"We're baaaack!" I shouted as we appeared in the Phenex Castle.
"Oh, Riser, Dulio! My adorable little babies!" My mother's wings manifested fully, and she wrapped us up with them in a hug as Sairaorg watched, before she turned and grabbed him too.
"You too Sai-chan!" She smiled, "Welcome back."
"I missed you." I snuggled into her arms.
"I missed you too." She whispered.
Dulio, meanwhile was burying his face in her chest, not in a perverted way- he's not old enough for puberty yet, at least I think so- but he was certainly taking advantage. Can't blame him though, my mother is just that beautiful.
"Come, tell us how your training has been over lunch. Sai-chan, why don't you join us too?" She asked.
Sairaorg on the other hand looked torn between choices and hesitant to refuse, so my father stepped in.
"Dear." My father interjected, "Sairaorg has been away from his mother for over three months now. He must miss her too. Why don't I go take him home first and then he can come visit in a few days? How about it?"
My mother nodded understandingly.
"Ah, sorry Sai-chan. I didn't think of it like that." She apologized, "But do come visit us soon, okay. We just got Riser's favourite Star Wars movie that just released- what was it called-?"
"Phantom Menace." Ruval answered, "Why don't we have a Star Wars marathon tomorrow? Or the day after?"
"Okay. I will ask my mother." Sairaorg said, turning to my father who got the hint.
"Bye, Riser, Dulio." He waved at us and we waved back as my father took him away.
"Lunch?" I asked.
"Yes, it's been set up." She separated from Dulio, who looked particularly displeased, "Come. We've had the servants leave the premises for a fun corporate retreat today, so we can talk freely."
"So tell us." Ruval asked, almost impatiently, as we walked, "How has training been going."
I raised an eyebrow.
I recognize that tone. He has something he wants to show me, and that smug little smile tugging at his lips that he's trying so hard to hide is a dead giveaway of what it is.
"Oh, its okay, nothing much." I spoke nonchalantly, "Y'know just reached Ultimate Class, awakened my Touki, came with ideas for a couple of new spells. The usual."
I saw his eyebrows twitch in annoyance as if I had poured water over his fire, and I giggled internally with glee.
Ah, bullying your brothers. Isn't it just the most fun thing to do in the world?
"Actually, I haven't gotten around to using mine. Need to rest. Doctor's orders. But Dulio here has had his for what- Ten days now? Show him Dulio." I said, "I know that hag has been teaching you how to control it."
"Riser! Rude." My mother scolded, flicking my forehead.
"What? Its affectionate." I rubbed my forehead, "And she's like 800 years old. I don't think she minds, she's not even here."
"She's your teacher. Be respectful." She turned to Dulio, "Can you show us Dulio?"
Dulio nodded and raised his hand before clenching his fist. His face scrunched up in concentration before a milky white aura began to seep out from his hand, slowly climbing up his arm and spreading to the rest of his body. It wasn't stable by any means, it kept flickering as if about to go out and roughly a minute and a half in, it did. Just pop and vanished.
"I can only keep it on for that long." Dulio explained, between deep breaths, "But I'm working on it. Grandma Magari says in a month I can get it up to about half an hour, with exercise."
My mother patted his head reassuringly. "See how polite he is. You should learn a thing or two from him." And Dulio smiled a little too smugly.
"Trying to steal my mother's affection with your wiles, are you Dulio?" I teased, and he stuck out a tongue at me.
"Whatcha gonna do about it, Mr. Bed Rest?" He shot back. We had gotten a lot more comfortable with each other the past month and now he had begun to break out of his shell already.
"Why you little scamp! Just wait a few days. I'll kick your ass when I recover." I shook a fist in the air, in mock anger.
"You'll try." He buried himself even deeper in my mother's embrace.
"It is nice to see you get along." My mother smiled, and pulled me into her lap too, kissing my forehead. "Don't worry. No one can steal my love away from you sweetheart."
