all the spots that didn't fit. By the time I was done Paul had woken up and I could hear him as he was about to walk down the stairs. Standing up I looked at the staff in front of me. It had a silver gleam since the outside was all iron, but I fixed that up with a little space magic.
The handle was black leather and the metal now looked a dark blue. It was a little taller than I was but I was able to adjust the size whenever I wanted.
Shockingly Lilia had not only stayed here with me the whole time but had managed to stay awake the whole time as well.
"That was beautiful Master Lotus."
Holding the staff in my hand I channeled a bit of mana into the staff.
"Thank you. I worked quite hard to make it."
The voice was a little off. Like I was speaking through a radio. It also sounded a little feminine. Luckily that was the only thing wrong with it. It was a pocket. An abnormal one sure, but it was definitely a pocket. As long as I had it near me if I looked over my right hand I'd see a small digital clock that would tell me the time. Thanks to Daeos's incredibly powerful fear magic and my powerful space and void magic I could also send messages further than before. Not that I had anyone to send messages to, but hopefully I'd be able to fix that issue in the future.
Paul made it down the stairs and looked around confused. I shrunk the staff down to where it reached a bit above my hip.
"Lotus? Lilia? What are you both doing up this early. Lilia you okay? You look exhausted."
"Apologies master. I didn't sleep at all last night. I was captivated by Master Lotus's craftsmanship. It was like watching someone weave the very stars to do their bidding. It was beautiful."
"What? I've got no idea what your talking about."
"I suppose that she got distracted by my space magic while I was making my new staff. What do you think?"
Paul widened his eyes as my voice was projected through the staff. I hadn't bothered with moving my mouth, since any time I tried that previously I'd do it out of sync and it just ended up looking weird. Everyone had gotten use to me communicating through my book over the past week so it seems they'll all be quite surprised hearing my voice. Even if I don't open my mouth.
"Well uh. Don't make a habit about keeping Lilia up. She's a pretty big part of why this house hasn't fallen apart at this point."
I simply shrugged my shoulders as I sent my materials back to the void. I'll make some pockets later for now I'll just hang out for a bit. Guess I could do this first though.
I walked over to Lilia and used a bit of life magic. She was shocked to see my glowing hands.
"What was that? I'm no longer fatigued."
"Life magic. I basically just gave you the energy from a full nights rest. It's not a good idea to rely on it for multiple days in a row though, so I will be doing what Mr.Paul says."
Lilia stood up and brushed her hands off.
"I see. Well thank you very much, and thank you for the show. It was quite nice."
"It was my pleasure."
Lilia went back to her room to put away her knitting materials. I felt a little bad about interrupting her very little free time, but she seemed abnormally happy as she was walking away.
"Say. What's up with the girly voice? I thought Roxy said you were a boy?"
"Oh I am. You see Rudy seems to think that I'm female so I'm trying to see how long I can keep up the act. Now if something were to happen or I think I may go too far I'll reveal to him my real gender. I only intend for this to be a small joke after all. Maybe if we see each other in the future we can think back and laugh on it."
"Alright. Just don't do anything to mean to him please."
"Oh come now your making me sound cruel. My main motivation for making this staff was to make teaching him easier anyway."
"If you say so. I'm gonna go train. See ya later."
"See ya."
Man. Talking this much was already making me exhausted. Not Physically since I only needed to sleep once a month, and it wasn't magically since I had so much mana. I forgot how mentally taxing this is. If only Lilia and Paul weren't aware of its existence. I'd be able to keep this hidden for a bit. Hmmm. Weeeeeell...
Would that be going to far? To try and create Time Magic just to keep my staff a secret? Screw it let's do this.
I went outside and waved to Paul as I left the house.
"Where are you going?"
"It's Roxy's turn to teach Rudy today so I'm gonna go explore. I'll be back before nightfall."
"Alright. Don't make Roxy worry too much."
"Understood."
I walked down the path leading to wards the forest. After I got inside I looked around till I found a tree with some fruit on it.
I picked a fruit and examined it. I found no blemishes on the fruit and decided to use it for my first experiment. Technically I wouldn't be creating Time Magic. Time magic already existed in the old world, but the higher ups claimed it was too dangerous and burned all the documents about it. The only ones that survived were the documents that involved space magic. They deemed space magic to important to burn, and claimed that no one would be able to decipher how to use time magic from those books.
What they didn't realize was that you could actually get a pretty good understanding of time magic if you read all of the books. And since I read all 200 of the space magic textbooks it's likely I was the only magician alive with this large of an understanding about time magic. The only reason I never studied it in the old world was because if I used so much as the tiniest amount of time magic the higher ups would do everything they could to kill me, and they had done their own fair share of godly genocides. No thank you.
So Time magic supposedly went hand in hand with space magic. Along with void magic the two made up the whole world. Space being everything's physical state, time being how those things change, and void being everything in between. Since I was well versed in both void and space magic I should hopefully be able to use time magic easily. Pythagorean theorem and all that jazz about using two sides of a triangle to find the missing side and what not.
Anyways using space magic I could see the physical state of the fruit, and with void magic I could see other small bits and pieces of it. The way that if you bit it you'd taste a sour but also sweet taste. Now I needed to figure out how I could age this fruit without using space or void magic. I ended up poking and prodding it with my mana trying out a whole bunch of different combinations of my mana veins and eventually got a reaction. The fruit slowly started rotting. When I reversed my mana flow the fruit regained its previous shade and then started shrinking. I now had a baby fruit in my hands.
Great. Now to figure out how to go back instead of making myself small again. As an experiment I messed around with the fruit and found how much mana I need to use to change the fruit's time by five minutes. I walked in a giant circle and then used time magic on myself. Everything went black for a second and when I opened my eyes I was at a point in the circle from five minutes prior. However that didn't tell me whether or not I went back in time or if I was just moved to a spot I had been in while everything else stayed the same.
So next I picked a bunch of fruit, stacked them, and used time magic on myself again. This time I was moved back a few feet and only half of the fruit was stacked.
