Chapter 40 - Eirlys Llywelyn P1
*****
My dear Elysia, I have watched your journey since you were born. You naturally attracted lifelong friends everywhere you went. You love mankind as a whole and genuinely want the best for them.
You have enough love in your heart to not only take several lovers, but also love many friends and family to the point that you are willing to forgo your love for mankind and kill to keep them safe. Despite that, your love is so great that you try so hard to find peaceful solutions that you almost never have to resort to violence.
Your mana is so great that even before you were born, I knew you would be the one person that could become King in my place. At the same time, your first love's power was nearly on par with yours. Together you become the King and Queen and led Eden for eons.
But the lack of love from your second love hurt you so much that despite lasting for your entire life being refused, you eventually succumbed and allowed the rest of Eden to exile you.
But Luma loved you so much that despite refusing you under her oath, she followed you everywhere. But she couldn't tell anyone what was truly wrong with her because of the mental conditioning the Valentine clan put her through.
She couldn't break her oath because of that mental conditioning. But her love for you was greater. Her loyalty and love for you were so much that being threatened with long term separation, she was finally able to overcome the conditioning and break the oath. With nothing holding her back, she immediately and openly accepted your love.
You already loved Adele and Adara in your teens, and in your twenties, you married both of them. And all your spouses developed feelings for each other, creating perhaps the strongest bond between multiple people.
Two people that loved you chose to only watch while staying by your side. Liliana and Aliana loved you no less than the others. And you loved them, but neither of you confessed to each other until now.
The seven of you together… Elysia, Maya, Luma, Adele, Adara, Liliana, and Aliana… you are the Seven Stars. I love nobody, except you seven, though I do care for your children. While only two of you have awakened to Origin, once all of you have, together you can make anything happen.
*****
*****
Nearly an hour after Eli left me alone with Luma, we were lying in bed smiling at each other. I held her hand on my cheek.
"After so long."
"Yeah." She giggled. "I want to make dinner tonight for you and Eli, but I think the twins are snatching both of you up for themselves tonight."
"Yeah. They have been a long time coming, too. Breakfast though?"
"Mhm!" She smiled warmly and rose up, giving me a full view of her bare body. She leaned over, and we shared another passionate kiss, and then she rubbed her furry ears on my face. It tickled a bit, but the real meaning of that was much deeper than even rubbing her tail.
A cat person only ever willingly rubbed their ears on another's face that they fully trusted and loved. But I gave her a small surprise.
I nibbled on one of her ears.
"Mmm…" She mumbled. "Fiiiaaaaaa, you're gonna put me in heat agaaainnn."
"But you know, I wouldn't mind another round." I blew into her ear a little, but didn't push it too much.
"Fiaaaaaa."
"Ehe, I couldn't help it."
She wrapped her tail around my arm and pulled me with her as she got out of the bed. I magically clothed us both, and we shared one more kiss before teleporting back to the meeting room.
Nobody was there.
"I guess they're still taking a break."
"I'm not sure," Luma said.
We went outside the meeting room and found Evelyn waiting on the other side of the door.
"Mother?" I asked.
"Hi, Fia."
"Where did everybody go?"
"They're around. Eli called a break when she got back. It's getting late, so a lot of them went downstairs to have dinner. Except Eli, Liliana, and Aliana. They're sparring in the courtyard. Everyone should be back within half an hour."
"I see." I smirked and turned to Luma. "Wanna go crash the party in the courtyard?"
She smirked back and said, "You bet!"
After some fun in a five way spar in the courtyard, we met back up with everyone else, and Eli continued telling our story.
*****
*****
"Eli?"
I was standing at the edge of the island looking at the world tower. Maya teleported to the island and called out to me. I turned, and saw her walking toward me. I managed a smile for a moment, but I couldn't hold it.
She grabbed a hold of my hand and stood with me silently.
I'd told her much about my life in Eden, but a few days was hardly enough to tell her everything. Years were needed for that. I'd mentioned my loved ones in Eden and my exile, but I hadn't gone into detail.
"Maya."
"Yes, love?"
"It's too much."
