TRT Chapter 113: Dancing Lily (Patreon)

(AN: I mentioned this yesterday when I posted DDD Chapter 19, but I'll repeat here just in case. There won't be any chapters for TRT or DDD released next week. I didn't have any time to write this past week since I got sick and I work a full-time job. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up.)

(Edited by Radriel7)

I stood at the entrance to Sturm Manor, waving goodbye to the twins as they sped off in their carriage. It was late afternoon now, and the sun hung low in the sky. The wind had picked up. It felt refreshing and cool against my skin. The twins waved back, sticking half of their bodies out the windows. While doing that was dangerous, they were both cultivators. Even if the carriage crashed, I doubted they would suffer too much damage.

When the twins disappeared out of sight, I dropped my hand. A wave of exhaustion washed over me; mental exhaustion that was. Physically, I felt fine. However, dealing with Prince Everard and Princess Evelynn was an ordeal. A positive ordeal, but an ordeal nonetheless. By the ancestors, I thought dealing with their stalker tendencies was bad. Dealing with them as a pair of excitable puppies was even worse.

When I discussed my terms with them earlier, they required constant attention and physical contact with me. I thought Annabelle’s jealousy would flare up, given how much Princess Evelynn touched me. However, that wasn’t the case. I guess she didn’t see the princess as a threat. I mean, there was nothing romantic or sexual about the touches. It was more akin to a puppy seeking attention.

My terms for the twins were simple. I asked them not to mention my “radiant soul” to anyone, including their House. The last thing I wanted was for more people to find out that I was a reincarnated Immortal. If people found out I was a reincarnation from Spirit Earth, that would be bad enough. However, that was still preferable to people finding out I was a reincarnated Immortal. Cultivators, and wizards for that matter, were a greedy and selfish bunch, myself included. They would try to capture me and use my soul for their own ends, and I was too weak to defend myself from everyone.

I also asked the twins to keep quiet about the fact that we knew about their secret; both their divine gift and their dog magic beast blood. The twins, in a rare moment of seriousness, nodded in understanding. While they may have been the magic beast equivalent of golden retrievers, they were still House scions. If House Solaria realized that I knew about the twins, then they would try to silence me. Prejudice against intelligent magic beasts was alive and well in the Solarian Empire, and even House Solaria wasn’t immune to this. If their secret got out, it would result in a massive loss of face for them. That was something I would rather not deal with.

I would have asked the twins to keep quiet about Annabelle’s soul, but that cat was already out of the bag there. Speaking of which, I glanced over at Annabelle. She wore a melancholic and resigned expression on her face. I walked over and put my arm around her waist. Without looking at me, she leaned her head against my shoulder and hugged me back.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in English.

“It’s all unraveling,” she said, also in English. “This beautiful, wonderful dream of mine.”

A chill ran down my spine. While her voice was Annabelle’s, the way she spoke reminded me of her previous incarnation. On the surface, the two of them sounded the same. However, it was the subtleties that gave her away; tone, inflection, etc.

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Don’t pretend to be stupid, dear,” Annabelle said. “It doesn’t suit you. You know exactly what I mean.” She pulled me tighter against her. “Once I wake up, this dream will end. You’ll leave me, House Thorne will cast me out as an imposter, and I’ll be all alone again.”

“If you’re dreaming, what does that make this?” I asked. “You talking in your sleep?”

“Something like that, yes.”

I paused, before responding.

“If it makes you feel better, once you do wake up for real, I’ll give you a chance to explain yourself.”

Annabelle, or her previous incarnation, snorted.

“What is there to explain?” she asked. “I committed a heinous crime against you for entirely selfish reasons. You’d be a fool to forgive me, childish crush or not. And I’d think less of you if you did forgive me.”

“Childish crush?” I asked.

“Yes. We were both children when we fell in love, or pretending to be at least, making it nothing more than a childish crush.”

I clenched my free hand into a fist, squeezing so hard that my knuckles popped. How dare she dismiss my feelings like this and disregard how much they meant to me? How much she meant to me?

“If you’re trying to piss me off,” I said in a low, dangerous voice. “You’re succeeding.”

“Good,” she said. “It’ll make our inevitable separation easier.”

