Book 2 Chapter 58: Over the line
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Author's note
 
Well, this is coming out about a day late. I had a sudden call in to work, plus an unexpected family visit. Basically, IRL got in the way. Well, time to get right back into it then.
 

Young Aerien’s POV
 
The old man was really upset. The flow of energy from the meditation stopped, that meant he was really REALLY upset. I panicked when I saw this. It was really bad. I understood, mommy was kidnapped and Dryad took her away. I didn’t like that too, but the old man was upset about other things too.
 
He was crying. I realized he was really feeling bad, so I asked if he wanted to have me be in control. He agreed. Once I was in control, I did what I could to start the meditation again. I knew it was important to maintain. I wanted to disappear. There was a lot of scary stuff happening right now, so I would just use the void part of the meditation to be invisible. It couldn’t really do that, but it did make you harder to notice.
 
I heard somebody walking by. I was surprised when I saw his face, it was the old gnome guy the old man talked to when they were invited for jury duty. She was so surprised she wound up calling out to him. She only realized afterward that this was probably not good. She had to talk like the old man did. The old man knew how you were supposed to talk to sound like a princess. Well, he had never been taught that kind of thing, but he was smart enough and knew enough of the right words to do it right anyway.
 
I was a bit nervous trying to not have it found out that I was different from the personality who talked to him before, but he didn’t say anything. I should be able to figure out how to answer any question he had at least since I knew all the same things the old man did if I just took a moment to look at our combined memories. But, as it turned out, he was actually here to be my companion or something. It sounds like mother, our new dragon queen mother, asked for him to be my friend or something because she knew we would be upset over our birth mother getting kidnapped. I don’t really know if talking to this old guy would make the old man happy or not, maybe it would because they are both old. I don’t really know if I can get him to come back out though.
 
‘Actually, he might be able to be your friend. You’ve been wanting someone to pay more attention to you, right?’
 
What!? The old man was awake!? But, wasn’t he all upset and stuff? Why is he paying attention to me right now!?
 
[Is something wrong your highness?] The old gnome asks me.
 
[What!? Umm…] I begin, not knowing what to say.
 
‘Here, I’ll tell him.’ The old man offers, and I gratefully allow him to take over. [It’s a little bit complicated, and related to… something of a peculiarity about my spirit.] The old man begins.
 
[Wait! Let me just stop you right there.] The old gnome cuts him off, holding up a hand. [I would rather not know too much about what abilities are attached to her highness’ cultivation or anything of the sort, apparently it has been classified as some sort of national secret of some sort, it would be detrimental to my future ability to interact with the public if I found out too much.]
 
[Ah, I see…] the old man responds. [Well, this does not directly relate to my cultivation, it really is more of just a simple peculiarity. You see, early in this second life of mine, my consciousness somehow split. One half is my original consciousness, and the other is a young child who, despite knowing all the same things that the older side of my consciousness does, has the relative maturity of, well… what would be rather appropriate for a child the exact age this body appears to be.]
 
[Ah, I see…] The old gnome’s eyes suddenly flash a bit, probably because he realized he just responded with the exact same words the old man just used. [Ah, well, that is quite peculiar indeed.] He said.
 
[I had been a little overwhelmed with all that had happened recently, I left my younger side in control soon after arriving back on this floor. She is the one you were talking to when you first arrived.] The old man told him.
 
[And I presume I am now speaking with her highness’ original persona now in that case?] The old gnome asked with a quirked eyebrow. I could actually feel a momentary wave of annoyance from the old man at the use of the term “original persona.” He doesn’t really seem to like being confronted with ideas that disrupt the way he has decided to picture his relationship between me and him.
 
[I… suppose that would be an accurate way to look at it, yes.] The old man paused. [Well, the thing about this is, I have not even properly told my attendants about this peculiarity yet, although all my companions from before arriving here know already. The reason I am telling you now is because, if you are assigned to be a companion to me of some sort, I would hope you can be a good friend to my younger persona as well. She has expressed some difficulty with the fact that everyone only ever seems to want to speak with me.]
 
[If… if that is what her highness desires.] The old dwarf said with a bow of his head. He looked annoyed though. Does he not like me already? [If I may ask, how is it that her highness’ spirit wound up in such a state?]
 
[Hmm… That is something which I really do not know the answer to.] The old man said. [At first I believed it just to be the effect of my adult mind interacting with my child brain, but when I asked my companions who were also reincarnated with their memories from my old home world, none of them stated they were having the same experience. Later, my younger half began to develop more and more of a personality of her own. I really am not certain how to explain it beyond that.]
 
[I see…] The old gnome rubbed his chin as he had a thoughtful look to the side.
 
[Well, I suppose we had best cease loitering about in the hall. I will introduce you to my attendants, I also wonder if my companions have returned.] The old man said. He seemed a lot calmer now. Talking to the old gnome really HAD been good for him. I was really happy to see he was doing better.
 
