Chapter 144: Turning Towards the Final
Mella greatly enjoyed my present and played with Lu the rest of the afternoon.
Tyell’s reaction when he came home to see a monster within the house was priceless. He was nearly ready to use his skills to take Mella outside, but a slap on the head fixed him up.
I’m glad you are having fun, Lu.
The little dragon was giggling as Mella chased it around.
There was no one to bring back the souls, as the people, well, Nelatta, they were.
Lu wasn’t my first experiment with creating life from the souls; I couldn’t risk something going wrong with hers, as I didn’t want a lacking body.
Also, that guard’s soul was still locked in my domain as well.
I can’t say I exactly meant to explode the whole planet, though, I’m pretty sure he died before that happened anyway. There was a lot of sand moving and a lot of fire exploding after all.
(“ Happy with the result? ”)
As happy as I can be.
Lu had the chance to see new sights and travel to places. Of course not immediately, but eventually, one has to take it slow in the beginning. I wasn’t originally going to have Lu partner with Mella. Some sort of monster of my own creation was going to fill that role, as I wanted something to protect Mella, and I had already given Tyell his gift.
However, I chose Lu because protection didn’t have to be the only goal. I realised I could give them both a friend, so once I perfected Lu’s body, I made preparations to introduce her to Mella.
Watching them have fun together, everything felt as close to perfect as it could be, because too many things had gone wrong in my life for anything to be perfect.
Being made from a soul of an intelligent race, Lu was surely going to grow; I had ensured that with her design. I had spent a long time learning from Espr about the details of creating monsters, so I made sure whatever body I made for Lu had the room to grow whatever it wanted. My resources were limited; I really felt the difference when it came to being a non-dungeon planet spiritual being. Espr spoke ; crap was so easy.
I hope you two have a lot of fun.
Tyell asked, mildly concerned, “How did you manage to drag a monster home with you?”
I smirked, “I have my ways.” Which made him look only more worried.
“Are you sure it is not going to hurt anyone?” He was looking at me, pleading for me to say no.
I smiled. “She shouldn’t, but who knows? Keep the creeps away, and everything should be good.”
“Ceella….” Tyell looked worn out.
“Come on, you two,” Mother said. “Stop using your words to beat up Tyell.”
“You can’t call this beating up; he is still standing.”
He said earnestly, “I can pass out on the spot, right now.”
“What?” I looked at the two of them. “I’m a perfectly innocent human being.”
Tyell squinted at me, “...For some reason, I don’t believe you.”
“What? You think I am not human anymore? How cruel of you?!”
He rubbed his hand on his head in frustration. “What? That’s not what I meant at all.”
“Really?” I jokingly smiled at him.
…You know, I still don’t know how I feel about not being human anymore.
I knew my current form certainly appeared human.
(“ What do you mean? ”)
…That’s the problem. I don’t really know. I was angry that my race had a question mark in its title for a long time because it felt like you were changing me.
(“ Which was correct ”)
Besides the point. That was why I hated that. Now that my race has changed, my feelings are mixed. And I don’t think I am even a little upset that I am not human anymore.
(“ Then where is the problem? ”)
Because I was sure I would…
Behind my ears of warmth, there was a strange feeling of knowing that I couldn’t exactly be called related to these people. My blood did build me into this body, and the effects of our history did burn into my new self.
But still, that felt weird.
I didn’t consider blood to be the only rule of family. At this point, I considered Lila to be family, the secondary, least favourite little sister. I had to have my favourites.
That wasn’t the only issue I had with my race changing, though; the other issue had more to do with being a Spiritual Being.
Being here with my family was amazing, great, lovely, and something I had wished for a long time, but there was an unavoidable wall that separated me from them.
It wasn’t even about extensional stuff like me living long past their deaths, though if they wished for it, I would try to do something to extend their life.
Heh, I am starting to think like you.
Just take it as a compliment.
Espr couldn’t read my thoughts or feelings anymore, so I had to say things directly with my mind for them to hear me.
I waved goodbye to both of them. “Thanks, Mum, for the dinner.”
“You are leaving on that note…” Tyell complained. “Yep, you are welcome.”
“Sigh…” Tyell groaned, “Sure, whatever, you do you.”
“Thank you for such sweet words.”
“Don’t mention it. Happy to help.” He sarcastically replied before continuing to eat more of his food.
I went outside and stared at the night sky.
Oh, how beautiful and distant it is…
No, the reason I felt separated from was the issue I found when I first entered this world. The disconnection between me and the world around me.
I found it hard to explain, as before, I didn’t feel connected. I guess I was. I didn’t have a personal connection to most things, but the moment I felt the separation for the first time, it was nearly horrifying.
I was an alien to not only the world but also everything.
Sigh… I will get over it eventually.
When I was in my domain, I didn’t have this problem; well, honestly, I had the opposite issue. I felt too connected, so comfortable; the idea of leaving that place to go into this side of Existence nearly sounded unappealing.
While I was on my lonesome, “Thank you, Ceella.” My little sister came outside to meet me. The little Lu had shrunk even further and was small enough to sit on Mella’s head.
