2.31. NEW HOME

“Thank you for coming. We hope to see you again.”

“Thank you Lucifer.”

“Thank you. The food was wonderful.”

We left Ducklings.

[“If you can, answer the calls for help. But if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t, don’t force yourself.”]

[“Got it. Thank you.”]

I drew a 7 and pulled up the contact list. Lucifer Saunders’ name was added.

{Contacts: Cain Ghron, Pu’er Greenwood, Pu’er Julis, Lucifer Saunder}

{Contact nearby 7SEAS members}

The second option, to contact 7SEAS members, everyone from this fleet will be notified at once if I chose this option.

Here’s my hypothesis based on what I’ve observed.

In the astral space, time in the mortal realm slows. To a point where it wouldn’t be wrong to say that it had stopped entirely.

So if you accept the call, you’ll be sent into the astral realm.

Of course, one may wonder if it was too late by then because one second in the mortal realm is equivalent to centuries or more in the astral realm.

So here’s the filler.

The astral plane is like a bubble in the interdimensional space. Think of it as the creation of a separate subspace unbound by the laws of time.

A person may enter this space 20 minutes later than the original incident. When the threat is settled and both of them escape, they return to the real world from the time when they first entered.

You could even call this time travel.

I may meet a demon who had just completed a battle, just to realize later that I was helping his past self out in the astral space.

I’m not sure if my explanation makes sense. I also don’t know if that’s how it actually works.

In any case, there’s still a lot about this angel-demon war that remains a mystery to me.

===

“Yay!”

Lia flopped down on hirs fresh new mattress. Xe rolled around the bedsheets like a dog.

“We won’t need to share a bed anymore.”

“We still share a room.”

“Better than nothing.”

“It seems you’re very excited to live away from us huh?”

“Um..”

Lia didn’t know how to reply to mom.

“It’s alright. I understand that feeling, everyone feels like that too. Wanting to be independent and free. See how you feel in the future when your child tells you the same thing,” she sighed.

My mom left. Lia was staring down at the bed.

“I didn’t mean that..”

I stroked hirs back.

People can interpret things anyway they want, it’s not up to you to decide.

“It’s not your fault.”

“Oh, what happened?” grandma, who noticed, came into the room.

“Some family conflict.”

“Are you okay? Don’t cry, don’t cry. There’s nothing to cry about.”

“What happened?”

And so the issue grew larger. It didn’t blow up, fortunately.

“Today onwards you’ll be staying here, right?” Aether asked.

“Yes.”

Lia nodded warily.

“They’re good children, it’ll be alright.”

“You three have to take care of yourself too.”

“Thank you mother-in-law, we will.”

“When will we be leaving, dear?”

“Anytime. We could leave now if you want.”

“Is there anything else missing?”

“Allowance, remember to check. We’ll put some money inside.”

“Alright.”

Our allowance will be about 400 dollars each month. An increase of 200 from the usual.

“Remember to study hard alright?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, before you leave, do you want some barley?”

“Barley?”

“We cooked barley earlier.”

“I’ll go get it.”

Grandoa went to the kitchen, aether followed.

“Anything else you want to share with us before we leave, Avner, Lia?”

“Nothing much. I suppose just thank you and take care.”

“Same. Thank you, and take care. Hope grandma recovers.”

“I’ll pass on the message to her.”

After taking the barley in a container that had similar features to plastic but isn’t plastic, we hugged them goodbye.

Lia and I saw them off.

“Big bro.”

“Yes?”

“Are you happy?”

“About?”

“Now that they’re gone.”

“Somewhat happy I guess.”

“I don’t know how I should feel about it. I feel like I shouldn’t be happy.”

“I’ve felt that way before. It’s normal.”

“I want to try the barley.”

“I’ll help get it for you.”

Lia and I were going to begin our new life in our grandparent’s home.

Following the original script of <Cookie Cult>, there were already many distortions happening.

I don’t know what kind of future is in store for us.

2.32.

Two days after we moved into our grandparents' home, our parents flew to Rwiel. They showed us pictures of the scenery there through TalkMS. The region is also experiencing winter, just like here in Alska.

I wore my shoes and pulled my jacket over my shoulders.

Lucifer had been busy with work. She said she’ll notify me when she’s free. The initial holiday rush brings in a lot of customers, she said.

“Avner, you’re going out right? Could you help buy some groceries for us?”

“Sure thing, what do you need?”

“Here’s the list.”

The list was sent into my OptAR.

“Can I go too?” Lia peeked out from the corner.

“I’m going to visit my teacher. It’s nothing interesting. Do you still want to come?”

“But you’re also going to the supermarket right?”

“Yeah.”

“I want to go too.”

“Take care alright.”

“We will.”

“See you grandma, grandoa!”

Lia and I left the condominium unit.

Out into the hall, beyond the glass fence you could see the large swimming pool with gazebos at the bottommost floor. We’re hella high.

