This was a terrible idea. But if you want to know what happened, we’ll have to go back to the beginning! … Just kidding! Nah, nothing particularly important happened, I’ve just been hanging out with Veloura, we had the great idea to prank Lex, but it didn’t quite work out how we wanted it to, his catlike reflexes have nullified all possible prankage.

Velo - “I think I’ve gotten bored, he’s unprankable…”

Demi - “Yeah… I’m bored too. You wanna’ go do something else?”

Veloura just thinks to herself for a moment, then looks at me.

Velo - “Yeah, sure. What did you have in mind?”

Demi - “Well, I wanted to get moving soon, so we should prepare everyone for that. I also wanted to show you my clone, I’ve been helping her build her power steadily.”

Velo - “Wait, you can clone yourself?”

Veloura stares at me in confusion as we start walking to the castle, waving at everyone we pass by.

Demi - “Yes, it turns out I can spend vast amounts of my personal essence on offspring through parthenogenesis, it takes a lot of food to create a new host, but it’s amazing.”

Velo - “It’s kind of weird. What is this clone of your’s like?”

Demi - “She’s as small as I was when we met up again in Marigold. She’s also a little shy, and loyal, but that’s how I want her to be.”

Velo - “So you’ve created a servant? She sounds like she’s supposed to be your kid or something.”

Demi - “I don’t think I’m quite old enough to take care of a child just yet, so I made Arivan’s personality simple.”

We enter the castle, the tower is pretty large. I have a personal teleporter for me and me only, everyone else has to use the elevator.

I enter my room, and Arivan is sitting in the bowl I made for her.

Velo - “Oh, so she’s more like a minion? That’s weirdly depressing.”

Demi - “I guess. I mostly just wanted lackeys, and imperfect clones felt like the best option. They’re far greater than his, but they’ll never compare to the original.”

Velo - “His? What do you mean?”

Demi - “Nothing, it doesn’t matter. Anyways, Arivan knows all of my current skills, and she’s already a greater puddle kid.”

Velo - “I see, so she’s made a ton of progress already. What DO you plan to do with your clone anyways?”

Demi - “I guess she’ll act as a personal guard when I’m sleeping, and just doing shit. And she’ll take care of whatever the hell I don’t want to.”

Demi - “On another note, I’ve been developing a skill to disrupt signals, and cloak my own.”

Velo - “That’s a good idea, it’ll be great for espionage, you should also prepare for people who develop detection skills for it too though. Maybe a Spell that detects the aforementioned detectors?”

Demi - “This is starting to feel a little convoluted…”

Velo - “Yeah, that’s fair, it’s just, people are gonna’ keep trying to come up with counters, no matter how convoluted it gets.”

Veloura finally arrives at the top and looks around, spotting my table of souvenirs, and Arivan in her nest. “Is that her?” She asks, while walking over to the nest.

Demi - “Yes, that’s her.”

“Hello?” She says, as she crouches to the ground, and tries to wave at Arivan.

Demi - “Don’t be shy Arivan.”

Ariv - “Hello.”

“W-Wow.” Veloura says, as she backs away, watching Arivan exit the nest, and sit in front of her. “You’re so small..” She’s still about as big as I was when I was a greater puddle kid.

Ariv - “Yes, I’m still growing.”

“I’m mostly just amazed that you exist, it’s almost like I have a niece.” She says, as she bends forward to get a closer look at Arivan.

Demi - “Well, she WAS made using the reproductive method, so it would make sense. She just doesn’t have the level of emotional complexity that we do, that’s all that’s really missing.”

Veloura looks at me, and nods. “Right, so what CAN she do?” She looks back at Arivan, then back at me.

Demi - “Basically everything I can, just on a smaller scale. Sadly, her stats aren’t as high as mine, getting her to that level will still take a bit.”

“Neat. So what’s with the table of nicknacks?” Veloura says out of nowhere, looking back at the table.

Demi - “Just some small items I decided to keep as souvenirs, reminds me of the places we’ve been, and the things we’ve done.”

Veloura walks over to it, and picks up the fallen piece of Lixza’s Curse, analyzing it. “It’s still got some blood on it.. I wonder how Lex is doing.” Oh, is that who the blood belonged to?

Demi - “Oh, that’s Lex’s blood?”

