The Last Straw

Alice’s POV:

------------------------------------------------------

We made such a wonder. Hehe, and I’m not talking about your talent and looks but the world lost in you, I thought, looking at our daughter, who was all smiles from ear to ear. The pajama we gave her was a perfect match! Feeling my overflowing love, I couldn’t help but jump at her and hug her.

The soft and warm fabric of her pajama symbiote rubbed against my skin. It felt really good to the touch. Blowing air on her neck, she giggled as she shouted, “Noo! Mother! It tickles, stop it! Hahaha,” trying to push away my head, but her strength was far from enough.

When I finally stopped, she looked at me with a pouting face as she mumbled, “Muh… You know that it feels terrible!” Patting the top of her head, I laughed at her cute reaction.

“Haha, okay. Dress up or you can sleep in if you want to, though I’d advise doing the first since the others are coming over,” Hiro interrupted us, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Will my friends come too?” Aurora asked, raising a brow.

“Of course, they will,” Hiro replied, chuckling.

Nodding her head, she was about to start dressing up when she noticed her pajama. Turning to look at us, she asked, “Oh, right. What should I call this symbiote? It doesn’t have a name like yours.”

“Hmm, it’s a present. You can name it as you want,” I said, placing my chin on the top of her head, hugging her from behind.

“In that case, I’ll call it… Mirror since it has the same pattern as my scales!” she exclaimed, sticking out her chest. [Well, she is still young. But our naming sense might be just as bad.] I said through our bond, chuckling. I found it a good, so I had no place to complain.

Hiro smiled upon hearing my thoughts, saying aloud, “That sounds good. Now dress up quickly. Your friends are here,” he added.

Mirror entered her body and while I gave her clothes, I thought, we should educate her about this matter too. But how are we supposed to bring it up?

[I think that she knows something since her reaction was quite strange when Dre rushed in years ago and asked Rose about such things. Well, she is starting to develop, so I agree with you.] Hiro replied, sighing aloud.

“What’s wrong, Father?” our daughter asked, holding up her arms to let me pull her light blue dress with frills on to her body. Seeing her curious look, Hiro considered talking about it now, but we found it too early.

“Nothing, dear. You look as cute as ever. Go and greet your friends,” he replied, his face unmoving.

“Suspicious,” Aurora mumbled, surprising both of us.

“Hahaha, I am, am I not?” Hiro asked, pulling his mouth into a smirk. Grabbing a pillow, Aurora threw it towards his face, but before it could touch him, he appeared in front of her, kissing her forehead. “Happy birthday again,” he whispered, standing back up.

“Thank you,” she mumbled in a low voice, breaking free from my arms and rushing out of her room.

“Aww~ look at what you have done. You made her cry again,” I said with a chuckle, looking at the gap in the opened door.

A smile formed on his face as he sat down beside me and coiled his right arm around my back. “Well, but those are tears of happiness. Still, this is strange. When she is nearby, not only me but everyone else turns nicer and the mood livens up,” he said as a piece of stone appeared on his palm. Furrowing his brows, he looked at it before raising his head with a smile on his face. “I’ve got you, Abyss,” he mumbled, standing up.

The rest of the day passed away without anything happening. Thankfully, everyone was an introvert, so nobody wanted to spend too much of their time at parties. It’s not like we could have pulled off something like managing such an event. There are things time won’t change. And our hate for parties was one such thing. This might be bad, but it seemed as if our visible hate spread to our daughter too since she too liked staying far away from such events.

People in Sawolond held festivals and events when they felt like it. We had nothing against people enjoying themselves, so we approved of everything. Except for one… where an exhibitionist couple asked if they could organize a nude party. We had to utterly quash such an idea. It was good that Aurora wasn’t around at that time.

The next day, we decided to move a step forward and break our stagnant lives. This had a lot to do with Aurora, so we told her to make her day free.

We sat down in the living room, leaning back on the sofa. Aurora sat down between us, looking at us with raised brows.