Her grip tightened lightly, and her eyes were filled with worry. I wanted nothing more than to tell her I'd be okay.
But that's a lie.
I closed my eyes and explained, "Back in Eden, when I was seventeen, I had already met all of my partners and many other loved ones. I was officially dating one and the two of us were secretly dating another."
"May I ask-?"
"You may ask whatever you want."
"Was one of them… Lena?"
"Yes." I turned toward the world tower, and held her right hand with my left. "Your homonym was my first love. Maya Velinova. We were officially dating. And both of us were interested in Luma Valentine. We had all known each other since we were toddlers, and we were inseparable. And that's why it hurts so much."
"What happened? From what I understand, there was an oath or something, and she refused?"
I nodded. "We were planning to get married. But she's a few months younger than Maya and I, so waited until she turned eighteen. On the way to the registration office, her parents and many of Valentine's guards showed up and took her."
"Love, your knuckles are going white." She reached down and grabbed my right hand, which I had been unknowingly clenching so tightly the blood flow was interrupted.
I let her do as she pleased and continued, "I could have stopped them, but I was young and naïve. I had no idea that it would be years until I'd get to see her, or our daughter."
"Daughter?"
"Before any of us turned eighteen, the three of us had a hot night together."
"Oh my."
"Yeah. Exactly that. All three of us ended up pregnant. The funny part, it should have been impossible. We were all girls and none of us were hermaphrodites."
"How did that work?"
"Maya and I are special. We were born with mana far greater than any other Transcendent, and the difference wasn't even close. I could have singlehandedly fought the entirety of Alexandria's military and won with no effort. And that was as a child."
"That sounds just like you. After all I've seen you do, I believe you could take on anything and win."
"Anything except undying loyalty." I turned back to her. "Not only our mana, but also origin magic. We were born with it. We didn't learn it, we weren't taught it, we didn't train in it. We were born just knowing how to use it, as if it were part of our very souls. Which turned out to be the case. In the heat of the night, our origin mana intertwined. It mixed inside all three of us and our children had all of our DNA."
"That's incredible."
"And unprecedented. Even our Godmother was surprised. Lady Luna is my godmother, but also Maya's. Ten months later, our daughters were born. Maya and I were very happy when Azalea and Kaede were born. But Luma and Lux were not there."
"Those are beautiful names."
I smiled at that. "We have one to name, too. It'll be another almost forty weeks, but isn't it exciting?"
I sat down and pulled her down with me. I held her hand to my face. "Thank you, love."
She gave me a bright smile.
"After the Valentines took Luma away, I didn't see her for five years. After three years of refusals, I went to their compound and demanded to see her and the daughter whose name I didn't yet know. They were adamant that Luma didn't want to see me, which I did not believe at all. I threatened to force my way in, telling them I'd hear it directly from her. But they continued to refuse."
"Did you?"
I shook my head. "No. I didn't. I gave them an ultimatum, one that came with the weight of the King of the World."
"You were King already?"
I shook my head again. "Lady Luma was still King, but she told me I could use her name anytime, anywhere, and for whatever I wanted. So I told them with Lady Luma's backing that they had two choices. Give me my daughter and I come back in no more than two years for Luma, or I would take them both by force right then and there."
"What did they say?"
"They agreed, albeit reluctantly. They handed my daughter over, and I examined her DNA and her soul to confirm it. They probably wanted to trick me, but they didn't try. Probably because they knew I'd be able to find out the truth either way. Her DNA matched mine, Maya's, and Luma's, and I read her soul name, Lux. They were surprised to hear me call her by her name before they told me her name."
"Lux is a lovely name, too."
"Luma named her that because she was the light in her life that was left with her by Maya and me. I expected she would tell me they tortured her or something, but she told me herself that she only went through training and couldn't see anyone. But I was suspicious."
I let out a deep sigh.
"'You can read souls?' the Valentine matriarch had said. To answer her, I released my rainbow mana. My entire body emanated an aura of every color, and my eyes were glowing like that, too. And I answered her, 'That's how I knew about Lux in the first place. The night we conceived her, I knew.' And then I left. I raised Lux with Azalea and Kaede."
