A Thrilling Ride

When Sieg woke up, he noticed his parents appeared ecstatic as they walked quickly through one of the many corridors. Sieg's curiosity rose as he watched his father tap a black disk on his earlobe. Jira suddenly started talking, but Vena never responded. Sieg kept watching with a curious expression and came to believe that the disc was a communication device.

'There's too much I don't know about this world.' Sieg sighed as his parents took a left turn. 'But I guess we're finally going home now. I'll understand my family's situation better when we get there.'

Sieg's eyes went wide as his mother carried him through a doorway. They had left the interior of the building and were now standing on a flat roof garden. Sieg could not help but marvel at the strange yet beautiful alien flowers. However, he soon felt his heart jump into his throat as his parents approached the ledge.

'Why didn't anyone put up a barrier to stop anyone from falling off!' Sieg panicked when he realized it was a straight drop from that point. There were none of the intricate branch pathways connected there. So he immediately grew concerned that his parents had decided to do something drastic.

"Are you ready?" Jira asked as he glanced at Vena and his son in her arms. When Vena nodded, Jira continued. "Then you should prepare Sieg for this."

Sieg suddenly panicked, but his yells for help went unanswered as his mother shushed him. He could only watch as several roots crawled out from under his mother's hair to wrap around him. They lifted him out of his mother's grasp and over her shoulder to her back.

Sieg stared in disbelief as the roots held him gently in place at a short distance from Vena. The roots had left him with a clear view over her right shoulder as they cradled him. 'What's going on?' Sieg asked himself as he felt his mother moving closer to the edge.

Suddenly more roots crawled out from under his mother's clothes and wrapped around her body like a suit of armor. Sieg gasped as metal plates popped out of those roots to cover parts of her neck, face, forearms, and hands. However, he noticed the metal did not appear around the joints and surmised it was to allow flexibility.

The roots even lifted his mother's hair and turned it into a twisted braid of roots, hair, and metal. She glanced over her shoulder at him, which allowed him to see a full metal facemask with narrow, red rectangular lenses where her eyes should be.

Sieg no longer knew what to think after witnessing that transformation. However, his mind went into further disarray when his mother suddenly stepped off the ledge!

Sieg screamed for a few seconds before he realized they were not falling. His mother was standing on the exterior wall of the building, looking toward the ground!

Sieg found it hard to breathe when his mother started running down and to the right, where Sieg spotted one of the tree paths. 'How can she move so fast?' Sieg wondered as joy invaded his mind. Of course, he knew it was likely the adrenaline coursing through his veins that was making the experience pleasant rather than terrifying.

'Will I be able to do this when I get older?' Sieg's excitement knew no bounds at that thought as he watched people scurrying to make room for his parents to land on the path. Surprisingly, they avoided landing on top of it. Instead, they landed on its side and moved to run on the underside of that path!

Sieg became even more amazed as the roots holding him twisted to keep his body the right way up, even though his mother was upside down! 'How are they doing this?' Sieg wondered as he analyzed the situation. However, he could only chalk it up to the advanced technology or something to do with the Lotus flowers.

His heart leaped into his throat several times as his parents made impossible jumps from one surface to another. He felt like he was on the most insane rollercoaster ride!

Suddenly he found himself staring at a large gap between buildings from over his mother's shoulder. He panicked when he realized the distance was far too big. Even for the incredible display, his parents had made so far. 'We're not going to make it!' Sieg screamed in his mind as his parents jumped.

Sure enough, he was right. His mother started falling after reaching the peak of her leap! Sieg rapidly realized that they would not even come close to that building as his mother leveled out her body.

'What are you laughing at, woman!' Sieg cursed when he heard the joy in Vena's voice as she spread her arms out wide. 'You've killed us!'

Suddenly, the metal on his mother's armor turned red, while the same color glowed between the twisted roots on her body. Crimson petals erupted from her arms and ribcage to form wings using her outstretched arms.

Sieg's stomach lurched as he threatened to bring up the milk his mother had provided earlier that day. Of course, the roots holding him prevented him from feeling even the slightest discomfort as his mother shot higher into the air before calmly gliding toward the building.

Sieg's eyes became full of wonder as his mother avoided fast-moving shuttles flying through the air. At some point, his father appeared in front of them, allowing Sieg to see he wore similar armor to his mother. Except Jira's had shades of blue instead of red.

'This is incredible!' Sieg gasped as he enjoyed the feeling of the breeze on his face. 'There's so much to learn! Like how did my father control that water when I was born? What's possible in this world? How do I make my Lotus give me this amazing armor?'

Sieg took in as much as he could from the flight while trying to talk to the Lotus living inside him. He tried everything he could to try to cause a reaction in it. Sieg desperately wanted that same power for himself! Of course, he knew it would probably be best to hide it from his new parents.

However, the Lotus appeared unresponsive. Sieg could not even be sure it was sentient. But after everything he had just seen, he knew there had to be a way to control it! The only question was, how?

His parents glided around the building and headed toward another one in the distance. Sieg could see his parents giving each other hand signals as the most incredible scent filled his nostrils. He felt the tension in his body vanishing as his parents angled their flight path toward a large garden sticking out the side of the building.

'Is that our home?' Sieg wondered as he stared at the breathtaking flowers. The garden had several levels, with external staircases connecting each one to the other. It was full of vibrant and exotic plant life that he could not even begin to describe!

As soon as they drew closer to it, Sieg could make out a door connecting the garden to the building. He watched as it slid aside to reveal Nina exiting the building with four children in tow. Sieg immediately cursed his luck. With four older siblings, it was unlikely he would have an easy time growing up.

He was sure they would not appreciate a new member of the family who would take their parents' attention away from them. Sieg felt some small relief as his parents landed and walked forward for several steps to disperse the inertia of their flight.

The youngest children rushed forward to greet their parents as their Lotus armor vanished. Sieg could tell the whole family was genuinely excited to be reunited as the kids crowded around him. 'Two brothers and two sisters.' Sieg thought as he studied each of them in turn.

He noticed that two of them had black hair, while the oldest boy had blue hair and eyes like their father. However, the oldest girl had purple hair, and her eyes were the same color. Sieg felt curious about that as he wondered why the hair and eyes varied so much from the parents.

His mother soon excused herself and walked to a metal circle in the center of a ring of lilac and white colored flowers. Sieg could still hear his father and the others talking, even though those flowers hid them from view. The roots that cradled him suddenly transferred him to his mother's arms as she made cooing noises before she sat cross-legged in the circle.

Several seconds passed before she gently placed him on the ground beside her. The blanket covering his body prevented him from feeling the cold of the metal as he watched Vena close her eyes. Sieg gasped as roots appeared from under his mother's clothes and slithered to embed themselves in the surrounding soil.

Sieg felt something click in his mind. As if he had just learned something invaluable. Sieg closed his eyes and tried to picture the Lotus inside of him. He imagined its roots coming out of his body and planting themselves in the soil. Exactly like what was happening with his mother.

He felt some discomfort as something wiggled near his spine. 'It's working!' Sieg grinned as a root pierced his skin near the bottom of his spine. It rubbed against his skin as it slithered to find a way out of the blanket.

Sieg had to wait for a few minutes before a pulsing sensation of energy filled his body. 'I can feel it traveling through the root and gathering inside me!' He wanted to cheer at his success, but he did not want to risk gaining Vena's attention. He quietly lay there and allowed himself to enjoy the sensation.

'What the hell?' Sieg panicked when a thought that was not his own invaded his mind.

[Black Lotus System... Initiated...]