"Fir! Fir, wake up! Please wake up! What's wrong, Baby?!" Mother wailed at my form tucked in tightly with the pillows as she struggled to wake me up.
The suns were in a different position than when I first fell asleep, and I guessed that about an hour had passed. Only Mother was in front of me and she had tears streaming down her dirty face, wooden magician's staff carelessly thrown down beside her as she kneeled on the concrete.
When she saw that I was awake, she let out a sigh in relief and lifted me up gently, pulling me close while being careful not to squeeze too much. I was feeling dazed and had this after burn feeling on my right forearm and on my sternum, below my collar bones. The pain slowly went away as I became lethargic.
A pop up window appeared in front of my eyes that read:
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• HP has taken a dramatic decrease in a matter of seconds: 30 -> 5. It is suggested that rest and time are taken into consideration.
• Condition has become lethargic, exhausted, suffering severe burns, blood loss, and dazed.
• Blessing of and Curse have new inputs. Respectively, "Contract with a God" and "Deal with a Demon."
•New Skill gained: Rapid Healing from experience.
• Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 6.
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That's absolutely flipping fantastic. And that was some major flipping sarcasm.
Mother pat my back as I started to take calming, securing breaths and let out a hopefully reassuring, "Aua."
She opened her eyes and lifted her forehead off of mine, saying, "You don't have a fever, but your so hot...blood? Where's this blood coming from?!"
She exclaimed while lifting my little right arm in her hand. The whole sleeve had a one inch line of dark red color going down it, contrasting with the bright pink clothes I was in. My sleeve was tugged up to reveal pink skin, as if a large cut had just healed. There was a thin scar there. And along that scar, I could see something else, but from here I couldn't make anything of it. Just that it was the darkest black I had ever seen.
As her gaze traveled up my arm, she spotted the base of my throat, the other place there had been burning. Her face paled instantly as she undid the ribbon at the top and tugged the collar open.
Mother froze as if she didn't know what to make of it. Her eyes were stuck on one spot, but I didn't know what was there. Her blue eyes turned to slits of pure intensity all of a sudden, which scared what little life I had left in me, and she squinted with a determined gaze. She looked troubled like she couldn't see whatever was bugging her, and eventually gave up with a sigh.
After looking for a while, she stared into my eyes with regular human ones again, ruffled my hair, kissed my forehead, and buttoned my clothes up like nothing ever happened. She lifted her staff off the ground and cradled me in her left arm as she slung it across her back in a holster. With that, she walked back to the house as I watched a sort of timer broadcast behind my eyes tick by with an HP meter that was slowly rising. It said that there were five hours left until complete recovery.
As we crossed through the field from the pavilion, I noticed that there was a smell of something burnt in the air. When I opened my eyes, I struggled slightly in her hold to look around. The formerly green and yellow grass was now black, the trees that had been standing in a sort of ring scorched with cut marks on it even worse than the ones from Terrence's and Frederick's spar. Two of the trees that were straight across from each other were knocked down with the top parts broken down completely into shards.
It looked like a tornado had come through and wiped them out, which was highly likely with Mother's former A ranking. Now that I thought about it, A is supposed to be really hard to reach, right? Then why did my nineteen year old mother retire so easily from the peak of strength? No, how did she get there in the first place?
Seeing that sight, I thought about the oddities of this world in comparison with "My Love." As far as I knew on my own and what Takuya told me, there were no dragons. Powerhouses were for reincarnation web and light novels, not otome games based on love. The Statuses weren't very specific and fighting wasn't a main point in the game. There were no gods, and adventuring was a topic rarely touched upon. Basically, I'm starting to think that there was a major redo of the game, Takuya didn't tell me anything worth crap, there was a hidden plot to this game, or this was only a world extremely similar to "My Love" but not the same.
That, I could understand. The fact that this wasn't just a little love game anymore was what made me melt in my mental standing. I wasn't too sure of anything anymore.
The collar of my onesie chaffed on my neck, reminding me of the mark of completion that had apparently burned itself there.
That's right...I made a pledge.
I'd stay here with all I had and not give up. It didn't matter what type of world this was, I would live my life to its fullest. I had a new one that was meant to be woven with care and time, a chance I thought I would never have. I would just have to learn its ups and downs on my own.
We walked down the quiet halls with only her pair of shoes clacking on the floor. We made our way as solemnly as a funeral procession to her room and quietly opened the ordinary wooden door. Mother was unusually silent as she placed her staff in its place by her bed, me on top of the sheets, and walked over to my little dresser. She rifled through it and brought back some blue clothes, then disappeared into her bathroom with the pink ones. I heard the sound of a sink running, which was odd since we were in an old mansion, and she came back into the room with a tub of water, soap, and a wash cloth.