He lead the old gnome back to our bedroom and let him in. Esgal and Gwilitphen were both in there, Esgal seemed to be in the middle of preparing some food for the boys while Gwilitphen was in conversation with her. The old man introduced the gnome to the fairies, but the old gnome seemed fairly distracted.
 
[Umm… your highness, if you don’t mind me asking, umm… why do you have an imp in a cage on your tea table?] The old man looks up to it.
 
[I am not completely certain on that myself. Sagel, my familiar, brought that little guy here just this morning while I was sleeping due to having overworked myself learning the trial law which turned out being meaningless. I have not had a chance to ask him about the reasons behind it just yet.] The old man answered.
 
[If I may your highness.] Gwilitphen responded with a bow. [Your familiar Sagel stated he was expressly ordered by the dryad to keep it safe as it would be killed in anyone else’s hands. Apparently, it was previously being protected by the representative for the defense before he was taken by the dryad.]
 
[Oh yes, that’s right. You HAD mentioned something about that, hadn't you?] The old man replied and then put his hand on his chin. I could feel his emotions stirring. “So, that’s what’s going on? Damn it!” He swore under his breath, having switched to English. He had gotten really upset again. I felt the flow of energy from the meditation cut off. Now we were in front of everyone and as weak as the child we looked like. I don’t think anyone should want to hurt us, but… this was a bad thing, right?
 
The old man walked over to the wall with quick restless steps and put his hand on the wall. I could feel his thoughts trying to command it to open, but there was almost no actual energy moving in our body right now. With our meditation recently shut down, we didn’t even have a single bit of mana in our body. It had all been sucked out by the void. Maybe we could generate some on our own after the meditation has stopped for a while, but right now we had absolutely none. “DAMN IT!” The old man slapped the wall in frustration.
 
He took a deep breath. ‘Hey, can you open the door for me please?’ He asked me. I was really afraid of the way he was acting. I knew even from our shared memories he had never ever even in his previous life been this upset. And now, it wasn’t just that he was upset about everything going wrong, he was really really angry. I didn’t know what to do or say in order to help him. What had he just found out just by hearing about the imp? I didn’t understand it at all. Why did this make him so angry? ‘KID! Please open the door! I have to talk to Rolwen, Levin, and Gaerien!’
 
He should just calm down, then he can open it. No, he knew he was too upset to calm down. Actually, it seemed almost like he was so angry he didn’t WANT to calm down. I didn’t know how to stand up to him when he was like this, so I just switched control with him and then I was calm enough to re-start the meditation in order to get the energy needed to have Isanil respond.
 
[Your highness! Where are you going?] Gwilitphen asked.
 
[I have to talk to Sagel!] I told her. Actually, Sagel was not one of the people the old man had said, but I was smart enough to realize that in this situation that answer would make for less questions and more assumptions. I didn’t think things would go well if I gave control back to the old man right now, so I ran through the hall to the training room for him and opened that as well.
 
“Hey!” I called out to everyone. “The old man has something he wants to tell everyone!”
 
“Hey Aerien!” Levin responds happily and runs up to me with his training sword still in hand. “You’re in charge again!?” He says with a weird look on his face. I am a little angry about the way he said it. It wasn’t nasty about it or anything, but the fact he seemed surprised and confused about it was enough to tell me he really wasn’t taking me completely seriously. After the old man just pointed it out with the old gnome how I was upset about this exact thing it made me extra conscious about it.
 
“That sure was fast.” Rolwen says as he also approaches. “So, did you get Ether guy and your mother back?” I drop my shoulders as I think about how badly the whole venture out went. “Ah, I see…” He responds.
 
“Wait! Is the old man upset!?” Levin says, it seems like somehow he picked up on it and now he’s looking at me with a lot of concern. I’m pretty sure he suspects it’s about something other than what it really is though.
 
“Mmmm… he’s really angry about something, but he said it was really important to talk to all of you about something he figured out. I… I don’t really know yet either, I… I’m kinda afraid to look at our shared memories right now with how angry he is.”
 
“What!? He’s that angry!?” Levin says. “No way, I really can’t imagine HIM being angry.” Levin chuckles lightly, but Rolwen has a far more serious look on his face.
 
“Well then,” Sagel says as he approaches our little group. “I guess we had best listen to what he has to say, it sounds like it is probably about something rather important.” He was holding his own training sword up over his shoulder, tapping it lightly on the back of his own neck. I could feel a little bit of the old man’s irritation stirring as Sagel approached, but that part of his anger that was directed at Sagel simmered down rather quickly as the more slow-boil anger at what I assumed must be Dryad just continued to fume.
 
“Ok, over here.” I told everyone and guided them over to the corner Gaerien was watching us from. I sat down next to her and crossed my legs, and then I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. ‘Ok, ready.’ I said to the old man. ‘Please be calm.’
 
‘Don’t worry about me.’ He said. ‘none of this is their fault, I’m not one to miss-direct my anger.’
 
When my body’s eyes opened again, I was just a passenger in this body once more.
 
“Umm… is the old man in control now?” Levin asked.
 
