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When we returned to HQ, I suggested we clean up and rest for the night. I didn't feel like staying up late explaining everything to my parents.
Plus, I needed to tend to my wounds.
I let Trik stay in my room on the sofa for the night since he couldn't move. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet the whole way home. Although thinking back, no one spoke much.
Eventually, after showering and rebandaging my arms, I hopped into bed and started to fall unconscious from exhaustion.
At the last moment, I could've sworn I heard Trik finally speak.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Lisa," he said in a barely audible whisper.
I couldn't respond because, the very next second, I was asleep.
I asked Trik about it the following morning, but he claimed never to have said anything. I took that as a clear hint and decided to let it go.
While Za'Fia was getting registered, I carried all 200 pounds of Trik to my dad, interrupting his fanboy hysteria. Of course, he asked what happened, but I told him everything would be explained after Trik was taken care of.
Me prioritizing Trik seemed to brighten his mood some.
Before my father carried Trik off, I heard Trik's request for a couple of upgrades to his sensor—specifically, its radius and to adjust it to detect anyone with an EQN higher than 100,000.
My dad responded with a laugh and said, "Sure, but with an upgrade that expensive, you can consider it your late birthday gift. Probably Christmas too."
Trik started to complain about wanting to update his camouflage mode for Christmas.
"...I was thinking longer hair, perhaps. Maybe red this time. Oh! Or..."
I couldn't help but smile as a warm feeling spread through my chest. It was nice watching Trik be himself again. I couldn't believe I almost lost him yesterday – on his birthday of all days.
That's twice something horrible happened on one of our birthdays. Was it a bad omen?
My thoughts were interrupted as I heard gasps coming down the hall. Going down to see what the commotion was about, I saw Za'Fia exiting the restroom.
It seemed she received her special clothing from my mom. She wore an elegant cloak that somehow seemed to move like fire itself. It hung, hoodless, from her shoulders, like a blanket with a pin shaped like her ascension mark, keeping it closed at the shoulder. Its peach-orange glow dazzled the eyes as it danced into a searing scarlet like the color of a sunset.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Za'Fia was smiling, obviously pleased with her gift.
Looking around, I could see that everyone was finding it difficult not to look at her.
Everyone except Tymon.
He walked past everyone, completely absorbed in his thoughts. Za'Fia and I followed him out of curiosity and entered a nearby office.
I could tell from Za'Fia's expression that it must have been awkward for her since this was the first time they talked since her display back in Avarice's lab.
"So, I'm guessing it's a little weird now that you know I've been lying to you all this time," Za'Fia said a little sheepishly.
"Not really," Tymon said dryly, still focused on what was bothering him.
Wow.
"What he means to say is that he figured it out the night he brought us to his home," I said, stepping in to clarify. "He figured you had your reasons and would tell him when you were ready."
I looked at Tymon with concern. I get he was oblivious to some social cues, but come on, seriously?
"Tymon, you okay? You seem distracted," I stated.
"It's probably the fight. We were badly outmatched up there," Za'Fia said.
"I hit him with everything I had...and it did nothing. It was like trying to destroy a mountain with a bat," Tymon grumbled.
"Don't beat yourself up about it; you've only recently regained your power. Plus, defeating another klevonian who's over 8,000 years old would be a challenge for any of you," I said, trying to help lessen his discontent.
Tymon didn't seem encouraged by my words. He continued to sit there and ponder to himself.
Za'Fia and I sat there for a while as we waited for Trik's repairs to be done. At some point, we started talking.
"I assume you figured out your friend was a Sub Deity the other night when you two fought," Za'Fia said out of the blue.
"No, we found out earlier that day," I responded.
There was a weird tension in the air and a moment of prolonged silence. Why did this feel so awkward?
My mind raced, thinking about something to talk about. Then, I remembered the question I had for Viraa earlier.
"Oh yeah, Viraa, I wanted to ask you this earlier – If Tymon reverts to his prime self when he dies, how did he grow from a baby in Brayton Village?" I asked out loud.
"Hmm, the answer may seem a bit complicated," Viraa stated.
"As you all know, each Primordial was given an ascension mark after their creation," Viraa began. "Those marks don't just allow a pneumarian such as myself to change a klevonian's body into a beast. It can also somewhat alter their minds or be programmed to affect their bodies in different manners. When I grafted them onto each of them, I programmed the marks to slowly absorb power from them over a millennium, simultaneously aging them faster than they normally would."
"So, their lifespan is actually longer than a thousand years?" I asked.
"Much longer," Viraa answered. "For most of the Primordials, when their energy is gone and they die, the mark envelopes them in a cocoon and uses the reserves of my energy to revert them to an infant. It then stores most of the previous life's memories, save for their true names, giving them a fresh start. Once this is completed, they are released from the cocoon, and their mark protects them from life-threatening dangers. Over the following 16 to 18 years, as their bodies strengthen, it slowly returns the energy it borrowed back to them. Then, begins the process again."
"So, we're not really reincarnating," Za'Fia commented. "We're the same people; we just have our memories wiped."
"In short, yes," Viraa responded.
"But Avarice and Verin figured out a way around that," Tymon mentioned.
"Avarice told me they both figured out long ago that regularly feeding from humans prevents them from aging quicker," Za'Fia relayed.