Five years have passed and I am now 11 years old.

  In those five years, several things have changed drastically.

  Firstly, because I broke the Seal of Self my water clones could actually function.

  The key to making them move was simply strengthening my connection to them through the ambient Ouro.

  In gamer terms, I plugged in an Ethernet cable.

  Currently, I'm using my clones to fire consecutive water balls at the trees.

  That is tied to the second thing I wanted to mention. My Ouro capacity has effectively doubled.

  It wasn’t nearly on the levels of Meridian’s, as that kid had effectively had two cores. But compared to most kids my age, I was probably in the top 2%.

  The only kids who have more than me are those from the main branch of any given family.

  I can’t forget that my future potential is more tied to me than the powers of the chaos dragon. Even though he was powerful, I still had to strengthen this body to hold that power.

  Plus, even at my peak, people like Melissa and Meridian would still have me beat in raw power.

  So I couldn’t afford to slack off.

  Not that it was even an issue.

  I was done with that.

  — — —

  “Lafayette,” Meridian smiled at me as he stepped into the clearing. “I have news.”

  “Hey you,” I replied, unsummoning the water clones with the wave of my hand.

  I didn’t know if I was going crazy or not, but every year Meridian looked increasingly feminine.

  His hair flowed down his back, his hips were coming in, and his face…

  I felt a blush creep up my cheeks as I looked away.

  Meridian sat beside me on the log, his gaze wandered to my hand. Specifically, my ring finger.

  “Is it too tight?” He asked worriedly, taking my hand in his to examine the ring he made for me. “I’ve noticed you’ve been fidgeting with it lately.”

  I sighed.

  “The ring is fine, Meridian.” I looked into his mismatched eyes.

  “I’m just worried about things. You’ll be going to an academy soon and my mother is still at war.”

  Meridian chuckled softly, a beautiful sound.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Oh, that’s actually why Father sent me to find you. The war against the elves is over, Father just got word via a dragon courier.”

  I blinked. “The war is over?”

  Meridian nodded. “Yeah, your mother will be here any—“

  WHOOSH!

  A massive water dragon raced overhead. Our hair and the leaves of the trees flew wildly in its wake.

  That was her.

  That was Lilith.

  BOOM!

  She landed.

  I jumped from the log and raced out of the forest. Meridian chased after me. “H-hey, wait up!” He shouted.

  My heart pounded against my ribs as I dashed past the trees.

  I could see her, she stood in the center of the courtyard. She was in a ceremonial dragoon uniform. A white long coat with a blue outline to identify her affinity.

  “Mother!” I called with the wave of my hand.

  Lilith slowly turned to look at me.

  And when I saw her face, I paused.

  There was a scar that stretched from her forehead, over her left eye, and down her jaw.

  My hair stood on end. What the hell could have given her that scar?

  Healing magic existed in this world so unless she ran out… no, nothing could’ve pushed her that far, it’s Lilith for crying out loud.

  She must’ve done that to herself to look tougher, she’s crazy enough to do it after all.

  I resumed my approach with open arms, “Mother, I missed you!”

  She didn’t move, her eyes shifted from my face to the ring on my finger and narrowed.

  That’s when Meridian also emerged. Lilith’s gaze turned to the ring on his finger.

  She snarled.

  I felt a shiver run down my spine as I stopped again. Something isn’t right here.

  Phillip emerged from his estate with haste and rushed towards us. “Don’t touch her!” He shouted.

  I thought he was talking to us.

  But when I looked back at Lilith, all I saw was her grabbing Meridian by the throat.

  It all happened so fast.

  “M-mother?” I stammered.

  Lilith held Meridian high by his neck. His feet dangled helplessly as he gripped her forearm.

  “Thief,” Lilith hissed like it was a slur.

  “You think you can take him from me? After I survived, do you think you can take the only thing that kept me going?”

  Meridian struggled against her grasp. “I didn’t take anything, I just love him.” He strained.

  Lilith clenched her jaw.

  Phillip had reached us and slammed into Lilith’s arm.

  Her grasp on Meridian was broken and Phillip dashed back while holding Meridian close.

  Lilith stumbled back briefly but quickly steadied herself.

  She looked ready to attack again, but I quickly stepped in front of her with my arms spread wide.

  “Mother, what has gotten into you?!”

  Lilith stared down at me with a glare that could kill. “What’s gotten into me?” She repeated with a low growl.

  “You’re cheating on me, that’s what. I didn’t survive death just to come home and watch you play house with Phillip’s daughter.”

  Daughter? Is Meridian a girl? Wait, that doesn’t matter right now. Boy or girl, Meridian is my friend first. And I won’t let her hurt them.

  No matter how scared I was. I wasn’t backing down.

  “I wasn’t playing house and I’m not yours. We need to set some serious boundaries.”

  Lilith chuckled darkly as she stepped forward. “Boundaries? You want to talk to me about boundaries?”

  I didn’t back down.

  “Tell me something, do boundaries stop 50 thousand men from being slaughtered in their sleep by a damn ghost? Do boundaries keep you fed where your food and medicine are poisoned and you’re shitting out your guts?!”

  She snatched me by the collar and pulled me forward. “Do boundaries keep you warm at night when you’re forced to march a dozen miles in freezing temperatures?”

  I swallowed hard.

  “The only thing that kept me going was getting home to you. And the first thing I hear outta your mouth is that you want space between us?”

  This was familiar. I know exactly how she feels, because that’s how Kenji felt.

  If you did something for someone, you deserved a reward from them.

  “I don’t just want space, mother.” I looked her right in that one good eye. “You have to understand that I have things I want too.”

  Lilith didn’t respond for a long time, until she finally smirked. “So my little Lafayette has grown a spine. Okay then, we’re gonna solve this problem the only way I know how.”

  “And what way is that, mother?”

  She raised a fist as her smile widened to show her teeth.

  “With violence.”

  Her fist connected with my jaw. I was smashed into the ground with an audible crack.

  It was like my soul had ripped out of my body.

  “Lafayette!” Meridian waved her hands, a ball of light in one, and a ball of darkness in the other. She smashed the two together and fired.

  Lilith didn’t even turn her head, she just raised her hand and created a massive water shield.

  The ball of energy smashed into the shield, the impact was groundbreaking.

  FUOOOM!!!

  The ball of energy rolled against Lilith’s shield, it spun faster and faster and faster… until it even sputtered out.

  Drowned out by Lilith’s water.

  The silence that followed was absolute. Lilith kept her eyes focused on me when she finally spoke. “Phillip, keep your daughter in place, or I’ll finish what I started with her.”

  Meridian raised her hands. “I don’t know who you think you are, but if you hurt Lafayette, I’ll—“

  She was cut short and slumped forward like a puppet with cut strings. Phillip caught her after chopping her neck.

  He then glared at Lilith.

  “Take your son and get the hell out of my estate!” He shouted, showing genuine emotion since the first time I saw him.

  Lilith rolled her eyes as she picked up my limp body. “I was just leaving anyway.” She threw a hand in the air and summoned a dragon.

  She threw me onto the dragon’s back. I stared into the sky, dazed and disoriented.

  Lilith climbed on after me.

  She took my hand and slid the ring off, before tossing it aside.

  Jinnah emerged from the estate at the same time with several bags. “My Lady, please wait for me!”

  Lilith sighed deeply. “Hurry up, this place is pissing me off.” She stared down at Phillip while saying that.

  Phillip held Meridian in a princess carry as he turned away. Once Jinnah was on board, the dragon spread its wings and took off.

  All I could do was watch while my brain tried to pull itself through the fog of confusion.

  Why had she done this?