CHAPTER 12: RADIANCE, P13
~12.13~
*****
“If I said I could help you remember your past lives, would you want to?”
Allison was surprised. “You can do that?”
“Not yet.” Kye held out a hand and a whirl of rainbow mana appeared. “This is only an illusion, but I recalled one of Elysia’s memories of wielding this power and being capable of restoring an amnesiac’s memories in Athas. It was a case that Maya could not yet heal, I believe it was early in Athas before she figured out how… I don’t know how I know she could do that later, but I assume it’s a gut feeling based on a memory I can’t recall right now. Anyway, I know I could do it if I learn to use this power again.”
Allison smiled and said, “I’ll think about it.” She took another sip of tea and looked back at Kye. “How do you like it here? In Atlantis.”
Kye took a sip as well, then looked out of the window with a light smile. “I never thought I would receive a mission to come here. It’s… hard to describe. I designed the system from the ground up, but that’s not all I did. I created this very world. I always meant to come here once I was done with my duty, whenever that would be. My hope was to pop in and see how this world developed - maybe help the people if they needed it - before finding somewhere to settle down. I meant to make this my swan song. But here I am now. I was sent here on a mission, but it has become much more than that. It was here that I was able to reunite with so many loved ones and find a new family that truly cares.” A tear escaped her eye as she looked at Allison.
“Kye?”
“You have protected Elysium for the past ten million years. You’ve been to the other universes, haven’t you? Six through ten? How are they? Have they developed well? Are they getting along?”
“Some are fair, some are in a warring period. I don’t spend a lot of time in any of them and I haven’t been since before you were born. With the addition of Daemonheim, demon beasts have become a real issue, so I’ve been focused on the realms everyone can freely visit.”
“Thank you for your hard work. I’m glad my creation has been in good hands.”
“Thank you for all you’ve given us.”
“Hmm?”
“You created our world. None would be here without you.”
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“Ah, yes. I appreciate the thought, but beyond laying the foundation, I have had no hand in the world. Turning on the Skill Archive was the first thing I’d done since this world was created.”
Alethea suddenly walked in and waved at the two before joining them. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Hi. We were just chatting about some stuff.”
“Yeah? Anything interesting?” She took Kye’s cup and stole a sip. “Mmm, Shi-chan, you always have the tastiest tea.”
“Well, of course!” Kye caught Alethea up to speed. “So, what do you think of my retirement plans?”
“To be honest, it’s not outlandish to think Lady Eve would allow us to retire here after the mission. I mean… we’ve both been at this for a long time. A vacation, at minimum, would be nice.”
“If anyone deserves it, you two do.” Allison smiled. “Anyway, I’ll be off. I’ll see you at the opening ceremony. Before I go, have you decided which of you will speak?”
“Yeah, she’s doing it again.” Kye smirked as she glanced at Alethea.
“HEY! You said you’d do it this time!”
“Heh. Can’t blame me for trying.”
“Uh, huh.”
Allison smiled as she watched the two bicker. “Well, I’ll see you then.”
“Yep! See you then!”
Once Allison was out of the room and they were left alone, Kye and Alethea looked into each other’s eyes and smiled. It was then that the two immortal souls felt that they truly belonged. More than simply walking among mortals for a while until completing their mission, they felt from then on that they must defend their home. Everyone treated them no differently than any other. Their relatives treated them the same as every other family member. Their friends the same. Kye flashed back to a moment after the Arslade battle where Layla was worried about her in her injured state, and other times both before and since then. Tears rolled down her face as she thought about all the happy moments she had in only her first eighteen years.
“Hey, Maya?”
“Yeah, Eli?”
“I’m happy we were given this chance.”
“Yeah.”
*****
“Success!” Louise jumped for joy after finally successfully over-enchanting.
“Congratulations!” Kye and company were present for Louise’s success. “Now just make a few more to build a weapon!” Kye gave her a smug smirk.
“Hey!” Louise pouted.
“I must admit, I was dumbfounded by the dust.” Kye glanced over at one of the side tables where a pile of metallic dust was left. “I’m still not completely sure why your failures turned to dust, whereas most other failures only produced unusable ingots. I’ll compile the data sometime and we can try to figure it out.”
Louise nodded. “That sounds fine to me. By the way, how did the space element topic turn out?”
“Allison gave me the write-up for it after the last council meeting. The six of us are all being credited for it since we all had a hand in its discovery. I’ll announce it at the opening ceremony.”
“Oh, you’re doing the speech for our year?”
“Yeah. I’ve… got a few things I’m gonna say… heh. It’ll be fun.” Kye smirked at the thought.
Louise turned to Alethea. “Should I be worried?”
“Probably.” She shrugged. “Even I don’t know what she’s planning. We could ask Astraia since they’re soul-bonded, but I bet she won’t say either.”
“She sure won’t!”
“I suppose we have something to look forward to… I hope.” Louise and Alethea shared a dry smile while Kye enjoyed her personal amusement.
*****
Revision: 2024-3-2