When Bell woke up he witnessed something that let him love his grandfather even more than he already did. The last evening was a bit embarrassing, their group rented the whole inn, but since it wasn´t that big, there was only one room with a double bed. Nahza had absolutely no problem to share a single bed with Miach, in fact she thought this was much better.
For Mikoto and Chigusa it was quite embarrassing to share a bed with their beloveds so soon after confessing. These weren´t the things that were embarrassing, it was the slight chuckle that the landlady showed when she handed Bell the key to the room with the double bed. Haruhime and Lefiya said nothing, but avoided to look into the eyes of everyone else. To think that they would sleep in such a bed with three people..., Lefiya once again wondered how she became so shameless ever since she confessed to Bell and Haruhime.
When Bell saw Haruhime and Lefiya in their new sleeping wear, the ones they got from Zeus, his mind went empty. The tunics were barely long enough to cover their butts with the hem of the skirts. Haruhime was deep red, holding the hem down at the front, since her tails pushed up the skirt from behind. She made sure that Lefiya and Bell didn´t see her from behind, even when her tails moved by instinct to cover every embarrassing spot.
But when Bell saw them standing there, while he also wore his short sleeping tunic, he was simply overwhelmed by the moment and he mumbled out of instinct.
.
.
"They walk in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in their aspect and their eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies..."
.
.
Both of them blushed heavily when they heard the spontaneous poem.
Bell truly was the grandson of Zeus. Zeus had taught him so much in the past, put knowledge into Bell that the young boy back then didn´t understand, but that now came to the surface. The poem about the beauty of Lefiya and Haruhime just came to his mind. Due to Zeus´ teachings, if Bell had a different character he would become Orario´s greatest ladykiller.
Zeus´ gift didn´t have a completely naughty meaning, it was also to open Bell´s eyes for something, something that Zeus called "nature´s beauty".
And indeed, Bell noticed and admired nature´s beauty. Haruhime and Lefiya saw how his eyes wandered over their bodies, but they didn´t sense any lewd intent. His eyes started at their bare feet, going over their ankles and their lower legs, stopped for a splitsecond at their knees, before ending glued to their thighs. Oh how Bell admired their thighs, how he loved the curve, the soft skin. Bell loved thighs, he especially loved Lefiya´s and Haruhime´s thighs and both knew that. If they would ask him which thighs he loved the most, his brain would malfunction. He wouldn´t be able to decide which ones were better.
Bell had seen the thighs of a few women in his life. Alfia´s were the first, but she was his Mom so that didn´t count for him, he just didn´t see Alfia as a "woman".
He had seen the thighs of Lily, one time Naza´s, Mikoto´s when she moved around much. Bell had seen the thighs of Ryu, Alise and Tiona during their training, they were all wonderful. He had seen the thighs of goddesses, those were really divine, there was no other word for that. Of Hestia, Astrea when she wore her light summer dress, those of the goddess Artemis one time by chance in the city. Bell had seen the thighs of Kaguya when she walked around in her underwear, of other members of the Astrea familia, even those of Orario´s saint, Amid Teassanare. He had seen the thighs of Aisha and Lena...which wasn´t really a challenge.
But not one of these women had thighs that could be compared to the ones of Haruhime and Lefiya. Alise would surely argue that Ryu´s were superior and even fight Bell for that. And even when Bell was only an upper level two and Alise an upper level six, he would fight until his last breath to defend his point! While Alise worshipped only Ryu´s thighs, Bell liked thighs in general, he even may have a slight thigh fetish. But the thighs of his two beloveds let all other thighs look dull compared to them!
"Your thighs are just...perfect..."
Both chuckled when they saw how dreamily Bell looked at their thighs. Haruhime still used her hands to pull down the hem of her tunic. Then Bell´s eyes wandered up to their hips, the fabric of the tunics were really thin, so the outline of their bodies were perfectly visible.
"Bell..."
Lefiya was bright red and she nearly whimpered, she had decided to do something for Bell, to show him how much she loved him. So she turned slightly to the side and curled her hips a bit up.
Bell almost looked like he had found enlightenment. Haruhime and Lefiya knew how much he liked Lefiya´s butt, even when he was quite ashamed that he glanced at her now and then. Lefiya didn´t mind when it was only now and then. And right now, she noticed how Bell admired the curve of her behind, yet she didn´t feel embarrassed. It was as if Bell was looking at a beautiful landscape.
