by Andur
“no.. hic, *sniff*”, Rose miserably answers.
I pat her back. Mother can be really scary sometimes. Rose didn't get beheaded physically, but mentally she sure was chopped to pieces.
“It will be okay. As soon, as I get the opportunity, I will tell her the heroic story of how you saved me from those things!”, I can't see Rose like that.
She is something like family to me by now. Rose smiles thankfully at me.
The doors open and my parents enter the room. They are followed by the rulers of Stricc, whom I already saw once. I was present, when they greeted each other a few days earlier.
A little girl is with them, led by the hand by the Queen of Stricc. Huh?
“Let me reintroduce you again. This is my son, the first Prince of Tirna. By the name Angrod of Tirna. And these are the rulers of Stricc. Arthur Stricc and Katrine Stricc.” Mother pulls me in front of the girl, so we have to confront each other.
That aura is so familiar? I know those eyes, but from where?
“And this is the first princess of Stricc. Celes of Stricc, your fiancee!”
A heavy silence falls on the room.
- “Myrm!” -”Ascathon!”-
Silence again.
“Bwahahah. HAHA AHAHAHA!”, I can't hold it anymore. I start laughing as I point at a now female Myrm in a pink princess-doll-dress.
Seria really pulled a stunt here.
“AAARRRRRGGH!!!”, Myrm screams in pure rage, as he/she? Tackles me with her whole body.
We both go the ground, with her on top.
I see something shiny in her hand, as she raises it. H...HA...HAIRPIN!?
*STAB**STAB**STAB*
“OWWWW!”, I howl as both pairs of parents separate us. But not before I got a fist of her red hair ripped out.
I will get you back for that! Myrm did more damage in five seconds than twenty assassins which couldn't even scratch me!
Ow! It hurts! I am bloody all over again, but this time its my blood.
What a day!
“I think your torment has begun now.”, Rose whispers.
6 - Tied up conversation?
I am sitting across Myrm and we are both constrained to our chairs. After the disaster of our introduction, it was decided for us to have a long discussion to make our peace together.
Because our parents feared for our lives if left alone, they bound us up like in a bad bondage movie. On top of that, they casted spells on the room to stop every magic used inside.
Then we got told, that there will be no leaving until there was some kind of improvement in our behaviour. That was seven hours ago and I have some serious problems by now!
But I will not humiliate myself by pissing into my pants! Never! I will die before I do that. Myrm will have the same problems by now. I just have to be the one to endure longer.
We haven't spoken a single word since the beginning of this. The first two hours we just stared at each other until Myrm broke eye contact to look out of the window. Heh, I feel like I won that one.
I then started to count stuff inside the room, just to kill time. There are 2334 spots on the ornamented ceiling. 789 small timber pilings used for the wooden floor. 543 books on the shelf behind Myrm. 13 birds flew by the window during that time.
I am out of stuff to count. Oh, our parents are devils! Will they let us starve here if we don't talk? They wouldn't, or would they? No, we will die of thirst first! How can I get out of this?
I take another look at Myrm. Katrine Stricc healed the ripped out hair back onto his/her head while my Mother patched me up.
Then they had a long talk with us, but weren't really interested in our circumstances. We are their successors and destined by the goddess to continue their work.
By their decree, they made Midhold the Capital of their country's and set up permanent residence here out of a whim.
Mother had argued, that there would be obviously a lot of education to do. She really formulated it like that! They did all this, so we can be together as much as possible.
“If they have that much power, they should just have unified the continent and left me out of it....”, I talked to myself.
“The rule of this world's nobility is absolute obedience to the leading house by bloodline. And holding up the traditions and governing system. If they told them to follow another country, there is a high chance that it would end up in rebellion.
By having us marry, they can fulfil the prophecy and declare their houses as one. Using this loophole to unite both states.”, Myrm declares with empty eyes.
Did Myrm just talk to me?
“Oh, and I am sorry, I overreacted. If I had managed to keep a cool head and get rid of you in a clean manner, we wouldn't have to endure this. Too bad that those assassins didn't manage to do their job.”, she now smiles at me innocently.
TCH! I almost forgot that this is Myrm! This is no cute little girl sitting there. Think! Its A GUY! I want to smack my head into something.
“Keep that dirty look to yourself! Just tell me why you laughed like mad at me! Is that dress really looking that bad?”, Myrm asked.
The gears in my head stop. Could Myrm really swing that way? “I laughed because you reincarnated as a girl! You have to be very unlucky for that, but it happens sometimes. I guess Seria had a hand in it.”, I muse to myself.
Myrm looks at me agape. Then she closes her mouth, opens it again, closes it again. Did I say something silly? Why do I get that reaction?
