One moment, Maria was carrying the tray with food, calmly serving it on the dinner table as she hummed trying to follow the rhythm of a new song playing in the living room from one of the many magical artifacts there.

“MASTER!!!”

Then the next second she was whirling around, jumping in alarm as her daughter shouted in a loud and shrill voice; her mind instinctively racing and body tensing at the mere possibility that her daughter could be hurt.

Aina sounded alarmed, even a bit scared. But what could hurt Aina here?

Nothing, her mind and instinct answered in unison. There was absolutely nothing in this world that could bypass the protections that Navin had placed here, he had assured her. No monster could approach them, and Navin would be the first one to notice if any danger from other worlds approached. There should be nothing inside the house that could hurt Aina, either.

Had something scared Aina? That would make more sense, although Navin had said everything in the house was safe. Even if each day Maria and Aina discovered new things inside the house, many with strange effects, none of those objects were harmful.

Her gaze quickly found her daughter sitting on the couch of the living room, her face was a bit red and she was shaking slightly. A book laid on the couch next to her, its pages shining softly.

Navin appeared, coming out of thin air and kneeling in front of Aina as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Maria’s mind started to calm down as she saw that Aina was unhurt and safe. Then she started to get a bit angry. That sudden scream had put her on edge.

“Aina! What happened? Why did you shout like that?”

Maria approached as she reprimanded her daughter. Had Aina simply wanted to call her teacher once she saw that the food was ready? No, that scream had sounded a bit too alarmed to be just that.

Navin reassuringly put his hand on Aina’s shoulder and her trembling stopped. His voice was perfectly calm and soothing as he spoke to her.

“It’s okay, Aina. Tell us what happened.”

Aina’s gaze moved to Maria, then to Navin and finally to the book. She pointed at it.

“The book!”

What about the book? Did she want to show that to Navin? Or had something she had seen in the book shocked her so much that she had called for him?

Maria saw Navin frown slightly and take the book with his hand. Aina continued explaining.

“There were images, they moved and showed lots of things. Then these people appeared and created worlds out of nothing! Then they… they turned and looked at me.”

The images looked directly at her? Is that what had scared Aina? Maria approached her daughter and carried her in arms. Now that the initial rush of emotion was passing, Maria focused on comforting her daughter.

“Mom, you have to see it! The things they did, it was so amazing, four big worlds, all so different! There are Gods inside that book!”

Her daughter tried to explain more, her emotions were rising again. She shook Maria’s body and pointed at the book that Navin held as he stood up.

Maria turned her gaze to Navin, asking for help in this situation. He probably knew what the book was about and might explain what had shocked Aina so much.

Sure enough, upon locking his gaze on her, he seemed to understand what she wanted to ask. He raised the book and showed it to Maria. It had a hard dark blue cover adorned with multiple little stars. The words ‘Worlds: Born and Made’ were written on the front, shining with a soft golden color.

“I think I know what happened. Aina interacted with the Intents that were infused in this book.”

That… didn’t really tell Maria much. He must have noticed it right away, because he further clarified while moving the pages of the book.

“This book is a treatise about the various regions of the Cosmos and their intrinsic differences with each other, with a special focus on what makes a world sustain life. It also contains examples of different types of worlds. But what makes it special is that that the authors of this book asked for guidance from powerful groups during their research, and those groups acceded to lend their help. What the authors asked guidance about was on the subject of the creation of worlds, and four factions even gave them direct visuals to the process of creation through the Intents of the creators. That is Intent that comes directly from extremely powerful beings, Powerhouses capable of creating actual functioning worlds through their own might. Aina saw them in the middle of displaying their power, so it’s not surprising that they left a strong impression on her.”

…Oh.

Such a book was in their living room? Maria turned to Aina and saw her nodding her head vigorously. Maria softened her voice.

“Did they scare you, sweetie?”

Aina shook her head. She was a strong girl, trying to put a brave front even now. Maria softly caressed Aina’s hair as her girl replied.

“They were not scary, just… grand. They did these amazing things and then turned to look at me. It was weird because they seemed alive, not just pictures in the book. But they just saluted and left.”

So long as Aina was unhurt there was no problem. Maria turned once more to the book. How incredible must those sights be? Maria’s curiosity was piqued as she wondered what exactly her daughter had witnessed. Navin smiled at her and passed her the book.

