Chapter 79: Book 2 Chapter 25: Surgical scars

Aerien’s POV

I levitated myself back from this queen dragon, filled with a sense of relief at my younger self finally being in a stable state. I had been focusing on nothing aside from just keeping her alive for so long, trapped in this bleak place filled with all the destruction caused the rough nature of my apparent awakening to what was supposedly my old former level of power.

But now, finally, she was stable. She was not recovered, but at least she was in a state where I could look away from her for two seconds and work on her recovery without worrying about what would happen. She was still limp in my arms, still unable to wake up, but finally there was the promise that she was on her road to recovery.

I looked back to the dragon queen with a soft look of appreciation. She certainly seemed far less intimidating now that we had worked cooperatively on such a monumental thing. No, it was more than that. Somehow, she really did not seem to have as much of a commanding presence anymore. She seemed… tired. However, she still carried herself with dignity and held her head high as she uncoiled her body.

Now then, I hadn’t made an issue of it earlier, but there was something she had said. Her condition in lending her aid was that I would now belong to her. What did she mean by that exactly though? In what capacity would I be “hers?” Well then, I guess now is the time for negotiations. For my part, having said nothing, I still had some room to negotiate myself. Although, my gratitude over her having given her help without insisting on the details beforehand was definitely going to play a part. If she were a cruel queen wanting to hold dominance over me, if she were the type to demand I become her slave, she would have pushed such demands before healing my younger half and I was still desperate.

Well, a vassal of some form or another was probably the most likely then. If that’s the case, it would be best for me to find out what I can. I hugged my younger half gently to my chest, and then looked back to the queen.

“I really don’t think I can express my gratitude toward you enough.” I said to her. “So, you said something about the condition on which you were offering your aid. I think we had better discuss that more.”

‘Yes,’ she responded. ‘But first, I used a lot of my own energy to restore that young one. Normally, I might have to spend centuries to recover that much energy.’ She looked up with these words, words that were spoken without the movement of her mouth. They simply seemed to emanate from her direction and I immediately understood them. More interestingly though, I understood her words as English. They were communicated directly to my mind in the form I could understand the best.

She seemed to be basking herself in the energy around her, stretching her feathered wings and shifting her body in a manner that seemed somehow lazy but dignified at the same time.

‘This place, the abundant energy running through the core of your spirit, I feel I can recover rather quickly if I were to stay here. I must ask though, where does this vast energy go to? I certainly could feel none of it emanating from your physical body.’

“Everything that’s not used vanishes into the void.” I answer her question honestly, pointing down toward the inky blackness below. “That is the secret to my cultivation. Energy does not like to be held stagnant. I do not actually summon this energy to me at all. Rather, I direct all the effort toward expelling the energy. And, by its nature, as I empty myself of the energy, more rushes in immediately to take its place. It is like the difference between the amount of water that passes through a cup compared to the amount of water that passes through a stream. There is simply no comparison between the two.”

‘Hmm… I see. So, you summon energy by getting rid of it? Very interesting. Clever, even. With such a method, you could greatly exceed your capacity with very little difficulty. I can see a lot of potential in this method, but I suppose that potential also must be refined. It will do you no good if you cannot utilize the energy.’

She seemed amused, but also thoughtful. It was like she was evaluating me and my capabilities. Was this like some sort of interview process?

‘I must say though, it has been a long time since I grew too large to relax in a stream. Being inside a stream of pure energy now is rather nice. I simply wish that there was something that could be done about the arcane energies mixed in. I suppose there is nothing that can be done about that though, and it may even be good for you considering your heritage.’

She began to hover her body about inside of the sphere that represented my third Chakra, flying behind me and looping around, eventually settling with her body fully encircling me as she regarded me with interest. ‘I must say though, that was quite impressive. You formed the seven major spiritual power nexuses and a new spirit shell for the child from nothing, and you did it in a mere matter of minutes. I honestly doubt anyone without your ability could do the same. I am curious though, how did you come upon such a remarkable cultivation method?’

Hmm… now, how should I answer this question? “Well, before I can answer that, I have to know something, your majesty. How much have you been told about me?”

She seemed to respond with a slightly bitter mental equivalent to a chuckle. Rather, it was more like the emotion of bitter scoffing bemusement was projected directly into my mind, leaving no room for the misinterpretation that could come from reading a facial expression. ‘I should like to say too much, but most of that is useless information. I however, if your question is to whether or not I know your previous life was spent in another world from our own, I can tell you I have indeed heard that much.’

