Morrigan looked out the window of her study and at the sun. Or rather, where it should have been. There was no sun at all, but merely a proxy. Standing near her was an azure haired boy of ten years of age, with a handsome face and an athletic build. He had a constant expressionless face, sighing occasionally.

“So, I assume you… used up all your mana.” She said.

“Yeah. And where am I, and who are you?” Edward asked, glaring at the woman.

“I’m Morrigan, your patron god. Did you forget me?” The woman asked, pressing her hand on her chest.

“No. You aren’t. Which one are you and which one did I meet?” Edward asked, looking out the window and admiring the beauty of the landscape. It was as if everything he was seeing was through a vivid filter.

“So you know. The one you met was Badb, and I am Macha. Do you have a problem?” She asked, answering his face with another still one.

“Not at all. Your presence is calming, unlike the irritating one of hers.” Edward answered, taking a look at the tubes filled with strange colored liquids, glowing in the darkness of the room. “However, shouldn’t you three have blessed others?”

“Do you know of the Moirai?” Macha asked, tilting her head.

“Yes. Sisters of Fate from the Olympic pantheon.” Edward answered.

“If one of them ascends to the One God, the others will fuse with the ascendant into a superior being to what any other couldn’t even dream to become. The same goes for us.” She explained, still staring at the window.

“Well that is also why we want you to win even more than others, isn’t that right, sis?” A familiar voice sounded out from behind. “Now then, why won’t you give her your blessing. He learned magic and all.”

“So I suppose you will bless me as I get stronger, to not spoil me, am I right?” Edward asked, turning to the nearly naked woman as opposed to the other one wearing a black robe reaching down to the ground and further.

“As expected of my champion. You’re sharp. But you’ve gotta figure it out yourself.” Badb said with a wide smile.

“He is our champion.” Macha countered.

“Tch, tch, tch. You haven’t blessed him yet.” Badb said, looking at what seemed to be her older sister.

“Neither have you.” Macha said.

“I summoned him.” Badb corrected.

“You’re smarter than you look.” Edward said, looking at Badb.

“Well, that is right. I’m smarter than these two since I’ve been living on Earth for a while.” Badb said, producing a comic book from thin air. “And I read more.”

“Get lost!” Macha shouted and Badb complied. She sighed as she walked out of the room.

“May your will aid you in your journey,

Disrupted by none,

And feared by all,

Here stays your faith,

And in you lies ours,

As your patron as per the heavenly decree,

I now bless you with my blade, my shield and my life.”

“Now you are free to go, young one.” Macha said. “May you bring us fame.”

***

Edward opened his eyes, staring at a white ceiling. That was rather strange. He was always met with the ceiling of his master sized bed. The smell of cooking reached his nostrils as he noticed he wasn’t in the mansion. The kitchen was at the other side of the mansion and he could never smell it.

Getting up from the bed, he noticed it was a normal bed. The slight peek at the lightbulb and desk was all he needed to realize where he was. The lack of notebooks on the shelves and his small body resembled his body when that happened.

It was another one of his nightmares, but at least the beginning wasn’t as bad. This was when he was still Theo, and when he still had parents.

“Theo, you’re going to be late from class.” A female voice sounded out from the other room: the kitchen. It was unmistakably his mother. Although he wanted to storm out and hug her, he refrained from doing so.

“Wait… is this… possibly emotion? What in the world?” Theo stared at his hands, tears streaming from his eyes. “It feels like I’m being warmed from inside.”

Tears streamed out from his eyes as he fell to the ground, grasping his chest as hard as possible.

“Why does this hurt so much? It’s, I can’t live with it.” Theo told to himself, the pain and the warming feeling disappearing in but a moment. The tears steamed down his eyes endlessly, obstructing his vision. “No… no… don’t go away. Please come back!”

The emotions had long since been destroyed. This feeling was different from the exciting tingly feeling he got after creating Zuaberei Pfil. It hurt. But it was a good feeling. One he wouldn’t mind having from time to time.

“Are you fine, sweetie?” Asked his mother as she opened the door. But what met Theo wasn’t his mother. Or rather, it was, but not the one that should be. It was Flora.

“What are you doing here?” Edward asked. The warming feeling wasn’t here anymore, it was replaced by a scorching feeling, destroying his body from inside out and his hands automatically clenched into fists.

