CHAPTER 26: ELYSIA ATHAS P4
~26.4~
*****
“...grandmother.” Kye smiled and giggled. “I didn’t have one of those as Elysia. It’s... nice.” Her face soured quickly. “Uh...”
“What’s the matter?”
“Eve is my mother, but Evelyn is my great-great-grandmother. So... my great-grandfather is also my brother... does that mean I’m my great-grandaunt? Ugh, that’s going to be a headache.”
Alethea, Layla, and Hannah burst into laughter at the same time.
“HEY, it’s not funny!”
Between laughs, Alethea squeezed in, “No, it’s not just funny. It’s hilarious! HAHAHA. You’re worried about that, you’re so innocent, love!”
Kye raised an eyebrow and just sat there while the three got it out of their system. Sanae sighed and gave Kye an apologetic smile.
*****
“I’m sorry, you wanna run that by me again?” James asked.
Kye gathered James, Allison, and the Atlantis sisters to discuss a few things before the meeting, namely that she had her memories. Layla and Hannah were still with them, too.
“...Kye, I need you to stop with these ridiculous reveals,” Layla said. “I’m starting to lose track of all of it.”
“For real,” James said, shaking his head. “This year has been a whirlwind.”
“Yes, well...” Kye shrugged. “We’re not done yet!”
He sighed. “So, you have all of your memories?”
She nodded. “Do any of you require a demonstration of my creator power? It puts a heavy strain on me right now, but if it’s a smaller demonstration, I can manage. I can’t do anything grand. If I did something like commanding the world to turn on the system again... that would be bad.”
She looked around, but nobody responded. Alethea sensed they were too afraid to ask for a demonstration given the time Kye had just spent in bed. “Love, perhaps... a few minutes of rain?”
“No!” Layla protested.
“Absolutely not!” Hannah added to the protest.
“It’s fine,” Kye said. She led the group outside and held a hand up toward the sky. Her voice echoed. “Elysium, hear me. I am king. Let all who see this sky experience a sunny rain lasting long enough to reveal rainbows.”
Rain fell for several minutes, and when it ceased, everyone could see a rainbow.
“Wow...” James mumbled.
Kye buckled over, causing Layla and Hannah to rush to her instantly. “I’m fine. Just give me a moment. I need to control it.”
“You, of all people, are having trouble controlling mana?” Allison said as she knelled down next to Kye. “I don’t believe that.”
“Well, you’re not wrong. It’s not controlling mana, it’s the sheer volume of it. This body has far higher mana conductivity than it can withstand right now. It’s like trying to run an electric current through rubber for a long time, getting used to it, then trying to run the current through a metal rod. It’s been a long time since I inhabited this body. Unfortunately, my immortal body has atrophied after two dozen worldlines of inactivity, so it wasn’t much better off physically speaking.”
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“And you did what, exactly?”
“I combined the two bodies. More like, I absorbed Kye into me.”
“You say that as though you are a separate entity.”
Kye shook her head. “No, that’s not the case. I split my soul in half, left my body behind, and both halves inhabited pseudo bodies, until I started transmigrating. I had Eve send me to the mortal worlds, and those incarnations were my soul inhabiting a mortal body. They were all me, I’m just referring to them that way.”
“So you’re immortal now?”
She shook her head again. “No. It’s not quite literal. We can die, but we will live forever assuming proper care is taken. Our bodies will not deteriorate like a regular person’s will. Eternal youth is more accurate, I suppose. Even Eve can die. On that note, in a sense, the royalty of Atlantis has essentially become like us of Alexandria. You’ll live forever assuming the same. But, I digress. Anyway, I have my mana under control. Do any of you have questions before the council meeting?”
“The only one I have,” Atalante said, “is do you wish to resume your role as King?”
“That’s not a choice,” she answered with no hesitation. “I never stopped. It just hasn’t been necessary for me to be active since I began transmigrating. And there isn’t particularly a need for my activity until my people can return to Greater Elysium. And that...” she stopped short and made a sour face. “That won’t be anytime soon.”
“And, now that you have recovered your real body, what of the reason you left it there in the first place?”
Kye narrowed her eyes. “What do you know?”
Atalante swiftly casted a rune spell to silence and deafen everyone, but made herself, Kye, Sanae, and Alethea exceptions. “I know what Lady Eve has told me. I know of the invasion and your sacrifice.”
“You know quite a lot,” Kye said. “You are concerned everything will fall apart without the catalyst - my body - powering the barrier?”
Atalante nodded. “That’s right. Without that barrier, Lady Eve told us the satellites can invade unhindered.”
“You are not wrong, Lanti. Without that barrier, they can indeed invade Elysium. However, they won’t anytime soon. None of them are that foolish. They’ll seek information first. Send in spies. There is one such pest already here. But it does not matter. We’ll know as soon as a foreign entity enters Elysium. The system is the most powerful world magic ever conceived. It logs everything. It is quite impossible to bypass the system. Even I couldn’t do that in my prime, and I created it.”
Atalante was skeptical. She was thinking about both the people of Atlantis and the entirety of Elysium. “Then you’re saying it’ll be fine?”
“No. In fact, I would never have recovered my body had I known the consequences beforehand. But, it’s too late for that. The barrier is gone, and I can’t recreate it safely.”
“Perhaps there is another way,” Allison said, earning a look of shock from Kye and Atalante.
“How are you-?”
“Impressive.” Kye smirked. “It should be no surprise though, eh, Seris?”
Allison nodded.
“Hmm...” Kye mumbled as she pieced the memories together. “The invasion.”
Allison nodded. “Now that you remember, you should understand why you felt a tinge of guilt before. I know you asked Luma about us.”
“Yes. You died in the invasion.”
“The invasion?” Atalante asked. “THE invasion?”
“Yes,” Allison said. “The invasion from Lord Adaal.”
“You were one of the lower ranked-?”
“No, I was the Supreme Commander, and Elysia’s teacher.”
The platinum-blonde nodded solemnly as Atalante finally understood why Allison was so powerful.
Allison kneeled. “I’m sorry, Elysia. I wasn’t enough. I had already died once, and even as Seris, I was a far cry of...”
Kye smiled and gestured as she touched both of Allison’s cheeks. “No. It’s okay.”
Allison closed her eyes and smiled. “My King.” A few stray tears found their way down Kye’s face. The Supreme Commander of Elysium at the time was someone very dear to Elysia. With her memories returned, she knew who was standing before her, and she was happy.
“Master Seris. No, Seris the Swordmaster is a title, like Eve the Primordial. Aunt Xana... Xana Alexandria, you were also my teacher in the living world. I’m so happy to know you again. I’m so happy you’ve found a good life here.”
Nearby, Alethea was smiling just as much.
“Yes, well...” Allison cleared her throat. “We should move on to the council meeting.”
*****
Revision: 2024-8-25