Azrie

Welcome to the New Beginnings! With a completely overhauled writing style! Witness evolution! Or not, if you don't like it, too bad... Though hope y'all like the chapter ^^. 

Formatting nightmare at the start, might look slightly awkward on phone, sorry in advance! Unedited.

New Beginnings Chpt. 86: Uncertainty and Family

«Yami» 

       Screams echo everywhere. 

      The rippling of the fire. 

          It ends with an eerie silence. 

A heavy scent of iron.         

Just a whiff for me to shiver.                          

Crimson fills my vision.                                                                    

                     It all ends in death.                                   

By my hand they die. 

It all becomes insignificant.

Like an ember against the wind. 

Unable to fight.

In the end.

It vanishes. 

Like broken glass

IT BREAKS⁠—

“Aah!” I shrieked and held my head. What kind of nightmare is that?! My face became ugly in an instant. Death, a reaper of death. Everything I did and touched lead to death. Everything… 

In a cold sweat I looked around the room. I was. In an inn. An elf… Ari… My summons. Trouble… It all clicked as I remembered things. 

Burning the town down in order to escape the elf, it got out of hand. I disguised myself along with Ari and we ended up at the inn. I looked around the room. Ari slept next to me in the gigantic bed, but I was sweating. The coziness of the wood and warmness of the dim ceiling-light unable to calm my shaking heart. 

I was feeling a headache from my dream, or rather nightmare. I hadn’t killed anyone in this incident. Death didn't seem to bother me since everything had started but… How easy everything got out of hand… It was troublesome… Too troublesome… 

“Hmm?” Ari rubbed her eyes, she still looked similar to before the change. Just a lot more refined and a much more tidy haircut with bangs. I on the other hand was simply the genderbent version of my old avatar. 

Ari looked around in confusion, unable to tell the time of the day inside the room, until finally, her gaze landed on me. 

“Is something wrong Yami?” She paused. “You’re… sweating? Is everything okay?” 

“It’s… okay…” I muttered my answer. I was still unsure. Everything was objectively messy. I didn’t want to extinguish life wherever I went. I just wanted to live with Ari and Aizen, enjoy what we were doing… 

“You don’t seem okay.” Ari frowned, and then whispered. “Tell me, what’s going on in your mind?” 

I sighed. “I am finally realizing that; doing whatever I want seems to cause more trouble than what is worth. But that’s not the problem…” I paused, feeling burdened. “This time it got out of hand, and people nearly died. Death is not the issue, but…” 

Ari looked at me for a second before looking at the ceiling. 

“But it’s not something we can do in the long run?” She asked, completing the sentence for me. 

My eyes widened, but she simply gave me a wry smile. 

“I think the same way, Yami. It’s… concerning to have a dragon and you as my sisters…” Right. “But if it means anything…” She paused and looked at my eyes. “I am enjoying this adventure of ours!” 

I smiled. “I understand, though it’s not sustainable to parade ourselves too much. Perhaps we should just leave the continent, past this whole… Church, racism, and whatever else nonsense.” 

Ari nodded. “I’d like that a lot.” 

I guess… I was worrying a bit too much about things… At last, my heart was finally calming down. Then I had to think about how to move forward, and there was only one right answer. 

“Well we should leave this whole town. With that elf lurking around, I simply do not feel safe…” 

Ari heavily nodded. “I didn’t think all elves would be so callous.” Sigh, it did feel that way, didn’t it? “Though, for now I want you to do something.” 

“Do something?” I tilted my head.  

“Yep! Come closer!” She beckoned, her hand gesturing me towards her on the bed. I crawled towards her somewhat lazily. What could she possibly need? 

As I laid in front of her. She⁠— pounced?! 

“Ari?!” Before I could react she was all over me. 

“Yami, I don’t like your expression! For the first time you seemed troubled! I hate it!” Her voice came off childish, but that wasn’t the issue. 

“Nyaa!” I squirmed. Why was she touching my ears and tail?! It was nice! It made me feel… calm. 

“Just sit still! I need to destress too!” She protested as she tried harder, eventually I stopped resisting so much. 

Ari continued patting me and rubbing me like a household cat. But, truth be told it felt like a heavenly massage. Too nice. Who would move under such conditions? My entire body relaxed and melted like a puddle. Wait⁠— 

I tensed up. I wasn’t a cat! But before I could get up, Ari hugged my back. 

“Yami, I am sorry…” She said somewhat dispirited. “I just did what I thought was right at the moment… I truly did not like your expression.” 

“I… understand.” I sighed. Having family sure is troublesome. 

“Yami?” 

“Yeah?” I asked. Why was she whispering to me? 

“Let me worry about your things, same goes to Aizen, you both shouldn’t be worrying about these type of things.” 

Even though her voice was supposed to be reassuring, I frowned. Ari was a young girl. Not my parent, or guardian. We were supposed to worry about such things, not Ari. But at the same time, I couldn’t deny it to her… It sounded too important for her. I closed my eyes, and thought for a second before finally speaking. 

“I think we should all worry for all of us. We are family.” It was dry like a desert, but… It felt right to say… 

Ari didn’t say anything for a second, but her arms relaxed on my back. “Then let us worry together!” She hugged me tighter. 

I smiled. 

