*-Phoebe-*
I liked him. No, it was more than just liking him. I had feelings for Thorn.
How had I not noticed it before? Anytime I was around him I'd start to feel happy for no reason. I always felt safe when I was near him, and got giddy any time he said something nice about me.
It had barely been a day since I realized my feelings, and yet the women happily calling herself my new 'mother-in-law' had me sitting beside her in the living room as I made new Kumus for the others.
Pin had woken up, and after I sent her to get what was supposed to be Thorn's Kumu we learned that so long as the Kumu wasn't active when I died then it didn't crystallize like the other ones did. Since Thorn's was the only deactivated Kumu it didn't help much, but did give me the idea to make back-ups later. We kept and and would use it as an emergency Kumu. I was thinking up a new design so I didn't want to give Thorn one that was outdated.
I remade Akumu when we got to the house, and now was making Kumus for Mars, Pin, Kuroi, Thorn, and Raion. I could make an additional Kumu and 3 Minikyus. While I worked on creating these I tried some new techniques and made it so that the Kumu wouldn't deactivate if I or the owner died. They'd be self sufficient. This would make it possible for Kumus to defy orders, but I saw that as a positive. The attitude of a Kumu is based heavily on the owner's personality. So if an owner is against killing children then the Kumu are against killing children as well. So if an owner were to suddenly go crazy or whatever. The Kumu would still hold to the no killing children rule.
Kumu also treated others based on how the owner felt about those people, even if the owner is unaware of their feelings. That would explain why Akumu always was so friendly and cuddled up to Thorn, and why it was basically impossible to separate Akumu from his crib right now.
'I suppose the truth was staring me in the face this whole time, huh?'
Since giving the Kumu more freedom made them more complicated. It made the process of making Kumu longer. Kuroi allowed me to use his Kumu as a speaking mask while I talked to Zenith and made the Kumu.
Zenith was eagerly jotting down notes as she bombarded me with questions about Thorn.
"What's he like?"
"Mmm. He loves to read books and singing, but he doesn't usually do the latter unless it's just his closest friends. He is a glutton for knowledge and will soak it up like a sponge. He's also just a straight up glutton. He'll eat pretty much anything edible, and won't stop unless something or someone stops him. He's also not that good with other people, so do your best to not overload him with questions or comments. Take things slow, and if he doesnt try and talk first, then try approaching him. If he seems to shrink or cower, then it would be best to try again another day instead of pushing your luck. And he's a bit of a trickster."
"Ya know that advice sounds useful for multiple scenarios. Now let's see. How about things to avoid making him angry?"
"Thorn getting angry? Almost impossible. If you push his buttons long enough, and I mean long enough, then eventually he'll get mildly aggravated. Getting him angry is possible, and should definitely be avoided at any cost. Just follow my advice."
Zenith's face went serious as she prepared her paper and quill.
"Avoid these things and everything will be fine. Child abuse, forcing yourself onto others, bullying, hurting his friends, and deciding his future for him."
"Um. Could you go into more detail with those please?"
"Sure. For starters, we'll start with child abuse. Abusing a child could range anywhere from physical, to emotional, or to psychological abuse. Spanking a child isn't abuse so long as you don't take it to far it's a form of discipline, and a child getting beaten in training isn't abuse either. You'll never grow unless you get hurt. No pain, no gain. Just again don't take it to far."
"Right."
"Forcing yourself onto others is split in to two categories. Rape and being a burden to others. Rape is pretty self explanatory, but the whole being a burden thing is a bit more complicated."
Zenith looked up from her paper, and raised an eyebrow.
"I think it has something to do with his burdenism, the fear of being a burden on others. He's so scared of being a burden on others that when he sees someone doing something that obviously inconveniences someone else, and the offender just doesn't care. He can't help but help the person."
"Well that's nice. It's a shame he's so scared of burdening others like that though."
"Yeah. Next up would be bullying. He can't stand bullying. If it's children bullying children he's willing to break rule one to stop the bullying."
"Beating up little kids to stop bullying?"
"It's not like it's an adult beating up the kids. We're 10. We'll 11 but still."
"Fair."
"Moving on. Hurting his friends. Similar to abuse, if it's in training it doesn't count. If you hurt his friends in actual battle... well. You saw what happened to Perugius."
"Yeah."
"Then there's deciding his future for him. Really it's any major decision, like where he's gonna live when he's older or who he's gonna marry."
"Marry? Ah! Is he gonna be mad about me calling you daughter in law?! Oh no. What've I done?"
Zenith slouched as her face got all gloomy.
"Mrs.Zenith please calm down! I meant as in an arranged marriage and things like that. Just... don't make any marriage comments to him. If anyones gonna talk to him about that I'd prefer it to be me."
"Oh thank Millis. I thought I had messed up big time. Thank you Phoebe. You seem to know a lot about Rudy~."
A smile spread across Zenith's face. It didn't quite reach her ears, and looked like a smile of pure joy, but it looked a little... off. Creepy.
"Oh! He really doesn't like when he's woken up from his sleep. He always used to talk about how important it is to get good sleep."
I looked down at the now finished Kumu sitting in my lap. I started it this morning and finished it after 5 hours of non stop work.
'Great. Now 3 more to go. Then Thorn's. I'm gonna have to do something special for him.'
It had been about 7 months. Thorn had turned one and he wasn't even awake to celebrate.
After the first month, and some pestering from Mars I caved in and brought us back to the capitol. We met the king, and I spoke to him through a spare Kumu, since Akumu still refused to leave Thorn's side. I explained to the king that I was 'blessed with knowledge', and used that as my excuse for being able to create Kumu and speak to him as I was now.
It took days of convincing, but I managed to convince him to let me go back to the Fittoa region for a prolonged amount of time. I told him that there was something I needed to do there, and that it wouldn't be wise to share the information just yet. He allowed me to go after I told him that what I was doing was beneficial for the kingdom and that Mars would be observing me. In the end he still managed to convince me to give him a Minikyu so that Mars can report to him.
Normally reports would be made to a knight captain, but since I was both the king's daughter and the blessed child of Asura the king took personal responsibility for it.
