Celebration

The next two months passed quickly, with both Ryun and Erdania barely ever leaving Selia’s side. Ryun, in particular, followed the future mother of their children around constantly, his eyes focused on the life developing within.

It came to a point that Selia struggled not to be annoyed by him. Case in point, the current situation. Selia sat in the chair in their room as Yuron finished his daily check, with Ryun hovering over his shoulder, watching intently.

“Everything seems to be in order, my perks still can’t show me any identifying screens for them but that is to be expected. It usually happens at around the third month,” Yuron spoke.

“Will you be able to see what their Bloodlines are?” Selia asked.

“I was able to see it with my patient before,” he answered. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

“Thank you,” Selia said with a smile and a hand placed on her stomach. She wasn’t showing just yet, but it was still early. They still didn’t know exactly how long the pregnancy would last, though Yuron estimated at least eleven months.

“You are feeling well?” Yuron asked.

“I am,” Selia nodded.

“She had some trouble eating breakfast,” Ryun spoke up.

Selia glared up at him. “I was just nauseous for a little bit, the meat didn’t agree with me.”

“Completely normal, my perks are not giving me any warnings, but I wanted to check with you either way. And forgive your husband, I’ve seen many get a bit too overprotective when their spouses are with child.”

Selia’s glare softened, but not fully. “Maybe if he allowed me even a moment of peace,” she muttered mostly to herself.

Erdania wanted to chime in, but she didn’t want to get on her shit list. Ryun didn’t realize it quite yet, but he was getting there.

“Well, I’ll leave you be then.”

As soon as Yuron left, Ryun knelt next to Selia, his eyes still focused on her stomach. Erdania saw the moment Selia nearly told him off. Her part of the bond was closed down tight, so she couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but she knew Selia well enough to recognize the signs. The tightening of her fists, the narrowing of eyes, the swish of her tail behind the chair.

And then Selia took a deep breath, and instead of blowing up on him she smiled.

“Ryun, love,” she called, bringing his attention up to her eyes.

“Yes?” He blinked at her and tilted his head.

“Don’t you think that you should take a break or something?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve spent every moment since I got pregnant watching me, it is… a bit too much.”

“Oh,” he said. “Sorry, it’s just… Seeing how the Essences interact to create life is fascinating.”

“I’m sure it is,” Selia nodded. “But I’ve scarcely had any time for myself. Why don’t the two of you take a break, maybe go down to Consequence and celebrate?”

“Celebrate?” Erdania asked.

Selia turned to meet her eyes. “Yes, I’m obviously still under observation, but the two of you can go out and have some fun. Maybe go to the Lucky Mug and see if they figured out how to get you drunk?”

Ryun blinked slowly. “Ah, you want to get rid of us.”

Selia rolled her eyes. “Yes, I want to get rid of you! You’ve babied me for months! I love you, but please, just give me a day on my own!”

Erdania grimaced, they had been a bit… overbearing.

Ryun glanced at Erdania, and they communicated wordlessly, then he looked back at Selia. “We understand, we’ll give you some space. We just worry about you.”

Selia leaned forward and put a hand on the side of his face. “I know,” she softened. “I just want some time to myself. Give me a day and then you can go right back to staring at my belly without blinking.”

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Erdania chuckled, and Ryun sighed. “Sorry, I got lost in my fascination. And… you do know that we just worry about you?”

“Of course,” Selia smiled. “But we are linked closer than any three people ever could be, we are never far from one another. I’ll be fine, and you won’t be far.”

Ryun nodded, then stood and turned to look at Erdania. “So, want to go see if we can get drunk?”

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They walked hand in hand through the side streets of Consequence, on their way to their preferred Tavern in the city. A part of Erdania was excited, she hadn’t had a chance to just relax in months. She had to admit, that both she and Ryun had gone a bit overboard with the pregnancy.

In their defense, they were excited, and they wanted to make sure Selia was fully taken care of.

While she was excited, she could tell that Ryun’s attention was elsewhere.

“You’re still watching her, aren’t you,” Erdania told him.

Ryun winced. She had assumed, rightfully it seemed, that his attention was still on Selia back at their manor.

“Why don’t you pull your perception back? Focus on the here and now, we do deserve to rest and relax, just as much as she does.”

Ryun turned and glanced up at her, then nodded. “You’re right, I just worry.”

“Understandable,” Erdania smiled. “I worry too. But even without us there she can keep herself safe. Not to mention that she is in the heart of our Sect surrounded by Sect warriors.”