“What is it that you wanted to talk about? You look so serious!” she exclaimed, looking back and forth between our unchanging facial expressions.

“Do you remember the time we talked about your bond and people’s halves?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. Nodding her head, she waited patiently for me to continue. Breathing out long, I continued, “We thought that it might be time for you to meet your half. We would definitely feel unhappy if we met him in the future, but we could manage if he grew up here.”

“What could you manage? He would mean one more friend for me, wouldn’t he? And do you plan to take me to him?!” she said, her eyes shining brightly in her excitement. We felt rather despaired…

This was because we had to tell her the difference between male and female body. “Dear, we are going to tell you something interesting. It’s about genders,” Hiro started, feeling afraid of talking about it. Talking and doing it were two entirely different things…

“What?” she asked, looking at Hiro’s face, her gaze boring a hole into it. Breathing out long, both of us calmed down.

“Alright, as you know, boys and girls have different things down there,” I said, pointing towards her crotch. Nodding her head, she waited patiently.

“This might be a little early, but I’ll tell you nonetheless since your body is starting to mature.

“Wait, do you want to talk about how babies are made?” she asked, raising a brow. Nodding my head, a smile formed on her face as she said, “Oh! Then you don’t have to do that. I’ve seen you when I was only a few days old and my memory is good. We also caught Dre’s parents, so no need to worry about it.

Hearing her words, even the blood froze in my body. Scratching the back of my head, I laughed awkwardly, while Hiro sat there without saying anything. After eyeing each other for a few seconds, he asked with a concerned face, “Did this turn into a trauma for you?”

“No. We had mixed emotions at first, but after talking about it with Gaia; she said that it just shows how much my parents love each other. Although I’m starting to realize that she just wanted to soothe my mind, I still believe her. Well, I’m not thinking about it, so it’s alright. It makes me happy to see that my parents have such a good relationship.”

“When we went out of Sawolond and I met other children, some started complaining about how their parents were arguing all the time, while I’ve never seen you doing anything of the sort.”

“You are really optimistic,” Hiro remarked, burying his face in his palms. “I’m sorry, Aurora. You even went as far as to try soothing us. We failed you there,” he mumbled in a low voice.

Aurora tilted her head to the side, looking at us as if we were showcases. “I know that I’m very strange compared to others. Depending on the situation, I can think like an adult, but I’m quite childish most of the time. Other kids aren’t like me, which separates me from them. Kana, Dre, and Sophia are quite similar, which is the reason I enjoy being with them.”

“This might be just as strange, but I really don’t feel bad about this memory. If anything, I just feel happy, like I said…”

“Okay, okay. We know that you aren’t lying,” I said, looking into her eyes the whole time. She takes after us after all, I thought, meaning our personalities. Nodding her head, she waited for Hiro to talk, seeing that he was about to say something.

“So you know how babies are made, you say. But do you know how it works?” he asked, his body stiff like a thick iron rod. Aurora shook her head as a reply.

-----

After explaining everything to her, she looked a little surprised yet calm. “I hope that you understand the differences now,” I said, raising a brow. Nodding her head, she said that she did…

“That’s good then. So, do you want to go on a trip with us? We will find your other half,” I asked, tilting my head to the side. “Can we? I’m really curious about him. Sometimes I have problems understanding myself, but that might be because I’m young. If I found a similar person, I should be able to do better!” she exclaimed, punching towards the air.

“Someone is really fired up,” Hiro remarked with a chuckle, standing up.

“Sawolond is closed for an indefinite amount of time. We will go on a short trip,” he declared, using his mind power. People started complaining how they couldn’t find us sometimes, so we decided to notify them. We could complain about annoying people, but we were the ones who decided to create Sawolond. Now we have to care about our creation, though it’s not like it was a big deal.

Rose appeared in front of us, holding Dre’s hand. Seeing the look on Aurora’s face, he struggled to escape Rose, but his strength was feeble. She was at the ninth level by now. “Where do you plan to go?” she asked, hissing at Dre with annoyance. “Stop flailing your arms!”

