Ch23: You’re Elysia?! P2

Chapter 23: You're Elysia?! P2

~23.2~

*****

"Oh? What kind of stuff?" She glanced at Takeshi with her evil smile. Takeshi had all but turned into a block of ice that somehow was sweating.

"I don't want to specify..." she said timidly.

"Heh, my lovely little sister, you don't need to be shy! We're all... experienced here!" Kye grinned at Yami. "Come on, where's the juicy details?" She glanced at Takeshi. "You ARE treating her right, I trust?"

Unable to hold it in any longer, Layla and Kye burst out laughing, taking the four aback. "The looks on your faces! Hahaha!"

Zen's expression turned from shock to frustrated rather quickly. "I will not stand to be used as a source of comedy!"

"Heh."

"What?"

"You're not standing at all! You're sitting!"

He sighed. "Ugh... that was the dumbest joke I've ever heard."

Ranna finally mustered up the courage. "Lady Layla, are we truly not in trouble?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Of course you're in trouble. You have twins growing inside you!" She exchanged glances with Kye. "We're not prepared for this like we were with you."

"Eh, it'll be fine. I can keep Ranna in class with illusion magic. It's way easier..." Kye stopped short and grimaced. "Maybe not. For about two seconds there, I forgot I have my own twins on the way. Even I might have trouble maintaining that magic on both of us while pregnant. Is there anyone else in royalty that can do illusion magic well enough to handle it?"

Layla shook her head. "Not a single one. You're the anomaly here."

"You can say that again," Zen said and added a, "Humph."

"Hey!" Kye fired back. "I'm... just not the same as all of you, that's all."

"That's exactly what an anomaly is!"

"Yeah, well, whatever. I can handle myself while pregnant, but even I can't handle two in that state." She shrugged. "I could ask Alethea, maybe. She's not really into illusion magic, though. Or maybe Lanti has a rune spell for it she hasn't shared."

"If you ask an imperial, they'll be obligated to-" Layla started.

"Nah, they'll do it for me. I mean, Kari knows everything we're saying anyway, and she's an imperial." Kye held her hand out to the side and summoned Hikarimaru, then had Astraia take her human form. Zen, Yami, Ranna, and Takeshi jumped out of their chairs at the sudden appearance of the imperial. "Soul-bonded, remember? I have no secrets from Kari." Then she had an idea. "Wait, the soul-bond! Kari, do you think you can replicate my magic?"

She pondered for a moment, her hand on her chin. "Perhaps. I've been digging through your past identity, Elise Arbelle, and I've learned some rather unique tips and tricks. I think I could handle illusion magic for a few people without much difficulty."

The four younger students each were taken aback, again. Yami was the first to ask, "What do you mean by 'past identity'?" Then she held her head as if she had a headache. "Why is that name familiar?"

Kye's eyes narrowed. Strange. She shouldn't even recognize that name.

"Ah," Astraia said. "I have blundered."

"Well, no sense in hiding it from them, anyway." Kye shrugged and sighed. "Ugh, Eve sure has orchestrated quite the gathering of past loved ones here."

"The hell are you talking about?" Zen asked, exasperated.

Kye casted memory magic and showed the four the truth of who she is. After a few minutes of memory magic, she stepped forward and curtsied. "In the custom of this empire, I introduce myself in truth. I am Elysia Athas of Elysium."

"And you expect us to believe such a tall tale?" Zen glared daggers at Kye.

"I expect you to believe what you want," Kye countered with a shrug. "The only thing the four of you may not do with this information is discuss it in company that is not privy to it." She shot Astraia an exasperated glance. "Be sure not to slip up like a certain someone. I really don't want to deal with the trouble of being publicly known as the creator. But there you have it. Now you know how I'm so weird."

"To think Goddess Elysia is right in front of me," Ranna said, the shock clear in her voice.

"Yeah..." Takeshi muttered.

"Ah, right," Kye said. "You should also know that I hear your prayers when you pray to Elysia. Sooooo, if you want proof, I can repeat your most recent prayers."

"Okay," Zen said with a smirk. "I don't believe you, so I'll call your bluff. Prove it."

Kye grinned and pointed at Ranna first. "Please take care of Zen! I love him so much!" She then pointed at Takeshi. "Yami means everything to me. Please let us be together forever!" Then at Yami. "My sister has gone through so much lately. Please keep her in your heart!" And finally, Zen. "Why did I have to stay locked up at home for all of my childhood? If you're truly our creator, fix this! I don't want my future kids to be subjected to that! I want to take them out to eat with Ranna, and go exploring on other planets together! Please, fix this!"

His eyes widened.

"You have such a bad-boy attitude, but your prayers are always so sincere," Kye said. She patted his shoulder. "It's quite touching, little brother. You may trust your big sister to fix the problem. I've already started on it, after all. I introduced my blonde daughter to a bunch of students just the other day!"

"You're kidding..." Zen muttered.

"Word for word..." Yami said.

Ranna and Takeshi were shocked into silence. Astraia and Layla giggled and smiled.

"I assume that's proof enough, but I can show you my system profile if you'd like." Kye opened her system menu, pulled up her full profile, and flipped it around.

"It really says 'Elysia Athas' at the top," Yami said. "And there's a bunch of names in the aliases."

Kye nodded and opened the alias menu. It showed a count at the top displaying how many names she's had before. The number showed just over one hundred billion.

"So many..."

Zen finally accepted it, but was still utterly shocked. "How is this even possible? You're Elysia?!"

*****

Revision: 2024-8-15