*1344.13.27*

This sucks, Joram thought as he lay in bed.

He still couldn’t get up. He really wanted to be up and about. Especially so he could go see his newly arrived parents. Or maybe since he had arrived after them, he should phrase that differently…?

Meh.

Either way, he was stuck in bed. Sure, he’d made progress with his energy circulation over the past day, but he was still a long way off from being able to move about.

One thing that he’d been able to do, however, was access his normal psionic energy. Sure, it wasn’t as powerful as the new stuff that flowed through his body. Fusion energy? Nah, that was way too generic, and over-used.

Hmmm…

He shrugged mentally, then got back on track.

It was still very hard to do anything with his psionic energy, yet he’d still managed to perform a few basic exercises he’d learned from Altaea way back in the day. From there, he’d done a few simple things like basic telekinesis, a bit of energy manipulation in the form of making a candle’s flame dance about, and even some metacreation, which was his specialty. He’d not used it much since he’d been reborn, mainly due to it being a bit too… noticeable. Keeping a low profile with [Astral Construct]s wandering about wasn’t very effective.

That said, he’d been experimenting again with the various forms of [Astral Construct] he could make, and had decided on a weird version that somewhat resembled a cross between Professor X’s flying wheel chair from that 90s cartoon and a super car. It was sleek and all that, but more importantly, he’d managed to change its colour from that silvery-white that told you that it was made of ectoplasm, to a more natural colour. In this case, a matt charcoal grey with a very subtle pattern of lines reminiscent of Tron light lines. Sure, they didn’t glow, but he’d always like that kind of line pattern.

Anyway, the advantage of having an [Astral Construct] being his transportation was that he could have it in his Network. Well, that didn’t quite matter as much as being able to give it mental commands anyway due to the nature of the power used to create it.

Now, normally it would be terribly inefficient to use an [Astral Construct] as transportation, but he’d long since mastered the ability to stabilize its structure and allow them to stay around more or less indefinitely. Which meant that long-term transport for his less than cooperative body was viable.

Well, one that wouldn’t take a lot of work, anyway.

Back on topic, he was glad that he’d be able to go out and about soon. Well, not too much, as he’d have to answer many long and pointed questions regarding his interesting “artifact”. Magic items were common, but specialized things like his “wheelchair” weren’t something commonly seen, or if he was being honest, seen at all.

So, he’d be confined to quarters, more or less. Until he could walk again.

He almost shook his head then, trying to rid himself of that circular line of thought, but remembered not to just in time to avoid giving himself a migraine.

Using a bit of telekinesis, he rang the bell that sat by his door. Normally, it would be sitting next to his bed, but his earlier practicing had left it there when he was done. That, and it was better to have the bell closer to the door so that it could be more easily heard.

Tillia came in a few moments later, casting a glance at the bell that wasn’t where she’d left it.

She paused as she received his invitation to his Network, then a smile burst out on her face as she accepted the invitation.

‘This’ll make things easier,’ he sent with a faint smile.

Tillia was beside herself with joy as he explained a few things for her; namely his limitations and estimated time of recovery. It didn’t take too long, as he also wanted her to spread the word to his parents, Grammy, and Xixi.

‘That said, I’m not sure I want people to know I’m back again just yet. My weakness and all,’ he sent, the barest hint of a wry grin on his face.

‘Xixi’s and Zanth’s parents also know that you’ve been missing,’ Tillia explained. ‘We didn’t say anything to the rest of the clan, but rumours still spread when you’ve been missing for so long after everything that’s happened.’

Joram sent a mental nod her way, thinking. ‘Well, just bring the people I mentioned so that I can once again add them to my Network. Especially my mother as she’d almost due.’

Tillia nodded, then left on her task.

As he waited, Joram let out a sigh. He could, of course, just fly wherever he needed to go, no need to worry about a weird sci-fi flying “wheelchair” thingy. It was just another excuse. As much as he’d like to say that he was a resilient person, unflappable, steady of heart and purpose, etc., well… he wasn’t.

He’d had incredible anxiety before coming to this world and he was at least 98% sure that Altaea was the reason why he’d been able to rid himself of said anxiety.

Or, rather, she’d healed his mind. Either way, he’d not felt those heart-wrenching, chest tearing, lung crushing feelings in a very long time. But they’d managed to sneak back.

