Hayashi Issei finds himself munching on a toast after a long, long night. Persephone literally shooed them back home after a short explanation of what they could hypothetically do with her blessings, which they were grateful for. Oh, and a magical sentence that will act as a switch to turn their gift off and on. Magic is way too convenient these days.
He whispered the words to pause his blessing as soon as they left Persephone's meadow. ἄνυσμα. The seal on his throat let him understand it means 'end' or 'accomplishment' before Persephone explained why that specific word would offer a moment of peace to their feeble human senses.
It's a tiny word with a whole lot of weight attached to it. It holds a deeper meaning, one he would prefer to overlook if his brain wasn't so good at overthinking. I have accomplished my blessing.
He was thankful when his gift was switched off. It was overwhelming. Head-splittingly overwhelming. His headache has barely reduced and it has been hours, some of them filled with restless sleep, since his perceptions of the world changed. He feels them. He felt the life in the bark of a tree. He felt the way life was slowly fading as they hiked the hills, shriveling to a latent form to survive winter. Everywhere his hands went, be it a rock or his mother's waist, he felt bursts of energy come and go. The only thing he can compare it with is the burn of static electricity, but even then, the comparison is poor.
It didn't exactly hurt to feel so much. It sent him in a dizzying daze. Sleep barely helped him regain a sense of normalcy. He feels out of touch.
Now, at the kitchen table, his mother is busying herself on her laptop, reading books and websites about plants and flowers and Greek mythology. She sent him a pointed look when he entered the kitchen and he knows she knows Persephone isn't just a nice flower woman who possesses a burning desire to help humans.
She is learning from Chiasa. They've only been here for a few days but... Her arched eyebrow as she watches him comb his hair with his hands is telling enough of her newfound temper. She argued with him to walk on her own back to their house after they were blessed by Persephone. Yes, he supported her all the way home. Yes, she walked extra-slowly. Yes, he begged her during the whole walk to just stop and take a break.
She told him off and called him a worrywart.
In the end, she was just fine when he tucked her into her bed.
She sent him a smoldering glare this very morning when he strolled in her room with her wheelchair. He tried to be strong but her sad eyes as she held onto her pillow broke his will. He can't bear to see her unhappy and she knows it.
Now, she walks. But only when he is around. She could fall. Issei is not having her fall in a house full of edges and nonexistent cushions.
His grandmother, on the other side of the kitchen, is brewing coffee. She has not said much since he slithered out of his room into the kitchen, led by the tantalizing smell of breakfast. Issei's hypothesis is that she needs the beans juice before she can use her snark at full power.
The teen is content to simply enjoy the silence. His buttered toast complements his tea nicely and nothing is easier than ignoring the glare of disgust and utter horror his grandmother showcases as he dares to dunk his slice into his warm tea. He makes eye contact with her as he engulfs a particularly soggy piece.
"Issei," she warns.
He grins. It's payback times for all the bullying he received yesterday. It's not everyday he can tease his grandmother this much. He knows a bit too well her preciousness when it comes to table manners.
He dunks another piece of his toast and bends down to wolf it down, locking gaze with her as he does. His cheeks hurt form holding his snicker in.
She scrunches her nose at him. She turns around to face her beloved coffee maker, all the while emitting a disgusted grunt.
He controls his cackles as best as he can, which means he almost coughs his lungs out because, of course, his breakfast slice went down the wrong tube in his hysterical joy. Take that, grandma.
"πρατά," Hikari mutters.
Issei picks up his ears at the foreign word. He remembers whose mouth proclaimed it to his ears first. Mouth is a grand word to use for sashaying flowers, however he is a bit at loss when it comes to describe Persephone's preferred mean of communication.
(The word they must say to awaken their blessing is quite literally a prayer said before the start of ploughing, Persephone explained. Issei finds it weirdly funny. Here, have my blessing. Say a prayer to use your gift! I will answer. Always.
I'm watching you.)
The teen cringes at his thoughts. Well, that took a dark turn.
Chiasa turns and rests her back against the counter, ogling his mother openly.
Hikari beams at them. "You're shiny, mother- Chiasa."
Chiasa nurses her empty cup between her joined hands. "Is that a good thing?"
"Neither bad nor good. Magic is flowing through you," Hikari explains. Her gaze wanders over her ex-mother-in-law thoughtfully. "You're more colorful than me."
Issei takes a sip of his tea. That's an interesting comment. He dares to think about the implications of such a comment and the fact that his grandmother could be able to use magic and thus start her journey to overthrow bad grandparents and sit on the throne of the world as its sole cookie provider. Such a thought is terrifying, because he knows she has it in her to take control and as a young grandmother, she could have plenty of time to terrorize bad cooks and people who dunk their toasts in their tea till they're soggy. Ah, fudge. Now he is thinking about it.
Quick, Issei. Think. Talk. Do something. "Maybe it's because of our ancestor?"
His mother, the sweet thing who lets him eat his toasts the way he wants to, blinks. "Ancestor?"
Issei nods. "My great-great-something on Grandma's side was a Youkai."
Hikari stares at him with a gaze that normally obliterated any intent he held of being naughty when he was a child. The memories are lovely, his current predicament, not so much. "Why wasn't I informed?"
Chiasa and Issei glance at each other in tandem. The elder smacks her lips. The youngest raises his shoulders slowly, offering his open palms and no smart idea to appease his mother. He never was the sharpest tool in the shed, okay.
Chiasa snorts at their shared incompetence. "We forgot," she admits with a grimace.
"Oh," Hikari drawls. She looks unimpressed.
Issei hides his grimace behind his cup of tea. He could have told her, that's true. He is acting like her ex-husband and that's unacceptable. He remembers all too well how he would seemingly forget to tell her stuff -everything. Business trips would be overlooked until his departure day. And then he would outright ignore communication, missing the fact that it could be important to mention that he was coming later than the date he had previously confirmed with them. When he would finally swing by, it was with a coworker, for supper, fully expecting a meal and sake to be set on the table, whatever the hours.
