Stuart…?” Lakshman asked uncertainly, not believing the ghostly figure he saw standing behind him.
“Yes, Lucky,” replied Stuart with a pleasant smile.
Lakshman remained silent for a moment before he asked again in the same uncertain voice like before.
“Are you… really Stuart…?”
To this, his childhood friend let out a light chuckle and stated, “Who else had been friends with you since that incident with the Twin-Headed Cerberus?”
This statement hit Lakshman like a hammer hitting a nail as it made him remember the events that had occurred so many years ago. It was when the two of them were kids and had ventured into the forest that resided near the town. In there, they had a dangerous encounter with a monster known as the Twin-Headed Cerberus and it attacked them, but Lucky fended it off and had told Stuart to hurry to the village to get help since this was a dangerous monster to deal with.
Since then, the two had become good friends with one another since before that they were simply acquaintances due to Lucky’s mother working as a nurse in the hospital run in the town by Stuart’s father. From then, they had grown to become rivals although Lakshman had always been the winner in every competition despite Stuart always claiming he would catch up to him.
As the memories of him spending time with his childhood friend flashed before him, Lakshman looked at the ghostly form and slowly said, “Stuart…!”
In the next moment, he hurried forward so fast that one moment he was standing still and the next instant, he reached the spot the Stuart stood at. This startled the ghostly form of his friend and reacted in surprise as Lakshman attempted to hug him tightly.
Unfortunately, he was a spirit and as such, Lakshman’s hug passed right through him and startled the Phoenix Titan. He reacted in surprise and as realization dawned on him, the expression on his face changed to that of distraught.
“Lucky!” Stuart said, reacting in surprise by the sadness that he saw in his friend. “Calm down, Lucky! Seriously!”
Lakshman gripped his fists tightly and looked helpless as he said, “I can’t be there for everyone and now… I can’t even give you a hug…!”
His wives from behind him watched with sadness on their faces while Stuart looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Then he smiled and said, “Oh. So, that’s what you were so concerned about? That’s okay then! Here,” and he raised his hand into the air in front of his friend.
“Huh?” Lakshman asked in surprise as he lifted his head and saw the hand extended towards him from his friend.
As he blinked in surprise and looked uncertain about what to do, Stuart coughed and said, “Hey. Do you have to keep my hand hanging like this forever?”
By that, Lakshman reacted in surprise and raised his hand before extending it towards the spot where his childhood friend’s hand was at. From outside point of view, it looked like they were touching each other when in fact neither could feel the sensation of their hands touching. And yet, for some reason, Lakshman felt this strange fuzzy feeling and felt slightly happy.
“See what I mean?” Stuart asked, and his friend looked at him in confusion. “We may not be able to touch one another, but we can still do things that we normally did back then, right? The sign of our friendship?”
This made Lakshman remember the high-five that they always gave one another after each day of training. Even when Stuart was defeated every single time, they never stopped this habit and it became a gesture of their friendship. This made Lakshman be filled with the strong emotions of happiness and sadness that he had forgotten something so important.
“I’m… sorry, Stuart! I…. I forgot…!” Lakshman stammered weakly in a remorseful voice.
Stuart, for his part, stared at his friend in amazement and asked, “Really? In these twelve years, I thought I’d see my dear friend become really powerful and cool. Yet, here he stands moping like a cry baby. I don’t believe this!”
“Ah! I’m not crying, nor am I a cry baby!” Lakshman reacted, quickly diverting his emotions to look hurt at his friend.
“There! This expression is much better to see,” said Stuart with a smile, and Lakshman grinned at him.
“Stuart,” began Lakshman curiously, “have you been here this whole time?”
“Since the day that explosive power erupted and destroyed everything? I suppose so,” replied Stuart casually.
“And you never thought about leaving or doing something?”
“I did. Plenty of times, but heck, I guess that’s not written in the job description of being a spirit. It seems that I was bought to stay stuck here with no explanation or anything,” said Stuart, looking displeased about his predicament.
