Chapter 78: Beating And Late Night Reports
The twins returned from the banquet past midnight.
They thought the others might already drift off to the dream land. However, once they entered the living area of the detached palace, what greeted them was three half-dead hatchlings.
"..." Kyriaki didn't even frown. Her face was devoid of any emotion.
"...What happened?" Even usually cheerful Kyrios looked at them with concern.
Not because he feared someone had thrown a bomb at them in attempted murder, but because he feared their reputation for looking like beggars beaten up by rats and dogs over a bread crumb.
Theodoros' head was put inside a big broken vase, only his bottom—which was dangling from the big vase was visible. His clothes were a mess as if someone had cut it with dozens of scissors. One of his shoes was missing and he continuously groaned like an old man on death bed.
Sirius was sitting on the floor, his dazed violet eyes staring at the shining moon above the sky as if he was wishing to be there instead of dying here. His night hair with cosmic purple tips was a mess, his face black as if someone had lit a fire on his face, half of his clothes were blown off, displaying his bare skin. A broken scythe was under his feet like a dead body in a funeral. He looked like he swallowed a bomb.
Meanwhile Euclid laid in the middle of the yard, he looked like a corpse instead of a living being. His face was pale, hair a mess like a bird's nest , the edges of his robes were frozen as if he had visited Antarctica a minute ago. There was even a big chunk of ice over his long ivory eyelashes.
The yard was as messy as the three hatchlings were.
The ground was shattered like a spider web from several places. There were even huge craters and slash marks like it was straight out of a dead land. Vases and trees were broken. Flower beds were on fire while grass fields were frozen. Magma and ice chunks shimmered under the moonlight.
Kyriaki was sure those grass alone cost several hundred gold bars to maintain.
"Explain."
Kyriaki had to utter only one word, the three hatchlings flinched in unison. Who'd fail to notice her inner monologue when her voice had fallen to the depth of murder?
"""He did it."""
The three of them point at one another, if not for the Kyriaki's grave expression, it might have looked very comical. The funniest thing was that each one had a finger pointed at them.
"What are you?! The spiderman meme?!" Kyriaki hissed. If before her voice was grey, now it was pitch black.
〘What is this spiderman meme anyway?〙
〘...What man?〙
〘Is she talking about spider beastkin?〙
〘...What Meme?〙
Kyriaki could only hear Sirius and Theodoros' thoughts. And those shameless people were curious about Spiderman instead of reflecting on their wrongdoings.
Kyriaki took a deep breath.
"Where's your dignity, my dear friends?" This time, her voice was dripping with indifference. Like she didn't care. Like she was detached to everything. It had been a long time since she had shown those emotions.
Kyrios and Euclid flinched ever so slightly. Meanwhile, Sirius looked at her with a hint of suspicion, smoothing his disheveled hair. Theodoros wriggled his feet and barely managed to free his upper body from the vase.
"I ate it for breakfast." And the moment he freed himself, he made the wrong decision to reply to Kyriaki with sarcasm.
"Ah, is that so?" Kyriaki slowly nodded. Her expression was as if she was talking about the new neighbor who moved into the house next door. "Then I'll feed you my first for dinner."
"..." Theodoros froze. Suddenly realizing what he had done. Sirius shot a deathly glare at him, his violet eyes full of accusations.
"Kyriaki…"
"It'll be tasty, I assure you." Kyriaki gave them no chance t
"Oh no. Oh no. Nonono."
A chill ran down on everyone's spines as Kyriaki cracked her fingers. Theodoros' face distorted within seconds like an expired apple, crawling backwards in an unsightly manner. Euclid springed up his back in lightning speed, his otherwise indifferent expression now pleading.
Sirius' aloof expression slightly cracked, his eyes trembled like they were hit by an earthquake. Kyrios meanwhile, took a few steps back, summoning a popcorn bucket.
Snap!
"Dang it!" Euclid trembled, witnessing a space barrier crystalizing around the yard.
Thus began the pitiful scene of a single girl beating up three boys.
Mercilessly, if one must add.
Rag dolls might have gotten better treatment than them by Kyriaki. The sight was truly pitiful. Yet neither Kyriaki who made it that way nor Kyrios who watched from the side felt any pity.
Yes, the kindhearted Kyrios seemed to approve of Kyriaki's actions.