He wasn’t too sure when it happened, but he now felt that familiar gnawing at his insides as he thought about heading back out into the clan proper. Needing to meet other people, or just passing them by and hearing the murmurs. He wasn’t going to lie; he really didn’t want to have to deal with that garbage. He’d just spent almost two years recovering from a stupid mistake and he very much wanted to avoid narrow-minded people for the time being.

Hence the flying chair excuse.

“Joram?”

He looked up and saw him mother poking her head into the room, his father’s resting on hers like some characters from a Saturday morning cartoon.

He couldn’t help himself; he grinned. Then winced in pain.

“Don’t push yourself!” His mother exclaimed, sliding the door open the rest of the way.

His father slid in front of her so fast that he almost missed the movement, mostly catching it through [Touchsight]. It seems that his father hadn’t been slacking off during his time away, as it felt as though he were somewhere in the mid 4th Tier. For that matter, his mother wasn’t far behind in her cultivation, not seeming too much weaker than his father. That again, it could also be due to her pregnancy that she seemed weaker than her husband.

He sent them both invitations to his Network, then watched their eyes widen slightly in surprise, both developing smiles as they accepted the invitation.

‘You don’t need to worry, mother,’ he sent, sounding more like himself through the link, including his father in the conversation/chat room. ‘I may be a little weakened right now, but I’m sure you’ll be surprised when you see how much I’ve grown.’

His mother and father exchanged a Look when they received that last part, then looked at him again. Which reminded him how much he’d actually grown physically.

‘Just concentrate on your recovery my boy,’ his father sent with a smile.

Now, he was no Erick when it came to reading people- far from it!- but he did manage to catch the bit of worry that had crept into his expression.

‘Yes, don’t worry about us, we’ll be more than OK!’ His mother sent with a smile of her own, not managing to hide her worry as well as his father, but then enthusiastically changed the subject. ‘Are you excited to become a big brother?’

They spent the next half hour talking about that and other little things of little consequence or importance.

It was nice.

He’d missed chatting with his parents, being able to talk to them whenever he needed to, or just plain wanted to. Sure, he’d been unconscious for most of the time his Network had been down, but a part of his mind must have kept track or something, because he found that he’d really missed them when he woke up.

Their time, however, was cut short when Grammy appeared in his doorway and softly knocked on the frame to not just ask for permission to enter, but to let them know that she’d arrived.

Joram smiled as his parents jumped a bit, probably due to being so caught up in the conversation. He’d noticed her arrival through Touchsight, so it wasn’t a shock for him when she knocked.

He immediately sent her an invitation, then smiled a faint smile when it was accepted as soon as it was sent.

‘I see that you’re at least awake now,’ Grammy sent, sounding very… formal? If he wasn’t mistaken, she sounded… miffed? Was that right?

‘Working on it,’ he sent back as lightly as he could, trying to make it sound jovial.

The following conversation was both grueling and awkward. Greuling in that when Grammy found something she wanted answers to, she was worse than a lock-jawed Pitbull. Awkward in the sense that he had to explain Avi and his relationship to her… and why he’d kept her a secret from not only her, but from his parents too.

As he wasn’t the most diplomatic person on the planet, nevermind in the room, he was left with a disappointed look from everyone present, especially from Grammy as she left to “catch up on work”.

“Joram,’ his father sent, obvious disappointment in his tone, and something else he couldn’t quite put his thumb on. ‘Have we not shown that you can trust us?’

Joram glanced down, not meeting his parents’ eyes, still not quite able to move about without more pain than he wanted to deal with. ‘No, you have…’ he trailed off. He’d never been good at confrontation of any sort, and this was much closer to home than most he’d ever had to deal with.

‘Joram, let me come and speak for myself,’ Avi pipes in suddenly.

Joram gives his mental consent, then purposely looks over to where Avi would appear. His parents picked up on his look and followed his gaze, only starting slightly when Avi appears.

‘Hello Mrs and Mr Aneath,’ Avi sends as she appears at the foot of his bed. He was very glad that she had changed from her Daisy Dukes and tank top into something akin to a Jedi’s get-up, though a bit more Luke than Obi-wan in that she had gone for an outfit in shades of charcoal grey to black. That said, she even had one of the prototype lightsabers at her hip, balanced with what looked like an M-11 from ME3, except the barrel looked more like a Desert Eagle’s.