And Lefiya actually was quite happy that he admired her body like that. Yet she was careful not to curl her hips up too far, because the skirt of the tunic wasn´t really long, but due to that, nearly all of Lefiya´s and Haruhime´s thighs were revealed to Bell´s eyes. His eyes wandered up on their bodies, over the alluring waists up to their chests. His grandfather said a woman´s chest was filled with the hopes and dreams of men, Bell could only agree. He noticed that the fabric was really thin, Bell could see where the peaks of the mounds were, but only slightly.
"P-Please don´t stare too much..." Haruhime looked very flustered.
Bell´s dreamlike expression remained. "Haruhime?"
"Y-Yes?"
"You really have beautiful breasts, the curve, the size, the shape...it´s magical..."
"Huh?!"
This was the first time that Bell spoke so openly about her body.
"As beautiful as Lefiya´s rear."
The elf chuckled embarrassed.
Then Bell´s eyes wandered up to their necks, beautiful, slender necks, that felt so wonderful when he kissed them. In the end he looked at their faces, especially...their ears. Both knew how much Bell loved their ears, to stroke and carress them, to kiss and slightly nibble on them. Whenever one of them moved with their ears too close to Bell´s lips in their sleep, he immediatelly caught the tip out of reflex with his lips and gently nibbled on it, which was a really pleasant feeling for them.
"Hah...I wish I could draw...right now I would be able to draw your bodies as the most beautiful landscapes."
Haruhime looked flustered at him, her tails curled nervous up and down. "D-Do you like our bodies that much?"
"More than I can say with words."
When they finally went to bed, all three noticed how nice it felt to sleep with these clothes.
.
.
.
After the breakfast was over, Bell spent some time alone with Zeus, both did something they couldn´t do in a long time, fishing. Apparently during this time of the year, the small lake and the river were good to catch rainbow trouts and breams. Zeus said they would do their best to catch today´s dinner.
"How are things in Orario?"
"I guess mostly the same as usual. We go to the dungeon when we can, this strange Knossos thing got taken care off."
Zeus scratched his beard. "Hm, such a shame that we never discovered it in the past. Could´ve prevented the dark times."
"But Mom said it was necessary to bring Orario forward."
"Yeah, but it didn´t really work. I mean look at Loki´s and Freya´s children. Pffft. Weak, all of them."
"The King is incredibly strong."
"Incredibly? Hah! Ottar is a small boy compared to Maxim and the others! I mean why does it take them that long to level up? Why is there only one level seven?"
"Ms. Alise and the others are really strong."
"Yeah, compared to Loki´s and Freya´s familias, Astrea´s really became strong. I mean from what you told me, that Alise girl is almost as strong as a fresh level seven."
"Yeah...and she likes to beat me up when we train."
"Hey, I didn´t raise you like that. You dare to complain when you got chased by three beautiful women during your training? Loki´s amazon was quite the looker!"
"Three level six women, Grandfather."
"But they did make you stronger."
"That they did."
"See?"
"I guess you´re right, like always."
"Of course I´m right, I´m your grandfather."
"The best grandfather there is."
"And this grandfather is really proud of his grandson, having two such amazing beauties fall for him. I mean one of them is the most unique beast girl in all of the lands, the other is a magical genius! I guarantee you, if both had been born earlier, Hera would´ve gotten her hands on them."
"Which would be a shame."
"Hoh?"
Bell smiled wryly. "Because then I wouldn´t been able to be together with them now."
"Hah! You know sometimes I wonder what would´ve happened if we had beaten the black dragon. You would probably be the Prince of Orario. All the ladies and goddesses would try to flirt with you, since you´re the offspring of the two strongest familias."
Bell smiled a bit sad now. "I really would´ve liked to meet uncle Zard, captain Maxim and the others one time at least. And...my parents..."
Zeus sighed. "Sorry for ruining the mood. I´m sure they will look over you from heaven. I bet Maxim and the boys cheered for you when you fought in the wargame."
"Can souls look down from heaven?"
"Sometimes. Some want to stay for a while and look down on the world. I´m sure your parents and the others do exactly that. Just like Alfia watches over you all the time."
"Are you allowed to tell me that?"
"I´m the King of Olympus. Even when I would go back up to heaven, I would beat everyone in a fist fight if they dared to complain. You´re my precious grandson and I will tell you what I want."
"Have you ever thought about looking for new familia members?"
