The fear, the anxiousness she was feeling, was something she had forgotten already. Yet they were back in full force now, and Nilier could not shake them off, no matter what she tried. It was not just her who was on edge, but Ophila too. Even if her arrival to the Lotus Mandala Sect was a secret, only known by a few people, she could not help but feel this was the biggest risk she ever took in her own Sect's history! Letting a God into her own home… On the other hand, Nilier worried about what would happen after meeting Kai again. She was utterly oblivious to the worries of the Immortal standing next to her where the teleportation circle had been set up. The only calm person there was Ren, holding her hands behind the back of her head, whistling happily as if nothing had happened at all in the past days.
The formation lit up and blinded them for a brief moment, making them flinch. As the light died down, it revealed Kai's figure, standing there, looking around calmly. When his eyes finally noticed Nilier, a simple smile appeared on his face without any malice.
"Ah…!" the Goddess jumped backward, acting like a young child. Her new shock, which made her body jolt, came for two reasons. For one, it was Kai, the one who raised her, someone who was a father and a Master to her. Second, he was now occupying the same body that Athos once did. Someone who was a part of her life for centuries. This was the worst mix she could have come across at the moment.
"You still look like you did back then!" Kai walked closer to her, watching Nilier's face, in the end, reaching out, gently caressing her. "Stupid little bunny…." He whispered, and as soon as his words left his mouth, Nilier's eyes rolled backward, and she collapsed into his arms.
"..." everybody else only watched on with amused faces as Kai sighed, picking her up like a child.
"I did not know a God could faint!" Ren laughed in the end, finding it highly entertaining.
"She has the frailest mind amongst the four." Kai shook his head as they were led into Ophila's adobe, the only place in the Sect that would be private enough for their talks when Nilier woke up.
"Really?" Ophila asked, watching the two, finding it hard to accept her own father's body acting so out of character, with another's soul residing in it now.
"Yes!" Kai laughed, feeling her eyes on his back constantly. "She always was easily frightened; that is why I always called her a bunny~ She also had buckteeth when she was a kid."
"Pft~" held back her laugh Ophila while Ren was listening on curiously as she never knew about things like this. They never talked about what it was like, before becoming a God. When he became a God, he never wanted to talk about his previous life; precisely because of that, he never asked Nilier about her past either.
"Of course, that changed when she reached a certain height of power~" Kai continued, his voice filled with nostalgia. "She even learned to put on a strong exterior, but when it became too stressful, she always hid in the end. Finding excuses and reasons to separate herself from others and from any kind of greater responsibility. That is why I am surprised she has any number of followers… It seems she at least matured a little. Back then, she always liked the quiet, the solace of nature, and being far away from others. It never changed…." Kai whispered, watching her in his arms. "She was the happiest when she was left alone, unbothered by all."
"That explains why we had some fights back then!" Ren mused, "I could spend a few decades with her in her pocket realm, but it became boring after that, so I often made her accompany me on my travels!"
"I'm surprised you managed that!" Kai smiled, hearing her words. "Usually, if the others wanted to convince her to do something, they either tricked her or forced her into it. Playing on her false bravado and pride to make her a part of something! When she was too deep into it already and got afraid of being found out by me or incurring some kind of punishment for what they have done, she had no chance but to commit fully whatever it was that she was dragged into!"
"This is how she became part of your fall?" Ophila asked.
"Probably. I don't know; I never knew what led up to it. It came too suddenly!" Kai answered with a calm, unbothered voice.
"Are you not even angry?" Ophila continued with a surprised tone.
"No." He answered honestly while they arrived, putting Nilier down on Ophila's bed, in a small and comfy little room, filled with bookshelves and the aroma of paper. From the big window, bright sunlight was falling onto all of them while Kai just smiled. "Whatever happened, they were my children. I'm not angry at them. Whatever happens next, it is their own choice now. If it brings their demise, it was their own doing." he shook his head, looking at Ren for a brief moment. "But if they would come to me for help, I would not turn them away. As their only parent, I can't do that."
…
….
…..