His screams still rings in Issei's ears, sometimes. He cringes.
"Can I get a rerun of your blessing?" Chiasa stirs the conversation on another subject. His mother's pout was telling him to kneel and accept his punishment for being a bad son and he was terribly tempted. He isn't supposed to make her unhappy.
Hikari beams and that's a blessing in itself. "I can see magic!" She announces.
Chiasa hums. She fills her cup to the brim with the bitter concoction of black beans. She does this while squinting at him. He doesn't squint back. This time, they are not playing.
"How does that give her a good green thumb?" Chiasa arches her eyebrow at him and he knows she is wondering what he left out of his conversation with Persephone. Fortunately for his ass, he knows he hid nothing. His grandmother can smell bullshitting a kilometer away. Grandmother's privileges are extensive and work in mysterious ways.
Issei raises his arms in the air hopelessly. "Don't ask me. I didn't know she would get that."
"I can see magic… and I think I might be able to affect it. So I could be able to help plants grow, theoretically." His mother pauses. Her brows meshes and he sees the gears moving as she riffles through her memories. "Persephone said I could, with training."
Issei stares at his hands. His draconic pinkie reflects the early sunlight that creeps through the windows. The bow creaks in a way Issei believes to be reassuring. It has done so every time he has so much as glanced at his right hand. Persephone said a lot of things, some cryptic, some awfully clear.
Chiasa takes a swing of her coffee. "What is it like, seeing magic?"
His mother closes her laptop. She steals his cup of tea and nurses it, neither drinking nor answering. Her eyes rest on him, but he sees how she sees through him, how he becomes secondary in her distant gaze as she follows the flows of magic crashing through his mortal body. "The most beautiful thing I've ever seen," she breathes out slowly. Her eyelashes tremble. Her pupils expend in her brown iris.
Issei believes her. His senses sung a terrible, fantastic story as he beheld a world he is unfamiliar with. Magic made everything starkly alive in a way he had never thought possible. The wind, the earth, the gurgling water, the trembling leaves… everything is alive. Every fiber of his being soared to meet the… Life that surrounded him for so long but that he never was aware of until yesterday.
Using his gift seems like a dangerous option. He could get lost in the feels. He could get lost and love it.
His mother, on the other side, uses magic as if she was born to do so. There's no fear, no questions, just pure wonder.
("You reek of fear, Hayashi Issei.")
Issei closes his eyes. There is a ball of anger and fear stuck in his throat, crawling between his vocal chords and numbing his tongue. Persephone stung him with words he couldn't refute and they're damning him.
Here he is, the boy who has a magic bow and dares not use it for fear of consequences. Here he is, the boy who made a deal with a Dragon to use a Sacred Gear he is afraid to think of. There she is, the woman he calls mother, so fragile yet so strong, seeing the world in shades of magic and marching into it with a toothy beam.
Between his lidded eyelashes, he watches her be happier than he ever remembers her being since her husband left them.
She bounced back and dived into magic as if it was natural while he dwelled on his hurts and couldn't get past it. He barely knows what to do with his bow. He barely knows what to do at all.
One blink later, her gaze focuses back on him. She smiles apologetically, as if focusing on magic when he is here was an offense. He wants to tell her he isn't offended. He understands. Magic is real and she has to adjust to it. She can look through him all she wants and some more if she wishes to.
His grip on his cup tightens. Perhaps his mother would do better than he can with what he has.
Scales grind against each other to the forefront of his mind. [Would it be possible to have a blessed minute where you do not sully your own name, boy?]
Issei frowns. What-
[Shut up. I have enough of your deprecating thoughts. They have entertained me for a while, but there is such a thing as boredom. Either entertain me with some more imaginative ploy or stop sending me so much sadness and teenage angst. Your mind reeks of it and I may be your prisoner and you, my jail, but I intend to have some sweet moments of peace in the land field you call your mind, you dumpster on fire.]
Issei taps his fingers against the table. He just needed his friendly Dragon to wake up and dampen his already dying mood. You could stop watching my thoughts for once, you stalker.
[Dimwit,] Ddraig enunciates slowly. [I'm imprisoned in your soul. If I could, I would be out and broiling your stupid head till it disappears from the surface of this planet. Sadly, I cannot and I am stuck listening to the angst of a pre-hormonal creature. Life is strange. If I can pull through this much stupidity, so can you.]
"Oh," Hikari exhales. Issei snaps his neck up and there she is, half-bent over the table, pupils so wide her iris are disappearing and watching him like a hawk.
Her smile blooms into an art work again. "Your left arm is shinier now!"
"Shinier?" he asks. A part of his mind has an inkling as to why it could be so. The lizard is doing something again.
"Yes. You're very sparkly, darling, but your left arm is downright…" Hikari trails off and Issei swears specks of light are dancing in her eyes. Her grin is starting to blind him now. So much pure giddiness is doing things to his poor, cold, withered heart. "Glowing. You're glowing. Is something happening?"
First, Ddraig insults him and now he is attracting his mother's attention. Can't the big bad dragon stays bad so Issei can stay mad? It's dizzying to go from anger to appeasement so fast.
"I'm talking with Ddraig." He taps his left arm a bit too harshly and it's dumb because he is the one feeling pain, not the guest of his soul, but reason can go take a walk somewhere else for now. "This is the arm where my Scared Gear is."
She waves at his arm. "Say hello for me."
[Good day to you, m'lady. I applaud your efforts to raise this by-product of nature,] Ddraig purrs. Where he finds the guts to say all of this smoothly, Issei doesn't know, but he would like to find this source of shamelessness to bathe in it and thus be able to shut down the Dragon with one witty comeback.
He settles for a reasonable, measured message. "He said hello."