“It’s all good.” I chuckled, “I just did it for my own selfish reasons.”
Mella swung her arms behind her back. “Silly, nearly any action can be considered selfish if you think about it in a certain way.”
I questioned, “Since when were you philosophical?”
“Since I started taking it as an elective.”
She shrugged, “Eh, I needed something to fill the slots, and the other options didn’t sound appealing, so me and some friends picked it.”
“Ah, the easy class with friends' reasons.” She complained, “Rude, that makes it sound like I am acing my tests.” Lu didn’t know what was going on but roared with enthusiasm.
I questioned, taking a step forward and leaning over to be at her eye level.
She sheepishly looked away, “No….”
“Congrats, I guess; maybe you needed to take the class after all.”
“The teacher just gives hard work,” Mella tried to argue, “And I haven’t had time to properly learn the course content.”
“How many tests/assignments have you had?”
I said with complete confidence as I smugly looked at her, “So you thought the first test would be easy and didn’t go in prepared.”
“I was just a little busy studying for Mana & Digital Conversion with Media class.” She said, looking away from my line of sight.
“Oh, really?” I turned around. “Well, I will believe you.” I walked a few steps and sat on the small wooden chair where I talked with Lila.
Mella turned back around, a little surprised I took so many steps away, and quickly shifted over to me. She stopped our little fun talk. “
“Questioning gifts now? Wow, what has the world come to?” I complained, looking down at the ground before looking at Mella, “Well, I gave Tyell a gift?”
She questioned, “You mean the artefact he found?”
“I gave it a massive tune-up.” I complained, “It can barely be considered the same thing.”
I let out a small chuckle. “Mella… I gave you Lu for a few reasons, but none of them are complicated. I wanted to give you a gift, I wanted to give you something to protect you, and I wanted to give Lu a friend. All three of those could be completed by letting you partner with Lu.”
I winked, “So, treat each other well.”
“Sure.” Mella had a bright smile. “Thank you once again. I promise we will be best friends.”
“Wooo!” Lu let out a quiet roar.
The good vibes and smiles were shared between us for a moment, but soon Mella’s expression hardened and she took a deep breath.
Mella sat next to me and asked, “What do you want to do next?”
I smiled. “Heh, I had a talk with Lila recently.”
“Oh?” Mella pushed, “Wait, are you trying to distract me?”
“No.” I chuckled, “I just thought it was funny.” I raised my finger, and a little glow of Starlight appeared at the tip; with little pokes, little balls of Starlight appeared above us.
“What I want… Well. Revenge still.” I spoke honestly, no reason to lie, even if it wouldn’t make her feel great. “So when the time comes, I am going to leave and murder a lot of people.”
Mella didn’t immediately respond. “You know…. If this were me from a few months to a year ago, I might’ve been supporting that decision, but now I am tired.”
“You are also a kid.” I reminded her, “It would be best if you didn’t think about it and enjoyed your life.”
“Hard not. I did get half my body crushed, then I had a friend of mine attacked while my sister was lost in space for the second time, and then my brother went on a heist to steal from criminals.” Mella sighed, “The only person in a worse state would be Mum; she has had to watch all three of her children get thrown in a washing machine, leaving with scars and trauma.”
“Don’t be too worried.” I said, “I am much stronger and better prepared than I was before, and of course, revenge is not my only goal.”
“Really?” Mella questioned, “Are you sure you are not just saying that?”
“Well, why do you think I think that way?”
Lu grew a few sizes bigger and hopped onto Mella’s lap. “Because sometimes you look lost. Revenge was on your mind, but besides that, all it seemed you had was the vague idea about being with family.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“I don’t know.” Mella shook her head, not even knowing either. “It’s just before, you wanted to travel the stars, see sights, learn how to make your own firework show, and a bunch of other small things. Now whatever you want to do seems vague.”
“Let this be a lesson to you, Mella; sometimes vagueness is alright.” I smiled as the Starlight dots I made connected themselves into various constellations.
Lu looked up at them, amazed.
The ones in my domain are better than this, Lu…
Then I remembered Lu was asleep for most of the time she was in this new form of hers.
…At some point, I will bring Mella and Lu to see my domain properly.
“You see, despite my hardships and things that burden me, I am happy.” I put my arm over her and brought her into a hug. “I am simply happy.”
“Yes, it is hard not to be.” The warmth of my body was shared between us. “I have a family I love and the power to make my dreams come true. They might not seem like many things, or even complicated ideas, but they are important, because I love you all.”
My star dots turned into a constellation of four people, then five people. Two adults and three children. Then more people were added, a pair of sisters, a trio of friends, and a little dragon.
“I’m happy with simple dreams and goals, because I am happy.” I said with confidence, “So don’t worry, Mella, and if you ever need help, I will try to always be around.”
Mella chuckled, “Try?”
“Eh, who knows, maybe I will be on a holiday somewhere.” I shrugged. “I haven't exactly figured out an easy teleport yet.”