It was already night as Ren was at the top floor of Ophila's pagoda, the highest point of the whole Lotus Mandala Sect, watching the still busy, active anthill of cultivators down below her. Wearing a satisfied smile, she did not even flinch as Nilier appeared beside her, leaning next to her with mixed emotions still flashing behind her eyes after a long discussion with Kai.
"Just look at them!" Ren chuckled, "Back then, something like this was only in the tales for kids! Not even the biggest cities were this busy after sundown!"
"When I was growing up, the biggest cities only had a few thousand people in them," she spoke softly, missing her usual coldness. "Using metals for weapons or tools was a new and innovative thing…."
"How long ago was it?" Ren looked at her face from the sides.
"I don't know… a long time ago! After around a million years, I stopped counting."
"Geez… you are ooooooold!" Ren joked, but instead of flaring up, she just chuckled with a snort following it.
"Dick…"
"Not anymore!" she stuck her tongue out. "But look at it! This realm advanced in 2000 years what it failed to do after a million!"
"I just hope you are right… Kai told us what happened to his world when we were kids. Not just with words, he shared his memories with us! We SAW and FELT it happening! It was horrible and worse than anything I have never experienced something like that… I don't want it to happen…."
"I can't say it won't. But I can say that I would do anything in my power to defend my home… BUT! You can't be so negative! You have to be hopeful and a bit more optimistic! If you see everything through a darkened lens, it is not even worth getting up in the morning!"
"Maybe you are right…."
"Duh!" Ren grinned, elbowing her like a friend. "By the way, did you make up with him?"
"He already forgave us way before you freed him." she shook her head, looking down at the thousands of cultivators doing their own things through the night. "It was weird talking to you… I mean him. It was messing with my head! I don't think I can do it for long!"
"Why did you do that back then?" Ren asked, her voice turning more serious as she wanted to hear it from Nilier.
"After he told us everything and we slowly became Gods, elevated by him, we realized the true levels of powers… and how weak we are compared to others living on the outside. We can't make a true Realm like Kai did! The best we can do is our own little pocket dimensions. Yet he, who was capable of such a feat, was injured, beaten down, and chased away… and STILL had enough power to make… THIS! Look around, a whole world with life teeming inside of it! We can't do that!"
"Was it for power, then?"
"No!" Nilier shook her head. "If I say I was afraid of what would happen if those who destroyed Kai's home came and looked for him, finding him here… then Skoorn was terrified of the idea!"
"He was?" Ren asked with surprise in her voice.
"Yes. He, of us all, wanted the most to be the same as Kai! With the same strength! Knowing he would never reach that level… That was a big blow to him. I think that is why he decided to make it, so he will be the 'strongest' in here!"
"Just for that… he roped you all in… to kill your dad?!" Ren scoffed, unable to hold back her tone and voice.
"Just for that…." Nilier nodded, "A very simple and a very human reason…."
"A very moronic one!" She shook her head, feeling aggravated in place of Kai.
"I think he reassured himself with the reason; it has to be done because the presence of Kai brings danger to all of us! Honestly? Back then, I believed it! I don't know if the twins did too, but it was a good speech he roped us in with…." She murmured, playing with her hair. "But at first, it was a plan to simply lock him away, in a sub-realm, at the point of origin in the ocean. But… it turned out it was instead a fully fleshed-out plan to kill him. It was too late to back out, so I did it! I won't deny the fact!"
"Well, you failed!" Ren leaned back, watching her face, seeing she was not lying nor playing a facade. It was like back in the old days. A long, long time ago, when as Athos, he saw through her and somehow even conquered her heart and could be with the real Nilier. Someone who was just as playful as him but only if nobody else was looking.
"We did fail, but I think the twins were ready for that outcome as we managed to seal him away in the end. Until you broke him free."
"Who knows how long they have been planning their own little things!"
"That is true!" Nilier agreed, "They were always weird! About what you have found… The weird souls. I relayed it to Skoorn!"
"I bet he did not listen to you at all!" Ren chuckled, knowing his usual temperament.
