《The Heroes' Story After Saving the World》How It All Began - Part 4
Advertisement
“The multiverse theory? What is that?” Zenia asked Jeanne.
“Simply put, there may or may not be other...worlds so to speak, that at times might be incredibly familiar to ours.” Jeanne circled around me and now also squatted next to me, propping her chin onto her folded hands. “Like for example, there might be another world, in which humans exist, albeit with a frankly repulsive fashion sense.”
“Oh no, I only look like this because within hours, I crashed through a building twice, and then fell of a wall.”
Jeanne ignored that comment and continued to explain with a stern voice.
“That’s the gist of it anyway. Now. It has been proposed that depending on the attributes of a world, including ours it may be possible to establish a connection with another world and tap into its resources. Resources including other people.” Jeanne rose up again.
“You mean, someone deliberately brought him here?” Zenia asked.
“Not just someone. You remember why I brought this all up?”
Without missing a beat, Zenia answered: “Because my father sent you to the library.” She too stood up, glancing between me and floor.
“I don’t know what to make of this.”
Having been freed from the immediate presence of these two women, I crawled backwards until my back hit the bed. I pulled myself onto the mattress and looked between the two of them. If she didn’t know what to make of this, then I sure as heck didn’t.
“Do you think my father succeeded in bringing someone from another world to ours? What would he gain from that?” Zenia asked some of the obvious questions.
“Well, if anyone besides him knew, I figured it would have been you. I am... honestly surprised he kept you in the dark,” Jeanne commented.
Advertisement
“Well, he doesn’t even consider me fit for combat, which is why I’ve barely left the mansion, let alone the city for the past couple of months,” Zenia muttered.
“I think a certain shed would beg to disagree,” I said under my breath.
Zenia let out a small chuckle at that comment. My heart seemed to skip a beat and my breathing got heavy for a moment. I cautiously turned my gaze upwards, to see her smiling down at me. Or was it a smirk? I couldn’t properly tell.
Now, in hindsight, I am fairly confident that she did in fact find what I said funny. Only now, writing it down, I realize how warped some of my thoughts were. Would it be realistic to think of someone smiling at me, after I said something that was supposed to be funny, as them looking down on me?
My prior experience told me yes.
But I realize I am getting too hung up on this.
Let’s continue.
Her smile turned into a frown, as she averted her gaze.
“Sirius ...” She whispered.
“Your brother,” Jeanne added, tilting her head sideways, quizzically.
“I think he knows.” Zenia turned her gaze back to me. “I think he knows what you are. That’s why he tried to gaslight me into killing you.”
That sounded like some soap-opera level drama I didn’t want to get involved in.
“So, he pretended that guy was an Incubus?” Jeanne sighed in exasperation, as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “You know, something about your brother always rubbed me wrong. I thought he’d make a great leader, but the way he manipulated you tells me he’d make a much better dictator.”
“We need to get this mess sorted,” Zenia announced. “But I have no idea how. I couldn’t possibly go against my father and my brother. What would we gain from that? It would just be a meaningless confrontation that would resolve nothing.”
Advertisement
As Zenia pondered so, I tried to draw my own conclusions.
“We could use his own methods against him...” I finally said. Some semblance of a plan was forming in my head, though I didn’t know what the intended end result would be.
“What do you mean?” Zenia said in a cold voice. No doubt, she didn’t know what to expect from me either.
I stood up from the bed to be on eye-level with them.
“Your brother. As you said, earlier he tried to gaslight you. Why not get a bit of good old-fashioned revenge?” At the mention of that word Zenia raised an eyebrow. “As far as we know, your brother thinks I’m dead. So, what do you think how he’d react if he saw me with you? Though honestly, I don’t know him well enough to know if it would elicit a response from him at all ...”
“He’d probably try to kill you again,” Zenia proffered.
“Right...but! You mentioned something about a masquerade ball earlier, didn’t you? He wouldn’t kill me in front of all those guests, now, would he?”
“And a masquerade ball would allow you to remain here unnoticed...for the moment,” Zenia added.
“I could use just a tiny bit of magic to mess with him,” Jeanne suggested. “I’m thinking...a few dozen undead humans among the guests would be quite fun, wouldn’t they?”