She looks back at me surprised, then realizes something. “Right, you weren’t there for when Arigold stabbed Lex. I should check if he’s healed up.” She places the piece back on the table again, and looks at some of the other items. Arivan strolls up behind Veloura, taking her attention from my stuff.

Ariv - “It’s nice to meet you, Veloura.”

“O-oh, y-yeah, it’s nice to meet you too, that IS why I came here after all. I just didn’t think you would have much to say, just yet.” Veloura says, only now remembering why I brought her here.

Ariv - “It’s not your fault, I’m just a little shy..”

“Hey, it’s fine, just take as long as you need.” Veloura continues, reassuring Arivan of her patience and attention.

Demi - “She’s just here to say hi, Arivan, try to be more understanding.”

Ariv - “Ah- of course, I’ll try.”

Veloura stares at me, almost disapprovingly, then back at Arivan.

Ariv - “I am Arivan-Genesis, I’m only two days old, and I am the first born to Demitallis. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Velouravan-Genesis, I’m 12 years old and I’m the four thousandth daughter of Genesis Haven. If I’m honest, I think I’m just surprised to know I already have a niece already.” She says kindly, as she closes her eyes.

Ariv - “Yeah, I ‘guess I am a little sudden, aren’t I?”

Demi - “Huh.”

Do you guys think it’s weird to hear it come from the sudden person?

I guess?

I don’t know.

Veloura picks up Arivan as she opens her eyes again. “Still, I wouldn’t give up this moment for the world, it’s a blessing to have you.” She gazes into Arivan’s abyss, staring at me through her.

Ariv - “You’re very silly Auntie Veloura-”

“Ah- ‘Veloura’ is just fine, I don’t think I’m actually ready to be called an Aunt just yet..” Veloura says, sheepishly.

Ariv - “Oh, yeah, I guess you’re all still kind of young like me..”

Veloura places Arivan back on the floor while smiling. “Yeah, you’ve got that right kiddo.” Veloura stretches a little while yawning. “Anyways, I think it’s about time I’d been on my way. I’mma’ get going.”

Ariv - “Bye, it was nice meeting you.”

Demi - “Goodbye Veloura.”

She waves as she steps on the elevator platform, and it begins to descend.

Demi - “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask; have you awakened your IDM?”

Ariv - “Oh- ah- no. Sadly not, so I can’t command my instincts like you do. I guess it doesn’t carry over to children.”

Demi - “Huh. Instincts, never thought of that. I guess it makes sense, since I created you the biological way, I had mostly just overridden the process of creating your brain, so you would have my basic information, and my skills.”

Thinking about it now, it makes sense, I’m surprised she was able to figure it out, especially when I couldn’t. IDM not only allows Fear to override ME, but even my Subconscious, it DID create Fear because we weren’t mentally strong enough to handle it. And I doubt we still are.

Demi - “Hey, Arivan, I’m gonna’ go out for a bit and get some more food. You can come with, if you like.”

I once more jump from the tower, and again land on the world below. It’s hunting time!

Arivan bounces off of my head, and lands in front of me-

Ariv - “I’m here for you Mama!”

Demi - “That’s my girl!”

Excitement burning, we head out!

After about an hour, we find our first opponent, it’s a large mantis, it stares at us for a moment, then walks up.

Demi - “Well… Good luck kiddo.”

We agreed that Arivan should get some combat experience, especially since she’s never actually fought before.

The mantis continues to stare at Arivan until it notices a bearing building in her body, and leaps backwards. Arivan fires it at the mantis, just about missing, and instead ping ponging around the forest off of different trees.

The mantis takes a stance, and bolts in front of us, ready to strike. As he throws down his arm, it quickly retracts, and he darts back, the same arm bleeding.

It turns out there was an invisible razor sharp thread attached to the bearing, she must have hardened it expecting him to run into it.

The bearing lands inside of Arivan’s body and she constricts the thread, trapping the mantis. After a moment, the mantis breaks free, and dashes at Arivan again, slashing appart threads as it spots them.

…

*BANG*

My much larger bearing smashes through the mantis’s head, an unstoppable metal orb of destruction.

Demi - “I got bored.”

Ariv - “You took my kill..”

Arivan moves over the body and consumes it anyways, the only thing missing from it is the head.

To be honest, he probably had a power stat of around ten thousand, with a speed stat of twenty thousand.

