Mother Olivia

"Huh?" Arthur opened his eyes and sat up from the ground in confusion. [Where am I?]

The ground was coal-black while the sky was dark-gray, with little light coming from the moon that was eclipsed by the sun.

[Did something happen at the palace while I was in a coma?] Arthur frowned and leaned forward to get up from the ground, but became even more confused and a little frightened. "What happened to my body?"

Arthur looked at his small hands in shock, then saw that the clothes he was wearing and became even more astonished. [This is… Isn't this the clothes that Aunt Olivia at the orphanage made for me on my sixth birthday?] Multiple emotions flashed in Arthur's eyes, from gratitude to happiness and sometimes sadness.

"Arthur…" A mellow woman's voice seemed to echo across time and space, sounding extremely loud and quiet at the same time.

Arthur's head shot up like lightning and saw the back of a woman in the distance wearing a simple white one-piece dress painted with sunflowers walking away from him.

"Aunt Olivia!" Arthur yelled in shock and didn't have time to think about anything anymore, and chased after the shadow of the woman in the distance.

As Arthur was chasing the shadow of the woman, the dark world silently changed into dark-gray buildings.

"This is…" After heading down a couple of roads and turning some corners, Arthur's steps slowed down as he looked at the scene in front of him with tears in eyes.

A bright white small courtyard house sat in the middle of a small field, surrounded by bright sunflowers. Giving it an attractive glow in this gray world.

Sitting in front of the house was a blond little boy around four years old, holding his leg while crying in pain from a scrape on his knee, while a young woman around twenty-two years old wearing a white one piece dress painted with sunflowers knelt down and was carefully helping him clean the wound.

"See Arthur…" The young woman softly put a band-aid on the scrape. "… all better."

"Thank you, Aunt Olivia!" Small Arthur hugged the young woman with a silly smile.

"Of course." Aunt Olivia stood up with a smile and went towards the door of the house, but stop for a second and turned to Arthur in confusion. "What's wrong Arthur? Why are you crying? Are you hurt again?"

[She can see me?!] Arthur immediately looked towards where the younger him was before and found that he disappeared.

"Arthur?" Aunt Olivia looked at Arthur with concern.

Arthur trembled for a second, then ran forward and hugged Aunt Olivia's leg with tears streaming down his face. [Even if this is a dream… I miss you… mom…]

"It's okay, child." Aunt Olivia knelt down and hugged Arthur. "Everything is going to be okay." she softly used her hand to comb his hair and whispered. "You've become such an outstanding young man, Arthur."

[Young man?] Arthur opened his eyes in shock to find that his body change into his appearance before entering [The Dimension Chaos].

"Things have been tough since I left, huh…" Aunt Olivia looked at the crying Arthur with distress.

"How are you…" Arthur looked at Aunt Olivia in confusion.

"I don't know…" Aunt Olivia shook her head with a sad smile. "… but my time is running out."

"Aunt Olivia…" Arthur's eyes flashed with pain.

"Don't be sad, Arthur." Aunt Olivia smiled softly. "At least before I leave, I could talk with you one last time."

"Yeah." Arthur nodded with a smile covered in tears. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, child." Aunt Olivia nodded, looking at Arthur with soft eyes.

"Can I…" Arthur hesitated for a second, then whispered. "… call you mom…"

"Ah…" Aunt Olivia covered her mouth in excitement with tears in her eyes as she nodded her head quickly.

Arthur's eyes flashed with delight, and he called out in a broken voice. "Mother…"

"My sweet child…" Aunt Olivia ran forward and hugged Arthur into her arms with tears in her eyes. "You're finally willing to call me Mother! I'm so happy!"

"I love you, Mom." Arthur and his mother hugged and closed their eyes. "I love you too, Son"

Suddenly, Arthur felt a sharp pain in his heart that made him breathless, while a feeling of loss swept him.

[What is this feeling? It feels like something bad is about to happen.] Arthur opened his eyes and found that his mother was slowly becoming transparent.

"Mom!" Arthur quickly separated from his Mother and looked at her with concern. "What's wrong with you?"

Mother Olivia looked down at her almost transparent arms and sighed with a sad smile. "I guess my time has run out."

"NO!" Arthur clenched his fist with red eyes from all the crying. "There must be a way to save you!"

While Arthur was franticly trying to think of ways to save Mother Olivia, the [Chaos Gate] in his soul understood his problem and sent a message.

Although [Chaos Gate] doesn't have an advanced system spirit, it has a basic one that is equivalent to a child.

~Chaos Gate~ [Master, if you want to save that woman, I can help you, but she would have to sleep inside me until you find a new body for her.]

~Arthur~ [Alright!]

Arthur looked up at Mother Olivia with excitement. "I have a way to save you!"

"Huh?" Mother Olivia looked at Arthur in confusion.

While Arthur was thinking about how to explain it to his mother, a bright silver portal covered in odd crimson symbols appeared in front of Mother Olivia and sucked her almost transparent soul inside.

"Ugh…" Arthur froze for a second then asked the [Chaos Gate] with joy. "Did it work?"

~Chaos Gate~ [Master, she's sleeping right now.]

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the [Chaos Gate] gratitude. "Thank you."

~Chaos Gate~ [Its great to help the Master!]

The [Chaos Gate] shrank and soon became a bracelet sized gate and disappeared.

"Alright." Arthur looked around the gray world and scratched the back of his head. "Although I don't know where I am, but I have an idea…"

Arthur moved towards the small courtyard house and opened the door. The door opened, giving off a bright light that illuminated the gray world, slowly stripping the gray and replacing it with color.

"I was right…" Feeling the warm light covering his body, Arthur smiled softly. "This is my soul, that's why the [Chaos Gate] can come and go as it pleases."

While Arthur was enjoying the warm light, four different colored energies floated outside the small courtyard house and circled around him.

"White, black, gold, and crimson…" Arthur looked at the energies surrounding him and felt an indescribable familiarity with them, like they're a part of him.

Arthur pondered for a second, then softy stretched his hand out, wanting to touch the golden energy.

This seemed to trigger something, because all the energies instantly entered his hand before Arthur could react.