“You could do that?” I asked her. I got that there was magic now, but I still didn’t know to which extent it could be used.
“Oh, trust me, I’ve conjured up bigger illusions.”
“But what would the point of that be?” Zenia questioned. “Make my brother look insane among all the guests, alright, but then what? How do I explain your presence to my father?”
“You want your father to take you seriously, to be allowed to fight. Use me as leverage. Lie to him if need be.”
Jeanne snapped her fingers and added: “Pretend that he was the one to conjure up that illusion. No-one knows I’m here, right?”
“Great!” I exclaimed. “Tell him, you have managed to summon a powerful mage from another world, and that there are many more, where I came from. He wouldn’t want to risk getting invaded by another dimension, would he?”
Without meaning to, I had gotten eerily close to Zenia. She squinted and looked me in the eye as if to test my resolve not to look away in embarrassment.
She then sighed and replied: “What’s the damage? I have already let in an intruder. If the plan fails, then I’ll at least go out with a bang.”
She turned on her heel, and I let out the oft-quoted breath I didn’t know I was holding.
To my right I noticed Jeanne smiling. To anyone else it might have been a charming smile. Coming from any other woman, it might have as well.
“Can I count on you?”
Zenia’s words ripped my gaze away from the witch. I stuttered and insecurely pointed a finger at myself.
“Of course, when worse comes to worst, you can count on me,” Jeanne replied. “Your father wouldn’t even realize my meddling. I hope. Would be a shame having to cut ties with one of my best clients ...”
Zenia rolled her eyes at that comment, but then came back to me.
“Alright. I suppose you’re not in possession of evening attire?”
Advertisement
- In Serial32 Chapters
Warden of Success - A LitRPG
In the future of Earth humans are no longer the dominant species. Monsters, vampires, elves and all manners of otherworldly threats now threaten the planet and its people. And for one such as Camille, there was nothing she could do. A failed martial artist, Camille swallowed her pride and dreams, all the while sinking into the world of video games. Until she died. Reawakening with newfound power in her very own bed, there's no doubting that she's an oddity. And as the only individual in the world with the body of a video game character, she's ecstatic. No longer will she just be content with playing games in her dark room, taking over fantasy worlds as a great heroine. Rather, she'll do something better. And that'll be to take over the real one instead. Whether it be mages, demons or other supernatural entities that stand in her way, it doesn't matter. Camille may be a level one at first, but dammit if she wasn't going to try to reach one hundred. This is not a crunchy LitRPG and gradually becomes more of a character driven story that just happens to have a main character with LitRPG abilities. There will be a variety of powers/abilities that are explored later in the setting involving magic systems and other technological advancements. The first 10 chapters were written with satirical undertones, but begin to develop more into its own entity after that.
8 172 - In Serial8 Chapters
Soul Split
Due to a crazy experiment, Tom got sucked through a malfunctioning portal into the unknown. Upon waking, he realized his soul survived and was rebirthed in a new world. But due to the stress of transfer, the soul split into two and passed through the reincarnation cycle as two separate beings. Even as the united two had fully reawakened to their other selves, the future looks grim. Armed with a withering lineage, a broken wing and the knowledge of an aspiring engineer, they set out to explore the world, one crazy technological advancement at a time.
8 210 - In Serial55 Chapters
Ebon Pinion
While mortals walk the land, conducting their day-to-day business, dark gods and tyrants weave machinations that threaten the foundations of the world. Ebon Pinion is a tale of friendship, hard-fought victories, and devastating losses, through which the protagonists must find each other and find themselves to preserve everything they hold dear. New chapters are released on the 1st and the 15th of every month.
8 98 - In Serial95 Chapters
Renegade's Redemption: Dust
A recently-deceased human hero finds himself alive again as a god... and stuck with the vicious Sun Fiend who led him to his death in the first place. The past is gone, forever out of his reach. His future lies with her, but will it entail redemption or revenge? Updates every other Monday. Renegade's Redemption is a character-driven fantasy story. It observes several immortals and their world as both change over several thousand years.
8 212 - In Serial20 Chapters
A Bit of Everything
A collection of short stories/ poems made by me. Updates are sporadic.
8 92 - In Serial26 Chapters
Sisters Violated Many Times in Dream and Reality...
NTR
8 139