“Oh my—” uttered one of the elves as he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Truth be told, none of us were.
This section of the forest was rather secluded and, according to the elves, a part where they rarely ventured due to the high density of flora, distance, and how unfriendly the terrain was for them to track through. Who knew that something could actually be thriving here? Better yet, modified to suit their habitat.
“How could we have neglected this part of the forest that these bugs had ample time to transform it into— this? It’s like I’m seeing a part of the forest that's dying,” uttered another elf.
He was right. This part feels— off. Like how the strange anatomy of the bugs somehow affected the forest too. Everything felt off here. The trees looked sickly yet somehow thriving under those weird purply or greenish-looking fluids. Though the anatomy of the trees itself was the complete opposite, spouting leaves at the bottom yet growing roots at the top. Why does everything feel so— disordered? Is this a common theme from one of the Gods?
“We need to report this back to our commander. We need to exterminate the entire section of this forest. But— can we even fight all of them? There’s just so many bugs,” muttered another member.
“Just like our city. They’re preparing for a full scale attack,” whispered John.
“If they attack us with all of their forces now, I’m not confident that we’re able to fend them off. Just look at the amount of forces they have,” whispered Violet.
We were at the top of some cliff overlooking a large area of sickly-looking forest that had a massive clearing. It’s strange that there were so many puddles of strange, glowing waters that the bugs seem to enjoy. There were also a ton of eggs around that are frightening for us. If these eggs were to hatch right now, we’ll possibly be outnumbered by 100 to 1 even if we were to include the entirety of the elves’ community here. What’re we supposed to do now? It’s suicide if we decided to engage them now. We should head back and prepare ourselves for the eventual attack on the city. Perhaps even asking for more reinforcements from the City of Pines for help.
“Your orders, my lady?” I asked Violet.
“Y— you don’t need to call me that, Zen. You can just call me mom,” she smiled.
“Can’t do that. I’m not married to your daughter yet. On a more serious note though, what should we do?” I asked once more.
“You faced overwhelming odds before when you fought against the beast. What did you do when it was just the three of you?” she asked curiously.
“Most of the beasts were sleeping inside a cave, so we had some opportunity to slay them in their sleep. These bugs seem to be sleeping out in the open, not to mention they have thick carapaces, which is going to be much harder for us to deal the killing blow quietly,” I explained to her.
“So our best course of action is to retreat then? I hate to admit it, but I don’t like our odds of engaging right now with our small party. Let us head back before we attract any of their attention then,” she gestured us to follow her.
“W— wait. What— is that?” stuttered one of the elven member.
We turned our gaze to what he’s pointing at. What I saw was some rather large-looking hole on the ground, but what’s emerging from it was even larger. It destroyed the entrance as it erupted from the ground. This bug is— huge! Close to the size of the four-legged beasts that I fought! Wait, possibly even bigger!
However, it doesn’t look that much different than a normal bug. In fact, is it even built for fighting? The only weapon that I can see is just the rostrum. There are no spikes or anything else that I can see. But— why does this bug look so familiar? Almost like I’ve seen it before.
I clutched my head as it started to hurt the more I focused on that massive bug. Despite all of us being in a prone position, I had to roll over as my head started hurting badly. Shit, and Rose is not here to soothe the pain. Am I going to be down for the count? I should move away from the edge and rest myself somewhere further to avoid attracting attention.
“Viking Lord, carry Zen away and come along with me. Try not to make any noise in doing so,” whispered Violet.
John obliged and dragged me away from the edge with Violet following behind. John wanted to lean me against a tree trunk, but Violet stopped him beforehand. She leaned on it first and gestured to John to place me leaning against her. John hesitated as he obviously found it odd for her to be doing that.
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“Viking Lord, pass him to me. That’s an order,” she ordered him with a stern expression.
Hearing the seriousness of her tone, John quickly set me down, leaning against her. She quickly embraced me and started petting my head.
“Shhh, shhh— there, there. What’s wrong, child? Does your head hurt? Do you have a headache?” she continued rubbing my head as I continued clutching it from the pain.
“His curse must be at play again. Rose had warned me about the possibility of it happening to him on this trip. What we can only do is to knock him out cold with this, since his wife’s not here to soothe him with her spell,” said John as he took out a small bottle of liquid.
“His— curse cause him this pain? I really hoped this is not a side effect of Lily’s actions. I hate to think that his suffering is due to what she did for him. Let me try something before we let him drink that,” she started rocking me slightly.
“Hush, my child, there there, the pain will go away. Mommy is going to sing you a song,” she whispered with a soothing voice as she started singing softly in elven language.
I didn’t understand the words, but the song was deeply calming, almost like it reminded me of— a distant past. As though I had a mother that held me tightly before. Why does this feel familiar?
“M— Mom?” I whispered as I fell unconscious while feeling a tear dripping from the edge of my eye.
“Your persistence is rather commendable. Guess I have to use something stronger then,” said a deep-toned voice inside my head before I lost all consciousness.
***
Violet— seems to be very focused on Zen. The rumour was that she flirts with anyone, but from what I can see, she’s just flirting with him. At first glance, it almost looked like they were lovers. But I’m not allowing my best friend to go down that path. He warned me not to choose the wrong path, so this is me helping him. Ain’t no way I’m letting this happen. Lily would be devastated if she found out about this.