Honestly, the fact that Arivan could even face off against it is impressive to begin with.

“Woah! That was amazing!”

We quickly turn around to find a small girl standing behind us with a beaming smile, she’s wearing a White Dress accented with Golden Frills, that match her blond hair. “I’ve never seen anything like this!” She slowly approaches us with a light prance.

I connect to her as she stands just a few feet from me.

Demi - “You’re not afraid?”

Her eyes widen as she acknowledges my telepathy. “Oh, is this how you speak?” She says, as she looks at me.

Demi - “Yeah, I don’t exactly have a mouth. But who are you, what are you doing here? Aren’t you a bit young to be venturing out like this?”

She takes a quick glance at Arivan, then continues. “Nah, I’m strong enough to take care of myself! I’ve actually been lost for a while now, I’ve been looking for my older brother. My name’s Glorigold, but most people just call me Glori.”

…

Demi - “Wait, do you mean like, the Gold Family, like sister to Prince Arigold?”

Glori’s face lights up with acknowledgement. “Oh, yes! Have you met him?!”

Oh boy…

Demi - “Um, yeah, you could say that..”

Glori’s excitement begins to grow, as she stares at me. “Great, then you should know where my home is! I’ve been lost for a few months now, and everyone must be terribly worried!” She says as she jumps in place.

Demi - “I guess, I believe it’s that way from here.”

I use some of my Water to point in the direction of Marigold. “Oh, of course! Thanks, uh-”

Demi - “Demitallis. My name’s Demitallis, and this here is Arivan. We were out hunting, it’s nice to meet you, Glorigold. “

“Yeah, it was nice meeting you too Demitallis, I’ll tell my brother I met you next time I see him.” She quickly says as she begins to walk in the direction I pointed.

Demi - “Oh, no, there’s no need for that. I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t tell him where I was.”

Her expression quickly changes from joy to curiosity, as she turns to look back at me. “Oh, really? How come?”

Demi - “No reason in particular, I just need him to NOT know where I am.”

She looks down, but then back at me. “Well, okay then. But only because you helped me out.” She begins to smile, as she looks in the direction I was pointing again. “I have the coolest older brother in the world, you know! He’s one of the world’s greatest heroes. I can’t wait until I’m all grown up so I can be a hero too someday, alongside my Seeker duties of course. He promised to teach me, after all.” She giggles as she walks away, gone just like that.

So he’s got a sister, that’s great. I really hope she doesn’t tell him. And it’s not like I could kill her, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Besides, I don’t doubt he would really be after me at that point.

As I think about this, another animal comes into view, it’s a frog. Right, hunting.

After a few hours of uninterrupted hunting, we decide to take a break and return home.

Arivan’s currently in the middle of metamorphosis, we had a pretty good hunt today.

Me on the other hand, I’ve been hunting on my own, so I’m a little stronger.

“Demi~!” I hear coming from above- Oh lord it’s Veyta.

She lands on my surface, and bounces in the air like I’m a trampoline. “Hi Demi!” She shouts in the air, landing on me again. “How have you been?!”

Demi - “I’ve been good, I was just out hunting. How have you been?”

“I was just hanging out with Remilies- Oh, they’re gone..” Veyta loses her excitement. “Damn, I was hoping she’d finally be willing to meet you.” Remilies, or Remilies-Begotten-Genesis. They’re very shy. “I haven’t even gotten to actually say hi to Renningstopheles, I mean, I’ve seen him through Glant’s vision, and he understands this, but he’s just not willing to say hello.” She says as she lies on my surface, venting about her frustrations.

Demi - “Sucks too, since they’re such a rare species… I mean at least you’ve gotten to meet Remilies though, neither of'em will talk to me.”

“Yeah… You know, it’s the same reason as Celestibelle and Gallistar. Their species is just so rare, it’s no wonder Mother would want to clone them the moment she got her hands on some biomaterial-.” Veyta kind of just cuts off, and starts thinking to herself.

Demi - “What’s up?”

“Mother.. She loved us right?”

…

Demi - “I wouldn’t really know, I barely got a third of a day with her.”

Veyta rolls onto her back, and stares into the endless sky. “It… It always FELT like she loved us, but now, I don’t know if it was for the reason we all thought she did.. We’re so far from home Demi…”

Demi - “I’m sorry Veyta. I know how you feel..”