Her breath hitched towards the end of her sentence, letting me know that she wasn’t as unaffected or dispassionate about this as she pretended to be.

“You make it sound like a foregone conclusion.”

“Isn’t it? Once I wake up for good, everything will change.”

Annabelle pulled away from my hold, before she stepped in front of me looking down. She wrapped both of her arms around me and pressed her head against my chest. I didn’t return her hug. My arms hung against my sides.

“Until that happens,” she said. “Let me enjoy this dream a little while longer. Love me, and let me love you. That’s all I ask. I know I don’t deserve it, but please grant me this one request.”

I clenched my jaw.

“You’re a coward,” I said. “Asking me something like this without looking me in the eyes.”

“Yes, I am,” my beloved said. “I don’t want to taint your memory of Annabelle.”

“So, what is she?” I asked, clenching both of my fists this time. “Another mask?”

She shook her head.

“She is me, and I am her,” my beloved said. “The same way you are Gabriel Sturm and Brandon Norwood as well as Celestial Thunder.” She tightened her hold on me. “However, once I wake up, she will disappear. She will be nothing more than a memory.”

“I refuse to accept that,” I snarled.

“Your refusal will not change reality,” she said.

She pulled back and looked me in the eyes. If she hadn’t maintained a hold on me, I would have taken a step back. Her eyes were jade green, the color of Dancing Lily’s eyes, instead of Annabelle’s brilliant blue eyes.

“Goodbye, my love,” she said. “We’ll see each other again soon.”

Her eyes changed to blue, before she slumped forward. I caught her before she could fall to the ground.

“Oh, my head,” Annabelle said with a groan, clutching her head. “I feel like someone attached a fire hose to my brain and put it on full blast.”

I held her in my arms, unsure of how to react. Earlier, I had suspected that Annabelle was Dancing Lily’s reincarnation. However, there was a difference between suspecting something and knowing it. Hearing Dancing Lily’s voice come from Annabelle’s mouth and seeing her eyes peering at me from Annabelle’s face confirmed my suspicions beyond a reasonable doubt. To call my feelings complicated would be an understatement.

“Gabe?” Annabelle asked. “You there buddy?”

She reached up to caress my cheek. Despite my confusion, I didn’t flinch away from her touch. I hungered for it all the same, despite knowing that Annabelle and Dancing Lily were the same person. I wasn’t sure if that made things better or worse.

“I’m here,” I said.

Annabelle looked at me with a worried expression on her face.

“Good,” she said. “We don’t have much time left, so let’s enjoy it while we still can.”

As I gazed down at Annabelle, I wondered how much she knew. Was she completely ignorant of Dancing Lily’s presence, or was she aware of her previous incarnation, deep down?

“Gabe?”

Fuck it. I had a beautiful woman in my arms, the only woman I had ever loved. We could deal with the messy stuff later, when Dancing Lily…woke up.

Instead of responding to Annabelle with words, I kissed her. Unlike my usual kisses, this one was filled with desperation and longing. Annabelle kissed me back with just as much fervor.

Without a word, I picked her up and headed back inside Sturm Manor, where we made love for the rest of her stay here.

***

Later on that night, long after Annabelle had left, I found myself atop the roof of Sturm Manor. Despite the warm day earlier, or maybe because of it, the night felt cold. A swift breeze made it even colder. I gazed up at the night sky, looking at the stars as they twinkled against the black void between worlds. There were a few clouds, but otherwise, nothing interrupted my view. The moon was nowhere to be seen. Luna was dark and absent tonight.

I held a bottle of Rosewood Wine in one hand. Given my cultivation level, regular alcohol had no effect on me. I needed alcohol infused with mana if I wanted to feel the slightest buzz. And after what happened earlier, I needed it.

Down below, I heard people going about their business in Sturm Manor. Servants finished with their chores, while Father worked in his office. He returned to Sturm Manor some time after Annabelle had left. The mythril business was booming. While that helped with our family’s finances, pulling us free from the depths we had fallen, it also increased Father’s workload. Kaylee and I helped out as much as we could, and Father had aides to help him, but the bulk of the burden fell on his shoulders. I made a mental note to mix up various teas to help him relax and ease his stress.