Alright so theoretically this should work. With the multiplication power of a magic staff I didn't use as much mana as I normally would, so picking up my staff I slammed it into the ground and used far more mana than before for time magic.
When I opened my eyes I found myself back in the house with my hand on the doorknob. Walking outside I could see Paul training his downward sword swings. I waved to him.
"Hm? Where ya going?"
So he doesn't remember. Alright so this does work. I once again used my staff and went back in time. I found myself back in Roxy and I's room. Checking the void the box of ore was missing the mana iron, some copper, and the large mana stone, but I no longer had my staff. The void existed outside time and space so of course it would be left unaffected. I did however find myself exhausted. Now that I knew everything I needed to do I decided to just do it later.
Did I really just revive a magic that was claimed to be so dangerous that all of its books detailing it were burnt and destroyed just so that I didn't have to talk to people? Yeah. And hey no harm done am I right. I'll just have to be careful not to abuse that magic.
I crawled into bed and fell back asleep.
Ugh. Everything hurts.
"I just don't know how this is happening. His muscles are all contracting, but his body isn't moving, his heartbeat will just stop for minutes at a time, and his body temperature is freezing."
Zenith was standing over me with a confused look on her face. Roxy was standing by me concerned. Apparently she woke up earlier from my body heat freezing her. When she couldn't hear my heartbeat and healing magic didn't work she called in Zenith.
As it turns out Time Magic has some drawbacks. Atleast it does whenever your going back in time. I used it for hours yesterday but only felt like this after I went backwards.
"Will he be okay?"
Roxy was really worried for me. I wanted to give her a thumbs up, but my body refused to move. I'm glad I made my body void. Had I been made out of flesh and blood I don't know what would've happened to me.
"His eyes are working fine. He's still smiling if that's a good sign."
"I honestly don't even know if it's possible for him to not smile."
"I don't think I've seen him without it since you got here. Okay Lotus I'm gonna ask some questions. Blink once for yes and twice for no. Okay?"
One blink.
"Alright. Were you hurt at all before last night?"
Two blinks.
"Do you think you did anything for this to be happening?"
Two blinks.
"If you were to rate your pain on a scale of one to ten what would it be? Blink the number please."
I've been hurt worse but this still hurt really bad.
8 blinks.
Both Roxy and Zenith started looking more worried than before.
"It's just bizarre. I've never seen, heard, or read about anything like this back in Millis. What about you?"
"No. Even Ranoa's library never talked about something like this."
In the end I fell asleep after listening to them talk.
*-Khaos-*
I slowly got up and looked around. I was in a forest filled with Sakura trees and was surrounded by rubble. Oh. I was at my old throne.
"Why?"
I turned around and stepped back as soon as I saw what was in front of me.
Kuroi was crawling towards me. His entire body from the waist down was gone and half his face was covered in black liquid. His wings had been burned and only the skeleton remained.
"Save us. Come back Thorn. It hurts."
"Why didn't you save us?"
I looked to my left and saw Raion with what looked to be an insanely infected tumor in his right arm. His whole arm was swollen and his kin was pulsing purple. He was crying blood.
"You could've done it. You still can. Come back to us."
I coward backwards and covered my ears. The voice of a little girl talked to me straight through my head.
"If only you had been faster. It burns. It burns in death. Why? Why won't you let us rest?" It's all your fault."
Looking to my right I saw Pin. Her wings had been torn out and her right arm was gone. Her stump, back, and part of her face was on fire.
As I kept moved backwards arms reached out from behind me, and I felt as if my entire body was covered in ice.
"Come back Thorn. We miss you. Please come back."
I couldn't bring myself to look behind me. I could feel the tears streaming down my face already. I knew that voice. It was Phoebe. Another pair of hands came at me from behind and wrapped around my neck. I found myself in pain. I couldn't breath. I wanted to scream and as I tried to shout I could feel a wall inside me breaking.
*-Roxy-*
To keep myself distracted from constantly worrying about Lotus I brought Rudy outside right after breakfast for our magic lessons. I may have only watched over him for a month but it's fair to say I'd gotten pretty attached to him. The only reason I wasn't with him right now was because he was asleep and I wanted to let him rest for as long as he could.
"So your saying that they're sick?"
"Yes Rudy. Me and your mom both can't figure out what's going on with Lotus."
"I hope she starts feeling better."
Wait a minute.
"She?"
"Yeah. Isn't Miss Lotus a girl like you?"
"Uh. No. They're a-"
"GAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
A scream sounding like a bestial roar rang out all around us. Rudy and I quickly covered our ears in pain. It sounded like it came from the house.
I ran inside and barely saw Zenith run upstairs. I followed her and she ran into Lotus and I's room.
"Lotus! What's happening?"
I followed Zenith and saw her holding onto Lotus. He had his arms holding onto his neck like he was trying to pull something off of him.
"Gaaaaaaagh!"
Lotus screamed and another roar shook the house. But that shouldn't be possible. Lotus physically shouldn't be able to make a noise.
Looking at his eyes it looked like they were covered in white fire. He had tears pouring down his face as he cried. Right behind his cheeks something started pressing against his skin. Like something was trying to poke through him.
"I̶̦̲͌͗'̷̦̮̏m̵̮̅̕ ̸̻́́s̵̼̊̓o̷̼̐͆r̵̻̾̑r̵̟͂̓y I̸͖̦͓̩̺̞̠̥̝̍͛'̷̢̨̱̤̠̮̤̑ͅm̷͍͎̋͒̚͠ ̸̮̓̓̕̚ṥ̵͈̓o̶̱̱̯̩̼̪̖̻̒̒̋̏̐͝ͅr̵̡̥̻̦͐̈́̄͗̉̏̓͠r̵̯̟̤͐̈̑̿͌͋̊͝y̸̬̆̂̉͋͒͂̈́̚͝ Ȋ̶̗̲̯͙͔͚̳̝̿͑̍̇̇̊͌͆͑̈͛̋̀͑͊̊͘͘͜ͅ'̸̮̮̙̰̎̆̈́̆͛͒͜m̶̧̨̡͇̗̣̣͎̰͉̬̯͓̝̼̘̳͔͚̥̀̇̄͂̆̓̂͊̂ ̷̡̞̼̼̘̠̻̺̜̙̾̿̇̎͒͗̀̀̽̅͐̍̐͑̔̈́̒̊͜͝ś̴̢̛̰̘̰̫͎̝̫͚̱̗͈̔̊̆̈̄̈́͋̈̑̅̅̅̀̀̚͠o̶͔̫̣͔̝̼̤͓̫̰͈̤͙͈͕̦͛r̶̼͈͚͚̆̽̉́͐͠r̷̤͔͎̹͐̑̽̒̓̋̉̈́̎͛̃́̏͘͘͝y̸͍͍̬̗̱̻̩̖͗̌̅͊̅ͅ"
I rushed next to Zenith and pulled Lotus into a hug.