“You can both read it, there’s no danger in it. Even if the sights inside may be really surprising, they can’t hurt you; so there’s nothing to worry about. There’s just a bit of Intent inside it, it’s not even a bit of their souls or anything like that.”

As Navin spoke, Maria took the book. She was fairly certain what book Aina would ask for a bedtime reading tonight.

She would agree.

But first, the food was ready. It would not do to let it get cold, so Maria turned around and carried Aina to the dining table.

Having calmed down, Aina sat at the table, and her teacher went to help her mother bring the rest of the meal. When it was all set, the three of them sat at the table to eat.

But there was something to do before eating.

“Master.”

Aina said as she extended her hands to him, opening and closing them. Her teacher made a face that showed a little reproach but resigned himself and with a wave of his finger made two bubbles appear in the air, one in front of Aina and one for her mother, who was imitating Aina's gesture with a playful smile despite having cleaned her hands already.

Both females put their hands on a bubble, feeling the magic clean their hands. Aina had the idea that she could simply use this kind of thing to bath, but she guessed that both her guardians would object to the idea.

For his part, her teacher covered his hands with beautiful crimson flames to cleanse them. Although Aina seriously doubted that his hands ever got dirty, it seemed to be a simple habit of his.

They enjoyed the meal together; eating, talking and laughing. It was a good thing, to fill the stomach and warm the heart.

A family meal.

After they finished eating the delicious food her mother had prepared, the trio went to sit on the couch. Her teacher sat in the middle, with Aina on his right and her mother on his left side.

It did not escape Aina’s attention the way her mother seemed to lean a bit closer to her teacher than usual, but she refrained from giggling or commenting about it. Because she was a clever girl and knew her mom would get embarrassed then. Besides, her Master seemed comfortable too.

Aina thought that he would put the book on his lap, but instead, he made to book float in the air.

The projections appeared. However, this time her teacher pointed at the things there and gave further explanations as Aina and her mother showered him with questions. The origin of those creatures, where they could be found, what they ate, what their purpose was, and many other things that the mother-daughter duo kept asking.

But for each answer given, two more questions would arise. There was so much to know, so much that they ignored. So they asked, thirsty for that knowledge and hungering for answers as if they were the greatest delicacy.

Then they arrived at the part that had surprised Aina so much. The display of four Deities creating worlds.

It was as amazing as the first time. In fact, it seemed more amazing now, because Aina was paying even closer attention than before and even revolving her Qi to enhance her senses so she could notice things that she had been too surprised to see before.

The clapping and stomping of the dance that Varima performed had a rhythm to them. Every word and verse of her song had a meaning, even if Aina was not able to grasp it. Each of the symbols in her body gave Aina a different sensation when looking at them. There were creatures living in the deep waters that Varima had formed, the coiling and flowing darkness that concentrated on her breath to shape the island had turned white in turn. Darkness feeding Light to give birth to a world full of new life.

The lotuses that bloomed with each of Mahesh’s steps were of different colors, because each of his steps was made with a different intent, a different state of mind. Each line of Mahesh’s sutras had a purpose and elaborated about a truth of the world, their place in the arranged realm around the central golden lotus where he sat, held a significance.

Each thread in Iphansi’s tapestry had a purpose, each was a line that would be part of the bigger picture that she was weaving. The way her hands moved, the way the threads extended, knit together and interlock with the rest, and also the place where each interwoven piece was placed afterward, all had a strange and special significance.

Mekhos’s world was a city made of hundreds and thousands of parts, huge buildings, tall towers, long bridges, wide roads, big buildings housing countless artifacts with different effects, each location had their own function within the city. Now that Aina looked at it again, she noticed that each of the people that came to life from the figurines created by Mekhos had strange patterns on their skins: there were silver lines on their arms, legs, torso, and neck; some lines were thin while others were wide, and they ran along their limbs in vertical, horizontal and even diagonal patterns.

The four worlds were formed, and Aina was as fascinated as before, if not more. She had been so focused on them that she had forgotten to ask any question, but she had also learned something new this time.

Nothing each of them had done was random, each little movement and action had a meaning and a function on the great design of the new world each of them created.

Aina thought that she could stay here for years and watch them over and over and always discover something new, always learn a little bit more.

Then they came to salute, looking like people instead of Gods. No longer as forces of nature incarnated, with the power and authority to shape the universe at will.