"Did they accept her?"
I nodded. "Right away. They already knew about their missing sister. Even before they could speak, I whispered about their sister to them. They were very happy to have her finally come home that day. But they were also sad when their other mom didn't come home. We told them a lot about Luma."
"I'd love to meet your kids." She was smiling brightly again. "But would that even be possible?"
"It's possible, but not without jumping through some hoops. We can talk about how another time. For now, I'll finish the story with the day two years later when we finally got to see Luma again. When we reunited, Maya and I were expecting a teary heartfelt reunion with a lover, but that wasn't the case. She…"
I started to cry again. Remembering it was difficult. Maya held me close and, for her, I commanded myself to finish.
"She told us she took the oath and could never love because of it. We did figure out she still loved us, but kept it wrapped up tightly. She was very dedicated to her oath. And it seems nothing has changed with her time here as a mortal. She followed me here, lived as a mortal, and now has recovered her memory. I didn't know our memories could be locked like that. I woke up here in this world in my mother's arm the day she gave birth. I've been conscious ever since."
"I remember all of my early childhood, too, almost back to birth. My memories start a few days after I was born, but close enough."
"Maya, love. This next part is very important."
Just like the day I first brought her to the island and told her about who I am, I gave her the same serious expression, and I could see in her eyes that she was listening intently.
"At the end of my life in Eden, I gave up."
Her eyes widened, but she didn't interrupt.
"Over many eons, I became despondent. My wives and children kept me going, but my motivation decreased over time. My work became sloppy, my management became poor. And the rest of Eden wanted me removed from power… they wanted me exiled. They didn't approve of me before Lady Luna left, and that only got worse after."
"I called a meeting and discussed the exile. Partway through I left the meeting and went to my private quarters. Maya, Adele, and Adara followed. They were in tears trying to talk me out of accepting the exile. Soon, the door opened and Luma was tossed into the room. They tried to get her to talk me down."
"But even then, she wouldn't say anything except her oath and how she couldn't love. In that moment, I let go of it all. I was already at my weakest mentally, and hearing her refusal in that state broke me. I gave up and exiled myself. To them, it would have appeared that I turned into light and faded into nothing, like when a Transcendent dies. But they knew I would never make a choice that permanent. Even in that state, I held on to hope. I woke up here in my mother's arms moments later."
"I understand that the reason for you coming here is very sad, but if there's any consolation, I'm happy to have you here with me."
I smiled and nodded. "I'm happy here, too. With you. With our friends. And until tonight… with Lena."
She was in the same position as me and my Transcendent partners. She was refused no different than we were.
"I'm not as mentally weak now as I was nineteen years ago. I grew up happy here. And I've reunited with Lady Luna. There's been so much good in this world. I genuinely like it here, and I want to make this world better. I have the power to improve the lives of every person on the planet. But I won't deny that finding out Luma followed me here has made me waver."
"But, I choose to stay here. I don't want to be separated from you. I don't want to say goodbye to Aira or Rhia or Lanti or the others. Sophie has quickly grown on me, far more than I imagined. If we can't find her parents, I want to adopt her."
"You do? She is very cute and adorable."
"More than that, I see myself in her. I was taken by slavers when I was a child in Eden and sold to a neighboring royal family. My guardians rescued me and tracked down the slavers. They were executed and that neighboring country was destroyed. My aunt razed it to the ground. Walking there after that was like walking over a big sheet of glass. Lady Luma used that act as a threat to the entire world. 'Touch my goddaughter and this happens to you.' I felt safe after that, but the trauma has stayed with me. The moment I heard 'slave' that trauma erupted to the surface."
"I'm very against slavery, too," she said. "When I was growing up in Nacht, I had a friend that got snatched into slavery. My father tracked her down and executed the slavers, but the girl was nothing more than a shell. I visit her every few months, but she's the same. She lays in bed all day with the same expression. I see a slight smile when I visit, but nothing more."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"I don't think she'll ever recover from it."
"I can help her."
"What? You can?"
I nodded. "One way or another. I'm not as good as your homonym at this sort of thing, but I'm better than most of Eden. Sometime, take me with you to see her."