He eyed that up, wondering just how effective that would be in a world of crazy magic and body cultivators. He’d have to see what kind of damage a standard shield spell could take from one of those, then go from there….

Back to the here and now, Joram noticed a Look pass between his mother and father. Again, he was no Erick, but he could swear that there was a hint of approval that passed between the two.

‘Thank you for taking care of Joram,’ his mother sent, inclining her head to Avi.

‘I’m used to it,’ she sent, amusement thick in her tone. ‘That said, Joram didn’t mention me at my request,’ she finished, leaving it at that.

Everyone blinked at her, though Joram’s was much slower than his parents’.

His mother and father exchanged Looks, then nodded. He could swear that they had their own rudimentary Network with how much they seemed to communicate with those Looks.

The questions flowed after that, ranging from how long they’ve known each other to why they couldn’t feel any cultivation from her. If he didn’t know any better, he was sure that they were probing how “close” they were with each other, possibly testing the waters to see how safe his and Xixi’s engagement was.

After a good hour of grilling, Avi made an excuse and shifted back to his realm, though she didn’t say that was what she was doing; she just disappeared, leaving Joram to shrug under his parents’ questioning Looks.

‘Seriously, why didn’t you ask her that when she arrived?’ he groused, then immediately regretted it when another set of Looks was thrown his way.

Seriously, I’m recovering here!, he thought, not quite able to resist the Mental Effects of those Looks, causing him to squirm where he lay, which caused him to nearly black out due to the negative feedback his body sent to his brain.

Seeing Joram’s immense pain, his parents relented just before his mother’s face went blank, her hand going to her belly. He almost missed it but didn’t say anything as they made their way out, followed by Tillia.

He felt really bad then, realizing that he’d forgotten about her during the whole Q&A session. To be fair, she was getting very good at not being seen, almost to the point where he suspected that she was practicing a stealth technique of some sort. He felt that she had become stronger than before but with how messed up his cultivation was, and the fact that he still couldn’t properly sense people through mana, he wasn’t sure. But it felt like she was on a whole new level from when he’d last spent time with her.

Maybe an Iron-Man type suit to get around… he mused as he lay there staring up at the ceiling. Sure, it would get around the issue of mobility and it had already been “done” before here. Magical knights in armour, or even magical puppets. The only problem was that he’d have to be inside the thing, being jostled around as he went flying about.

Maybe something bigger? Something that I can lay in bed and direct it with my mind…?

Lost in thought, he missed the small figure longingly gazing at him as it peeked past the edge of his door.

* * * * *

“You should go in,” Tillia said, watching Xixi as she made her way to the door leading out of the apartments.

For her part, Xixi jumped a bit, spinning around to look at Tillia with wide eyes.

“I’m Tier 3 now,” Tillia said with a dainty snort, “it’s much harder to sneak past me now.”

Xixi blushed but stood firm. Tillia smiles as she takes note of just how grown-up Xixi is now. Well, for a seven-year-old she was fairly tall, but that wasn’t what she meant. Her emotional maturity seems to have grown significantly in the past year. Where she would have been eager to apologise before, now she held her head high, back straight, not a hint of shame on her face for having snuck into her and the Aneath’s home.

As she was about to say something, Tillia’s vision blurred slightly, causing Xixi’s image to distort to the point where there were three of her standing there. The one on Tillia’s left looked to be collared and shackled, looking as though she were ten years older. The one in the middle the same as a moment before, while the one on the right had a bloody gash across her neck, crimson fanning down her front as she fell to her knees, eyes going glassy.

The vision fades, but unfortunately so does her vision. As everything goes black, Tillia has the idle thought that it wasn’t very dignified to start throwing up as she fell down.

* * * * *

“She’ll be all right,” Healer Reursa said, turning on the stool at the side of the couch in the common room of the apartment.

Matriarch Aneath nodded, standing beside Tillia’s head, frowning in thought.

She’d come back as soon as she’d received the message from Ivaryn that Tillia had collapsed while having some sort of episode. Fortunately, Ivaryn had also dashed out to get Healer Reursa, saving everyone involved some time.