Lakshman dropped his hand to his side and clenched his fist tightly as he muttered, “I’m… so sorry.”
Stuart looked at Lakshman without changing his expression as he instantly understood what his childhood friend was apologizing for.
“Hey, who’s asking for an apology here?” Stuart asked with a cheery smile. “That tree that used to exist over there? The grass that was nonexistence for over 12 years? Or is it that you think I’m asking for an apology?”
“But… if I had been there, I could’ve… I could’ve… saved you all…!” Lakshman said through gritted teeth.
Stuart blinked at him and sighed before he admitted, “You know what? I did feel very angry when I died and got stuck in this place.”
“Angry?” Lakshman asked as he lifted his head to look at his friend.
“Yes! Very angry, actually,” said Stuart as he seemed to be remembering his initial time spent there as a spirit. “Why isn’t Lucky here to save the day?! He’s so strong, so powerful, so silly and innocent; he’d be here to save the day, so why isn’t he here?! Why isn’t he here?! Why didn’t he come?! He’s the Phoenix Titan! He’s so powerful! He’s one of the Nine Pillars of Power! Why didn’t he save us from this nightmare?! Why?!”
Like that, Stuart vented his frustration while walking back and forth in front of his childhood friend. All the while, Lakshman could only watched his friend and do nothing because he was unsure of whether to interrupt him or not. Still, seeing the pain his friend had experienced and the loneliness that followed afterwards made him feel very bad.
“And then,” said Stuart as he breathed and sigh as his mood suddenly swung in another direction. “After a while, after calming down and when you still didn’t come, I began worrying.”
“Worrying? About what?”
“About you!” Stuart stammered and this made his friend be taken aback. “Before all of this happened, there were rumors circulating that something terrible happened to you in the Floria Kingdom. Something about a new demon that was threatening the north, but I wasn’t worried and neither were your parents. We knew how strong you were so we didn’t believe you could be hurt like when you were a kid. But… what if… something stronger than you appeared? What then?”
He turned to fully face his childhood friend and asked, “Tell me, Lucky. Honestly, what happened back then? Also, is it just me or do none of you look older?”
Stuart was eying Lakshman’s wives behind him, who were looking sad by the questions he had asked of them. He also noticed how a sad look came over Lakshman all of a sudden at wanting to know what happened twelve-years-ago.
“Huh, can’t you tell me?” Stuart asked slowly.
Lakshman gulped and looked sadly at his friend as he wondered what he should say. He was not sure whether to say that he and his wives were almost killed by the Calamity Titan, who turned out to be reincarnated brother from the ancient times. It still stung him at the thought that it was his brother that had taken the lives of everyone in the Rodfox Kingdom, which included the lives of his parents and childhood friend. Yet, he could not remain silent because he knew Stuart had the right to know about what happened back then.
As he felt conflicted about what to tell or how much to tell, Ondine and Emilia came to his support as they silently walked up to stand beside their husband while facing Stuart.
“The truth is that we had been asleep for ten years,” said Ondine, causing Stuart to widen his eyes in shock. “In a frozen state after Lucky got us away using an emergency spell that saved our lives after he attacked us.”
There was a moment of pause before Stuart asked urgently, “He? Who’s he?”
Ondine and Emilia glanced at one another before Emilia said, “The Calamity Titan.”
This made Stuart widen his eyes in alarm and exclaim, “The Calamity Titan?! You’re saying there’s someone of the Titan Rank that’s not a member of the Nine Pillars of Power?!”
Emilia nodded and began explaining about there originally being a group known by as the Ten Pillars of Power before the Calamity Titan split away and began to engage in battle with the Phoenix Titan over 8000 years ago. This was at the time when wars were being waged between races with the sole aim for supremacy of the world.
She explained how after suffering defeat at that time, the Calamity Titan hid himself away and went into deep sleep to be reawakened in this timeline when the new Phoenix Titan came out. After plotting for years, he struck when Lakshman was in the middle of a mission to rescue another childhood friend of his, who was Shalany, the Sword Titan’s wife. At that time, they also went to support their husband but were instead defeated by the overwhelming power that the Calamity Titan had in his control.