"I don't know what's wrong but whatever it is I promise it's not your fault. Your gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. Everything... is gonna be okay."
He stopped screaming and repeating himself but there was a split and tear sound. I looked down and saw that mandibles had grown out of his face. Small bits of blood spilt down his cheek. I cast a healing spell, but the mandibles stayed. It got eerily quiet in the room. The only thing that could be heard was Lotus's sobbing, but even though his shaking never stopped his sobs slowly faded away until he was silent again.
I hadn't even noticed whenever Rudy, Paul, and Lilia came in the room. Zenith ushered them back out and slowly sat on the bed next to me and Lotus.
"What happened?"
Zenith looked at us both.
"I don't know. This is new."
I slowly reached down and moved his head. The mandibles sat in front of his mouth like a mask of sorts, and the flame in his eyes was gone. Speaking of his eyes though. His left iris was now significantly darker than before. It looked almost like a pit instead of an iris. Almost like it was dead inside. His right iris was still the vibrant light blue I was used to.
He shook heavily as I held him.
*-Lotus-*
Why? Why did I have to make them worry like this? Why was this even happening to me in the first place?
My body was returning to normal. Not all of it. I'd prefer if it did. Instead it was just random spots turning back to flesh and blood. It started with my neck and up. At least for that it was all flesh and bones. My mandibles from my previous life grew back as well. I was now reduced to a shivering mess as Roxy held onto me. As muscles regrew they tried attaching to muscles that hadn't grown back yet and spasmed.
As Roxy held onto me as I cried I think I might've realized what Death had meant before.
It's been another week and I was finally moving again. Albeit only while under constant supervision from either Roxy or Zenith. I was able to turn my body back into void so I wasn't have to deal with constant muscle spasms. Note to self. They were right, time magic is extremely dangerous and should never be used unless it is a last resort.
It seems that Rudy also found out I wasn't a girl. He no longer looked at me like he did Roxy. Oh well. I was hoping for the joke to go on a little longer, but I guess all good things must come to an end. Since I didn't need to anymore I manipulated the void that made my hair. I made it a bit shorter. It now stopped a little past my shoulders. I pulled it into a partial bun and called it there.
I've got some running theories as to why my mandibles grew back. I examined my body while I was bedridden and found that I still had bits of time magic running through me. This would explain why I was regrowing muscle, as well as why my mandibles grew back. It was trying to revert parts of my body back to how it was before, and it was stronger in some spots than it was others. Which is why some spots only returns to how they were before my void transformation and why I grew back something from my previous life.
Roxy has also gotten really clingy lately. I suppose she was still shook up from the whole "this boy has never made a sound and he suddenly started scream crying" incident. She took me everywhere with her. Except the bathroom. When she went to use the bathroom or to bath she always had me stay outside the door.
I'd caught Rudy trying to peek at her multiple times. He now gave me annoyed stares more often. He even said he didn't like my smile. Could you believe it? And after Death worked so hard for me to get it back.
Anyways. Tonight landed on the day of the month where I was actually required to sleep. As we laid in bed Roxy subconsciously wrapped her arms around me. It filled me with a warm cozy feeling. Ever since Roxy held me during my break down I've noticed I don't ever feel uneasy around her. I leaned into the hug and closed my eyes as I felt a pull on my soul.
I found my consciousness flying above the house. I appeared as an outline of my old self. Rising up I found Death waiting for me slightly under the clouds this time.
"So? How've you been?"
Since I was using my soul I was able to project my voice through telepathy. If only I could do this in my physical form.
You wouldn't believe it if I told you.
"You did what?! There's a reason they banned time magic! It's a miracle you're still alive."
Trust me I know that now. You know people would be less compelled to try it if they talked about the consequences more. The aftermath sucks.
"I'm sure. Honestly Khaos what will I do with you?"
Who knows. For now we could just dance. It's a beautiful night after all.
"I suppose you're right. I do have another piece of good news."
Oh? And what might that be?
Death leaned in and whispered in my ear.
"I managed to get Dorei indebted to me."
I opened my eyes with shock as I looked at Death.
Are you saying what I think you're saying?
"Sometime soon I may get to hear what you actually sound like."
*-Khaos-*
Near the end of his first life
Having left a back up plan and teaching the sea empress how to create life I left for the surface world for the first time in 38 years. There was a certain individual I needed to find. Dorei, the contractor. Basically a wish granting genie who had no seal or binding set on them. You got a wish for whatever you want and in return they could place a curse on you.
I found them in less than an hour. From the way she spoke it sounded like she was looking for me as well.
"It's not everyday you get to meet someone as famous as you Mr.Khaos. I 'spose you're livin up to that name o' yours."
"Indeed. I believe you know why I'm looking for you?"
"The same reason as everyone else? So what is it? Money? Power? Love?"
"I merely wish for the protection over the new leviathans. Whether they have been made or will be made in the future I wish for them to be kept safe."
"Oh? That's an oddly selfless wish for someone of your caliber. But sure. Now let's see."
Dorei suddenly teleported right in front of me. Her green eyes pulsing as she stared into my soul.
"I think that's good payment. See ya later Mr.Cold Shoulder."
I tried calling out to her as she disappeared, but found that my voice wasn't working. No matter how many times I tried I wasn't able to use my voice.