"Uh huh, uh huh." Ruval on the other hand, nodded, about to burst.
Alright enough bullying. He might just blow up at this rate. He does look like he hasn't slept in days too. Wonder what that's about?
"What surprise do you have in store for me?" I asked plainly and my mother laughed.
"You need a better poker face Ruval."
"Well, I am working on it. But here is something I did finish." He raised his hands and an ash black flame burst out onto it.
"You finished the Black Flames of Judgement?!" I exclaimed, jumping with excitement, "How?! It should have taken at least seven to eight months, even if I did it myself!"
And Ruval smiled proudly, preening with his chest puffed up like a bird in mating season.
"You are not the only genius in this family, Riser. I have been working on my flames for over 200 years. I just needed to put in a little work after your ideas pulled me out of my creative rut."
"Ufufufu~" My mother giggled, "Little? Is that what you call it? Ruval here has been working non-stop for the past three months ever since he heard how you have been training- which I am not pleased about, Riser. We will have a talk about that." Her voice turned ice cold and we shivered in fear at it before just as quickly she returned to her warm tone, "He has barely eaten or slept these past few months." She poked his sides and he squirmed in annoyance.
"Look how thin he's gotten."
"Mooom! I'm over 300 years old. I am not a child anymore." Ruval cried in annoyance.
My mother just leaned over and planted a kiss on his forehead.
"I'm your mother. You will always be my little baby Ruval, no matter how old you are." She said caressing his cheek.
Ruval smiled warmly and I hated to break up this warm and fuzzy moment but…
"How did you do it? The sheer amount of-" That's when it clicked.
With the amount of sinners he would need to experiment on, usually it would have taken him months to slowly acquire them from prisons in the third world or from dictatorships, unless…
"You overthrew the Zimbabwean government?!" I guessed. That was the only logical solution. He had to have overthrown a dictatorship to get that many sinners to experiment on. And fulfilling our promise to Dulio while we were at it was just the cherry on top.
I hadn't even considered it because of the sheer influence the church had on the nation. Dad would never allow this for something we could have gotten for far cheaper elsewhere.
He nodded.
"Of course you figured that out. Stupid genius Riser." He muttered under his breath before turning to Dulio.
"Your country is safe now. The children in the orphanage have been reunited with their families and those who didn't have any family were adopted by good people overseas. The new interim government had also added in stronger property rights and new minority rights for the white population. No one else will have to suffer the way you did Dulio. I made sure of it."
"Thank you!" Dulio gave Ruval a hug and Ruval just patted his back, smiling.
"No price is too high to for your family's happiness." He added in a subtle manipulation at the end of it too. Damn, we're good at this shit. No opportunity wasted.
I'm so proud of this family.
"Though, how did dad allow that?" I wondered out loud.
"Once your dad saw how hard you were training, he decided that we needed to up our game too." My mother explained, "We did have to pay a pretty penny to keep it hush-hush though."
"How much?"
"240 vials of Phoenix Tears."
I hissed like a cat in water and Ruval laughed as my face scrunched up like a plum.
"And you said I have a bad poker face."
"Still, for you to finish it in three months…" My mind began to wonder about the efficiency curve on learning and how he would have had to start from the beginning.
The only way he could have learnt it that fast…
"Say, was your pride hurt when I developed those new spells all of a sudden? Or was it jealousy maybe?" I asked, taking out a notebook and pen.
"What are you-" He stopped mid-sentence, "Oh, I know that face! You have a theory don't you?"
"What theory?" My father returned after dropping Sairaorg off.
"New theory. I'm working on it." I brushed him aside, my curiosity overwhelming me, "So?"
"A little of both? Mostly jealousy." He admitted, begrudgingly.
Two sins. Hmm...that is new. Maybe I need to make alterations to my formulae.
"So a lot?" I read between the lines, "And when you wanted to rectify that…uh, feeling, say, did you feel like you were learning better, faster perhaps? Like your concentration had improved? More creative maybe? Things fit easier, mind worked faster? Spells flowed like water?"