Aurora laughed upon seeing Dre’s despaired face. I guess he felt ashamed to stand in front of his friend, holding the hand of her mother. He was growing up, after all.

“We will find her half,” I replied, grabbing Aurora’s hand. Having a change of mind, I raised her up and pulled her into my chest.

“Hahaha, Mother’s baby girl!” Dreydon laughed, pointing at our daughter.

“But I’m a girl, I’m allowed,” she replied, sticking out her tongue. Dre’s victorious smile fell, as he found her words plausible. Looking at Rose’s hand, he tried to break free once again, going as far as to stand on the side of her left leg and try pulling out his hand. We kept looking back and forth between Rose’s face and Dre.

“Oh. I wish you luck in that case,” she said with a cold smile on her face, her brows twitching. “Honey, we have to talk once we get home,” she added, turning to look at Dre. His face turned pale white as he jumped onto the ground beside Rose, standing with a straight back. “No need, Mother! I’ll behave, I swear!” he shouted, turning into a different person. Shaking our heads, we chuckled upon seeing the scene.

In the next few seconds, Anthony and Poirlion came to ask the same thing. Saying goodbye, we called for Rin. Sitting on her back, Aurora between us, we left Sawolond. “Can I have a request?” Aurora asked, hugging my waist to not fall off. Not like such a thing could happen with Hiro behind her and a space law protecting her.

“Ask away,” I replied.

“Could we travel this time? We always just appear at places and I rarely see anything other than the cities where we go. Although I’ve seen many places in your world, I want to see what’s outside! But I know that it is very dangerous here, so this might be a very stupid request,” she explained her wish, her eyes shining with a faint sliver of hope.

“Oh, that’s fine. Your parents are overpowered, so you don’t have to worry about it. We could always take you back to our world and then make short work of any enemy!” I said with a chuckle, flaunting our strength. But it was really true… People have no chance against us!

“Really?!” she repeated her question, her voice excited.

“Yes, yes. If there is anything you can’t handle alone, just tell us. But remember, you shouldn’t rely too much on others. Only when necessary. Personally, we don’t like being indebted to others either, so we would rather not ask for favors. Not like we need them anymore. If you need favors, just ask us instead of random people!” I exclaimed, taking the right time to educate her some more.

“I understand,” she replied, nodding her head. It’s good that my skin was much stronger than her horns. If not for the strength difference, she could have penetrated my back… “Please watch out for your horns in the future. You might wound others,” Hiro remarked, grabbing their tips.

“Do you feel it when I touch them?” he asked with a curious face. We didn’t feel anything since we had horns only in our battle forms or true forms.

“Hmm… I do feel some kind of tingling,” she said, tilting her head to the side. Hiro pulled back his hands quicker than lightning. [I don’t think that she was talking about that kind of tingling…] I said through our bond, shaking my head.

[That might be the case, but I’d rather make sure. She is a new race. We have no idea how exactly her body matures and feels. Who knows if her horns were something that shouldn’t be touched?] he replied, being a little paranoid.

“…” I didn’t say anything and just looked forward. Rin was rushing through the lush jungle, jumping over chasms, running atop of rivers. We went through crystal covered caves, lava pools streaming through the air, held up by Magic. Aurora had a smile from ear to ear, observing everything.

“When will I be able to turn into my real form?” she mumbled in a low voice, asking herself.

“Dear, don’t worry about it. Considering your speed of maturation, I’d say that at the fifth level, you should be able to transform. Dre and Kana learned to use their battle forms at the third level. Sophia will be no different. I’m sure that they will be able to transform into their monster forms on the fourth level. You might be able to use your battle form at the fourth level and your monster form at the fifth level.” I explained, soothing her with facts.

“That makes sense. I can activate half of my battle form. Once I reach the next level, I should be able to use it,” she replied, agreeing with me.