"Oi! It's him! The boss's wish worked! We got us a big bounty today boys!"
A bunch of warriors ran forward and stabbed me. I was to shocked to realize what was happening. Why my voice? Out of everything I had why would she take... my... voice.
I fell to the ground as my vision went dark.
End of first life
"I've gotten confirmation from her that you can have your voice back in 3 days. She does say that it's fractured though, so you'll only be able to talk a certain amount per day."
That's better than none at all right? So how much do I get per day?
"She said it varies, but to never expect more than 1,000 words in a day."
Oh well. I can live with that.
I felt a tug on my soul. I looked confused as I gazed at the moon in the sky.
Isn't this supposed to last until daybreak?
"It seems someone's trying to wake you up. Can't really blame them though. After the experience you just had seeing you while you're astral projecting must be terrifying."
True. Until next time then.
"Until next time, my songbird."
I was pulled back down into my body. Roxy was shaking my shoulders and I could feel something wet falling onto my face. Rubbing my eyes I could see that Roxy was crying.
I sat up and reached to rub her tears away, but I got stopped when she pulled me into a hug.
"Don't ever scare me like that again."
I suppose she saw me. Seeing someone astral projecting was pretty scary to be fair. To see someone lying there motionless as their eyes are replaced with gaping black holes would shock even the most seasoned adventurers.
I hugged Roxy back and pet her head to help calm her down. It took a while but eventually she calmed down.
"You can't just do stuff like this. If you do I'll grow old before I reach my hundreds."
Sorry.
"What was that anyway?"
Astral projection. I send my soul out and explore the stars.
"So you move your soul out of your body?"
Correct.
"For some reason I'm not surprised."
Roxy and I continued to sit there for the rest of the night. Eventually we both fell back asleep.
Yaaaaaawn. Ugh. I don't wanna get up. To cozy. Feeling an uncomfortable hardness under me I opened my eyes and saw that at some point Roxy and I had fallen off the bed.
Shocked that didn't wake us up.
Using a bit of space magic I put Roxy back in the bed and put a blanket back over her. I walked downstairs and saw Lilia making breakfast. Peaking out the window I could see Paul swinging his sword in the yard.
If Lilia is making breakfast but no one woke up me or Roxy than that must mean that Rudy and Zenith are both still sleeping. Though based on how cooked the food looked I reckon they'll be up some time soon.
Since I've got the time I might as well start work on the pockets. It's a shame I don't have any mana iron left, but thats my fault for using all of it to make one staff.
Using regular iron and copper to form threads like before I crafted what looked like friendship bracelets. Using a combination of void and fear magic I created the outer shell of the pocket. Setting a magic stone in between the threaded wire I then put the wire in the shell. Skadoosh!
I know had a fully functioning pocket. Well the voice on it was the same mana signal as the staff so it was still gonna have a radio sound to it, but that just added prestige.
The whole process took about 20 minutes. 15 of those minutes was me meticulously threading wire. But now I had a pocket. I stored it in my hand, and sent the box of ores back to the void.
"Oh! Master Lotus. I didn't hear you wake up."
Lilia having finally turned around from the pot had noticed me at the table. Since I had put away the evidence it must have looked like I was just sitting there. I mean that is what I was going for, but still. It probably seemed really weird.
I just got here. What are you making?
"I'm making some potato stew. It will be served with bread right now, and will be had for lunch later."
I see. Thank you very much.
Lilia gave me a small bow.
"Of course sir."
Lilia and I both looked towards the stairs as Rudy came down. He was rubbing his eyes as though he just woke up. Probably because he did.
"Oh good morning Lilia. Morning Lotus."
"Good morning young master Rudeus. Did you sleep well?"
Good morning.
"Kinda? I thought I heard something late last night and it woke me up."
He glanced over at me as he said that.
Not long after he sat down Zenith emerged from the stairway as well.
"Oh? Is Roxy still sleeping? I had slept in today so I thought she might get up before me."
Roxy has a habit of being the last to wake up. It's the usual at this point.
"Fair. But doesn't she know that young ladies like herself need to take care of themselves properly?"
... Young?
Now don't get me wrong. Roxy is by no means old in age, and she definitely wasn't old in looks. Zenith did realize that Roxy was older than her right? I'll just leave that there. I see no reason to correct her.
A few days later I woke up feeling like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I tried using my voice and there it was. It was like it never left. I could feel something though. An odd and cold sensation. Like a collar slowly tightening on my neck. Once the caller tightened enough that would be all the talking I could do for a day.
Looking down at Roxy who was still peacefully sleeping I decided to lay back down and rest some more. It was Roxy's turn to teach Rudy anyways so I wouldn't get in trouble for oversleeping.
About an hour later I woke back up to Roxy getting out of bed.
"Wah!"
Roxy and I both looked groggily at the door. Guess I'll show my voice later.
We both walked down the stairs and saw Paul pulling a seat out from the table for a lady. She was pretty old from the looks of things. She had short hair and blue eyes. With her was a much younger girl around my age. The girl was wearing some light armor with a sword on her hip. Looking back at the women I could barely make out the shape of a sword underneath her robes.
Paul was acting weird. And I don't mean regular levels of weird of Paul. I mean he was being abnormally nice to this lady.
"O-oh! Roxy Lotus. Let me introduce you to our guests. This is the current water god Reida Reia and her granddaughter Isolte."
"Oh? I never thought for you to be the type to house wandering magicians. Who might these two be?"
"I-It's a pleasure to meet you miss Reida! My name is Roxy M-Migurdia. I'm a Saint class water mage here to teach Mr.Paul's son."
Hmm. So this is a god from this world ey? She's got a strong aura on her. She's got Roxy shaking and even has Paul acting like a proper noble. Should I introduce myself with my old name or should I introduce myself with Lotus. Ah screw it.
"S-sorry I'm afraid he can-"
"Khaos Konton. God of Nothing. A pleasure to make your acquaintance Water God."
"Oh? For someone so young to flaunt the title of God? Stop joking."