I was sitting on a small ledge on the window, and was watching Kuroi and Pin practice with their Kumu. They were trying to find ways to incorporate Kumu into their fighting styles. Right now Mars and Raion were both in Roa. As it turns out, Mars was indeed the son of Hilda and Philip Boreas Greyrat. He was staying at their manor to get to know his family more. Since I could join his Kumu calls with the King he was unaware that we were actually separated.
"Kuroi, try and have Kumu enhance your attacks. If you keep trying to use it as an additional weapon to attack while you're already duel wielding your tonfas, then all your doing is overcomplicating things."
Pin and Kuroi both stopped sparring and looked towards me. I had been trying to help them by giving tips on how to use Kumu.
"I know. But still! If I can just figure out how to do this then I could have an extremely powerful battle style. I could force my opponent to only focus on me, and then have Kumu attack them at their weak spots. I just gotta figure out technique and timing."
"Yeah, that's true. It's gonna take a while though. You've been practicing for 3 months like this, and while there has been progress it's been so small you can barely notice it."
Kuroi's shoulders drooped as he plopped into the ground.
"Yeah. But I'll figure it out eventually. Just you watch."
"I'm sure you will big bro. You're way stronger than before, so I'm sure you can!"
Phoebe gave him a thumb up, and Kuroi smiled.
"Stronger, but still not strong enough."
"Eh, whatever. We've got plenty of time to grow. I haven't even turned one yet, and I'm pretty strong. Once I've grown more I'll make some simulations so that you can get stronger."
I saw a spike in Kuroi's anxiety as he visibly shuddered.
"Please no. I've had enough of those for multiple lifetimes."
Hmmm.
"Since when do you have ommetaphobia?"
"Please. I don't wanna talk about it."
"Alrig-"
'He's up!'
"Gah! Akumu! To loud! What'd you say?"
Pin and Kuroi paused as they got up. They looked towards me quizzically.
'He's awake! He's awake!'
I quickly got onto my spare Kumu and rode into the house. After exchanging a glance Kuroi and Pin followed. I blew passed the kitchen and saw Lilia preparing lunch, as Zenith and Paul talked at the table.
I flew up the stairs and paused in front of Thorn's door. I slowly opened it and went inside.
"Thorn?"
"Bah hahaha!"
I heard tiny giggles as I approached the crib in the corner of the room. Akumu had shrunk down and seemed to be happily spinning around the inside of the crib. I looked inside and saw a baby sitting up swinging it's arms around trying to catch Akumu. The baby's hair was as white as the clouds. Right where his roots grew from his head you could see some green returning to his hair. When I saw his eyes I was shocked to see that they had pupils. Pin said that they were meant to be pure black, instead it was as if the whites of the eye were inked black. His right eye was purple and left was cyan. The pupils were golden instead of black. Where the baby's right leg once was was now a puddle of black liquid. The baby's right arm had now changed to a black color.
Akumu closed onto the boy's face and became a mask.
"Howdy. It's been a while hasn't it?"
Thorn's purple iris glowed as he was lifted into the air. He sat in seemingly mid air as he looked back at me.
"Hello? Am I doing this wrong or.."
"Hey... I missed you."
I pushed Kumu forward and hugged Thorn.
"Yeah. I missed you to."
I spent the rest of the day helping Thorn get caught back up on everything, and Thorn told us about what happened to him.
Basically Kuroi was back after training for 15 years, Raion had recovered and his hair was slowly turning red again, and I gave him his Kumu. He hadn't activated it yet though. We were letting him recover first.
According to Thorn he made a pact with Death, and in return she gave him power so that he could save us. If not for her then we would all have been killed by Perugius. Since he used more than he was allowed to use. Death made him pay by taking his leg, and doing something to his arm. Apparently he had some kind of botched spell stuck in his eye, and Death removed it, which is why his eyes were black, but were now filled with irises.
I was excited for whenever he activated his Kumu. It was special. I put extra work into it, and made it more powerful than the others. For starters it was actually a combination of two Kumus. One based on healing magic, and one based on water magic. One was something Thorn had taught me, and the other was his favorite magic element, other than space of course but I didn't know enough space magic to make a space based Kumu. That is of course, unless I combine the power of two Kumus to make a special Kumu capable of wielding space magic. The Kumu was similar to Akumu in that it could join other Kumu calls without needing an invitation, and it being able to leave its owner's side. The new Kumu didn't have to rely on their owner's to survive, but they still had to stay within a certain distance. But Akumu, and Thorn's Kumu didn't have that limitation. In total it took me three days each just to make the Kumu that make up Thorn's Kumu. It then took an entire week to make them be able to fuse and unfuse at will.
Had they been active the process would have been much easier. Maybe an hour max. But since I had to do all this with them inactive it took multiple days.
It had been about two weeks and Thorn was gonna activate his Kumu. His hair was beginning to return to its normal color. You could see the green appearing on his head without having to look to closely at it. We were sitting in his room alone, since we didn't know whether or not this would go well. The Kumu had a lot of enchantments I had never used before, and since I had maxed out my Kumu limit I had no way to test things out.
"So do I just put my hand on it?"
"Yep!"
Thorn was still using a spare Kumu for his mask, but soon he'd have one, or technically two, of his own.
"Okay... here goes."
He put his hands on the purple orb in front of him. His eyes glowed and the orb started shining. After about five minutes the glowing stopped and the orb shattered out of its crystal form. It flew around Thorn and split into two cyan and gold Kumus, and then recombined into the purple Kumu.
"Hahaha! I like him! Now what to call you? You're obviously different, so how about... Yoko?"
Yoko rippled and let out a shrill laugh. It was almost like a distorted version of Thorn's laugh from seconds before.
"Haha. Thanks Phoebe! I like him already!"
The spare Kumu came back to me, and Yoko masked Thorn's face.
"Well... as much as I'd rather stay here my father wants me back at the capitol as soon as possible. He says that if I'm blessed with knowledge then I should use it to help the kingdom. So I guess this is goodbye."
"Nope. It's see you later. Plus we can communicate through Yoko and Akumu."
I smiled underneath my mask.
"Yeah. You better call soon you hear. We've fallen behind on comedy hour."
Thorn flinched and looked at me quizzically.
"Huh? I thought you didn't like my jokes?"
"Uh well... I want to hear some, so... yeah!"
