A gentle wind caressed my cheeks and tranquil warmth spread around me. My eyes opened to clearing skies and light magic. August’s fingers were being regrown by a clone of mine. I suddenly awoke in shock, sweat all over me. I was able to wiggle my toes and breathe a sigh of relief.
August looked at me lovingly, “When my fingers come back, I’m gonna stick them up yo–”
“Language, mister!” Melissa scolded August and blocked Qora’s ears. She was like their daughter now.
“I have,” I chuckled, my family and friends surrounding me, “so many goddamn questions!”
My clone caught everyone’s attention, “Everyone must be curious, so I’ll at least tell you what happened now that the main me is awake. Main me let his guard down after pushing away August. August’s clone that stayed outside the Arctic Rage spell was able to run in at the last second and attack him. He passed out from shock, and August was nearly frozen, so he passed out too. It was a draw.”
That explanation certainly cleared up a lot of things. But when the hell did he learn to use Clone? Even though that was a question I wanted to get an answer to, another one was more pressing. “I was at ten stacks of Timedial, but you were still that fast…”
August mused, “Two-ten.”
“Two-ten what?” I interrogated, finding it hard to believe that it was what I assumed.
“Two hundred and ten percent quint usage,” he cleared up. Melissa’s eyes almost popped out. As someone from Hyzek who was used to quintessential energy, she had a greater understanding for how ridiculous that number was. Everyone else just sort of shrugged it off.
“You little fucker…”
“Language, dammit!” Melissa blocked the spirit lord’s ears again from my terrible choice of words.
Aaralyn couldn’t help her snigger. “I’m suddenly really glad I didn’t accept your Firmament,” she said to August.
My stomach literally began doing backflips on me. I gripped whoever’s hand I was holding onto. “Food! Someone give me food!” I yelled out. “Right now! Right, right now!”
“Here we go…” Donna rolled her eyes.
After I gobbled down soup hotter than lava, I passed out. My eyes opened and I was in my room. A clone literally had a meal waiting for me, like he knew I would be hungry the minute I woke up. Well, he was freakin’ right. The stew made my mind fall to the charms of sleep in just over two minutes. I woke up in the night and suffered the same struggle.
Days passed by and Timedial’s side-effects didn’t let up. With ten stacks of Timedial, I didn’t even have time to stand up and walk about. I stayed awake for a maximum of three minutes, which was me eating and falling asleep before even finishing the meals. I can’t remember how many times my face landed in the food. Sometimes, I’d wake up with a fresh change of clothes and subsequently call my clone gay.
Three months! Three months this continued for! But breaking into the fourth month, it suddenly began getting better, and I could stay awake for more than ten minutes. I could finally kiss my wife and her jutting belly. I could finally talk to her about baby names. After two weeks, the symptoms let up, and I could use mana and cast again. My clones could finally be dismissed.
Once I was finally better, Donna let me have it. No, not sex, but a hot scolding. I sent a clone to Yunaris to help First Flight and explain what had happened over the past three months. A clone also teleported Steyza to and from Tyrr, but she’d spend most of her time with us, pampering Anjali. Life just sort of, returned to normal.
We spent about three months in Yunaris, then this duel forced me to sleep for another three months. So, I decided to be there for Anjali instead of immediately leaving. Despite originally not wanting to have a child as yet, I was more excited than I thought. However, during those three months, Anjali’s team began expanding K&A Creations.
The countries that allied with us to defend against Ulanos were becoming more and more interested in August’s enchanted items and my potions. Because of the demand of enchanted items, the prices became ridiculous. Strength potions also got a little more expensive, but nothing major. I made sure there were regulations on the pricing of potions, especially health potions as I found that they were more of a service than anything else.
K&A greenhouses were built and established in all those countries, including Ulanos of course. August would go there from time to time and plan things with Bianca’s grandfather, the Sword Sovereign, on how to further Ulanos’ development. I really didn’t have to do anything more than sign some documents. Hell, I didn’t even read those documents; Anjali did.
