Chapter 35 The Feast

Tobias knocked on the door frame before peeking inside. He found Elysia laying on the bed while head scratching her blissfully purring kitten. After glancing down at the kitten with a warm smile, he made eye contact with Elysia. “Hello Elysia, we were wondering if you would like to join us for dinner.”

Silence followed as she pondered his offer. Not feeling hungry, even though she couldn’t remember the last time she ate.

Feeling awkward forcing him to stand there for several minutes, Elysia answered, “I would love to but haven’t I freeload enough?”

Not taking no for an answer, Tobias stood in the doorway, arms crossed, staring down at Elysia. “Nonsense. We can’t have our savior starve. You haven’t eaten in two days.”

Elysia sighed, scooping up her kitten into her left arm, nestling her close to her side before climbing off the bed. She walked up to the giant man, the top of her head only reaching his armpit. With a satisfied smile, he led her up the stairs and out onto the warehouse floor.

A long table set up outside the garage door housed a vast array of food, including grilled fish, steak, and several other dishes she didn’t recognize. Tobias pulled out a chair for her near the right end of the table. Umbra towered over the assembled people already seated. Her mouth watered scanning the food, extra sensitive nose twitching as it parsed the delicious scents.

To take her mind off the food, she surveyed the surrounding people, recognizing Tobias and Eva seated to her left and right, with Henry directly across the table. The uniformed man who inspected her ship when it arrived sat at the right head of the table. Curious, she glanced to the left to find an unfamiliar stern middle-aged woman seated. Elysia fidgeted while petting her oblivious kitten as she waited for the last few seats to fill.

As the last person sat, the uniformed man at the right head of the table stood. He gave a single nod to the faces Elysia recognized before beginning a speech. “Thank you, everyone, for your dedication. I know living out here when your family could be in danger back home is a struggle, but you can feel proud of your service. While you may not be fighting on the front lines or directly supporting Port Alberni, maintaining this marina and outpost is just as important. We are the last means of rescue if Port Alberni were to fall.”

He paused to give a proud smile at the two dozen people gathered at the table, eyes lingering on Elysia last before continuing. “Though involuntary, this young lady gave us a reprieve from the endless waves. As a gift to her sacrifice and our selfish actions of dumping the responsibility of an entire city on her narrow shoulders, we present her rebuilt ship.”

The people gathered at the table clapped their hands while cheering. At the sudden attention, Elysia ducked her head, hiding her reddening face behind her snow white hair. To take her mind off the attention, she focused down on her kitten. With gentle strokes, she pet her kittens between her ears until the applause silenced. She peeked through her hair to find the man about to speak again.

“As a celebration of our current and future success, let’s feast.” Said the uniformed man before sitting down.

Everyone took that as the cue to start the feast, filling their plates with food. Some waiting patiently for a dish to get passed down the table. Elysia’s eyes scanned over the choices undecided before hearing a mew as her kitten’s nose pointed to a plate of fish to the right. She smiled down at her kitten as she whispered. “No fish for you. I’ll feed you all the fish you can eat when you are older.”

As if understanding her words, though still deaf, her kitten retreated, nestling herself into a ball on Elysia’s lap. With her kitten appeased, she picked a portion of every dish within reach, including the fish, a casserole, and a portion of a steak. Despite her assertion, the kitten’s head lifted slightly, nose twitching, pointed at her plate.

While fighting her desire to pamper her kitten, Elysia took her fork and knife and dug in, clearing the plate faster than she thought possible. Her hands shot out, filling her plate once more. Her actions earned her amused looks from the surrounding people as they knew firsthand how amazing Susan’s cooking tasted.

The person in question surveyed the table with a satisfied, almost smug expression from her spot at the left end of the table before eating her own serving.

Fifteen minutes passed with idle chatter as everyone enjoyed their meal before Elysia caught several stealthy glances from Eva. Elysia ignored her until she initiated a conversation. That time came a couple of minutes later as Eva spoke in a quiet tone, just barely audible over the surrounding chatter. “I’m sorry for my attitude. I know it’s not your fault, but I couldn’t help but blame you for the death of my sister.”

Elysia waved off her apology with a friendly smile. “No harm done. You’re handling the death of your sister a lot better than I would.”

Tears glistened in the corner of Eva’s eyes as she asked, trying to take her mind off her bottled up grief. “You have a sister?”

After glancing to which she assumed was west, Elysia responded, “Yeah, but I haven’t seen her since everything changed, but I know she’s alright somewhere.”

With tears now flowing down her cheeks, Eva questioned, “How?”

Elysia glanced around the table before gently nudging Eva out of her seat to find a quiet place to talk, earning a warm smile from Tobias. Too distraught to resist, Eva followed along as Elysia dragged her toward her ship.

The moment they sat down on the cabin living room couch, Eva choked out words, hiccupping every few seconds. “I didn’t know my sister was in danger until they told me she died. Laura didn’t even tell me she volunteered for the suicidal mission. She probably thought it would be better for me if I didn’t know. She always tried to coddle me ever since our parents died. Even if I had the right to know.”

