The room was silent save for the faint scuffing sounds of a frog-faced noble slowly picking himself off the floor after slipping off a desk he had been precariously perched upon. I sat in my chair and watched him as I mentally reviewed the events that led me here, and considered what to do next.
Claiming that The Merrik had been teaching me how to cultivate was rather outlandish (maybe even bordering on unbelievable, considering it had never happened before, to my knowledge, in the many centuries since his arrival), but it had been the best I could come up with on short notice. My life was already going to change drastically after the day's events, and I had to admit it felt good to take some control of the situation by flipping the script.
The Merrik was more like a force of nature than a person, and from what I understood it wouldn't be possible for anyone to actually stop the guy for a chat and ask him to verify my claim - and even if they could somehow get his attention, he was only spotted in the territory of House Flameward every few years anyhow, so any potential consequences on that front would be delayed by years (if not decades).
As added insurance, I was relatively certain that The Merrik already knew about me, at least on some level, and just didn't care: He had already seen me in astral form, years ago, and absolutely nothing had come of it. Wolfram and I had theorized that The Merrik simply lived and operated on another level entirely compared to us mortals, and therefore most actions we took were far beneath his notice. It was likely that only something as significant as a major beast attack would grab his attention, and even then he only stayed around for a few minutes after slaughtering the beasts, seeming entirely apathetic to the aftermath.
My attention was drawn back to Lord Runax as he began pacing back and forth slowly (after picking himself up off the floor), while occasionally shooting quick furtive glances in my direction. He was muttering softly to himself, and it didn't escape my notice that he had positioned himself at the opposite end of the room, about as far away from me as he could get without exiting entirely. Was he scared that I would get struck by lightning for blasphemy, or something!?
... Actually, now that I thought about it, would I get struck by lightning for blasphemy!? I hunched over in my chair and looked around at the tapestry-decorated walls. Like it or not, I was still more adapted to operating in a culture (i.e. back on Earth) where punishment for such things was more of an abstract concept, or carried out by followers rather than the deity themselves... but here, in this place, The Merrik was both worshiped (in a sense) and had an actual, tangible presence as he ran around smashing the stuffing out of entire hordes of dangerous beasts.
Huh... Okay, maybe this hadn't been such a great idea after all.
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I sat in the empty office waiting for all hell to break loose, visions of a vengeful deity smashing through the thick stone walls like some unholy cool-aid man playing through my mind.
Froggy had left the room a while ago after asking me to remain seated. I wondered if he was employing some kind of interrogation tactic, abruptly leaving me alone in an unfamiliar room - a child bereft of his parent's love and support for the first time in his young life. Perhaps he hoped I would drive myself crazy with worry over the consequences of my mad claim, or concern about my family's wellbeing...
If so, it was working, I thought to myself with a grim smile. Probably not in the manner he expected, however, if that had even been his plan in the first place. But no, after giving it more thought I began to suspect that leaving me alone was more for his own benefit than a clever plot against me. Lord Runax had gone from a situation where he was not personally at risk in any way - with his worst outcome being the loss of a talented, but ultimately replaceable, Master Blacksmith - to literally risking the wrath of god himself if I was telling the truth and he handled things incorrectly.
In fact, once I looked at it that way, his tumble off the desk seemed more like a mark of intelligence than anything else: His mind had been so quick to realize the implications of The Merrik having me as an Apprentice that he had been poleaxed straightaway. It meant I would have to be careful with my story, though it wasn't all bad news since dealing with smart people was a little easier for me than dealing with fools anyway (being slightly more adept at Socratic debate than raw emotional appeals).
But what to do now... I was too distracted to meditate easily, which would make it hard to spy outside the room in my astral form unless I truly focused all my effort on the task. I was in the midst of an internal debate over the merits of astral information gathering versus the dangers of leaving my body defenseless (even for a few seconds) when the far door creaked open without warning. It surprised me, and I felt myself jerk backward in the chair as Lord Froggy's face briefly poked into the room, looked in my direction, and then withdrew.
I quickly pulled up my System interface to toggle [Ion Shield] on... and then paused when I saw who came rushing into the room.
"Mom! Dad!" I exclaimed, jumping up from my chair and running to meet them.
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We had a brief but emotional reunion there in the middle of the office, which Lord Runax calmly watched from his position near the door. It couldn't have been much more than an hour since we were separated, but it had felt far longer for me - and, judging from their reactions, my parents felt the same way.
"Heller, sweet boy, my cousin told us something... incredible! By the spirits, I'd think it impossible if it was anyone else! My incredible, amazing-"
Jaws cleared his throat, "Isa."
Mom gave a start, as if suddenly recalling something, and glanced at the frog-faced noble who had made his way closer to us.
"Oh! Yes. Did he speak true, Heller? Did you tell him that..." her words seemed to catch in her throat, "that... you," she swallowed anxiously, glancing back at the open door to the next room, and then whispered something I didn't catch except for the word "Merrik". She looked at me, then up at Dad, her mouth moving as if wanting to form words but not sure how.
