Life Cycle

Leo decided he would have the talk with his family after his birthday and would now rather enjoy a little vacation with them. A little trip with the family and since Lenny was already considered a brother, he was coming with as were Leo's girlfriends.

They travelled further south to a little summerhouse Leo had bought a few years ago. With two cars they drove for a few hours and arrived in the late evening. It was hot the last few days, so even though it was getting late, the temperature was still pleasant.

Leo was prepared and brought some marshmallows for the campfire that they would be having at the summerhouse.

After arriving they started a fire and then they talked and ate until the sun went down completely. Rosy was gushing about some series she started to watch while Lenny listened with this lovestruck smile on his face. John and Ally, Leo's parents, were cuddling while watching the campfire and occasionally throwing a piece of wood into it.

Suddenly, Leo felt his instincts acting up and after some time, he couldn't hold back anymore. Leo excused himself and dragged his girlfriends into the bedroom. Fortunately, the walls were thick and soundproof, so they knew that the sounds of the rocking bedframe and the moans couldn't be heard by outsiders.

His girlfriends weren't on the pill and although Leo had some condoms with him, the group ran through them very quickly, but their session didn't end with the lack of condoms, in fact, Leo counted on that.

He felt the unstoppable desire to knock them up. It wasn't anything that Leo felt for a long time, to be so driven by his emotions and instincts to throw logic out of the window. After many hours into the night, the three girls ended up pregnant even if the girls didn't know it at that point.

Leo on the other hand could feel it, that the seeds had been cast. It was only after he was sure, his body was satiated, and he rested with his girls.

The clothes scattered across the room, the only sound was the heavy breathing of the group as they drifted into sleep uncaring of their sweaty and dirty bodies.

The next morning was rather unpleasant with the smell and the dirty feeling they had from sleeping without cleaning up before. It didn't help that they had forgot to turn on air conditioning, so their room was warm too.

They quickly turned it on and showered together. Fortunately, the shower was big enough to accommodate them all, so they didn't have to wait for one person to finish, which in turn turned into another session.

After they finished cleaning up, they started to get dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. Rosy and Lenny were already sitting in front the tv with a bowl of cereals in hand. Rosy and Lenny looked at Leo and company giving them a knowing smirk before they started cuddling on the couch.

The four ignored it and made themselves breakfast before sitting down on the couch as well.

"… and she keeps throwing that fake snake at him! It's hilarious! Seriously, you must read it, its comedy gold." Rosy exclaimed as she talked about her favorite series, something about being a villainess or something. Leo just nodded and ruffled her hair which earned him a glare, but as it was the privilege of the older sibling, he ignored it.

And as it was the detriment of the older sibling, "Leo, stop bullying your sister!", he was being punished by his mother. It seemed like he wasn't an adult in her eyes.

After chatting for a while Leo suddenly felt a desire rising again, but this time it was a bit different from the night before. It was more profound. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. It certainly wasn't his instincts, at least he thought so, but he guessed that it was about his decision to move to Orbis, although the plan to move would be delayed for a decade because of Lenny's warning.

In the end, Leo excused himself and went outside before he pulled out his phone and called Jack and Bella with facetime. After ringing a few times, they picked up surprised. They knew that they went to the summerhouse as they had talked about it at their get-together.

Leo chatted with them for a while. "… Jack, how is your little garden going? I heard you had a little insect plague going on."

"Hahaha. Yeah, kind of but I already fixed it by placing some natural pest exterminators, I can show you when you are back from your little trip." Jack had a big smile on his face as he loved talking about his garden and the numerous insects he was raising, though the two things didn't get along very well.

Bella was painting on an oil canvas in the background, barely acknowledging Leo as she focused on her art.

"Alright, I will have to go now. It was good to see you. I am lucky to have you as friends." Jack was a bit surprised, and Bella looked up at the phone as well but as the goodhearted fellow Lenny was, he laughed heartily.

"Hahaha. You too buddy, and I will have to let you know a bear hug is waiting for you now." Bella grinned amused at her husband's antics, before turning to the phone again, "You are a good friend Leo, even though you just disappeared for 2 years and took my friends with you." She winked teasingly before turning to her painting again.

They hung up shortly afterwards and then Leo started to call his other friends and his mentor as well. After a while Leo's dad came out and leaned on the railing next to Leo. They just stood there without saying anything while watching the beach and listening to the waves.

"I love you dad." Leo suddenly said without warning. It caught John off guard before he threw an arm around Leo.

"…I don't say this as often as I should, but I am proud of you. Since you were little, you kept surprising me, and it made my heart swell every time I saw you achieve something. You are the greatest son I could imagine. Oh, and how I envy you that you got your little harem, hahaha-"

*Cough*

Leo's dad froze at the cough as the two instantly knew that it was Leo's mother and apparently, she heard John's little speech.

"Leonidas, I will ahem go get so-something." John quickly bolted as Ally glared at his back. Fortunately for John, she wasn't interested in giving him a beating. Leo turned around and only smiled at his dad's antics.

Ally hugged him before showering his face with kisses as if he were a little kid. "I can only agree with your father… except for that last part." Leo scratched his cheek at that not knowing what to respond.

"Not that your… unusual relationship is a disappointment since it at least guarantees grandchildren. Speaking of- you will have to make some children soon. I am not getting any younger, so get to it!"

