Ninety-Four

Ninety-Four

“Uhh, you might want to calm down a little.” I said, trying to untangle myself from her arms, but she merely gripped me tighter, putting all her strength into it. What the hell just happened? My class upgraded, then Shaeula accepted something... I could feel a bond with her still, but now it was deeper, more real.

“Do not be like that, my master-master.” Shaeula snickered, still hugging me. “I am merely delighted beyond measure that I survived. Truthfully... I expected to die here-here.”

What the hell? I was shocked at the revelation, and as my attention wavered Shaeula tipped me over. I fell, hitting the ground painfully, leaving her straddling me. As she looked down on me tears fell from her amber eyes again, this time tears of relief rather than scalding pain.

“What do you mean? Why would you die? Okay, I get it was risky, but we studied and took precautions. Sure, it was far more... gruesome than I envisaged, but...” she placed a finger over my lips, shushing me.

“We Fae, we are creatures of spirit, of the soul, as you mortals would term it. Our Astral bodies are far closer to the root of the soul than the Material bodies you mortals wear-wear, though of course they still are not the soul itself, that surely dwells elsewhere, perhaps in a realm high above the Astral...” her gaze momentarily rose to the skies above, barely visible out of the deep chasm we were within. “Our bodies are the stuff of aether and essence, unlike the matter that makes up your forms. As such, they are fragile indeed-indeed. When you mastered two elements, despite the fact that fire consumes wind, I realised... though your mortal forms are clumsy and blind to the higher mysteries of the Astral tides... they are robust and malleable indeed-indeed.”

This is fascinating and all, and information I’m fairly sure I needed before this, but... “Okay, I get how we are different, but what... what does that have to do with you dying? If you’d have said, I would never have forced you... do you think I don’t care about you, and just think of you as a servant, a slave?” Damn, my heart was aching, this felt really bad.

“Such a fool.” She whispered. Then, her voice strengthening, she made her resolve and continued. “You wound me, my Akio. Of course I understand that you treasure me. How could I not-not? You have tried your best to abide by the three Oaths you swore to me, you have fed me, given me much alcohol and many gifts, even brought me to meet your own kin, which is a sacred act to us Fae. Even before our lunar nodes were bound, I knew-knew...” she looked away for a moment, before turning back, her eyes set with conviction. “I am such a fool-fool, you see. Sent to the lands of my mother, with little aid. Even my overbearing siblings were unable to support me. The Seelie Court is rife with intrigue and turmoil, and as I am not pure-blooded Fae...” her face twisted in anguish. “... I am ripe to be a pawn in games of politics. Such was to be my fate-fate. Still...” she raised her hand and a small yellow flame bloomed on it. “... fates can be overturned. You did not-not even understand what we swore, did-did you? After all, I used one of the Boons I should have given you to enslave you to my naive dream of one day ruling the Seelie. In fact, I swore very loose oaths, with many-many loopholes. Us Fae are cunning folk indeed-indeed. Had I wished, I could have betrayed you at any time, my conscience clear and Oaths unbroken. And yet...”

This is heavy stuff. I’ll be honest, I never really thought about the content of her Oaths too much. But thinking about what she’s said, she’s right.

“And yet... you have fought beside me, taken injury meant for me, showed me nothing but respect and kindness, and put your faith in me-me... I felt bitter at my duplicity, despite it being our ways. Even that oaf Grulgor left himself a way out-out with his requirement you ‘not oppose Duke Formor.’ After all, what is opposition? But no, I made a proper third Oath, one that I did not tell you about-about. I would follow you, even unto death. My third Boon shall be that I will always act in your interests, even should it cost me my very soul-soul.”

“You don’t need to go that far. I’d be heartbroken were you to die. And I will see my promise to you fulfilled. You will be...” again she cut me off with her gentle hand.

“I am weak, even now, compared to my father, let alone the Queen, I am nothing but a little child shouting into the wind-wind, throwing but a tantrum. I have hardly grown at all-all since my misplaced pride led me to my banishment in the land of my mother-mother. But you... you have gone from a nobody that barely defeated me through luck and my own hubris, to someone who can defeat Grulgor in combat. Your will to grow stronger, to protect those you love-love, to see what lies at the end of strength... all that, I find it so very blinding. And so, if you wished for me to plunge my essence into the flame, to burn away to ashes ... I would do it gladly, for I have no wish to be a weak burden that always walks behind you. No, I would stand by your side, or I would blaze away to nothing, the fate your aid deferred claiming me at last-last.”

She’s shining now, and not with fire. Her pride, her nobility... she truly is a princess. Still, I can’t let this stand.