Though I wanted to get going, her hugs were really distracting! In the end, I succumbed to Ari’s love for a couple of minutes. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

“Alright! Let us go!” I said as I straightened my clothes. Ari nodded at me with a small smile. She enjoyed it a bit too much. Though… My face grew slightly flushed as my tail swished about. 

I hated to admit it, but I had gotten carried away just as much as her. I sighed. First thing in my to-do list was to get a new Dad… 

“Pfff~” I chuckled and put my hand forth. “I summon thee, Dad! The undead hero!” My arm twitched as I struggled to not laugh. 

In retrospect calling a skeleton Dad was amusing for me. It was something Jer chose in the heat of the moment, of calling him father. It was weird, yes, but now? 

“I see you’re doing a lot better now. Glad to see you can laugh at my decisions now.” A deep voice spoke to me. It carried seriousness, though I could feel another emotion behind it. Soon my speaking skeleton was summoned. 

Jer! My faithful summon. Thankfully he was summoned in a complete manner! His undead armor was restored and standing on his own two feet. Thankfully, we didn’t need to put him together. That would’ve been troublesome. I mean, considering he was split in half last time. 

I nodded at Jer. “Alright Dad, need you to put on your new armor.” Jer even though he was a skeleton in armor, stiffened. I could see it. Without realizing it, I found myself smiling. 

Is this how Aizen feels about teasing people? Well, ignoring whether to tease Jer or not, he needs a new replacement. 

Not thinking twice about it, I took the armor pieces that I had made in my inventory and gave them to Jer. 

“Dad, go get changed in the bathroom.” I commanded, he stiffly went inside and closed the door. 

“Hmm, Yami,” Ari scrutinized me. “You’re starting to sound like Aizen.” 

“A bit…” I chuckled. “Though, it did make things awkward for me, so I think it’s justified to make him repent.” And the word father, dad, etc. Carried zero weight for me. So it was. “Two birds with one stone.” Ah, I said that out-loud. 

“If you say so…” She muttered. “Though, maybe don’t be so hard on him. I mean, he is bound to you till either of you break the contract. Which is unlikely.” Right. 

“I understand, perhaps it’s a bit too much to constantly tease him,” I nodded. Though the idea was still something that made me smile. “A bit of teasing will not hurt though.” 

Ari sighed. “In the end, the both of you are rather similar.” I smiled hearing Ari’s mutter. 

Jer came out of the bathroom. His armor was now a mix of dark and nearly silvery-white. It was honestly rather nice, and polarizing, if that was even the right word for it. The contrast was somewhat charming. If one dyed the black parts in white, he would’ve looked rather imposing to be honest. 

“Oh, you look great. Like a total role-model!” I exclaimed, unable to hold back my jokes. 

Jer nodded without thinking. “I do look awe-inspiring, as much as I did in my past I believe. Though I do believe I will be needing this.” Before I could stop him, he took the bed sheets and wrapped them across his entire body.

Huh? It did look like a cloak. The bedsheets were white so he looked like some sort of nomad, but just enough wrapping and it looked just right. At least it’d be hard to tell they were simply covers. 

To be honest, I was surprised. I didn’t really think of how to cover Jer again. My plan was closer to… Leave as soon as possible and reunite with Aizen. Yep! That was the entire plan! But now at least we wouldn’t need to worry about detainments. 

“Oh that works,” Ari said from behind. 

“Alright, then let us leave.” I nodded at both of them. 

◇ ◇ ◇

“You didn’t tell me you would sneak someone in.” Ah what a pain. The inn-keeper was angry at me. I could somewhat see the disgust in his eyes too. 

I sighed. “Mistress had an emergency, here, to compensate.” I reached into my coat and took the entire coin bag. At this point I simply didn’t want unnecessary trouble. Ari shuffled awkwardly behind me, eliciting a sigh from me. 

As I placed the bag atop his hand, the heft seemed to surprise the innkeeper as his eyes widened. Taking a cursory peak into it, he nodded to himself and simply looked at us. His smile becoming wider by the minute. 

“Oh my, how could I forget you people told me about a guest. This will certainly cover his expenses as well!” He exclaimed, his voice carrying a professional poise I had never heard from this man before. He seemed genuinely happy for us. 

The people around the street took glances at us as we dealt with the innkeeper, but thankfully I wasn’t dressed in “look at me” clothes. Just an edgy trench coat, a slightly lewd top and pants. It also helped that my hair wasn’t white for now. 

The innkeeper nodded at us, essentially dismissing us. I turned to Ari. 

“Well, let us go Miss, a long journey awaits.” Ari shuffled for a bit, her face flushing, before finally leaning closer to me. Did she want to whisper something to me? I leaned in, and…

“Why must you keep addressing me so formally?! There is barely no one paying attention!” Ah! 

Did I want to tell her? Of course! I smiled. 

“I like how you blush about it.” 

Though my response didn’t seem to trigger any response as Ari stayed silent and distanced herself from me. 

“I see… I appreciate it…” Her tone came out weird, but I shrugged. It was time to leave this place. The town that was north of the capital, ‘Niyer’. 

Without any further words, Dad, Ari and I left on our way to the gate we came from.

Azrie

Ah, cuddling! My favorite activity!