Chapter 44 – Meetup

"Before we go in, need to warn you about someone"

"Yeah?"

Me and Petra are currently standing outside a cave entrance to a mountain, similar in design to my parents' mountain but there is a long path that leads up to this mountain and the entrance is much, much smaller.

I'm unsure why we're actually here, I'm guessing this is Petra's home perhaps? When she said about returning to the brown forest, I didn't think it would be to the only mountain that is close by to it.

I wasn't kidding when I said I'd rush over here, manage to make this trip that should've been longer than two weeks down to nine days, who needs sleep most nights anyway? My impatience is getting better believe it or not, I just don't tend to complain about it as much anymore.

"Zeki, he can be a bit much. You'll understand once you speak"

I'm currently being led into the cave by Petra while I'm in human form also, she said that getting in wouldn't be possible while in bird form so just as I landed up here earlier, I had to do the quick phoenix to naked human routine again, wish I could get some good enchanted clothes like Petra.

We very quickly come to a heavy looking wooden door and Petra gives a quick bang on the door. After thirty seconds or so, someone comes to greet us.

"Petra... and she's got a guest! Zeki!"

A short blue haired woman appears, then very quickly runs back inside leaving the door wide open.

"Sure, don't greet me or anything"

Petra looks irritated right now but very quickly gets over it and heads inside. Once we step inside the door, I'm immediately shocked with what I find inside.

"This... looks like a freaking modern apartment!"

"Despite those two having their quirks, they both know how to make a place nice to live in"

The door steps into a modern style living room. Sure, there's no TV or anything like that but the furniture looks to be high quality, there's actual carpet on the floor and the sofa looks freaking brilliant! You'd have no idea this was inside a cave except from the lack of windows.

This place looks completely out of this world, how the hell have they managed to achieve such a look in a place where medieval is the trendy style? It's really impressive.

"How does this place look like this?"

"Those two again thanks to their boredom. When you have too much free time, stuff like this starts becoming a hobby, it's a shame my eyes don't work, you seem excited looking at the décor"

"I'm not that excited, it's just surprising, you know? This place reminds me of Earth"

While I'm still admiring the modern living room that we've just entered, the blue haired woman returns with someone who looks very similar to her, just with red short hair and seems to show less skin clothing wise compared to the blue-haired female. Oh, both of their eyes match their hair as well.

(Red) "Oh my God, is this Petra's love interest?"

(Blue) "Zeki..."

The obnoxious red-haired woman immediately speaks without thinking, it doesn't even look like she regrets what she said in the slightest. Am I Petra's love interest or is she just speaking shit?

"Ignore him Ikarus, he has a tendency of being extremely stupid. He's difficult to stomach even at the best of times"

"Don't be like that big sis, I need make sure you express yourself otherwise you'll die alone stuck with us two"

Okay, he's just taking the piss, I can see by his sly smile what he's doing. I should know, I'm the exact same to the brown-haired couple that are too innocent for their own good.

Despite everything that was just said, I can only focus on one thing now though, something that Petra said.

(Ikarus) "He?"

"What? Is this bird dumb or something? Is she braindead or just stupid?"

(Blue) "Zeki, shh"

I get a condescending response from the red-haired male while the blue haired female tries to shush him but it proves pointless. Is the red-haired person actually male? He doesn't sound male but then again, he doesn't completely sound female as well, similar to a teenager who hasn't completely hit puberty yet.

It's not exactly like I asked it in a rude way or anything like that, I really couldn't care less about what gender someone is. I do kinda need confirmation if it's he or she though.

(Ariza) "Zeki, are you forgetting you look like a girl?"

"Wait, that's what she's on about? I'm a guy if your eyes don't work orangey"

Orangey? This guy is starting to irritate me know, is he purposely rude or is he just being a dick? I know I can be rude but still, it's more accidental for me, he seems intentionally rude and not in a playful way.

"What the hell is your problem kid? It was just a question"

"Kid!?"

He seemed to get really pissed me with me calling him kid, he doesn't look that old though, probably in his teenage years? I would've apologized for assuming he was female but judging from his response, he can fuck off now. Accidental rudeness is completely different than intentional.

We're are both staring each other down right by the coffee table now, this guy is going to get a power kick in a minute. It might be weaker in this form but still, might kick him in the crotch if he continues, that'll do a tonne of damage. Damn, turning into a female has made me wicked, no man should experience that pain, he might deserve it though.