Paul and Roxy both looked at me with enough intensity to kill a normal person. I fell backwards into my shadow and reappeared sitting on the table right in front of Reida.
"Oh you'll find it's no joke."
Roxy and Paul now looked terrified as I sat in front of the Water God.
"Alright then so called 'God of Nothing.' What can you do? You seem to hold a pretty large amount of mana in you."
"Thank you for the compliment. As for what I can do. Ha well."
I stood up and the entire room around us started shifting around. The walls turned into a bunch of colors and slowly spread out. They morphed and the furniture slowly fell into the ground. The whole room suddenly froze and shattered. Whenever the smoke cleared we were all standing in a replica of Death's throne room.
"Pretty much anything so long as I have enough mana."
"Oho? Seems this trip was worth it after all. I'd love to stick around and learn more about you new god. But unfortunately I'm here to pay off a debt."
Reida started nonchalantly walking towards Paul and Roxy. Isolte, Paul, and Roxy were all marveling at the Palace around us. They didn't see Reida grab the hilt of her sword and lung towards them. Since I made this place out of void I did. I was able to react too.
A dome of black stone quickly surrounded the small group. I made a second wall inside it to separate Isolte from Paul and Roxy. Reida's sword slammed into the stone with a loud thud. The stone perfectly withstood the attack, but as she started attacking it more and more the stone started cracking.
I fired a spike of void at her, but she expertly deflected it and jumped backwards.
"I hope you don't mind but I need to kill the other Migurdian. Hope you don't mind."
"Fuck you."
I sent Paul and Roxy back to the house and shattered the room. Isolte, Reida, and I started falling into the void.
"G-grandmother?!"
I couldn't blame the girl. We were falling in a pure black space. Look around to much and you'd lose your sense of up and down. If you looked around you could see everyone else perfectly. This place was perfectly illuminated. It's just that there was nothing to see. Well that's not true either.
Looking down it's clear what Isolte was screaming about.
ROOOOOOAAAR!!!
A leviathan large enough to swallow the citadel of Roa whole was thrashing around underneath us. The leviathans could swim freely here so I just made sure to send us a bit above him.
The gargantuan leviathan. My largest creation.
"Good lord. I've never seen such a creature."
"We call it the Garg. Sometimes Gary. Anyway."
I flicked my hand and we were suddenly standing on an infinitely long gray floor.
"Let's do this."
Harnessing void I made two large cleavers. Essentially meat cleavers the size of longswords.
"You don't have to be involved boy. I just need to kill the girl."
"Don't call me boy. I'm old enough to be your dad."
I lunged toward Reida and made a downwards cut with my cleavers. She tried deflecting it but the cleavers fazed through her sword. She blacked up but still lost the tip of her nose.
"Cheap trick."
"Hahaha! That's not the only one."
A Void Chelicerate slammed through the ground behind me and lunges towards Reida. She dashed out of its way and stopped moving. She took up a stance and as the VC charged her again it was sliced into a bunch of tiny pieces.
Despite the fact it was dead she held her stance.
"I'm warning you boy. Move at all and that will be your death. This is a technique known as the Deprivation Sword Kingdom. As soon as you move you'll die."
"Sure. Let's go with that."
I simply held my smile. The ground below us collapsed and Reida and Isolte kept falling. The Garg rose up and swallowed them both.
Now to figure out my other issue. I had no way out. Usually I'd have made a waypoint by now, but I made the assumptions that I wouldn't be making trips into the void so I had been putting it off.
It just takes so friggin long man. Had I still been in the fake throne room I made before I could've gotten back easily. That's was in a sort of half way point in between the void and reality.
There was space magic but that wouldn't be enough to get me out. The void naturally repelled time and space. If I wanted to get out I'd have to use both time and space magic and force the resistance down. The only issue with that was the fact that the resistance wall was really fucking huge.
Why'd I have to get so angry about her Roxy comment? I mean I've only known her for a month and a half at this point. Did she "break through my walls" as Death put it? Sure, she was nice, cute, had really soft hair, and the prettiest smile. She put herself down a lot but she really was powerful. She was always there for me when I needed her.
This sounds familiar. Oh yeah. This is the same way I started feeling about Death a few years into my contract. Well damn. Guess I wasted my second chance. Or I guess third technically.
It's a shame. I was actually growing quite fond of everyone. Did it really have to end here? No. I didn't want this to be how it ends. I won't let it.
Guess I'll make some new magic then.
Let's see. I needed to use time and space magic to combat the void's resistance, but what if I used void magic at the same time to try and lower the resistance with that as well.
Combining void, space, and time. Now that's a horrible idea. That would cause a backlash so destructive it would cause destruction across a whole continent. Luckily there was nothing here to destroy. Well except for me, so I guess I'd be using time magic to keep myself from being destroyed.
Before that though. Let's experiment. First off I summoned the box of ores to me. Putting the time and effort into making it I made another pocket. I summoned the other pocket I made and surrounded them with space, time, and void magic and in a flash of light the disappeared.
Only one shot. Let's do this.
I felt my mana veins heat up as if they were filled with magma. I saw bright flashes of light as everything started spinning. I felt my body start ripping apart and then being reversed by time magic. My body went through repeated cycles of ripping, repairing, and ripping again for what felt like hours.
Suddenly the light stopped and looking up I saw Zenith staring at me terrified. Looking at my legs I saw that I was stuck in her stomach. Out of fear I felt my mana spike and the time and space magic shot back into action. As the lights started up again I could barely see Roxy running towards me with a black orb in her hands.
Guess it worked?
So warm. And cramped. Don't like it. Gah bright! The cramped feeling is gone.
"It's another boy."
Huh?
I opened my eyes and was shocked to see Zenith again, but this time she was looking at me happily. Wasn't I just stuck inside you? Why aren't you scared?
"Bah bug uh."
What?
I raised my hands and saw little tubby hands.
I looked around and saw Lilia standing on one side of the bed and on the other side was Paul holding another baby.
Oh you've gotta be kidding me.