Of course, the fact I remember my previous life is a given that didn’t have to be said. Well then, that should make explaining this all considerably easier.

“Well, magic worked very differently in my old world. The world itself greatly resisted any and all magic, and to cause even the most simple of effects would require power that would likely be considered on par with the highest class mages of this world. This method, I am told, was developed by mages of the past in my world to overcome this phenomenal magic resistance. However, even at the level you see here and have been praising, I really did not have any actual ability to cast magic or cause any magical effect.”

‘Well, that would explain why your cultivation seems to center on the formation of the warrior and possesses no spell vessels anywhere in its structure. I would be quite interested to see what you could do if you started a proper mage’s cultivation now that you are in a world where magic comes easier.’

“Hmm… I just hope I can control it whenever I make the attempt, I honestly do not know what could happen.”

She just seemed to be staring at me for a long time after this comment. Was this little impromptu interview over? Was she simply enjoying her energy bath too much and loosing the intention for the small-talk informal questioning session, or was she simply trying to think of where to bring this discussion next?

‘Hmm… well then, one more question. Exactly how old were you in your previous life?’

“Hmm… I was sixty years old at the time of my death.” I told her.

‘Sixty!?’ She responded with thoughts filled with disbelief. ‘I am afraid I have a great deal of difficulty believing that one. You bear yourself as someone with quite a bit more experience and awareness than someone of a mere sixty years of age ought to have.’

Mere sixty years of age? Well, her racially biased view is definitely showing here. He was actually considered an old man by most at sixty, although there are some who had insisted sixty was the new upper end of middle aged, and he was certainly healthy enough to serve as the poster child of that push for redefining the age categories.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. Sixty is rather old for a human. Humans don’t have long to live, so we dedicate our lives toward cramming in as much life and experience as we can.”

‘So, you insist that you truly were sixty years of age in your past life then?’ She lets out a snort and her nostrils flare as she looks me directly in the face.

“That’s right.”

‘Hmm… well, assuming you are telling me the truth, you are still far more capable than some of the older humans I have encountered, or at least the ones who have not extended their lives a great deal through their cultivation. I suppose this means you have a rather good future ahead of you.’

“You seem very pleased about that.” I observed almost in an accusatory tone. Something about this whole interaction was wearing thin at the good will I had over what she had just done for me. She also seemed to have the nerve to just stare back in amusement at my accusation too.

‘Very bold, aren’t you? Well, I have made my decision.’ She audaciously declares. ‘Well, I know I said one more question, but before I can explain what I have decided I need to return your previous question back on you. How much do YOU know about us? The fey people, and the royalty in particular.’

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I sighed. Here she goes interviewing me for who knows what and then making decisions without telling me anything. Isn’t this my spirit she is inside of too? She has even outright admitted she is leeching off my energy to recover herself. If there is one thing about nobility that is consistent between humans and dragons, it is clearly their absurd levels of presumptuousness. Well, I guess there’s really no harm in answering this question. She probably plans to fill the gaps in my knowledge, and information is really something I can use. I will get more information in this situation by playing nice than being confrontational.

“Well, I know that it is normal for fey to be born from sentient creatures who have died. They are the result of humans, or also dragons by the looks of it, who have died with a strong will to keep living. I also know that elves are very unusual among the fey and are something that is kinda between the fey and the humans. Other fey do not birth children, they simply materialize from the lingering spirits as full adults. Also, it seems I am highly unusual for an elf in that I am able to remember my past life as a human. Most do not remember their human lives at all.”

‘Hmm…’ She nodded approvingly. ‘It seems you know quite a bit about your own race. That is good. Well, have you been told anything about the royalty of the fey?’

“Well, I am afraid I have not been told a single thing about the fey royalty, the only thing I was told was to expect you to take me from my mother once you had healed me.”

‘Hmm? How did you hear this exactly?’

“My sister told me, she has the ability to communicate with me even in this state, assuming she can get in physical contact with my body.”

‘Hm! Well, this is unexpected. This changes a few things. The most important part is still the same though. Well then, to explain the fey royalty. This may seem unrelated, but did your sister also tell you what happened after you lost consciousness with that nymph who lived in the tree you were being raised in?’

“She became a dryad, right?” I sensed the queen was a little annoyed about something I had just said, but I didn’t really know why. It was small, but her thoughts and emotions were communicated extremely clearly with her energy communication, so that made it very hard to miss even if I had no idea how to read a dragon’s face.

‘Yes, THEY did become a dryad.’ She responded, and in her mind she strongly pushed the image and idea of tree spirits such as a dryad being without gender, making the meaning behind her use of “they” hard to misinterpret. ‘Anyway, that’s not what I was talking about. I mean what they actually did after becoming a dryad. Were you told anything about that?’