Varima looked like a woman in her twenties. She was tall and beautiful, with flawless and smooth dark skin and long dark navy-blue hair forming curls towards her shoulders and back. Her eyes were no longer vortexes of starlight, just normal dark brown eyes, but there was still a playful amethyst glint in her pupils. Each of her moves had an alluring grace and elegance that seemed too good to be real. From the waist down, she was wearing a beautiful pale beige dress like the sand of a beach, adorned with a combination of black, brown, and white lines that crossed and converged in different ways and patterns, forming squares, triangles, chevrons, and diagonal shapes. Her breasts and upper abdomen were covered by a cloth in a similar fashion than her skirt but having the opposite colors; it was black and was adorned with white and beige lines forming similar patterns to the ones on her skirt. They both seemed to form a big picture, perhaps complementing each other, but Aina couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. Varima showed a surprised expression and raised one hand to cover her mischievous smile when she glanced at Aina’s teacher. Then she made a gesture with her hands where she alternated one over the other as she gracefully bowed finalizing with putting her hands to the sides.

Mahesh had the appearance of a man in his thirties, tall and athletic. Different from the other three, he looked like a human even when he had created his world. His long black hair cascaded unrestrained towards his lower back, with a part that fell to the sides of his head almost reaching his shoulders. His clothes were some kind of layered robe of white and grey. He also had a black outer cloak over his left shoulder and arm adorned with soft carmine designs near the border that was tightened on his waist by a red sash. On his feet, he was wearing some sort of wooden sandals. He seemed to be some sort of monk or priest to Aina. His smile reminded her a bit of her Master’s smile, but where her teacher’s smile was confident and displayed serene control of oneself enjoying simply being, Mahesh’s smile was pure comfort and enjoyment of life, loving the entire world around him. It might have been her imagination, but Aina could swear that Mahesh’s eyes lit up a bit and his smile stretched slightly bowing with hands pressed together towards her teacher.

Iphansi was still covered in several layers of cloth that obscured her appearance. But it was clearer now. Aina could finally see what kind of dress Iphansi was wearing. Her main garment was a blue cloak with a deep-blue hood with soft green runes decorating it. She had a thin ash-grey veil covering her face; it had only a slight opening revealing eyes with a strange shade of deep green but the veil was thin enough that Aina could glimpse at a slim face behind it.

Over the blue cloak that covered her from head to toe, Iphansi had a scarlet coat over her shoulders that fell towards her back and some sort of burgundy wide long skirt from the waist down. It was surprising how she could still have an elegant air and graceful posture sitting in her chair with so much cloth covering her. Perhaps it was because each piece of her garment was clothing of extremely high quality. Her hands were the only part of her that was exposed; Aina had expected them to be pale white, but they were of a soft ochre color, with long dexterous fingers and perfectly polished short fingernails.

Iphansi stood up when her eyes landed on Aina’s Master, what’s more, she removed the outer layers of her garment, but kept the veil over her face. She took off her cloak and hood, revealing dark hair tied up in a bun, a sheer delicate tight-fitting soft green blouse worn over a blue torso wrap adorned with golden embroidery and a long skirt with a brocade depicting images from nature. Iphansi raised her right hand towards her face with the palm inwards until it was in front of her eyes and her fingertips were almost touching her forehead, and bent forward her upper torso.

Mekhos no longer looked like a metallic giant, but like a man in his forties, with strong features and a square jaw. He had a firm and resolute expression, not exactly stern, but Aina doubted he was a man who enjoyed jokes. His hair was golden and short, he had blue eyes and white skin. He had a long coat adorned with silver lines that drew a pattern by turning at sharp angles, under it, he wore a black shirt and dark blue pants ending in black boots.

He looked like a soldier to Aina, not because of the muscles on his body, but because of the way he moved; always at attention, decisive and strong as if expecting to jump into a fight at any moment. He looked at Aina’s teacher and further straightened his back and set his shoulders. Mekhos put a fist over his chest and bowed deeply in respect.

They were moving differently, with slight changes in their attitudes and doing things that they hadn’t done that last time. Was it because they were reacting to her Master’s presence?

Aina turned her head to look at her teacher and her mother. Her mom had a stunned expression and open mouth, as was expected, Aina sure had a similar expression last time. Her Master, on the other hand, had a pensive expression as he spoke in a soft voice.

“Hmm, I should check again the scriptures and arts in the Library. Looking at these things from a higher perspective is truly a new experience.”