What struck Tatia as odd was that Joram hadn’t immediately healed Tillia up from where he lay in his bedroom. From everything that she knew of the Network, it should have been as easy as breathing for him to deal with something like this.

“Thank you Marowz,” she said as she indicated for him to get up. “We’ll be sure to call if there is anything else.”

Marowz Reursa blinked at her using his first name but didn’t put up a fuss when he was ushered out of the room, the door closing on his slightly confuzzled face.

Tatia then activated her privacy ward when she was close enough to where Ivaryn and Xixi were standing by the couch, Sulia resting in an armchair by foot of said couch, designated as such due to Tillia’s feet being on that end.

“OK, what happened?” She asked Xiora, fixing her with a Look, but not an unkind one.

Xixi fidgeted for a moment before answering. “I had come to see Joram, but sort of…” she made a hand gesture that was commonly interpreted as meaning “chickened out”. “I was leaving when Tillia encouraged me to go in and see him…” she trailed off, looking over at Joram’s closed door. “Then she got a funny look on her face for a moment before she started having a seizure.”

Tatia exchanged looks with Sulia and Ivaryn, noting a general lack of understanding from him, but what looked like understanding from Sulia.

“Thank you Xixi,” Tatia said, trying to give a reassuring smile. “You really should go in and speak with him.”

Xiora gulped, eyes shifting between her, Joram’s door, and the door leading out of the apartments. Soon enough, though, she started making her way to Joram’s door. Once out of the area of the privacy ward, Tatia once again spoke up.

“Tillia might be a Seer,” she said without preamble.

Sulia and Ivaryn exchanged looks, surprise evident on their faces. Which really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone in the know about Seers.

Seers were a very rare branch of the more common Diviner. Not that Diviners were common, far from it. No, they were very rare; to the point that if one was found, they were nurtured heavily by whichever group managed to snag them up, usually the rulers of a country, kingdom, or empire. Depending on who got a hold of the Diviner, their treatment would be anywhere between being treated like an extension of the royalty/rulers, to effectively being a collared slave on a very short leash.

Out of the few hundred known Diviners on the Waeryn Continent, there were currently no Seers counted amongst their number. Nor had there been for almost a thousand years.

Yes, Seers were rare.

They were also very hard to train and keep alive. Most of their abilities came from an innate affinity to the Laws of Time and Chaos. Both of which were exceedingly dangerous to cultivate by themselves, nevermind at the same time. If one side had an imbalance, the other would negatively affect the Seer. Anything from random aging and or growing younger, for her or anything/anyone around her, to random acts of entropy that could quite literally take any form as the Chaos in her went out of control.

That said, it was then fortunate that they had the single most extensive collection of information on the continent, if not the whole world.

“What makes you say that?” Sulia finally asked after shaking her head a bit.

“Over the past few years, she has come to me for guidance and counselling,” Tatia started, mentally pulling the stool Marowz had left behind over so that she could sit down next to Tillia. “She was initially scared that she might be suffering from some sort of mental illness due to her seeing ‘visions’ around people she interacted with, or even just saw walking by.”

Tatia smiles slightly as she watched Xiora finally gather enough courage to knock on Joram’s door, then go inside, back straight as a rod.

Sulia and Ivaryn shared another look, but quickly turned back to her once she began speaking again.

“At first I thought that she was overly stressed due to having lost Joram, then was over working herself on her cultivation,” she said, noting Sulia’s nodding and Ivaryn’s wry grin.

“Suffice it to say, I made sure that she was regularly checked and evaluated to be sure that she wasn’t experiencing any sort of mana-induced issues with her cultivation,” she said shaking her head.

“No, she was, and is, perfectly healthy. No issues in her foundations. No undue stress in her life. But the visions have continued this whole time. This,” she said, her hand waving at the prone Tillia, “is entirely new. I don’t know what caused it, but I do hope that we can keep her alive long enough for her to get a handle on her innate Talents.”

She paused there, letting things sink in for them. It was a lot to take in. A lot to digest. More to accept.

Seers had a mixed reputation amongst the scholars of the world. Some had been leashed and collared right away, while others had grown in seclusion, only coming out when the time was right, as it were. Those last ones were the ones that had shaken the continent they were on, great upheavals coming about in their wake. Wherever those last ones went, borders changed, fortunes rose and fell, as did nations, kingdoms, and entire empires.