“So, by the time he came to destroy the Rodfox Kingdom, all of you were already defeated and locked in a frozen state?” Stuart asked as if to be sure, and both women nodded in assent.
This made Stuart shake his head with a disbelieving look on his face.
“Unbelievable, conflict, battles, chaos, and destruction,” he said slowly with a depressed look on his face. Then he looked towards his friend and asked, “Lucky… are you really lucky?”
“What?” Lakshman asked, not understanding the question.
“On your sixteenth birthday, when you went away to have a bath after our routine morning exercise, I had spoken to your mother, Lakshmi,” began Stuart as he recounted a past that Lakshman did not know about. “I asked her why they had named you Lakshman, giving you the nickname ‘Lucky’ in the process since that’s the definition of the name.
She told me that both she and Indra wished the luck of the world to be at your side in your future endeavours since they never had such luck during their lifetime. For them, life was a challenge and filled with hard work and they met it grimly and wanted to grant you a life where you could live peacefully.”
“She told you, ah?” Lakshman asked, smiling a little at the fondness he had for his mother and father for their naming him in that manner.
“After that, I saw you being drawn in conflict after conflict, battle after battle and chaos after chaos. It had me thinking that… perhaps in naming you Lakshman, it had the reverse effect and granted you a life full of difficulty,” expressed Stuart with a distraught look on his face.
“Stuart…” said Lakshman slowly, unsure of what to say to that.
Truth be told, Lakshman had felt the same way many times in the past. When one conflict ended, another one arose to take its place, and he found himself having to deal with it. Regardless of him being a sixteen-year-old, an eighteen-year-old, or having to save the world. He always faced one thing after another without end and it made him question whether it was his name alone that jinxed it all.
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“I guess along the way, you did get married to beautiful wives,” said Stuart, and he looked towards his childhood friend’s wives. Then he narrowed his eyes a little as he asked, “Hmm? I see an unfamiliar face among them. Did you marry another woman?”
Lakshman nodded and gestured for Sonia to come forward, to which she jogged forward to stand beside him.
“Stuart, this is Sonia. We got married two-years-ago.”
“Although the circumstances are like this, it’s still a pleasure to meet you, childhood friend of Lucky’s,” greeted Sonia with a smile and bowed lightly to him.
“Likewise, Sonia,” replied Stuart with a smile.
After seeing their exchange, Lakshman smiled and added, “By the way, she’s an Angel.”
It took his friend to digest this information before he exclaimed in a big way by saying, “What?! Angel?! She’s an Angel?!” He took a double take at Sonia, who appeared to look embarrassed before asking uncertainly, “I can’t really tell?”
“Sonia,” Lakshman called her, and she understood what he meant.
So, she activated her powers and summoned forth her angel wings and they appeared out of thin air. The pure whiteness of the wings that projected her Angel heritage followed by her beautiful appearance was breathtaking. Stuart remained frozen to the spot, staring fixedly at his childhood friend’s wife in awe.
Silvera noticed him staring fixedly and cleared her throat loudly, causing him to snap out of the mesmerising effect he was under and look at them.
“Was I staring a little bit?” He asked nervously and when all of them nodded, he looked embarrassed and said, “I’m really sorry about that! It’s so rude of me to stare like that at someone else’s wife!”
“It’s fine. Her appearance kind of has that effect on others,” said Lakshman easily with a smile.
“On men, you mean,” supplied Silvera, and both Lakshman and Stuart just grinned sheepishly.
“I don’t mind the staring, but really, it’s embarrassing to be looked up to like that,” commented Sonia as she made her wings disappear from sight and looked embarrassed.
“I’m amazed you say that since you used to live in that form,” said Silvera with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, but no one looked up at me as if I was some sort of goddess,” replied Sonia wryly.
“That… does makes sense, I guess,” admitted Silvera, and they both smiled at one another.
