***The World***

***Angrod***

I squash one of the strange ants, its carapace resisting my finger for a moment before it yields to the pressure. Sniffing, I realize that I made a mistake.

Whatever these things are made of, they stink like a city's sewage drain in the summer's heat.

Absentmindedly wiping my finger in the garden's grass, I look up at the blue sun, wondering about the strange nature of my new world. There are a sun and two moons, but there are no stars at night. Without the moons, it would be pitch black darkness once the sun is down.

Then there are the creatures of this world, all of them looking like failed experiments. Add to that Seria's religion... and I don't know what to think. Is this planet the same one where Myrm and I had our fight? It would seem so, but it's impossible to believe. Why would Seria go through all the trouble of rebuilding a whole world?

Ghost meows next to me, the Razorclaw kitten expressively wrinkles its nose and gives me a look that clearly says: 'Don't dare to pet me with that stinky hand of yours, or I'll bite that finger off.'

Message conveyed, my familiar rolls itself onto its back and stretches out all four legs, enjoying the sun.

Sighing, I pick up a stick from a nearby bush and search for some insects. Then I return to the strange anthill, continuing my investigation – which includes squashing ants and feeding caterpillars to them. Eventually, I decide to poke their hive with my stick, watching the ensuing tumult of ant-bodies flood outside in a vain attempt to defend their home while others start repair-works.

Well, they aren't real ants. I just call them that because they behave like ants and seem to fill the same ecological niche. In reality, they look more like little crabs. If I were proficient at it, I would start a research project to study the genome of the critters of this world. It's sick how seemingly familiar creatures fulfil an entirely different role. There is no question that it would help to know if something that looks cute is deadly in reality because of some poison.

I suddenly realize that what started out as an earnest investigation quickly turned into a cruel game of torment for the victims of my interest.

I smirk.

This almost feels like I am a normal boy. This is what children my age are supposed to do, playing with bugs...

I grumble, the previous high of feelings quickly forgotten. In truth, the whole situation feels like a great step backwards. Playing the game to its ultimate conclusion, eventually, my parents should stop and scold me for hurting a living being.

But my mother doesn't really care about my actions. She is lying in a chair in the middle of the garden, enjoying the sun just like Ghost, my familiar.

A few weeks have passed since we settled into Midhold's embassy, joined by the Striccs. The large complex has two main parts, of which one belongs to my parents, and the other to our allies. There are two large buildings which are connected by several bridges made out of metal and glass.

Safely sheltered between them is the large garden which exists for recreational purposes. To be honest, with the size of a football field, it's more like a park.

My eyes stray to Celes who is reading a book with her mother.

I have a strange mixture of feelings regarding her. On one side I clearly remember what we did to each other and I want to kill her for it. On the other, I promised her and my parents a truce.

It would be all too easy if she were the one to break that truce, but up until now, she did nothing that could be interpreted as a violation of the essence of our agreement. There was a verbal jab here and there, but nothing on the scale of attacking me with that hairpin of hers. Come to think of it, I've never seen her without that deadly weapon. She always has it with her, carrying it in a ponytail-knot on the back of her head.

Maybe I should make a habit of carrying a knife or some other weapon, just in case.

I return my attention to the raging crab-ants, finding a little bit of glee in causing destruction and chaos among them. I know that I am being creepy but it feels nostalgic.

Playing with the life of lesser beings, having them move on my whim. It's like in the good old days when I was a god. That feeling of superiority over lesser beings. Knowing that they can do nothing against me – aside from shooting stinky excretions all around their lair.

Suddenly, the wind turns, and I get a full nose of their otherworldly scent. Gasping, I have to retreat a step, beaten by nature.

... how low have I sunk?

Feeling stubborn, I ignore the smelly attack and return to my previous position. Being a menace to these creatures distracts me from my headaches.

I have had a migraine for quite some time now. It started out slowly but turned worse day by day. By now, it's an ever present ache in my head. A pulsing pain that keeps me from sleeping properly.

