A parting gift

I awoke to dull pain. Pain was good. Pain meant that there was still life in me. But mixed within the pain was a strange sensation, one I couldn't quite put my finger on. 

"uuun" A soft moan tickled his earlobes. My eyes widened into saucers after identifying its source, 

Under my bedsheet hugging my arm without a shred of clothing on was shockingly Theia. " You're finally awake."

She teased in an amorous tone. For a moment I was impressed with myself. That even gravely injured, blood still rushed into my nether regions like a torrential stream, fueling my evil thoughts.

But with the complete return of my rationality I averted my eyes from the obviously wonderful scenery. Rebecca Cane had not raised a pervert.

Theia seemed shocked by my actions. " Wait could it be that you're a virgin?" She sighed in amazement. I blushed slightly at her choice of words. 

Seemingly finding her answer in my reaction she laughed mysteriously.

"Fufufu." My eyes were very nearly enraptured by the enchanting undulations of her curves.

Sensing my willpower waning I step out of her embrace and immediately discovered why the drafts were especially cooling today.

I finally realised that I was also buck naked for some reason.

I looked at Theia accusingly. My gaze seemed to resemble that of young girl who was taken advantage of.

"Hahahaha". But all she had to offer me was a peal of wanton laughter.

***

"I had to share my nature energy with you directly. Clothes would have become a hindrance. You can rest assured both of us are still virgins.

I also wouldn't gone to such extremes if your situation hadn't been so precarious." She said as she donned a beautiful feathered black robe.

Yet as her voice trailed down the last part of her sentence her cheekwere suffused with a red glow. She seemed different from before, warmer.

My eyes trailed across the crimson ring that rested idly on my left index. A mournful air appeared around me as a scarlet crystal materialized out of thin air.

"Theia is there any chance they survived." I asked sorrowfully. She immediately knew who I was referring to.

Her sorrow mirrored mine as she shook her head sadly. "It would have destroyed its prison entirely before breaking into our realm."

"What exactly was she?". I voiced. A little bit of an enigma tainted her visage as she began.

"When the world was at its infancy several primal forces were given birth to and they in turn gave birth to the entities you know as gods. But there was one that forgot its place. One that gained sentience and only found pleasure in destruction. So it was sealed by the old gods.

But even then it was chaos in itself. The tiniest leak in its energy would result in unparalleled destruction. It was the mother every storm, every act of chaos or destruction. Dark magicians at times tapped into her power when performing powerful feats of storm magic. When the gods disappeared the responsibility to watch over her fell to us shuras. Her essence was divided and weakened into five parts. We the void fey guard its 3rd fragment. But as you've surely witnessed our wards are not absol-".

"No". I cut her off. "Your wards were tampered with".

My experience in the dungeon had familiarized me with naturally occurring breaches in space. I could sense that wasn't the case here. Yet Theia lightly shook her head at my deduction. "Breaking into Kei'eshi's prison realm requires precise knowledge or one may end up endlessly drifting through the dimensional void. An infinite space between layers of reality. Besides that no one person can breach the wards our elders set."

Nevertheless, I was undeterred. "There isn't anything impossible in this world. Perhaps a way to accurately pinpoint her location exist but you lot haven't discovered it. Surviving her might is said to be impossible but here I sit. You must believe me on this. Someone is plotting your doom."

As if considering the possibility for the first time she revealed an expression of alarm. Indeed if someone had gone far enough to release the incarnation of destruction in their realm they had quite a lot to fear. 

"We have had enough dreary thoughts for a lifetime. Come with me, the elders want to meet you."

For the first time in ages her voice was infused with wanton joy. The joy of a young lady. Unfortunately, fate was ever cruel. Her expression became a frightful one as it returned to me. I stared back at her in blank confusion, that is until he felt it within my core.

"AAAAAaargh" My guttural howl of pain rang out in the sky above. Dark crimson markings crawled eerily across my skin. I was once again tormented with the pain of my soul being rent apart.

"What is this? I thought i was rid of her!" I thought in despair. My head slumped downwards in unconsciousness almost immediately, however my jaws remained tightly clenched.

Theia's panicked screams were unable to reach me. Like many times before, I was lost to the darkness.***

When my eyes opened again, i was no longer under earths blue sky or Vanaheim's crimson sky but a strange hypnotic violet heaven. My body felt larger stronger. When i spoke, a deeper baritone tunneled out of my lips.

I felt the weight of a dense armor on my body. Even stranger was a long vermillion tail that swung around my hips and a giant black sword on my back.

My knew form, for whatever reason, was assaulted by complex emotions as he made his way through his home.