Ddraigs freaking humphs. [Your mouth keeps yapping, except when it needs to be useful.]
Issei feels twitches run under his skin, circling his eyes. He lets them take control of his expression. Fuck the lizard and fuck the system that put a grumpy, old and insufferable winged lizard in his body.
Hikari's expression changes. She goes from wonder to judgment as she squints at his face. He smacks his lips together as innocently as possible, minding his business because she totally cannot read or hear his thoughts and so she doesn't how many expletives he just used internally. Right. Right?
"Don't be jealous. Magic is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," she reaches for his hand and squeezes it tenderly, "beside your little crumply face the day you were born," she adds with sounds that seem far too close to cooing for his blushing ears. "You were so cute."
Much to his rising embarrassment, she pinches his cheeks and giggles.
He fights back with a much practiced pout. She counteracts with full on pressing his cheeks together, meshing his lips until they jut so much he looks like a big lipped fish. He smacks them together, effectively mimicking the sound of his favorite food living in the sea.
His poor attempt at parodying a fish earns him a laugh out of his mother and that's the best pay he can get.
"Isn't he the cutest thing in the universe?" Hikari asks, turning towards his grandmother.
Chiasa lets her gaze drift between her grandson and his mother. Issei smacks his lips some more, wiggling his eyebrows at her with pure abandon. Hikari squishes him harder, blinding everyone with her pure outlook on life. The fumes of her morning coffee start to work as she grimaces at her little family.
"He looks like a squished squid," she comments. She takes another swing of her coffee and enjoys the kick of energy she feels coming.
Hikari pouts. Issei pouts. Chiasa's coffee suddenly tastes sour.
She grimaces. She looks at the ceiling, grumbling. "So yes. Very cute."
Hiakri goes back to beaming.
She stands and reaches over the table to ruffle his dirty hair. "See. Everyone loves you. You're such a fluffball."
Issei halfheartedly fights back the kisses that rain on his forehead. No, mom. No. I'm not cute. Stahp.
Older hands come and mess with his nest of hair too. "Your hair really is soft."
Hikari stops her attack. She stares at her only son and his glorious tangled mane. She tugs at a rebellious lock of hair that just wants to fight gravity till the end of the world. A thoughtful hum escapes her lips. "What kind of shampoo do you use?"
Issei squints. He finally succeeds in grappling their hands and pushing them off his head. "The normal kind?"
The two women look at each other.
"We need to teach him a few things," Chiasa comments as she snakes her hands back into his mane. She curls his hair around her fingers, staring at the broken tips critically.
Dread settles in his heart as Issei watches his mother nods gravely. The fact that she parts his hair into two and starts to twist it into a short braid of sort doesn't comfort him. At all.
Issei paces the floor of his room.
He paddles the air with his arms as he mouths words he doesn't pronounce. This silent conversation continues for quite some time till he pauses at the foot of his bed. He raises his arms and smacks his temples. His fingers rack his tousled, disheveled hair. He groans. "No, Ddraig. I don't know in how many languages I need to tell you this, but it's a no in all of them."
[No. You are allowed to say yes and nothing else.]
Issei growls. He grinds his knuckles against his skull. It doesn't alleviate his headache. "Shut up. Shut up."
A piece of paper sticks to his sock. He peels it off with his other foot and sends it flying with a kick.
The piece of paper floats slowly before it slips under his nightstand. Red ink gleams in the shadow. The circle and the complicated patterns decorating its insides glow softly, emanating light and magic. The paper seems to have a pulse of its own. Its red glow jolts into dark corners then retracts as if it hadn't gone out of the slim piece of dead tree.
A spider is attracted to the light. The predator thus becomes prey as it walks over the mysterious red seal that brands the paper.
The light flares up.
The arachnid shrivels. The light engulfs it and the insect sizzles and deflates. It falls flat to the ground, hairy legs twisted around its tortured body. With one last heartbeat of red light, it melts into the piece of paper.
Calm and quiet return to the twilight under the nightstand. The glow diminishes to an imperceptible shine, much like a distant, feeble star in a vibrant night sky.
Issei doesn't see any of this. He walks out of his room, his senses muted and the anxious creaks of his bow ignored. He is blind and deaf for he is arguing.
"You're insane, Ddraig."
[I told you you would have a night of respite. Now is the time to train.]
The teen inhales sharply. How sweet it would be to strangle the Dragon. How sweet and unrealistic it would be. He exhales a shaky breath. Beggars can still dream. "I am not going to Antarctica to train. I'm not moving away, period."
Ddraig snorts. [Wimp.]
"Asshole," the teen snarls in the empty hallway.
His mother's head peeks out of a door, offering him a horizontal frown. Her arched eyebrow tells how much she is impressed with his lack of etiquette, which is, not at all.
His cheeks instantly start to burn. "I'm talking with Ddraig," he tries to explain.
His mother frowns deepen.
[Whipped,] Ddraig comments.
Hikari still shows no mercy for his poor choice of words.
Issei scratches the back of his head. Think, Issei. Think. Finally, he chooses one option and waves at his left arm. "He is being outrageous!"His HIs check
'Blame the other till the end' is a good option, especially when the other is a dormant Dragon who cannot speak for himself outside of his mind. Checkmate, stupid Dragon. It's your fault I'm bad now.
[Coward,] the stupid Dragon snaps.
"Uh-huh," Hikari hums. She eyes her son, arched eyebrow subsiding into a less judgmental expression, but her son feels her thoughts on the subject all the same. Issei feels cowed. "Maybe you should take your argument outside, darling."
Issei nods sharply. Yes. He will be able to scream at the dumb guest of his soul outside. And maybe cuddle the bunny. Bunny will understand his struggles. And if it doesn't, at least his fur is extra-soft. The little thing is super soothing to pet and it even rolls on its back to get tummy rubs. Even his sneezes are too damn cute. Best pet ever and whatever Chiasa says, he is keeping it.