"Not at the moment. The pain of losing all my boys is still there and will probably ever be there. For now I´m wandering around, doint this and that and watch over my grandson. You´re the last member of my familia and my family, Bell."
Bell smiled in a special way. "But our family is growing."
"Hoooooh?! What do I hear there? Did you do something with your girlfriends? Your Mom will faint if she hears that she will become a Grandma."
"No! Not that! But I mean...I will marry Lefiya and Haruhime one day! A-And we might have children in the future! Also you said you can´t say if Lena´s father is one of the former members."
"Could as much be as it probably isn´t the case."
"And you brought Ms. Talvi, she called you grandfather too."
"Heh, you´re right. But don´t tell your Mom that I brought more girls to your environment."
"Why would she worry? I have only eyes for Haruhime and Lefiya."
"No interest in building a harem? I mean Loki´s amazon really likes you and a few other girls probably too."
Suddenly Bell´s expression turned into one that was really similar to Alfia´s.
"No, a harem is wrong and not something to be admired."
"Argh! My heart! Alfia really corrupted your mind!"
"How could I love more women all equally? And it wouldn´t be fair for Lefiya and Haruhime, they own my heart. Also, how would I be able to spend time with them? Like spending time with one, one day a week? This feels like I'm devaluing them as a person."
"Well you aren´t me, I´m a master when it comes to give women the love they want and need."
"Grandpa..."
"Don´t worry, I respect your decision, you have two really lovely girlfriends and that makes me happy."
They got interrupted when something pulled on Bell´s fishing rod. It was something big. In the past Bell had needed help from Zeus to pull a big and strong fish out, but with his upper level two status now, it wasn´t that much of a problem. He just had to be careful not to break the fishing rod. Zeus whistled approvingly when he saw the big fish.
"Looks like you´re in the lead now, but don´t think your Grandpa will give up so easily!"
Both continued to chat softly while they kept fishing. After a while Zeus made a pretty serious expression.
"Bell?"
"Yes?"
"You are aware that I lived a long life, loved many women. That I have much experience with women. Those that were bold, those that were shy, then romantic ones and all kinds of other types."
"I am aware."
"And I have loved women that had a traumatic experience before, just like Haruhime."
Bell looked at him from the side.
"Grandpa?"
"Bell, will you listen to this old man for a while? There are a few things that I can tell you, how to help Haruhime get over her trauma. I want that young woman to become happy. Happy with you and Lefiya."
Bell nodded with a serious expression.
"Please do."
He was glad that Zeus was there to give him a few tips. Bell was afraid to do something wrong and make it worse for Haruhime. He had expected much, but not the things that Zeus told him. The old god had "the talk" with Bell in the past, but this talk now was different. It was about various steps that Bell could take to help Haruhime.
The things that Zeus explained to Bell were pretty embarrassing for the young man, but Zeus spoke in a complete neutral tone and even told him about a sealed and wrapped up book that he would give him. Zeus carefully explained to him that the first time was for a woman a bit different than for a man and in case Bell would be too eagerly or hasty, he might accidentally hurt one or both of his girlfriends. The god didn´t speak about techniques and such, he explained to Bell that these were in the book and he should open and read it when their relationship went that much forward.
The last thing that Zeus did was to give Bell two things. One was a book, with a chain attached to the book´s spine, the other was a small bag, which was quite heavy for it´s size.
"What are these, Grandpa?"
"You said you admire Argonaut, right? You ready in your book that he kept a diary with him to write down his own heroic deeds. So I got you this book, the sides are empty, so you can write down your own story. I thought maybe it will be nice for you in a few years to look back."
Zeus winked.
"Or read to your children about the heroic adventures of you and their mothers, hm? With the chain you can attach it to your belt, the cover, spine and back are made from a very sturdy material."
Bell smiled brightly. "Thank you so much, Grandpa! I love it! I will write all the important things into it!"
"Hehe, glad you like it. I hope it will become a really long story. I´m sure your story will go down in history, just like Argonaut´s."
"Do you think so? I´m not so special."
"Do you think Argonaut thought about himself as special? You are my grandson, you are you, you are special."
"Hm."
"Also, don´t forget that you´re the prince of Orario in a way."
"Mh..calling me a prince is a bit much, don´t you think?"
"Nah, I think it fits you. Still, don´t push yourself to something just because you think you have to stand out because of your heritage, alright?"
Bell nodded. "And the bag?"
"Open it."