"I told him to fuck off! Like you used to! It felt… great! And relieving! Maybe after all these years, I will start to get the hang of it and understand why you are like… well… you."
"I take it as a compliment, then!" Ren looked at her with one eye.
"Better be!" she rolled her eyes in answer, "But I think I got through his thick skull! By the way… it shows how lax we are with things! The long years made our senses numb; without challenges, we are… way too comfortable with our positions. None of us thought you would be reborn… like this! Even freeing Kai? I just realized that we may never even had any chance against you from the start, huh?"
"Heh! Maybe~ About being reborn like this… well! Truthfully, neither did I expect anything like this!" Ren laughed heartily. "But I dare you to tell me I am not a sexy little doll~."
"You are not! At max, until you open your mouth! But after that? Like a cheap whore in an alehouse!"
"Geez, harsh!" She clicked her tongue. "Just you know, I would be a perfect girl for that too! The guys would love me~."
"Tsk… Turning from a bad boy to a bad girl, huh?" Nilier murmured, ignoring her words in the end. "Say… I heard you have been… married?" She asked after a bit of a pause, stealing sideways glances at Ren.
"Yep!" Ren nodded, deciding to tell her everything from her childhood until the moment of Leinor's death. About sending the fragment of his soul into reincarnation. Nilier remained silent for a long time before sighing and taking a really deep breath.
"Are you going to remain here until he is reborn?" she asked once again after she regained control over her emotions, watching Ren's face. It was Athos standing next to her, yet it was not anymore. At that point, listening to her tale, Nilier realized that even if she wanted so, their path wouldn't cross again, not the way it did in the past.
"Of course!" Ren replied without hesitation and with a pure, honest smile.
"Hopefully, his soul is intact and was not influenced by the twins' shenanigans," Nilier said subconsciously, the first thing she thought about.
"Then they are dead," Ren replied with such a cold voice even Nilier shuddered. "Their souls would be torn apart so many times they would wish they were nothing but a stillbirth when they crawled out from their mother's womb!"
Corty An extra chapter because this goes with the previous chapter, I just split them because of their length back then.
The fear, the anxiousness she was feeling, was something she had forgotten already. Yet they were back in full force now, and Nilier could not shake them off, no matter what she tried. It was not just her who was on edge, but Ophila too. Even if her arrival to the Lotus Mandala Sect was a secret, only known by a few people, she could not help but feel this was the biggest risk she ever took in her own Sect's history! Letting a God into her own home… On the other hand, Nilier worried about what would happen after meeting Kai again. She was utterly oblivious to the worries of the Immortal standing next to her where the teleportation circle had been set up. The only calm person there was Ren, holding her hands behind the back of her head, whistling happily as if nothing had happened at all in the past days.
The formation lit up and blinded them for a brief moment, making them flinch. As the light died down, it revealed Kai's figure, standing there, looking around calmly. When his eyes finally noticed Nilier, a simple smile appeared on his face without any malice.
"Ah…!" the Goddess jumped backward, acting like a young child. Her new shock, which made her body jolt, came for two reasons. For one, it was Kai, the one who raised her, someone who was a father and a Master to her. Second, he was now occupying the same body that Athos once did. Someone who was a part of her life for centuries. This was the worst mix she could have come across at the moment.
"You still look like you did back then!" Kai walked closer to her, watching Nilier's face, in the end, reaching out, gently caressing her. "Stupid little bunny…." He whispered, and as soon as his words left his mouth, Nilier's eyes rolled backward, and she collapsed into his arms.
"..." everybody else only watched on with amused faces as Kai sighed, picking her up like a child.
"I did not know a God could faint!" Ren laughed in the end, finding it highly entertaining.
"She has the frailest mind amongst the four." Kai shook his head as they were led into Ophila's adobe, the only place in the Sect that would be private enough for their talks when Nilier woke up.
"Really?" Ophila asked, watching the two, finding it hard to accept her own father's body acting so out of character, with another's soul residing in it now.
"Yes!" Kai laughed, feeling her eyes on his back constantly. "She always was easily frightened; that is why I always called her a bunny~ She also had buckteeth when she was a kid."