She smiled. "I will."
"Anyway, Sophie has grown on me like a daughter. I want the best for her. And I want the best for the people of this world. I will solve the phantom problem and restore Yamato. But, it's going to be so much more difficult now."
I stood up and helped her to her feet. We headed inside, and while walking to the cabin, I finished, "I want to remain here. I have so much I want to do here, and I have so many reasons to stay. I have you and all our loved ones. And soon, we'll have our child. Living with Luma here is going to be a very unhealthy mix of happy and sad."
"You love her no differently now than before."
"Yeah. As Luma or Lena, it doesn't matter. I love her so much and knowing she will cling to that oath and refuse love… I'm happy because I get to see somebody I love every day. But I'm sad for the same reason… because that love is mutual but unrequited."
"I don't know how to handle it. I may need to lean on you, Eli."
"And I may need the same. We can rely on each other, yes?"
"Yes."
As we said that, we reached the cabin and went inside. I fell asleep the moment I plopped down on the bed.
*****
We woke up the next morning and went back to the villa to wash up and get dressed before school. I avoided Lena all day. I didn't go to club, I had lunch at the cabin, and I didn't go to sword class.
The school day ended, and I went back to the villa to check in on Sophie. She was doing great, of course. It'd been nearly a week since we found Sophie. She felt like a little sister to me.
She told me that once we find her parents, she wanted to talk about going to school again. I had a meeting with Lanti to go to after school about that very topic.
While Sophie and I were chatting, Lena returned to the villa from school. Sensing her mana, I wrapped up my chat with Sophie and left.
I couldn't bring myself to face her. At least not yet.
"I said I could go through the reports in a day, but that was if I worked tirelessly all day, and my schedule doesn't allow that."
"No, that's understandable," I said. Lanti's maid served us each a cup of tea and I subtly checked for poison.
All clear.
"Going through that much paperwork is a nightmare to begin with, and you have your normal workload to deal with on top of that."
She giggled as she reached for her tea, "I suppose you would relate the most to that," and took a sip.
"I hate paperwork. I'd rather set fire to it and be done." I smiled dryly, not even trying to hide the fact that I'd actually done that before.
"I bet your assistants were exasperated with you that day."
"Well…" I smiled innocently. "I don't know what you mean."
"Uh huh." We shared a laugh and got down to business. "I found a match for Sophie's parents."
There was a map of Gallia on the table already. Aristide lay in the northernmost domain near the center lands of Arcadia, and Aindrea was in the southeast.
Lanti laid out a small packet with the top sheet showing an image of a girl no more than seven years old. Despite the age difference, I recognized her right away. White hair, blue eyes, same face accounting for the age difference.
At the bottom of the sheet it showed the names of the people who filed the report.
"Sophia Landon, reported missing three years ago by Samantha and Leonard Landon." My eyes scanned every inch of every page. The parent's pictures were included on another page. "From Labhrann. That's a port duchy in the southwest."
"What do you think?"
"It's the only match?"
"So far. I still have around a hundred reports to check, but I don't think any of the others will match Sophie."
"No?"
She shook her head and glanced at her desk. We were having tea in her office. "Before I started going through them properly, I quickly went through and separated all the reports by hair color. You confirming her hair wasn't dyed was a big help."
"The population percentage for white-haired people is low, and Sophie also told us her parent's hair and eye colors. The mother has white hair and blue eyes, and the father has blonde hair and blue eyes. Sophie looks so much like her mother it's uncanny. It's like looking at the same person twenty years apart."
"Mm, I thought so, too. Sounds like you're of the same mind as me. There are no other reports with white-hair who also have blue eyes and the name Sophia. And the parents match Sophie's description, too."
"Yeah. I think this is her." I laid the paper down, closed my eyes, and focused.
For the most part, I didn't keep any particular prayer in mind, but I could still search through to find every prayer I'd ever heard. I went back to the date this report was filed and sorted through the prayers from that corner of the country until I found one about Sophie.
"'Almighty creator, please help our daughter. Her name is Sophia. She has gone missing. I can't find my little girl. Please help us find her.'"