[See? She's giving you permission. Antarctica is outside of this terribly built house. You can go now.]
Twitches are frequent guests around his eyes now and yet again they come because Ddraig is being ridiculous and Issei would kick him out of his mind if he could. Shut the fuck up before I find a way to strangle yoooooooooooooooooou.
He catches a glimpse of his mother frowning at him again. She knows he is swearing and she isn't in his head. Has Persephone given her mind-reading abilities too?
[No. You are simply too easy to read.]
The teen sighs. He does the walk of shame all the way to the door leading to the garden, where he stops only to put on his shoes.
"Ise?" Hikari calls and he hopes it's because she forgave him and his bad words. Sadly, no. Beggars can dream, but they should dream a bit more realistically when their mother and their dislike of rude words are involved. "Can you take the Glorygold back to Persephone?"
He eyes the golden flower who dances vigorously in her palms. "Don't you want to keep it with you a little longer? It's good for you."
She shakes her head. The thin fuzz that sprouts from her naked head sways softly with her movement. "I looked at it and I think it needs to spend some time with Persephone... She did say to take it to her from time to time to maintain it."
The amount of hours the flower can live without the goddess is a bit on short side. He will have to ask her to teach him how to take care of it. Maybe he will learn a way to make it more effective or how to stretch the length of his healing action. He is making a lot of speculations and he knows it. What is sure is that a neighborly goddess will keep their favorite plant alive for a bit more. And also tell him how he can use what he feels to 'protect life' and help his mother live a long and fulfilling life. "Okay. I will be quick."
He offers his open palms and in one smooth swoop, his not-quite –ailing mother hands him the magical flower.
He tenses when the roots of the swooning plant curls around his fingers. Electricity bubbles under his skin. He shivers. The Glorygold stills for a moment. His hands burn. The flower throws its head back and starts to headbang like a maniac at a metal concert.
"You okay, darling?" his mother asks.
He smiles. His cheeks hid his lie and the electricity crashing through his body, numbing his muscles and wrecking his nerves. "Yes."
A flicker of her pensive eyes makes him open his big mouth again to tell the truth. "I think my gift is acting up. I can feel… life coming from the Glorygold. It's not…" pleasant at all. It hurts. Issei decides to withhold that truth to dish it out another day. "It's weird," he offers a weak chuckle.
His mother grasps his elbow. "I could go with you, if you feel uncomfortable-"
"No," he cuts her abruptly. He licks his lips and tries to soften his voice. "No. I need to clear my head a bit too. And talk with Ddraig. I'll be fine, mom."
Her big brown eyes stare too deep in his soul and uncover secrets he would like to keep hidden from view forever. His weakness is too pathetic to be shown to the world. One person is beholding the mess he is already and that's enough.
"Are you sure?"
He smiles. He smacks his free hand against his forehead and salutes. "Affirmative, captain."
She chuckles. Her hand leaves the crook of his bent elbow. "Very well. Be safe and don't fall. If Persephone bullies you, tell me. I will bully her back."
Issei pictures his mother boxing with a giant flower and that's too humorous to not laugh. "Sure thing, mom."
She swats his side, between his hip and his ribs. He yelps. "Don't make fun of your mother. Mothers are fearsome creature."
Issei presses his lips together. Twitches of another kind are coming and the harder he fights them, the harder they press to make him smile. He feels giggles building form the deepest part of his chest. "I believe you," he tries to say with the most serious expression he possesses in his arsenal.
It fails.
His lips start to tremble and giggles escape him by the end of his sentence.
Hikari challenges his amusement with a glare that would fit a playful kitten.
"Go before I show you what these guns-" she flexes her arms and Issei giggles more because there's nothing there beside bones and courage, "can do."
Issei dances around another well deserved jab as he goes out laughing out loud. The chill morning can't stop his smile. His mother sure is something else and he wouldn't have her any other way.
The door is closed behind him. He steps into the known wilderness and-
His shoes hit something a step later. He looks down and sees a familiar object.
The branch he brought back the day he met Ddraig is lying in the ground. Its twisted form has not changed since he dragged himself from the mud and the dirt of the valley to the windy tops of the hills. The wind must have knocked it over, the boy muses as he bends down to grab it.
He grasps it.
He throws it to the ground immediately.
"What the heck," he gasps.
The branch… feels alive. It doesn't feel a dead piece of wood at all.
He hesitates. He could use his gift, but he doesn't know how to-
("You reek of fear, Issei Hayashi.")
"πρατά," he mutters.
Immediately, tremors thrum through his hands, to his shoulders, to his head. His senses are overwhelmed. The world is alive. The branch is alive. Everything is alive, but the branch, as he grazes it with his nails, drums a rapid, quivering heartbeat. The hand holding the Glorygold warms to level that are uncomfortably inhuman yet still manageable.
"Isn't that supposed to be dead?"
[Apparently, it is not.]
Issei rubs his head. He can't make sense of the situation. "It's a stick."
[A goddess lives in your backyard. Do not be so surprised by the Supernatural.]
"It's a stick. But it's alive. It shouldn't be alive. It doesn't have roots or a leaves or anything connecting it to something that could provide the nutrients it needs to be alive."
[And I am a Dragon stuck in a dimwit. Life is full of indecipherable mysteries.]
Issei massages his temples. "ἄνυσμα," he whispers.
Tingling sensations travel from his fingertips to his palms, eliminating magic and perceptions to leave way for his usual numb human senses. He shakes his hands vigorously, bating the air and the magic away. It's a relief and a regret to feel something akin to normalcy again.
[Your magical prowess is still has pitiful as ever. Just this tiny bit and you're already tired.]
Issei twirls the stick in his grasp. He throws it to the sky and snatches it before it falls. Its smooth bark fits comfortably against his palm. Maybe… maybe he could keep it. "We met yesterday, Ddraig."