"Pft~" held back her laugh Ophila while Ren was listening on curiously as she never knew about things like this. They never talked about what it was like, before becoming a God. When he became a God, he never wanted to talk about his previous life; precisely because of that, he never asked Nilier about her past either.
"Of course, that changed when she reached a certain height of power~" Kai continued, his voice filled with nostalgia. "She even learned to put on a strong exterior, but when it became too stressful, she always hid in the end. Finding excuses and reasons to separate herself from others and from any kind of greater responsibility. That is why I am surprised she has any number of followers… It seems she at least matured a little. Back then, she always liked the quiet, the solace of nature, and being far away from others. It never changed…." Kai whispered, watching her in his arms. "She was the happiest when she was left alone, unbothered by all."
"That explains why we had some fights back then!" Ren mused, "I could spend a few decades with her in her pocket realm, but it became boring after that, so I often made her accompany me on my travels!"
"I'm surprised you managed that!" Kai smiled, hearing her words. "Usually, if the others wanted to convince her to do something, they either tricked her or forced her into it. Playing on her false bravado and pride to make her a part of something! When she was too deep into it already and got afraid of being found out by me or incurring some kind of punishment for what they have done, she had no chance but to commit fully whatever it was that she was dragged into!"
"This is how she became part of your fall?" Ophila asked.
"Probably. I don't know; I never knew what led up to it. It came too suddenly!" Kai answered with a calm, unbothered voice.
"Are you not even angry?" Ophila continued with a surprised tone.
"No." He answered honestly while they arrived, putting Nilier down on Ophila's bed, in a small and comfy little room, filled with bookshelves and the aroma of paper. From the big window, bright sunlight was falling onto all of them while Kai just smiled. "Whatever happened, they were my children. I'm not angry at them. Whatever happens next, it is their own choice now. If it brings their demise, it was their own doing." he shook his head, looking at Ren for a brief moment. "But if they would come to me for help, I would not turn them away. As their only parent, I can't do that."
…
….
…..
It was already night as Ren was at the top floor of Ophila's pagoda, the highest point of the whole Lotus Mandala Sect, watching the still busy, active anthill of cultivators down below her. Wearing a satisfied smile, she did not even flinch as Nilier appeared beside her, leaning next to her with mixed emotions still flashing behind her eyes after a long discussion with Kai.
"Just look at them!" Ren chuckled, "Back then, something like this was only in the tales for kids! Not even the biggest cities were this busy after sundown!"
"When I was growing up, the biggest cities only had a few thousand people in them," she spoke softly, missing her usual coldness. "Using metals for weapons or tools was a new and innovative thing…."
"How long ago was it?" Ren looked at her face from the sides.
"I don't know… a long time ago! After around a million years, I stopped counting."
"Geez… you are ooooooold!" Ren joked, but instead of flaring up, she just chuckled with a snort following it.
"Dick…"
"Not anymore!" she stuck her tongue out. "But look at it! This realm advanced in 2000 years what it failed to do after a million!"
"I just hope you are right… Kai told us what happened to his world when we were kids. Not just with words, he shared his memories with us! We SAW and FELT it happening! It was horrible and worse than anything I have never experienced something like that… I don't want it to happen…."
"I can't say it won't. But I can say that I would do anything in my power to defend my home… BUT! You can't be so negative! You have to be hopeful and a bit more optimistic! If you see everything through a darkened lens, it is not even worth getting up in the morning!"
"Maybe you are right…."
"Duh!" Ren grinned, elbowing her like a friend. "By the way, did you make up with him?"
"He already forgave us way before you freed him." she shook her head, looking down at the thousands of cultivators doing their own things through the night. "It was weird talking to you… I mean him. It was messing with my head! I don't think I can do it for long!"
"Why did you do that back then?" Ren asked, her voice turning more serious as she wanted to hear it from Nilier.
"After he told us everything and we slowly became Gods, elevated by him, we realized the true levels of powers… and how weak we are compared to others living on the outside. We can't make a true Realm like Kai did! The best we can do is our own little pocket dimensions. Yet he, who was capable of such a feat, was injured, beaten down, and chased away… and STILL had enough power to make… THIS! Look around, a whole world with life teeming inside of it! We can't do that!"