"Um. Ok. Who knows maybe we can find some way to appoint me as your jester. We already know I'm quite the fool!"
"Ha! Yeah. Maybe. See you later, Thorn."
"See you later Phoebe."
I gave Thorn a hug, and flew off with Akumu. It seemed to be sulking as we left towards Roa to pick up Mars.
"I know buddy. I'm gonna miss that goofy laugh too."
1 Month before Phoebe was kidnapped
"Hey Phoebe?"
I looked down at Thorn. I was laying down on a branch near the cliff we always meet at.
"Hm?"
"I got a question, and I just want you to know that I'm just curious is all."
"Ok. Go ahead."
"Why do you like to hug me so much? From what I've seen you don't seem to be a fan of touching others."
"That's... How do I put this? It makes me feel... safe. Like I know that you'll be there to help me if I ever get into trouble."
Thorn looked up at the stars and smiled.
"Hm. I like hugs to. They're nice."
"Yeah. They are."
*-Rudeus-*
It had been a month since Phoebe left. Apparently I slept for 7 months, so I had fallen pretty far behind my magic training. Especially when Death took over half my mana pool. Though I am very appreciative for her fixing my eyes.
Ever since I woke up I've been feeling like some kind of weight has been taken off my shoulders. I've also been growing really fast with my eyes compared to before. It was as if the wall had disappeared, and since the others could see my irises I guess it was literal.
When looking at people's souls I could now discern age and health condition. I had to focus for that though. If I wasn't focusing on souls I just saw small dots of flame in a person's chest.
When using my gravity magic I could now lift up the 25 pound (11.3 kgs) block with ease. I could make things zero gravity, and I could change gravity's effect on objects. I could make things lighter, or I could make things heavier.
Unfortunately I wasn't really able to test out my healing magic that much. Mom wouldn't let me go outside, and no one was hurt. Which was a good thing yes, but I didn't know how much I could do on my own. With Death's help and Millis's advice I was able to bring Phoebe back from the dead, but I didn't know what I could do on my own.
Pin has been training with Kuroi, and has grown a bit, but she hasn't let me watch because 'The next time we can spar I need every advantage I can get if I wanna beat you.'
Raion was still in Roa, but we would talk over the Kumus every now and again.
Phoebe and I started our weekly chats again. It was nice being able to talk to all my friends again. Honestly I was shocked that my mom wasn't bombarding me with questions like she was trying to before. It did make me a bit happy though. Before it was overbearing. Now she would ask me a question about Millis every other day or so. It certainly helped make things more manageable.
I was often having Yoko split into who I was calling Yo and Ko. Yo was the cyan Kumu, and Ko was the gold Kumu. Yo wrapped around my neck like an oversized scarf, and acted as my translator. Ko molded itself to act like a prosthetic leg to replace the one Death took as punishment. It was a pretty bizarre looking leg, since it looked like my leg was made of gold, but I liked it.
Mom has been a big help though. She's been teaching me how to read now that I could communicate with her. From what Yoko could glean from its limited knowledge of this world's language. There was a magic textbook upstairs in Paul's study. I really wanted to read that book.
Pin and Kuroi said that they were gonna go somewhere secret and train. They made me promise that we could spar when they got back.
I was now 2 and a half years old. Not much has changed in terms of growth, but I had made an extremely important discovery. One day me and dad were eating breakfast alone. Lilia was there, but she wasn't eating with us, and mom had slept in, which was unusual. Dad and I were a bit worried, but she came down after a small bit of time.
"Hrk!"
I couldn't help but choke on my food as I noticed a bright light shining from mom's stomach. I focused my eyes and saw mom shiver. The light dimmed down, and I saw what seemed to be two souls in mom's stomach. They were to close together so I wasn't able to tell anything about them, since all I got was a jumbled mess of nonsensical information.
"Rudy! What's wrong?!"
Mom rushed over and patted me on my back.
"Sorry sorry. I... was just a bit surprised, is all."
"Surprised? About what?"
I pointed at mom's stomach.
"There's souls in your stomach, so your either eating souls or your pregnant with twins."
I tried cracking a joke to distract myself from the fact that not only was I talking to mom without Yo, but that I was also the center of attention. No one was laughing, but they were certainly distracted about the twins comment.
""What?!""
Both mom and Dad looked at me shocked.
"Wuh duh huh?! What do you mean twins?! Do we even have room in the house for twins?!"
"Zenny Zenny calm down. It... It's definitely a lot, and we just woke up. Rudy, about how long would you say until the babies are born? And are you sure you're not seeing things?"
Mom looked worryingly at me and dad looked at me pleadingly. I pointed at the two souls in mom's lower stomach area.
"They are here and here. She hasn't shown any signs of pregnancy yet, and I'm not fully aware when a soul is put into a fetus. But due to lack of symptoms I'd assume around 8 months at minimum, and 9 at max. Assuming nothing goes wrong of course."
"Rudy."
Dad looked at me disgruntled as mom held her cheeks in her hands.
"Twins? How do you care for twins? Where will they stay? Will they have to share a room with Rudy? There's the guest room, but what if someone stays over? What if-"
"Mom!"
"Honey!"
Mom looked at me shocked as this was the first time she had heard me speak in anything above a mumble.
"It's gonna be fine. I've got no problems with them staying in my room, and you've got me, Lilia, and Dad here to help you. It's all gonna be fine Momma. Trust me."
Mom's face got a bit of its color back, and she leaned backwards onto Paul.
"Rudy. Thank you. If I have everyone's help then we might be able to get through this. We just have to hope things will go as smooth with these babies as it did with Rudy."
Dad hugged mom as Lilia set her a plate at the table. Hopefully these babies would be good for mom. She hasn't fully gotten over the whole Perugius thing, so I don't think she can take much more. I was planning on trying out the magic textbook from upstairs, but now my plans had been thrown out the window.
"You're gonna be a big brother?!"
I was on the phone... Kumu? I was on the Kumu with Phoebe and had just told her about my sibling situation.
"There's still gonna be some time between now and the birth, but yes I'm gonna be a big brother."
"Thorn that's great! They're gonna be so cute!"
"How do we know they'll be cute? They haven't even been born yet."