I opened my eyes and looked up at Lanti. The maid had left the room after she served our tea, so I didn't have to worry about anyone overhearing that.
"Was that a prayer?"
"Yes."
"You're using your divine powers for that?"
"Well… it's not the first time. I sort through every prayer every day, but I typically don't dedicate them to memory. Rather they're stored, and I can access them like a search on a magi-terminal. Samantha Landon prayed every night without fail for an entire year. Then it slowed down to once a week. And then once a month. There was one at the beginning of this month, as well."
I sighed and took another sip of tea.
"There are millions of prayers every day. Most don't need answered, and those that do have mortal organizations to handle them. In this case, Labhrann Duchy's guard is responsible for taking care of it. I can't personally handle every single case. Delegation is the answer."
Lanti shook her head. "I don't judge you. Even being the Crown Princess of a nation, I know I can't personally handle every case either. And you hear the prayer of every person in the world!"
"I appreciate that understanding."
She smiled softly.
She's a good friend, and she has the makings of a good sovereign. It's heartening to know mortals like her.
"I'll contact the Duchy of Labhrann and have them send someone to speak to the parents. Once we confirm things, we'll have the parents come here to meet Sophie."
"Yeah." I sat the cup down and stared at the picture of Sophie on the top sheet.
"Eli?"
"Hmm?" I looked up.
"Are you okay? I know you've gotten attached to the girl."
I shook my head. "It's fine. Returning her to her parents is the right thing to do. But I don't deny I'm attached." I picked up just the top sheet. "I want to go speak to her parents myself."
Lanti giggled and stood up. "I thought you might say that." She walked over to her desk, picked up a small object, then laid it down in front of me. "Take that."
"Your insignia."
"Yep."
She was giving me her insignia so that I could act with the authority of the Crown Princess of Gallia. Any order I gave was an order from her.
"This will make things easier if I run into trouble with the local nobles. Thank you, Lanti. I'll return it as soon as I'm finished."
She shook her head. "No. It's for you to keep indefinitely."
"You're not worried that I'd abuse this?"
"Pfft. The King of the World abusing the power of a Crown Princess of a single nation? If anyone has the right to do that, it's you." She laughed wryly. "Besides, even before you revealed that to me, I had planned to give you this."
I picked it up and smiled. "Thanks, Lanti."
*****
I went straight to the Labhrann Duchy and reported to the local guard that I was there investigating a missing child case. After checking in, I went to their address. They lived in the city, so it wasn't hard to find them.
When I arrived, I knocked on the door and gasped when it opened.
"May I help you?"
It's like looking at an adult Sophie.
"Yes. I came here to speak to you about this." I pulled out the report and showed it to her. "Are you Samantha Landon?"
I could see the shock in her eyes the instant she laid eyes on the paper. She invited me inside and showed me portraits of Sophie.
It's her. But I need to be thorough.
"My name is Elise Aindrea. I'm a student at the royal academy in Aristide."
"A-Aindrea? As in t-the Aindrea C-County in t-the east?"
I nodded. "That's right."
"Th-then, yo-you're a n-noble?"
"Yes, but please be at ease. I'm not concerned with etiquette. I'm the one visiting you, Miss Landon. I don't want a difference in etiquette getting in the way of communication."
"I won't be punished for improper etiquette?"
"Not at all. And never with me."
She let out a sigh of relief, and that told me a lot.
"I take it you've had a bad encounter with a noble before."
"Well… I shouldn't gossip."
"Anyway, about your daughter. I'd like to hear about the day she went missing."
"There's not a lot to tell. She went to play with some of the neighborhood kids and never came home. Leonard and I looked everywhere, and the city guard, too."
"Is your husband around?"
"He's at work for a couple more hours."
"Did the other children she was playing with go missing?"
"Yes. None of them have been found."
"I see."
"Lady Aindrea, may I ask why you personally are across the country investigating a missing child case?"
"I don't want to get your hopes up, but I won't sugar coat it either." I looked her in the eyes and let it rip. "Last Thursday, a ten-year-old girl matching your daughter's description bumped into me while trying to run away from a group of thugs. They called her a slave."