[Agony lengthens time.]
He chuckles. His mother put him in a rather happy mood and no Dragon will be able to spoil that. "You're a drama queen, Ddraig."
The silence that follows feels like victory.
Issei turns his stick so the broken, twirled tip points towards the sky. He starts to walk, a soft sound following his steps as he taps the ground in cadence with his march with his newfound toy. He paces the trail that will guide him to the valley where Persephone resides.
Bunny appears at the turn of the trail. It happily hops to Issei's side and the teen maybe, perhaps, coos at his little companion. He kneels, lets go of his stick and scratches the animal behind its ears in a way that makes the little fur ball rolls its eyes in pure bliss.
[The animal has had enough attention. Let us go see the goddess.]
Issei sighs as he rights himself. "Her name is Persephone."
[Do I care? No.]
Issei grabs his walking stick. The Glorygold's roots swirl around his fingers, holding itself in place to withstand the cahoots its glorified carrier makes it suffer through. Its head has stopped swaying furiously, but its dance remains energetic. The view amuses Issei and he pets the flower the way he has seen his mother do yesterday night, with Persephone's attendants. "I know. Still, remember it. We will see her often from now on."
[Go already, you sloth,] Ddraig grumbles.
"Aye, aye," the boy mutters. One last graze of his knuckles against the warm flower later, he plants his stick firmly unto the ground and starts his journey.
He steps over his rabbit friend. The little ball of happiness and cuddles sneezes. A second later, it hops around his feet, following his trail. It runs and stops, minuscule pink nose twitching cutely as it waits for Issei to catch up just to playfully run and waddle its butt to its next resting spot. A warm spring wind timidly meets them as they advance into the valley.
[How laidback.]
Issei rolls his eyes. "Shouldn't I be?"
[You seem to have forgotten you've only unlocked Twice Critical. I haven't. Its gaudy appearance haunts my every waking moments. Unfortunately, I do not sleep.]
Issei wants to make a joke about watching him sleep at night and being creepy, but he is sure the Dragon will dislike it. Way to go to make his teacher hates him more than he already does.
[Tell me, child of Men, what are your abilities? You told me you are a descendant of a Youkai. I can also feel a foreign presence in your right arm.]
"I don't know from which Youkai. My grandmother told me my ancestor worked for the lady of fire. She probably meant the leader of Kyoto, Yasaka," Issei tells absently. He doesn't know what else to add beside the fact that he has nothing, no notable information, and he will have to do some serious research before he ever approaches the city of Kyoto. Yasaka having murder on her mind when she sees him or hears about his lineage sounds so unlucky. It sounds like a joke, a lame probability that shouldn't be accounted for.
(Issei knows a lot of lame jokes and weirdly enough, they are all centered on the low probabilities of things happening in his life and how he always finds a way to stumble upon them all. His luck is in the negative numbers.)
Issei skips over a patch of wet moss. These made him slip too many times when he was a kid. He doesn't trust them and never will. He observes the field of moss that sprouted overnight and now covers the trail he is supposed to go down on, preferably not on his ass. The bunny sneezes in his direction before it effortlessly jumps from one dry patch to another. Its small little paws leave no traces on the dry,
Okay. The teen plants his stick in the ground and tests its flexibility by blocking it with one leg and pushing the top part backwards, pressing against his leg to see how much weight the piece of wood can take. He is bending backwards, stretching his back to keep his leg in place and add more weight to the traction before the stick offers the smallest of creaks.
Issei stops his malevolent action towards the poor broken branch. He pats his newfound toy he is officially never letting go off. "You're one sturdy stick."
Now, here comes the fun. He calculates the length of the dewy clump of moss with a glance. 7 meters at most. Probably. He backpals. He pauses at a safe distance. He tucks the Glorygold in his pocket and closes its zipper. Then, he holds his stick with both hands and starts running.
When his toes hit the patch, he firmly plants his weapon down and then he flies.
He ends up on his ass on the other side of the patch, stick in hand.
He smirks nonetheless. He still has it. No training, no serious exercising, but his muscles remembers high jumping and long jump. That feels… good. His ass is starting to get wet which motivates Issei to stand. He does so with a chuckle. He pats the dirt and the mud away. He still got it. He still got it. He could show his mother how high he can jump later…
[As much as your stupendously stupid actions amuse me, I believe you forgot to mention the sentient being living in your right arm.]
Issei hums. He pictures his elegant weapon in his right hand and there it comes, real against his skin. The weight is all too familiar and comforting. The bow creaks, pleased to be able to spring free. "This is my bow… I found it in the Forest. In the Underworld."
(The last words he pronounced leave a bitter aftertaste. Memories are boiling to the surface and Issei will be damned if he lets them take over his mind. He squares his jaw and thinks about his mother, happy and healthy.)
[I know of which forest you are speaking,] Ddraig says slowly.
Issei catches up on his little furry friends and they continue their stroll down the hills. His conversation with his guest has come to a pause, yet he doesn't dispel the bow back to wherever it came from. The bow is all too happy to be in his hands and the teen feels content holding it. He can fight off his memories by focusing on the present and the mysterious symbols adorning the light wood of his bow. He had never noticed them before. Not like he had the time to note them when he was killing-
Issei kicks a pebble a bit too hard. It frightens the bunny. It shots him a glare and a huff. The boy immediately feels bad. Sorry.
[Curious… very curious,] Ddraig finally murmurs.
The boy blinks. Uh-oh. That doesn't sound good at all. "What is?"
[You found a magical artifact in a foreign and highly dangerous place and decided to touch it.]
Issei licks his lips. The bunny stares at his soul with what resembles to judgment. The not-quite human boy cringes. "…yes?"
[It is truly impressive how someone as simple as you is still alive. You were born under a lucky star, it seems.]
The teen grimaces. That stung and he has yet no excuse for his stupidity. "I don't think I'm lucky."