"Was it for power, then?"
"No!" Nilier shook her head. "If I say I was afraid of what would happen if those who destroyed Kai's home came and looked for him, finding him here… then Skoorn was terrified of the idea!"
"He was?" Ren asked with surprise in her voice.
"Yes. He, of us all, wanted the most to be the same as Kai! With the same strength! Knowing he would never reach that level… That was a big blow to him. I think that is why he decided to make it, so he will be the 'strongest' in here!"
"Just for that… he roped you all in… to kill your dad?!" Ren scoffed, unable to hold back her tone and voice.
"Just for that…." Nilier nodded, "A very simple and a very human reason…."
"A very moronic one!" She shook her head, feeling aggravated in place of Kai.
"I think he reassured himself with the reason; it has to be done because the presence of Kai brings danger to all of us! Honestly? Back then, I believed it! I don't know if the twins did too, but it was a good speech he roped us in with…." She murmured, playing with her hair. "But at first, it was a plan to simply lock him away, in a sub-realm, at the point of origin in the ocean. But… it turned out it was instead a fully fleshed-out plan to kill him. It was too late to back out, so I did it! I won't deny the fact!"
"Well, you failed!" Ren leaned back, watching her face, seeing she was not lying nor playing a facade. It was like back in the old days. A long, long time ago, when as Athos, he saw through her and somehow even conquered her heart and could be with the real Nilier. Someone who was just as playful as him but only if nobody else was looking.
"We did fail, but I think the twins were ready for that outcome as we managed to seal him away in the end. Until you broke him free."
"Who knows how long they have been planning their own little things!"
"That is true!" Nilier agreed, "They were always weird! About what you have found… The weird souls. I relayed it to Skoorn!"
"I bet he did not listen to you at all!" Ren chuckled, knowing his usual temperament.
"I told him to fuck off! Like you used to! It felt… great! And relieving! Maybe after all these years, I will start to get the hang of it and understand why you are like… well… you."
"I take it as a compliment, then!" Ren looked at her with one eye.
"Better be!" she rolled her eyes in answer, "But I think I got through his thick skull! By the way… it shows how lax we are with things! The long years made our senses numb; without challenges, we are… way too comfortable with our positions. None of us thought you would be reborn… like this! Even freeing Kai? I just realized that we may never even had any chance against you from the start, huh?"
"Heh! Maybe~ About being reborn like this… well! Truthfully, neither did I expect anything like this!" Ren laughed heartily. "But I dare you to tell me I am not a sexy little doll~."
"You are not! At max, until you open your mouth! But after that? Like a cheap whore in an alehouse!"
"Geez, harsh!" She clicked her tongue. "Just you know, I would be a perfect girl for that too! The guys would love me~."
"Tsk… Turning from a bad boy to a bad girl, huh?" Nilier murmured, ignoring her words in the end. "Say… I heard you have been… married?" She asked after a bit of a pause, stealing sideways glances at Ren.
"Yep!" Ren nodded, deciding to tell her everything from her childhood until the moment of Leinor's death. About sending the fragment of his soul into reincarnation. Nilier remained silent for a long time before sighing and taking a really deep breath.
"Are you going to remain here until he is reborn?" she asked once again after she regained control over her emotions, watching Ren's face. It was Athos standing next to her, yet it was not anymore. At that point, listening to her tale, Nilier realized that even if she wanted so, their path wouldn't cross again, not the way it did in the past.
"Of course!" Ren replied without hesitation and with a pure, honest smile.
"Hopefully, his soul is intact and was not influenced by the twins' shenanigans," Nilier said subconsciously, the first thing she thought about.
"Then they are dead," Ren replied with such a cold voice even Nilier shuddered. "Their souls would be torn apart so many times they would wish they were nothing but a stillbirth when they crawled out from their mother's womb!"
Corty An extra chapter because this goes with the previous chapter, I just split them because of their length back then.