“I WAS ALWAYS A GIRL YOU MINDLESS BASTARD! Oh Hell! We were at it for over eighthundred years and all the time you thought I am a man!?”
“What are you talking about? You were a perfect man before! Always in full body armour and fighting some stupid battle for justice and order! And all your followers advertised you as a male god!”, she surely doesn't want to tell me that I got her gender wrong all this time.
„They were idiots who got my gender wrong when i took over the position! All the other gods knew i was female, what's wrong with you?“, she starts crying.
Oh!, hey stop that! You make me the sole bad guy here?
“You are an enemy of all womankind! Not every female has to be a big breasted nudist like Seria, who wear at most half transparent dresses!”, she is now in full bickering mode!
“What are you thinking of me!? We are not even two years old yet! First I don't really believe that story yet, and second I am not into children!”, I can't let it stand like that!
“I have no expectations of an old, perverted, idiotic, anti-feministic geezer inside the body of a child! I am sure you have the best time getting off on your mother, every time you reincarnate!”, she shoots back.
“Hold it! If I am a geezer, you are a granny! How old are you really!? Maybe you are some hag even twice my age! You have no right to accuse me of being a geezer of all!”, I can do nothing but complain here.
“I have seen you look at Serias ass often enough! You are surely one of those guys, who have perverted fantasies around the clock!” - Myrm
“Every unbound guy who has a normal brain would turn his head at her! Well, be happy that I killed you then! I did you a favour! Best thing that could happen to you. When I look at your mother, you should have the best genes for the future now.” - Me
Her eyes go wide, “Oh my god! You will even go for your fiancees mother. You will even try to bed us at the same time?”
NO, nono that's not the way I wanted it interpreted, ”What do you take me for? Have you ever seen me behave like that!? You, as my dearest enemy, should know me at least enough to acknowledge that I am not like this!”
She silently thinks for a moment, “I surely have never seen or heard of you being with anyone in all that time. Even a god should have at least some form of relationship. You have some sort of mental problems? God's should have minds like everyone else.”
Uuuum.......
She squints her eyes at me and starts to grin, “I don't think its because you are something like an epic hermi
t, who has forsaken all worldly desire. Does it have something to do with that title of yours? Little One? Kekeke! I wondered about that.”
“NOOOO!”, I scream with all my might at this. “Its surely not like that. It seems I got that title because my mother here used it as my pet name. You have no right to use it!”
“Oh you are a mothers child, I understand. So after my mother and me you will go for yours too? Or have you already achieved that. I must admit I am a little worried now.” -Myrm
I inhale sharply! “Myrm! Stop making me do things like that in your mind! I am just a guy, who doesn't like to boast about his relationships. I am actually quite decent for a guy in my opinion! I am not someone who likes to bed every girl that crosses his path.
I like my relationships to be mutual. It's just that its hard for me to find someone, with whom I can have a normal conversation.”
I am exhausted now. This bickering wears me out.
“Stop calling me Myrm! Myrm was a god! I am Celes of Stricc now.”, she says it like she lost something dear.
I can kind of understand this, as I lost the same thing.
“Then you have to call me Angrod of Tirna from now on. Can we call a truce in this?”
“Don't misunderstand I still hate you down to the bones!”, she is still glaring at me. I have no complains on that, “Believe me. Your feelings are mutual.”
We fall silent again and wait for our parents.
After an eternity the door opens and Katrine enters the room. Ireth follows after her.
“Have you two made any progress?”, Katrine inquires with a raised eyebrow.
“We promise not to kill each other!”, I call out and Celes nods.
“No wounding, maiming or other forms of violence?”, we both nod again and Katrine looks at Ireth. My Mother sighs and waves her hand. At that our ropes get cut and fall to the floor.
I jump up and dash out of the room and down the corridor to the bathroom. As I reach for the doorknob I get shoved by something from behind and fall over. Outsch!
“Girls first! Have you learned nothing at your lessons in manners!” *Crash* *Klick*
The door is closed and locked! I start to cry. I want to kill something! Anything is fine as long as it dies slowly and in pain!
7 - Headaches and a new educator?
Right now, I am very busy. Squashing Ants, or feeding caterpillars to them. Eventually even disturbing their hive and watching the enfolding chaos, as they try to repair it.
Well they aren't real ants. I just call them that way, because they behave like ants. They seem more like little crabs. I really should start to investigate the biology of this sick world seriously.
It's always good to know if something that looks cute is deadly in reality.
Feels like what a normal boy, at age of five, should do right? Playing with bugs.... it feels like a great step backwards. Eventually my parents should stop and scold me for hurting a living thing.
But mother doesn't really care about my actions in this. The problem is, that in my mind, I am not five years old, but much much older.
Now it sounds just creepy, am I right? I know this, but it feels nostalgic. Playing with the life of lesser beings, having them move on your whim. It's like in my old times as a god once more hrhr.....
