Dark Fate, Chapter 283 (Patreon)

Chapter 283 – Lilith

(Harem Lounge, Royal Palace, Ceres)

Talia, ran her hand over her belly as they walked into the ‘Harem Lounge’, as they liked to call their set of chambers, separate from their Master’s rooms. A couple months into her pregnancy, she knew she wasn’t showing, yet, and magic and the System helped reduce the unpleasant side-effects like morning sickness. Something she was most thankful for.

As they stepped into the hub area of the lounge, Talia looked at the way it was very much designed with an eye towards having a large group of women rooming together, making it feel like a dormitory, almost. She had to admit, having an area that was just for the girls, off limits to everyone without express permission, was a luxury she had not expected years ago, when her Master branded her after the Initialization started. She grinned at the thought that even their Master, the King of Ceres and Emperor of the Ceresan Empire, had to ask his harem’s permission to enter these rooms.

Orinona looked around the central hub with great interest. “Fascinating design. Central lounge area, and looks like tiers of rooms along the sides? And you’re saying that your Master doesn’t come in here unless a majority of the women currently in the hub allow it?”

“Yes,” Talia nodded. “There are sixteen rooms so far, eight on each level, but expanded spaces allow us to grow that, if we need to. Currently, there are only thirteen of us who have rooms here, plus the children under a year old. Let me make introductions.”

Out of the current residents, the visiting delegation had already met Talia, Hibari, Rachel, Shalaevar, Ahshala, and Harahel, and they obviously already knew Mhyrsha. Then, there was Sazama Yuyu, the summoner, and her daughter, Ayako, as well as their Master’s military aide and Chief of Staff, Slave-Lieutenant Estella Ferranti. After that, there was the group from the Mercurial, including the pilots Isis ‘Goddess’ Saliba and Lelia ‘Heretic’ Carollo, the Marine, Gloria Leoz, and Yi Ming, along with her son, Tai.

Harahel’s Greater Infernal Angel daughter, Hadriel, was playing with Aura Moonchild and the younger Lilith. Aura wasn’t a resident of the Harem Lounge, but had a standing invitation to visit, especially when she brought the younger Lilith to play with the other children, as she had today.

Mhyrsha chuckled as Vyllan squirmed in her arms, trying to get to where Lilith and Hadriel were playing. She set him down, since his wings were still too weak to let him fly, and looked at her mother. “Master likes to pull bits of wisdom from different sources to help with running his empire. He’s read and reread a book called the Art of War, but also takes some guidance from a couple satirical lists of rules on the human internet. After all, despite being jokes, the rules do have a point to them.”

Hespa, the Ascended Gorgon, turned to look at Mhyrsha. “Oh? What kind of wisdom do these jokes have?”

Hibari grinned, and said, “Most pertinent for this space would be the ‘Evil Overlord List’, and number 48 on that list, ‘I will treat any beast which I control through magic or technology with respect and kindness. Thus if the control is ever broken, it will not immediately come after me for revenge.’ And while we aren’t beasts, Master makes sure we know how much he values us. Especially when he takes us to bed.”

Aura chuckled as she stood up, since Hadriel was now playing together with Vyllan, and they were quickly joined by Ayako and Tai. All four were under a year old. However, all of them were high-Tier races at birth, which meant that even the littlest ones were already crawling around. That much was to be expected, honestly. The System understood that children born from high-Tier creatures were likely to be of interest to predators of all sorts, and so the development of their motor skills got a quick boost, at least allowing them to move enough so that they could try and hide, instead of being completely helpless. That was just how things went.

Lilith moved next to her mother, looking at the new adults with eyes that clearly saw more than a normal person’s might. When she spoke, her words were far more advanced than one might expect for someone who was only a couple years old. “You are Auntie Mhyrsha’s family, yes? I saw you coming, but I did not know it was today.”

Aelina, the Greater Atlantean, took one knee to lower herself to the younger Lilith’s height, and said, “Your ‘big sister’ told us that you have been having trouble with the Seer ability, and seeing the futures that might have been from her original timeline. Is that right?”

Lilith’s eyes went pure white as she looked into Aelina’s eyes, and her voice became different as she spoke, like her older self was speaking in chorus with her. “The day when what is green turns red, a secret woman shall bring forth bloodshed of blue blood and the destruction of culture. As soon as what is green turns red, a broken heart shall mark the fall of a false god. The day the red lady reveals her true self, a forced marriage shall bring forth an age of magic and the rise of a new god.”

Everyone froze, even the children, who might not have been able to understand anything, but could hear their sibling speaking strangely. After a moment, Lilith’s eyes returned to their normal color, and she looked at everyone. “What? Did it happen again?”

Aelina’s eyes flashed to Aura, and she said, “Again? Has this been happening often?”

“Not often,” Aura said as she ran one hand across her daughter’s hair, comfortingly. “But this is the third time in the last six months. It is a separate issue from her seeing alternate futures and histories of other timelines when she spends too much time with her older self. While her System access hasn’t been unlocked, the basic [Appraise] skill says she’s a Feytouched Succubus, and we managed to do divinations and determine that she has the Seer title, like I do, and like her older version does, but we obviously couldn’t divine her class, since the System hides that more thoroughly before the unlocking.”

Aelina looked back at Orinona, and said, “What do you think, Ori?”

