Zubu came back with a spring in her step. This time she held some kind of pick looking thing. The pick had a little spoon on one end and on the other was this fluffy white cotton ball.

It looked like candy making me want to put it in my mouth. I knew it wasn’t, but the child-like urges of my body were too strong. The only thing that broke me out of it was the assumption that she was going to stab my ears with the spoon end.

I covered my ears. “Will it hurt?” I asked fearfully.

She shook her head, “No, of course not. You have nothing to worry about. Lore keeper use to do it for everyone and eventually it became my duty. I’ve gotten pretty good at it over the years.”

Despite her reassurance, I was still hesitant. She looked somewhat hurt when I didn’t agree to it right away.

“Come on, don’t look at me like that. I’ll have you know all the brats that come through Chikyū see me as their big sister after my ear cleanings.” She insisted.

I still couldn't answer. The spoon looked kind of sharp from this angle. Almost like a shiv. We were both prisoners on this world and prisoners stabbed each other all the time.

“Come on you stupid brat! This isn't a request! You’re so full of yourself! Do you think just because you're cute you can do whatever you want? Lore keeper and that gorilla might let you get away with stuff, but I’ll have you know you're not that cute. I've seen way cuter ascenders with way less bratty personalities than you.”

I still didn't budge. All I could think about was blood coming out of my ears, as Zubu laughs at me.

“I get it. You don’t trust me. I’ve been pretty horrible to you, so it only makes sense you’d think I was up to no good. I’ll go put it back.” She turned around and began to walk away.

She was clearly upset. She seemed almost insulted at my refusal to let her clean my ears. I guess I was being a little mean in refusing. She was bragging about her skills. Which meant she held pride in it. By refusing, it was like I hurt her feelings.

“Wait Zubu!” I yelled. “It would make me really happy if you cleaned my ears.” I said nervously.

I couldn’t stand it anymore. I really liked Zubu, and I really wanted to trust her. I really wanted someone like that looking out for me. It would be a load off to not be on guard around her all the time, and for that to happen. I needed to open myself up to attack.

“Are you sure?” She asked as she turned around to face me.

“Yeah, I’d love it.” I said.

Turning her down would only discourage her from doing nice things for me. My head went back on her comfy lap.

When it came to ear cleaning, I usually just dripped some water into my ears and cleaned the wet earwax that came out with a cotton swab, but that was only when I showered.

Zubu started picking at my right ear. I was afraid it would hurt, but she was so gentle with it. It was so relaxing that I almost fell asleep.

Once she was done with that ear she used the candy side to fluff my ear. It felt so good. She then had me turn around facing her tummy. She did the same with the other one except this time I actually fell asleep in the middle of it.

I woke up to a gentle nudge from Zubu. “Wake up Isaac. You’re the one that said you were hungry.”

“I’m up…” I squeaked as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

Zubu licked her fingers and tried to fix my hair. “Ew! That’s so unsanitary!” I cried as I quickly rose to my feet and took up a defensive position.

“Nonsense, I do that to all the twerps that wake up with messy hair.” She said.

I looked around and saw Lorie standing there with a tray of sandwiches. Just then my stomach growled demanding food.

“Thanks Lorie!” I said as I took one and started to wolf it down like I was raised by my sadistic mom.

“Slow down child. Choking can’t be healed.” Warned Lorie.

“Sorry.” I said behind a mouthful of sandwich.

After lunch… or no, dinner? After linner, I got to practice some sword play with Zubu. This time without an Aura. She was very helpful even showing me different forms with better leverage.

Locking your joints made such an improvement when it came to blocking or parrying attacks. Despite that Zubu still managed to bonk me on the head a few times.

Slowly, I felt myself getting stronger. Would it be enough? I had no idea. All I could do was try.

It became dark before I knew it. I felt so tired that I ended up sitting under that same tree from before.

“Are you done yet, or do you still want to play some more? I’m still not tired yet so I can keep going if you want.” Asked the not-teen.

I couldn’t believe she wasn’t tired yet. It was probably because her body was older than mine. Kids had lots of energy, but burned through it quickly. That’s why naps were important.

Zubu however was in that sweet spot between an adults body and a kids body. Where you had the energy of a child with the endurance of an adult.

I didn’t want to be treated like a kid so I deflected it. “I wanna keep going, but I don’t want you to be mad at me.” I said.

“I see. You do look tired. I would be mad if you pushed yourself too hard. For the record. I think you’re really strong. It’s kind of frustrating to be honest.” Said Zubu. She averted her eyes giving her cheek a light scratch.

“Why’s that? It’s a good thing.” I responded.

“Its not your fault. It’s all me. I’ve been here so long, and seeing how fast you’ve grown in such a short time makes me feel like I’ve wasted my time.” She admitted.

