Chapter 142

Theo had been waiting in the lobby by the time all of us finally came down. If he had been impatient waiting, I couldn't tell. He had a group of girls around him playfully chatting and joking. I was a bit impressed that he was keeping the girls entertained rather than just flirting with them the entire time. He had already found some replacement clothes and was dressed normally now. Nothing fancy, just brown work pants and a simple tunic.

When he spotted me he waved. "Ah, Lilith! I'm glad you're here. I was a bit afraid that the brothel was covering for you and you were trekking out of town to get away from me. You sleep in pretty late you know."

I shrugged. "Long night, even longer day yesterday. We've been keeping ourselves busy but that doesn't mean a little bit of rest is out of the question."

"True enough." He nodded in agreement. "Now, do you mind if we could go have that private chat you promised me? Oh, not discluding your party of course."

"Sure, I did promise. Let me go talk to Eira over there first and then we can head up to my room."

Theo grinned. "Are you sure your room isn't trashed? I saw those two lookers come down from your room this morning. Not surprised that you're a fan of women based on what your party looks like."

"I don't have a problem with men, just haven't found one I like yet," I said.

"Hmm, I may still have a chance then?"

"Depends on what my girlfriends say. Not today though, too much to do and I've already spent a bit too much time in bed lately."

"Hmm, you have so many girls in your party it'll be fun to guess which ones are with you and which ones aren't," he said with a laugh.

"Regardless, give me a moment and then we can get to business." I stepped away from the bull demi and headed over to the front desk.

"Good morning Lilith!" The chipper cheetah girl beamed at me. Her new features had been toned down, the only difference at a glance was that she somehow got much more attractive overnight.

"Good morning Eira, can you tell me where Raya and Sibyl went?"

"Oh, I don't know actually. The two of them told me they were headed out into the city together. Ah! But don't worry, Sibyl is quite strong... despite her new looks," Eira whispered out the last part before giving me a wink.

I nodded. "Great. If you see them, can you tell Raya that Morrigan agreed to give her some pointers but we might not be able to get to it today? A lot's going on."

"Sure! And uhm... Do you mind if I join you guys tonight too? I wasn't sure if you would want to play with me after my... changes..."

I gently put my hand on her shoulder. "Sure, no need to worry about that."

The cheetah demi-beastfolk perked up with a big smile. "Great! Uh, see you tonight then!"

When I walked away I noticed a few of the girls that had listened in gave Eira suggestive winks and smiles that made me a little embarrassed.

"Alright Theo, let's head up and talk."

The large man followed me up the stairs and into my room. All of us took places around the coffee table and I dug through my backpack for the book that had been pushed to the very bottom of my things all this time. I pulled it out and handed it over to him. As he began to examine it I cast [Zone of Silence] around the room, already anticipating the direction of our conversation. Theo glanced up at me for a moment but quickly returned to examining the book, he didn't seem surprised by the spell or my desire to cast it.

When he finished looking over the cover, he flipped through it before stopping on the very conspicuous page that had an illustration of my spitting image. It's been a long time since I've even looked at the book I found when I was summoned and I was curious to see what he had to say about it, especially since he said the book was a 'fake.' Clearly not, since I was sitting right here.

Morrigan and Torien leaned closer to get a good look at it. I hadn't shown either of them the book before, I was a bit worried initially about implicating myself as a demon to them while our relationship was a bit more new. Afterward, it just wasn't something I thought to bring up.

"Well, this is definitely the genuine book. I knew why you might not want to show the book to others but looking at this page really hammers it home. When we were in the [Zone of Truth] you said that you weren't a demon. Do you mind elaborating on that a little bit for me?"

I sighed. "Alright... When I first came here I was a demon. However, I am also the [Origin of Succubi] and a [World Traveler]. Where I come from we have a lot of myths and stories about Succubi, many of them conflicting. There are plenty of commonalities about them but they're usually demons in those stories and when I first came here, so was I. That was true until I first saw what a demon was like over here with my own eyes. That creature was so far removed from what I am that I couldn't compare myself to that thing. My origin title agreed with me and promoted succubus to be my primary race. I also suspect some of the gods may have had a hand in it, I've gotten a lot of attention from them the moment I arrived."

He tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch. "Are succubi as malevolent as demons? Should I be worried about your race?"

I shook my head. "Succubi aren't necessarily malevolent. They are often antagonists in the stories but they aren't always. My time here has only pushed the origin title to further distance myself from the malevolent aspects of demons. I have some innate abilities that my race and title gave me that get stronger the more 'good' or 'evil' I act. As time has gone on, those abilities have turned more and more away from the evil side and now they only reward the good."

He nodded. "You can thank Sorsette for that."

I tilted my head, confused. "Sorsette? How so?"

"The goddess Sorsette is the creator of the system and its curator. She has influence over how the system works, especially regarding origin titles. From what I understand, she doesn't have as much control over it as the actual title holder does but in her writings, she described nudging things or solidifying things when they are already headed in a direction she approves of. There have been a lot more origin holders than people are aware of, it's a big world after all.

Silva leaned forward on the couch. "The system has a creator? I thought it always existed, that even the gods had access to it."

