“Wow” That was the most commonly heard word that could be heard on a flat plot of dirt, as Theo told the fairy about his story, she quietly listened through the whole thing. Her demeanor resembled that of a well-trained little puppy excitedly wagging its tail. He told her everything, from the curse and cycles to what happened right before he awoke in this place. Sometimes he added an interesting experience he was able to recollect, enjoying the process of somebody fervently listening to him and taking interest in him.
“So now you basically know everything about me, do you have any information of why that happened to me or any similar instances?” That was another reason he decided to share his past, if anybody could give him an explanation, it would be a magical being, right?
“Hmmm… Well, none of what you told me is unheard of, but all of that happening together is indeed strange.” The fairy said after some consideration.
“In what way?”
“Let me put it this way. Creating a curse that you described wouldn’t be that difficult, although its conditions for activation do seem strange.” She paused for an instant and continued with a significantly more prideful tone. “The ability to return in time is also not unheard of as we, the True spirit clan have the ability to bless individuals of our realm with incredible powers, the ability to send somebody back in time or give them the knowledge of the future definitely isn’t impossible.” She said while puffing her chest.
“Can you tell me more about your clan?” Theo believed that learning more of the origin of this fairy would be a smart idea, and she seemed more than happy to continue.
“My clan is the greatest spirit clan there is, some say that other spirits shouldn’t even be called spirits when compared to our majesty.” Because of the shameless boasting, Theo decided to take all further information that he got about her clan from her with a grain of salt. “We are commonly referred to as world or realm spirits by the common populace. It is not an exaggeration to say that we control the world.”
“Let’s return to the matter of my ‘system’ then, as you can gather by now, I have less of an idea of what’s going on than you do, so its better if you explain to me all the details” Calling out ‘system’ in his mind, or even out loud didn’t seem to work, so he decided to work with the fairy to come to a solution.
“Hmph, it makes me angry just thinking about it. I was getting ready to accept my bond with a newly created realm as part of my clan’s initiation. But for some reason my destination got forcefully redirected to here, then I was forced to take on this form and told to fulfill my role as a… I think it was ‘system fairy’?” Now Theo felt kind of bad for her, he knew what it felt like to be forced into a situation you don’t want to be in with no way out, and he didn’t like the feeling of supposedly being the reason for something like that happening to another person.
“Look, I won’t force you to stay here, so if you have any way of returning to your clan, I am more than happy to help.” Although the fairy was touched by his words, she soon showed a sad expression.
“No, I don’t. And even if I did, that wouldn’t solve anything.” Her eyes grew moist, as tears threatened to fall out of her eyes.
“Hey, it's okay, why do you say that?” Theo said in a calming tone.
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“Sniff… The spirits of my clan bond with a realm for life. There is no way to bond with a second one or break the connection, in some ways the realm even becomes a part of our body. The state of one’s realm decides the standing of the spirit, so not having a realm is worse than death.”
“You said before that you bonded with this realm if I remember correctly. So, what’s wrong with it?” The teary appearance that the fairy showed now would even make serial killers feel pity.
“The problem is that this realm already belongs to you…” That statement completely baffled Theo.
“What? How?”
“I don’t know, you tell me. No one is supposed to be able to own a realm, even my clan only bonds with them and forms a symbiotic relationship. I heard of some great existences in the past that were able to form their own dimensions, but to form a realm with its own space and time laws is completely unheard of.”
“I don’t think I follow”
“You have a complete realm inside you, you dimwit!!!” His confusion angered the fairy, provoking another outburst.
“Inside me? But aren’t we in the realm, how does that work?”
“Why are you asking me? If you’re able to form a realm inside of you, then you shouldn’t use common sense to explain it!”
“Well, yes, but if the realm is inside of me and I am inside of the realm… Ah, forget it…”
There was a moment of silence until Theo proposed an idea.
“You said that you form a symbiotic relationship with a realm right? I assume you help it develop, which then raises your status or strength?”
“Duh, smart pants.” Theo’s eyebrow twitched for a second in response, but he still continued with what he was about to say.
“Then the situation is easy to solve. I don’t see a reason to disallow you to stay here and since you claim this is my realm, you helping it grow will only benefit me.”
After she contemplated on what he said for a while, her face started heating up for a reason unknown to Theo.
“W-w-we-well b-but sharing a r-realm wit… no, o-okay, if you’re fine with that.” The gibberish sentence came out of her mouth in such a low volume that just the fact that he heard it made Theo consider that he might have gained super hearing.
After that the fairy held her red cheeks and started spacing out.
“Hey, I know you said that you didn’t gain a name because of some complications, it’s weird if I just call you ‘you’, would it be okay with you if I named you?”
Theo’s question broke the fairy out of the confines of her own mind.
“Uh, y-yes, what?”
“What do you think about Eileen?”
“Think about Eileen?” Muttered the fairy in confusion.
[Congratulations!]
[You have successfully named your system familiar!]
[Your familiar’s name is now Eileen!]
Theo was pleasantly surprised as he was about to ask Eileen about a way to access the system. Although the notification didn’t clear that up it nonetheless gave Theo a definite confirmation of its existence.
Eileen on the other hand spaced out again, this time however it would seem that it wasn’t because of her thoughts going wild, it was more like something possessed her and put her in a trance. She also didn’t seem to be able to respond no matter what Theo did, so he decided to just wait it out.
Meanwhile, Theo contemplated about his other problem, and that was his lack of clothes. His realm didn’t seem to have anything else other than dry, cracked land, which wasn’t an ideal clothing material, to say the least. Although Eileen either didn’t mind his nude body or just grew up in a different culture, he still felt very uncomfortable.
But besides this, there was another, more long-term problem. What will he do from now on? The overly energetic fairy kept him so occupied in the present that the thoughts of his future barely passed his mind.
Even though he didn’t know what will happen in the future, he already liked his life more and more as each second passed. Even Eileen, though rough around the edges, was one of the first people he truly conversed with. It is hard to hold a conversation if you are known as the weird germophobic kid and the fact that the previous curse caused people to hold a faint dislike for him even if they never met him previously meant that striking conversations was difficult and maintaining them even more so.