Chapter 28: A Lime Immortal

“No. I’m pretty sure I haven’t.” Line said

“Those fake gods are aliens. They come from another planet. I guess what I mean is sentient life similar to human intelligence, but without being human. It made me question something. If you say something, such as humane, does that also work with something that isn’t human? Can they be humane? I thought for a while. There had to be a similarity. It was on the tip of my tongue. Then it hit me. We were both people. While the phrase ‘you aren’t even a human’ or something can be used in movies, if it refers to anything not human, it condemns all of the aliens that have good intentions. Good and bad are concepts that don’t exist naturally. We decide what they are. What they represent. What is good now can be evil later. The opposite is also true. Do you have to be human to be good? And why are there humans that are bad? I thought for a while more. People are good. Even a bad person is redeemable. But a bad human, or even just a human alone, isn’t necessarily a person. How can you tell if someone is a person?” Evan said

“Ah. That went way over my head, dear.” Line said, smiling

“Oh, I’m not surprised. Most people don’t have those thoughts, as far as I know. At least, not the way I do. To be fair, I only know one thing. It’s something that has stuck by me my entire life. Do you know what that is?” Evan asked

“I’m not too sure, no. I’m not all that familiar with you from the past. Though he seems to carry some burdens that are way too heavy. You can relax here, dear. Everything’s fine.” Line said. She hugged him, grabbing onto his arm as they walked.

“Ah. Yeah. It’s better than just fine. A bit awkward, but yes. It’s amazing.” Evan said. He floated upwards to make things a little easier

“Oh, that’s actually pretty useful!” Line said

“Yeah. They were supposed to teach you guys this in class. That’s why I went to have a talk with Arata.” Evan said

“What kind of talk flattens a person with your presence alone? Did you really only talk? I trust you, but I still worry about you. You take things too seriously sometimes, hun.” Line said

“Ah. That’s what it was. That’s what I was supposed to do!” Evan said

“Hm? Dear?” Line asked

“Nothing. Just remembered my goal. To let go of my burdens and make new ones. I already have you. That’s one.” Evan said

“Hey! Are you calling me a burden!” Line asked

“Oh, definitely not. You’re an amazing help, honey.” Evan said

“Wow. Sweet words.” Line said

“I know. I do love my sweets.” Evan said

“We’re home! Finally!” Line said

They arrived at their house. It was already dark. They fell asleep.

Morning came again.

“Hun, you promised to teach me Creation magic this morning! Remember!” Line said, poking Evans cheek.

“Alright, fine. Put some clothes on, anything’s fine.” Said Evan

“Speaking of, dear, you always seem to have a fresh pair of clothes. There’s nothing in your drawers though.” Line asked

“Well, that’s what I’ll be showing you this morning. You can create and destroy matter using creation mana. Producing antiparticles from energy to break any object back down into energy, or reversing that and producing particles to make something from energy.” Evan said

“Oh! Awesome! So I can just make things with mana?” Line asked

“The reason I’m teaching you is because it isn’t exactly that simple.” Evan said

They went to the field.

Evan dragged a machine from the workshop.

“Here. Sit.” Evan said

“We’re doing it outside? Oh my. Dear!” Line said

“No. This is for something else.” Evan said

“What?” Line asked

“Just sit. I’ll get it ready.” Evan said, fiddling with a few mechanisms.

“Alright here. Bite on my hand, this may hurt a bit” Evan said, putting the gadget that held the liquified mana core into the machine and holding up another part on lines neck

“What are you tafkf” said line. Evan has put his hand in her mouth. He turned on the machine.

“Ah. It should be done now.” Evan said, releasing line.

“God. Tell me before you do something like that so I can enjoy it better next time.” Line said

“Seriously, it’s not that. Do you feel any different? Does the mana feel weird?” Evan asked

“Yeah it doe-!” Line realized something

“I can feel mana! How the heck? It feels like my mana is alive, like it’s breathing! Is this the core you were talking about?!” Line asked

“Yes, now feel your own mana as best you can. Do you see something in the center?” Evan asked

“Uhhh. Yes. It’s a really bright, yet soft light. Like a billion stars. What is this?” Line asked

“While it’s not the one I’m making that’s your permanent core, this is your secondary mana core! It’s actually quite unique. It’s basically a lot of mana that’s super strong and can pass through other categories easier. It amplifies your magic.” Evan said

“Dear, you know you make no sense sometimes, right?” Line asked

“Yes yes. Now. Try to channel your mana towards a string of creation mana. It’s that metalish looking one. Yeah, that. Mix your mana with it and absorb that mana.” Evan said.

