199 – Galeia has Willed it!

I sat cross-legged on the ground, sketchbook on my lap and pencil in my hand. My leather garments covered my body since the armor wasn't exactly comfortable to draw or write in.

It had been exactly 36 hours and five minutes since Pyotr left.

The dragon hadn't returned yet. Maybe the hunt was proving challenging.

I busied myself with updating my journal, writing music, and drawing to calm the anger and frustration.

Bach, Satie, and Debussy filled a brand new sketchbook. Around 500 pages now housed 131 pieces of music, with a bit of Rachmaninoff's more complex pieces sprinkled here and there.

My wish 'to never forget' seemed to fully work with art, even beyond perfect memory recall. It'd be great if I could remember the sciences and such, though. Try as I might, I could not completely recall how to build a computer processor despite watching a documentary about it less than a month before dying. The documentary about the particle accelerator built in 2032 escaped me as well.

Maybe in time. Ten thousand years lay ahead of me still.

I drew Irtorodon, the zombies, the Rotten Monstrosity, the Gods, my companions, my girls, and eventually started drawing our nightly activities, going as far as drawing a fully colored comic about a particularly long and active night.

It was when I was finishing the details of Pokora's face after I blew a load all over her snow-white skin, that something broke my focus.

Something was approaching from the west incredibly fast.

I stored my things, stood up, and walked out of the cave.

The snow had piled up a bit, covering the environment with a blanket of snow. Perpetua and Eternia hid behind fat clouds, but bathed the world in their light without fail.

On the horizon, however, was a bright, night blue silver dot some hundreds of kilometers away.

A shooting star? I wondered. Nah... a comet or meteor?

The dot got closer and closer, moving through the sky. It left a thin, short-lived trail.

It's below the clouds so it's not from outer space, I reasoned, staring at the odd thing.

Appraisal showed nothing even after telling E'er to show me, so whatever it was wasn't alive.

Still, it approached.

I crossed my arms across my chest, trying to figure out what it was while looking up. A spell, maybe?

Then, suddenly, when it was a few kilometers away, it started going down.

Towards me.

And yet, there was no danger. My instincts didn't react, nor did Galeia manifest a vision or whatever the nature of what happened in the Obelisk was.

As the thing got closer I could see what it was.

It was an arrow.

The projectile landed in front of me with a sharp and loud thwack, piercing the snow and burying itself halfway into the ground. It was two meters long and thick as my arm.

Huh, I hummed.

It thrummed, sending a pulse of thick E'er outwards with the function of appraisal and pushing back terrain. The snow around it moved out and the ground three meters around it flattened.

Then, the arrow grew brighter and shimmered with the function of shift, and a person stood there the next instant.

Deep blue and silver. A long, hooded cloak draped over her shoulders, adorned with intricate silver embroidery. Beneath the cloak, a high collar tunic hugged her form, cinched at the waist with a reinforced corset etched with elegant designs. Form fitting tights protected her legs and were tucked into knee-high boots.

Sharp, silver hair cascaded down to her ample chest. She had silver skin with an almost metallic sheen, eyes like molten silver with a horizontal line across the pupil, and a massive, ear to ear smile that showed golden teeth.

A beauty that transcended mortal potential. Almost an equal to mine.

[Nilenna Atarka – Meadow Halve, Lvl 720 Heaven Piercing Eternal Night – 718 Galeian Sentinel – 715 Wildheart Warden – 712 Wayfinder]

My eyebrows went up a bit and my lips parted slightly. Damn...

Nilenna lunged at me, arms spread out. “LITTLE SISTER!!!” she cheered mid-flight with a giggle and emitting pure joy through her glow. Her voice was high pitched and exceedingly energetic.

Our bodies clashed with a sound similar to two boulders hitting.

“We finally meet!” she cheered, tightly wrapping her arms around me and nuzzling her face on my neck. “You're so tall! And strong!” she leaned her head back and gave me a look. “And beautiful! Wow! Hi!”

“Hi,” I greeted back, a bit surprised by her energy, but more surprised she was here in the flesh... or E'er.

The silver Halve smiled a cheeky, mischievous smile. “Surprised, huh? You didn't think I'd come so soon, huh?” she asked, squeezing me and pressing herself on me. “Or did the thought of me coming not even cross your mind?” she laughed, leaning her head back. “My beautiful little sister needed help, so of course I came right away! Hey! Hug your older sister back!!”

I blinked and hugged her shoulders. “I thought you'd just write back...” I explained, still reeling a bit.

Nilenna smiled and her eyes squinted a bit. “You have a beautiful voice, little sister. I like it a lot! Why are you so quiet, though!? Are you the serious, no-nonsense type? Your letters gave me the impression you're not like that! Is meeting me that much of a shock?! Have I shocked you into silence, little sister? That's hilarious!”

I tried gathering my thoughts for a second or two.

“Haaa....” she sighed, melting into my arms. “The body of a Halve Warrior truly feels indestructible.” She moved her hands to my arms and felt the muscles under the leather, prodding them with her fingers and squeezing around. She then sniffed the air, plunged her face on my neck again, and took a very long and very strong whiff. “You smell a bit of male...” she breathed out, then took several more sniffs. “But female as well. So delicious. So much energy. So fertile! Are you a fulse? Did mom create a fulse Halve? Wow! That's awesome! Is one of your Bonded Partners ovulating? Are you preparing for her?”

“That's a lot of questions,” I pointed out with a complicated chuckle. “Can I have a bit of space, first?”

