The journey had been a grueling trek through the kingdoms bordering the scorched remains of Cirelith, a necessity born from the fact that the city's destruction had claimed its anchored teleportation circle. Then finally, the group finally crossed the threshold of home.
Arveth, the beating heart of the original Crimvane, was a sea of golden light and rising steam under the morning sun, its streets already thrumming with the messy, beautiful vitality of a city that refused to sleep.
"Woa… you guys live here? Awesome!" Viselle spun in a slow, dizzying circle, her mismatched, symbolic eyes sparkling like cut gems catching the dawn.
She looked at the towering spires with the hunger of a newborn spirit seeing the world for the first time.
"This is just one part of Crimvane. We got two more: Eryndor and Aurelyth." Noa spoke, his hands tucked casually into his pockets as he scanned the horizon with a proprietary air. "Seems we got more merchants cuz of Eryndor's connections."
"Yes, some cut their ties with us during the transition, but we received more requests than we lost—both from Aurelyth's side and Eryndor's."
Vionette closed her eyes for a moment, a satisfied smile playing on her lips as she leaned slightly into Noa's space, a silent acknowledgment of the power they had consolidated together.
"Good morning Lady Vionette, and also Lord Noa." An elderly woman tending a flower stall called out, her face crinkling into a genuine, toothy smile as she dipped into a respectful curtsy.
Noa and Vionette returned the nod with practiced, easy smiles, their pace steady as they marched toward the looming silhouette of the castle.
"Good morning sir!"
A young boy darted through the crowd, his small hand reaching out to deliver a stinging, playful clap against Noa's palm in a high-five before he ducked back into the sea of legs.
"Trying to get a reward from Lady Vionette today too?!" His voice dropped into a mischievous stage-whisper before he vanished entirely.
"And what if I am, you damn brat?!" Noa shouted back, spinning around to shake a fist at the spot where the boy had been. "These dudes need to teach their kids how to behave."
Oh yeah? Who do you think they learn from, you moron?! A visible vein throbbed on Rose's forehead as she marched behind him, her eyes tracking his every exaggerated movement with the weariness of a woman who dealt with a professional delinquent daily.
"Hey dad," Viselle leaned closer to Noa, her palm shielding her mouth as if sharing a state secret. "Why are all the people give attention to us? Are you guys some rich people here? And why are we… walking towards the castle? To meet the king here?"
Thud!
Rose smacked her palm against her own face, the sound echoing her internal scream.
And here's some new girl who suddenly appeared as their 'daughter' who doesn't even know their statuses.
"That's cuz she's Vionette Crimvane." Noa pointed a lazy thumb toward the woman walking beside him.
"Huh!!?" Viselle's feet nearly left the ground as she jumped in shock, her heart and diamond pupils dilating. "Really? Cool! Then, I'm a royal too? Do you guys have big parties? What kind of room will I get? I want one next to mom!"
"Ask one by one." Noa gently pushed her cheerful, hovering face away with the flat of his hand. "Maybe I made her personality too much."
…
Slowly but surely, the group reached the massive castle gates. The architecture was a seamless blend of white stone and crimson accents, looking less like a fortress and more like a predator's lair. High above, the new Crimvane flags snapped in the wind—a white snake warped around a crimson sword, set against a void-black circle that seemed to swallow the morning light.
"Your majesties, you're back." Numael stood by the heavy oak doors, offering a crisp, disciplined bow.
He glanced at Kaelen, his superior, and offered a second, more subtle nod of respect, which Kaelen returned with a silent, mechanical inclination of his head.
"Yea, everything going good?" Noa asked, stepping into the cool, shadowed interior of the entrance hall.
"Yes, everything is normal as always," Numael replied, holding the door open. "Please have some rest after the long trip."
"I don't think I need, thanks for saying thou." Just as he took the first step, Noa stopped, a sudden memory flickering in his gaze. "By the way, what did you do to those guys that bothered Lina at the festival?"
"Umm… about that." Numael scratched his cheek, looking uncharacteristically sheepish. "Lady Lina and Lady Elina stopped us from killing them and asked us to give them to them saying that… they wanted to do some experiments?"
"Experiments? What the hell are those two up to?" Noa widened one eye, a mixture of dread and genuine curiosity crossing his face. "Where are they right now?"
"They are in the royal garden right now."
"Let's go there first then." Vionette turned around, giving a silent signal to Rose and Kaelen that they were dismissed.
…
"What…the fuck?"