"Have you seen your parents? If they look anything like you then they'll be plenty cute."
"Thanks?"
"Gah!... Actually there is something I wanted to ask you about."
"Oh? What is it?"
"Well I was just... I was wondering if... Actually, now might not be the best time. I can ask later."
"If you say so. You know you're always welcome to come visit and see them you know?"
"I know. I just wouldn't want to invade on your little sibling bonding time."
"Well thanks Phoebe! I appreciate it."
"Yeah... No problem. I'll talk to you later. It's getting pretty late."
"Yeah, I guess it is, huh? See you later then Phoebe!"
Yo's eyes returned to normal as he plopped back into scarf mode.
'Whatever comes our way, we'll be prepared.'
It had been about 3 months now.
"Hey Rudy? You already know how magic works right?"
"Yes ma'am. To some extent at least, but since I haven't seen much of it in this world I don't know if my knowledge will carry over. Why do you ask?"
"Well I was thinking. Just in case something bad happens during the birth it would be good to have another healer on hand. So... I made you this.
Mom reached to her side and pulled out two sheets of paper.
"Oh. You can read right?"
"I can read almost anything so long as it's human tongue, and I have Yoko with me. They can translate it if I have a problem with it. So long as it's only a problem with a word though. They won't translate the whole thing for me."
"I see. Are you able to tell what those are?"
I looked back down at the sheets of paper. Yo turned from a scarf into some glasses. They translated a few tricky words across each sheet of paper.
"They sound like some kind of incantation."
"Bingo! That first page has the incantation for beginner and intermediate healing spells. The second page consists of beginner and intermediate detoxification spells. I know it may be a lot to ask of you Rudy. But it would help ease my mind so much more if I knew some one could use healing magic other than myself."
"I understand! I promise I'll have these memorized by the birth. You have my word!"
Mom smiled.
"I'm feeling better already."
"GAAAAAAAAGH!"
She was indeed not feeling better.
I jolted up in bed as I heard a scream ring through the house.
I was in the process of getting out of bed when something lifted me into the air, and brought me into the hallway. Once the sleep cleared from my eyes I saw that the thing carrying me was a very distressed Paul.
Dad slammed through the master bedroom door, and basically tossed me on the ground.
"Gah! What's happinen?"
"Got Rudy! Now what?!"
Mom was being propped up by some pillows as she wailed out and squeezed the beds sheets under her nails. In between her legs Lilia was focused on her nether regions.
"Young master Rudeus! I need urgent healing over here!"
I rushed over to where Lilia was stationed. The urgency in her voice had completely gotten rid of any lingering tiredness I had before. Lila screamed at me so whatever it was must've been really bad. The reason for the urgency was obvious once I got to her.
Along the side of mom's "entrance" was a tear. A long horizontal tear likely caused by the three legs sticking out of mom. Not only had the babies somehow managed to stack themselves on top of each other, but they were trying to be pushed out at the same time. To make matters worse, because of how the feet were positioned and turned the only way to tell which legs were a set would be to continue to move the babies, which would further injure mom.
'Healing magic will fix the wound, but since the babies legs were already sticking out that would risk crushing the babies. On the other hand if we were to remove the babies as fast and efficiently as possible, and then I used healing magic immediately then mom would have to deal with immense momentary pain, but there wouldn't be any long lasting effects.'
"Okey here's how we're gonna have to do this. Ms.Lilia I need you to get the babies out as quick as possible without causing any more tear to the wound. I'm gonna use some magic to help mom with the pain. Dad! Come here!"
Dad came rushing over and knelt down. He grimaced and looked away from the situation.
"I'm gonna need you to hold the babies as soon as Lilia gets them out of the womb. She's gonna need both her hands free to be as efficient as possible. Got it?"
"Y-yeah. I can do that."
"Good. Now let's do this!"
I rushed up to Mom and placed my hands on her face. Ko rose up from my leg and slowly wrapped itself around her head. Had the situation not been so dire I would've made a joke about her looking like a queen.
"GAAH! Rudy? What's- Ah! Happening?!"
"It's gonna be okay mom. Just look at me. Okey?"
Mom looked pained and I slowly poured mana int Ko. It quickly sped up the pace at which it was taking my mana, and I could see the pain start leaving mom's face.
"Oh. That... That's good. How? Where'd the pain go?"
'HOLY SHIT! How did mom not pass out from this?!'
"I'm m-making it disappear. Don't worry about it."
"If you say so Rudy."
"Young master! I got one!"
"Good! Now- Agh! Just the other!"
"Rudy are you sure you're okay?"
Mom gently held one of my hands. They were violently shaking as they poured mana into Ko. Her face was starting to go pale.
"I'm okay mom. Really."
I indeed was not okay. It felt as if my body were being ripped in half. I felt this searing pain, like boiling water was being pumped all over my legs. How I felt pain in my right leg when I didn't have one? I had no idea. I definitely felt it though.
I sent a message to Raion over Yo.
Need you now! Get over here immediately!
"Almost done!"
"Okay mom. Once they get the second baby out. Mmm. I'm gonna have to stop my focus on the magic I'm using to stop your pain. Okay?"
Mom's eyes widened a bit as she remembered the pain she had felt a few moments before.
"O-okay. I believe in you Rudy."
"I got her!"
I quickly removed my hands from mom's head and heard her scream out as I jumped of the bed. Ko was already back as my leg as I landed and ran back towards Lilia.
"Oh merciful mother of gods, please heal this one's wounds, and let him recover with a healthy body. X-Healing!"
I finished the incantation just as I placed my hand near the wound. I saw my veins in my hand glow red just as they had before when I practiced these incantations. The bleeding halted a little, but the wound refused to close.
"Oh merciful mother of gods, please heal this one's wounds, and let him recover with a healthy body. X-Healing!"
I cast the spell again and saw that the wound barely closed up. This was gonna take a while.
"Wah Wah!"
I looked over and saw Paul staring terrified at the baby he was holding. It's foot was bent weird and the ankle was turning purple.
"Bring them here!"
After about 30 minutes of constant healing spells on mom and the baby Raion slammed through the door. After 15 minutes straight of saying the incantation for X-Healing over and over again I started casting it instinctually without the incantation. I'd hold out my hand and remake the feeling of blood pressing against my palm and the spell would be cast.