After stripping me down, I was lifted and put into the tub on the floor as I had been many times before. Very softly, I was lathered in the soap meant for skin like mine and the blood came off and was diluted in the water. Very soon, I was a clean baby that was practically revitalized with the ten HP that I had since it took an hour to be cleaned without my falling asleep and drowning in the water.
"Fir, are you okay?" Mother asked with a sad gaze. She expected me to answer after staring into my eyes and waiting.
Did she know?!
Afraid to nod and set her off if she didn't know I was more intelligent than a baby, I simply replied with, "Au."
"That's good enough for me."
A small smile lit her face as she took me out of the tub, dried me off, and put the clothes on me. I caught a glimpse of my arm as I was laid on the bed, and experienced a shock. Along the length of it, there was a long thick black line. Going across that line, it looked like someone had tattooed multiple double edged knives with wicked ends. Like messed up, elongated barbed wire.
Sorry "Mom" back in Japan, I got a tattoo even though you didn't want me to, I snickered to myself.
Also, sorry Mother here, I accidentally got myself into something weird.
It looked like she couldn't see it because every time I put my arm in front of her, she frowned and asked me what I was doing. That's not odd at all.
We were both feeling tired after our long day, so I was taken into bed with Mother, not my crib. Hey, won't you crush and roll over me? Isn't my life in danger right now? My HP isn't even half full, you know?
She didn't mind after stripping off her dirty armor, shoes, shirt, and pants, curling around me in only her lingerie.
You are so dang lucky that I'm not a boy.
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We slept after getting nice and comfy, and I didn't wake up until there were only five hours left in the day three hours later. The suns were already down by then, the bright stars not hidden by smog shining brightly all around.
The only reason I woke up was because Thérèse came in without knocking and scarily tapped on on my shoulder before waking up Mother.
[Sense Ominous] pinged. I was on guard immediately, even if it wouldn't do much.
Her eyes creased sadistically like she was about to turn into a titan from Shingeki no Kyoujin, and I positively shivered against Mother and tried to wake her up. She only snorted softly as I tugged on her hair.
"So cute!" Thérèse whispered.
Thérèse lifted me up without bothering Mother, nothing good in her eyes as she took me out of the room for a walk. She held me out at arms length and looked me in the eyes. Hers, I noticed, weren't brown anymore, but black. As I stared at them, the irises seemed to leak and the blackness pooled outwards to become all that I could see, no whites at all. Her smile opened and I saw teeth as sharp as a shark's with a ruby red snake's tongue poking out from behind all of them, so long it almost reached me.
"Well look here, someone actually made a contract with my master," is what came out of that retched mouth. Her brown hair had snakes on the ends of it, the hem of her maid's uniform becoming shredded like it was losing form but still floating in place. "I bet he's delighted! It's his first familiar in a loooooong time, but he's never had a Deviant before. They are supposed to be amazing! Will you keep him happy?"
I looked at her with fear. My whole body was slack and wouldn't move no matter what I tried, be it screaming at the top of my lungs or trying to twitch my fingers. Involuntarily I started to hyperventilate, about the only thing I could do. I couldn't form a single coherent thought as I sensed the blood lust-something I had never felt before but was so sure that this was it now-radiating all around me.
Her eyes cruelly narrowed. "Scared~? Of him or me? Because if it's only little me, you are in for a shock, you know~? He's waaaaaay scarier than me."
If.
Just if.
I survive this.
I WILL LEARN MAGIC. NO HOLDS FREAKING BARRED. SCREW A LAX LIFE, BECOME OP. -My new and most important goal.
I gulped as she pulled me closer to her chest, wrapping her arms around me like a little girl with her favorite teddy bear.
"I always wanted a child of my own. But since I'm a Demon, there's no way I could have one. See, Demons don't give birth. They are turned into Demons by another Demon, kind of like Vampires. And no, Vampires are not part of the Demon race anymore, since blood suckers are just too prim and proper for beings like us, understand? We are more of a...bloody nature, as you might say. Of the fighting kind," she spoke to herself. Her tone was light as she explained it to me, not caring that I didn't reply.
As I kept listening for fear of missing something vital to my life, I looked around. We were in the front of the house where there was a large garden, inside some tall hedges as we wove our way through. There wasn't a single crack in the leaves, even when they started shriveling up as she brushed her hands along them. They turned black and infected the leaves around them, extending outwards until everything from top to bottom, in front and behind us, had died.
I noticed that she had been holding me with the clothed parts of her uniform, not her bare skin. My tiny jaw dropped and I went woozy imagining the pain and horror of what would happen if one little brush even accidentally happened to befall my exposed skin.
As if sensing my shock, no, she probably only responded to my shock, she spoke up, "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. If any Demon ever intentionally harmed you our master would likely snap and kill us all."