"Yes, how did you- Just tell us the theory." Ruval tried to peek over into my book, and I just turned the page, annoyed.
"Patience. Let me do my thing." I hissed and kept asking more questions getting more and more particular with each one as I gathered the data to the point my writing pace fell behind my mind.
Dammit, writing is so slow, and manually computing all this data…maybe I should hire someone to make me a program for this. Windows XP should release this year. I'm snapping that up soon as it's on the market. Making it magical though…
Rigal might know someone to help with that. That and my future plans for explosive growth, all of which needed an entire host of those just to process the sheer amount of data I was going to pump in. Are there magical military contractors? One of the magician guilds maybe…we'll have to see.
"Alright. Done." I let out a sigh of relief as I finished the calculations.
"Tell us already!" Ruval couldn't help himself.
"So, I like to call it the Sin Theory…"
----------x----------
"Mama!" Sairaorg ran into his mothers arms.
"Sai!" She gave him a hug, pulling him into her lap as she gave him a once over.
"Come here, let mama see how you've grown."
He looked stronger now, his muscles had become defined and taut, even under her grip she could feel it, the strength of steel.
She sighed in relief. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to entrust him to the Phenexes. She had doubted her decision once she read the contract through later. It was full of loopholes.
They had planned this and they had fooled her.
What's more, the news of Sairaorg training with the youkai had reached the clan. Her pension had been cut, no doubt under Zekram's orders. He must have come to suspect something, trying to see how far he could push her before either she asked for aid or the Phenexes gave it to her.
That would be all the proof he would need, proof he doesn't have it yet. Grinding her- them both, further into the dirt was just the cherry on top for him.
Lord Phenex could see through that too, so she hadn't expected any aid either. She had had to let the maids go now, but that was fine. So long as her Sai could grow strong, this humiliation, she would bear it gladly.
Thankfully she had accumulated a small nest egg over the years, something to tide Sairaorg over even with her hospital costs. Her disease had begun progressing faster now. She barely had another year, if the doctors were right. She had to make sure he would be okay, even after she was gone.
She had already made her will and a contingency against the Phenexes reneging on their useless contract, but if there was something more…
She sighed, burying her face into her son's hair.
My dear baby, my precious, Sai…her consciousness slipped for a moment- just one moment…
"Mama?" Sairaorg asked, poking her awake, "Are you okay?"
"Hmm? Bw-yes, yes! Mama was just … a little sleepy."
"Ehehe, did you stay up late reading again, mama?" Sairaorg asked.
"Just a little." She caressed his hair, "You were saying something?"
"Riser invited us to a sleepover tomorrow night. Can we go, mama? Please?" He looked up at her with those adorable puppy dog eyes and she just about melted from joy.
Besides, if it night time, maybe she could hide her sickness too.
"Wait, did Riser's parents invite us both?" She asked as an idea struck her in desperation.
"Yes! They said you should come too, mama!" He answered enthusiastically.
They wanted her to come. Maybe, just maybe…a hope sprouted in her heart.
"Okay, we'll go."
"Really?!" Sairaorg jumped with joy, "It's my first sleepover!"
And that just saddened her to no end. It was the first time in years that she had seen him this happy.
Maybe him having friends, even if it was that detestable brat, was a good thing for him.
Just maybe…
...............
Since I wasn't feeling well yesterday, in my hurry to post something I may have rushed Sairaorg's awakening of Touki. I thought of a more appropriate moment next chapter at the sleepover.
Tell me if you guys wanna see that or should I just skip it and get the slice of life parts over with to get back into the action parts of the story.
Zekram has a suspicion. Misla is not as desperate.
Tell me what you thought of the chapter.
Don't forget to donate your powerstones.
Thanks to Zeus and Mr. Cuak for suggesting a little downtime chapter.
Thanks for reading.
Bye!