Stuart glanced at them and then back at his friend before saying, “So, your marriage with different racial people does count towards acceptance of all beings. Who will you marry next? Elves?”
To that, Lakshman chuckled and shook his head and replied, “No. I don’t want to get married again. I’m happy with my present family. I even have kids to take care of now.”
Stuart blinked when he heard the words “kids to take care of” and stared at his friend as if he spoke something odd.
“Kids?” Stuart asked uncertainly. “Did you just say… that you have kids to take care of? As in, your wives conceived babies?”
“Yes,” said Lakshman simply as if it was obvious.
His childhood friend stared at him in surprise before exclaiming, “Don’t tell me… you became a parent?!”
It was Lakshman’s turn to blink in surprise and ask, “Yes, but why do you sound like it’s the most unbelievable thing that ever happened till now?”
“Because it is!” Stuart insisted with a dumbfounded look on his face. “You, a parent, I never imagined it in my wildest dreams!”
“That’s… You know you’re being pretty rude, right?”
Stuart ignored it and said, “Can you blame me for feeling like this? You were someone who was very innocent, very silly and incredibly dense to realise the feelings these girls had for you for years! Yet, here you are, twelve-years-later, telling me suddenly that you have kids?! This is just too incredible to believe!”
“You don’t believe me?”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you; I just never thought you’d become a parent!”
“That… hurts actually,” said Lakshman, looking wounded.
“Sorry but… I never had any hope that you of all people would become a parent in the future,” Stuart voiced honestly.
Lakshman stared at his friend with a hurt look on his face while Asura inside his mind laughed and said, “This person REALLY knows how to drill that pain into you, doesn’t he?”
“Oh! I’m really annoyed now!” Lakshman expressed, looking annoyed.
He turned around and as he walked away, Stuart turned to the women and asked, “When did it happen?”
“We conceived at the end of last year had our delivery this year around the month Julio,” explained Emilia.
“I think it was in the third week of Julio,” added Tetra thoughtfully.
“The babies were born across that week,” said Ondine as she remembered it clearly.
“Yes. I was last to delivery my baby and it happened on the first day of week four,” said Emilia with a soft smile.
“Uh…” Stuart said, looking around them uncertainly. “Sorry but I lost track of the dates a long time ago. Can you please tell me what day it is today?”
“It’s the 25th of Decan, 8111PX,” supplied Ondine.
This surprised Stuart as he said, “Wow! It’s nearly the end of the year. That’s surprising. I never expected that.”
As they all smiled at one another, they suddenly sensed immense magic emanating from behind them. They turned to see Lakshman kneeling down on the grassy field next to the outer wall that he made in the shape of his old home. A great magic circle appeared beside it and as he invoked its spell, a sudden flash of light occurred, causing everyone to cover their eyes.
This extreme brightness lasted only for mere moments before it died down and disappeared, leading everyone to uncover their eyes. What they saw in place of the empty land beside the old house framed with the wall was the sudden materialisation of their home from Floria Kingdom.
“Huh?!” Everyone exclaimed in shock and disbelief at what they were seeing.
“Good. That worked successfully,” said Lakshman in satisfaction at seeing his house summoned there.
“Um… Lucky?” Asked Sumara tentatively. “Isn’t this our house from Floria Kingdom?”
“Yes, it is.”
She blinked in surprise and asked, “Is this is why you didn’t want to bring the babies along with us while riding atop your familiars?”
“That’s right,” he said with a nod of his head.
His wife stared at him for a moment in disbelief before she let out a sigh and lamented, “Honestly, I should stop being surprised each and every time you defy what I already believed was not possible.”
“Summoning large objects with people inside is an easy task for a person of my calibre,” he boasted proudly while looking towards his friend, who could only stare at him in astonishment. Then he told his wives, “Anyway, go get the kids! I want the dumb childhood friend of mine to believe that I am a parent!”
Though his wives were surprised at his order, they all chuckled and smiled before walking into the house. His sisters also entered because they were amazed by the spell and wanted to check that he did not miss anything.