I got stuck with you. And my underdeveloped brain. His teeth find his bottom lip and they bite. His tongue tastes blood and regret.
[It was a manner of speech. Such a thing as luck doesn't exist. Coincidences do not exist. You found the bow because someone wanted you to find it.]
Issei tenses. He stares at his bow and now, the weight and the familiarity it exudes makes him feel queasy. Coincidences do not exist. What does Ddraig mean? Is there another convoluted plot hiding behind his weapon? Will he need to fight again? Will he need to go back there, go back to the Underworld and the Forest? Go back there, there where he tasted defeat and gore for the first time. No. No. No. Nonononono.
The thoughts are dizzying and so are the soft, soothing noises that come from the humming, sentient weapon.
Ddraig exhales slowly in the boy's ears. The drawled sound tugs at the little human's heartstrings. [The Forest has a Lord and this Lord, once upon a time, struck a deal with men of valor. In exchange for the right to come and go in his kingdom, they would swear fealty to the Lord and protect his land and its inhabitants from evil.]
Issei presses his hand against his forehead. Stress and anger build a hard ball in his throat. It's hard to breathe. It's hard to think. It's hard to believe taht he, perhaps, got embroiled in another fucked up story.
(Ah! He is lying again. Of fucking course it would happen. He is stuck in another plot where he needs to act, be the man of the situation and somehow save the day. His luck is in the negative and it wouldn't be as fun for the gods of this world if his life wasn't just a field full of landmines that he can't escape. Ahahaha.)
His throat constrict around the ball of pure anxiety he created. "I wasn't aware of that."
[Lesson number one: do not touch an artifact if you do not know what it can do or what it represents,] Ddraig grinds in Issei's ears. [Dimwit.]
Vomit climbs his esophagus. The bow falls to the ground. He bites his fist.
Images and memories crash back to the forefront of his mind. How could he forget? How could, during a couple of days, forget how he got the Glorygold and his first taste of fire and death? "I was going to die, Ddraig," the boy confesses. "And then I killed an innocent animal because I'm a fucking idiot."
Something soft and gentle presses itself against his leg. Issei looks down. Whimpers escape the little rabbit. It stands on its hind legs, holding its front paws up to pat Issei's trembling legs.
Issei kneels and presses his head against the bunny's fur, eyes closing on their own. He doesn't want to think anymore. Anything but his thoughts. He killed something. He killed something with a bow he found on the ground and of course, of course, of course it would come back to haunt him. He is a dirty murderer and that will never change. Dirty and stupid and beyond redemption in both categories.
He wants to cut his head off. Maybe his thoughts would leave him alone then.
Dream all you want, you fucking retard.
[…Child,] Ddraig calls and it's almost too soft for such a sharp tongue. His grouchiness wanders somewhere else in the spirit world he inhabits, forgotten for the time being. [Did someone give you this bow?]
Issei presses his head harder against his companion. "No. I found it on the ground."
[I see.]
The little animal nuzzles the boy's quivering neck. It eases its head into the tight knot the human child makes on the ground, cold pink snout finding a heartbeat somewhere along his carotid and staying there. It huffs gently, puffing warm air and peace at him.
Issei unknots himself. He stares at the trail that winds up around the hills. The river looks like a silver ribbon, glistening between the lush foliage of the surrounding trees. It reminds him of more violent trees and sadder times. He soldiers on through his memories. He needs to talk. Ddraig will mock him and all will be better. He is a big baby and he needs to grow up.
"Well, not on the ground. It was… It was lying on a tree's roots, close to the Glorygold, just at the foot of the wall and…" Issei loses his words. The scenes are vivid in his mind, yet his vocabulary falls short to explain what he saw and what he did. Finally, his mouth bursts open and his story spills. "I think it appeared there, because it wasn't there the first time I looked and it appeared when I was in danger."
Ddraig doesn't mock him.
[You passed the wall without aid?] he asks instead.
Issei nods. He settles his head against the bunny's head and absently rubs his chin against the fluffiness beneath him. "Yes. I just walked right through it. I thought I was still outside but I wasn't. There was no wall."
He really has the worst luck known to men to just walk right through an ancestral wonder of magic.
[There is a wall,] Ddraig asserts. [The Lord of the Forest allowed your entrance. He deemed you a man of valor and bestowed a weapon of valor upon you.]
Issei sighs. The warm spring wind that climbs the hills suffocates him. He would like some ice cold water to drown in. "I'm not a man of valor."
[That is true,] Ddraig agrees. Issei bites his lip. [You are a child of valor.]
The boy stays silent for a moment. Finally, he lets a laugh out. It sounds strangely like a sob. "I thought you would tell me I am disappointment."
Ddraig snorts. [I am not you, boy.]
The boy nuzzles the fluffy fur tickling his throat. "Isn't that Lord going to kill me? I violated his rules. I killed something I was supposed to protect."
[No. The laws of the Forest are different from your laws. To kill and to be killed are understood differently. The strong eat the weak, the weak eat the strong, the fittest survive.]
"Oh." A pink, twitching nose pokes his cheeks tenderly. Issei answers the attention the rabbit pours on him with a caress.
[You have much to learn.]
"I suppose there is no way to undo the deal I made," Issei knows the answer before he finishes asking. It's graved in his bones. It's written in his flesh. It's carved in his soul. He has to ask anyway.
The old Dragon taps his claws against something metallic. Issei feels needles digs into his skull. [Do you wish for death?]
The not-quite-teen pulls a face. As if that was a viable option after all I've done to stay alive and kicking. "No."
[Then there is no way to weasel out of this. However, your task is far easier than it was then, considering how there is a wall between greedy Devils, Fallen Angels and the Forest now,] Ddraig explains calmly. He takes his time to enunciate each word, lazily mentioning facts that ease Issei's quivering heartbeat. The condescending grouch is back and the boy is oddly relieved.