“Well, no I wasn’t.” I responded. By the way she was talking, it sounded like she was about to say something very important and it had my attention.

‘That dryad… blamed the people of the village for what happened to you. Over two hundred members of the village, and over one hundred of the supporting reinforcements sent from another village, lost their lives as a result of that dryad’s anger.’

….………….. My mind simply froze upon hearing this. I am not certain I could even call it shock, it is more that my brain refused to process the information. It just… didn’t really sound real.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked. That was about all I could really say in such a situation. I doubted my ears. “Ah, no way, how could Gaerien not have…” No, it was possible that Gaerien might not have known. She told me they were taken out of the house in a covered wagon. Maybe she didn’t even see the bodies. It seemed plausible, but…

‘It is true. Did your sister tell you about a changeling traveling with you? He is an agent of mine, and he is the one who told me about this. Changelings are a very loyal and reliable group, and they act as my personal agents. I assure you, he would not give a false report. You can interrogate that elf who brought you as well if you doubt this.’

“No, I don’t have any real reason to doubt what you are saying, but… I guess I just can’t process it. I mean, really!? I just was not expecting to hear that, it doesn’t really sound, well… real to me, even if I do believe it. I guess… maybe it’s because I was a baby and didn’t get to interact with anyone outside of Ether… errr… the elf mage who raised me, my mother who was reluctant to interact with me, and Rolwen, Levin, and Gaerien. I… never actually knew any of the villagers, so… but…”

‘Hmm… yes, well, I am not going to judge you for not feeling enough over their deaths. Honestly, they are just numbers to me as well.’ I felt my brow twitch and my neck stiffen over her admitting to something like that so casually. ‘There is something important for you to know about this though, that is that your dryad’s reaction was actually mild compared to what most dryads in their position would have done. They fey court has actually had to, on occasion, hunt down escaped people who have offended a dryad just to appease their anger.’

‘You see, dryads are usually simple minded but very emotional creatures. However, their power is great. We may have built our kingdom here in the forest, and we exploit the power of the tree spirits in order to make our lives easier, but the dryads are the true rulers of the forest. We live with the dryads, but we also live apart from them.’

‘Dryads, as well as the lesser tree spirits such as the nymphs, use mana in order to move their tree bodies. They also use spirit energy to enhance their spirit bodies. However, with a very large and overwhelming amount of spirit energy, it becomes possible to actually control a tree spirit. To the fey who live in fear of the wrath of the tree spirits when they go out of control, having someone capable of expending a vast amount of spirit energy in order to forcibly calm them is an ability that would naturally become highly revered. Those with the ability to do this are granted positions of nobility.’

‘As you said before, with the exception of elves, fey do not give birth. As such, there is nothing like the noble succession by blood tradition in human societies. Pure power is all it actually takes to be considered a member of the fey court. Of course, in order to prevent things from becoming too chaotic, we do have a junior member and senior member system, granting decision making powers only to those who have proven themselves capable.’

She looked toward me with some form of meaning in her gaze upon finishing that last sentence in her long shpeel, and I was beginning to get a chilling suspicion about what she was likely to say next.

“Wh… why are you telling me all this?” Of course, I already know the answer to that question, but this whole “let the meaning sink in” game was getting old fast, and the suspense was starting to eat at me. I gave her that line as a prompt to just get on with it.

I could sense bemusement, as well as that smug sense of satisfaction and pride coming off of her as she beamed before giving me her answer. ‘Well, you most certainly have the power necessary to join the fey court. All those questions I was asking, I wanted to know how capable you were. You definitely have the talent to make it to the senior rank and gain decision making power after you have received some proper training. I told you before that becoming a noble was just a matter of power. However, your noble rank is determined by which already existing noble decides to train you, making you their own child to mentor until you gain the skills to become a senior of the same noble rank.’

“So, you really did mean what I thought you meant, huh?” I responded, shaking my head in amazement at this situation.

‘Yes, I made my decision. When you have woken up, you will no longer be the child of the elf who gave birth to you. I will be your mentor, and I will also be your mother.’

That last part, there was something about those words that just made me feel sick inside.

Subscribers' comments of the chapter

"Oh shut evil step mother vibes coming from the dragon queen."

-meowingLexi

"Mama Oren to the rescue!"

-NohVoha

"nah! real mom will probly be made an attendant by Aerien as her first order as a noble just to keep her and the kids nearby."

-Roy

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