“What do you mean, darling? Are you feeling okay?” She asked as everything went grey. The curious expression on Flora’s face remained as Theo looked around, finding a shady black shadow sitting on the chair next to his desk.

“Do forgive me. That was the closest to the definition of mother I could find in your memories. It seems you don’t remember her, or the face of the girl for that matter.” Several voices spoke at the same time, a male, female and that of a child.

“Is it fun toying with people’s emotions? In a literal sense in this case.” Theo growled, glaring at the man, still retaining the anger from before.

“No no, it’s all you. You just seem to have locked away all your emotions, pain, suffering and even memories.” The shadow said. “I’ve seen many, some who had their homes ravaged and parents murdered before their eyes, some traumatized by certain encounters and even those who knew nothing but suffering in their entire lives. But I doubt I’ve seen anyone with so much grief.”

“Why does it matter to you?” Theo asked, a stern expression on his face.

“Oh, maybe I’m persuading you to join my child in its conquest. Or maybe I’m trying to kill you. Or even I might be able to help you get her back from Belial if you give up.” The shadow said.

“Even if I don’t remember my mother, I surely remember her telling me not to talk with strangers.” Theo said, sticking out his middle finger at the shadow. “And I’ve read my fair share of myths and stories to know that you’re up to no good.”

“So be it. You might have had a chance to become a minor god. Too bad, my child will end up devouring you with no trouble.” The shadow said, Theo’s eyes opening to his new bed and new world, back in the body of Edward.

Was that some kind of messed up dream caused by him shooting his new mother in the stomach and killing her, or was that something far more sinister. The ache in his body prevented him from moving, but from what little he could gather, he was a pre-teen now.

“Finally, goodbye to that child body.” Edward mumbled. If only he could feel those emotions again. He would probably be laughing. It was as if he was intoxicated with feelings as a drug addict would.

As he tried to move his body, it proved fruitless again. The futility would most likely have made him angry or irritated. However, he still had the ability to feel but not to feel emotions. It was as if he could still feel it in a subtle manner.

Then his thoughts landed on the talk with the Morrigna. If what they said was true, then Badb hadn’t blessed him and only Macha did, let alone their older sister from what he could gather.

‘Morrigan is known as a goddess of fate, war and magic in Celtic mythology. If I would place them from weakest to strongest and it would follow the rules of growth, then that meant I would get the blessing of magic. This is most likely due to the strange alchemy lab Macha had.’ Edward thought to himself as he closed his eyes, entering into his mindscape.

It was still the endless blank white space from before, the giant gun in front of him. He felt cold, hot and chilly all at the same time, which was ridiculous. Then again, he felt sturdier as if he could endure anything.

The abundance of mana in his mindscape made him feel like a god, however far that might be from the truth. He created an extremely condensed ball of mana, and unlike controlling it like before, he ordered it.

Edward ordered it to create a fire, and so it did.

The mana started glowing a fiery yellow, a ball of fire the size of his fist appearing over it. Then he ordered it to disperse, the mana simply following it without a problem. Then he assembled it again, turning it into a ball of water. He then decided to try to use it.

He created a giant mass of water, the size of his body and threw it out of his mindscape, his hand moving painfully as he pointed it at a wall, palms facing outwards. As he had expected, a ball of water came out and crashed into the wall, albeit a very small one. Nothing more than a drop.

The conversion was ridiculous. But now he at least knew about it. Just shooting it with the revolver wouldn’t do. Water couldn’t be ignited and shot out, it would just wet the gunpowder. So he pressed it in, turning it into a block of solid water, in other words, ice.

He then realized there weren’t any bullets in the barrel. It confused him, but he shrugged it off as the mana dispersing for him to gain this large amount. He then shot it out, aiming at the wall from before and stared at the result. Not much different from his mana bullet, but it splintered and cracked, turning into a dozen pieces, giving him a great idea.

The mana had the nature of eating away at existence, and would destroy the insides of the mage if they didn’t have magic circuits. If shot at a non-mage, it could most likely pierce clean through their body. But if Edward shot at an armor, which would repel mana and its compositions, then the ice could most likely penetrate through the armor and crack due to the revolver’s peculiar nature of its incredible speed, and would cause some blunt force damage otherwise.

Then he closed his eyes again, gauging his mana. It was at above 90% after two shots, and as such, he thought of another way to employ the mana around himself. That would take time for him to actually think of how he could make it work, but he thought it couldn’t be so hard for someone who was deeply fond of drones in his last life.