“I see… well I’m happy you wasted your time.” I said smiling up at her.

“What the hell, piss baby!” She yelled.

“Hold on, let me explain!” I flinched.

“It better be good, or I'm throwing you off the mountain.” She grumble.

“If you hadn’t wasted time here. Then I wouldn’t have met you. I probably would have fallen to insanity while out in that forest.” I said. Now it was my turn to feel nervous.

“Oh… yeah. I guess it worked out then.” She said shyly.

I shifted on the ground trying to get comfortable. It was hard since my ass was still sore. I still didn’t understand why that was. Even the barrier couldn’t fix it. Cosmo seemed to be the only one that could undo the curse.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“What did you do to me anyway?” I asked.

“What part? Like when I cut you with plasma, or when I bounced your head off the ground? Or what about when I melted the ground at your feet and told you the floor was lava? That last one was my favorite.” She snickered to herself.

I hugged my knees in an attempt to comfort myself. Though, I couldn’t stop myself from shaking. I shook my head. “No Zubu! I’m talking about when you… you know…” I blushed.

“Know what? I don’t know what craziness you’ve cooked up in your mind.” She looked frustrated. “Spit it out piss baby!” She yelled.

“Don’t yell, you’re being mean again.” I said.

“Okay, okay, relax. Tell me what you’re talking about.” She placated.

I took a deep breath. Then said, “My butt still hurts, and it doesn’t matter how many healing aspects I put in! It wont heal!” I cried. Shifting my butt to one side. I scratched one of my cheeks. While scratching helped with the itch. It also made it hurt more.

That’s when the not-teen started chuckling. She soon broke into full on laughter. Meanwhile all I could do was pout, whimper and scratch the other cheek. Which only led to more crying. I’d been punished enough.

“Isaac that’s because you were a very bad girl. It wouldn’t be a punishment if you could just heal from it right away.” She said.

Seeing as there was no end to my torment my crying intensified. “I hate you! You’re a bully! Aaaarh!” I cried as I kicked my feet.

Zubu covered her ears and pretended not to hear me. “Don’t ignore me!” I yelled before throwing a rock at her head.

Her aura flared up vaporizing the rock. “See this is why your butt still hurts and as long as you keep acting like a brat it’ll stay that way!” She yelled.

“Waaa!” I cried.

“waaa!” Zubu mocked me.

I continued to cry only for the not-teen to copy me. She even went as far as too fall on the ground and start kicking and screaming mirroring my own cries but louder.

I crawled my way over to her sniffling and sobbing. Then put my hands over her mouth to shut her up.

My attempts to make her stop only worked to muffle her voice. “Hmmm…”

“Stop it! Only I’m allowed to cry!” I voiced my frustration through tears.

That’s when She licked my hand causing me to jump and retreat. “eeew! That’s gross!” I yelled.

She started to laugh at me. In the end I felt more silly than upset. How cruel could she be to mock the cries of a child. She’s a bully I tell ya!

From there I decided to stop crying at her and instead sulked with my back turned to her. My butt still throbbing.

“Hey! Aren’t you gonna cry and beg for a cure?” She threw her question my way but I ignored her.

“Leave me alone. I’ll run away!” I cried.

“This again. Come on Isaac get a hold of yourself. If you do I’ll show you how to fix your little problem.” She offered.

I gave up immediately. In the end all I wanted was for the pain to go away. “Okay, how do I fix it and just what the hell did you do to me?” I turned around to face her. My body still trembling.

“They’re called punishment aspects. The lore keeper showed me how to harness them so that brats like you can learn their lessons instead of simply just healing themselves.” She explained.

Punishment aspects? “Well, that kind of explains it. So how do I fix it?” I said.

“Cleansing aura. A strong one at that.” She explained.

“I don’t know how to do that. Where do I get the aspects again?” I asked.

“Easy, turn wind aspects into water aspects. Then imagine them cleaning you.” She said.

“Oh, yeah. I remember someone saying something like that.” I said. I went ahead and got to work gathering up the wind aspects. Then tuning their frequencies so that a third of them were hydrogen and the rest were oxygen. From there it was easy to create the tier 2 water aspects.

The water was pure. Without any impurities. This was a bit strange. Would splashing myself with water really do the trick?

It should be similar to how I summon apathy aspects. I needed to think of it like a shower or bath. The water turned warm as heat and cozy aspects began to manifest within its deep blue light. This must be the void filtering through my thoughts.

The only issue I had was that the water seemed a bit too active. I could see waves moving along its outer layer and the inside was full of violent currents. Somehow an image of shadow appeared in the water holding a wash cloth.

Right, those baths were pretty painful. I could still remember the discomfort. Like I had been scrubbed with rocks. That was a no.

Maybe less bath time and more like the cleansing sacred art I was used to? As soon as that thought came to mind. The water aspects calmed and began to glow a soul silver.