“Yeah I know, but I… I didn’t expect to feel like this. She is carrying our children and I’ve never really thought about what that would feel like before.”

“Neither have I, and I am terrified, both for her and for the future. But I can understand that those feelings are at least somewhat irrational. We need to be able to pull back and realize that.”

“You’re right,” Ryun said, “I’ll focus on the now, I promise.”

She felt a small shudder around them as he pulled back his being, his Aura Authority, back and condensed it into his body.

“Let’s just enjoy tonight,” Erdania said as they reached their destination.

“Let’s.”

They entered the small tavern and were immediately assaulted by sounds and smells. The room was filled with tables and people sitting around them, drinking.

As their presence was noticed, the barkeep yelled out. “Eternal Masters! You’re back!”

Erdania smiled as a cheer went up from most of the other patrons, while others were suddenly struck with terrified expressions on their faces. That was how she could tell that they weren’t regulars. The two of them were known in this tavern, and most knew that they preferred there to be no deference to their position in the Sect, or at least not too much of it.

Erdania greened at the big minotaur behind the bar as they walked up to it. “We had to give you time to work Kiros, couldn’t have a repeat of last time.”

The minotaur laughed. “We’ll, you’ve come at the right time,” he turned his attention to Ryun. “I have something new that I think will work on you Master Ryun.”

Ryun tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “Oh? We’ll see.”

“Bring it out then,” Erdania said as she pushed Ryun over to an empty table.

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Erdania watched as Ryun tilted a heavily engraved metal glass, the liquid within spilled into his mouth. The crackling sound it made as it slid down his throat filled the silence of the room. Erdania, her cheeks flushed, watched with apt attention along with everyone else in the room as Ryun slammed the glass against the table once he was finished.

Erdania had downed fourteen of Kiros’ newest brew, designed specifically for her. The room around her was spinning, and she did in fact feel drunk—the new drink was a success. Ryun on the other hand had drank two glasses of his new brew before this one, and they were all waiting to see when it would start to take effect.

To call it a drink was a bit of a stretch though. It was Soul poison, anybody else drinking it would be dead ten times over by now. But then again any drink that could make Ryun drunk had to be.

He narrowed his eyes, and everyone waited for his response.

“I don’t feel anything—” he huffed and his body rippled. The skin washed away and the absolute emptiness filled his eyes. The End Essence that made up his being looked like pure black material that swallowed the light and any other Essence that came near it. He stepped back, and wobbled.

The room exploded in cheers, and Erdania laughed along with them.

“Ha!” Kiros laughed. “I knew that would work.”

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Ryun woke up feeling groggy. He hadn’t been drunk in a long time, and the effect that Kiros’ drink had elicited wasn’t quite right, but it was familiar. It caused an effect, impacted his Soul in a way that was lightly debilitating. The Essence of his body could’ve fought it and erased it from existence, but Ryun had used his will to force it not to. He had allowed the effect to take place, it was the only way that it would work. Though, with the way his regeneration had slowed, it probably would’ve affected him slightly anyway, for a short time at least.

He shook his head, and turned, seeing Erdania sprawled in bed next to him. They were still in the tavern, in one of the private rooms upstairs. Kiros’s establishment wasn’t an inn, but he still had a couple rooms.

Ryun didn’t remember them going up here, but they had managed it somehow. He didn’t remember the last time he had actually gone to sleep. Before Selia got pregnant, probably.

He rolled his shoulder and focused on his perception, more out of habit than any real desire to know what was happening around him. He had to push his skill into the background if he ever wanted to focus only on his immediate surrounding.

His sense expanded to cover the tavern, and he frowned as his perception washed over a piece of the world that wasn’t there, that was missing.

He was very sensitive to things like that, the lack of presence stood out to him, he had been using Oblivion for a long time after all.

Immediately, he expanded his being, his body offloading its density into the Essence of the world around him out of his vessel. His Aura Authority washed over the a cylinder the size of his forearm placed beneath one of the tables in the tavern directly below them.

His being sufficed the Essence of the object, piercing within. Immediately, he realized what it was. In an instant his mind perks accelerated his thoughts, slowing down time. He purged the last of the effects from his body and his perception expanded to cover the entire territory. He found three more cylinders.

Ryun yelled out across his bond.

Erdania woke, and Ryun rolled over pulling her against him as he focused his will on the Essence around them and as Selia heard his words from across the territory.

The cylinders clicked. Reaction Engines fired.