Yesterday, it got so bad that I told Ireth about it, but she only studied me and smiled, then told me that everything was okay and that the pain was normal for someone my age. A sign of growing up. All the pestering in the world didn't get her to reveal what was going on.

Celes notices my campaign against the stinking menace and puts down her book, then comes over to take a look at what I am doing.

Rose is watching us while doing some gardening, trimming a large rosebush.

“You know that you are the worst scum ever for doing that?” Celes complains when she sees me stabbing the anthill. She wrinkles her face in distaste. “Also, the look on your face is creepy!”

She crosses her arms and looks at me like I am some kind of dirt on her shoe, unwilling to come any closer. Probably because she smells the crab-ants. “Why do you do that anyway? Do you get some kind of sick kick from that?”

For a moment, I play with the thought of throwing a fistful of crab-ants at her, but I dismiss the idea. It would be dangerously close to violating our agreement, and Celes would surely lose her shit. She's kind of a loose cannon.

“Not really, but I have had those headaches for a while now. They won't go away, despite casting all kinds of healing spells on myself. So I am in a reaallllyyy foul mood right now.” I huff and point at the anthill. “And well, they are the ones who are unlucky enough to serve as my chew-toy.”

“It's a real blessing for the people of the multiverse that you are no longer a god! After hearing this, I am convinced that you never deserved the job. I am sure you relieved your pent up emotions in the same manner when you were a god. Only in that case, real people had to suffer for it!”

She pulls a face and touches her temple. “But I feel those headaches too. Maybe we have caught some kind of disease? It sickens me to think that I should have something in common with you.”

I can't argue with that. Admittedly, she hit the mark.

“Oh my, children sure grow fast.” Katrine gets up from her bench. She was watching us while enjoying the greenery.

She walks over to Celes and before her daughter can react, Celes gets snatched up by her mother's tail and has her head inspected.

I wisely avert my eyes, not wanting to look like a peeping tom for taking a look beneath a woman's skirt. Really, can't they have themselves dresses made that take the tail into account? It's not like they are lacking the money.

I sigh upon seeing Katrine's casual treatment of her daughter. My own mother is like that too. Everyone, who is weaker than her, is treated like a puppet.

“My cute little daughter is growing up! Having your horns come out. It won't be long before you two can be introduced to the public,” Katrine declares. “A few weeks at most, then the transformation will set in.”

“Ho... Ho... Horns?” Celes is flabbergasted.

“Angrod is getting his too,” Ireth informs Katrine proudly, looking up from her book. “The bloodline is running strong in them.”

“Wait. What?” I drop my stick and retreat from the anthill, awaiting an explanation.

“Yes! Around the age of five, everyone undergoes a transformation. Some people get horns or tails like us, depending on how strong the bloodline runs through their veins. When the bloodline is especially strong, further changes can occur. Although, some family lines only go through minor changes.”

Ireth gestures at our maid. “Like pointy ears. Rose is an example of that. The various bloodlines also give all sorts of traits which show your latent ability. People with the horns and tails of the royal families, are known to possess extraordinary strength and mana reserves. Rose has superior hand-eye coordination and speed.

“Celes seems to have inherited the royal bloodline very strongly, like my Angrod. My husband’s royal blood isn't that strong. So if you don't shave his head, you can't see his horns very well.” She nods sagely. “I always tell him to shave and go for bald in order to stop the rumours that I married outside the bloodline, but he just doesn’t listen.”

She sighs. “Males of the royal lines have horns and slit pupils, if they have inherited our blood strongly. Females have horns and grow a tail if their blood is strong. The fact that both of you are already starting to change surely means that you will both go through the full change. Kya! I can't wait! Celes will look cute with a little tail!”

Her mother hugs Celes even tighter and the girl turns all shades of red in her arms.

I can’t help but cheer on the woman. Yes! That's it! Crush her with your stupid strength! Katrine must have the same control problems as my father. Wahaha, I can almost see Celes’s eyes pop out.