“How could I miss anything when I summoned the entire house?” He asked in disbelief, but they still went in to check.
“Lucky,” began Stuart as he glided towards him with a disbelieving look on his face. “Is what Sumara said true that this is your house from the Floria Kingdom?”
“Correct.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Stuart stared at his friend in amazement before he let out a sigh and said, “Honestly, I can’t believe you would summon your entire house with your kids in it just to send home the message that you’re now a parent. I already said I believe you.”
Lakshman turned to face him with a grin and said, “It wasn’t just my annoyance at you,” and he explained about the vacation that he had planned with his family on that particular day.
“A vacation, is it?” Stuart asked, looking impressed. “I guess you do deserve it after what you’ve been through from what I gathered just now.”
Lakshman smiled graciously at his friend’s understanding and turned around to see his wives coming out of the house while holding their own babies in their arms. He and Stuart moved forward to look at each of them by taking turns, and his childhood friend was smiling from ear to ear.
“Wow…! They’re so cute and adorable! Also, I kind of see the resemblance to you in them,” said Stuart as he checked each of them.
“How can you tell when they’re so young and tiny?” Lakshman asked with a laugh.
“One can if you pay enough attention to the details,” replied Stuart smartly. As Lakshman shook his head disapprovingly, Stuart turned to look at him and asked, “I’m amazed that you had eight baby girls and only one baby boy.”
“You make it sound like that’s a problem.”
“No, but I’m just curious by the ratio.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it? They’re my children granted to us by the God of Life and the Goddess of Fertility. They decided on whom I should have, and I should live with it.”
“Even if you’re probably as strong as them?” Stuart asked curiously.
Lakshman turned to look at his friend and said, “I may be as strong as them, maybe stronger. I don’t know and frankly, I don’t care because I will never acquire the same kind of powers as they do. For instance, the God of Life has the power to give life and the Goddess of Fertility has the power to give form to that life. I, however, do not possess either of those powers and even if I were to spend decades trying to learn them, I will only grow old and decrepit while achieving nothing in the end. That is why one needs to be born a God or Goddess, not made to become one.”
His friend looked at him for a moment in silence before he nodded his head in acceptance and said, “Fair enough.”
A moment later, Lakshman smiled and asked, “But do you see now that I am truly lucky?”
“You are?” Stuart asked uncertainly at the return of the topic he started from before.
“Yes, because I’ve been granted such beautiful wives and adorable children. After everything I’ve been through, it feels worth it to be here and see this wonderful scene,” said Lakshman as he looked towards his family with a serene look on his face. “Don’t you get what I mean?”
Stuart looked at the same wonderful scene and said, “Yes. I do,” but he finished his thoughts in his head with, “but I will never experience it since I’ve become… this.”
He was, once again, saddened by the fact that he had died young and could not reach the same stage as his childhood friend did. Even so, he did not feel the same anger that he once held towards his friend for not being there for them in their time of need because he understood that Lakshman had his own circumstances. He had nearly died along with his family and was locked in a frozen state far away from them all. As such, he no longer felt the need to blame him anymore and instead focused on the future. This made him decide on what to do from there on.
“Alright! I’ve made up my mind,” he said out loud and turned to his friend. “Since I'll never get to see this with my own family, I’ll stick around and watch how your family grows!”
His declaration was met with surprise by everyone, especially form Lakshman, who asked, “Really? Was that your regret in becoming a wandering spirit though you couldn’t leave the confinements of this previously destroyed land?”
“What’s there to be ashamed off when I died so young?!” Stuart said defensively with his face appearing to turn red a little from embarrassment.
“Hey, I wasn’t saying it was a bad decision. It’s just that you surprised me. That’s all,” said Lakshman wryly.
“Oh. That’s okay then,” said Stuart with a smile. Then he pointed a finger at his friend and said, “Also, I believe you should mark this day as something special to celebrate every year onwards.”
“This day? Why this day specifically?”