So from the looks of things due to time and space magic shenanigans I've been reincarnated AGAIN. Ugh. It seems like these guys don't even remember me. Will Roxy remember me? If things go like they did before then there's a chance that she'll pick up the tutoring request for Rudy. I guess I'll just have to wait 3 years. This sucks.
*-Roxy Migurdia-*
I slowly got out of bed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Seems my roommate already left for the day. What was today? Oh right. The upper class man would be graduating today. It still feels like I'm missing something though. I looked over to my bedside table and saw a small black ball. Picking it up I felt a small sense of familiarity with it, but I'm sure I've never see it before. I tried putting it back down but when I did I felt this sadness wash over.
"Guess I'll hold onto it then."
*-Zenith-*
"It's another boy."
Lilia handed me the baby as I breathed out big breaths. I was not prepared for a second birth so soon after the first. Looking down at the baby I couldn't help but smile a little. Our first son, Rudeus, looked like Paul, but this one looked more like me. He had small wisps of blonde hair and the most beautiful blue eyes I'd ever seen. They were much brighter than mine.
He looked all around and suddenly started crying. His eyes shined and 4 black marks appeared on his face. One on each of his cheeks under his eyes and two more above his eyebrows.The marks opened and revealed more eyes. The ones on his cheeks were purple and the ones above his eyes were grey. Small wisps of his hair started turning white as well.
"Waah!" I yelped in surprise as Lilia and Paul both knelt forward as if to check if they were hallucinating. The baby giggled as he looked at us.
"I-is he okay?!"
Paul worryingly tried to grab him but almost dropped Rudy. He caught him before he fell out of his arms.
"Calm down master. It seems the Madam has birthed a miko. He seems to be in high spirits and nothing bad has happened so it's unlikely he is a cursed child."
I couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief. Looking back down I could see that the markings were still there but were closed again.
"So uh... what do we name him?"
Paul and I never thought of more than one name. We picked a name for a boy or girl, but never even thought about the possibility of twins.
Lotus
"What did you say?"
"Hm? About what we should name him?"
Lotus
"You don't hear that?"
Can't say I do. You okay?"
"Y-yes. How about Lotus?"
"Like the flower? A perfect choice madam. A beautiful name for a beautiful boy."
Paul was confused, but Lilia seemed to like it. I wonder what that was.
*-Lotus-*
Thank goodness for telepathy. Seems that since I came here by reversing time I still had my large mana capacity. I was just barely able to activate my telepathy after I opened all my eyes. It seems that I got body parts from my original body this time. I got my extra eyes and a boost in my mana capacity. The eyes felt different though.
They had the same feeling as when I used my magic stone bracelet to cast spells. Are these those demon eyes that Roxy told me about? I miss Roxy. I'll just hold onto hope that she shows up here again. And if she doesn't... it took me 4 months to find Phoebe. From the maps Roxy showed me this world is smaller than Earth. I'll find her eventually. It's just a matter of time.
Rudy and I were both 6 months old. It seems we've both picked this time to start crawling everywhere. I've gotten quite close to Zenith. I guess this is some kind of maternal bond? It felt nice when she held me. A sort of warm comfort. It still wasn't as warm as when Roxy held me though.
I still got very uncomfortable whenever Paul or Lilia picked me up. When they did it was the only time I cried. I tried to not cry but it was involuntary. My body just did it anyway. It felt so shameful for me to cry so I tried not to. I only cried when they picked me up.
My brother on the other hand only cried when he was hungry or needed a new diaper.
When we crawled around we'd both stay away from the adults, but I always went back to Zenith when she called me. Rudy had a weird habit of putting panties on his head whenever he found them. Perv.
Through a bunch of trial and error I leaned how to burble "mom" much to Zenith's delight. Anytime I was crawling to her all you'd hear from me was "momomomomom". It didn't even sound like a word at that point. Everyday I seemed to have a new limit for how much I can speak. Not as in it was increasing everyday, but that it was different everyday. Like one day I can speak a bunch and the next I can only speak a little. I had no way of knowing how many words I had until I reached the half way point. After that every word made it feel like my throat was tightening. Once I ran out of words symbols appeared on my neck and I couldn't speak anymore.
I decided that now would be a good time for tiny leviathans. Basically tiny versions of leviathans that could use weaker versions of their abilities. For now I just settled on making a ghost leviathan. Just like my other leviathans he was invisible to the others. I called him Fanta.
We were now 2 years old. I was still a momma's boy and Rudy was still a perv. We had both started walking at this point, and one day I noticed Rudeus sneaking into Paul's study.
I sent Fanta in to do some spy work and saw Rudy holding a magic textbook. He held his hand out and started chanting the incantation for water ball. He successfully made the ball, but then it fell onto the floor.
Once he got over his shock his shock he held his hand out again. This time however he didn't say an incantation. Using Fanta's Phantom Walk ability I walked through the door without opening it. As Rudy marveled at the water ball that appeared in his hand I looked over his shoulder.
"Impressive."
"GAH!"
The water ball and Rudy both fell to the floor.
As I heard someone coming up the stairs I used space magic to hide the magic book.
Rudy looked shocked at me as Lilia entered the room.
"Young Masters? Is everything okay?"
"W-Well you see-"
"Rudy had an accident."
I pointed at the wet spot on Rudy's pants. Rudy and Lilia both looked at me shocked. Rudy looked betrayed.
The shock was fair. This was the first time they'd heard me talk and I just spoke a full sentence.
"Thank you for the notice Young Master Lotus. Young Master Rudeus please come with me. Let's get you a change of clothes."
"A-alright."
Rudeus dejectedly followed Lilia as he glared at me.
Sorry Rudy, but Roxy won't make it to Roa for another year. I'm not letting them find out about your magic till then. Train all you want, but if they get close to figuring you out I'll be stopping it right there. Now back to my project.
Walking over to the corner the illusion hiding a small purple crystal dispersed. It was the size of a bowl, but it didn't look like anything special. As I touched it however, thousands of tiny magic circles flew out of it. I started connecting and creating more circles.