“Uhm, we reached the bottom of the fourth level,” I said, looking down into the dark chasm in front of us. We had to jump down and fall through millions of kilometers with an increased falling speed if we wanted to enter the fifth level.

“This place is terrifying…” Aurora remarked, her body shivering. Unlike her, we found this place rather comfy and peaceful. This must be because we are at the tenth level. We can sense everyone in the Abyss. It feels strange if I think back to the time we fell down here. Was everyone able to sense us just like we do now?

“D-Do we have to go down there?” she asked, her mind turning more and more unstable. The effects of this level must be worse and worse the weaker people are. Hiro coiled his arms around our daughter. Placing her on his lap, he put his chin on the top of her head.

“Do you feel better now? In the embrace of your almighty Father… Hahaha, don’t worry about anything. Nobody can touch you, as long as we are here” he said with a chuckle. Our daughter’s shivering stopped as she coiled her arms around Hiro’s.

“Are you alright now?” I asked, turning to look back at her.

“I am. Show me what’s in this stupid hole!” she exclaimed, her voice resounding through the Abyss. She shouldn’t do this in the future, even if we can beat anyone, I thought as a smile formed on my face. Rin stepped forward and flew towards the ground with a speed that went way beyond the speed of sound.

The wind was so strong that it could kill a mortal anytime. But our daughter was at the third level, so we didn’t have to put up any defense for her. Not wasting our time, we made our way towards her half. Upon landing on the ground, we saw her thread going into the ground. Spreading our senses, we found a presence below the ground. Hiro made a clone of himself and patted the Abyss Stone.

It cracked in an area of ten kilometers. “It’s strange to remember how hard this felt in the old times, haha,” he said, repeating the same movement. But this time, the cracks spread downward. Using space, he raised the giant Abyss Stone pieces out of the ground, leaving a huge, dark crater.

Jumping into it, we saw the other half of Aurora’s thread. “Are you kidding me?” Hiro shouted, looking upwards. It was a boy, who looked like someone at Aurora’s age. He had gray scales and a handsome face. He had a lean and muscular body, the only problem being that he was frozen in a block of ice. If not for the bond, we wouldn’t have sensed or even felt his presence.

The ice had the same aura as the Abyss… “What are you up to this time?” I asked, knowing that it heard us.

“Are you talking to Mister Shadow?” Aurora asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Yes. And call it the Abyss,” I said with a chuckle, hearing her cute denomination. As I jumped off of Rin, I stopped blocking her sight. She noticed the boy frozen in ice, leaving her mute.

Stepping closer, she put her palm on the ice. “This ice is so smooth and warm,” she mumbled with a confused face. In the next moment, the ice started melting down.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but you created something amazing and I didn’t have a matching creature before. So I had to create a new one. Still, he will meet every criterion a half should. Take good care of him,” the Abyss’s genderless voice resounded in our ears, not surprising anyone at this point.

“You aren’t honest,” I said, shaking my head. “You have something very similar in store, don’t you?” I added, but all it did was laugh at me, saying, “Who knows?”

“It’s the first time I was found out,” it said with a chuckle, confirming our thoughts. Aurora kept looking back and forth between us, not understanding anything.

“What are you talking about?” she asked with a pouting face, stomping on the ground.

“I’m sorry dear. We were talking about a person we met quite a long time ago. She is called Elena,” I replied as the piece of rock we exchanged appeared in my hand.

“We always know where to find her thanks to this. She said that she would visit us, but she never did. She was a mysterious girl and she was the first who was able to fight us while being at the same level,” I finished my explanation, squatting down in front of her.

“Elena…” she whispered, having a strange expression on her face.

“What is it?” I asked, feeling strange upon seeing her reaction.

“N-nothing,” she said with an awkward laugh, scratching the back of her head.

“You are suspicious,” I said, leaving the matter at that. She didn’t want to talk about it, so I wouldn’t force her.