“Grandma and grandoa are great. I can’t believe they allow us to go out like this. Big bro, aren’t you scared?”

“Not particularly.”

All the allegations regarding how dangerous the public is, it's used by parents to dissuade their child from going out.

This notion of the public being unsafe would make sense if we’re talking about the older eras. It’s just not applicable to the times now when everyone has an emergency button in front of their eyes.

Seeing child abduction cases online doesn’t mean more kids die that way than being killed in a car accident.

Whoops, people these days use the ELRT.

“Do you want to ask grandma and grandoa if we can play in the pool tomorrow?”

“I don’t really want to though.”

“Big bro.. please.. mom already bought us new swimsuits.”

I shook my head.

“Please, please!”

Pulling my arm off wouldn’t do you any good.

“Hey. You think you want to go swimming in this sort of weather?”

“Hm.. You do make a point.”

Right?

We went to the Prochock Station.

“We’re going to school?”

“Yes. I’m going to meet my teacher.”

“You didn’t tell me we’re going to school though. Which teacher? Can we even enter school during the holidays?”

“Mister Cain.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Too late to regret. I only brought you because you said you wanted to join me.”

Lia looked very bored in the apartment. Since there’s no one to stop hir from gaming 24/7, more so when it’s the holidays, xe has grown bored from overstimulation.

I, on the other hand, managed to complete 4 illustrations in that short span of 2 days. I’ll go through my previous 5 illustrations and work them to a polish before moving on to my 10th. I think 10 should be enough for a portfolio.

“Did you forget anything in school?”

“I didn’t?”

Leaning against the standing rest, I looked around.

The transit was rather busy today.

“Stay close Lia.”

Xe nodded.

[Innis is there if anything happens. Don’t worry Avner.]

“Thanks for the heads up Randell.”

“What did Randell say?”

“Innis is with you.”

“Okay..”

Lia twirled hirs hair and began to play hirs game.

Two coaches away, a girl with an angel crown.

Besides that, nothing else caught my eye. We got to Vinyl Park Station without anything interesting happening along the way.

Lia and I walked to our school. We took the side gate.

“What.. they still ban AI use even though it’s the holidays?”

“School rules, no choice.”

[“Mister Cain, I’m in the school compound. My etler is also with me.”]

[“Use the front entrance.”]

“This way.”

I got to the entrance and..

{YOU HAVE STEPPED ON A MINE}

{WARNING: YOU HAVE STEPPED ON A MINE}

I was frozen in time with Lia. Xe’s expression looked funny.

I went over to a nearby pole and leaned against it while waiting for Cain. I raised my head to look at the colourless sun.

The light still stings.

It didn’t take long before I heard his footsteps.

“Avner.”

“Mister Cain. I’m here.”

He looked above my head.

“The coronet.”

“I broke the chain.”

“As expected.”

“Does this make us enemies? I hope not.”

He shook his head.

“I don’t wish for that.”

“Alright, then we’re good.”

“Avner, regarding the coronet. Now that you’ve lost it, you should be aware that you are an enemy to us angels. Staying anywhere within this territory without the mark will make most angels regard you as hostile.”

“That’s too bad then.”

That angel back in the coach didn’t do anything to me though.

“Eugine has noticed the severance of the coronet and intends to meet you. He’s giving you another chance.”

This is troublesome.

“I almost died four days ago.”

“...”

“And I would’ve died if a demon didn’t come to save me. I’m sorry Mister Cain, between the angels and demons, knowing that the chains prevent me from using my system, I'm starting to doubt if joining the angels is a good idea.”

“Your Holiness, I.. let me explain..”

===

A misunderstanding. A breach of trust on both fronts.

The chain, or coronet, is regarded as an angel’s show of trust. However, as Lucifer had said, it would’ve been impossible to activate my system if she didn’t get rid of it.

It’s true that my situation is a rare case.

And Cain didn’t know the need of considering something as trivial as system activation. Most fledglings would’ve been killed before they get the chance to become an angel’s ally. Either he overlooked it, or he wanted to stop me from advancing forward.

{HEXES: Echoing Into the Abyss, Arondight}

I’m putting my bet on the latter.

Nevertheless, if I’m going to worry about making enemies, I better test my hexes and do all I can to protect myself.

Let’s begin with the least scary sounding hex first.

I held my hand out. A white light manifested in the shape of a sword. The light faded, revealing a platinum-gold sword. The middle portion of the blade was narrowed inwards, gold hue, with a slightly purple tint at the tip.

Runes were carved onto the surface. The guard had a neon purple circular emblem which reinforced the blade to the handle.

This sword.. feels familiar.

===

dotturndot: Angel bad, demon good? Cain did save Avner though. And it wasn’t like the angels were purposely putting Avner in jeopardy. Putting that aside, we’re finally going to see a new OP weapon. Excited?