The hair of his tail glinted metallically in the sunlight. He was in a hurry for some reason. He rushed through a great corridor, all the guards and maids greeting him as "my prince".

He opened two great doors to enter an elegantly furnished room. "It seems my prince cannot wait to see his progeny."

An old maid mused with a smile. She was seated next to grand bed veiled with a silk net. The soft giggle of new born filtered through the sheets. I felt hisanticipation rise. "Daddy, daddy".

A cute girl who seemed to be less than five years old barreled into his figure happily. "Is it true I'm going to have a baby brother."

She inquired obvious delight. "Haha Yes, my Bree is surely going to be the best older sister. He will be counting on you from now."

Facing her fathers tacit admission she hugged his legs even tighter. As a child she was already more than five feet tall. A beautiful crimson tail adorned with gold ringlets extended from her waist.

Her eyes were also a deep scarlet. Her skin donned a warm golden-brownhue that complemented her braided obsidian hair.

When she spoke her accent seemed of African descent, and as was everyone's, however the voice which would soon permeate the air was as airy as it was loght."Bree don't bother your father." A celestial voice sailed through the silky sheets.

He seemed drawn to it. A deep craving arose in his soul. He moved towards the source of the voice, unveiling the entrancing figure within. The sunlight that filtered out the violet sky seemed especially beautiful. Yet it was put to shame by her golden skin. 

Her resplendent violet eyes contained an infinite chasm no man would ever be able to escape. Her beautiful deep purple hair trailed down her enchanting curves.

She was dressed in plain loose linen robes yet the beauty of her countenance put the sun and moon to shame. Her visage dazed his battle hardened heart for a moment, as it always did.

Her face was just that intrinsically beautiful.

But for once his attention wasn't on the marvel of her appearance, but the giggling infant within her arms. He had inherited most of his fathers' features.

Its chubby skin was a deep chocolate and handful of curly black hair adorned his scalp. A tiny tail extended out of his waist but it wasn't of the same crimson color that his family possessed but rather a deep violet.

The same violet hue colored his pupils. "Our son seems to take after his mom more than his dad." The bewitchingly beautiful woman said with a laugh. "He takes after both of us. A reality demon born of a dream spirit. Say do you think his ichor is dark or golden?" He mused. "Does it matter?" The lady on the bed chuckled happily.

Her voice trailed down wards when she didn't receive her husband's response. "Bree, come here. Daddy hasn't held you in a while." He had instead turned his attention to his daughter, warmth saturating his voice.

The little girl wasted no time jumping into her fathers' arms, the haven where she would always find comfort. As she stared into his normally reassuring vermillion eyes a strange feeling welled up within her. "Sleep".

His hypnotic crimson eyes seemed to say. The urge grew unconstrained within her and gradually her dainty eye lids. "Adam what are you doi-".

She began in alarm, never having the chance to finish her sentence. His finger nimbly struck her forehead and she immediately lost consciousness. " I'm sorry my love. But even if the realm cannot survive you must."

"Bree!"

He loudly called out. "Soon an elegantly dressed figure tunneled out of the doors. Between her caramel-colored skin and warm brown eyes. How could Adam not recognize who he now saw.

She stood at a normal human height of 5'6, and was far from being as beautiful as the woman with golden skin yet the purity and warmth that graced her figure lent her an irresistible angelic air.

He was looking at his mother. Her expression seemed so much brighter though, her eyes much clearer.

Even in this dreamscape, Adams body shook relentlessly as he unconsciously cried out. "Mom!"

"I need you to take them beyond the primal sea." He felt the character he embodied within this dream say.

His words provoked a slight frown from her. "You can't be serious my lord. What crisis could possibly be worthy of such drastic measures." She spoke in a familiar voice. A perfect one that caressed the body like a breeze.

He cooly answered. "They learned of the berserker, between that and the birth of my son, i cant imagine they would take a chance."

My mother was still undeterred. "The berserker is merely a myth and your son an infant.-". 

" I'm not changing my mind. I need your help. We must make haste before father finds out." He cut her of in hard tone that betrayed the fact that he did not like what he was doing any more than she did.

My mother strode across the room and locked eyes with him. A strange silence passed between them.

"Who would I trust if not you." Her voice donned a sad dejected tone towards the end of her sentence as she placed an arm lightly over her belly.

The warriors eyes clouded over for the first time and his certain gaze seemed vulnerable, apologetic even.

"I'm sorry". His two words carried endless remorse. "Take care of my children." He spoke the last words she would ever hear from him. Words laced with a double meaning.

Space devolved into chaos around the entire room, swallowing everyone but the warrior. Soon he was the only one left in the large empty room.