I think about my old life all the-

“But, how would you?..”

Ah, that’s right..

Demi - “Oh, well, I-”

“No, I’m sorry, that was rude, it means a lot that you would try though, Demi..” She says, as she stands up, walking to the edge of my surface.

But I do...

Demi - “Right, before you leave, I uh, I met someone.”

She stops and looks down at me. “Oh, who is this mysterious stranger?” She lies down again, and rests her head in her hands.

Demi - “Real funny Veyta, but this is serious. It was Glorigold.”

Veyta’s expression drops. “Wait, Gold like, from Arigold’s family?” She begins to sit up.

Demi - “Yeah, she’s like, his 8 year old little sister or something, she was lost in the woods just outside of Neo-Genesis-Haven.”

Veyta begins to get worried. “Well, what did you do with her?” Veyta says, leaning against my surface.

Demi - “I wasn’t really sure WHAT to do, she asked me if I knew the way to the Golden Kingdom, and I pointed her in the right direction.”

“Wait, seriously?!” She says in disbelief.

Demi - “Well, what else was I supposed to do?!”

Veyta simply waves her arms in the air. “I don’t know! But now she’s gonna’ tell Arigold about YOU, then he’ll realize where WE are, and then Neotopia and all of us will be destroyed!” She shouts at me angrily. “I mean, couldn’t you have brought her here or something, so we could all figure out what to do with her together?”

Demi - “Well, I couldn’t bring her here, because I wasn’t sure how strong she is-”

“An 8 year old princess?”

Demi - “That’s related to ARIGOLD, look I’m not risking that. And even if I could kill her, aside from not being able to live with myself if I did, Arigold would definitely be after us at that point-”

Veyta’s eye widens with realization, and she quickly interrupts me- “I don’t think Arigold would actually care, if you killed her.”

Demi - “What? Really? Why wouldn’t he? She’s his sister!”

“Arigold is like, devoid of all Feeling and Emotion, Lex said he killed his brother just to test if he COULD feel anything. I doubt he would have noticed IF she died.” She says, as she thinks to herself.

Demi - “Well fuck. That’s.. I don’t know how to deal with that…”

“Not that I would ever ask you to kill a kid of course, I think I feel the same as you do on that matter. But still, that guy is something else, the sooner we get rid of him, the better.” She says as she begins to slide down the side of my surface.

Demi - “I think we’ve discussed child murder enough, it makes me uncomfortable.”

“Yeah, I gotta’ get going anyways, I’ll get word out to the Leaders, see what they make of this.” Veyta waves as she walks away.

“What was that about?” Another of my siblings says, curious about what I was talking about. It’s Celestibelle.

Demi - “Oh, it’s nothing important- well it is, but Veyta’s off to tell the other leaders, so you don’t need to worry.”

Celest nods, but folds her arms. “Well, I’m still curious.”

Demi - “Oh, well you see, while I was out hunting, I found a little girl in the woods.”

“Why do you hunt down little girls in the woods?” She says, purposefully misinterpreting what I was saying.

Demi - “Shup. Anyways, it turns out it was Princess Glorigold, the younger sister to Prince Arigold.”

Celest begins to get worried, despite me telling her there’s nothing to worry about. “Wh-what did you do with her? I assume you didn’t hurt her, but you couldn’t have just let her run off home to tell Arig-”

Demi - “I really had no choice..”

“Demi…” She says, with a disappointed tone.

Demi - “Now-now, I told her to NOT tell him where we are, and I doubt I could have taken her on. ALL options were risky, okay? I was busy playing out the situations in my head, so my personal sense of morale kicked in, and I just helped her out!”

Celest closes her eyes, then gives me an exaggerated sigh. “Fine then, but I’m gone at the first sign of danger, you guys mean the world to me, but I’m not a warrior.” She says, genuinely serious.

Demi - “It’s alright Celest, I know.”

Celest nods, then walks up closer. “So, water you doing now?” She proceeds to grin like an idiot.

...

Demi - “Real funny Celest, I was just planning to walk around and see how everyone is doing.”

“Sounds good, I’ll join you.” Celest says, as we continue forward.

Demi - “Well, I guess that sounds nice.”

End of Chapter 19: “The generations continue, don’t be swept up by the waves!”

“Thanks for the directions, and reading!”