"Will you shut the hell up for just a minute Zeki? *Sighhhh*"

Petra tries to regain control of the situation but can't help facepalming watching our situation unfold, I know she warned me about him but still, he's even more obnoxious than I am and that's saying something. Petra continues on after her sigh though

"Ikarus, meet Zeki and Ariza. Ariza is the quiet one and Zeki is the one that gives everyone headaches"

(Ariza) "Hello"

(Zeki) "That's a bit rude older sis, I'm just trying to help your heart progress forward. I don't personally like her but I'll put my feelings aside since it's for you"

(Ariza) "Zeki, just stop already"

Is this kid still going on about that? I'm not an advocate of unnecessary violence but there is a time when it becomes necessary. Just let me and Petra get together on our own time if it happens, damn it! Sighhh... I'm really starting to understand how annoying I am towards shipping Nat x Lotte now.

Petra is starting to get really annoyed as well now, I'll see if I can get this conversation back on track and learn why I'm meeting this pain in the arse already.

"Petra... why am I even here then? If it's just to show off your odd family, I have three dragons that I could easily show off as well"

Petra's annoyance slowly turns into stress now, something else is bugging her.

"The thing is Ikarus, your birth foretold something bad, something that effects everyone negatively, something tha-"

The red-haired Zeki cuts off Petra rudely and speaks for her, it did seem like Petra was reluctant to get to her point across though.

"That's because you're the harbinger of the end times, your existence is going to cause the world to end"

My existence is going to cause the end of the world? Huh?

"Erm... what crap is he slinging?"

"Cra-!?"

The blue-haired Ariza has to grab him and pull him away from having another response, I doubt he would've hit me but I would've kicked him before he had the chance if he had tried though.

"What Zeki is trying to say in an extremely stupid way is that your existence is part of a prophecy that foretells the end of the human world... partially"

(Ikarus) "Partially?"

"Petra is struggling to say that as you were born, a prophecy was fulfilled that will now start a countdown to the end of the mortal world"

Ariza actually answers this time for Petra, she does speak quite quietly thinking about it. She also seems a little shy as well. The end of the mortal world is coming though?

(Zeki) "What brother says is true"

Wait, that Ariza is male as well? Okay, I need to ask to confirm.

"You're male as well then?"

"Yeah, I was female back on Earth but I'm male now, four hundred years is more than enough time to adapt to such a drastic chance. You can view me however you want though, it's not really all that big of deal anymore"

(Zeki) "You say that as if you didn't spend the first hundred years looking for a gender swap potion brother"

(Ariza) "That's because getting used to a male body is difficult, you're just an insensitive arsehole to even bring that up"

(Zeki) "Hey! Who was the person you bought you close to a thousand potions so that you could keep the other form running. If they still made the damn things, you'd still be consuming them"

(Petra) "Zeki, for the love of the Gods, will you shut, up?"

I guess he seems fine with it? Ariza probably had a similar experience to how I first was reborn then. Possible difference is that I'm stupid so this type of change was easy enough for me to adapt to, other people it would be different so he probably had a really hard time adjusting first. I am curious on something he just said though.

"Earth? You two are otherworlders as well then?"

Has Petra purposely introduced me to a group of immortal otherworlders? Are we all the same?

By now, I've sat down on the sofa while Petra is alongside me and the other two have gone to sit on single sofa seats across from us. This chair is really comfortable but I really shouldn't be focusing on that right now.

"Let me just explain for you Ikarus, Zeki is a little over two-hundred, Ariza four and I'm over six-hundred. We all come from roughly the same era on Earth, no idea on how time has flowed like this unfortunately"

"Petra pretty much raised me and Zeki from a young age since we both didn't know our parents"

(Zeki) "Yup, dragons really do be sucking balls"

So, is Petra basically their adopted mother? No, Zeki said older sis earlier, maybe she is more like that then?

I wonder how she even came across them but it's probably similar to how she found me, she probably has some ability meant for tracking or maybe a dragon's scent type of thing that allows her to track people? Of course, I'm just speculating though, that's not important right now.

"So, what's this prophecy thing even about then? If you're worried I'm going to destroy the world or something like that, I think that's a little farfetched"

Am I really the type of person who would cause the end of the world? An evil genius perhaps? Heh... actually thinking about it, I could accidently destroy the world by doing something accidently like pressing a big red button that sets off a nuke without even knowing it, it would be down to stupidity rather than intelligence though.

"We were worried, that's why older sis went to go and kill you but she clearly failed and allowed her emotions to take over"

Wait, Zeki just said Petra went to kill me? She's not following up what he just said though.

"Petra, is this true?"

Petra really doesn't look like she wants to answer but she forces herself to in the end. When she does, she seems really down.

"Originally... yes Ikarus. The thing about the prophecy is that it predicts you'll be the cause of a disaster that destroys the world. Of course, once we spoke, knew that you had no intentions of doing such a thing"

That's why we bumped into each other in the capital? She was planning to kill me but quickly realized it would've been pointless, I think.