When I wasn’t helping out around the house and keeping Anjali company, I’d work with the Order of Mages and tackle the request board. No, it was nothing like amassing a team to kill Ashfur. Instead, they were your usual requests like culling a certain species of animals that got out of hand or putting up defences against magical beasts.
Hell, there was even tutoring in basic magic spells for those not so versed at the craft. I was quite surprised to know how many times there were Ingen orcs in my team; they integrated seamlessly with us and I even began noticing the more talented human mages casting low-level void spells. Some of us had gliders. Methelia was flourishing, and Aquan kept on concreting its place as the city of mages. Just then, I had a vision – the elves. They were extremely developed, even more than Hyzek. That was because they were born with Division. At that point, two things crossed my mind.
If the integration of Ingen orcs went as well as it did, then shouldn’t it be the same for Tyrr’s elves? Provided of course the proper rules be put in place. If the young group of rebels that stemmed from Tyrr’s five big families actually did topple their family’s businesses and make it more accessible to the everyday elf, then would they be willing to build Methelia like Tyrr was built? In exchange, they could have unlimited access to lesser mana potions which would run circles around any synthesised mana crystal they ever made plus it wouldn’t just last for one spell.
The second thing was teaching Methelian mages to harness Division. It would be a great boon to us, however, that was much more of a sticky situation. Should rogue mages become more prevalent and have access to Division, it’d become quite the issue.
Integrating elves into society was more complex a task, but easier. Teaching Division on the other hand, would prove extremely difficult to oversee, but be a relatively simpler task to that of Tyrr’s integration. Hmm… It was food for thought.
Vena, when not training me, would be off causing some mischief with Bianca or Tacari. I sat in my study, secluded in the void. After a couple months of her hellish integration, I understood the void completely. And what I meant by understood, was that I had no understanding. The fabric of the void itself could be true and false at the same time. The more I kept meditating on it and the more knowledge I accumulated all led back to me knowing nothing. It was quite hard to explain. It was as if the void existed and didn’t exist simultaneously.
Each time I went into the void, it was an entire new plane of ethereal nothingness. Every time I entered, that particular plane was created at that particular time. It was possible for Vena and I to both be in the void, at the same corporeal location and not see each other. Coming to master void manipulation was a scary thing, but quite worth it.
On my path to mastering void manipulation, I learnt a few spells. Banish – it did exactly what it sounded like and forced an object into a void plane. While the object was affected by Banish, the user’s mana was consumed to keep them there. When the minute was up, Banish would stop and the target would return to the corporeal plane.
A similar spell was Exile, the big brother to Banish. Exile forced an object into a void plane indefinitely. Once the target was there, the caster could choose to either bring the target back into the corporeal plane or remove the void plane from existence and therefore remove the object from existence. Exile required thirty seconds to cast and consumed every single drop of the caster’s mana. It was a risky spell that I didn’t see myself using.
The third one had me wondering if those Ulanosian Sword Paragons, generals, and assassins were actually using void spells. It was Gravity Field. Quite simple really; an invisible column would reduce or increase that particular area’s gravity. But, in the eyes of pure void manipulation, it became a spell that wasn’t totally needed.
I found it hard to believe Ulanosians, who weren’t very gifted at magic, got to such an adept level of void magic that they could cast Gravity Field. So, I tested the spell on myself, increasing the gravity incrementally. After fighting against it, I confirmed that Ulanos’ army did not use void spells. Whatever they used felt like the weight came from above you, whilst Gravity Field applied a strange weight to your entire body.
The last and certainly not least, was one called Black Hole. I didn’t learn this spell until I had totally completed void manipulation. The ominous spell, no matter the size, exerted an insane amount of gravitational pull. It constrained and compressed matter in order for everything within its radius to pass through it.