After all, who'd spar on someone else's yard?
An expensive yard, at that.
Boom! Bang! Kaboom!
"Are you a baby? Did your mind stop growing the moment you were hatched?! Or maybe you fools are still inside the egg! Clueless about what's really going on in the real world! You pathetic century eggs!"
"Uwaaaahhhhhh!!!! Save meeeeee!!!"
"Riaaaa!!! Forgive me!!!"
"...I'm dying."
Paw! Bam! Pow!
"Pay for damage from your own pockets, you annoying little talented pieces of shxts!"
Kyriaki didn't stop until she sensed a presence she got familiar with not long ago.
"Oh my, what a spectacular welcome scenery." Louis, who just teleported, chuckled.
Without a word, Kyriaki tossed Euclid away, who she was punching left and right while grabbing his collar. His body was limped as he crashed on the already half-dead sinners.
Kyriaki calmly removed the space barrier with a wave of her hand and walked towards Louis. Then, she extended her hand, still keeping her silence.
Louis just smiled wryly and handed her the documents she requested at the banquet. He asked no question. Though, his blue eyes were glittering with curiosity.
The twins nodded in approval. It hadn't been even three hours since their meeting, yet Louis managed to get what she wanted, proving his abilities.
Kyriaki gave him a passing glance, read his thoughts and buried her nose in the documents, saying;
"You are dismissed."
"Yes, Your Royal Highness. Please contact me if you need anything." Louis bowed flawlessly and left the way he appeared. Using teleportation.
No one spoke.
Three out of the five were afraid to even make a breathing sound. One was seriously debating what color of lollipop he should eat while the other was deeply engrossed in the information she was absorbing.
The flapping of the documents written in ancient Chinese scripts called Phoenix Runes in this world, continued.
Just as the beaten up boys recovered thanks to their excellent regeneration and Kyrios finished his lollipop, something changed.
Not in the atmosphere.
Not in their minds or heart.
But something shifted.
Definitely. Absolutely. Clearly.
Euclid, Kyrios and Kyriaki lifted their heads and looked in only one direction simultaneously. Their eyes landed on an empty spot in the yard.
There was nothing.
Nothing rippling in the air.
Nothing hidden in the darkness.
Nothing is shifting in space.
Yet they silently stared.
The other two noticed their unusual behavior. They might be fooling around like any other children, but they aren't dragons for nothing.
"What? What is it?" Theodoros questioned with a frown, full on alert.
"..." Sirius tilted his head, summoning his massive scythe unfitting of his size.
A few minutes passed as three hatchlings just stared and two hatchlings tensely watched them stare at empty air as if it owed them money.
After a while, the three hatchlings looked away from the spot they almost made holes of.
"What was there? What happened?" Theodoros, bewildered, looked at them with a still tension filled body.
"..." Sirius also seemed to question them with his silent stare.
"Nothing, really." Kyrios smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"Hmmm… just practicing how to stare." Kyriaki nonchalantly buried her face in the documents again. Euclid said nothing as he moved closer to Kyriaki.
The clueless two dragon hatchlings seemed dissatisfied with their vague answers. However, they didn't dig in further. Theodoros complained about madmen and madwoman making horror tales and left the yard. Sirius melted into the darkness, his destination set to his room.
"It's not the same energy, is it?" Euclid whispered, enough for Kyriaki to hear.
Kyriaki lifted her head, looking straight at Euclid.
"It's different."
"How come?"
"This is connected to Time."
"Ah…" Euclid nodded.
"Someone saw us in a prophecy, right Ria?" Kyrios also walked towards them, his usual carefree expression now serious. With just a hint of excitement.
"I'm not completely sure. But that seems to be the case. Future sight by a time mage."
"That's creepy." Said Euclid.
"It's cool." Kyrios' eyes sparkled.
"Either way, it wasn't intentional and there's nothing we can do to stop something like that. Besides, this is not the first time we sense this kind of thing, am I right?"
"But this time it was too intense."
"Perhaps the person had been locked here for a while, that must be the reason we eventually sensed them. Anyway, let's put an end to this topic." Kyriaki rolled her eyes.
What they sensed was undeniably a shift in time. As if someone was observing them. But the gaze wasn't something present in current spacetime. Neither in the present nor future. It felt as if it was coming from the web of past. An unclear past of this timeline that cannot be pinpoint. Kyriaki, as well as the two boys, could feel it.