He did as Zeus told him, inside the bag was a chunk of some dark ore.
"What is this?"
"Orichalcum."
"Orichalcum?!"
"That´s what I said."
"But from where do you have this?!"
"I told you before about taking everything of value with me, right?"
"Oh, yeah."
"And now I want to give this to you. So that the young Welf can make something for you out of it, once he is as good as he wants to be."
"It is so heavy."
"Jup and it will make a fine piece of equipment for you."
Bell smiled again. "Thank you so much, Grandpa."
He looked at the simple book and the incredible valuable piece or Orichalcum, Bell knew which of the gifts was his favorite.
"Hehe, this will also help Welf."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, he said he wants to confess to Lady Hephaistos once he forged a true masterpiece."
"Hohooo? He has his eyes on Hephi? Not bad that young man. I should give him a few tips."
"But no naughty ones."
"Naughty tips from me? Never. Hm, I think the young pallum in your familia also has his eyes on the pallum lady. Alright, it´s decided, I will help your friends and familia as long as you stay here."
"Ahm, thanks?"
"You´re welcome."
They kept fishing for a while, Zeus managed to catch a fish that was bigger than Bell´s.
"Hah! This old man is in the lead again!"
"The time isn´t up, Grandpa!"
Both kept sitting there and fished.
"Grandpa, I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure."
"But I don´t know if you can or will give me the information."
"Can´t say yes or no if you don´t talk."
"From what the Astrea familia and especially Ms. Alise told me, they fought against demi-spirits in Knossos and Ms. Alise destroyed a dragon that was infused with spirit power."
"Sounds nasty."
"According to them it was. Are there actually evil spirits? It is said that spirits are the favorite children of the gods."
Zeus nodded.
"They were our first real influence on the mortal world. The spirits are made by us gods, but the mortals also."
"The gods made the mortals?"
"At least the souls. When a mortal dies and the soul returns to heaven, it gets cleansed and then sent back to the lower world after a while. But that´s a secret, so Psst. Normally a god doesn´t have a deep connection to a mortal soul, but there are one or two that are a god´s favorite and they love to look at this soul especially."
"Oh, wow. That is much to think about."
"Don´t think about this information too much or I might get in trouble."
"Hehe, okay. But back to my question about spirits."
"Alright. No spirit is straight up evil, they are one with the world after all, so it goes against their nature to destroy it. Some tend to do mischievous pranks, I think the ones that Loki made especially."
"Then, when there are no evil spirits, what does that mean for the ones in Knossos?"
"They probably got tortured to the point where they went insane, then Evilus used the power of the rampaging spirit."
"So...does that mean an innocent spirit was killed?"
"I would say released from eternal torture."
"Oh...does that mean the number of spirits is slowly dying out? Or can there be new spirits?"
Zeus winked again. "There are some things that I´m not allowed to tell you. But what I can tell you, the others above have an eye on the lower world. So...maybe?"
"Hm, can you tell me then what happens with a mortal when he or she reaches level ten? I heard they called Lady Hera´s captain "The tyrannic woman with almost divine powers"."
"Oh yeah, the Empress was crazy and scary, even when your Mom was stronger. A high level doesn´t mean that you´re stronger, take your mother for example, she was a level one and made Hera shiver in fear and kneel in front of her. She even managed to stare down the Empress once."
"You´re evading my question."
"To be honest, I don´t know. I think no god knows that, since it never happened. If you go by strength, maybe Albert Waldstein had a strength comparable to a level ten, but he didn´t have a Falna in the first place. He was blessed by a spirit. But to reach level ten, I can´t even imagine what a deed would be necessary. I mean take Alfia for example, she defeated the Leviathan in the end and when Astrea forced her blessing onto her, her status got updated, but she didn´t reach level eight due to that."
"Which confused me, Grandpa. Shouldn´t the Leviathan be one of the greatest deeds ever?"
Zeus made a slightly sad face. "I think the reason for that is your Mom´s illness. I pray every day that you won´t inherit it."
Bell was already sixteen, Meteria showed signs of her illness much earlier, for Alfia it started with Bell´s age. This was what worried Alfia and Zeus to no end, if Bell would´ve inheritted the illness from Meteria, it could start to show the first signs at some point. Maybe it would never, maybe start next week, maybe in a few years.
God and mortal woman begged it would be never.
To change the subject to something more funny, Zeus grinned.
"And if you want to know about a great possible deed, do you know who is the new ruler of the seas after the Leviathan is gone?"
