*** IN THE WORLD OF ABBADON, IN THE KINGDOM OF OLLAGON, OUTSIDE THE TOWN OF GENTRA ***

*** Amriel … 5 years later ***

Amriel steps out from the shade of the big oak tree that is straddling the dusty road, and sighed. He scanned the rolling fields of wheat, oats and alfalfa that dotted the land, the massive forest in the horizon and the ice-tip Mountains beyond.

He messed up the back of his reddish hair with one arm and grab the Knapp sack with the other. He sipped a sizable portion of the floating cold bubble of water in front of him that its size drop down considerably. The water bubble started off with the size of Amriel’s head but now it is just the size of his fist. He considered if he wanted to put more of the surrounding moisture to his bubble, but decide not to. Instead, he willed the water to float on top of his head and then drop it.

SPLATT! The water soaked his face and Amriel smiled from the refreshing feeling of it. He ignored the invisible woman that was silently watching him and unable to understand what this latest antics of his actually means.

He wipes the remaining sweat and water with the long sleeves woolen shirt he is wearing, and smiled. “Not long now,” He said to himself.

It was late morning – a sunny but cold third day of the ten-day week cycle – 7th turn of the 211th year of the age of Arthorn.

While walking, he gazes again at the wide expanse of rolling uneven fields, and just over the horizon, the even more gigantic forest that surround them. As a soldier of a very active army, and then becoming a knight, Amriel had a lot of experience out in the field. He’d been in the mountainous area between the borders of Ollagon and Elagani Empire, the red deserts of the south Shar-Arana tribes, or the muddy swamps of the independent cities, but where ever he’d been, this lands that belong to the kingdom is always been the best place to live, in his opinion.

I wish Allana had seen my clan, He thought. The moment that stray thought came to him, he dismissed it coldly. No good will happen if you indulged yourself from what ifs.

He can feel his fellow spirit sighed, chiding him for being too hard on himself. And he did feel better. Seeing things that he had seen before but also have not, is really mind boggling. He can feel the excitement and giddiness his other self is feeling upon seeing his land. Amriel could not help smiling as he took a deep breath of the fresh cold air. “I’m finally home,” He said, sighing.

“This wasteland is your home?”

Amriel’s smile immediately vanished. He had stop wasting his time three days ago pleading, and begging, and threatening, and tricking this woman to leave him, maybe even to stay in Helix, but she continued to follow and pester him all throughout his journey.

He knew that the woman had her own reasons for sticking with him, but that doesn’t stop amriel from getting annoyed. If only he is strong enough to beat that bitch – He felt the bubbling laughter coming from the other spirit at that thought.

At least she had kept her promise to stay invisible and quiet at all times. Amriel remember her shrugging, and saying “I have no interest in communicating with other lesser mortals. Therefore I will agree to your request not to interact with others. I will continue to keep my silence, unless something annoys me. And then… we shall see.” It also help that any magic this god creates is a work of wonder and therefore is very useful when actually used. Her invisibility spell for example is perfect, not only does people around her cannot see her but she is also ethereal. Basically she can go through walls like ghost if she wanted to. No one can touch her or feel her presence if she doesn’t want to. This magic is something Amriel is very grateful for. Explaining to your clan why a god is following you is simply not to his benefit.

“This is not a wasteland,” Amriel said, gritting his teeth. “This land is part of the shanto valley, which in turn is considered to be the most fertile land in all of the kingdom’s vast territory. We grow everything here from herbs to spices and almost any vegetables known to man.”

“I hate to say this boss, but the monster bitch has a point. What I remember of this place: it’s a dump!” said Tubby, the one eyed giant cat walking next to Amriel. Rex, the little Chihuahua on top of tubby’s enormous head, meanwhile woofed his agreement.

A seven footer Swedish beauty walking behind them, who is wearing a Japanese school girl uniform, nodded her head once. “Dump,” she said in a soft sad voice. Her name is Aida.

Amriel sighed. “Well since Simon did not agree with any of you-“

“Actually I do,” said the ten year old Asian boy with glasses walking next to Aida. He is not paying much attention to the road ahead because he is reading a book. “But I rather not voice it, because it will hurt your feelings.”

A vein started popping out of Amriel’s neck. “Regardless, I did not ask for any of your opinions. Keep your observation to yourself, and by the source shut the hell up!”

As Amriel turned, he notice that the woman is looking at him with an indescribable expression in her face. “You are talking to your hallucinations again,” she said, a statement and not a question.

Amriel again sighed. He felt that he has been doing more sighing in this journey than any other time in his life.

Despite being stuck with him for a very long time, there are still things about him that the abomination could not get used to. One of the most important of all this is his aspects, as he called them.

Because of some special circumstances inside the cavern where he last fought, died, and eventually revive, his mind is now divided permanently to six parts. And if need be, he can still divide that even further to 24. It is one of the long lost secrets of magic that he rediscovered inside the cavern they called Helix.

With a partitioned and disciplined minds, Amriel can do more calculations and weave far more complex runes and magical circles to create even more powerful magical arts. This is no secret to the woman since her mind is even further partitioned to 64 minds and be divided even further to two hundred and fifty six in an emergency.

The difference is that Amriel’s 5 other minds has a personality of their own, which the woman find weird and rather perplexing.

“I would suggest that from now on, if you do need to speak to me or your hallucinations –“

“I call them Aspects,” Amriel said lamely.

“- then it would be better if you use your mind magic to do so. I have trained you long enough in this field of magic, that you should be able to do something trivial such as this.”

“Agreed,” Amriel said resigned. ‘Agreed,’ He repeated in his mind. He was planning to do just this, once they are in the clan compound anyway.

“And one more thing,” said the woman. “Since we are practically in your home now, I would like you to give me a name.”

“What?”

“A name,” She said, looking Amriel in the eye. “Any name you will be comfortable using to address me that is not derogatory. I’m tired being called that woman or abomination or demon bitch.”

Amriel stared back at her for a long time, and she stared back waiting for his reply. She wore that toga like white silk around her that is now familiar to Amriel as life itself. She had been his only true physical companion for the last 15 years, but he stubbornly called her monster or abomination to dehumanize her. He really didn’t understand why the goddess never really smoked him for all those years of disrespect. Maybe she finds him just an idiot and disciplining the moron will just be a waste of her time. Besides, does an elephant really get affronted when a cockroach cuss him?

But the truth of the matter is that Amriel persist on calling her abomination because she still have his dead wife’s face, and he could never forget that. He remembered the first few years when a single look from her made him remember everything that he lost and will attack her. Of course it will always end with him smashed in the ground with several broken bones. Only her benevolence and of course her powerful super healing spells kept him alive inside the Helix for those first few years.

As the years passed by, the pain of her wife’s loss never really healed but it gradually lessened. Like a dull headache at the back of your head that you just learned to live with. Eventually, the woman became a completely different entity that Amriel have no problem differentiating from his dead wife, despite the fact that she was a virtual twin of the woman she love.

To give her a name will complete that separation once and for all, and make this woman a different individual to him.

I have to let go…

“What name do you want me to call you?” Amriel asked.

The woman’s eyebrow raised. She didn’t expect this to be his answer.

But if you expect me to call you Allana, then by the source I will let the kingdom and the Elagani Empire along with the red desert to be swallowed whole before I-

“Shayla,” She said, a bit of hesitation that Amriel never heard from the goddess before. “I want you to call me Shayla.”

Amriel pretended to think about it for a moment. “Fine,” he said finally, sighing in the process. “Shayla it is.” He turned and continued walking back home.

The woman named Shayla smiled behind Amriel, then followed the young knight back in his journey.