Yet a smile no one would comprehend graced his lips.

***

The scenery changed and when my eyes opened I was at a familiar cataclysmic scene, the starry exposed i had entered when the ten word maxim made sense to me.

"Fufu it's the beginning of time." A little boy suspended upon nothing in the endless space. "Haha it looks what you saw has shaken you. Back in the day Phobos was plagued with dreams as well."

The little boy exclaimed in a carefree matter. Indeed my dreams swam endlessly in my mind as I tried to make sense of it.

"In my experience it is best not worry yourself with stuff you cannot understand. All webs unravel with time. When you're ready to know you will naturally know.

For now lets talk about why I called you here." The boy said.

"You called me here?" I muttered, still a little disoriented.

"Yes, you have received a dreadful curse. With the help of those crows you saved you should manage a decent seal. But even with that I doubt you will survive past ten days.

So when you reach wits end I shall wait for in the everlasting pyre." With his piece said, our surroundings disappeared. I was suddenly jolted awake once more.

This time I was under the warm crimson sky of Vanaheim. I was alone in a dimly lit room. I was no longer in the clothes I wore before and I was slathered with a fresh orchid scent with every inch of my body scrubbed clean.

I blushed slightly at the thought of Theia bathing my unconscious naked body. I was at quite an impasse when it came her. 

Did I have feelings for her? obviously!

But an uneasy andviolated feeling arose deep within my soul whenever I faced her, yet her entrancing eyes refused to lease my captive soul.

I groggily got to my feet and made my way to the towers balcony. The sounds of clanging metal and rolling blocks seemed especially commonplace today. The destroyed scenery was depressing yes but several winged giants zipped across the sky vigorously, rebuilding.

While I hadn't spent much time with the void fey. They were clearly a peaceful, spiritual race. 

 "Your awake." A chime like voice shook me out of my reverie. Standing behind me was my savior. Lady Theia Gradyl.

"I am." I replied quietly. My two words carried boundless emotions. "I need to leave." I ascertained softly.

"But why, where would you even go to. My father and the elders said that…that." Her voice now rested on the verge of panic.

"I will find a remedy for my curse, but it goes beyond that, I need to find out what happened in the distant past. Some things were revealed to me in dreams, and i must confront them at their source." I had seen my mother's silhouette in that strange dream. I would find out why.

She sensed the depth of the words I uttered and wisely chose not probe into them, her sole concern was stopping me, but I would not relent.

"But now. you're not even going to rest a bit." A trail of tears rode the contours of her cheeks. "Now why would I dawdle when I only have ten days left." I answered with a smile, the only thing I could reassure her with.

"The elders will find a way. I'm sure if its them." I wordlessly took her into my arms. Cutting her stream of panicked words. " I reach into my collar and felt something cold hard. I brought it out and began.

"I could feel Marcels thoughts as it he hung it around my neck. It's a Shen amulet. Meant for the very first of your servants. It means I can always find your voice right".

She nodded tearfully. I continued to hug her in silence. "I don't regret it. If I could relive it all I would do it again because dying for my Theia isn't so bad."

My lips we blocked immediately by hers. I could feel her anxiousness, pain, and self-blame through the warmth of her lips.

We stayed like this for a while, then she separated from me, all vulnerability within her eyes had evaporated into dust.

She was the strong heiress of the house of Gradyl once more. She snapped her jade fingers, shifting space to a grand arena. It was circle of a 50 foot radius.

Elegant rings marked its grey surface and it was guarded by a dense viridian forest. When my eyes found her again, she was in her nine feet tall shura form. "I cannot have my sole servant shame me. Before you leave I shall sieve the weakness from your very bones. A dying sun burns the brightest."

Her eyes brimmed with the confidence and pride worthy of an heiress. She stretched out her palms commanding the vines to rise in a viperous manner. They glowed with a deep emerald radiance. Immediately my vison swayed. I was overcome with the sensation of the rushing wind grazing my eyelids.

'I had been hit?'

"Ugh". With a grunt I collided with the bark of a nearby tree. The tree shuddered endlessly.

Surprisingly the ache disappeared after a few seconds. I got to my feet to discover I was mostly unscathed with the exception of a few bruises that were already healing visibly. Theia studied me with appraising eyes.

"The strange refinement your body went through really did you good. Factoring in the hardness bestowed onto you by the dragon gods body, among 3rd circle beings you are quite formidable."

For a moment I was stunned. Her appraisal was far too accurate. How could she possibly know what she did.

I had a feeling asking her would bear no fruit and her eyes betrayed no secrets. She gave me little time to ponder the thought. Several vines lashed at me simultaneously.