"No? Who?"
"The name starts with "K" and ends with "raken"."
"The Kraken?! It exists?!"
"Of course! There are a few Krakens in the wide oceans, but one of them stands above all others. Just like the Leviathan was the first among it´s kin. The Kraken was weaker than the Leviathan in the past, but who knows what happened in the time that the Leviathan died?"
"Woah...what happened to the remains of the Leviathan anyway?"
"I think they use the body to seal the dungeon from the sea."
"Oh? Is that possible?"
"Of course, even when it is dead, weaker monsters fear the Emperor of the sea."
"And the Behemoth?"
"In case no one ever found a way to get into that poisoned desert, the remains of the body are still there, together with Zard´s sword."
"Uncle Zard´s sword?"
"Yeah, his true weapon, the one he used to slay the Behemoth. The Behemoth was surrounded by a giant cloud of Miasma and that poisoned the whole desert it created. As far as I know, it is still like this."
"So the body and the sword are still there?"
"My guess is that the sword was slowly destroyed by the Miasma, wind and sand. But the bones of the Behemoth should still be there. That miasma field would kill a level six in minutes."
"Even with abnormal resistence?"
"The Behemoth was one of the three strongest monsters and the Miasma was it´s speciality. Don´t even think about traveling to that desert to try and get the remains. Not even Freya´s "King" could survive this."
"Hm, such a shame."
"Why? These things better remain there."
"But I would like to get the sword and make a proper grave with it for Uncle Zard, maybe stick it in the grave from above. You know? A warrior´s grave. To mark the familia´s victory and that they finished this great quest."
Zeus smiled. "That´s a nice thought. You really look up to them, hm?"
"Of course!"
"Is that why you fight like Maxim?"
"Uncle Maxim?"
"Yeah. When I saw you fighting with your sword, your favorite style is exactly like Maxim´s."
"Mom showed me this style."
"Your Mom has seen Maxim fight more than one time, no wonder she memorized his fighting style."
Bell grinned slightly. "Hehe."
"Happy about that?"
"Yeah, it makes me feel a bit closer to the familia."
"I bet they´re all proud of you, Bell. And look over you from heaven. But don´t forget, you are you, go your own way."
"I will, Grandpa. Still, it sometimes makes me mad when I hear people in Orario talk about your and lady Hera´s familias. They talk like you failed the third great quest, instead they should be impressed that you finished two of three! Also...all of them died and people in Orario talk bad about them."
"Yeah, people and gods are like this. But they can only talk like that because my boys and Hera´s girls laid down their lives to drive that dragon away. Also, we know what they did, we will never forget. The whole world is proof of what they did, no one can ever take that away from them. All of them went up to heaven, I´m sure."
"Do you think...maybe...Mom...will also go to heaven when the time comes?"
"Your Mom? Nope. She will go down to hell and kick the devil out of his throne, reigning supreme as the Queen of Hell."
"Grandpa..."
Zeus stroked Bell´s head. "Don´t be worried. Your Mom did horrible things, but the guys up in heaven know why she did it. Also, in case they won´t let her into heaven, they have to deal with Meteria. You bet that she is waiting for Alfia."
Bell smiled a bit. "That takes me at ease, Mom deserves to go into heaven."
"Of course she does, Alfia really is a sweetheart actually."
Many other people would say otherwise...
.
.
While Bell and Zeus enjoyed their time together, Haruhime and Lefiya spent a bit time alone in a wide gras field, making flower rings for each other to put it on their hair. At some point they exchanged a few, short, loving kisses, but ended on the gras together, kissing more and for a long time, while snuggling up to each other. Lefiya would do her best with Bell to heal Haruhime´s heart. Both slept in their favorite way together, Lefiya´s face came to rest on Haruhime´s chest, Haruhime had curled one of her tails to use it as a pillow, while the others curled around Lefiya to act as a blanket and to make sure that her scent was on her mate.
.
.
The result of their fishing trip was a draw. While Zeus's fish was a little bigger, Bell's was a little fatter. They caught enough for everyone to have dinner. Zeus even surprised Bell when he went into the kitchen of the inn to help the owner to make dinner. For some reason after a while, Naza smirked.
"So he really is like the rumors say."
"Hm?"
"He is flirting with the landlady in there."
"Well ahm...well, yeah."