“Isn’t it because this is the first time that you’re on a vacation with your entire family, right? So, I believe that in the future as well that this day should be spent only with your family and away from all the distractions,” suggested Stuart excitedly. Then he suddenly had another idea, and he added, “Also, I think you should dedicate this day to your children as well by gifting them presents and such.”
Lakshman and his wives blinked in surprise to the wild ideas that his friend had come up with on the spot. They easily understood without being told the reason that he wanted to mark this day as something special into everyone’s hearts and they did not mind it. In fact, Ondine seemed to become very interested in the latter idea that Stuart had suggested.
“Family gathering is fine and everything, but gifting children so easily won’t do. It’ll pamper them.”
“Oh. That’s a fair point,” admitted Stuart, looking a little dejected.
There was a moment of silence as each thought about it before Sumara suggested, “How about gifting only the good children that behaved well in the entire year?”
“Only good kids? Is that really okay?” Ondine asked worriedly.
“Of course. It’ll become very significant for them. Be a good child for an entire year and you’ll get lots of presents! That should work to help carve their mentality,” said Sumara with a smile.
“Plus, it’ll engage the children to really try hard to behave well with a set goal in mind,” added Emilia in understanding.
“Exactly!” Sumara said happily. She turned to Stuart and said, “This is a great idea you came up with!”
Stuart grinned and said, “I’m happy to be of help, but you’re great as well to further improve on my idea. I like that.”
She chuckled and asked, “You know you’re praising the wife of your friend a little too much, right?”
“Yes. I suppose Lucky would become jealous if his wives are praised by anyone other than him,” added Cantia cheekily while looking towards her husband.
Lakshman reacted in surprise by blinking twice and saying indignantly, “What are you talking about? I won’t feel jealous. I’d feel really happy and proud of you all when you get praised by others!”
“Relax. They’re joking with you, Lucky,” said Emilia with a smile as she patted him on the back, and he smiled wryly.
“In that case, we should give today a name to identify by,” said Tetra and looked curiously around for any suggestions.
For a few seconds, there was silence between them as everyone was deep in thought about what name to give to identify such a special day.
“How about we call it… Winter Feast?” Sumara suggested.
“Winter Feast? As in because it’s winter?” Lakshman asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. “I’m not sure. I mean, it’s not really cold during this time, is it?”
Venezuela looked at her husband and said sharply, “You don’t talk, Lucky, when you’re obviously don’t feel the effects of the weather!”
He looked hurt, and his shoulders drooped a little as he wore a dejected look on his face as he muttered, “I was only trying to help.”
As the others smiled a little at their husband’s childishness, Tetra curiously asked, “Winter Feast? The name sounds good, and I get that it’s happening in the winter season so it fits but… a feast…? Can we prepare a feast for this kind of celebration?”
As she turned to look towards Ondine and Emilia, Ondine smiled and said, “Well, I think it sounds good. We can have a large feast during this time every year, right Emilia?”
“That’s right,” agreed Emilia with a bright smile. “The children will be very happy, and it’ll be a wonderful time to spend together in such a large number.”
“Yeah! That sounds prefect!” Priya chipped in with a bright smile. “While the feast is being prepared, everyone else could get a gift ready to surprise the children early in the morning. It’ll get them so excited! That would automatically encourage them to be good for an entire year and help shape their mentality.”
“My thoughts exactly!” Cantia said happily, and they grinned at one another.
Seeing them being so happy, Stuart looked at his friend and asked, “You should be happy this has become a festive day all of a sudden.”
“Yeah… I suppose so since you’re an old friend of mine that gave this idea in the first place,” said Lakshman, and he smiled at him.
This struck a chord in Stuart’s mind because he suddenly said, “Don’t call me old! I died young, remember?”
“Oh. Sorry about that,” said Lakshman apologetically with a sheepish smile with Stuart shaking his head disapprovingly.
As such, the 25th of Decan has become known as the Winter Feast day within the Chand family and later in the future, this would spread outside the family until it became an annual event that everyone celebrates together no matter how busy their daily lives are.