“Can someone with no self worth still be a selfish bastard? Am I really that much of a bastard to be so contradictory? I've done this work for many years because I'm selfish, but all I am is a guard dog. That's all I'll ever be…”

(«^») Iris Exurrana

8E/438Y/12M/34D 9:03 AM

In the city I started asking around for a bar.

“A bar? What kind of bar?”

“The most popular bar in the city. I'm sightseeing.”

“That's a weird sight to ask for. The most popular bar I can think of off the top of my head is From Dusk to Dawn.” The man I asked gave me the location, then continued walking at his leisurely pace.

I gave him thanks and headed to the place, asking people where the specific street he gave me was along the way.

Eventually a few hours later I found it. Like most every other place in the city, it just consisted of a door with a sign above it. It was just one door in a line of many doors right next to each other on what was essentially a wall thick enough to provide a sense of the unique architecture. The buildings were beautiful, but the line of doors they housed was weird, and distracted me from that beauty. Although I already understood what was going on. I opened the door to find a wide open space. Much bigger than what the outside would tip you off to. Just like in my mom's house, they didn't have chairs and tables that were high off the ground. Just low tables and cushions to sit on. There were areas that were blocked off by curtains, and some tables out in the open. The place was huge though, and filled with people.

I walked over to one of the older waiters, who was cleaning a table.

“Anoh, sir?”

“Ah, miss, I'll be done here in a second.”

I flashed him a small pouch, obviously made for carrying vials. He raised a brow and stopped what he was doing. “I bet you've heard many things throughout your time here. Do you know what the trial of The Flora Temple of this city is like?”

He gave me a hardened stare. “No… I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave.”

Fuck… I gave him a respectful nod, “Of course. I'm sorry for interrupting your work.”

I calmly walked out of the building. I asked around for other places where people tend to let things slip, but I kept getting the same result. At some point I just found myself wandering aimlessly frustrated that these people wouldn't give me the information I needed.

I really didn't want to go into this trial blind. I didn't work like that. I usually gathered information on any given job so I could exploit it. Or at the very least make the job easier. I was usually given something from The Von but when I read through the information on the temple all it gave me was a location and few warnings about the area.

I sat down on a bench and envisioned the letter in my head.

‘The temple is ten miles north of Saela. There's a large dirt road that goes from Saela to the temple so it shouldn't be hard to find. However, the road has been deemed dangerous, as many people have gone missing on the route.’

“Maybe the temple is touchy subject..?”

“Of course it is, dummy!” My thoughts were interrupted by Aurora's voice, and a light hit on the top of my head. I opened my eyes to find her standing in front of me, rolling her eyes. “Do you really not have any sense for these things?”

“I'm good at the talking bit, not the listening bit. How long have you been following me?”

“Ever since you stormed out of the house. I wanted to keep an eye on you…” She averted her gaze, and blushed a little.

“Persistent…” I took a deep breath, and gave her a hard stare, “I've done well on my own for 20 years. You don't have to do this to yourself.”

“This isn't about you. It's about me taking responsibility for myself.”

My stare hardened, “And you think you can handle even half the work I do?”

“It's not about handling half of your work. It's about doing the work I'm better than you at.”

“Like?”

“Medical work, survivalist stuff, reading people, and combat support. I'm a damn priestess I'm supposed to be good at these things!”

I took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of my nose, “Are you sure about this?”

She clasped my hand in both of hers, startling me a little, “Absolutely!”

At the time, my heart sank a little, but I also felt a strange mix of pride, happiness, and relief. To be perfectly honest, I wanted someone I could protect. Someone to save.

I guess in its own way that was selfish. But, knowing I didn't have to fight so hard to keep her safe also brought me relief. I felt proud of her for finally standing up after being on the ground for so long, being puppeted by others’ whims.

Of course, being torn between my own deep rooted selfish desires and my want to see this person grow, and overcome left me feeling conflicted. It left me riddled with guilt over what that desire was.

Aurora could see it too. I'm sure she knew exactly what was going through my head. And Aurora being the sweet person that she is, simply just wrapped her arms around me, and whispered “It's fine. We will be fine.”

Hesitantly, I returned the gesture. I could feel people staring which only made me even more flustered.

Then again people were always staring. These fucking eyes always made me seem like a cross between a Nightmare and a dragon. The horns and tail made up of shadow didn't do much to help it either.

As I'm sure you know by now I hate being called a monster. It's such a simple word. It's not even a proper derogatory term, I've never been referred to as Iris by anybody other than Aurora, Raisa, A, and Yalina. But even then Raisa and A usually just call me Lethana out of respect for the title.