Now that Bell thought about it, his and the Takemikazuchi familias used all the guest rooms, even Talvi had one. But not Zeus, so...well Bell could guess in which room he slept when he was like that with the landlady. He was his Grandpa after all.
Awkward...
Haruhime, Mikoto and Chigusa also went into the kitchen, they had asked the landlady if they could make one or two far eastern dishes with fish and rice that they brought on the trip. In the end, Mikoto asked for Takemikazuchi to make "that".
The god agreed and went into the kitchen. The three far eastern girls helped him, Mikoto especially. Apparently the wargod also knew how to make sushi, he had many years to train it properly.
For many of them it was the first time to taste sushi. While it wasn´t really Bell´s taste, Lefiya really liked it. Lena asked if she should make some traditional amazonian dishes next time. At first the others weren´t sure, they expected something like raw meat and blood for some reason.
"How rude of you! We may be a race of brutal fighters and thirsty women, but we are also excellent cooks! You can´t ask someone like Aisha, but I trained like a madman to get better, so that Bete Loga will love me even more! Ask Haru-Haru!"
Haruhime nodded. "Lena really is a good cook when it comes to traditional things of her homeland and trains with other dishes too."
"See?! This Lena will become the ultimate housewife! Even when I won´t be staying at home but go into the dungeon with my hubby! You will see! And our children will be the strongest!"
Zeus grinned. "How many children do you want to have with your boyfriend, little Lena?"
"Ten at least!"
"Heh, spoken like a true amazon."
"Well I am a true amazon, Grandpa Zeus!"
Lena´s way of seeing and understanding the world was a bit strange. Just like she was over one hundred percent sure that Bete loved her, she was now convinced that her father was a former member of the Zeus familia. They were the strongest men in the world after all, so her mother probably would´ve been head over heels for one of them.
"Oh and amazonian dishes give tons of energy! Be it for a battle or the bedroom!"
Of course Lena still didn´t know shame...
.
.
This night, Haruhime and Lefiya snuggled up to Bell in the big bed again, but they had switched sides, like they did every night. Having Bell in the middle was their favorite way of sleeping. Before he went to bed, Bell had looked at the diary that his grandfather gave him.
Maybe it was due to that, maybe for another reason, but Bell had a really weird dream that night.
.
.
Thunder rumbled in the sky, a few lightningbolts crackled.
Bell stood in the old olympian temple that he had seen in the past, in the night where he got his magic. He looked around, there were a few other people here. All of them him. There were the three in different outfits that he had seen before, also himself as a child and one of the age between the child and his current self.
These five were sitting at a table, the one with the black coat was reading something to the others.
"Alright, you carefully opened the lock and it seems like no one noticed you. After you checked the door it looks like it can be opened without making much noise. What do you do?"
It looked like they were playing some kind of game, there were sheets of paper, pens and many dices on the table.
The five ignored him and Bell turned away, following the carpet towards the entrance or in his case the exit of the temple. And of course for such an enormous temple, the gate was enormous too. But it was pretty easy for him to open the gate. There was the perpetual thunderstorm in the sky, but Bell could also see a path that led downhill, towards another building. Strangely, exactly halfway between the temple and the other building, there was like a cut in the sky. The thunderstorm ended there and a bright, sunny day was on the other side.
It wasn´t his choice to walk to the other building, his dream led him there. Despite the thunderstorm he didn´t get wet, it was only lightning and thunder, no rain at all. It wasn´t really cold, but it got much warmer when he crossed the line to the other building.
This one was as even bigger than the temple, due to the way it was built. It wasn´t a temple or...maybe he could call it that. But Bell had the feeling that this was an entirely different building. There were plants all over and he recognized the design from one of his ancient stories.
The hanging gardens of babylon.
It looked really beautiful, the sun was high up in the sky, only a few clouds visible. Yet it looked like the plants had enough water to grow healthy. His legs moved on their own again, leading him to the entrance of the ground floor. The gate was open and he went inside.
The difference to the temple got obvious right away. This was an enormous library with thousands of books, yet there were also plants inside here as well.
Bell walked around, many of the books he saw were those that he knew from the past, books and stories that he read already. Like the epos of Gilgamesh, the Herculean tasks, the story of Achilleus and others. But there were also others that he didn´t know about.
He took one of the books and looked at the title.
"Under the courtesan´s veil, hm."
Bell took a different book. "Like a Fairy..."
And another. "Are you my Odr?..."