“He was the final straw of the ever lonely tumbleweed. Soon it is time to roll it,” the Abyss said as its aura started withdrawing. The tumbleweed definitely meant our peaceful lives… so the boy was the last thing that we had to find before something would happen. We didn’t have to guess that something since it stated everything in the next moment.

As its aura almost completely faded away, it whispered, “You have ten years before the fight for the position of the next creator would start. Take care until then.”

Shaking our heads, we looked at the boy on the ground. Squatting down beside him, Aurora poked his face. “Hehe, his face is so squishy,” she mumbled, unceasingly bothering the unconscious person…

“Dear, let him sleep,” Hiro said, catching Aurora from behind and raising her into a princess carry.

“Hahaha, put me down, Father!” she laughed with a smile on her face, trying to push away Hiro, who was blowing air on her neck. “Stop! It tickles, hahaha, I’m going to pee myself!” she tried with little to no effect. Seeing them playing around, a smile formed on my face.

The boy opened his violet eyes and looked around. He had the same brown hair as Hiro, but his body was more like Poirlion’s. He was a little bulky, but nothing over the top. Of course, that might change in the future, but we didn’t see the future.

“Ugh,” he groaned as he sat up, holding the sides of his head, catching Hiro’s and Aurora’s attention.

“Put me down!” Aurora exclaimed once again, still wearing a gleeful smile. Obeying her wish, Hiro let go of her. She rushed over to the boy but made a terrible mistake… She realized that she should stop running way too late. Her knee hit the boy’s face, knocking him out instantly. He fell back to the ground to sleep some more…

Holding up her arms, her body frozen, she said, “I’m sorry!”

Both of us buried our faces in our palms. “I told him that I’m sorry!” she exclaimed upon turning around and seeing our reactions. Both of us broke out in a fit of laughter.

“Next time you should be more careful with people who just woke up. Let’s take him back. We will worry about other things later,” he added, raising the boy’s body. As our eyes met, both of us nodded and we teleported everyone back to Sawolond. Our travel took two days since we had to travel on foot. We could have finished it in a few hours even like that, but it would have been pointless since Aurora wouldn’t have had the chance to perceive anything from her surroundings.

While I announced our return, Hiro put the boy on a bed. Turning to look at me, he said, “To be honest, I don’t feel like waiting for hours if it isn’t necessary.” I nodded my head, agreeing with him.

He kneeled down beside the bed and held his hand over the boy’s head. A green light shone and covered his body. Aurora stood beside my left leg, clenching my one-piece dress in her hands. She seemed really curious and excited.

A few seconds later, the boy opened his eyes and sat up, breathing heavily. The first thing he did was to reach towards his face and rub his forehead. “Ugh, what was that round and hard thing?” he mumbled in a low voice. I looked down at the knee of my daughter and lengthened her dress by a few centimeters. Yep. All covered up! I thought, earning a chuckle from Hiro.

[She should face the repercussions…] he remarked, still agreeing with me.

Shush, it’s not like he would hold a grudge against her. I think. Well, it is dependent on what kind of person our daughter is and she would surely… hold a grudge… okay, this will be covered up! I decided, thinking everything over.

Looking around, the boy made a surprised face, especially upon seeing Aurora. He made a suspicious face after looking at her for a few seconds. Seeing his eyes wandering towards her legs, Hiro quickly interrupted him.

“Hello. Do you have a name?”

The boy turned to look at my husband. After making a thoughtful face, he nodded his head.

“I guess you were the ones who freed me, but who are you?” he asked, showing that he had some knowledge about his position. How much he knew was a mystery for us.

“I’m called Hiro Ourichi. She is my wife, Alice Ourichi, and she is our daughter Aurora Ourichi. We'll introduce you to a few others in the future. So? What should we call you?” he pressed on, forming a smile on his face.

Dear, don’t be so stiff. They are just kids for now. He won’t take away our daughter, I thought, feeling his emotions.

[… I know… but there is a future and the thoughts of what if!] he exclaimed. Shaking my head, I focused on the boy.

A smile formed on his face as he started,

“My name is…”