She gasped. "A slave? M-my-"
"I didn't let them take her. She's in my custody right now. Princess Eglantine worked tirelessly sorting through missing child reports and found this one. I'm here to find out if the girl in my care is your daughter."
"Please, ask anything. It's been three years, and we've had no leads."
"Will you come with me to confirm? She's at my villa in Aristide."
"O-of c-course. I need to speak with Leonard before leaving to travel for that long."
"For that long?"
"It takes a week there and back by carriage. Didn't you just make the trip?"
I shook my head. "No, I teleported. I was in Aristide not half an hour ago." I held my hand out. "Would you like to go? I can have you back before your husband returns from work."
"You're a noble and a mage?"
"Something like that."
She started to take my hand, then narrowed her eyes. "Wait a moment. Are you…?"
"Hmm?"
"I go to the same café every morning for tea and catch the news on the magi-terminal there. There was a huge story about a girl that fought a monster at the royal academy yesterday. You look just like her."
"Oh. Yeah. That was me."
"Wow… The article said you shot the monster into the sky."
Welp.
"Yeah, it was a tough one. I had to take some extreme measures to kill it." I shrugged. "Anyway. Teleporting us back and forth is nothing. Shall we?"
She was still star struck as she took my hand.
I teleported us straight to the front courtyard. Sophie was out there swinging her practice sword.
"Sophie!" I called out to her.
She looked up and froze. Her wide eyes was all the answer I needed.
"Mama?"
Samantha ran straight to the girl, dropped to her knees, and pulled her in tight.
Yeah. This is nice.
While mother and daughter reunited, Maya and Lena came outside. They had no doubt sensed my arrival since I teleported in. I didn't want to see one of them, but I couldn't exactly run away.
"Is that Sophie's mother?" Maya asked.
"Yeah. I met with Lanti earlier and got the lead. Seems it was the right lead."
I eyed Lena out of the corner of my eye. Her eyes were on Sophie and she wasn't saying anything.
At least she's not making it uncomfortable.
I turned back to the white-haired pair. They weren't hugging anymore. Sophie gestured at us while talking to her mother, and the grown woman smiled as she looked back at us a few times.
"What do you plan to do now that you've found her mother?" Maya asked, grabbing my attention.
I looked over at her and saw both catgirls waiting for an answer, smiling. "Sponsor her."
"Really?"
I nodded and looked back at the pair, and they were walking over hand in hand. "Miss Elise! Thank you so much for finding Mama."
I smiled. "Of course, Sophie. I'm happy to help."
"Sophie tells me she wants to become knight," Samantha said.
"Yeah! Miss Elise is really strong and I wanna grow up and protect people like her! And Miss Lena is teaching me how to use a sword."
"Is that what you want, Sophie?"
"Mm! It is!"
Samantha patted her head, choosing to support her. "Then your father and I will find you a school for knights."
"How about in Aindrea?" I offered.
"Hmm." Samantha looked between me and her daughter, unsure what to say. "It's quite far from home."
"No need to decide on anything now. You two should enjoy your time together for a while."
We ended up bringing Sophie's father, Leonard, here once he got off work. Just like her mother, he was overjoyed to see her again. I left them under Serah's protection when I left for my date with Aira. I didn't particularly want Stella to follow me, but they were adamant that at least one would shadow me.
Stella's void magic was the best suited to staying out of sight.
Perhaps going on a date wasn't the best idea with my feelings in turmoil from the night before.
But I couldn't let my feelings about her cloud my mind.
I lost myself in Eden. More than the exile, I ran away. I couldn't face her any longer. I miss everyone.
Maya… Adele… Adara…
I looked up in the mirror as I thought about my immortal family.
Liliana… Aliana…
Azalea… Kaede…
Of my eight children, one came to mind more than the others when I thought of Luma. The girl that she gave birth to...
Lux…
I shook my head.
It's been a long time, but I still hold hope that I can eventually get through to Luma. But no matter what's happened in the past, I won't run again. These mortals I've fallen in love with… I won't give them anything less than my best. They deserve that.
I'm coming Aira.
*****
Revision: 2025-6-14