Noa and Vionette stood frozen in the middle of the lush royal garden, their jaws dropping down, their eyes half-closed in a mixture of disbelief and profound exhaustion.
Next to them, Viselle was looking back and forth at the two's faces with her own confused face.
Elina was reclined onto a wooden chaise lounge that was placed perfectly in one sun-drenched part of the garden surrounded by blooming rose bushes. Her legs were crossed, one arm resting on the chaise lounge giving an anchor, while the other arm grabbed a clean and delicious looking orange juice that was presented by a stiff, silent butler. Her amber eyes were covered by dark, round sunglasses, and her draconic tail was waving rhythmically, betraying the massive, satisfied smugness on her face.
"Mmm~ this is good." She said, taking a slow sip and looking up at the perfect blue sky.
"This too. Eryndor's maids know how to make delicious drinks for sure." The reply came from Lina.
Lina was also reclined onto a wooden chaise lounge right beside the dragon. Her one hand was busy adjusting her square sunglasses that fell over her bright blue eyes, the other hand holding a crystal-clean glass filled with a vibrant blue majito. She was still in the outfit that she had worn for the festival, the striking black and pink one.
"Lina, Elina, what the hell is this?" Noa asked, closing the distance with heavy, deliberate steps.
"Pfffff! B-big bro?!" The mouthful of blue majito spread outwards in a fine mist as Lina jumped up, her comfortable posture shattering instantly. "Y-you guys are back…heheheh." She gave a low, incredibly nervous laugh, her bright eyes dartling everywhere else but Noa's face.
"Huh!? Cough-Cough!" Elina also got surprised, nearly choking on her juice as her amber eyes widened in sheer panic, her sunglasses sliding down her nose.
Without missing a beat, a butler that stood right next to Lina reached out with a crisp silk handkerchief, stepping forward to deftly dab the stray blue droplets from her chin with a practiced, unfazed grace.
"And who the hell are these guys?" Vionette asked, crossing her arms and tilting her head at the three bruised but immaculately dressed butlers near the little duo. "I don't remember giving you any butlers."
"Exaclty!" Elina, recovering her bravado, pointed a finger at Vionette with a triumphant smug. "You didn't gave us so we made some."
"Oh my god, don't tell me…" Vionette let out a heavy breath, making a sudden, horrifying guess as she rubbed her temples.
"Yes, they're the people that bothered us that day." Lina nodded enthusiastically, as if it was a great, noble achievement. "We were originally going to do some experiments on them and a kill them afterwards, but they asked to follow us after the experiments, so we just accepted."
"And what are these experiments?" Noa sat down heavily on the edge of the chaise lounge, effortlessly grabbing Lina up and placing her squarely on his lap.
"For starters, we wanted to see how much a human Aether core handle when a dragon pours Aether to them." Elina said, one finger raised into the air with a bright, terrifyingly scientific smile. "Then we wanted to see if a human body could become 'unbreakable' if subjected to constant, micro-impacts."
"So we used swords to create tiny, needle-like bursts of pressure and pelted these guys with them." Lina completed the sentence, leaning back against Noa's chest. "Then we wanted to se-"
"Enough, enough." Noa raised a hand, stopping her morbid tale before turning towards the three butlers. "Are these dudes even okay after things like that?"
"Hell yea, no problemo-Hahahah!" Elina said with a wildly proud face. "Wait…hey! Who is this?" She suddenly pointed at Viselle.
"Ah this, this is Viselle. Get along with her." Vionette extended a hand towards Viselle, introducing her into the chaotic fold.
Viselle was currently looking at Elina, jumping from one position to another like a curious cat. Sometimes, she placed the tip of her one hand's index finder to the other hand's thumb, making a square shape, and will see through them with her mismatched eyes as if it's a camera lens framing a rare specimen.
"Are you a dragon? A real one?" Reaching out boldly, touching Elina's scaled tail, "Woo~ It is real."
"H-hey! Don't touch that!" Elina snatched her tail away, her face flushing.
"Hahahah~ My apologies. I was just surprised to see a dragon here." She stepped back and bowed.
It was a fluid, theatrical motion—her one leg forwards than the other, one hand extended gracefully to the side, the other placed dramatically on her heart, just like a professional jester performing for a court.
After the elegant bow, she walked towards Noa and Lina who was sitting on the wooden chaise lounge. She looked deeply at Lina, then looked up at Noa with a profoundly confused face.