Aina didn’t know what he meant by that, but it seemed he was going to read more books, which was good. Aina loved books and would read as many as she could, so if her Master got more books that would mean more books that she could read.

Her Master clasped his right hand on his left hand and bowed to the four Powerhouses that had left their mark inside the book, replying in kind to their salutes, albeit each had been with their own style of greeting.

A couple of moments later the figures disappeared and the trio was back on the living room. Aina was the one who broke the silence.

“See, Mom? Wasn’t it amazing?”

Her mother seemed to react to that and get out of the trance she was in. She turned, her eyes a bit unfocused, but soon fixed on Aina.

“Yes… It was as you said, sweetie. It was truly a grand experience.”

Her mother then turned to look at her teacher and hesitated a bit before speaking.

“Navin, who were those people? Were they… Gods?”

Aina was curious about that too so she turned to her teacher, attentive for the answer.

Wait. Did Mom just call Master ‘Navin’ without honorifics?

Since when did her mother do that? Was it because she was so shocked by what she had seen that it slipped her mind, or had she finally decided to listen to his petition to drop the honorifics when addressing him? It didn’t matter right now, so Aina focused on her teacher’s reply.

He nodded in affirmation.

“Yes. They were all extremely powerful entities, and as you saw that they each were capable of creating worlds of their own with their abilities. What do you think? Anything that caught your attention especially?”

He looked alternatively to both of them. Aina had a lot of things that she was curious about so she didn’t know what to ask about first. Her mother thought for a moment before asking another question.

“The fourth entity, Mekhos, gave his own body to create his new world, right? Why did he do that, Navin?”

Aina was confused about that too. Why would that powerful being just sacrifice himself to create something? She could understand if he had done it to save them or something, but he gave his life to create that world and its inhabitants from scratch, so it was strange for her.

Her teacher pursed his lips slightly to the side and inclined his head left and right before replying.

“Hmm, I’m not entirely sure. It seems like he had hit a bottleneck on his Path once he reached the Ninth Stage. It troubled him for a long time, and the creation of that world seems to be the solution he found.”

“But he died, right? That doesn’t seem like a solution. Why take his own life if he wanted to improve himself?”

Her mother commented from the side, frowning as she thought of that. But her teacher smiled and raised a finger.

“Ah, but that’s the thing. Someone of Ninth Stage and above will not cease to exist simply because they die. Especially when it is on their own terms. Mekhos gave his body to create that Grand Metropolis and used his own soul to infuse life to his created people, the Mekhanas. But remember the projection, his core still sleeps within the depths of that world, it is not destroyed. So it can still be activated again and Mekhos resurrect.”

That was impressive, Aina thought, because it meant that someone could return to life even when their body was gone. Although that seemed to require one to be a very powerful entity.

Her Master gave them both a conspiratorial smile as the book closed and floated to his hands.

“Now, here is the interesting bit. What is the purpose of this creation, why give up his body and put his soul into this, taking such big risks? This is the reason: Each of the people born from the Mekhanas has a fragment of Mekhos in them, their very souls came into being when his soul divided and infused their bodies with life. They are more than successors or descendants; they are his reincarnation. His hope to surpass his previous Path through a brand new life. The Mekhanas are his contrivance, both an invention and a stratagem, because they hold the potential to give birth to someone who will rise and improve Mekhos’ Path, getting rid of his previous limits. That’s the purpose of their existence and they work hard and constantly towards that goal. Once achieved, Mekhos will resurrect through his reincarnated body, joining his past with his present to reach a higher future and obtain more power than ever. It is a grand plan, but also very risky and hard to succeed, but he took many measures and prepared a lot for this.”

Both Aina and her mother let out voices of surprise. So he had separated his soul and now bits of him lived on each of the people there. Were they all the same or did they have different personalities?

“Then what will happen to the rest of them when he reawakens? One of them will be the reincarnated, what about the rest?”

Aina’s mother pressed on. She was frowning and seemed to have thought of some issue. Aina saw her Master nod seriously.