She seems really depressed telling me this though, it's not like she actually tried to attack me so it's all fine, right? I'm not going to hold grudges over something like that if what they're saying is true. It's not like she acted on those thoughts.

I'm still not going to sacrifice myself trying to save the world if it comes down to that type of thing though, I'm more than proud enough to say I'm not a heroic type of person like that. Eh, maybe I might, it would depend of the circumstances.

(Zeki) "Older sis's mother was always right about these types of predictions. The fourth phoenix born in a millennium will cause the human world to fall. She clearly has a thing for you so that's got to be the reason for the change of plan"

(Ariza) "Zeki, why can't you please try and be quiet for a little bit?"

Petra's has just facepalmed as well now, I don't think it's for the reason I'm thinking of though. This red-haired kid really needs a beating.

Am I supposed to be surprised about her having a thing for me? I kinda got that idea back with the love potion incident even if I tried to ignore it, stuff like that is something which needs to be put in the back of my mind for now. End of the world type events take place first otherwise there won't be a world to even consider such things.

"Look... how am I supposed to stop myself destroying the world then? It can't just be as simple as this bird causing the end of the world with no signs or warnings"

"Zeki is just being a jackass Ikarus. Mother's predictions were always purposely vague, she never once said you'd cause it with your own wings or beak, just that unforeseen events have now been set in place"

"Once again older sis, you've changed your view on the whole thing. What happened to destroying any risk before it had the chance to show itself?"

(Petra) "*Sigh*"

(Ariza) "I'm sorry about him"

This annoying little shit is starting to give me a headache and it looks like even Petra and Ariza are getting tired of him as well now.

At least there's something else I picked up from Zeki's previous words, something about four phoenixes. He also said he hates dragons, I think that's related.

"*Sighhh*... Zeki said something about four phoenixes then? I'm guessing all four of us are phoenixes?"

It seems like a reasonable guess given the situation that I'm now in. It also seems I'm not the most irritating person on this entire continent as well now.

"Yes Ikarus"

(Ariza) "Yeah"

(Zeki) "Yup orangey"

A small family of four phoenixes, this doesn't seem dumb at all. One orange, another black, third blue and fourth red. I guess they all could all be colours related to fire except Petra, she could be the charcoal I guess for our flaming barbeque. Now we just need a yellow one and it might be complete. Nah, screw that, four phoenixes are already dumb and stupid enough. What happened to this species supposed to be extremely rare?

Another question has come to mind now though.

"If you lot are phoenixes, do you have different systems like me and Petra?"

Zeki answers first with a high and mighty attitude, he clearly has a lot to say on this.

"Oh, want to know more about us? I'm more than happy to start, my system is clearly the best and is based off the old MMOs. I have twenty-eight skills all that I can improve ranging from things like attack, farming, smithing and even prayer. I call it the online system"

"Mine is a romance system, that's what Zeki likes to call it anyway. It's basically based around gaining affection in exchange for rewards. I really don't like using it though"

"You already know what I'm working with Ikarus"

So, an online system, a romance and a cultivation? Okay, they're definitely really varied, I'll give it that. Of course, I'm feeling a little jealous once again but nothing I can do about it, my three-tier thing works well enough. Having twenty-eight skills to invest in sounds familiar though, almost like it was from an old MMORPG in the early two thousand's but I'm pretty sure you trained to improve skills in that though. The game was called something scape, I think?

The romance system could be taken out of any romance or eroge type thing, no idea what that's ripped off from. Maybe that one might be original? I'm starting to think systems are based around someone's personality or personal preference, I'd hate a romance system inside my head.

[<-User- may have a point there>]

It seems Aesa thinks I might be right about systems being tailored to the user, at least in our cases. No idea on that vampire back in the undead dungeon, his system if it even was a system seemed to work different.

"What about your levels? Petra said she was a four-hundred and twenty last time"

I obviously can't check their statuses; a migraine will occur. Actually, that's not a bad idea to use against the arrogant little red-haired shit when he pisses me off again, I can deal with the pain if it's to inflict pain on someone who deserves it.

"I'm in the low three-hundreds orangey, no-one can compare to older sis since she's basically an immortal granny at this point"

(Petra) "*Sigh*"

"I'm erm... in the low fifties. My system kinda goes against what I want to do"

Wait, both Petra and this Zeki guy are both in the hundreds and would have the phoenix five times stat points, right? No, their systems are different but even then, they should still be five times as powerful compared to a human of that level. My point is, Petra might be a level two thousand if compared to humans and Zeki would be around fifteen-hundred.

Fuck, priestess holds nothing on phoenixes then, at least I'm not the only low-levelled phoenix, Ariza is basically the same level as me. I think Petra might be nearly as powerful as mother if pure numbers are anything to go off, phoenixes do get double stat points over dragons.