The Greater Succubus took a breath, and said, “First, so that everyone is on the same page, I should say that my class is of the Wizard line, while my profession stems from the Scholar line. Saida’s stem from the Fighter and Soldier lines, while Hespa’s are of the Battledancer and Courtesan lines, and Aelina’s are of the Priestess and Healer lines. Which is why Aelina’s first instinct was to ask about how the younger Lilith was doing, and then she looked to me for an explanation of the arcane issues that might lead to a girl who has yet to unlock her System access having such vibrant abilities already.

“With that established, the truth is that, even before a young person unlocks their System access when they reach the System-determined age of majority for their species, there are facets of their race, class, and titles that are known to be in effect long before then. These are mostly passive effects, dietary requirements, or other such things. For instance, Hespa’s little snake-haired children were able to petrify small Tier 1 creatures shortly after they were born, if they managed to hold eye contact for long enough. And little Mhyrsha needed to be around people enjoying intimacy long before it would have been appropriate for her to engage in it herself.”

Aura could already see where this conversation was headed. “So, is it Lilith’s title? Receiving True Prophecies is part of the Seer title, I know, but that doesn’t explain the visions of alternate futures.”

Orinona nodded slowly. “The title would be part of it, but not all. Even with the title, it would be rare indeed for a Seer to have three True Prophecies within the span of months, long before her System unlocks. Glimmers of the near future, or getting good or bad feelings about choices that they cannot explain? These are all common enough for a Seer, at any age.”

Aura nodded once. “I’m familiar with the feelings, as is the elder Lilith. For me, it is like scent leading me one way or another, while the Princess says it is like the floor slanting slightly under her hooves, urging her down the slope. Little Lilith has said the same thing, though I admit I was somewhat surprised how well-spoken she was when she mentioned it.”

“That is another indication,” Orinona said. “She speaks and acts like an adult, rather than a child her age. That, at least, has a clear cause, in the form of psychic leakage from one to the other. You see it most often when someone attempts to clone themselves through temporal splitting. The two individuals share the same soul, which means that, in nine cases out of ten, they also share all their memories, and sensations. Which is obviously extremely confusing when they are in different places, doing different things, holding different conversations simultaneously. Which is why most temporal clones are held in stasis until needed. And while having two of an individual, from different timelines, is very different from temporal splicing someone to make a clone, it is close enough that it can serve as a reference point.”

“I am not putting my daughter in stasis!”

Orinona gestured reassuringly. “And no one is suggesting it. However, this does mean that there is a link between your daughter, and the version of her from the other timeline.” Her attention turned to Lilith. “Have warded spaces helped with the visions?”

“Yes, Granny Orinona,” Lilith nodded, using that far-too-adult tone. “While I have not any System abilities to detect when I am behind wards designed to dampen psychic or temporal phenomenon, I can say that I can feel when I’m inside one, like putting on a coat. It isn’t uncomfortable, but you can hardly forget you’re wearing it, either.”

Orinona seemed to have taken psychic damage from being called ‘Granny’, so Aelina took up the responsibility for continuing the conversation, asking, “When did this begin? Have you always had the detailed visions from your sister’s timeline? And the prophecies?”

“No, Granny Aelina.” Aelina, expecting the comment, barely flinched. “My visions of my other self’s timeline and the prophecies began several months back. As an aside, I learned many more words during that same time-frame, allowing me to speak to you as I am, now.”

“More than just a psychic leak between parallel selves, then,” Orinona nodded. “Did something happen around that time?”

Talia and the others looked at each other, and then back at Orinona. “Well, that would have been around the time that a ship ripped its way out of Hellspace and the captain sent out a psychic scream to the entire system looking for her wife, before Master used magic to scream back and tell her to shut up. Turns out that she was the wife of one of the ship designers Master purchased from the Minion Market, to jump-start the Ceres Royal Navy.”

“A psychic scream that covered the entire system?” Aelina asked, frowning.

Rachel nodded. “The ship was one of those squid-like living ships that can handle Hellspace without too much trouble, and has psychic weaponry. The captain also had some eldritch DNA in her, what with the tentacles, giving her natural psychic abilities. Master used a spell to shout back at her, boosted by the fact that he was in the heart of his power when it happened, so his abilities were greatly amplified.”

“Of course,” Orinona nodded. “And that, combined with the multiple time-strikes in the system, some of which were the elder Lilith’s own doing, most likely combined to create a connection where one would not normally exist. And there’s no knowing whether the young Lilith’s class is the same as her other version’s. If her class is more related to magic, for instance, then that could explain a few things.”

Aura took a breath, one hand on Lilith’s shoulder. “So, what do we do?”

“Now that we know, or at least have an idea of what the issue is, the answer is simple enough. Some basic protection accessories, focusing on shielding against psychic and temporal manipulation should do it. If, as I believe, her latent abilities as a Seer are connecting to the other Lilith’s abilities through the psychic link, then shielding her, at least until she unlocks her system, should keep things from progressing, and may even allow the ‘bleed’ to heal over time.”

“And I won’t turn dumb?” Lilith asked.

Orinona chuckled. “No, sweet child. You’ll keep everything you’ve gained so far, but will not need to worry about seeing more than you are yet ready for.”

“Well, that’s fine, then.”