It also distracts me from those headaches, I have had them for some time now. Celes is also here in the palace garden and is sitting on a chair about three meters away from me.
Ireth and Rose are present too. Ireth is reading a book, while Rose does some gardening.
“You know, that you are the worst scum ever, for doing that? The look on your face is creepy!”, Celes looks at me like I am some kind of dirt on her shoe. “Why do you do that anyway? You get some kind of kick from that?”
“Not really, but I have had those headaches for a while now. They wont go away, despite casting all kinds of healing spells on myself. So I am in a reaallllyyy foul mood right now.”
“It's a real blessing for the people of the multiverse that you are not a god any more! After hearing this, I am convinced, that you never deserved the job. I am sure you relieved your pent up emotions like that as a god too. Only in that case, real people had to suffer for it!”, She makes a grimace.
“But I feel those headaches too. Maybe we have caught some kind of disease? It sickens me to think, that I should have something in common with you.”
I can't argue with that. Admittedly, she hit the mark.
“Oh my, children sure grow fast.”, Ireth closes the book and walks over to Celes. Before Celes can react she gets snatched out of the chair by mothers tail and has her head inspected. Mother is like that. Everyone, who is weaker than her, is treated like a puppet.
“Kyaa! I just have to hug my cute little daughter in law! Having your horns come out. It won't be long, before you two can be introduced to the public.”, she declares. “Ho.. Ho.. Horns?”, Celes is flabbergasted.
“YES! Everyone undergoes a transformation at the age of around five years. Some get Horns, some tails, some just go through minor changes like pointy ears. Rose is a case for that. There are all sorts of things!
They show your latent ability. People with the horns and tails of the royal families, are known to possess extraordinary strength and mana reserves. Rose as another example has superior hand-eye coordination and speed.
You seem to have inherited the royal bloodline very strongly like my Angrod. My husbands royal blood isn't that strong. So if you don't shave his head, you can't see his horns.
Males of the royal lines have horns and slit pupils, if they have inherited our blood strong. Females have horns and grow a tail if their blood is strong.
The fact, that you both start to change before your fifth birthday, surely means that you will both go through the full change. Kya, I can't wait! Celes will surely look cute with a little tail!”
Mother hugs Celes even tighter. Yes! That's it! Crush her with your stupid strength! Wahaha, I can almost see her eyes pop out already.
“Ta... Tail?”, Celes has a complicated expression. It seems she doesn't exactly like the idea of a tail. I can understand that, if you reincarnate with a hugely different body from your first, you always have an uneasy feeling about it.
But its just a tail. There is worse stuff out there. I resume my bug-torturing, as I notice that my vision is a little blurry. Hmmm, slit pupils mother said? Shit!
Now my eyes start hurting too, this world is crazy. Is there nothing like normal biology here? Hippogriffins and crap-ants! Not only the animals are fucked up, but the people too!!
Living with Celes sure wasn't fun in all that time. There is always something we are able to fight about. Not a day goes by, without having a hard time to endure her existence.
At least something got better: Mothers attention is now partly diverted to her. I think she got adopted, hehe.
One of the guards enters the garden. “My Queen! Your father has arrived and will be here shortly! He expressed, that he wishes to see you as soon as possible.”
Celes gets dropped and crawls away from mother with sweat on her forehead. Whoho, looks creepy, did she break some of her bones? With that style you would get employed to most horror movies instantly!
“Sure. Children, you can meet your grandfather for the first time! It sure takes long to inspect the whole border!”, mother rushes off.
“Heal meee...! Angroood!”, Celes has tears in her eyes!
“Nope! You should learn some healing magic for yourself. That shoulder sure looks dislocated.”, I won't help her. I still hold grudges against her. If she is in pain a little longer, this will surely make my day!
“You know that I was never good at healing! It's just not my forte. If you don't heal me, I will do something you won't like for sure! It was your mothers doing after all! How did you even survive the time as a baby?”, she is wriggling on the floor in pain by now.
I sigh.
“Fine, but you owe me one!”, I stand up to grab
her arm, while standing on her shoulder blade and start pulling.
“WHAT?” -Celes
“Never said I would heal you in a manner that won't hurt!” -Me
*SNAP*
“MMGGNGNMMMN!”, Celes bites her teeth together and hits the ground with her free hand. She refuses to scream. Very brave, but pointless in my opinion. “Heal!”, I patch her shoulder up with basic magic. Something, she could have done by herself, if she had the courage to set her shoulder by herself.
“Hmm. Mothers hugs sure are equal to the love, she feels. Maybe its because, with both of us, it feels like she would have both my older brother and sister, who got killed, back. Ah, don't mention that to her! She still has strong feelings about that.