“That’s a very important matter and a subject of speculation among all who know the origin of the Mekhanas. Each of the Mekhanas is an individual with own personality and soul, a proper living organism. It might be that he will simply reincarnate on one of them, simply born into that new body and then have a group of strong followers; but it might be that one of the Mekhanas will one day reawaken their creator’s memories and once Mekhos reactivates himself the Grand Metropolis will collapse and return to its original form; maybe all the Mekhanas will fuse together into one being and that will be the new Mekhos, or he will sacrifice the entire species to harvest their souls to achieve more power. It’s due to this uncertainty that many groups across the Cosmos don’t intermingle with the Mekhanas, being wary of what the consequences of that could be for their descendants. Despite that, the Mekhanas have existed for more than a million years, during that time, their number has vastly grown and due to traveling around different worlds, they have crossed with many species, giving origin to multiple races, but they are all inevitably born Mekhanas regardless of who the other parent’s species is.”

“And if they really are to be a sacrifice…”

Her mother’s voice was wary and Aina let out a gasp of surprise as she realized what she meant. Both females could imagine that the number of people dying would be absurdly high. Her Master raised his hands in a pacifying gesture.

“It is a complicated issue, and no one has more than speculation. I don’t know what will happen either, though personally I don’t think he will simply erase them, since that wouldn’t give him many benefits and would instead leave him isolated in the Cosmos. Many have argued that since they were originally created by Mekhos with that purpose then there’s nothing wrong with it, just a system fulfilling its duty. Others argue that each Mekhana has long overgrown the influence of their creator and will never turn into him, while there are some that believe it’s a problem that the Mekhanas themselves must deal with. Whatever the case, most influences just keep a polite distance from them or make strictly professional deals with the Mekhanas.”

They stayed in silence for a while after that. Until Aina’s mother let out a long and exhausted sigh. Aina passed a hand through her hair, this was a story about a real species, somewhere across the Universe that could possibly go extinct due to their origins. But it didn’t have anything to do with her and her mother, it was not something that she had to worry about nor something she could do anything about.

“Each species has its own issues. Right, Master?”

Her teacher nodded in agreement.

“Everyone faces their own challenges and situations. We each have to do the best we can.”

“Mom, why did the creation of that city interest you so much?”

The question seemed to surprise her mother. Aina had noticed there was something worrying her mom, and she thought it had to do with Mekhos creating that world.

But why? What was she worried about?

Her mother hesitated and glanced at her Master before replying.

“It’s just that… I felt something when he was creating that city, when he was displaying his power and transformed. I felt like something inside me was stirring. Like it was… calling me? I’m not sure.”

Aina looked at her mother in surprise. Aina hadn’t felt anything like that when looking at the projections, she found beauty and magnificence in each of them, but didn’t feel anything ‘calling’ to her like her mother mentioned.

“Ah, that means your perception is very high. As I thought, that Cultivation Art really is the one that suits you the most.”

“What do you mean, Master?”

Her teacher turned a bit to face Aina before answering.

“Well, I can’t teach Maria the same Cultivation Art that you practice, Aina. But that’s not the only one that I know. I have collected many over the years, even if I don’t practice them, because they are valuable things and serve as an excellent reference for improvement. So, I found one that would be the most suitable one for your mother and passed it to her.”

He turned again towards her mother and gave her a wide smile.

“It’s the same Cultivation Method from which Mekhos developed his own. It’s not the same as the one that ultimately led him to reach the Ninth Stage, but both share the same roots.”

Hearing his words, her mother’s eyes opened wide and she tried to speak but no words came out for a while. When her words finally came out, it was in a panicked voice.

“T-that’s the method you taught me!?”

“Don’t worry, they aren’t the same arts, they would be considered ‘sister arts’. I will help you modify it into a version unique for you, and further improve it so you won’t get stuck like Mekhos. So it will be fine.”

Her mother stayed quiet, but Aina thought that she might have wanted to say more, and maybe that hadn’t been what had thrown her emotion into disarray. Like Aina, her mother was benefitting from learning cultivation from her Master, even if it wasn’t the same Cultivation Method. What Aina suspected was surprising her mother, was that the art that he had given her was something on the level of a God.

But now that she thought about it, it was the only thing that made sense. Aina didn’t think that her Master would give something of low quality to her mother, and he was a Powerhouse of the highest level. It would only make sense that the things he deemed worthy would also be of extremely high quality.

However, now that Aina had seen in action the sister art of what her mother was learning, she had a question of her own.

“Will Mom become a mechanical giant too?”

For a long moment of silence, both of her guardians turned to look at Aina. Her mother looked horrified at that possibility, while her teacher seemed a bit surprised or perhaps imagining that.

Then he burst out laughing.