"What's wrong?! Oh, Jesus Christ!"
"Raion! Busy! She needs a blood donor. She lost a lot."
"Shit man you look horrible. But yeah give me a sec."
Raion waked over to mom and pricked her finger. His eyes glowed and he did some odd looking test with mom's blood. I didn't need his comment about looking horrible. I could feel it. Everything was heavy, and I was physically fighting my eyes to keep them open. I had blood pouring out my nose, and was even leaking blood from my eyes. It got to the point to where I awakened a new ability with my eye, just to make something for my eyes to stay open. By taking in ambient magic I was able to turn it into any form of matter. I had just made tape to keep my eyes open as Raion came in.
"She's a match. I can give her the blood she needs."
"Thanks."
I weakly gave my thanks to Raion as I checked over mom's wound. It was basically gone. Unless you knew the specific spot where to look, and you got really close to it. You wouldn't even know it's there. For the half hour it took Raion to get here I cycled between healing mom and healing the boy Paul was holding.
"Mom's wound is all patched up, and Raion is giving mom back the blood she lost. Is there anything else wrong with the babies?"
Dad and Lilia looked over the babies.
"None here."
"I am unsure, young master."
The girl that Lilia was holding was crying, but she didn't seem to be hurt. Just in case I went over and used X-healing on her.
It seems that she is crying as a normal baby should, young master. She has no wound."
"Great. Cause I ran out of mana 20 minutes ago."
I lost consciousness as I face planted into the floor. Thankfully Yo caught me before my face hit the ground. And at 3 years old I became a brother of two.
*-Zenith-*
It had been one week since the birth of my two new babies. Truly Rudy was a godsend. I couldn't help but cry as Paul told me what had happened. Spending over half an hour constantly using magic to heal me and the baby to the point his hair went back to pure white and blood leaked from his eyes and nose. He even started casting the spell without an incantation after he kept using. I was sad to have had to make Rudy do this, but proud of what he had accomplished. Paul and I talked it over and we agreed that we'd talk to him about getting him a magic tutor some time soon, so long as Paul could teach him swordsmanship he was okay if our son became a magician.
He had even called Raion all the way from Roa to help me regain lost blood. Rudy has been asleep ever since he passed out. His Kumu have been flying around the house taking on multiple tasks. Yo made sure I never left the bed. It was able to poorly spell out that the doctor's orders were for me to stay in bed, so that if my wound somehow opens up. It won't get worse.
Ko was sitting in the crib with the babies. They were a boy and a girl. Both had blue eyes and blond hair. The girl had Paul's mole under her right eye.
The boy's name was Cyrus, and the girl's name was Aurora. Cyrus was always quiet and only ever cried whenever he needed a new diaper or was hungry. Aurora on the other hand seemed to cry non stop. No matter what Paul, Lilia, or I did we weren't able to get her to stop crying unless she passed out from exhaustion.
"WAAAH! WAAAAH!"
What was even more worrying was her constant pulling of her hair, and scratching at her face. What if she clawed her eye out?!
"I wonder why she's crying so much. Do... do you think she might have an injury we couldn't see?!"
"Madam please don't worry! I have checked over Young Master Aurora many times and I promise you that she is unharmed. Young master Rudeus even healed her before passing out. I'm sure she's healthy madam."
Slowly the door opened, and coming in was a floating very tired looking Rudeus.
"Ah! Rudy! You shouldn't be up!"
I tried to get up, but Rudy held out his hand. It felt as if something were holding me in place. I slowly drifting back and was laid down into the bed.
"I haven't inspected your wound, so you have to stay in bed. Doctor's orders."
Rudy walked over to the crib and a cyan leg extended out from under him, allowing him to see into the crib.
"So you're the one making all that noice."
Rudy reached down and picked up Aurora. All of a sudden he started singing in a language I didn't understand.
Please note that I 'obviously' don't own the following song. Do note that Rudeus is singing in Japanese. Zenith is unable to understand what he is singing, but the song has been written out for your viewing pleasure.
For the best experience find the song on YouTube and listen while you read this section.
Everything Stays from Adventure Time
"Let's go in the garden. You'll find something waiting, right there where you left it lying upside down."
Aurora's crying faltered as she looked up at Rudeus.
"When you finally find it. You'll see how it's faded. The underside is brighter when you turn it around. Everything stays, right where you left it. Everything stays, but it still changes. Ever so slightly, daily and nightly. In little ways where everything stays."
End of song.
Aurora's crying had completely stopped as she stared at Rudeus. Rudy cocked his head and spoke to her in the unfamiliar language again. Aurora hung onto him and started crying again. This time however, she was crying far more quietly than before. Rudy spoke again, and like before Aurora looked up at him, and momentarily quieted her crying.
Just like before I do not own this song. And also just as before Rudeus is singing in Japanese so Zenith cannot understand him.
I once again urge you to find the song and listen while you read.
Don't Forget Extended Version by Lidkas Plus
"When the light is running low, And the shadows start to grow, And the places that you know, Seems like fantasies~...
"There's a light inside your soul, That's still shining in the cold, With the truth, The promise in our hearts, Don't forget, I'm with you in the dark."
Aurora rested her head on Rudy's chest and for the first time fell asleep with a look on her face other than a pouty face.
"When the miracles all fade, Hope requires too much strength, And the dream that we both shared, Seem to far to reach, I'll still hold on for your sake, Cause the vow that we both made, Is the one, I simply cannot break."
"In spite, All the battles fought, And all the battles lost, Who's there picking you up if you fall? Is there anyone at all? We're lost, In the vastness of the world that stole our hope, So who's been killing your soul all alone? Next to those who feel like home."
"So even if I'm no longer really me, There's still a part that lives inside, My heart that hopes to be, By your side until you reach the end, No matter what I am by then, I'm always here to reignite the flame, lonely on a larger scale."
"It's a fight that never ends, Don't be scared to see. When the light is running low, And the shadows start to grow, And the places that you know, Seems like fantasies~... There's a light inside your soul, That's still shining in the cold, With the truth, The promise in our hearts, Don't forget, I'm with you in the dark."
End of song
"Wow."