“Yes, I am in control now.” He answered in a voice that was so calm it was almost flat.
 
“You don’t sound as angry as the kid side said!” Levin observes, getting a glare from Rolwen.
 
“Hmm… I usually don’t express my anger in ways you might be used to.” The old man says. “Anyway, what I wanted to talk about is actually the reason why I was so angry. I figured out why it is that Dryad kidnapped Mother, Eirlathion, and mister Steven.”
 
“Mister Steven? Who’s that!?” Levin asks.
 
Sagel quickly steps in to answer this question. “He is a defense attorney from Earth, he was reincarnated here like all of you except he was reincarnated as a great fairy. Aerien asked for him to represent magus Eirlathion.”
 
“Wait, there are other people from Earth here!?” Both Levin and Rolwen looked up at him in shock. That’s right, I don’t think any of us ever told the boys about that.
 
“Yes, and there are also a few others who were also incarnated as great fairies” Sagel continues. “We are getting distracted though, I think it would be appropriate for us to listen to what Aerien has to say about Dryad’s actions since this is something that is rather important. So, your highness. Why IS it that Dryad decided to kidnap these three?”
 
The old man let out a ‘Humph’ of annoyance. “That is exactly what has gotten me so pissed off. Dryad’s playing some stupid game at being the villain in my story because they thought I might break my own oath and hurt myself, so they wanted to distract me.”
 
“What!?” Levin said in an outburst.
 
“But why would they kidnap three people just for that though?” Rolwen asked. “Are you really sure about that?”
 
“I wish I wasn’t.” The old man said. “But, unfortunately it really can’t be anything else. I can understand there being another possible reason for taking Eirlathion, and they might have decided to take mother to have his apprentice along with him, but there are only two possible reasons they might have wanted to take mister Steven. One of them is that they want people from Earth, but mister Steven was not the only great fairy from Earth in the tree and you have not told me anything about Dryad taking them.”
 
“The other reason…” The old man continued. “Is because mister Steven was taking care of that imp. Dryad specifically told you to protect that imp, right? Well, if you had to protect it, then there is absolutely no chance you are going to be able to avoid taking it to me at some point. This is what Dryad wanted. In addition to getting me upset by taking mother and Eirlathion and setting themselves up as a villain for me, I also wind up with a side project to distract me in terms of what I will be doing with that imp. Such a stupid stupid petty plan, that impulsive dryad, I just can’t help being so angry at them. The worst part is, all of it is going to work too. I don’t know what I would have done if they hadn’t done this, but even if I figure it out that only makes it so this stupid plan of theirs works even more! I hate it!”
 
“Umm… Ok, so what are we going to do now?” Levin asks.
 
The old man sighs and throws his head back against the wall. “Nothing! We can’t do anything right now. Dryad has hidden themself away for now. I am going to confess, I am quite angry at the queen right now too for my own reasons, but I have no choice in this situation other than to work with her. It is a bit of an asinine situation. The best way to get revenge on Dryad is to show more favor to that queen, while the best way to show my irritation toward the queen is to show more favor toward Dryad. Well, I am more angry at Dryad right now, so guess which one I’m choosing.”
 
 
 
 Book 2

End.

 
 
 
 
 

Subscribers' comments of the chapter
 
"Antagonist by circumstance has become antagonist by choice, lolwut."
                                                                       -Vorquel
 
"...I hope Dryad knows what she's doing."
                                                                       -meowingLexi

Note: that ... at the start of Lexi's quote is the proper use of an elipse, I cut off part of it which was a direct address to me in regards to something I had commented about my school stuff when I posted this chapter.
 
Anyway, this is the end of the 2nd arc, now I finally get into the 3rd arc and I can start implementing a lot of ideas I had to put on hold due to the trial arc still being in progress. Also, Dryad has taken some extreme actions, let's see just how that all falls out.
 
Also, yes, this definitely ended on a low note. I decided to apply something of a trilogy structure to the story-telling here which demands that the 2nd arc of the trilogy ends with the characters at their lowest point. This is not to say that the story will end after the 3rd arc. Actually, my plan is to sorta tell it in the presentation style of Star Wars in which it is a series of large stories that make an even larger epic, and the large stories in turn are also in trilogy format. (This includes the extended universe BTW. There are several books that were released which are also each in trilogy sets. The Grand Admiral Twarn trilogy is easily the most epic, it was the episodes 7,8, and 9 that Disney denied us, and it would have been far more epic if they had given us Twarn instead of Ren and Snoke and all that nonsense.)
 
Ok, off on a tangent. Anyway, the 3rd arc has some pretty epic goings on planned, and it ought to answer a lot of questions that have been subtly set up throughout the series so far. I can't say for certain whether or not people will like those answers, it kinda involves a break to format in terms of one of the rules I had set at the beginning, but I also feel it makes the whole thing pretty epic and answers a few of the bigger questions of the series which I have actually seen coming up in the comments sections here and there. Definitely look forward to it.
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