It didn’t help that Mother was still in the Icefall Region, fighting off the beast tide. Her absence left much to be desired, and all of us missed her greatly. Roland in particular. Gabriella’s presence helped mitigate that somewhat, but nothing could replace a mother’s touch.

Aurora flew out of my dantian in her dragon form and wrapped herself around my shoulders.

“Want to talk about it?” she asked, her voice tickling my ear.

“What’s there to talk about?” I said.

“Gabe,” Aurora said in a reproachful tone. “I can feel the turmoil in your heart. While I may not know as much about cultivation as you do, I know that letting something like this fester will only lead to an inner demon.” She nuzzled my cheek. “Talk to me. Speaking about it can help. If nothing else, you can give voice to your feelings.”

I sighed. Aurora was right. Instead of dealing with my emotions like the reincarnated Immortal that I was, I instead acted like a moody teenager; sulking on the roof and drinking to avoid my problems.

“What’s there to talk about?” I repeated. “The woman I love is the reincarnation of Dancing Lily, the person who I believe implanted a Ghost Phoenix Lily seed inside of me.”

“How does that even work?” Aurora asked. “She implanted a Ghost Phoenix Lily seed inside of you, but was also that very seed?”

I snorted.

“Pulling something like that off isn’t that difficult, if you know the right techniques. My guess is that she created a clone, and then killed herself to turn into a seed again. Ghost Phoenix Lilies are still phoenixes. When they die, they are reborn. However, instead of becoming a newborn chick or an egg, they become a seed again. The clone must have implanted Dancing Lily’s seed inside me and then pretended to be her so that no one would notice anything amiss.”

I shrugged, before taking a pull of wine. The mana infused alcohol burned my throat as it went down, before settling into my stomach and warming me up.

“Of course, this is all speculation on my part, but it makes the most sense given what I know,” I continued. “I saw Dancing Lily on the day that Celestial Hound stabbed me in the back. There was no time for her to die and implant herself inside me, unless she did it after I died. I suppose that’s possible.” I shook my head after thinking about it for a moment. “No. Knowing Celestial Hound, he would have never let that happen. He trusted Dancing Lily even less than I did. Even if he betrayed me, he would have never let her defile my corpse.”

Aurora didn’t respond right away.

“Does it matter that much?” she asked. “You’ve known for a while that Annabelle was a Ghost Phoenix Lily, or that she had the soul of one at least. You also suspected that you were her original host, before she possessed her current body and took it over. Does this really change anything? She’s still the same Annabelle, just as you are still Gabriel Sturm. She just also happens to be Dancing Lily, the Immortal Ghost Phoenix Lily.”

I took another pull from the wine bottle, more to give myself time to think than anything.

“How would you feel if you found out that the person you loved, the very first person  you loved romantically, turned out to be someone else altogether?” I asked. “What if you found out that they tried to kill you? Not just that. What if you found out that they tried to kill you and consume your entire being? Could you forgive them?” I took a deep breath. “When I just thought that Annabelle was Dancing Lily’s daughter, I could forgive her since it wasn’t her fault. She was just as much a victim of circumstance as I was, or so I thought. Knowing that she was the perpetrator…It’s a betrayal of the highest order. The worst part is, I don’t even know if the Annabelle I know is real, or if she’s just a mask Dancing Lily created. What if it was all just a lie?”

Anger, pain, sorrow. A maelstrom of emotion raged inside my heart, and it wouldn’t die down any time soon.

“No,” I said. “The worst part is that I still might forgive Dancing Lily, even knowing all of this. The betrayal, the lies, all of it. That’s how much I love her.” I let out a bitter laugh. “Maybe Dancing Lily is right. Maybe this is all just a childish crush on my part, and I’m clinging to her because she is my first love.”

Aurora shook her head.

“No,” she said. “I can sense the love you feel for her. It is deep and strong. Maybe Annabelle is nothing more than a mask, an illusion created by Dancing Lily, but your love itself is real.”

“Fat lot of good that’ll do me,” I muttered.

Aurora unwrapped herself and floated in the air in front of me, transforming into her human form as she did so. Concern filled her eyes.

“Let’s focus on something else,” she said. “Tell me about Dancing Lily, back when you knew her on Spirit Earth. What was she like? Why would she do this?”

