Nevaris opened his eyes to a beautiful blue sky. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he sank into the serene quiet around him.
Of course, the moment of peace was short-lived.
A familiar sense of disorientation. A familiar disembodied voice greeting him.
Why was this his life now?
"Have I been transmigrated again?" he asked lazily, his eyes still shut as he lay there motionless.
For some reason, Nevaris felt as though the bastard was enjoying this.
With a weary sigh, he pushed himself up as he finally opened his eyes to survey his surroundings.
"Wow, this is the world I wished for?" he mumbled almost to himself.
A black cube with markings Nevaris couldn't recognize floated down next to him. Its surface rippled as it spoke.
Nevaris looked at it with curiosity as he asked, "Is that you Cue?"
A section of the cube pivoted and clicked in response.
Nevaris laughed lightly as he tapped it, "Good to see you again, partner."
The cube went rigid…well, more rigid than it already was. Then without warning, Cue launched itself forward and smashed itself onto his face.
"Gahh! W-What the hell man!?" he yelped in pain, holding a swelling welt as he glared at the disrespectful block.
{*Vein bulge*}
"...what?"
"Alright! Say what you want to say before I make this ugly for both of us!"
The vein on Nevaris' forehead grew larger as he let out a smile, but his thoughts were filled with ways to inflict the cruelest forms of unholy cubical torture he can think of.
"...are you a female Cue?" Nevaris countered.
"Then explain the lack of communication, immediate call to violence, and instead of explaining why you are upset, ask me a question you know damn well I don't have an answer to?" Nevaris questioned pointedly.
<...hahhh. Of all the souls in existence, I just had to be bound to the singular most aberrant one "he" could find…>
"Hehehe, I'm growing on you don't deny it~" Nevaris chortled, but a sharp gleam flashed past his eyes as.
'So it's a "him" huh?'
Just as he was about to push for who exactly "he" was, Cue spoke again, and this time, there were no jokes to be said.
Nevaris blinked. His brow raised slightly as he asked back, "What does that mean?"
Cue explained.
Hearing the seriousness in its tone Nevaris, though still confused, presided to walk him through his very relaxing day.
"Well…"
…
"Who the hell is that?"
Garren knelt on one knee within Nevaris' bedchambers. His back soaked in a glistening layer of cold sweat as he shivered.
Before him sat a woman, her body and face turned away from him, but her side profile alone was enough to drain the moisture out of any mouth.
But right now the aura emanating from her was cold enough to freeze over hell.
"Lady Selunara…that is young master Nevaris."
Even though he was terrified, his years as head butler helped him maintain some level of calm. Just enough that he could respond to her without breaking down entirely.
The woman finally turned to face him. Half of her face was shadowed by darkness, the visible part of it looking somewhat eerie in the light of the flames in the fireplace.
Her silver eyes sparkled like stars, but the pinpoint slits that were her pupils gave away her agitation and worry.
"Nevaris…my son?" she whispered, seemingly to herself as she turned to face the pale faced young man laying on the bed. "This is my Nevi?"
"Yes, madam." Garren responded promptly.
Selunara remained silent as her eyes examined every inch of the stranger who was apparently her son.
"He looks so much like him…" she muttered quietly.
She reached out a hand to touch his face, but mid-reach stopped and pulled back, as if fearful that the illusion would fade if she did.
'Him?' Garren had picked up on that slip, but wisely didn't question his mistress. Being as old as he was, he naturally guessed some things about the identity of who that "him" was.
But knowing how touchy of a subject it was, he felt that keeping his tongue in his head was something he liked quite a lot.
"What happened while we were gone?" she asked.
Garren held nothing back and explained the events of the past 24 hours leaving nothing out.
"...then lady Elizabeth appeared and…well…" Garren trailed off, not wanting to provoke the angered mama dragon anymore then she was. The consequences of which were anything but pleasant. Or clean.
The perfect example of such a result now lay in several pieces on the floor beside her. Garren grimaced at the dismembered state of Elizabeth, a sliver of pity entered his heart, but was quickly eliminated when he remembered her earlier actions.
At that moment, one of her severed arms moved. Reaching into the pile of body parts, it pulled out a head by its hair, revealing Elizabeth's nonchalant expression.
"So that really is that sniveling loser!?" she exclaimed in genuine surprise. "What happened? He have a second puberty or something?"
As she spoke, her eyes began to rake across his body without a hint of shame. When she looked onto the noticeable imprint in his underwear, her brows raised as she put on an impressed smirk.