Time.
It was related to time.
And within time abilities, the only ability that has means to do something like that was
Kyriaki had a guess as to who it was, but since there were still a handful of time mages in the world, she wasn't very keen on making an unsure assumption without evidence.
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—Hmmm…—
Thanasios tapped the table, looking at the huge globe hovering just outside his window.
—The vision I saw two months ago must be unfolding by now, if my information is correct, that is—
—You should stop using your descendants as informants, Than—
A sweet voice flowed from behind.
Thanasios, now in his human form, rotated his head and looked at the source of the sweetness.
A beautiful woman with her long silver hair tinted with lilac hue tips stared at him with her softened eyes. Her eternal hair was neatly braided into one reaching her ankles, her pure robes flowing like water gave the illusion of a waterfall made of soft silk and molten silver.
Her captivating lilac eyes, full of mischief, burned with an eternity of innocence that was hard to hide. Thanasios's gaze shifted visibly. Mostly with overflowing love, but not without a hint of possessiveness and obsession. His gaze lingered on her upturned nose, big eyes, long lilac eyelashes and the tiny mole on her jawline before his eyes softened into something warm.
—Sel…— His voice dipped with honey as he called out.
Selene smiled brightly. Although her form was a bit transparent due to being a Celestial Spirit, her beauty could never be hidden.
Yes, she was the real Selene. The AI on Selene Palace was modeled after her, by the very hands of the man with golden hair and eyes, calling her affectionately now.
—Don't look at me like that. It won't erase the fact that you treat your descendants so poorly—
—What's wrong with that?! They should at least do this much. If I hadn't decided to have a child back then, they wouldn't have existed by now!—
Thanasios grumbled, his handsome face twisting with dissatisfaction.
—Are you saying you had Apollo, our one and only son, to have descendants that you can boss around?—
Selena's beautiful eyes narrowed as she took a few steps towards Thanasios. Her voice dropped to a degree of disappointment.
—N-no! NO! Absolutely not! That's not true! You know how much I love Apollo, right, Sel? He's a child that we both decided to have because we love him!—
—You decided to have a child because you wanted this Kyrios child to be born later. Don't talk as if you did it for me, dad—
Thanasios froze.
Selene also froze.
They both turned their heads like creaking robots towards the door, only to see a handsome young man that closely resembled Thanasios looking at them with his hands folded over his chest, leaning against the doorframe with the leisure of a haughty cat.
—Ah, son. You're back?—
—Yes. It's been about four thousand years, isn't that right, my dear parents?—
Thanasios cleared his throat, looking up and down at his only son. Apollo had been contracted as a spirit of Light by a Dark High Elf, living in the Primal Plane for quite a while now. It seemed his contract had ended due to the contractor's death. Thanasios recalled that the contractor was too old last time he checked.
—Oh, my radiant sunshine! Welcome back!!!—
Before Thanasios could come up with a way to dispel this awkwardness, Selene lunged forward, embracing Apollo as if she was a mother embracing her newborn child for the first time after giving birth.
Apollo's haughty expression melted instantly. His eyes softened and a wide smile bloomed on his handsome lips as he hugged her back.
—Your just as beautiful as the day I left home, mom—
Selene giggled. Looking at his wife and son, Thanasios' grumpy expression vanished like dew facing the morning sun.
But the next second, it turned serious.
—Did you get a chance to observe the anomaly?— he asked, his tone full of authority.
Apollo glanced at him with his golden eyes and released his mother gently.
—Yes, well. My contractor was her Zoology & Monsterology Professor. So I had plenty of time to study and analyse her. I'll give you a five-year-long report. However before that, dad, I want to know Kyrios' fate—
—Fate is a delusion of mortals, Apollo. If you're talking about inertia and timeline shifts, then you should pay more attention to our anomaly. Everything is in the palm of her hand. Whether she decides to break the Inertia and wove the timeline or make everything worse, it depends on her—
Thanasios looked out the window. Following him, Selene and Apollo also looked in the same direction. Their eyes landed on the globe dazzling under the sun.
—But one thing is certain…— Thanasios took an unnecessary deep breath, a habit he got when he used the human form for millions of years.
—Things have gone out of our hands. There's a bigger picture we still can't seem to grasp—
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