Issei sighs and there's the start of hysterical laughter hiding in the sound he produces. "That's convenient."
[It is.] Ddraig pauses. [The deal has been made. Am I wrong, bow?]
The only human in the valley stares at the fallen weapon. Sweats run along the teen's spine. The boy guiltily makes a sound that sounds far too much like a 'yes' for his peace of mind.
Issei sits on his heels. His legs quiver under his weight and he accepts with a grunt that his ass needs to be on the ground because his body is overreacting to his fear. Again. The only upside is the fact that his rabbit hops in his embrace when he falls to the ground.
Issei pets it instantly. Petting cute things heals his soul.
The sky is too blue and too pure over his head. It hurts his dry eyes. "What do we do now?" he asks the silence.
A bird chips. If only he could understand animal's languages, maybe he would understand the goal of his life and not be in a ridiculous actor in the hilariously stupid situation he lives through.
[Get up, child.]
Issei sniffs. The ground is cold, his pants are wet and the bunny's little paws are humid against his thighs, but he doesn't want to move yet. Persephone is going to turn his brain into mush with all the questioning he has to perform and all the conclusions he will have to draw from her answers. Gods and their cryptic answers will give him a heart attack or an aneurysm before his time comes.
Ddraig sighs. [We're not going to see that goddess. Go up the hill.]
Issei grumbles. Going uphill after all that walking and freaking out? Ugh. "Why?"
[To train. I wish to see what you can do with the bow.]
Issei lets himself fall flat against the ground with a sigh. His coat poorly protects his back from the humidity rising from the earth. Radioactive green moss tickles his skull. He tickles it back with a finger. "I don't know if I can use it," he admits.
[You did when you were in your mother's hospital.]
"That was different," Issei whispers. He had a goal. There was an endgame. There was an end to his mischief and mayhems. He was going to put everything down and live a cozy little life with his family and never think about the Underworld ever again. That was the plan and it all went down the drain pretty fast, didn't it? Oh, how he loves his life and the fuckery that jumps from its nooks and crannies for the giggles and shit.
"And how do you know that?" Has the Dragon lied about what he can and what he cannot see inside his mind?
[Anything involving your mother is highly emotional for you. Emotions that drown my prison in disgusting junk. I do not want to know what you feel, but your mind is ruled by your emotions and memories that ignite those feelings. I know what you did there. What else have you done with your weapon?]
"I can shoot…" Issei trails off. He scratches his cheek. What does he shoot off with the bow? Immaterial arrows? Energy? Magic? His soul? He stares at his mysterious bow and wonders. He doesn't know and the silent piece of magical artwork cannot really explain either. Yet another hole he has to fill in.
[Show me.]
"Not here. " Definitely not so close to Persephone's lodging. Same thing goes for his family's house. The town is all too close for magical experiment too. One bad shot and he might end up with a problem. Inexplicably destroyed houses will bring attention and he doesn't need that.
[That is why you need to go up the hills.]
Issei sits. He pats the bunny out of his lap. The animal sniffs but does leave. The boy reaches for his bow and jumps to his feet. His stick ends in his other hand a second later.
"I'm going to go uphill, but you need to explain everything to me. I don't want to use a magical artifact without knowing how it works," he argues.
He is, admittedly, a bit done with secrets and mindboggling explanations that do not make any sense. It is high time to learn what channeling his soul means and how he can do it to finally use his Sacred Gear. And his bow. And his gift.
It is time to level up from helpless human, because the Supernatural world will not go easy on his teenager ass.
[Humph. Very well,] the old soul begrudgingly accepts. [The bow is tied to your soul much like I am myself shackled to you. It uses what most humans would call magic to shot the arrows you used to scare off that healer in the hospital.]
Issei twirls his stick between fingers. He nods thoughtfully. Finally, some answers. "What about you? How would you call this?"
[Dragons have their own words for what they deem remarkable.]
Issei eyes his nails. They're starting to look good again and it would be such a shame to eat them, but Ddraig is being cryptic and unhelpful and Supernatural beings are always so edgy in their wording it's starting to get on his nerves. That doesn't tell me anything, O Red Dragon Emperor of Domination.
He wrestles his gaze away from his wretchedly wrecked fingernails. He observes the patch of moss he flew over. It looks like it grew while he had his back turned. Issei squints. It actually did.
(Persephone's presence is potent. A bit too potent. Is her artificial spring going to reach the rest of the valley and the town? In January? That's not great, considering it will blow his cover. He will have to talk with her about controlling herself. Life is great, but maintaining it while also making sure her ex-husband -or whatever Hades is for her- stays out of his territory is also wonderful.)
"How would Supernatural beings call this? I understand they would probably give it different names depending on the regions and species, but what would be the general term?"
A warm breath hits his nape and if he didn't know better, he would think it was Ddraig snarling down his neck. That's impossible, though. Probably. [Magic. However, supernatural beings have different interpretations of what magic is. Devils think Magic is a sentient being, and that they are blessed by Her if the quality of their soul pleases Her.]
Issei steps on the slippery mess of moss and overturned soil that was once a path. He plants his stick firmly in the ground. A question makes him slow his movements to listen closely to his teacher's words. It has been a long time since he has been schooled by anyone. "What about you?"
[For the last time, boy, stop asking about Dragons. You are not one. You do not reason like one. You will neither be taught our ways nor use our words.]
The boy gulps. "Okay. I get it."
Ddraig continues as if he had not just chastised his host rather drily. [Humans do not reason and do not learn the same way Devils do. You could have read all the books in the Underworld and followed the greatest masters, yet learn nothing useful for your craft.]
The little host hesitates. His toes dig into mushy earth and he advances slowly, minding his steps and the shinier portions of lichen that are definitely traitorous in nature. "So I don't need to… channel my soul?"
[In theory, no. In practice, you may use a process close to the way of the Devils because of my presence in your soul.]