“Listen, Zen might be confusing you for Lily as the two of you looked really similar. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you might want to tone down on the flirting? For his sake?” I asked as I sat at her side.
“I overheard your conversation with him earlier. He— doesn’t have a mother? Such a poor thing,” she stroked his hair. Zen was deeply asleep after she sang that lullaby of hers.
“Not just that, he had never even met any of his parents before. Just his grandfather when he was young, but he was robbed of him by Tom when he had just set his journey to become an adventurer. His childhood is actually pretty traumatic if you think about it,” he sighed.
“And now he’s mistaking me for his mother, whom he had never met. What a cute child indeed. As to your request, I’ll try my best to tone it down, but no promises though. Can’t say I’m not attracted to him,” she chuckled.
“Y— you’re joking, right? You’re married, and he’s your future son-in-law! He’s married too!” I shouted softly at her.
“Calm down, you. I’m not saying that I’ll start a family with him. What I meant to say is that I can finally see why my daughter is so attracted to him. He’s brilliant and charismatic for sure. I— I admire him for being so similar to his father. He certainly reminds me of him,” she hugged him tighter.
“Why— are you saying as though you had known his father? Have you— interacted with him before?” I asked curiously.
“Hehe, we were together for a short period of time before he got married. Ah, perhaps it’s only short for us but not for humans. Not many individuals had known that we were together before, not even my husband. Zen has many traits that are rather similar to his father,” she confessed.
“W— what? You were actually close with his father? Why didn’t you tell Zen about it? Oh no, please don’t tell me Lily is— is that why she’s so attracted to him?” I asked in horror.
“Are you implying that Lily might be his half-sister? Hmm, now that would make things interesting, isn't it?” she laughed.
“Please don’t. That would devastate him even more than he already is. Tell me that’s not true,” I asked for clarification as much as I could.
“One thing you should know about me is that I’m loyal to my husband despite what people think. I know I have a habit of flirting around, but I assure you, I don’t spend the night with other people. This is just who I am, Viking Lord. But don’t worry, I never had Jack’s child before since it’s difficult for me to conceive in the first place. Lily had probably inherited my preference of being attracted to his bloodline. Ah, I wonder if I’m attracted to Zen because of how similar he behaved and acted like Jack. I— I really do miss him. Maybe I did flirt with him a little too much,” she sighed softly as she hugged him tighter.
“I’ll take your word for it then, ma’am. I hope you’ll treat him well. But do realise that Zen is not his father,” I bowed slightly to her.
“I’ll be a mother for him if that’s what he wants. But you don’t have to worry about me jumping on him like what my daughter did. He is centuries too young for me after all, or is he?” she chuckled.
“Guess I’m starting to understand your personality now. Perhaps there is nothing for me to worry about after all. Now it’s just him that I’m worried,” I released a sigh of relief.
“What a good man, taking care of his own cousin like a real brother,” she chuckled.
“Wait— huh? What did you just say?” I turned my gaze to her immediately with a confused look.
“Hm? I just said you’re a good cousin to him like a brother,” she repeated.
“I’m— related to him? You’re not joking, right? How do you even know when even my parents don’t?” I questioned her.
“Your parents are Gladiolus, right? Is your mother— June Gladiolus? I’m pretty sure she’s related to Zen’s mother in some way. I did performed some research on her after all,” she sighed.
“Pardon my language but— were you.. obsessed with Zen’s father?” I asked cautiously.
“Oh my, for you to even thought of such a thing, I must have come off as a horrible person,” she gasped.
“I guess— you can say I was infatuated with him. Despite only being with him for a few years, he was the only human that I’ve ever loved. And I felt loved by him too. That’s— not to say that I don’t love my husband, but humans show affection very differently than elves. I guess you can say that Zen and I had both mistakenly projected our feelings for the wrong person,” she started cuddling him while I swore I heard her sniffing her nose.
I never knew Lily’s mother was in love with Zen’s father. No wonder I felt something was off. She had been focusing on Zen ever since he set foot in the elven forest. Perhaps Zen might have mistaken Violet for his mother, but it felt weird that Violet seems to be flirting and praising him in every way possible. It felt icky to me, but I guess she had her circumstances; and I choose to believe that Violet will remain loyal to her husband. I really hope her husband doesn’t find out about it, or he’ll definitely not allow Lily to marry him. God, I hope there won't come an awkward situation where I’m placed in the middle. But hey, at least I know for sure that I am related to Zen in some way.
***
Hachiu!
How strange it is for me to be sneezing in the middle of combat. We’ve already mopped up most of the bugs here with the help of the wolves, but— I don’t see my wife or Zen anywhere. Where could they have gone to? I sure hope that they aren't in danger elsewhere. I hate for them to be outnumbered somewhere else without my knowledge.
***
“Well, well, what do we have here? Some little insects have actually found my hiding place. Too bad none of your brethren will be saving you from your impending doom,” spoke a sinister voice.
Shit, we stayed here too long and now we’ve been discovered by this massive bug. Damn it, Zen. You picked a bad time to fall unconscious!