Let me explain the ridiculousness of it. When I first learnt it, I was too scared to cast it just like that, so I had a clone do it in his own void plane. The spell literally sucked everything in. Earth, air, pressure, moisture, water, anything existing within the range of it would be sucked into it and whatever remained had better be non-living things. It was so volatile and outrageous that my clone died when the vacuum was created. It was like going into space without proper gear.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Thankfully, once cast, I could turn it on or off as I saw fit which added yet another layer of danger to it. It was a spell I’d definitely avoid using loosely. If I had that spell for my duel against August, there was no way I’d lose.
In the middle of thinking of all these things, my clone contacted me in a hurry.
Oh, shit! It’s going down!
“It’s going down?!”
It’s going down! I Riftwalked to the veranda where Anjali was, manipulated just a bit of light magic through her mind to calm her and began casting Riftshear to get us to Endathal’s best hospital. My kid didn’t want to wait two weeks to see me. In a minute, we were at the hospital. I wasn’t one to abuse the knight status Donna made Farron give me, nor was I one to abuse the VIP status earned from winning the battle against Ulanos, but I sure abused the heck out of it for Anjali to get some special attention. I was confident I could be an impromptu doctor with my health potions, Hydra’s water healing and light magic’s healing, but I wanted to leave that complicated baby stuff to the professionals.
They pushed her into a room, and pushed me out. Donna appeared in my mind then materialised in the middle of the hallway. Should I just Voidwalk in? I questioned myself.
“Oh, relax!” she slapped me on the shoulder and sat down on a bench, tapping it so I would sit as well. “Want me to tell you all about the time I gave birth to Gabrielle?”
My mind came to a screeching halt and I actually managed to smile, “M-maybe not.”
“Good, you’ve calmed down. Besides, do you really think if something’s going wrong that Anjali won’t force the doctors to call you in?” She conjured up banana bread.
Well, that’s true. I sat down. I wonder what name she chose…
“Donna,” my mind suddenly drifted on something else and Donna broke out in laughter after reading my thoughts.
I glared at her, “Please don’t make me feel bad for it!”
“No, no,” she breathed after such a hefty cachinnation, “my parents were both dead before I died,” she revealed. Yup, this whole parenting thing made me think of her parents, then I realised I never met them. “It’s amazing the thought never once crossed your mind, though. Literally. There are many other things I wondered why you never thought about.”
I mused, “Hmm? Like what?”
“Like how come you never thought about double-teaming a girl with August?” she said indifferently.
I choked on the bread, conjuring up water to quickly send it down. “Hydra’s ass! Your mind is amazing! But uh, it’d have to be with a girl we have no feelings for. And I can’t do it with a girl and not have feelings for her.”
She leaned onto my shoulder, “I figured as much. So, do you know what tomorrow is?”
I raised a brow, “Tuesday?”
She stopped leaning on me and gave me an expression showing either pity or frustration. With a deep breath, her expression returned to normal, “I mean, you’re not wrong, but that’s not the point. It’s nearly midnight and Anjali just went in there. It’ll be Tuesday by the time she gives birth.”
A lot of question marks kept popping up in my mind on where she was going with this. She groaned, “Tomorrow’s your birthday, jackass…” Donna palmed her face.
“Oh,” I said, thinking about it. “Oh!” All the fun birthdays I envisioned excited me.
The hours passed along with us chatting about different things. I almost forgot my wife was giving birth. But alas, the door swung open and stole our attention. The balding man took his mask off. “You can, go on in,” he said solemnly. It might be because of Donna’s company that I wasn’t worried, so I suspected nothing abnormal.
When we entered, Anjali’s eyes were closed and her brows furrowed, and she clutched her baby in her arms.
Stillborn.
I stood there for a full minute, my mind totally clearing out all of its contents. It retreated and escaped from the clairvoyance that thinking itself brought, frightened to even imagine. Then, it gathered its broken and tattered pieces of courage again and came back to me. My child? Mine? At first, I couldn’t believe that the best healer I’d known had a stillborn child. How could I let this happen? How could I? Spirit lords? Hethekk’s warning? The coming of Apollyon? An impending apocalypse? So what?