What a nice person. Why doesn't he just go and do it anyway?
"If he did that he would just build up his population again from the many living beings in this world. That would be quite bad, wouldn't it? End of many races."
Huh?
"I didn't tell you? I can hear your thoughts because your mind is so unguarded. All inhuman beings have the natural ability of telepathy, didn't you know? And you, being part dragon, are practically broadcasting your thoughts. That's what made it so easy to find you."
I guess the "guard" I put up was for nothing.
"Yep."
Dear God help me.
"Sorry, no god will help you here. Every being in this world has been taught to hate Deviants, if they should encounter one. Only Master would help, for a price," she smiled again like it was the most wonderful fact in the world.
We made our way out of the tall hedges, and passed by a short garden of flowers. After that, we encountered the front gate after walking about fifty pouriks to the left, or one hundred meters. As we made our way to the gate, I noticed that the little guard stations that were normally lit at night were dark and had snores coming from inside. I was amazed by this until I recalled that Mother was the same way-she refused to wake up.
Were they under a sleeping spell or something?
"Yes, they are. It would be inconvenient if I had to fight with you in my hands while talking, so I just put them all to sleep. Looks like I don't have much time left though, since the spell will wear off soon and the earl is coming back. Anyway, I just came to say, welcome to our race! You're an honorary Demon now! Better actually, practically our master's right hand man! In name only, though. Elena would get mad if I disregarded her as our leader."
What?
"It's been so long since we've had an honorary Demon, about two thousand years, I'd say. The rest of us were so happy to find out we had a new sister, that some of them went and invaded a town the minute we received the news! Even Master was pleased, and it's really hard to do make him that way."
Excuse me?!
"Oh! Let's check your Status!"
No no no, that's not what I mean!
I'm sure she heard me but just ignored me when she forcefully pulled mine up.
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Abridged Status:
Age: 30 days (Former: 14) Race: Human (Sub: Dragon) Honorary: Demon
Master: God of Demons, Arion
-Arion Sub-Association: Firea-Madeline de Libellule's master and contractor
Current Job: Child, Daughter, Miss, Contractor, Servant, Honorary Demon
Status: Noble of Bytriste Kingdom, Daughter of Earl Earl de Libellule and Anastasia de Libellule, Half-Sister of Hera de Libellule and Adri de Libellule, Deviant, Contractor of the Demon God, Arion's Familiar, Sister of Demons
Title: None
Lvl: 6
Blessing of: Contract with a God
Curses: Deal with a Demon, Deviant's Plague
Short Term Condition: Extreme Shock
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"It's beautiful! Oh, you lucky girl, so many different stats relating to the Demon race! Eleven! I've got nine!"
She decided to show me hers while I was dazed.
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Abridged Status:
Name: Aloire de Viaville (Former: Aloire de Myon) Age: 4,388 Race: Demon (Former: Human)
Master: Arion (Sub: Heplon)
-Arion Sub-Association: Aloire de Viaville's master
-Heplon Sub-Association: Aloire de Viaville's catalyst
Current Job: Field Servant
Status: Heplon's Servant, Sister of Demons, Ancient Demon
Title: One Who Thrives In Darkness
Lvl: 465
Blessing of: God of Demons
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I lost my will when I saw her age. And then my breath when I saw her level.
Are all demons this crazy strong?
"No, only a few dozen other demons are as strong or stronger than me. It's the gods you should be worried about, seeing how monstrous they are. Those guys are more demonic than me, and that's saying something," she agreed with herself, nodding.
A few dozen, she says. Just a few dozen. Almost a hundred including the gods, I don't know. Mom doesn't even scratch her as an S rank which is hard to reach, what does that say about the future of this world?
A lot.
"Oh, and another thing. You should hide your Status or some humans might think about killing you."
Oh great. Now even all of humanity would turn against me.
"I can do it for you, you know. Or just teach you."
Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please-
"Alright, alright! I get it!" Aloire huffed while smiling at me, which looked scary as hell. A hair snake flickered and hissed. "First, you pull up your Status. Then, you think about making it tangible, since it's only a projection from your mind in the first place. You can let people see it if you want to or not, but it can't be touched if you don't command it to be so."
Tentatively, I pulled up my Status as Aloire said, then looked at it, hard. I glared at it until I drooled, which was odd. I just couldn't tell if I had made it tangible or not.
"Touch it to check!" Aloire laughed, smiling at me again. Even with my back to her, it still felt odd.
Lifting up my tiny hand, I thrust it out and attempted to tap the blue Status screen. My hand didn't go through, but stayed on it. The screen felt odd, like brushing the water that I had stood upon while I was in the sky place with Teria.
"Good. Now, hold your finger on what you want to change. Imagine it what you want to be, then take your finger off."