Theo shook his head. "No. According to her books, she invented the system after the gods existed. The system exists to benefit mortals, not the gods. In fact, the creation of the system put her at odds with some of them. Though few gods openly show hostility towards her, it's been speculated that the reason Sorsette could no longer have paladins and must remain entirely neutral in conflicts was because it was a concession she made when what we call the god's accords were negotiated. The first accounts of the system existing lines up with the surviving accounts from the War of the Gods. Many scholars believe Erimikai, the deceased god of war, took advantage of its creation to spread his influence, meaning Sorsette may have indirectly enabled the war to happen. She never confirmed it in any of her writings but many scholars think it is likely."

There was a long silence as everyone took in the information. I wasn't surprised the system wasn't a natural phenomenon, my home plane proves that. But it seems to be a bit harder to swallow for everyone else.

I scratched the base of my horn. "Er, why don't we get back on track? When you first talked about the book you said it was fake. What did you mean by that?"

"Right." Theo nodded. "The book is a fake because it was never actually created with the purpose of summoning demons. According to the Great Library's records, it was created by a world traveler as a practical joke..."

...what?

I rubbed my face. And I thought my previous theory of being summoned by a loser who wanted a demon girlfriend was a dumb theory. This revelation puts that to shame.

"That doesn't make sense though, I'm here. It clearly worked," I said exasperated.

Theo shrugged. "We'll have to reclassify it. Whoever stole this book in the first place probably was trying to summon a demon. We didn't bother putting it under heavy security because we knew its origins, we assumed incorrectly that if someone attempted to use it, it would just fail. Apparently, this practical joke worked better than the original writer thought."

"Who would create a fake demon-summoning book as a practical joke?" Morrigan asked.

"A world traveler who wanted to fuck with his friends apparently," Theo replied.

"Where is this guy now?" I asked.

Theo laughed. "Dead, this book is more than five hundred years old."

I cradled my head in my hands. You can't be serious.

"Do you at least know what language this is written in?" I asked

He shook his head. "Nope, this was in that traveler's language and he never wrote anything else in his original tongue. This book has always been restricted because his friends at the time immediately gave it to the Great Library and no one has ever attempted to translate it. It was merely kept around as a mild curiosity, an example of a dead language that went to the grave with the book's creator."

"So... I was summoned here completely by accident as the consequence of a joke?"

"Now I didn't say that..."

I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

"As we both know, demon summoners have been gaining in strength over the last two years. There have been more demon sightings in the last two years than the previous twenty before it. Maybe the book's creation was a joke but whatever led to you getting summoned wasn't an accident. Something is causing demons and demon summoners to grow in power, it's possible demonic magic twisted things to make the summoning work."

Bella shifted in her spot on the couch. "If no one can read this how were they able to do the summoning?"

Theo shrugged and pointed at the drawing in the book. "Perhaps he just followed this picture and hoped for the best."

I closed my eyes. Did it bother me that I was summoned here, even if the reason was stupid? I suppose not. I enjoy my life here with my friends and lovers. Even some of the people in this brothel have become quite close to me. If I never learned about my old life would it really matter?

"What about my memories?" I asked. "Is there a way to regain some of them? I was... advised that it shouldn't be a problem if I recovered them, that I shouldn't be afraid."

Theo raised an eyebrow. "That's a weird way to put that but I won't pry. I'm not sure what to say. There are plenty of magics and potions that could help you regain lost memories but what you're implying may be a bit more difficult. Based on this picture I'm guessing your current body is probably not your original one, which means you don't have those memories up there," he said tapping his temple.

"But I remember other stuff from my old world, movies, music, places," I said.

"Sure but think about it. You're an origin, how would you know anything about your race if you didn't know about the world your myths originate from? What memories you have could have been specifically chosen for you when you were brought over. Or, you may not have been brought over at all. For all we know, your soul originates from this plane, you were just given the memories you would need to contextualize your origin." Theo didn't look like he was lying, he didn't look like he was just trying to fuck with me... But the idea that those memories might not be my own shook me a little. He continued, "There might not be any memories to recover and if there are, they may not be accessible through normal means because you're talking about memories that exist within your soul, not the new body you're inhabiting."

Bella put her hand on my shoulder. "Lilith, it's okay. I love you no matter where you come from or who you were. I'll be yours always. Body, heart, and soul."

I put my hand on hers and took a breath. Maybe she's right. Maybe it doesn't matter. ...But Charon.

I shook my head. "No, I think they can be recovered. I was told I shouldn't be afraid of regaining them." I looked up at my friends. "And even if I can't, I can live without them. I have all of you, my friends. My family."

All of them smiled and nodded to me. Even Silva.

I took a deep breath. "I suppose it hasn't mattered to me all that much in the first place. This book has been at the bottom of my backpack this entire time. I haven't been serious about regaining my memories in the first place. It doesn't really matter. What matters more is what's in front of me now. ...Maybe this is sappy but I love all of you. We haven't been together long but I feel closer to all of you than I would have thought possible.

Bella hugged me from the side. "I love you too Lilith."

I smiled and leaned against Bella. Her small frame felt more supportive than a mountain right now.

"...so I can keep the book right?" Theo asked.