"Guess some parts of him are useful after all~" she said in a sultry tone. Her suggestiveness and lack of repentance caused Garren to finally look up, his face blank as he wondered how this idiot even lived to be as old as she was.
'This suicidal psychopath.' he muttered inwardly in disbelief. 'She does it to herself. I don't even feel bad for her anymore.'
And as if agreeing with his internal lamenting, both of Elizabeth's eyes exploded as blood poured out of the now cavernous sockets, courtesy of the two slender fingers now embedded in her skull.
"Hahaha, come on Selly, lighten up! I'm only joking!" Elizabeth giggled, her bright smile a complete contrast to the ghastly scene.
Selunara didn't even turn to glance at her. She casually removed her bloodied fingers as she continued to watch the sleeping silhouette of her son.
Garren, seeing that his interrogation was temporarily over, stood up straight. But the worry in his voice was unmasked as he asked, "Will the young master be alright?"
Selunara didn't answer right away. She just reached out her hands and tenderly grasped Nevaris' lifeless hand between hers.
"He will be fine. He just needs rest," her tone was light, but the stern conviction beneath her words seemed to reject any other possibility that said otherwise.
She brought his hand to her forehead, using the warmth and heat of his skin to ground herself. To tell her that he was still here. Still breathing.
And though there were hundreds of thoughts racing through her mind. Only one stood out among the mob.
'This brat is gotta get it when he wakes up…'
…
Shiver
A tremor slid a path down Nevaris' incorporeal form. A sudden sense of impending doom assaulting his senses out of nowhere.
'Is it that psycho from before?' he cursed inwardly.
The thought lasted for a moment, before he noticed the sudden silence surrounding him.
"Cue?"
The cube hovered in front of him silently. Its surface static as if Cue had shut down.
"Great, did you blue screen or something? I didn't say anything crazier than what you already know, did I?" he mumbled as he began poking it.
Surprisingly, the texture of Cue's surface was quite soft. It reminded Nevaris a bit of marshmallows and their spongy elasticity.
Just as he got absorbed in pulling and stretching Cue into different odd shapes, the sentient block finally spoke.
Nevaris, caught in the middle of squeezing Cue into an hourglass figure, paused awkwardly as he responded.
"Uhh, yeah. That is what she told me at least. Why? Do you know something?"
Blinking, Nevaris waited, but seeing his reforming soul passenger staying silent, he furrowed his brow.
"Yeah, no you don't. You can't mention it, and then dip asshole! Explain what that means!"
Nevaris' gaze promised a few rounds of geometric torture if his curiosity was not sated. But Cue's response instantly shut him up.
Nevaris felt a shiver and hastily shook his head. Years of reading webnovels and the occasional wuxia novel taught him that gaining the attention of ageless beings was the last thing he wanted to do.
A familiar vein appeared on Nevaris' forehead. 'This fucker.'
Ignoring his incensed expression, Cue continued.
"Everyone who has ever known her has forgotten her or is slowly forgetting her. She can't walk around without wearing an iron cage on her beautiful face, and she has never known what it feels like to touch or even interact with other people. And you consider this a boon?"
Nevaris' response was calm, but the underlying danger in his tone was not missed by Cue.
Cue thought for a moment before speaking with deliberate, uncharacteristic consideration.
"Well then explain it in a way that I can understand," he said in a neutral voice.
Cue fell silent again before speaking.
Nevaris fell silent as he chewed on the words. After a while his eyes lit up and he spoke confidently.
"I understood fuck-all!"
If Cue had eyes, they would most certainly be expressing a most unkind sentiment.
Nevaris ignored the bristling cube about to ram him again and continued, "But I get what you mean. One of those, "In due time", kind of situations. Got it–and sorry. Y'know, for lashing out like that. My emotions haven't been very cooperative recently."
Cue's bristling surface began to calm, as it hovered silently. Then with a near inaudible huff, it floated over to hover beside Nevaris as they looked out over the horizon of his world.
A small smile formed on his face as they sat in the peace of the reconciliation for a moment.
Hearing the sudden confession, Nevaris turned to face Cue in confusion.
"You calling me crazy?"
Nevaris rolled his eyes.
"Well, what's the reason?"
====
A/N: Hey guys! I know you want answers but these are big questions. Questions whose answers will come into play later. Much later in one particular case, hehehe. I hope you are enjoying! Next chapter will be a bit more reading and explanation as I feel like some things need more explaining so bare with me! Anyway, that's all for me!