“Ta... Tail?” Celes’s expression turns desperate. It seems like she doesn't favour the idea of a tail.

I can understand that. If you reincarnate with a hugely different body from your first, you always have an uneasy feeling about it.

On the other hand, it’s just a tail. There is worse stuff out there.

I suddenly notice that my vision is a little blurry. Hmmm, slit pupils mother said? Shit!

Blinking and squeezing my eyes shut, I try to focus my vision, but that only makes it worse. And then my eyes start hurting too!

This world is crazy. Is there nothing like normal biology here? Hippogriffins and stinky crab-ants! Not only the animals are fucked up, but the people are too!

While I am occupied with myself, one of the guards enters the garden. “My Queen! Your father has arrived and will be here shortly! He expressed that he wishes to see you as soon as it is convenient.”

“Oh, okay!”

Ireth gets to her feet in order to follow the guard and Katrine drops Celes.

My archenemy immediately gets to her knees and crawls away from her mother, sweat on her forehead.

“Whoho, that looks creepy, did she break some of your bones? With that level of creepiness, you would instantly get employed to most horror movies!” I comment with a grin on my face, annoyed that my hampered vision doesn’t allow me to enjoy my enemy’s humiliation.

Celes just hisses at me like an animal, and I take a cautious step back. She has already proven herself to be a hothead who charges in at the slightest provocation.

“Children!” Katrine chides us, noticing the hostility. “Be nice to each other. You can meet Angrod's grandfather for the first time! I heard that he spent a long time hunting down Tirna’s revolutionaries, so don't spoil this moment.”

Turning, she rushes off to greet our elder.

“Heal meee...! Angroood!” Celes crawls towards me with tears in her eyes, holding her shoulder!

I turn my attention to her and notice with shock that her arm looks somewhat dislocated. Note to self, don’t allow Katrine to hug you under any circumstances.

“Nope! You should learn some healing magic for yourself. That shoulder sure looks dislocated.” I won't help her. I still hold grudges against Celes and the parents will surely heal her once they return. If she is in pain a little longer, this will make my day!

“You know that I was never good at healing! It's just not my forte. If you don't heal me, I will do something you won't like for sure!” She is wriggling on the floor in pain by now. “If those parents from hell do anything to you, I will also look away!”

I sigh.

As nice as it is to see her suffer, a little help against the adults would come in handy. “Fine, but you owe me one if I do this!” I stand up and grab her arm, pushing her with her belly onto the floor. Then I place a foot on her shoulder blade and start pulling.

“WHAT?” Celes complains. “Just use a heal! This is barbaric!”

“Never said I would heal you in a manner that won't hurt! And besides, using advanced healing magic would burn out my measly mana reserves. No offence, but you aren’t worth adding mana fatigue to my headache,” I explain casually.

‘SNAP!’

“MMGGNGNMMMN!” Celes bites her teeth together and hits the ground with her free hand. She refuses to scream. Very brave, but pointless in my opinion.

“Heal!” I patch her up with basic magic, something she could have done by herself if she had had the courage to set her shoulder by herself. “Hmm. Your mother’s hugs sure are equal to the love she feels. Why didn't you tell her that she is hurting you?”

“Because she would feel bad about it. She is already worried about showing affection as it is, and I like her too much to forsake that.”

Or you are just a masochist?

I shrug and help her to her feet. “Anyway, it sure felt good to step on you. I could make a habit out of this. Maybe we can do this again some other time?” I muse to myself and nod.

She lets go of my hand and wipes herself as if she touched something slimy. Her glare tells me that my worth just dropped another step downwards. “Let’s avoid doing that.”

Then she furrows her forehead. “Just now it sounded like you also never met your grandfather. Why is that? We are five, going to six by now! Most of my relatives at least paid a visit to the main family.” Celes pushes a strand of red hair out of her face.

“Well. As far as I know, my father’s parents are dead. And my grandmother, from my mother’s side, is dead too. They all died together with my siblings in the same attack. Some kind of suicide bombing I was told.