“Done. What next?” Line asked

“Hmm. Well, there’s two things you can do right now. If you can make a sharp, clear image of something in your head and shape your mana into that form, it should take that shape. Or, if you can’t do that, you can just let the mana make what it wants. While it’s barely noticeable if you don’t think about it, mana does have a will. It will build an object that it’s thinking about at random.” Evan said

“Oh. Like this?” Line asked trying and failing to create a gun. It looked like a blurry mess. She tried it with a few other objects. Same result.

“Thats normal. You have to learn how the mana wants to move, and move with it, letting it know about what image you have in your mind. But it takes practice. Lots of it. For now, just ask it to make something. It might be another blurry mess, but it could be interesting.” Said Evan.

He expected nothing to happen.

He was surprised.

Shocked.

“Uh. Evan. Honey. Why is there a lime in my hand?” Line asked

“Ah…... I remember now!!” Evan said, starting to laugh

“What? What’s so funny?” Line asked

“I got it. Your name. It’s lime. I’ll call you lime! Ahh, that’s perfect!” Evan laughed

“Hey! Don’t be mean!” Lime said, puffing her cheeks.

“That’s not it. That’s not it at all. I just realized what you are to me. You’re my lime. The lime I’ve been looking for. You. You are my goal. My greatest desire in life. My love. You are my little lime!” Evan said, smiling

“If you say it like that…. alright. I’m your little lime, then. You better take care of me though!” Lime said, blushing

“Lime. Can I tell you a phrase? Something that means a lot to me. I’ll start, you finish by speaking these words.”

Evan whispered in limes ear

“Got it?” Evan asked, grinning

“Yeah!” Said lime

“As it always has been,” Evan started

“And as it always shall be!” Lime finished

“That felt nice!” Said lime.

“Yeah! I love this feeling. But most of all, I love you.” Evan said, kissing her

“You little! I wasn’t expecting that! Sneak attacks aren’t nice!” Lime said

“Yes, yes. I’m not allowed to speak my feelings out loud, then?” Evan asked

“Dear, you can do that at home. Not here.” Said lime

“There’s nobody around, does it matter?” Evan asked

“What would my friends think, if they found out I was dating a 16 year old, let alone married to one!” Lime asked

“Oh. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve met your friends yet.” Evan said

“Really? I’ll bring you with me the next time we go out.” Lime said

“Lime.” Evan said

“Yes, dear?” Asked lime

“Here.” Evan said

He had put a ring on her finger, his face red

“Cute!” Said lime, hugging him.

“You're suffocating me. Too big.” Said Evan

“Ah. Oops. Forgot you reached there.” Lime said

“Yes, fine. But take care of that ring.” Evan said

“It’s our marriage band, correct?” Lime asked, looking it over

“Yes. Yes, it is.” Evan said

“I don’t recognize this material. It’s beautiful.” Lime said

“It’s solid light.” Evan said

“What?” Lime asked

“Ah. One of the things I made with a project a while back. It has the vows and stuff written on the underside of the ring with solid darkness.” Evan said

“It’s pretty flashy. And very bright.” Lime said

“Try to absorb some mana from it.” Evan said

“Oh!” Lime said

The metal looked the same, but didn’t produce any more light. It no longer had a glow.