Both Lilia and I sat there amazed at how seconds after waking up Rudy managed to calm and put to sleep the screaming Aurora. Rudy floated over, and with Aurora still in his arms laid down beside me. Before I could even say anything he had fallen asleep beside me.
"Oh~. That's my Rudy. Always knowing what to do. Now I just wonder what it was that made her calm down."
"Wah buh."
Cyrus looked unhappy as he sat alone in his crib.
"Lilia? Would you be a dear and bring me Cyrus? It seems he doesn't like being left out."
"Right away madam."
Lilia walked over to the crib and picked up Cyrus. She brought him over to me, and as soon as I held him he laid his head on my breasts. Being in bed surrounded by my children I started feeling sleepy as well. I suppose a nap couldn't hurt to bad.
"Lilia. I'm gonna rest with my babies. Please make sure Paul doesn't make to much noise when he gets home."
"Of course."
Lilia briskly left the room. I looked over and started brushing Rudy's bangs. They had finally started to go back to their original green color, but in his success of healing me and Cyrus's injuries it had all returned to the stark white it was before.
"Going through that for us. Like my little knight in shining armor. Teehee."
"Bah?"
I looked at Cyrus who was looking between me and Rudy.
"Rudy saved us both Cyrus. We must always be thankful that he's as good at magic as he is."
I hugged Cyrus and he smiled and giggled as I pulled him close. I saw Cyrus's eyes slowly drift to sleep and not long after I found myself doing the same.
*-Cyrus-*
Well well well. Seems that isekais are more than just anime and light novel material.
I was a 34 year old NEET at the end of my life. Back in high school I ended up sticking up to the wrong people, and was horribly humiliated. I ended up shutting myself in my room, and since that day I had no intention of ever leaving it. My parents brought me food anytime I hit the wall, and they would buy me plenty of manga, lightnovels, and computers in the hopes I would one day leave my room. It was pathetic. Even I'll admit that.
One day there was an accident and both my parents died. When my siblings caught me jackin it instead of going to the funeral they broke my computer and kicked me out. I wandered aimlessly for a bit until I heard what sounded like an argument. My curiosity got the better of me and I went over to check it out.
3 high schoolers seemed to be in an argument of sorts. It looked like a girl was arguing with a boy while the boy's friend was in between them trying to deescalate the situation. They were so caught up in the argument that they didn't notice the truck spinning out of control. I tried calling out to them, but my voice failed me after going so long without being used.
I ran forward and managed to push one of the boys out of the way. I grabbed the other boy's arm and yanked him out of the way, but ended up swapping places with him. The truck barreled forward and slammed into me and the girl with black hair.
Not to long after people who I think were paramedics swarmed around me and the girl. I couldn't really tell since everything was blurred, but I eventually recognized the feeling of being inside a speeding vehicle. My consciousness faded, and when I woke up I found myself on some kind of table surrounding by doctors with a bright light shining down on me. They were trying to tell me something, but I couldn't hear them. I faded away again, and this time woke up in some kind of old timey home.
My vision was tinged red, and I felt this weird feeling in my leg. A towel was being brushed over me, and I could see a man with an extremely worried face looking down at me. The feeling in my leg shot into pain and I cried out.
"Wah! Wah!"
'The hell? Was that me? What's that?'
I looked down and saw a boy around three years old with green hair with white tips holding his hand over my leg. He started chanting something and green light started shining out of his hands as the pain in my leg numbed. It didn't disappear though.
Suddenly a woman cried out and the boy quickly-
'Woah! He just went straight into that ladies legs! Wah? Oh god.'
Near the women's "entrance" was a horrid gash. It almost looked like it had been torn open. The boy said something as he held his hands near the wound and the same green light shined out. The bleeding stopped a little and the boy glanced back. For the next half hour the boy swapped from me to the women and kept healing us. After 10 minutes his hair went pure white, and after 20 blood was pouring from his nose and eyes. After 30 minutes the women's wound was gone and my leg looked normal. Well normal for a baby at least.
Yep. While the boy was healing me I thought it over and realized that I had been reincarnated. Not only that , but it seems I was born as a twin. My twin was being held by a women with red hair. She was dressed as a maid, and let me tell you her tits were huge! My twin wouldn't stop crying though, so I wasn't able to marvel at them in peace.
A red haired boy showed up and did something with the women I assumed to be my mom's blood. It looked like some kind of weird magical blood donation.
The boy who was healing me and the women I assume to be my mom looked around he placed his hand on my twin's head. Light shined again from his hand, and after it disappeared he passed out. The maid quickly handed the man holding me my twin and carried the boy out of the room. Now that I could get a better look I could see that my twin was a girl. She seemed to have cried herself to sleep.
The man walked over and sat on the bed by the woman. He handed the girl to her and she looked her over worryingly. They both spoke to each other in a language I didn't understand and looked at the girl worried. My mom handed my dad my sister and my dad gave me to my mom. She examined my leg and sighed in relief. She hugged me to her chest, and I'm starting to notice a pattern about the women my dad hangs around with. I'm not complaining though.
It's been about a week and I was getting annoyed by my sister's constant crying. She cries when she's awake and doesn't stop until she falls asleep. She started gripping and scratching her face. Because of this, mom, dad, or the maid had to be by the crib so she didn't hurt herself. After the first three days a weird slime like creature made of gold showed up in our crib. A bright blue slime showed up as well and seemed to be staying with my mom. She'd give it pets and talk to it.
Since it showed up my sister's crying had gotten a bit quieter, but it was still really loud.
After a week though the boy showed back up. He was flying! He just floated into the bedroom and rubbed his eyes. Then I noticed something I was missing before. He didn't have his right leg. He looked horrible. He had bags under is eyes and was really pale. The cyan slime rose over from my mom's shoulder and melded into a leg for him. He picked up my sister who was crying, and started singing. There were two things that shocked me. One was that it got my sister to stop crying. And two, he was singing in Japanese. Was he a reincarnate too?
Was I a side character in this kids story? Slime creatures that replace his limbs, flying, and healing terrible wounds like mine and my mom's.