With her free arm, Elysia gave Eva a one-armed hug as she spoke. “I’m sure your sister is proud of you.”

Eva nodded her head but remained silent, gazing down at the adorable ball of fluff curled up on Elysia’s lap.

Several minutes passed in silence before Eva worked up the nerve to ask. “What about your sister? Where is she?”

Elysia shrugged her shoulders, glancing toward what she assumed was west. “I don’t know somewhere to the west. When I woke up after the changes happened I was alone in my hometown.”

“How do you know?” Inquired Eva, grasping on to the topic for dear life.

While still gazing to the west, Elysia replied, “I have no idea. I just know she is across the ocean somewhere and isn’t in danger.”

Eva’s brow scrunched before remembering something she read. “Are you twins? Some twins unlocked linked classes.”

Elysia paused for several seconds in thought before responding, “We are, but I don’t know about linked classes. I felt the connection before I chose a class. Maybe it was something Sereia did. I didn’t feel the connection until the next day after I woke up.”

Any remaining tears vanished from Eva’s eyes as they widened as she realized an important fact she missed. “Did you say you woke up alone in your town? How is that possible? Everyone living in a town with less than 10,000 people vanished, with the ruins turning into a dungeon.”

A wince graced Elysia’s deathly pale face, unsure how she should respond if it all.

Eva’s mind worked overtime as it ran through any likely reasons. A minute later, she came to a conclusion while staring at Elysia’s hair and eyes. “You were dead, weren’t you?”

“How, how did you know?” Elysia sputtered, imitating a fish.

A smug smile formed from her correct guess as she explained, “you aren’t the only Changed brought back to life. Actually, it’s more common than you think. Most Changed have one thing in common. When the system came, they were dying or dead from their element. We had a capsized cruise ship worth of water Changed, though only a tenth of the passengers survived as Changed. What doesn’t make sense is why you didn’t disappear like the rest living in smaller towns? I doubt you were the only Changed in your town and yet you were the only one who stayed behind.”

With a contemplative expression fell silent. How long was I dead? It couldn’t have been long. I don’t look like a rotting corpse, but the magic could’ve fixed my body. For all I know, I died years ago. Though dad still had the same rusty old truck and my bedroom looked the same. Another mystery that I may never solve. All I know is I’m alive now, and I’d rather keep it that way.

Elysia returned her attention to Eva. “So how is my ship doing?”

Eva pouted for a split second before embracing the subject change. “All essential systems work and the meatheads fixed any structural issues. Your ship should be good to go by tomorrow at the latest.”

A smile bloomed across Elysia’s face before vanishing at the thought of all the additions to her ship, but not wanting to sound ungrateful, she remained silent. Instead, she focused on petting her kitten, who continued to blissfully purr in her lap, dead to the world.

“Did you give her a name yet?” Asked Eva.

While continuing to focus down at her adorable ball of fluff, Elysia replied, “I haven’t had a chance to, no.”

“The system didn’t give you a prompt? I’m assuming since you basically incubated the egg that the system would bind her to you.” Inquired Eva.

At the mention of the system, Elysia sent a mental prod displaying a list of notifications built up over the last couple of days.

Achievement! Cultivator.

“Congratulations on not frying yourself. Sometimes it takes more luck than skill to improve.”

Reward: Plus Five Charge.

Achievement! Five Hundred.

“Try not to exhaust yourself with a little static.”

Reward: One Attribute Point.

A growl rumbled in Elysia’s throat, but knowing it was pointless, she smothered her annoyance. Instead, she focused on the next achievement.

Achievement! Incubator.

“Congratulations! It’s a girl.”

Reward: One attribute point and a dependent.

Would you like to bond with your companion?

Without thinking twice, Elysia sent a mental yes. A moment later, a burning pain speared through her chest, echoed by a whimper from her kitten curling tighter on her lap. She pushed down the pain in favor of focusing down on her ailing kitten. Her eyes followed a silvery purple chain extending out of the kitten’s chest, joining a similar deep purple chain from her own chest. The chains fused together to form one length of chain before fading away as a warmth spread through her body and a purr rumbled through the ball of fluff.

Please give a name to your companion to complete the bonding.

Warning! The chosen name is permanent.

Elysia smiled warmly down at her kitten, as a name appeared in her mind without thinking about it. “Hello little Ione.”

At the sound of her name, Ione uncurled and tilted her head up toward Elysia, cracking open her eyes for the first time, revealing vivid violet eyes of the same shade as Elysia. Ione gave a joyous chirp filled with love for her partner.

Following Ione’s acceptance, another notification appeared.

Congratulations! Bonding complete.

Achievement! Bonded.

“Please treat her well.”

Reward: What? Did you expect another reward so soon? Your reward is a loving companion.

Elysia mentally waved away the notifications as she lifted Ione, hugging her to her chest with an excited squeal, causing Eva, who was silently watching the bonding, to wince.

Before Elysia could celebrate further, alarms sounded from outside. Ione anchored herself to Elysia’s shirt in fright as the girls shot to their feet and rushed out of the cabin.