The last one he picked up had a symbol on the front, a rabbit head and a two sided blade behind it. "Adventure time."
Out of curiosity he opened the book and got surprised. It was empty, but then out of thin air appeared a quill and started to draw a picture. The picture showed a young amazon and a young man, running through the land and...they were holding hands. When the picture was done, the quill wrote down a few words before vanishing again.
"Story in development"
He never heard these titles before. There was also a section marked with the word "Naughty". One of the books he saw there had the title "The Trickster and her Unstroppable Rabbit" another was called "Blood of Zeus". Bell didn´t really feel an urge to look further at the naughty books...
.
"Hmmm~~ Hmmm~~~ Hmm~~~~"
.
Bell looked up when he heard a voice and put the books back into the shelf. His legs followed the voice. After walking for a few moments, he turned around the corner of an enormous shelf. His eyes caught a glimpse of the title of two books.
"Why elves are probably a naughty race" and "Why Justice always comes around"
But then his eyes got drawn to a table, where a figure sat and read a book. This figure didn´t look like another version of him, instead it was a girl, a young woman. She had short hair and sat at the table, humming by herself while she read a book.
Strangely, Bell couldn´t see much details of her body, as if she was a shadow or something similar. When he came closer, the shadow raised her head.
"Oh! Hello!~~~"
She greeted him cheerful.
"Hello."
The shadow put down the book and closed it, Bell noticed that it was the book "Argonaut".
"You´re finally here, took you long enough."
"Where are we?"
"In the hanging gardens of babylon, type library, obviously."
"No, I mean where is this here?"
"In your dream, silly."
Even when she was a shadow, Bell saw her smiling in a cheerful way.
"And who are you?"
"Me? I´m just a humble, little spirit."
"A spirit?!"
"Well a demi-spirit to be exact, I´m not a full spirit yet."
"A demi-spirit?"
"You can also say half spirit. I´m the spirit of wisdom and knowledge."
"Oh, is this why this building here is a library?"
"Nope, it´s the other way around. I came here because you have this awesome library in your mind! You really read a lot! And such old versions of the stories. I never saw a version of Argonaut that is this thick!"
"You say you are a spirit and you can enter my dream?"
"In my current form, yes."
"And how shall I call you?"
"Sowak."
"Sowak?"
"Spirit Of Wisdom And Knowledge or short Sowak."
She grinned wide. "I´m happy that it isn´t Sokaw, that would sound weird, don´t you think?"
She really seems to be happy go lucky.
"Of course I am."
"Huh? Can you hear my thoughts?"
"Of course I do."
"Oh."
"Hehe, don´t worry. I can only hear the thoughts that you´re currently thinking, I won´t look too deep into you. Or...will I?"
She winked and chuckled.
"Why are you looking like a shadow?"
"Because you don´t know how I really look, that´s why you can´t see me."
"I don´t understand, how would I know how you really look like?"
"I´m sorry, I´m not allowed to say that, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did so far and that you give me the chance to be here. I really love this place."
"But I didn´t do anything special."
She smiled. "Oh you did, trust me."
"How?"
Sowak smiled again, this time it looked a bit sad, yet happy at the same time. "You give me the chance to see things."
"What do you mean?"
"Sorry, I can´t tell you more. It´s not allowed. Lady Saraswati said I must keep it a secret for now."
"Lady Saraswati?"
Sowak nodded. "The goddess who gave me the chance to be this way. Sorry, I´m not allowed to say more."
"Hm."
"Won´t you introduce yourself after I gave you my name?"
"Oh, I´m sorry! I´m Bell. Bell Cranel."
"I know that, it is your dream after all."
"Eh?"
"Gotcha!" Sowak started to laugh.
"Ahm..."
"Ehehe!~~~ I´m just making a little fun."
"Do you have a real name, Sowak? I know that the Spirit of Thunder was called Jupiter and not Sot."
"I have a real name, but I can´t tell you for now."
Bell nodded, he understood.
"Why am I here, Sowak?"
"So that I can meet you and ask you a question."
"Go on."
Her smile went a bit different this time.
"What is magic to you?"
"Huh?"
Suddenly, all books that he already read started to open, golden letters flew into the air and howered there.
Sowak´s voice became stronger, more powerful.
"What is magic to you, Bell?"
.
.
While Bell dreamed, the Falna on his back changed a bit. Before he had only one slot for a magic spell. Now there were two and with it came Bell´s second magic.
"Fabulae heroicae"