He sang two songs and carried my sister over to my mom's bed, and fell asleep next to her. My mom said something to the maid and she picked me up and brought me to my mom. She held me and talked to me, but even if I could understand her I wouldn't have heard anything she said. I was to busy nuzzling into her breasts. They made wonderful pillows. I'm gonna use this "childish innocence" excuse for as long as I can pull it. Not to long after I ended up falling asleep.
*-Aurora-*
My name was Shizuka Nanahoshi. I'm a 17 year old high school student. I am an A-grade student and have a loving family. I also had a boyfriend named Shinohara Akihito. Things were going well. We were your stereotypical lovey doves high school couple. But on one fateful night we got into a horrible argument.
It was over something so little, but we ended up getting so angry at each other that we started yelling in the middle of the road. His friend tried stopping us, but was doing a horrible job. Suddenly his friend was shoved away, and Shinohara was pulled back. Some fat guy was suddenly in front of me, but before I could say anything I barely saw it, as a truck slammed into me. My consciousness held on for five minutes, but I slowly felt my eyes close and my body grow cold.
When I opened my eyes I was being held by a women in a maid outfit. She had glasses and red hair. She was gently brushing what looked like blood off of me with a warm wet towel. I looked around and could barely see what should have been my feet, but they were far to small to be mine. I raised my hands and saw that they too were much smaller than before.
I saw a young boy with green and white hair running in between a bleeding women and another baby whose foot was twisted weird. He'd repeat a phrase and light shined from his hands. Eventually all his hair had gone white, and a bit later he started crying blood and had a constant nosebleed. Suddenly a red haired boy came in, and did something with the woman's blood. It looked like he was giving her more of his own blood.
'Isn't this like what Shinohara was telling me about? The so called "Isekai" genre. When a person dies and is transported or born into another world?'
"Wah! Wah!"
Even though I tried holding myself back I suddenly started crying. The maid looked at me, and started looking all over me. The white haired boy walked over and put his hand on my head, and green light surrounded me. It felt like I was lighter and a warm sensation spread through my body. The boy backed up by two steps and fell unconscious. I felt myself growing unconscious, and fell asleep as the women handed me to the only other adult in the room.
All I could do was hope that when I woke up I would be in my body, in my world. I just had to pray that this was some oddly realistic hallucination. I still had to see my family. I promised dad that I'd do dinner so he'd be waiting on me to get home. They'll be worried.
I couldn't believe it. I really had been born in another world. Why? Why me?!
I wanted to go home. To see my family again. And as angry as I was with him. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see Shinohara again. I couldn't help but cry.
This tiny body forced me to cry anytime I thought about my world, and since my world was the only thing I thought about. I cried all the time. Anytime I cried I'd try to hold my head, but ended up cutting myself. My nails were super short, but baby skin wasn't made to be scratched.
Some weird slime thing showed up. It was made of gold, and since it showed up I've noticed that my crying has been a little quieter. It was annoying that this body was forcing me to cry. I wanted to cry sure. Maybe I'd even pull my hair out, or throw a tantrum. But if I'm gonna cry I at least want to do it on my own terms.
Another slime thing showed up, and was being super friendly to the women who gave birth to me. This one was light blue. I... I couldn't find it in me to call her 'mom.' It felt like I was betraying my real mom if I did.
After about a week, I was having an especially bad day, and was hitting a new record for noise. Then he showed up again. The boy with the white hair, and eyes with black backgrounds and mismatched irises. He was floating, and landed after the slime from the women stuck to his stump of a missing leg and morphed into a prosthetic leg for him.
He picked me up and started singing to me in Japanese. He sang beautifully. He sang 2 songs, and after that I found myself having actually stopped crying without passing out. I did end up falling asleep halfway through the second song though.
It's been a few days and I can't seem to let go of the white haired boy. He was the only connection I had left of my world. Anytime he'd put me in my crib I remembered him passed out with blood dripping from his eyes and nose. Fear shoots through me and I feel as though my body goes cold.
I didn't want to let go. I can't lose that last connection.
*-Rudeus-*
It's been a week since I had woken up. I was sitting in the living room with Aurora in front of me. I noticed something off about her and Cyrus's souls whenever they were born. I couldn't see whenever they were in Zenith's womb because of how close together they were, but these weren't the souls of newborn babies.
Both were older than me. Aurora I'd place late teens, and Cyrus I'd place early 30's. Cyrus rarely cried, and only did when he was hungry or needed a new diaper. Aurora on the other hand... well. She cried almost all the time. Unless she was with me that is. Ever since I first held and sang to her I haven't been able to let her go. As soon as she's put in her crib she reaches out for me and starts crying again.
It got to the point where we got my old crib, and put it in my room next to my bed. Right now I had a Minikyu in between Aurora and myself. I held out a hand motioning for hers. She held out her small hand and I put the Minikyu in hers and I held her hand in both of mine. I felt some of my mana drain, and the Minikyu brightened in color. I clasped the bracelet around Aurora's right hand and it shrunk to fit her smaller arm. I used the tiniest bit of Aurora's mana as well when awakening the Minikyu, because if more than two people put mana into a Kumu that Kumu can be used by anyone, as long as they have one of the donors permission.
'Hello? Aurora can you hear me?'
I sent out a telepathic message through Yo. Right now I was having to use flight as my main source of movement. I was lending Ko to mom to help with her clinic. She was still a little tired from the birth and all that happened, so I thought I could try and help out some. Ko could cast a form of healing magic that was equivalent to a beginner level healing spell. Through some experimentation I found out that if I cast a healing spell through Ko and onto a target the healing spell would be strengthened. So say a target had a wound that might require 2 healing spells. If I covered the wound with Ko I could do it in one.
I still used Yo as my translator so he was staying in scarf mode. I didn't need it anymore, but found it comforting.
'Huh?! Who is this!'
Aurora looked around frightened and started tearing up.
'Wait wait wait! It's me! Rudeus. Right in front of you.'
I waved and Aurora just stared at me.
'How are you... are you in my head?'
'No. that bracelet is something called a Minikyu. That stands for Mini Kumu.'
'What's a Kumu?'
I held my hand up and Yo went from scarf mode to slime mode and flew around me.
'One of these. Kumu are sentient weapons made to act as weapons and pets. They can send messages to each other and grow personalities based on the personality of their masters. Minikyus are Kumus without sentience. They cannot think and cannot shift forms, unless they are changing size. Even then they cannot change too much.'