My father let out a deep breath and laid a comforting hand on Mom's shoulder. "That one," he said, gesturing towards the frog-faced noble, "wants us to ask you about..." he paused, and Mom and I patiently waited for him to continue, understanding that his next words would probably be insightful and well worth the wait. I could see Lord Runax growing impatient as he shifted from foot to foot, and I shared a knowing look with my mother as-
"Your other apprenticeship," Jaws finally finished. He smiled down at me, "Yet, as well all know, such matters as between Master and Apprentice are of no concern to outsiders." He gave a pointed look to Lord Runax, who frowned back at him, before continuing, "Speak only enough to counter the charges laid against your mother, lad, and know that all those gathered here will respect your silence... and your reasons for keeping it." He was still staring down at the noble, his emphasis on certain worse making it clear who they were actually for.
Even though Jaws looked like a giant looming over a child, it was clear that Lord Runax was not fearful or cowed by him - in fact, he rolled his large eyes, with their misshapen pupils, as Dad finished. His froggy lips were set in a thin line of disapproval as he gestured for me to speak, yet he didn't interrupt, or do anything else to contradict my father's words.
Mom smiled at me and nodded along as Dad spoke, her brilliant purple hair waving wildly.
My mind was whirling, my pulse racing, as I ran through different permutations of the lie in my head, trying to find a way to explain myself. In a way, this was my worst-case scenario. I disliked not being able to tell my parents the truth, and I despised the thought of lying to them! Especially my father, although it was hard to pin down exactly why... maybe because I felt certain he would never lie to me, and that he might be the one person who would believe my crazy story, and maybe even accept me for who I really was - Alex, from Earth, reborn here as his son, Heller.
Not that I was okay with lying to my mother, of course! It was just that she had also kept secrets from me. We both had our reasons, so it felt more like we were on equal footing with the whole 'My exciting backstory is a big secret!' thing.
I waited for a moment, hoping that Lord Runax would say something so that I could turn and spin my tall tale to him. But nobody seemed to want to move, let alone speak... therefore I decided to stick as close to the truth as possible. In fact... screw it, time for some quick thinking and nimble wordplay: I would utter no word that was untrue!
“When I was around one year old I met The Merrik,” I said carefully, not mentioning that I had been astrally projecting in soul-rope form at the time. “It was after he killed the shadow wolves. He laid his hand upon me.” Again, technically true…
Mom let out a gasp, her eyes wide as she brought her hands up to cover her mouth. There were tears in her eyes, but they were tears of excitement or... something along those lines, rather than sorrow. I stopped and l looked at her. Had she not believed her cousin? Either way, hearing it directly from me was obviously affecting her deeply. I looked up at my father... by the spirits, the corners of his eyes were moist too!!
No matter what happened, it was too late to stop now.
I carried on, telling only the truth, yet weaving a fictional story nonetheless, “And there was something in my mind. I discovered that I had been given a gift after The Merrik made contact with my essence, ” I said, not specifying where the 'gift' came from, that my 'essence' referred to my soul-rope, or the exact timeline of each event. “And I somehow knew that it should be kept secret from everyone, or there could be dire consequences.” Yeah, consequences for me, because I’m a reincarnated alien from another world, but let’s not add that part.
I waited for someone to say something, but I was again met with silence. Sharing as much as I had felt...pretty good, actually. It was close enough to the truth that I felt strangely unburdened. Then the quiet started to stretch, and I began to worry.
Oh man... the penalty for fibbing about The Merrik was probably pretty bad, and I definitely didn't want to get sent to that Shieldwall place Froggy mentioned earlier! I wondered if I should add more, but there was little I could say without moving into 'full-on-lie' territory.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, trying to sound unsure and a little afraid (which wasn't very difficult, given the circumstances).
Mother darted forward and wrapped me up in a big hug. “Of course not, my darling Heller! I always knew you were meant for great things!” she exclaimed with excitement. I let out a breath in relief, and when I looked at Jaws I was met with a broad smile and a nod... but I could tell there was more going on in his head, and it occurred to me that he was probably starting to realize some of the deeper implications. I felt a little guilty at misleading him, but still mostly relieved and oddly proud that I hadn’t needed to tell a direct falsehood - plus... if The Merrik was a mysterious 'sky-fallen' entity with unknown powers, well then... so was I! (And I meant that literally; I still vividly recalled my soul 'falling' from the sky just before my reincarnation).
Wait... oh no...
Bloody beasts! Now hold on a second, stop the press! My eyes widened as I realized that, in a sense, there might have been a lot more 'truth' to my fiction than I ever intended...
Was I actually meant to-
“Ahhh, well, ahem…” said Lord Runax, loudly clearing his throat (and interrupting my thoughts), “I see, then. I... believe you, of course, but others might have some difficulty…” He trailed off, still looking slightly dazed. Then his eyes snapped back to mine, "And, of course, we will have to run some... tests."