“Does that even matter at this point?” I asked, scoffing. “It doesn’t change anything.”

Aurora shrugged.

“True,” she said. “However, perhaps it can help us figure out what to do going forward. We’re in this together, remember? I can’t make an informed decision unless I know the full context. Besides, intent matters. The ‘why’ is just as important as the ‘what’ in this situation.”

I didn’t respond right away. Instead, I drank the remaining wine before tossing the bottle aside.

Fuck it. Why not? It wasn’t like I had anything better to do at the moment.

“Dancing Lily and I first met at the Golden Dragon’s palace,” I began. “He had just appointed Celestial Hound as captain of his royal guard, and threw a banquet in celebration.”

When Celestial Hound and I first became Immortals and ascended to the heavens, we were nobodies. Back in the mortal realm, we were at the apex; the biggest badasses around. However, in the heavens, we were just like everyone else. Everyone there had either been born a deity, or achieved it through their own strength like us. We weren’t special.

I found it rather refreshing. After centuries of basking in peoples’ awe and worship, I had become a regular person again. Well, a relatively regular person. I liked it, since it meant I could fuck off and do my own thing without anyone bothering me. Celestial Hound, on the other hand, found the situation frustrating. He always cared more about status and wealth than I did. Not for his own sake, but for mine. My bleeding heart tendencies left a deep impression on him, back when we lived on the streets as mortals, so he worked hard to protect me from myself.

The first thing he did after we ascended was get the lay of the land, before setting out to make a name for himself. The heavens were just as hazardous as the mortal realm, maybe even more so. There were all sorts of dangers to be wary of. Divine beasts, greater demons, other Immortals, etc. Celestial Hound earned a reputation as a great warrior by combating these threats and protecting the realm. I tagged along, since he was my best friend and helping him furthered my own training. He took the fame and accolades, while I increased my strength. Everyone won.

The Golden Dragon heard about Celestial Hound and invited him to become a member of his royal guard, the Golden Claws. My friend accepted and we moved into the heavenly palace. As before, Celestial Hound worked hard to improve our circumstances while I supported him in the background. It took him a relatively short amount of time to rise through the ranks and become captain of the Golden Claws.

“The Golden Dragon hired Dancing Lily to perform at the banquet,” I continued. “She was the most highly sought after courtesan in all the realms. Men, women, and others paid astronomical amounts just for a few minutes of her time. That was how popular she was. Her specialty was dancing, but she was a master at everything. Poetry, calligraphy, music, conversation, etc. On the surface, she appeared to be the ideal lady, the epitome of elegance and grace.”

Aurora raised an eyebrow at me.

“On the surface?” she asked.

“Yes. Deep down, Dancing Lily was cold, calculating, and cruel.” I shrugged. “I don’t blame her for that, it was in her nature after all, but I never liked how she pretended otherwise. To everyone else, she appeared to be noble and virtuous. Me? I saw her as the predator she really was. She used people to get what she wanted, whether it was wealth or influence or power. When she no longer needed them, she tossed them aside.” I sneered. “And yet, despite this, the fools kept coming back for more; including the ones she had tossed aside. Several people ruined themselves for her sake, yet none of them learned their lessons. I found it sickening.”

I went to take another drink of wine, before remembering that I had finished off the entire bottle. I sighed in disappointment.

“So, how did Dancing Lily fall in love with you?” Aurora asked. “Was it love at first sight? Given her feelings for you now, that makes sense.”

I barked out a laugh.

“Oh, ancestors no,” I said, chuckling. “I wasn’t worth her time. Celestial Hound was the one in the spotlight while I remained in the shadows. Almost no one knew about my true strength, and I preferred it that way. It was less of a hassle. As a result, everyone thought I was a leech riding on my friend’s coat tails. This pissed Celestial Hound off, but it never bothered me. As long as I could train and grow stronger, the opinions of others meant nothing. We were happy, and that’s all that mattered to me.”

That said, there were downsides to keeping one’s strength hidden. Few people treated me with respect, and many tried to use me in order to strike out at Celestial Hound. His rapid rise to power earned him many friends, but even more enemies.