Issei tiptoes around a rock bathed with blooming crocus, creating in a disarray of yellow and purplish white. He frowns, concentration setting deep lines around his eyes. Ddraig continues to whisper in attentive ears. [Magic is everywhere, surrounding you and passing through you. Your human body is a container for magic. A small one, sadly. However, in your tragic magical circumstances, you succeeded to be something right. You are open to magic. Truly a great thing for it means you are capable of guiding magic. Have you been a closed human, you would have been unable to awaken me and would have consequently died when that miserable goddess pushed you off a cliff.]
Issei scoffs. It reminds him rather severely how why Persephone exists in such a grey area in his heart. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, she never really is an ally unless she is in the mood. "That's nice to know."
[Devils channel their soul because they can produce magic, a feat humans are incapable of. Humans, to my knowledge, canalize energy. They do not have the capacity to hold it, so they act as a vector of sort.]
Issei sidesteps a frog. His bunny bumps nose with the green amphibious, sniffing it intensively before sneezing. It waddles past the human and the animal, shaking its long ears in disgust.
Gears are grinding themselves to dust in his head. Things make so much sense now that someone who understands how humans' magic work has appeared. "So… I don't produce energy, but I can move it around?"
[It is as you say.]
Issei turns around, dangerous patch of moss and other plants now past him, and beholds the valley. It has turned a few shades greener since yesterday. A warm wind comes to embrace him then dips back into the valley. He reckons the trees will turn a few shades livelier by the end of the day. Persephone enjoys busying herself, it seems.
He is a bit jealous.
"What can I do with magic?" the teen asks. He toys with ideas, but he wishes for them to remain vague until he is sure of what he can do with what he has.
[Nothing.]
The tone is dry. The delivery is stale. The word is rotten.
Issei forgets to breath. "What?" he hisses.
[Your container is too small; you can only let a trickle of energy pass through you at all time. Otherwise, your body would be overloaded. You would most probably explode.]
Issei pictures a container bursting open, unleashing bloody water upon the earth. He winces.
"Are you sure?"
[I do not believe you would be able to do anything of importance with the trickle of magic that can pass through you.]
Issei dispels his bow with a slap against his stick. He grinds the branch between his knuckles. That's not good. That's not good at all.
The bunny hops from one side of the trail to the other, not minding the still and silent boy anymore.
Issei watches the little mammal. It hops rapidly, speeding as it goes until it's nothing but a blur of white going up and down the trail for its own amusement.
The human teen unlocks his sore jaw. Something clicks. He has no space, but maybe he could have speed. "Can I accelerate the flow of magic going through me?"
[…Interesting point.]
Issei suppresses his smiles, because he has not won yet. He will rejoice when he has a reason to. "You're not saying it's impossible."
[It is not impossible. However… It will hurt like nothing else you've experienced before. I am not kind with my hosts, boy.]
Issei scoffs. "The name's Hayashi Issei, Ddraig. And we're talking today because I jumped off a cliff and held a powerline in my hands and then sold you one on my fingers, which, by the way, hurt like a bitch."
Ddraig chuckles. [Run uphill, boy. Your training starts now.]
Issei feels the smirk the Dragon no doubt sports. He hides his shivers under the small jolts he does to get his legs to warm up before he goes into a full blown race up the hill. "Yes sir."
...
Hello!
My finals killed any will to write or type on my computer for a whole month. That's impressive, eh. I'll try to not make any promises on when I'm updating, because last time, I said it would take a few days. I don't know if we can consider a month 'a few days', ahaha. Don't worry, dear readers, I try to take care of my health and my stress levels so you have a quality read and I have quality sleep.
As usual, I hope you're all well, dear readers.
The first arc was quite hard to write for me because no side character was important, in a way. It was centered around Issei and his lack of social skills and more importantly, his lack of care. He didn't care about people. He didn't care about them because his own worries were eating him away. I wanted to show his side of things, so yes, he might have stumbled on weird or interesting people but he didn't know that because his focus was not on others. He had a goal and that goal was consuming him whole. The only person he cared about was his mother and she was a ghost, an idea that haunted him and pushed him forward. Not exactly a real person.
Which explains why I'm so, so glad when you say you like Hikari, Chiasa, Persephone or Ddraig. I spent a lot of time figuring them out and I must admit, I had planned to kill Hikari when I first thought about this story. Then the idea of a cute mom who cares about her child came upon me and that's how Hikari was born. Issei is not meant to be a tortured character who's tortured just because he is the main character. Plus, he is freaking 13 years old. He needs his family to have his back. Plus, I'm a sucker for happy endings (wink wink wink, this will have a happy ending, I swear. Probably. Maybe. I'll try.).
My favorite Ghibli movie is 'My Neighbor Totoro' followed closely by 'Princess Nausicaa'. It's a delight and a honor to hear my story looks a bit alike this masterpiece. I'm also a pretty big fan of Tolkien's saga, so I may have tried to copy some of his high fantasy settings. World building is a guilty pleasure of mine.
I answered some of your questions about the bow in this chapter, but I gave you more to mull about, I believe. Do not worry. Answers will come.
Next chapter is going to be the 20th. Which means it's going to be special. I never got so far in a story before, so I gotta make it special.
Does it mean we will see a main cast member next chapter?
Yes. I will let you guess who it is. There was a foreshadow in this chapter.
Is there a specific pairing for this story?
Yes. My muse was adamant I do a slow burn romance and he won this battle a few days ago. Issei's sweet love will appear much, much later, but I'm sure you will quickly figure out who she is.
Clarification: my muse said "She is going to beautiful too!".
Will Issei be an aspiring florist?
You're giving me evil ideas, dear readers. But no, he won't be. His mother, however... ;)
Where is the plot going?
Towards a revolution. How and when it will happen, I shall keep to myself. Some pieces are already in place and you shall see them dance next chapter.
01/05/2020