I had put my finger on top of HP and the ghost of its letters appeared over my finger. As I imagined the number going down, the 30 that was there started rolling until it hit 3, where I estimated the average baby's would be. I did the same for the rest of my number stats and anything else I thought would be a dead giveaway that I was not a normal baby. When I lifted my fingers up, I noticed that everything that it was supposed to be was like the remnants of erased words on a paper. There were faint lines that showed they used to be there, the new stats shining brighter to draw your attention away from them.
"Good! And just so you know, no one will be able to see those lines of what it is supposed to be unless you let them. It's like they were never there."
I nodded in understanding.
"Now, to address the other problems..."
Hmm? There were more?
"You may be purposefully leaking your thoughts to me now, but on a daily basis I've seen that your thoughts are unguarded. Since your mother is three fourths dragon, it's only a wonder how she hasn't picked up on you until now. I guess it's because she's more focused on her human side, huh."
I feel like you just said some important things right now.
"Well yeah, your mom can hear your thoughts."
So all of my acting was for nothing?
"No, because she never found out you aren't just a baby. If she brought out her dragon side, then she would pick up on your thoughts."
Then I'm screwed.
"She did it?"
Once. It was only for a few seconds earlier today, but that may have been enough. I knew something was unusual when she took me back to the room.
She shook her head, black eyes and sharp teeth disappearing from my view for a few seconds. The snakes on each side came to greet me in full view each time she shook her head, so I was never lonely. "I highly doubt it. But, now you are going to learn how to block off your thoughts. This is something you definitely have to know, or some beastkin or elf will pick up on you and start searching for more. That wouldn't be good."
Agreed.
"Now, I know this sounds cliche, but imagine a wall in your mind. Think of it as impregnable, nothing goes in, nothing comes out."
I did. My surroundings fell away as I closed my eyes, delving into my imagination.
Normally when I thought of walls, I imagined the room of my house in the other world how it was only my space. No one could come in without my say so, and I couldn't come out until my "mom" said otherwise. That door never opened unless necessary, and that window stayed closed no matter what.
Someone knocked on the door, which unnerved me. My friends never came over, and no one touched my door because "mom" had forbidden them. I came out at fixed intervals when I knew no one would be downstairs and made my own dinner, left for school, used the restroom, or when I was to be scolded for something random again.
It's me, said the voice as it knocked again. It's me, Aloire. Open up. You've done it really well.
Ah, I thought, realizing that this was a brief flashback to the past. I didn't know I could get sucked into my own mind like that.
I opened the door and walked out, opening my eyes again. In front of me, I saw the gate. This was the farthest I had ever been from the house.
Far in front of me, I saw lights swinging ten feet in the air. They were so small I thought they were fireflies at first, but as they grew closer I noticed that they were lanterns hung on poles.
"Looks like our time is up. Sister, it was nice meeting you and I look forward to the next time we meet. I feel like I'm forgetting some thing, but...oh well, I'll just tell you later if I remember. And one other thing, I only took the appearance of this maid to not be suspected in case anyone woke up ahead of schedule. I am someone completely different from that Thérèse girl. She's pretty interesting, actually, since I looked at her Status. I'd like to fight her sometime," Aloire nodded to herself with a (thankfully) close-lipped smile as she assured herself of a future battle.
More like play.
"I'll come back sometime soon. I don't know when it will be since time to Ancient Demons is flippant, but I'll make sure to check up on you even if you don't notice it."
Too bad. I'd actually started to think I had made a friend in this world.
I could tell she smiled sadly.
"You sound a little too trusting there. A word of advice: don't trust anyone. Not a human, non-human, god, or whatever god's representative that is assigned to look after you. No demons, either. Not all of them are aligned with the Demon God's followers and are cocky, so they may come after you. Your mother seems to be a good woman, so you can rely on her...ah! And don't forget to keep your absurd mana from leaking out as you get older. It's not too bad now, but when people start looking for magical tendencies they'll likely suffer from the shock of it, mentally and physically. Other than that, I think I've said everything required now."
I feel like I just heard something extremely important again. But yeah, I will watch it and keep it in.
Just when the lights came close enough to make us shed shadows besides the ones the moon, Hencia, made for us, Aloire pulled me close and melted us into shadow. I knew the moon's name because a pop up window told me so, but I dismissed it. We appeared in Mother's bedroom where she was still curled up in bed around the spot I had been taken from only a second later. While admiring the awesome skill, I was placed there again, sitting up and leaning against Mother.
"Goodbye, Sister. Call my name anytime you want, I'll try to come as soon as possible. It may take a few days, but I'll definitely find you and come."
Goodbye, Aloire.
She reverted her face back to Thérèse's normal one and gave a comforting, warm smile just the way I liked it, and melted into the shadows once again. The shadow slipped through the small crack of the window to let air in, and was off into the night.