Chapter 88: Vol2 Ch27 – You’re Elysia?! (8)

Everyone else quietly returned to their seats and sat in silence for a while. Soon, Luma arrived and asked what had happened. Allison quickly explained everything and Luma gasped. “She was... afraid? For herself?”

Allison nodded. “Yes. It was... unusual to understate it. I didn’t know she was even capable of being afraid for herself.”

The look of surprise in Luma’s eyes told the council everything. Even she had never seen Kye or Elysia afraid. “She’s the oldest of us... and she’s experienced the most... yet she refused to turn the system back on in fear of that pain?” She looked around and received a round of nodding heads. She grimaced, trying to imagine what kind of pain could have caused that. “If she is truly afraid of something, don’t discount it.”

“What do you mean?” Atalante asked. “I wouldn’t ask her to go through such pain again if it’s at all avoidable, but to prioritize one person over trillions... I need to understand.”

Luma looked Atalante in the eyes. Her eyes had both determination and compassion in them. “I have known Elysia since time immemorial. Never once has she ever shown fear aside when worrying about another. She has lived more mortal lives than any of us, but that part of her overall life is but a drop in the bucket. There’s so much more to her than any of you could imagine. If she is afraid of experiencing that pain a second time... do not ask her to do so. Please remember, I am not only Luma Caliburn the Sword Saint. Above all else, I am Luma the Ninety-Ninth, and Elysia is my friend. I will do anything for her. The world can learn to adapt without the system. There are many more worlds that don’t have a system at all that get on just fine.” She paused and looked around the table again. “Do not ask her to go through that pain again.”

“...very well,” Atalante replied. She swiped her hand in the air, but nothing happened. “It’s really gone... Okay, the topic of this council is now how to proceed without the system. Our society is heavily reliant on the NeuraPhone. We must recreate it.”

*****

Doran carried Kye to their residence at the palace in Arslade. They always used a door-shaped portal to go to the council chamber, so it wasn’t a long trip. He gently laid her down. She had fallen asleep in his arms along the way, and he didn’t want to wake her after what she went through. He joined Alethea, Michelle, Layla, and Hannah on the far side of the room before saying anything.

“I’ve never seen her like this.”

“I still can’t believe the fear I saw in her eyes,” Hannah said. “For such a strong girl - one who immediately leaps into danger without a second thought - to so adamantly refuse to do something out of fear... I’m baffled.”

Layla said nothing and simply pulled up a chair next to the bed. Kye’s breathing was uneven and fast, as if having a nightmare. Layla wrapped her with healing magic and readied herself to stay like that for as long as necessary.

“What can we do?” Alethea asked. “This is uncharted territory for us.”

“And that’s saying something,” Michelle added.

Hannah shook her head. “Support her as best you can. I’ll prescribe therapy sessions later. She’ll likely need some time before talking about it.”

“You think it’s mental?”

Hannah nodded. “Without a doubt. I’ve spent much of my ten million years working with LGBT patients. Many of them, especially trans patients,” she eyed Alethea, “benefit from therapy. Sometimes just talking about it is enough. I expanded into broader therapy and saw any patient that needed help, regardless of background. This should be no surprise to you lot, but after ten million years... there’s not much you don’t see in your profession. I’ve done basically everything medical at this point, not just mental care.”

Alethea hesitantly replied, “Hannah, you have an advantage we don’t.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve lived millions of lives. One million lives alone adds up to several tens of millions of years or more, some of those lives can be very long. We’ve got you beat by such a large degree it’s not even remotely close. Yet, you have lived your ten-plus million years as one person and have grown and mastered your trade to a degree none of us have ever done, at least as mortals. Our immortal lives before are different altogether, but when you get past our immortality and our mana, we’re really not much different from regular people. There’s many things we’ve mastered via repetition - living the same several decades of life many times over - but there’s only one thing we have truly mastered... killing.”

Hannah glanced between her, Doran, and Michelle. Both confirmed her words. Before she could continue, the door opened and in came Evelyn. She was present at the royal council, but she had frozen up when she heard Kye’s screams.

“You finally deign to-” Alethea began.

“Don’t start,” Evelyn cut her off coldly. She closed the door and began walking toward the bed. She snapped her fingers along the way and the world shifted around them. The walls and ceiling faded away, the floor changed to that of white marble, and her appearance changed to her true self.

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“W-What?!” Hannah couldn’t believe her eyes.

“What are you doing?! There’s mortals here that don’t know about you!”

Eve looked back. “Hannah, Layla, I’m Eve the Primordial.” She shrugged. “There, they know.”

“I...” Hannah muttered.

Eve sat down on the bed next to Kye. Layla shot her a cold look, but Eve paid it no mind. “I was frozen in terror as I listened to her screams. I thought had been distancing myself from all of you, because I didn’t know if I would choose to maintain my identity or act... I told you as much. As it turns out, the problem was neither of those things. It seems I distanced myself out of a subconscious fear of seeing any of you in pain.” She looked at the sleeping Kye and casted healing magic of her own. In mere moments, her body was completely healed, and her breathing eased. “I am not allowed to meddle with her mind, but physically, there’s no longer anything wrong with her.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Layla said after giving her a genuine look of, ‘Are you serious right now?’

“Elaborate.”

“You said you’re Eve.” Layla looked around. “You’ve clearly moved us to a normally impossible location, and you’re speaking to Alethea as though you’re her superior. I don’t think you’re lying, but are you not omnipotent?”

Eve sighed and began explaining. “No. I’m not omnipotent, not right now. Elysia must finish her mission and our problem must be solved. In a literal sense, yes, I am all-powerful, but even we ancients have politics.”

“What do you mean by that?” Alethea asked. “Politics?”

Eve sighed again, not wanting to explain things, but she relented. Before she said anything, she casted a strange spell on everyone present. “That was soul-level contract magic. Just by hearing my words from here out, you automatically agree to the terms, which are to keep this to yourselves. Of course, you may discuss it amongst yourselves, but with no others.”

“Fine. What are you on about?”

“The reason Elysia sealed her memories was to hide something from herself that the rest of you have no knowledge of.”

“Okay. And you’re going to tell us?”

She nodded. “Just like Azriel and Ezra... Elysia is my biological child. That itself is not the big secret. We lived long before I created any of you. Elysia was my firstborn, and I didn’t have Azriel and Ezra until after the lot of you came along. You remember their birth.” Eve reached out and took hold of Kye’s left hand. There was a single tear in Eve’s right eye, something Layla didn’t miss.

“What are you so hesitant to say?” Layla asked. “You clearly have the same emotions we do. You love her no differently than I do.”

“Yes.”

“Yet, until recently, you’ve remained distanced at all times,” Alethea said. She put a hand on her chin as she thought about it. “Even before her first transmigration... ever since...” Her eyes widened.

Eve stood up and waved her hand in the air. The sea of stars around them changed, replaced by an endless expanse of civilization. Tall white and gold structures as far as the eyes could see with gargantuan cylinder-shaped structures in the far distance spread out equal distant from each other. Behind Eve stood a large structure resembling a palace. The white stone platform seamlessly melded into the front of the structure. There were even people scattered about, though they acted as though they couldn’t see the group.

“Welcome... to the Nexus.”

*****