Child Of The Witch

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POV: Astaros

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I neither sighed in disapproval, nor did I offer my approval.

'To be worthy of standing by my side huh. Let's probe that idea a little.' {Astaros}

I gently pushed her off me as I swung my legs off the bed, standing up as I stretched and began to deploy my armour from the feet up. Silver pieces of metal slid and clanked into place across my body as I turned to face her, leaving only my helm to deploy.

"So what makes you think you can't stand by my side now?" {Astaros}

"Eh?" {Christine}

Surprised, her heterochromatic eyes returned to being crimson as her demonic features faded.

"You have more than enough skill with the void to fight. You aren't exactly weak you know." {Astaros}

"Well…" {Christine}

"Plus you fought by my side already. We took on the priestess together and if you hadn't made your timely arrival we would have likely failed to defeat her and I may have died. Have you not proven yourself already?" {Astaros}

Christine sat quietly with a hand on her chin, her conflicting thoughts becoming clear to me. A moment passed, and then another, careful consideration being put in almost every passing thought. The fluctuations of her emotions shown in the form of her shifting features.

'She's taking this quite seriously.' {Astaros}

Finally, the two minds came to a consensus as she looked up to me. Her whites were slowly drowned out by an all consuming blackness. Then, flickering from these depths, two glowing violet rings appeared.

"No. I am not worthy yet. I have not attained the strength I required. Though it was an impressive initial showing I cannot say that I have attained the strength required to fight alongside you from beginning to end. My powers were fairly unstable at that point and our opponent was entirely infatuated with you. She barely tossed me a glance even when I put out my most powerful spell. Besides, once you got your mana back you practically ended the fight in a single blow. In fact had you not shielded the rest of us, you likely could have focused on defending yourself, and would never have had so much trouble in the first place.

I am just not at your level yet. Even our little spar in the woods showed that. I need to become much stronger if I ever want to protect you." {Rift}

Though I was impressed with her analysis one thing concerned me.

"While I am happy you are taking your strength and level of capability seriously, don't ever hold yourself back with unnecessary conjecture." {Astaros}

"Conjecture?" {Rift}

"Indeed, your current state is far different from your initial showing. We have to thoroughly test your limits before really figuring out what you can and cannot do." {Astaros}

"Plus-" {Astaros}

I sat down on the edge of the bed and brought my face close so she could see into my eyes. I needed her to understand exactly what I was saying.

"I trust you. Do what you want, when you need to, and I'll try my best to support you. Now that we are linked I will always protect you, no matter what." {Astaros}

My sudden pledge must have surprised her as Rift's stone grey face began to heat up a little. She then quickly swapped personalities and though she was still blushing, Christine hid it better.

She then dipped in for a quick peck on the lips, almost surprising me.

Almost.

She then got up and turned around so I couldn't see her face, though I could see the tips of her ears were red.

"I won't take those words lightly you know." {Christine}

She then walked out the room.

I smiled a little as I got up and followed her out.

We both arrived at the main commune at the same time, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Fillia, who saw us both coming down.

"She looks flustered. What were those two doing up there?" {Fillia}

A reasonable question.

If it weren't for the venom dripping off each word, and the concealed disdain.

"We had an important talk about setting goals. How did the trip to town go?" {Astaros}

Fillia's cheeks puffed up slightly as she turned away from me, muttering about me under her breath.

"SO thats the first thing you do when we finally see each other again." {Fillia}

Though she was practically whispering, her emotions betrayed her while my own impressive hearing caught most of it anyways.

Christine headed off to the bath, almost in her own world, giggling as she went.

I walked over and sat down beside Fillia as she turned away from me slightly.

"Fillia? Is something wrong?" {Astaros}

"Y… e first." {Fillia}

Now her voice was less than a whisper, almost completely silent.

"Hmm?" {Astaros}

She sighed as her cheeks heated up.

"You didn't come to see me first." {Astaros}

I smiled a little as I heard what she said. She could be really cute when she wanted to be.

"Do you want me to make it up to you?" {Astaros}

I raised my hand to her chin, raising it slightly so our eyes met.

"E-Mmmhh…" {Fillia}

Fillia retort was cut off by a quiet moan as our lips met. Her pupils turned to slits as her furry fox ears began to quiver. A moment later when we had parted she almost looked disappointed we had stopped, however she then quickly recovered and attempted to veil her thoughts with a half jealous half irritated expression.

I could feel her emotions though so the entire endeavour was useless.

"T-that won't be enough to make it up to me." {Fillia}

I smiled slyly as I raised an eyebrow in an amused manner.

"You know I can feel you emotions right." {Astaros}

"Y-yes…" {Fillia}

"So this whole charade of being angry is really just amusing to me."

Fillia's cheeks became even redder as she turned away from me with a "Harumph!". I chuckled a little and swept my hand over her head and ruffled her hair. Just as I turned to go speak with a returned Dryis and perhaps talk to Oadry, Fillia reached out and grasped my hand, stopping me.

"Hm?" {Astaros}

"You'll have to make it up to me." {Fillia}

She was turned away from me, but her nervously twitching ears told me all I needed to know, even without powers.

"I will." {Astaros}

…

Walking out of the commune and into the entryway, I was greeted by Oadry, Raven, and Dryis. Up on the second level walkway, Katia was walking towards the rooms. I waved to her and received a halfhearted wave back before returning my attention to the three in the doorway.

"Hello Dryis." {Astaros}

Dryis turned around, practically beaming as her amber eyes met my own. She dashed forward and slammed into me, trying her best to wrap me in a hug as a rush of excitement and joy flooded.

"ASTAROS! It felt like you were gone forever when you left!" {Dryis}

I smiled down at her, reciprocating her embrace as I spoke.

"Well I'm back now and I won't be leaving again for a while." {Astaros}

"You better not!" {Dryis}

"Ahem!" {Raven}

Raven coughed loudly, grabbing our attention so we could finally see that she was staring us down with the absolutely dullest face she could muster. Dryis, seeing this, sucked in a breath and calmed herself as the tips of her ears turned red.

"Sorry about that, but it really is good to have you back with us." {Dryis}

I sniffed back a laugh before patting her head.

"And it feels good to be back here with you too." {Astaros}

While Oadry had quietly left as a satisfied maid, Raven was still standing there looking utterly miserable.

Before I could say anything, Raven waved away my unsaid comments.

"Yes, yes, I'm misery incarnate. I don't want to hear it. Instead, let's talk about the contract you wanted." {Raven}

I let go of Dryis, who released me at the same time.

'We can catch up later.' {Dryis}

Her soft voice sounded out in my mind, to which I responded with a nod. Both me and Raven watched as she then ran off towards the main commune.

"You wanted a high level contract right?" {Raven}

Ravens words instantly brought my attention back to her as I became serious for a moment.

"Indeed." {Astaros}

"Well then here." {Raven}

Raven pulled a black scroll out of a sack on her belt. Gold embellishment seemed to slither across the scroll as I grasped it. However Raven did not let go prompting my eyes to meet her own.

"You better not make me regret giving you this." {Raven}

She then let go, allowing the paper to slip out of her grip.

"Trust me, I won't." {Astaros}