No, almost every single family I was adopted by called me a monster. Back then the people I knew knew me as a monster. Pure black irises wasn't normal. It never was and never will be. If anyone were to have eyes based on their affiliation to darkness they will always be purple. Never black. Black eyes are reserved for the Nightmares that plague our world.

Over the years I'd been called a monster so many times that I started to believe them. Of course that didn't mean I accepted it. I fought it, because I will fight everything I hate.

I was always being stared at. Whispered about. Avoided. Mocked. Even there in Yn Dyr it was no different.

I tried my hardest to ignore it, but it was grating. Eventually I just grabbed Aurora's hand and started walking back to Yalina’s home. Silently, she understood. She didn't fight it. She just followed behind me as I ground my teeth in frustration.

(«^») Aurora Faelina Yurriana

15:33 AM

As we walked back we were stopped a few times by guards making sure I was okay. The thing that surprised me was that in every future those moments split off into Iris was calm and respectful in all of them. I could feel the pressure her aura was exerting from how upset she was. How she managed such strict self control was absolutely beyond me.

By the time we got home Iris was on the verge of crying. And when we got into our room she actually broke down. It was the first time I'd ever seen her cry. It was actually kind of shocking, because, to be perfectly honest, I never thought I'd see a day when she'd shed a single tear, let alone have a complete mental breakdown. Although she didn't cry for very long. She just ranted about people being ‘ungrateful bastards’ while sobbing for a few minutes before reigning herself in.

I sat across from her on the floor giving her a gentle look and just listening. When she finally stopped she just looked away shamefully, “I'm sorry… I should have my act together by now… I guess not, though…”

“Iris…”

She cut me off, “I'm fine now I swear…” She continued averting her gaze.

I pulled her face to look towards me, “Iris you're not fine…”

She gave me a desperate look. She paused for a moment, “I… I…”

I pulled her into a tight hug after she couldn't finish her sentence, “Iris… You're very strong… I admire you for that… I love you for that… Over the past month and a half you've proven that you're strong a hundred times over… But just because you're strong, that doesn't mean you're fine… Even gods and goddesses aren't above succumbing to stress…”

“I know…” Her voice cracked.

“You better… go take a bath… it's been a long morning…”

(«^»)

After a moment of sitting in our room in silence, I took a deep breath and headed into the living room where Yalina was reading letters. Without even looking up, Yalina greeted me, “Oyaneh, Aurora… is Iris doing any better..?” She spoke with the slightest hint of worry.

“A little. I had her take a bath so she could blow off some steam.”

Just a quick note on my gift. I can see the future from every perspective simultaneously in a small area. I can also now hear what's in the future. So, before Yalina even thought about suggesting it I yelled in shock, “What do you mean I should help her blow off some steam?!”

Yalina looked up at me, with a subtle grin. “That gift of yours is something else… I mean you should go help her out with that. I know you'd be lying if you said you haven't thought about it.”

I blushed furiously, “Exactly what are you implying?!”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. I'm just saying if she needs to calm down there's better ways to tame a beast than just throwing some water on it.” That grin on her face looked so damn innocent.

But the invisible wink and nudge were so blatantly obvious that I really had to wonder just how old Yalina had to be to be able to keep a completely straight face in that moment.

She wasn't off mark either… it's not like I hadn't thought about it on a few occasions…

I gave her a hard stare, cheeks still a bright pink. I then marched up into our room without another word, Yalina’s laughter only fueling my shame.

I opened the door, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to do.

Only to be greeted by a truly, terrifyingly wonderful sight. By that time I was already running on instinct alone. I closed the door behind me, and took a small moment to breathe.

Iris stood there giving me a blank look. It was the first time I'd ever seen her naked, so I probably ended up staring for far longer than I should've.

She looked at me blankly without a single word. She was beautiful. Although to be fair, the way aura affects us makes every citizen of Paradox naturally so. She was somewhat lithe. Although, it was then that I realized why we had a succubus for a daughter. Still though, those pure black eyes and hair painted against her ghost like skin was something I never paid much attention to until I saw it in full. Even if beauty was worthless in our world because of its commonness, the particular way Iris was beautiful was special to me. Not necessarily in a perverted way… it was just something I didn't fully cherish until that moment.

Slowly I went up to her, and wrapped my arms around her neck pulling her into a kiss…

I'll die of embarrassment if I describe the rest… I'll let you fill in the blanks…