"Dad, who is this?" She asked, tilting her head, her white-and-violet ponytail swaying.
"This is my-"
"Pffff! Dad?! What the hell?!" Lina's eyes almost popped completely out of their sockets, a second, even larger spread of blue majito happening right into the air. "B-big bro… big sis…" She frantically looked at Noa, then back at Vionette. "Did you two…"
"No, no, no. We did not." Noa quickly placed his palm flat on Lina's head, grounding her imagination. "You can say… she's adopted or something. Anyways, Viselle, this is my sister, Lina."
"Your sister? But you two-"
"I am also adopted" He interrupted smoothly; he already knew exactly what she was going to ask.
"Aaaaa….makes sense." She leaned closely towards Lina's face, a warm smile spreading across her lips. "What a cute sister you have."
"H-hello." Lina, feeling incredibly uneasy under the intense gaze of the strange girl's mismatched eyes, forced a shaky, polite smile. "Nice to mee-"
"Booooh!"
"KYAAAAAH!"
In an instant, the playful curtsying Viselle was gone. In her place, towering over the sitting Lina, stood the commanding, sharp form of Jain. Viselle had both hands up beside her ears, fingers splayed wide, and her features twisted into a garish, classic clown expression—her mouth pulling open into a dramatic, wide 'O' shape as she leaned into the girl's face.
To that sheer, sudden change, Lina's eyes almost got popped out again as she scrambled backward against Noa.
"Ok then, we'll be going." Vionette said smoothly as she turned her back to the chaise lounges. She looked at Viselle over her shoulder. "Viselle, you're in charge of these two. Take care of them."
"H-huh? Why are we getting babysitted?" Elina shouted indignantly at the leaving backs of Noa and Vionette.
"Yea! Why are we getting babysitted? And why her of all people?" Lina's eyes were covered in unshed tears as she clutched Noa's sleeve.
***
At night that day.
The castle was quiet, the moon casting long, silver shadows across the stone corridors. Noa came into his room in the castle while vigorously brushing his hair with a thick white towel. He had just returned from taking a long, luxurious bath from the royal bathing pool, and tiny droplets of water were still going out from his dark hair, catching the white light of the Aether-lamps. He was wearing a pair of loose, dark charcoal sweatpants while nothing was worn to the top, completely shirtless, letting the cool night air brush against muscular body.
At last, nothing feels better than the bed at home.
He threw the towel aside and jumped right onto the massive, soft bed with a deeply satisfied smile, his hands extended widely to the sides as he sank into the mattress.
"Haaaaah~ So comfy."
Because Noa is an Augmented Lifeform—which a normal individual, a Vital Lifeform, becomes after they gathers a certain amount of Aether into their Aether Core—he technically doesn't need to sleep or eat. But they do it because of pleasure, not survival.
He slowly closed his eyes with a smiled, the silence of his kingdom wrapping around him like a warm blanket. Then—
BOOOOM!
"What the hell is it now!?" He stood up violently, his peaceful expression replaced instantly with an irritated, homicidal face.
He looked directly at the massive, smoking hole that had just been blasted into his room's wall, brick and mortar dusting his pristine bedsheets.
"You… come here!"
"Hahahah-you can't catch me~ you can't catch me~"
"Tier 2 magic: Ember Fang!"
He watched, deadpan and frozen in disbelief, as three chaotic figures came flying into his room through the smoke, then leave through the other side without even minding his existence.
It was Elina, Lina, and Viselle, in the middle of a full-blown, destructive fight in the dead of night. Elina was sprinting full speed, still in her human form but sparking with draconic heat. Lina was hot on her heels, using her sword to attack in a blind rage. And Viselle was laughing maniacally, gracefully spinning through the air and using pure black deck cards that had a glowing purple edge to attack the other two.
But Viselle seemed to be holding back one special card—a black slip she only drew for absolute close-range combat. Etched into the center of the dark paper in a glowing, deep violet was a peculiar design: a thin, jagged crown rendered in a sharp, three-quarter perspective. It was a fractured, asymmetric image—one spike was snapped cleanly at the midpoint, another was noticeably shorter. It was the exact same enigmatic mark that decorated the tattoo on her left forearm.
"Ok, I'm done." Noa let out a long, hollow sigh, the last shreds of his patience evaporating into the night air.
He got off from his ruined bed, crunching over broken stone, and talked outside from the massive hole in the wall to no one in particular.
"I'm going somewhere else to sleep."
[Blink]
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[Illustrations]