"Don't be like that brother, your system is perfectly designed for charisma type activities, you're able to gain the hearts and knowledge just by interacting with people while it's switched on, you also have some healing elements as well"

"You know I hate using it though Zeki, it feels wrong manipulating people like that"

"You need more of a backbone brother"

Me and Petra just let those two continue their conversation but very quickly Zeki comes back around to speak to me.

"What about you orangey? What sub-par system are you working with that has no chance to compare with mine?"

I purposely bite down in preparation, I can insult my system but I don't like it when someone else tells me Aesa is sub-par, I'm am a hypocrite after all.

'Okay, I'm getting nasty now, he's pissing me off. Status'

[Name: ***** | Species: ****** | Level: ***]

[Health *****/*****]

[Stamina *****/*****]

[Magicka *****/*****]

"Argh!... You bitch! What was that for?"

The pain is unbearable and I have to grab my head once again but is totally worth it seeing him in pain also grabbing his head. Thankfully enough, the others don't get effected by this so it very clearly only effects the phoenix being viewed at.

[<Thank you -user->]

(Ariza) "You deserved that Zeki"

(Petra) "Ikarus was more than justified in doing that"

I can't help but give a slight smile, my nastiness was actually praised there. Both these two think he's annoying as hell as well and even system gave me some praise.

"If you must know what system I'm using kid, it's basically a three-tier thing. Health, stamina and magicka. It is slightly basic but it gets the job more than done"

He basically ignored most of my responses and just goes on about something else, he really is irritating as fuck.

"I really don't understand what you see in her older sis, it seems there might be nothing in her head if she's using something like that. I guess some people have a thing for stupidity then"

Petra actually uses her status on Zeki now, he holds his head once again but Petra doesn't even flinch.

"Ouch! Again!?, I'm going to have a nosebleed in a minute!"

"Don't call Ikarus stupid Zeki. Allowed it the first time, you can shut it now otherwise you'll regret it"

Petra is defending me? I'm not opposed to it but she actually looks really pissed at him now.

"Damn, I was only making a song and dance about everything, you lot need to lighten up a bit and take a chill pill"

(Petra) "And you need to stop being a dick"

(Ariza) "Agreed Petra"

I am actually still slightly interested in knowing the ins and outs of their systems but with this two-hundred-year-old kid, I haven't got the patience to deal with him right now. We need to get back on track.

"*Sighhh*... can we just go back on topic? What do you know about the prophecy and the end of the world then? How do we go about stopping it?"

...

Everyone goes silent after my questioning. Was the plan seriously to kill me without even knowing that far ahead? It's a good thing Petra wasn't that dumb to follow through with such a stupid plan.

"No one has a clue then? Well, isn't that great?"

"We were betting on killing you and that would've fixed all future problems but clearly older sis wants to take a different route or head for a different ending then"

Okay, this kid definitely used to play too many games, I should be in my element talking to him about it all but he's a right dick so screw him.

It's clear I'm not going to get any further now, none of these three knows the exact future so for all I know, they could be completely wrong. Even if there is definitely going to be an end of world type of thing, who's to say it'll happen really soon or happen at all? I've shown no signs of turning to the dark side just yet, I don't think I have anyway.

I'm forgetting about something obvious as well, killing me would've ended the world because of my parents so clearly this prophecy is something that isn't of concern right now. Like with the empire, nothing I can do about it as of this moment.

Might as well focus elsewhere then.

"When do you want to head back off to the cure search Petra? The sooner, the better"

"Stay the night Ikarus and we'll make our way over to the desert continent tomorrow"

(Zeki) "No! She's not having my bed!"

(Ariza) "I'll give you mine but it's not that comfortable though"

Both the other two give a quick response to Petra, Zeki is adamantly against giving anything away while Ariza doesn't look happy but is still willing to do it though.

"Actually, was going to give her mine... idiots"

A sly look appears on Zeki's face while Ariza looks no different, I feel like they might be misunderstanding something here.

"No Petra, I've already stolen your bed once. I'll take the sofa tonight if that's alright"

She seems disappointed in this development, it's not like I can steal her bed again like with the inn incident. This sofa is more than comfortable enough though.

...

Wait, she didn't mean sleep together, right? Damn it, I can't decide if I would've said yes or no to that, that fucking kid has made me start questioning things. I'm still not even one hundred percent sure she even likes me but it seems that way anyway, I'm not that dense.

No, I don't think she meant it that way, that's way too soon for such a development to happen, there at least needs to be some build-up for such a thing, even if nothing actually happens in the end.

I'm really not going to get on with this kid.