“But what are those things? In the middle.” Lime asked

“Ah. The gemstones. They are miniature cores. It’s more accurate to call them failed cores, though.” Evan said

“They seem pretty interesting.” Lime said

“The middle one, the one that looks like infinity as a solid object, I can’t come close to describing that. That one is connected to my core. You can draw on a nearly unlimited amount of mana from me. The other two are the creation core, and a failed generation core.” Evan said

“Generation core? You mean like the gen 1 kinda cores?” Lime asked

“Now that you mention it, the names are similar, but no. The generation core is similar to my infinity core. Just like the infinity core, it’s basically useless on its own. Except my ability to possess infinite cores at once. It’s considered inferior because, as the name suggests, it only generates mana. However, like my infinity core, the mana produced by the generation core is also neutral. It’s a unique trait, only two cores In Existence have them. The interesting thing is what happens when you run neutral mana through a separate neutral core. While that isn’t nearly as impressive as what I’m trying to achieve with it, it can cause miracles to happen. See, normally you can’t run neutral mana back through its source. Since there’s two sources, it refines the mana. Guess what happens when you refine neutral mana.” Evan said

“I have no idea.” Lime said

“It becomes a raw source of reality itself. That means it can mess with the very fabric of existence. If you could say, theoretically control that ability, you could become omnipotent. That’s what I’m trying to do.” Evan said

“Darliiing. I don’t understand a word you said!” Lime pouted

“Ah. I’ll sum it up. It should keep situations that require you to use this ability away, warding off bad luck, but if you find yourself in trouble, run my mana from the infinity core through the generation core.” Evan said

“I think I understand that. Basically it can ward off bad luck and cause a miracle which can change almost any situation?” Lime said

“Yeah. It’s usable once. The stone won’t change after use visually, but it gets muddled up with mana. It becomes unable to refine mana anymore, the impurity having no way to escape. I guess I can fix it, but it would take me some time.” Evan said

“I also made it Unbreakable, and you can make it appear whenever you want!” Evan said

“What? Really? How…” lime asked

“Well, I connected it to your soul. I did the same to mine. Mine is made of solid darkness, though, and the vows written with solid light.” Evan said

“No, I meant how do I summon it.” Lime asked

“Oh. Here, give it to me. Alright. Now, then. Think of it appearing on your finger. Ah. There it goes” Evan said, the ring disappearing from his hand

“Woah. I never have to worry about losing it again.” Lime said

“Yeah. I call it a mark because it makes a mark somewhere on the body. Nowhere annoying. I made yours look like a hickey.” Evan said

“Wait what! No, dang it Evan!” Lime said, reaching for her neck.

“I’m kidding. Take the ring off for a sec.” Evan said

“What? Why?” Lime asked

“The mark should have appeared by now. Mines here.” Evan said

“Huh? Oh! Woah! Uh…. Why is it a bunch of limes? Is this the limetech logo?” Lime asked

“You’re my little lime. Nothing can change that. From the beginning to the end, as I am yours, you are mine. Remember what I told you earlier?” Evan asked

“Of course I do. I don’t think I could ever forget.” Lime said, putting the ring back on.

“What’s your mark?” Lime asked

“Ah. This.” Said Evan. He showed her his mark. It was just a bunch of hearts. Lots of them.

“Wait, do you design how the mark looks?” Lime asked

“No, it takes a shape close to the image of a persons soul.” Evan said

“My soul looks like a lime?” Lime asked

“No. You are the biggest part of your soul. It just used an image that you have been using to refer to yourself as.” Evan said

“Uh. Wait! So it’s a lime because I’m lime now?” Lime asked

“Yup.” Evan said

“Well then…what about yours?” Lime asked

“Hmm. What do you think? It changes between hearts and limes.” Evan said

“Oh! It’s changing colors. And patterns. It’s a lime and a heart. Why wasn’t it flashing earlier?” Lime asked, smiling

“I’m not sure. Even I don’t know everything. I don’t want to know everything either.” Evan said

“Oh. Wait, you don’t?” Lime asked

“Um. How do I explain this. There are some things that nobody wants to know.” Evan said

“It feels like you’ve experienced it before.” Said lime

“No. I haven’t. If I gained omniscience I would immediately reject it. It makes living worth nearly nothing. It would turn you into a mindless husk that thinks everything at once.” Evan said

“Are you sure you didn’t experience that before?” Lime asked

“Experience it? Oh, I’ve experienced it. It’s just… I wasn’t the one who had it. Though I’m one of only two people left to remember it.” Evan said sadly. And bitterly.

“Two?” Lime asked

“Yeah. Me and my sister.” Evan said