What was the point of it all if my child couldn’t live?
A tear rolled out of Anjali’s eyes. She hadn’t even noticed us come inside. I wobbled my way over to her and planted a kiss on her forehead, then hugged her. “Eric…” she was barely able to mutter my name, the weakness in her voice was chilling, disheartening.
Could I use Light Resurrection on one so young? That thought kept jumping side to side in my mind, distracting me from properly consoling Anjali. Was using that spell appropriate? Had I considered Anjali’s feelings? Did any of our feelings even matter?
I couldn’t imagine my daughter asking me why I chose not to help her when I died and went to the afterlife and my answer being along the lines of inappropriateness. She’d have all the right to kill me, even in the afterlife.
I made a health potion, and had Anjali drink it. “What are you doing?” she asked me after I took the baby from her.
“I, don’t know yet,” I told her.
“Whatever it takes,” she whispered, then chose to voice clearly, clenching the bedsheets at her sides. “Do whatever it takes!”
I nodded my head, and kissed her once again, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity, Anjali. You’ve done your part, so just rest up, okay?”
She agreed, her faith returning from nothing to a flicker. Donna stayed with her and I cast Riftshear to take me to a place I thought might have some sort of special meaning. A place I figured my saviour was more probable to pay attention to than any other. The night sky was clear and the stars shone brightly. I sat on the huge boulder and looked up at the sky for a while.
“Za–”
My scene shifted before I could finish the word. The goddess’ library appeared before me. “You wish for me to restore her life,” Zanthia’s voice came from all directions. Not even given the chance to answer, the scene changed once more.
Zanthia and I appeared on small cliff looking over a beautiful and picturesque beach, the water as blue as the skies. On that cliff was a throne – quite out of place – that seated a man. Recalling the first time I saw the goddess, I was able to place his face in my head. I didn’t know who this man was, or why the goddess brought me to him. Despite the throne giving him some height over me, he was quite short. His hair was long, wild, and pitch-black. His eyes much of the same intensity and hue, but his body looked relaxed.
Zanthia smiled, and nudged her chin towards his direction, gesturing me to go to him. Was he some king? I didn’t know. How was I to approach him? After a deep breath, I simply walked to the centre of his line of sight and kneeled, not exactly knowing what to say.
My eyes sought to see his expression, but the minute he looked at me, I puked, falling to the ground and losing consciousness. When I awoke, he wasn’t there, and neither was the goddess. I didn’t see my baby either. I was so confuddled that I hadn’t even noticed my body was translucent. Once again, my location shifted and I was back home in Aquan. I heard a wailing from inside my old bedroom and went to check. My child, was alive!
I grabbed her up in jubilation and tears, welcoming her endless crying. But, why were all my family’s belongings back where they were? The house was supposed to be empty. Some things didn’t make sense. My confusion was worsened by Emily’s appearance. This wasn’t like that special time she appeared to us in one of Yunaris’ dungeons; it felt, different.
The witch, Emily, gently poked at my baby’s tummy, “She’s a real cutie, huh?”
“What’s,” I looked at the witch strangely, “going on?”
She didn’t answer that question though. Instead, she asked to hold the baby, to which I had no qualms with. I had another strange guest immediately after – the druid, Liana. “I thank you,” she said. “Please continue looking out for Aerellis.” Suddenly she vanished.
“Strange one, isn’t she?” I heard Phoenix’s voice and almost broke my neck turning around to see him.
“You motherfucker!” I smacked him with my hardest punch straight to his face! He fell, and I mounted on top of him, holding his collar and lifting him a bit off the ground, “Why would you do that shit?! What kind of friend are you to leave me like that?! What kind of father are you to…” I trailed off, somewhat coming to the realisation of how I’m able to see and speak with these different beings.