*-Roxy-*
I did it. I successfully graduated from Ranoa at the top of my class and as a Saint-Ranked Water mage. I was now free to go adventuring. I had been wandering around the Fittoa region as of late. I don't know how to describe it, but anytime I held that black sphere I felt a sort of tug. Almost like it was bringing me somewhere. I was just adventuring and occasionally going along with the path the orb brought me.
Recently I'd been having these weird dreams. I was traveling with a child. Another Migurdian. How or why I'd be traveling with them I had no idea. But I felt a bond with them. I cared for them dearly and when the silent child screamed I cried. I felt like I had to figure out what was going on.
*-Rosie Bela-*
Yaaaaawn. Ah what a wonderful meal that was. My name is Rosie Bela, and for some unknown reason I remember a life before this one. It's like I'm living a life I've lived before. Everyday the same customers roll in and eat the same food. Every other night I find the same homeless man or drunken peasant to feast on.
I'm not a fan of the whole killing people part of my diet. I'll be fully honest with you. It wasn't until recently I'd started enjoying the taste either. Ya see dear ol' Rosie here isn't some human addicted psycho cannibal. In fact I only started eating humans because if I didn't I'd die.
I hail from the demon continent. My people had a horrid tradition they'd use to keep fiends away from the village. My people were quite weak and didn't have the strength necessary to fight off the powerful fiends. Fiends are monsters who gained intelligence through the absorption of magic and passing down genes through their offspring.
My village was the stomping ground for a group of fiends. They were much too powerful for the already puny villagers to fight.
So instead at the end of every year they'd go and gather the most beautiful women in the village, pick the top 10 beauties, and then give those women to the fiends to do what they'd like. The women who were killed were the lucky ones. But the others were made into sex slaves the fiends used whenever they wished. Once they grew tired of their toys they'd throw them back into the village.
The villagers did everything they could to make sure those women survived. For all they knew they could be carrying their savior. And one day little ol' me popped out. Oh I was so hungry when I woke up I ate my mother right then and there. The villagers were so weak when they tried to hold me down I'd just swat at them and their bones would break.
I killed and ate everyone from my village and then slaughtered and ate the fiends that haunted them. By the end of it all I was only 8 years old. I joined up with some wandering adventurers and made my way to the central continent.
Now I'm an 87 year old gal who looks like the rest of these 20 year old ladies.
It shouldn't be much longer now. In about a month two specific Migurdian visitors will be coming for a meal. I'm so excited to see little Lotus again.
Oh she's here she's here! Looking across the bar room I could see Roxy gingerly come through the doors.
"Roxy! Roxy sweetheart over here!"
Roxy looked at me with widened eyes and slowly crept over to me.
"So how've ya been. You excited? I know I am. Oh and don't worry about your room I've got you covered. Friend of a friend am I right?"
"Um. Sorry but... do I know you?"
"Huh? Oh dear surely you're jokin."
"I'm afraid not. This is my first time in this town."
Does she really not remember?
"Stay right here."
I quickly ran to the back and into my room. I got the small black sphere that showed up right before I woke up in the past.
Going back to the counter I was relieved to see Roxy still here. I was a little worried she'd leave.
"You got one of these?"
With wide eyes Roxy reached into her bag and pulled out a matching orb.
The orbs quickly pulled together and made a sort of click sound as they touched. They then floated back to us.
"That's the first time I've seen it do that."
Roxy poked the orb as it floated near her hand. When her finger touched it words lit up on the surface. The words at the top said:
Call Message
And underneath that was my name. She touched my name and my orb started showing text.
Receiving call from Roxy.
Accept Decline
Pressing accept the words switched to
Roxy
Calling...
"What's a call?"
What's a call?
As Roxy spoke her voice was mimicked on my sphere. I touched the sphere and the words disappeared.
"So this is what the ore was for? Guess I'll need to see if I can find another ore merchant then. Tell me dear. Have you perhaps heard of a dungeon round these parts?"
"Um. You mean the one that's supposed to be abnormally weak and short? Yeah I've heard of it. I was gonna go to it actually."
"Good. That's good. Now do me a favor. At some point your gonna find another party of Migurdians. Among them there's gonna be a boy younger than all of em. He's about yay high, and his hairs about this long. He should be the last survivor of his party. Bring him here when you find him."
"How do you know all this?"
"Oh let's just say a little birdie told me, but I am being serious. That boy is important."
"O-okay. You said something about a room?"
"Oh of course! Follow me."
*-Roxy-*
Isn't this a bit extreme? The room Rosy led me to was much larger than the other inn rooms. She said it was reserved for her best clients and that I could stay for as long as I want.
"Surely I have to pay you somehow Ms.Rosy. If I stay here what are you gonna do if a high paying customer shows up?"
"Oh don't worry about that now. I've got this room set to empty for the next month. Now rest up. You'll need all the energy you can get if your gonna go dungeon diving tomorrow."
The next morning I grabbed my staff and made my way to the dungeon. The entrance looked like some kind of pillow fort.
Inside I was attacked by a bunch of baby monsters until I found an adult assault wolf eating a body. I killed it and looked around. Just like Rosie said this was a party of Migurdians alright. But after finding the boy she described I saw she was wrong about one thing.
He was dead. Shining out of his eye was a mysterious blue crystal.
"Sorry about this."
I reached down and pulled the crystal out. As I did I saw flashes. Flashes of my dreams. I realized then that these weren't dreams but memories. As the crystal exited the boy's eye socket it transformed into a mysterious magic staff. Holding the staff in my left hand and my staff in my right I went back to Rosie's inn with a new plan.
I was gonna find Lotus, and I knew just where to start.
"So he's dead huh? But your sayin he might not be?"
"Yes. I know where to go looking if he's alive. I'll tell you what I find once I get there."
"Thank you dear. Now take care. And remember. Aunt Rosie is always willin to help. Safe travels!"
I waved goodbye as I sat my staff in the carriage. I'd be taking it to Roa to accept the job listing for a tutor assuming that there is one. If there isn't then I'll go to Buena anyway.
*-Lotus-*
"I don't understand why you aren't letting me practice when they're home."