'Okay. I have a question.'
'Ask away.'
'How do you know Japanese? Are you also from another world?'
'I am. It sounds like we come from the same place. Kind of.'
'What, were you from a different country or something?'
'No. I was born in Japan. When I was five I was kidnapped and someone faked my death.'
'Oh. That's horrible. What happened?'
'It's a bit of a long story. Mind if I pick you up?'
'No. I don't mind.'
I floated over and picked Aurora up. I brought a chair over to us and sat down so we could both see out the window.
'Believe it or not there was magic on Earth. Very few knew of it and even less could use it. Counting them all up, about 4,000 earthlings were aware of the actual existence of magic, and only 3,500 of those 4,000 could wield it. One day one of the small amount of people who wielded prophecies spoke of something called the Godkin. It was said that on one day 5 children would all be born on the same day at the same time. When that day came the children who were born were named Kuroi, Pin, Raion, Phoebe, and Thorn. I was Thorn. When we turned 5 the gods took us from our homes and made cover stories for our disappearances. Out of all of us Phoebe was the only one born into a family that not only knew of magic, but used it as well. She is actually the one who makes the Kumu we use.'
'Really? She sounds pretty cool.'
'Yeah. She's the coolest! Back on earth she could stop an entire army just by looking at them. She could dig up peoples fears and either help them get over those fears, or she could increase them. It was always really interesting to watch her fight, since her Akumu would change forms with every attack. Leaving little to no room for her opponent to adapt to her fighting style. I'd also say that out of everyone she is my closest friend.'
'Really? You seem to like talking about her, so I'm a little curious. Do you like her?'
'...'
'Big brother?'
'Sorry... just wasn't expecting that question.'
'Oh. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. It's personal so I get if you don't want to answer.'
'It's fine. It's just... I do. But I'm scared. What if I ask and she doesn't feel the same. I don't want to make things awkward. She's my best friend, and I value that friendship more than anything. I don't want to lose that. You know?'
'Yeah. I think I can understand. So what happened after y'all were taken.'
'So we were all taken and given to the people who would be our teachers. I was given to a man named Millis, Kuroi and Pin both went to a man named Erebus, Raion went to a beast-man named Kemono, and Phoebe went to a man named Daeos. They would all teach and take care of us. Millis wasn't to good at raising kids though, and he was constantly busy on the mortal side of things, so I was given a separate caretaker. She was pretty old, but she had more energy than she knew what to do with. Some called her the Queen of Leviathans. We would train and learn for one week and then get one week off. During this one week off the others got together and pulled me along with them. Had they not basically dragged me out of Granny's home I likely would've never gone.'
'So they made you be their friend?'
'Basically. But I'm grateful they did. Anyways things were simple for two years. It was the same thing rinse and repeat. I train, I get dragged around, I train, and I get dragged around. I didn't particularly anticipate any of the things we did. But that changed on our 7th birthday. During the small party we threw ourselves I saw Phoebe sneaking away. I won't share the details since that's private, but we both felt as though we didn't belong. We talked for a while, and started meeting each other every week and just talking. Whether it be about some random but of information we learned, or venting about our problems. We even started teaching each other our kinds of magic. I even started looking forward to our talks. Once I got my own Kumu here we were able to continue our chats. After 6 months though she just disappeared. Even Daeos wasn't able to find her.'
'What happened?!'
'Calm down. I'm getting there.'
I gave her a small pat on the back.
'Sorry.'
'One day I was contacted by a sin telling me that he knew where she was. Sins were devils born in the different rings of hell. There were 7 and each one was a living symbol of the 7 deadly sins. I despise the sins, and under any other circumstances I would've flat out ignored him. The one that contacted me was Asmodeus, the son of lust. With his help I found and saved Phoebe. During my rescue of her though, in an attempt to get her to safety as quick as I could and ensure we weren't followed I made a decision. I can't say that I necessarily regret the decision itself, but I do regret not making a better one. The decision I made ended up killing a lot of people.'
'Oh.'
'Yeah. That weighed on me for a while. In the end even though she was still recovering it was Phoebe who pulled me out of my funk. Then on our tenth birthday we were going to take our exams to see whether or not we would replace our teachers in the line up of gods. But the gods betrayed and killed us. All except for Millis and Erebus. They worked together and sent us here.'
'Wait you died when you were 10?'
'Yeah. I already know. You're older than I am.'
'How do you know?'
'Your soul is older than mine.'
'My soul?'
'Yeah. When I was born into this world I was given a special set of eyes. They let me do a bunch of stuff. One of those things is seeing people's souls.'
'Is that how you do the floating and light in your hands?'
'Yes and no. I use the eyes to fly, but the light that came from my hands was this world's own magic. Mom gave me the incantations to the first two levels of healing spells before you and Cyrus were born.'
'Oh. Wait, you were reincarnated to, but you still call her mom?'
'I do. My parents on earth weren't very loving. They didn't even cry when I "died." They smiled instead.'
'Jesus. That's terrible.'
'I know. When I told Phoebe she went and found them later. She plagued them to forever be cursed by nightmares made to cater to their worst fears.'
'And that's terrifying. Remind me to never get on her bad side.'
'Haha. Yeah I don't think you have to worry about that. Oh mom's coming. Guess we should end our little chat. She'll be confused if we're just staring out the window and not making any sound.'
Looking out the window I could see mom walking up to the gate. I could see Ko glistening on her wrist in the shape of a bracelet.
'Okay. Can I keep this?'
Aurora placed one of her hands over the Minikyu.
'I'll need to take it back for now, I'm afraid. If you use an unclaimed Kumu for to long it will become bonded to you. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but these are spares meant to be used in case one of our Kumu stop working for some reason, and we need to send an emergency message. I'll ask Phoebe though.'
'Thank you.'
'No problem!'
And chapter 4 comes in with 2 new characters. Everyone say hello to Cyrus and Aurora Greyrat. The reincarnation of MT Rudeus and Nanahoshi. An explanation for how Zenith got pregnant again will be given in the next chapter. It's not just so that more characters can be introduced, and these 2 should be the last new characters for a good while. (Technically speaking). See you next week. Buh-Bye!