“The official story is that my grandfather, Nicosar of Tirna, went for a complete inspection of all fortresses and border crossings, suspecting that the murderer came over the border. It looked like the guys who were responsible for the attack came from Stricc, so Nicosar tried to find out how they got through the border control. There are about 4000 minor checkpoints, fortresses and towns along the border. If you take a day of your time for each one, you have your hands full for quite some time.

“The truth is that he used the story to go undercover. My parents knew all along that the border was a ruse, aimed to distract from the real culprits who were most likely dissidents from within our own country.”

Celes nods, satisfied with the explanation. “It still feels pointless with the current changes in policy, he could have stopped his mission and returned earlier.”

Just at that moment, mother comes back. A geezer with grey hair is with her. He has the same horns as her, though one of them is broken. Behind him, a racoon’s tail is slowly waving left and right. Nicosar also leans onto a walking stick, which he puts down at seeing us.

“Hahaha! My grandson! How much I wanted to see you!” He grins as he walks over and picks me up to hold me in front of him with powerful hands.

That grip! I have a bad feeling about this! It reminds me of Nicol.

“Grandfather! I greeEEE eee EEE eee EEE eee EEE!”

He threw me up! I turn at least five somersaults before I get caught by one foot again, my face only centimetres away from the ground.

Oh, no. Now I know from where Dad got his roller-coaster habits.

Upon noticing Celes, Nicosar drops me to the ground where I start retching. I am not well, not well at all! Being flung into the air like some toy is my weak point!

But the disorientation overshadows the pain of my headaches. Damn it! Now I am tempted to ask him for more.

“Hahaha! You will have special training from tomorrow on, grandson. I will make a real Tirna noble out of you! Who do we have here?” He starts over to Celes who takes a step back and looks at him with a wary expression.

Suddenly, he kneels down and massages her hips, pinching her sides a little. Grunting in appreciation, he stands up again.

Celes herself is frozen solid and doesn't move a muscle. For a second, it seems like the world around her is standing still.

I hold my breath, anticipating the eruption of Mount Celes.

“Hmm, yes, yes. That's good! The potential is there. You will be able to have many heirs. We need many of those.” He nods earnestly.

PUNCH!

“Ugh!”

STAB!

POP!

“aaAAAieeee!”

Drop!

STOMP!

KICK! KICK! KICK!

It was so fast, I almost didn't get all of it. As soon as he stood again, she punched him in the groin, seeing her target just at the perfect height for a five-year old.

Unsurprisingly, Nicosar went to his knees, folding over like a twig. At the same time, she unsheathed her hairpin from her stuck-up hairdo and stabbed it into his left eye – which was now within reach.

With the other hand, she popped out his right eyeball, relying on inner mana manipulation for superior strength, far beyond what a child like her should be capable of.

While Nicosar went down completely, covering his eyes and squealing like a pig, Celes dropped the eyeball and then crushed it with her right foot in an imperious manner. It was almost like saying that this man didn't even deserve laying his eyes on her.

That done, she started kicking him with her left foot.

There was not even the slightest hesitation in her reaction!

Phew! I am so glad that our parents negotiated a 'no violence' contract between the two of us.

Then my mind starts working again and I realize what Celes did! This could become a real diplomatic issue! I can already see tomorrow's headlines in the newspaper:

'Stricc Princess permanently blinds valued military leader of Tirna!'

“AAAAhahAhahAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Nicosars scream transforms into a mad laugh as he and all the blood dissolves into white mist.

Reforming behind a wide-eyed Celes, completely unharmed, the old codger throws her over his shoulder like a kidnapper. She struggles, but can't resist his strength.

I quickly re-evalute my opionion of him. This guy is bad news!

Seeing his attention turn towards me, I try to run, but get grabbed by the collar of my shirt.

“Blergh!” is the only noise I can produce as I am abruptly pulled backwards.

“This is good material, Ireth! I will be sure to make real nobles out of them. Then we will have no issues introducing them to the other houses!”