This was cleansing water. It was the very essence of a cleansing sacred art. Like always, it was very cold. The previous heat and cozy aspects had been stripped away.

I really didn’t like cold showers. Could I change it if I base it off something else? Mom was always really warm and gentle when she cleaned my cuts and scrapes. There was love and care. For her it wasn’t just about getting a job done. It was about making sure I felt better.

The water began to change again, as heat, love, and cozy aspects began to mix into it’s depths. This time its light became heart gold. It was so different now. Like the chicken soup Alice fed me. When she nursed me back to health.

I could still do more. This water wasn’t just supposed to clean wounds and filth. It was also supposed to cure illnesses.

I thought of the time I got sick. When mom would curl up with me on the couch and we’d watch movies together all day. What was that one movie we loved to watch together? Mrs. Doubtfire!

The golden glow grew, turning the cleansing water into a ball of pure healing and cleansing energy. Full of love and safety. Full of cozy embrace.

This wasn’t the only kind of love and warmth there was. I thought of the love and care my sister showed me when I would have anxiety attacks.

I thought of the love and confidence my father would instill upon me by encouraging me to do things that made me nervous. I remember how much he would smile and laugh even though he was angry and scared. All to protect me. To make me feel safe.

Last and most importantly I remembered the love I felt for Alice and the love she had for me. I remembered the peace and stability she brought into my life, simply by being at my side.

I thought of how I would do anything to see her smile and how much she would do to make me feel okay. It was a perfect loop of support and love.

The ball of aspects only seemed to grow as it became more complex. It was a combination of all the love I felt throughout my life. Even if my mom and sister brought pain. I will always remember the time when they loved me.

“Oh, my go- Amaterasu…” thumbed Zubu.

I went ahead and fired up a null level 1 aura. Then drew in the warm light. It flowed so smoothly. With the same grace and fluidity of a super fluid.

What started as an attempt to make a cleansing aura, became so much more. Upon absorption, my aura was immediately changed. Going from a silver glow to a golden radiance.

That light stretched out within the courtyard covering every corner with a loving embrace. My butt finally began to heal, but not just that. Everything the light touched caused flowers and plants to grow. To bloom. I hadn’t even noticed all the life aspects mixed in.

Once mended, I dispelled the aura. The power vanished a moment later and I felt pretty good. Like I’d just taken a shower and brushed my teeth. Then had a little nap while being held in my mom’s arms as she sung sweet loving lullaby’s.

“Neat.” I said.

“No way… was that a projection? You just created a level 3 aura!” She said.

“Level 3? How many Levels are there? Is there a boss at the end? Should I be saving my potions?” I asked.

“No you idiot!” She nearly smacked me. Instead she sighed before continuing. “Well, there’s level 0. That’s the basic aura everyone has. Even if you’re in the mortal rank simply breathing and walking around causes essence to flow through you. That creates a level 0 aura.” She explained.

I nodded.

“Then there’s level one. It’s the enhancement of the body. Level two, is the manifestation of affinities. You’ve already done that with your paradoxical aura. It also includes the manifestation of my plasma affinity.” She said.

“So what, level 3 is just a really big aura?” I asked.

“kind of… its called projection. It’s basically when your aura effects you’re surroundings. Master Brutus has that pressure thing he likes to do. It’s projection at its max. I suppose your ability to cast spells would also be considered a projection considering you cast spells with your aura, but that’s just a technicality.” She explained.

There was always something new to learn. Even when I felt like I was at the peak something new popped up to blow my mind.

“What did you do to make that aura? It even refreshed my body and clothes. I feel like I was just hugged by a big minty fresh teddy bear.” She said hugging herself as if trying to replicate the feeling.

“I thought about a lot of stuff. My family. My wife. The blue void filtered through and filled the cleansing water aspects with loving memories.” I explained.

“Oh, wow! I’ve never heard of that before! Concepts are one thing, but entire memories. That’s pretty crazy.” She said.

“What do you mean? Isn’t it just like how 0 tier aspects work.” I said.

She put a hand over her mouth as she thought it over. “Maybe?… But, 0 tier only works because there are lots of people that understand the concept. I’ve never heard of the memories of a single person turning into aspects. Something like that would take a lot of willpower and visualization.”

Zubu actually sounded smart for once. She had bursts of intelligence every once in a while. Actually, it wasn’t that she was smart sometimes. It was that she understood the subject.

She shook her head in defeat then said, “I bet gorilla face will know. So far, I’ve figured out everything on my own, but now I’m curious enough to actually ask him.” She said.

Zubu sounded so excited. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that passionate face on anyone but me. Was that what I looked like when my mind fell down a rabbit hole? Even though Zubu wasn't cute at all, It was kind of charming on her face.