Nilenna let me go and took half a step back, not really getting out of my personal space. “Well?” she urged, her big smile not changing in the slightest.

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. “Thanks for coming, by the way,” I told her. “And yeah, I'm a hermaphrodite,” I explained, then took a pause. “Did you just call Galeia 'mom'?”

“Yep!” she proudly replied. “She's our mom! Or dad if you want! You wrote in your letter that you met, so yeah!” she nodded several times, then hummed and brought her hands together in tiny claps. “So! What's your exact age? I want to know if I you're my little sister or not! Desseyr won't answer that, you know? He's such a cheeky boy! He always goes 'the neverending influx of premises is such that the greater sum of the origins might not influence the twilight, even if eternal' or something like that! He's hilarious! You have to meet him!”

I hummed and nodded, not sure how to reply. Or, more precisely, which question to answer first.

“By the way,” Nilenna started, not even giving me a moment to reply. She looked towards the cave behind me and sniffing the air. “Where is the dragon? He's a hatchling, though! I bet he's around level one thousand four hundred! So cute!” She returned her focus to me, looking deep into my eyes. “Would you like to tame it? I can help! Your Lancer Class will definitely benefit from bonding with a dragon! The Ratnak is cute, don't get me wrong! But you should have more options, you know? Unless you don't want to, which is okay too! I just thought you'd want to, since you have a Ratnak and,” she sniffed me again, “chose a Luzo as partner! Do you have a thing for scales?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a defeated laugh.

She was too much.

“The dragon is out hunting,” I replied, gesturing at the mountain chain. “I'm not interested in taming him. I'm one hundred and twenty days old, and you?”

Nilenna beamed, her smile, skin, and hair glowing up with unadulterated mirth. “Oh! So you are my little sister!” she cheered, making a cute celebratory pose. “I'm two thousand and eleven years old! Big sis Yulianna always says I don't act my age, but she can go get fucked in the ass with a whole mountain! Before you ask, Miraztor is five thousand three hundred and one years old, but he lost a bet to me so he has to treat me as his senior for five hundred years! Haha!”

My eyebrows went up a bit. “You don't say,” I chuckled.

The Halve nodded, a smug smile on her face. “He's so obsessed with seniors and juniors! Don't get me started on how he's always preaching about some 'profound way' or something like that! True, some of it is pretty wise, but he goes on, and on, and on, and on about it until I feel like my ears are bleeding!”

“Yeah... I can imagine,” I laughed.

She gave me the biggest nods someone with a neck is able to give. “But! Whenever he and Desseyr talk I can't help but laugh my guts out! The two compliment each other so well! It's hilarious!”

“Can't wait to see that,” I agreed, imagining one spouting nonsense and the other preaching nonsense.

Nilenna stayed quiet for a whole three seconds, then her eyebrows joined a bit, her glow conveying concern. “Why do you say so little?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Just the way I am, I guess,” I replied with a smile at the point-blank blunt question.

She nodded a few times. “And that's perfectly fine! I like talking a lot, you know? There's so much to say even though we live so long! Like, I was just in Makah a while ago, but I'm now on Leks! Awesome, right? I have a skill that lets me shift to my arrows! I had to shoot two times, you know? As soon as Pyotr delivered your letter I decided to come help you myself! Well, not by myself, but, you know? Ah! You've taken care of Pyotr! Isn't he a sweetheart? He's the cutest thing ever, isn't he? I really like his laugh!”

I nodded. “He's a very smart boy,” I agreed. “You've raised him well.”

Nilenna's perpetual smile turned proud. “Aww! Thanks, little sister! I made the right choice of giving him to you! He told me you don't spoil him with bones! That's good, you know? They can get too picky and eventually refuse to talk to you unless you give them bones! So cheeky! So spoiled! So silly!”

“Huh,” I uttered, a bit surprised with that. “Good thing I only give him bones when he delivers letters...”

Once again, she energetically nodded a few times. “Yes! You should be a responsible owner, you know? They can be very mischievous even if they can't lie! Speaking of lying!” she searched something in her tunic, under the cloak. “As promised! You did a good job in Lumin Kingdom, so here! Your oddly conveniently timed reward!” she announced, retrieving a sack of tools and showing it to me.

“Mh?” I hummed, confused.

Nilenna shook the bag, emptying the bag on the ground.

A disconcerting amount of tools fell down, clattering around us. It was an assortment of around three hundred different tools of all kinds. Some were familiar like pencils, rulers, hammers, and such, while others were brand new, with unknown purposes.

“Behold!” she announced with a big smile and gesturing at the mess around us. “Tylke, the God of the Path of the Craftman!”

My eyebrows shot up and I looked at the tools again.

They moved on their own, gathering in a single point, where they slowly took shape. It was almost as if they waited for an introduction to engage in a fusion sequence for a kids' show.

[Tylke, God of the path of the Craftman – Maker of the Code – Second of the Ingenious – First of the Diligent – Fourth of the Loving – Bringer of Innovation – Sixth of the Gods – Master of Tools – The Visionary – Father of Invention – Son of the Architect – Progenitor of Artifice – Terror of the Imperfect – Builder of all that Builds – He Who Guides the Forge – Icon of Creation – Guide of Protectors – The Tireless Worker – The Patient – Begetter of Masterpieces – He Who Finds Beauty in Purpose – The Ever-resourceful – True Immortal – Divine, Lvl 500]