"Don't worry, Mom. I am already on it." Leo didn't know how else to respond to that, it wasn't a topic he didn't find embarrassing to discuss with his mother.

"Hmph. Son, you do know that you have to close your door, so that the room is soundproof, yes?" Leo froze at that only to receive a slap over the head before she left.

"Oof, that was embarrassing." His little sister remarked as she snickered into her hand. "Oh?"

Leo didn't take that unpunished as he quickly put her in a headlock, which she quickly reversed into a throw, at least that was what she wanted to happen, but Leo stood steadfast like a boulder not moving at all.

She gave up after failing to push him over with some hooks to the ankles.

"What's with you being so sentimental all the morning anyway?" Rosy finally asked as she rested against the railing.

"I will tell you later, but I won't sing it on a magic carpet to you, that would be reserved for my girlfriends."

"What? Ah, right one of your references that only you understand."

"Although you are still a brat, I am glad to have you as my sister."

"What's with the backhanded compliment?!"

"I love you little sis." Leo said as he put an arm around her shoulder to hug her closer.

"I love you too… onii-chan."

"Oh god, no!" Leo coiled back in disgust, which made Rosy laugh out hysterically.

At one point, Lenny came out switching with Rosy. "What's up with all of you coming out one at a time?"

Lenny shrugged. "Don't know it seemed appropriate with you looking at the beach nostalgically." Leo rolled his eyes at that.

"I already gave you, my blessing. So, just take care of her, will you?" Lenny nodded but stayed silent otherwise.

"And if something happens to me, care for my girlfriends. Don't let them do something stupid or cast away their happiness."

"If something happens to you? I think the world can't throw something at you that you won't be able to handle… But of course, I will protect them."

After Lenny went inside Laura, Sarah, and Shunlei came outside. They didn't say anything and just hugged him, which he happily returned.

"Why the depressing mood? I thought we would only permanently leave after a decade. It's still a long time until then." Sarah suddenly said.

"Don't know. Thought it was necessary. Better let the people around me know I care for them than to be silent about it."

They didn't say anything afterwards for a while and just enjoyed each other's company. Shortly later, the three girls wanted to shop in the city, while the others went for some other errands for the festival they wanted to attend in the evening. Leo on the other hand decided to go out for a run.

He wanted to move his body a bit. He had been resting for the last year now to recover from the anima drain and he might as well start training again.

He quickly changed into his running clothes and started to head out. The sun was glaring, and Leo could already feel the heat impacting him. He slowed down for a bit, but he knew that he wasn't anywhere near his limit. He could run for hours under the sun without slowing down.

The feeling inside him rose again as he ran. He started accelerating faster while taking random turns. It seemed like there was a destination he needed to head to, so he just let his body take over, guiding him to an unknown direction.

It wasn't the heat or the exhausting run, but at one point his heart just decided to stop pumping. Leo had a frightening amount of control of his body and as soon as he noticed the stop he started to pump manually, but his heart was wrestling against his control.

It was like it wanted to stop. A second later the same happened to his legs as they suddenly decided to assume control making them go limp. With his speed he crashed and slid for a few meters on the ground.

'Is someone trying to kill me? Is it an assassination technique, but I didn't feel any anima?! Was I poisoned? What's happening?' Many thoughts ran through Leo's mind as he tried to regain control over his body.

Only now he noticed that he was in a desolate place with something shimmering right in front of him. He looked around but somehow there was no one around to help him and with every minute without a beating heart, his surviving chance was lessening drastically. Without the help of anima, even with his phenomenal physique it wouldn't take long until he wouldn't make it.

Under the blazing sun he laid unmoving, waiting for help or for his control to return, but alas luck was not on his side. He grew weaker with every moment and his mind hazier until he blacked out.

…

'Am I dead? Again?

…

I- I think I am…'

--------------------------------- A/N ---------------------------------

Important Note please read:

This was already supposed to happen 20 chapters ago, but I diverged from my initial plan a lot, which in turn turned this novel into something that I didn't want it to be at least not in the start. There will be another Epilogue Chapter on Friday, which in turn marks the end of the first book.

The next volume was supposed to be about the world of the otome series that Leo had been forced to learn the story of from his sister, but I think I will end this book here.

Mainly because I want to focus on my fanfiction that will be coming out on Monday and secondary because I think it would be better to just release a new book altogether when I find the motivation to continue this.

Initially, I wanted this book to be a mix of settings, first martial arts, then medieval fantasy in form of an otome world, cultivation, magic, superhero world with romance and so on with increasingly more angst as we go through the worlds. Kind of messed it up by combining it in the beginning and with his already stoic personality and almost being untouchable.

I kind of realized as well that this mix of worlds isn't something everyone is equally interested in and would prevent some people from picking it up if they had to read about the other worlds first. So, it will probably become a book series which can be read individually than one book with multiple volumes.

I want to apologize for the ones that read up to this point and are now left hanging for more. I intended this to be a lot longer obviously with the many worlds I wanted to explore but I already realized that I lost a lot of motivation for it.

And for those wondering about the many loose strings that remained, with the land of the gods and the future apocalypse that Lenny already teasered, they were intended to be loose ends even if I had continued with the other volumes. On how they would have been resolved depended on the other volumes to be honest.

Alright this A/N is long enough, have a good one and thanks for reading.