Chapter 49: Chapter Forty-Seven: The Floodgates

“What happened here, my angel?” Ms. Myri asked, eyes sharp.

“Umm…” I hesitated as I looked at her over my mother’s shoulder.

My eyes darted over to the dead body lying in a pool of its own blood by the card table. 

‘Shucks. There’s no way they didn’t see that.’

Her eyes followed mine, taking another look at the cadaver and letting out a sigh. Her tense facial expression relaxed as the breath left her mouth.

“Rather, than that…” She started, walking towards me and my mother’s embrace. “Are you really okay, sweetie? There’s a big bruise on your face”

She reached forward and caressed my cheek. 

She pulled her hand away, wiping off something that was on my skin.

‘Blood.’ I realized. ‘Some of Mr. Gary’s blood must’ve splattered on me.’

Ms. Myri was obviously aware of the fact that the blood hadn’t come from the bruise on my face… and as smart as I knew her to be, she probably had several guesses as to where it might have come from, with the cadaver on the floor being the first.

Despite all of that, she and the other two, who probably had come to similar conclusions, seem to have no intentions of pushing the matter if I wasn’t.

This simple observation struck me deep within my soul. 

“No. I’m not okay,” I said as the floodgates opened, tears beginning to fall. 

“Whoa!” Mama exclaimed, tightening her hug and began lightly brushing my hair. “Tell us what’s wrong slowly, Ri.”

“Ever-everything,” I choked out. 

“Everything about what?” Master spoke up, breaking her silence. 

“Everything that’s happe-ned since I’ve arrived in this world,” I replied, attempting to stifle my sobs. “From the moment I awoke here. I’ve been led around, by people or instincts that I didn’t even have before. Or forced into something. Kidnapped. Had something thrust upon me. ”

Master’s face drooped as she probably felt responsible for some of it.

“It started when I was a seed. Instincts forced me to grow into a flower, then a tree, and finally a snake. Then I got kidnapped, had my body taken over….only to be kidnapped again. Then I was interrogated, had a name thrown at me, and was even forced into getting a master to teach me.”

Master’s face dropped even more.

“I’m-” she started. 

“Wait,” I said cutting her off. “Don’t apologize, please. It’s my fault for going along with some of that, or at least not resisting anything. Truthfully, I’m happy about you becoming my master and the name that you gave me.”

I paused, taking a look at my mom.

“Speaking of names…Mama. I know I was the one to suggest it and even accepted it…but I think that I’d like my name to be Maua. I’m fine with you calling me Riot sometimes or as a means to specify this form, but that name comes with some pain. At least that's how I  feel about it right now…but Maua is like a breath of fresh air..”

“Okay, my baby,” She nodded with a smile. “No, okay my little Maua.”

“Thank you, mama,” I grinned back at her.

“After meeting all of you again, I kind of decided that I’d start making my own decisions? So when I went out for a walk to think things over…I sort of soul searched around? And I found two guys with particularly dirty-looking souls…and I kind of let them kidnap me?”

“Right, we kind of figured out about the kidnapping,” Ms. Myri chuckled.

“Sorry,” I apologized.

“It’s fine, it's fine. Rather continue with what exactly went on. Did they do anything to you?” 

“Well, they ‘knocked’ out and transported me here.” I gestured to the room. “They proceed to bind me in that cell over there.”

“Both of the men were of the unsavory type…as you might expect. One wanted a reaction out of me and hit me out of frustration. He would’ve probably tried to go further, but his partner stopped him, saying that they would lose money if they damaged the merchandise. Needless to say…the one who hit me…is umm. Lying in a pool of his own blood over there. And the other one is doing the same thing down in a tunnel over there in the closet.”

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“...”

Silence spread the room as the three most important people to me digested what I just told them.

“So why? Why’d you allow them to kidnap you?” Master asked, breaking the silence.

“Honestly, I don’t really know? Wait..ugh! I totally got led by something telling me to do it again…didn’t I? But I don’t…regret it at all…. But I did get some interesting information out of the other one.”

“...”

Silence again engulfed the room.

My eyes darted between them, trying to gauge their reactions. Seeing nothing but deadpan faces, I bit the bullet again.

“Does what I did disgust you all? Do you hate me?”

“Haha!”

“Fufufu!”

“Ehehe!”

They all began laughing, causing my already present anxiousness to spike.

“Phew,” Mama was the first to rein in her laughter. “Sorry, cutie, ehehe. We’re not laughing at you, I swear.  No, we’re not disgusted with you, and we most certainly don't hate you either. It’s just a bit funny to us.”

“What’s funny?”

“That you’d be so concerned over that…Did you forget the story I told you earlier?”

‘Huh? So concerned?’

“The one about you and Ms. Myri being crippled?” I asked tilting my head.

Mama nodded in response. 

“If you recalled…I told you that Mai and I both eliminated entire species.”

‘Wait…she did say that.’

Mama moved over to Master, throwing her arms over the dragonoid’s shoulders.

“And Murua over here has made enough heads fly that she’s called the Golden Goddess of Grief.”

“Hey!” the golden person in question protested, throwing the squid lady’s arms off.

“Anyways, I’m willing to bet that you didn’t feel much from taking those two scumbags’ lives, did you?”

“No…I didn’t,” I responded.

“I thought as much. That’s because this isn’t Earth, and we’re no longer humans. It’s kind of how life goes around here..., especially as a noble. It’s a fish-eat-fish world. But that’s not to say that we just kill for the shell of it…so no killing indiscriminately.  I’ll be mad if you do, but I don’t think you will... it's not in your nature. Regardless of what you do, nobody here will ever hate you…no matter what.”

“You promise?”

“We promise!” They declared in unison. 

“Now, we’ll slowly tackle the rest of your problem altogether. But ultimately the choice will be yours from now on. No more being led on or forced.” Mama said with a smile.

“That said…I’m interested in this information that you’ve gotten…but this place kind of stinks. Let’s go talk about it over some food at home, hmm?”

“Yes!”