Rudeus was complaining as he fired water balls into a vase sitting on the wall.
"I'm just looking out for you big bro. Say don't you think it's time you moved past beginner level spells?"
I started calling Rudeus big bro. It was only temporary, and it was the only way I got him to put up with my shenanigans. Hopefully if all goes well I can stop after today. It's important to always wear a smile but the shit eating grin he gets when I call him that makes me want to punt him across the continent. If I used a tentacle from Gary I could throw him further.
"I mean I could. Yeah! Let's do it! Let's see... here we go! Splash flow."
I scooted away from the wall as Rudeus aimed at the window. Sending out Fanta I could see that Paul was training in the yard, and Zenith was approaching the gate. Perfect.
"Supple spirit of water and princess of streams that flow through the earth, sweep away all things with your hidden inner might. Splash flow."
A giant water ball formed in front of Rudeus's hand and shot through the wall.
"Woah!"
Rudeus fell backwards and dropped the magic book. Could I have warned him about the power of the spell? Yeah. I've seen Roxy use it a couple of times, and I've been practicing magic in secret after everyone goes to bed. Did I? Hell no! You know how funny it is seeing him fly backwards and landing on his butt? Its hilarious!
"What happened?!"
Paul slammed through the door to find Rudy sitting on his butt while I laughed in the corner.
"Is everyone okay?"
Zenith walked in behind Paul. Once she spotted Rudy sitting by the book she walked over and picked it up. A smile appeared in her face. But it didn't feel right. It didn't quite spread as much as it usually does.
"Rudy? Did you read some of the words in this book?"
Paul looked over Zenith's shoulder to see what she was talking about.
"Wha? That's an intermediate level spell. We haven't even taught him how to read."
"M-mom I'm sorry. Lotus said he wanted to see me try so I tried to look cool. Please don't be angry."
Oh good performance. Someone rolled high in charisma. But just to make sure they know we could use a tutor.
"Sorry about the scare. It's just that Rudy's been holding himself at the beginner level so long I figured he should move up a stage. I didn't think he'd try using splash flow inside though. That's my bad."
Walking towards the wall I opened my bottom eyes and use space magic to fix the hole.
"Huh?!"
"Oooh."
Paul and Rudy both recoiled as I fixed the wall. Zenith looked impressed.
"It wouldn't be good if an accident happened like this again. If we had a tutor they'd be able to teach us how to use magic without making these kinds of mistakes."
"Now hold on."
"That's a wonderful idea! Paul come on! Let's pack our things. We can go to Roa first thing tomorrow to put up a request for a tutor!"
Mom was holding Paul's hands in her own as she swayed from side to side.
"But wait our promise remember? What happened to if it's a girl they'll be a magician, and if it's a boy then he'll be a swordsmen."
"Oh don't speak to me of promises. You break yours all the time. Besides both our sons seem quite adept in magic. It'd be a waste to not get a tutor. Rudy just cast an intermediate level spell at three years old, and from the way he talked about it Lotus might have cast it earlier."
"It was a couple months back."
"See?! He was- wait a minute you were only turned 3 two months ago! Oh both my boys are so strong!"
"Why not have them learn magic in the morning and sword training in the afternoon?"
Lilia came in with a save for the middle ground!
"I guess that could work."
Mom got a satisfied look on her face and Rudy looked serious. Seems everyone likes this idea. Well...
"No thank you. If it's a deal between you two can I please stay out of it? I don't have any interest in the sword."
"Lotus as your father I say your going to learn swordsmanship. Either that or you won't be getting a-"
Paul was unable to finish his sentence as I waved my hand and threw him through a wall. If he doesn't want to hear my words then I'll beat them into him. Besides I could feel my neck tighten with every word spoken. I'd be out soon, and I wasn't going to waste them trying to break through his thick skull.
"Paul!"
Mom ran to the edge of the wall. The hole I made with gravity magic took out nearly all of it. I walked to another edge and looked down at Paul. He was standing up with only a bit of a wobble.
I jumped down and made two wooden swords in my hand. I tossed one over to him.
"What-"
"Pick it up."
"You're to young to be-"
Paul was once again cut off as I lifted him into the air and through him towards the edge of the wall. I threw the wooden sword at him with gravity magic and with a loud crack it stabbed into the wall beside his head.
Shifting into a stance Kuroi showed me once I taunted Paul by making a "come here" gesture with my index finger.
"Pick it up."
Paul grit his teeth and pulled the sword out from the wall. He lunged at me but a simple side step moved me of the way. Paul tried to pivot to swing at me, but unfortunately I wasn't gonna hold back this time.
A hole appeared at his feet. This time it was far to wide for him to reach out and catch himself.
After he was falling through the void for about 5 seconds I opened another portal and fell back down on the ground.
"Ugh. What was that?"
"Don't worry about that. So about our magic tutor."
"You need to learn swor-"
You get the idea. After throwing Paul around it seemed he was finally ready to let me skip out on swordsmanship practice.
"Great."
"Yeah. Now first lesson. Never let your guard-"
Unfortunately for Paul my guard was in fact, not down. A void Chelicerate shot up from behind me and slammed him into the ground. I pulled back the veil making them invisible letting Paul see that I wasn't holding him with magic. I made another two Void Chelicerates appear from behind me.
"Careful. If I don't learn properly I might crack a rib or three."
"F-fine I yield." I pulled the VC off of him. They continued to float through the air as Paul got up. "The hell are those things?"
"I made them."
Sensing Paul's will to fight dissipate I dismissed the leviathans back to the void.
"Zenith and I will leave for Roa tomorrow after breakfast."
"Thank you kindly."
I left Paul looking ashamed as I jumped back upstairs and started fixing the wall.
Rudy, Paul, and Lilia all stared at me shocked as I fixed the wall.
"You uh... seem very determined to get a tutor Lotus."
Mom looked a little shaky as I fixed the last of the hole.
I smiled wider than normal as I replied.
"Let's just see I'm looking forward to their arrival."
As I spoke those words I felt the marks of silence appear on my neck.