“I’m dead…” I uttered, losing a bit of strength in my arms.
“I hope you didn’t do something stupid and that you had a meaningful life,” a voice almost paralysed me. My eyes watered and subsequently my face become drenched. My knees were too weak to stand up. All I could do was look up at her.
“I-I’m sorry, Dawn! I wasn’t able to save you! I wasn’t there when you needed me! I-I…”
“Not the best position to apologise in, is it?” Phoenix mocked me.
I got off of him, and prostrated myself before Dawn. “Please, forgive me…”
“Forgive what?” she asked. “You did nothing wrong. And please stand up, you’re making this more awkward than it needs to be.”
So, I did, and she was finally able to hug me. It felt, so reassuring. “What’s her name?” Dawn asked.
“I, don’t know. I left it up to Anjali. Dawn,” I stole her attention away from my child, “why didn’t you accept Light Resurrection?” I found myself asking her even though I resolved to being okay with my ignorance.
She smiled, “Simply put: I wasn’t ready. But I am now.”
I furrowed my brows at her nonsensical answer. Wasn’t ready? Before I could question her on what she meant, the goddess stole my attention again.
“Returning souls and rebuilding bodies isn’t something we like to practise. An exchange of equal value must be made in order to maintain balance,” she pointed out.
My child was now resting comfortably within Emily’s arms. I looked at her and smiled. “And what is of equal value to a life?” I asked, fully knowing the answer.
“Another life. If you stay here, we will return someone of your choosing to the domain of the living.”
We? Someone of my choosing? I understood, but didn’t quite understand.
Being able to read my thoughts, she continued explaining. “When I say ‘we’, I refer to myself, the goddess of life, Zanthia, and him,” she pointed right next to her, “the god of death, Zan. As far as I see, Dawn wishes to return as well. Therefore, it is left to your discretion in choosing who to return to the living.”
Are you fucking kidding me? I questioned. Not directed to the goddess by any means, but at Dawn. I understood then, that the sole reason she didn’t accept my first attempt at the spell was because she didn’t want to be tethered to me. She forewent life just because she didn’t want to be tied to me like that. Why else would she accept a real resurrection through the gods, but not through me?
“Dawn, I love you, but we’ve both had our chance at life,” my voice deepened, “and you’ve had two,” even though you didn’t accept the second chance, “there’s no way I’m picking you. I hope you understand.”
She looked a little disappointed, but she smiled anyway.
With that, my child’s soul was returned to her body and she disappeared from the afterlife. Zanthia laughed, and the god of death, Zan, summoned a glaive to his hands.
“By the way,” Phoenix tapped me on the shoulder, “my kid’s name is Celosia,” he informed with forlorn eyes and a smiling mouth.
“I see. Celosia, huh? I’ll tell her all about her horrible father, don’t wor–”
Abruptly, my scenery was altered once again. It was so smooth how they did that, yet unexpected. I found myself atop the boulder where I first met the witch. The sun was rising. My little girl was sleeping soundly, wrapped in the warm blanket. “Happy birthday,” I told her, looking at the rising sun.
I can’t believe I’m alive. I didn’t understand why I was alive after the goddess spoke about exchanging one life for another. By all means, my daughter should be alive and I should be dead. But I chose not to think about the deities’ mystifying ways.
Although, something did feel, different. Without thinking about it too much, I teleported back to the hospital. By then, everyone had gathered in the hospital’s maternity section. All my friends and family, and their friends and family. Anjali was outside with them, as they all clearly couldn’t fit in the building.
I glided toward the crowd, a finger to my lips whilst I held her. I bypassed everyone and brought the child to the sulking Anjali. “She needs a name,” I said.
Her eyes opened wide, and her mouth kept trying to say something but words wouldn’t come out. Instead, tears did. Eventually though, she did manage to say one thing.
“Aviana.”