Looking at Tillia, one couldn’t imagine her being someone who would change the world around her by just being, but as the old saying went: “never judge a book by its cover”.

Sulia reached down and touched her belly as she gazed at her nanny laying unconscious on the couch. Tillia could practically read on her face what was going through her head. If Tillia was indeed a Seer, then she wouldn’t be able to stay around the apartments. She would have to go somewhere that wouldn’t be destroyed, or people hurt, if her Talents went out of control.

“We’ll get her set up with what she needs to get through this,” Tatia said as she looks over at Tillia. “You just concentrate on giving birth, adding another wonderful child to the family.”

Sulia smiled at that, not quite wiping away the worried look she had on her face.

* * * * *

Joram looked over when he heard a knock at the door, wondering who would be knocking so softly. Going over the list of possible suspects, he quickly narrowed it down to Xixi, as the list was undeniably short due to him having only invited his immediate family over to see him.

After a moment the door slid open, revealing a very shy-looking Xixi standing there. Even though it hurt, he couldn’t help but crack a small smile at the sight of her as he sent an invitation to the Network again.

Once she’d accepted it and was inside the room, door sliding closed behind her, he sent: ‘It’s good to see you again,’ with as much warmth as he could.

For her part, Xixi just stared for a bit. Long enough for him to become a bit self-conscious. He wasn’t exactly dressed to impress, merely being in the special hospital gown that Avi had made for him to reduce the tactile discomfort he now felt.

Then he was taking in all the changes in his childhood friend. It was the time for growth spurts, her turning seven years old tomorrow. She’d grown a good foot since he’d seen her last, pulling her into a slightly gangly girl. Her chubby cheeks were almost gone, now appearing “normal”, though she still had that self confidence she’d always had.

She looks much more mature now, he mused, noticing how she stood and especially the look in her eyes. Too old by far.

‘It’s good to see you too,’ she sent, sounding much more unsure of herself than she physically projected, which threw him for a bit of a loop.

Then he got it.

He’d been missing for almost two years. Him, her best friend. The one she would chat with over the Network any time she needed to speak with someone her “own age”. The person that had helped her with her cultivation. The person who’d always been there for her.

Then his first disappearance happened, and she’d taken a shock, but had seemed to rebound well enough, going back to the happy-go-lucky girl she’d always been. But his next disappearance had been much longer, so long in fact that most people probably thought he was dead or shipped away due to being a “cripple” or something.

Two years of not seeing someone was a very long time to anyone. But especially to a five-year-old.

He paused then, memories of his past life flooding to the fore. Memories of his daughters and how broken up they were with the divorce, but especially because they couldn’t see him whenever they wanted because they’d both been “Daddy’s Girls”. And in fact, hadn’t been able to see him for a good stretch at the beginning of the whole mess.

Then he looked at Xixi and saw the hurt buried there, the apprehension of not knowing why he’d been gone. Not knowing if she was still important to him.

His heart nearly broke then, many of those memories flooding back, but especially those emotions associated with not being there for them, and now her. Not being able to listen to her, help her through things, or to just be there; a presence that she could rely on.

He couldn’t imagine what she’d been through these past two years, especially after all those people had started pestering Aloralla and Ailmar about cancelling her engagement to him and instead going with one of their offspring. It had been bad when he’d still been around, so he could only imagine they’d all upped their game when it was evident that he wasn’t around.

He looked into her clear green eyes seeing the uncertainty there, the questions waiting to burst out of her, the fear of what might be said.

The longer it took him to say anything, the more her façade crumbled until her eyebrows were scrunched together, bottom lip quivering, and unshed tears making her eyes sparkle.

He couldn’t really move, so he concentrated his psionic energy and telekinetically lifted her up and brought her closer, her eyes nearly popping out of her head in surprise.

‘I’m sorry that I’ve been gone so long,’ he sent with every ounce of sincerity he could scoop out of his heart. ‘I’ve missed you. Let’s catch up.’

With that said, he let her down beside him on the bed, suppressing the pain that shot through him as the mattress shifted slightly under her weight, keeping his faint smile in place.

When the words registered Xixi finally broke down, bawling her eyes out as she leaned over and draped herself across his chest, tears falling hot and fast.

Not that he noticed, for he’d already been sent to the land of unconsciousness when she landed on his chest.