Shaeula yelped as I stood suddenly, picking her up and lowering her to the ground. I patted her head, ruffling her hair, causing her to squint in pleasure. I then suddenly tugged at her long hair, causing her to yelp and scowl at me. “Bad, bad Shaeula! You need to TELL me these things. If you had died here, I would have blamed myself. I thought that because I could do it, you would surely be able to, as you are far more talented than I. But still...” I enfolded her in a warm hug. “I’m so glad you didn’t die. No more risks like that, okay? The end of our journey may be shrouded in darkness, the fate of the Earth and of us all unknown, but I shall walk it together with you, and your kin, and Eri, Aiko, my family and friends, even that damn fool Grulgor. If we aren’t all together to walk it, why would I even care about saving the world? I’m no hero, I’m pretty damn selfish. I only care about those I love being happy.” I paused for a second then. “Uhh, speaking of Grulgor... shit, I think I can link to his lunar node as well. It feels disgusting. Still, at least he didn’t ‘accept the connection of our souls’ like you did. So what’s up with that anyway? I can’t slacken the bond like I could before, it seems to be a permanent connection.” The words poured out of me, in relief that Shaeula was both alive and had finally truly opened her heart to me. I had thought that when she told me about her mother we had finally fully trusted each other, but... to think there was still this much more in her heart. Women, even Fae-women, truly are deep creatures...

“Hah, that idiot Grulgor would not accept such a bond, all he seeks is foes to crush and enemies to eat-eat. As for me... as I said, we Fae are creatures much closer to the soul than you mortals. As you join your Material bodies with those that you love-love, we blend our Astral forms, our lunar chakra overlapping and mixing. It is a sign of the greatest trust. I never believed that you would become so like the Fae that it was possible for us though-though.”

Foresight, hmm? I received some of this myself... might as well check it out.

Foresight – One’s attunement to the flow of fate and destiny. It manifests as a sixth sense that gives a limited prescience to events that strongly affect one’s future.

Okay, now that is cool. Though I bet we would need a ton of Foresight to get much of value, otherwise It would be busted as hell...

I quickly checked through her Unique skills. All of them were pretty powerful, but I knew that already. Foehn though, it was situational, in fact nearly useless most of the time... but against the right foe... it was truly worthy of being a trump card.

Then there was her new skill, Aetheric Chirurgeon. Aetheric Chirurgeon is the ability to use aether and elemental essences to heal and repair damage to Material and Astral bodies, as well as support and develop chakra networks and chakra nodes. This skill reduces the resistance of the patients’ body to such invasive acts and accelerates stabilisation and healing of modified chakras. I guess she got that skill from working on me? It’s a good one, I want it too... still, it’ll be really useful for our training school at Shirohebizumi shrine. Anyway, moving on...

Her Fae class merely offered bonuses to her aether and strengthened her elements, which was not a small boon, but Pledged One... I hesitated before inspecting it. Here goes...

Pledged One is a token of the unbreakable bond freely given by a Noble Fae and gratefully received by the recipient. It is a mingling of souls, a deep bond. When one falls, so shall the other perish. Strength flows between those so bound, and skills known by either partner are easier for both to grow, as knowledge is shared on a spiritual level. As this class grows, ???????? will ??????? ???????.

Damn, more question marks. And gratefully received? Come on... although... I have to admit, I doubt I’d have refused was I offered the choice... I’m such a bad person... I never thought I’d be this... well, unfaithful... although, no, it isn’t entirely my fault, is it? Yeah, let’s go with that...

“You can praise me now.” Shaeula intoned, and I patted her head.

“Good job, good girl. Who is a little badass, you are, yes you are! Anyway, might as well check out my growth while I’m here, since this has been one hell of a productive night...”

Oh how sweet my status was. My Aether had nearly doubled, I’d earned new skills and even my lowest ability was 187% of human maximums. I was now well into superhuman Territory. I think the tutorial is over and Shaeula and I have graduated from noobs to experienced players. I wouldn’t say we are powerhouses yet, as a single punch from Grulgor could no doubt still kill us, but even so... it feels good to have grown! Yeah, focus on the positives, that’s what I need to do right now...

Turning to Shaeula I spoke jovially. “So, it’s getting late and we should be headed back to the Material, we don’t want to keep Eri and Aiko waiting for breakfast, but then... they were really tired so are probably sleeping in. How about we quickly test out our newfound powers? Are you game?”

She returned a broad grin, and on one palm surged citrine flame, on her other a gust of olivine wind. I guessed that was answer enough...