I also lost out on opportunities that I otherwise might have gotten if I had revealed my true strength. Hiding one’s light came with benefits, but also drawbacks. For me, the trade off was worth it but I was a weirdo. Not everyone preferred to be dismissed and disregarded.

“My point is,” I continued. “I was a nobody and Dancing Lily treated me as such. She didn’t mock me or try to make my life miserable, like many others did. You see, I wasn’t worth the effort. That’s how little she regarded me. Instead, she just ignored my existence. I preferred it that way, and it allowed me to observe her from a distance. Otherwise, I might never have known about her true nature.” I looked up at the stars. “She earned her reputation as the most coveted courtesan, I’ll admit that much. Her dancing was quite literally divine. It was as if the entire universe had been created just so she would have a stage to perform on. That’s the best way I can put it.”

Aurora floated closer to my face, wearing a smug grin.

“Oh?” she said. “It sounds like you had feelings for back then, even before she became Annabelle.”

I scowled at my familiar.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “There’s a difference between admiring someone as a person and admiring their abilities.”

Aurora’s grin widened.

“You say that, yet it sounds like you paid an awful lot of attention to Dancing Lily. Why would you do that unless you had feelings for her?”

“Of course I paid attention to her,” I scoffed. “She was a potential threat. Paying attention to her was a matter of safety and survival.”

Yet, despite my attempts to deny Aurora’s words, I could help but feel uneasy. I mean, yeah. I was more aware of Dancing Lily than most everyone else in the heavenly palace, but that just illustrated how dangerous she was. If I’d had feelings for Dancing Lily back then, I would have known about it. The mere thought was absurd. Letting someone like her have that much power over me? I saw what happened to those who fell under Dancing Lily’s spell. I wasn’t that foolish.

“Anyway,” I said before my familiar could tease me again. “The point is, Dancing Lily and I had little to do with each other at first. Our paths almost never intersected.” I frowned. “There was that one time where she tried to seduce Celestial Hound, but gave up when it became clear he had no interest in her.”

That had really pissed me off. I almost went on a rampage to keep her away from my best friend, though Celestial Hound didn’t need my help in the end. He fended her off with ease, though he gave me funny looks for a while after that. I’m not sure why. Maybe it had to do with all my ranting.

“So, what changed?” Aurora asked. “How did Dancing Lily go from ignoring your existence to falling in love with you?”

My mood took a turn for the worse as I remembered the events leading up to my rebellion against the Golden Dragon.

“The Golden Dragon was a petty tyrant who pretended to be a kind and benevolent ruler,” I said. “He enjoyed having power over people. That said, he was a decent leader. I’ll give him that much. The realm prospered under his rule, petty tyrant or not. However, the Golden Dragon himself was just a terrible person overall. He also spoiled his children rotten. They were…unpleasant, to say the least. The worst among them was his youngest daughter, Effervescent Moonbeam.”

Aurora gave me an incredulous look.

“That wasn’t her real name,” she said. “I don’t believe you. You’re making that up.”

“It was and I’m not. In her defense, she lived up to that name. She was cheerful and enthusiastic. However, she was also a spoiled brat. I don’t think she ever set out to be deliberately malicious, but she never cared about how her actions hurt others. All she cared about was getting what she wanted. At some point, this included Celestial Hound. She sought to make him hers, but never succeeded. Like me, Celestial Hound was never much interested in romance or sex.” I frowned. “This led to rumors about the two of us being lovers, which I found annoying. Apparently two men can’t spend literal eons living together without people making assumptions about their relationship.”

Aurora snickered.

“I mean, it’s possible that Celestial Hound was in love with you,” she said. “What if he was batting for the same team, so to speak?”

I mulled it over, before shaking my head.

“No,” I said. “Even if Celestial Hound was gay, and I have my doubts about that, he wouldn’t have been in love with me. It was unnecessary. The bond we shared was deeper than that.” I gestured. “It was like the bond you and I share. We aren’t in love or sexually attracted to each other, yet that doesn't diminish our importance to one another.”

“Aw,” Aurora said, nuzzling my cheek.

I felt her love for me through our bond, and I shared my own for her. We stayed like that for several moments before pulling away from each other.

“To get back on track,” I said. “After Celestial Hound’s repeated rejections, Effervescent Moonbeam did what all spoiled brats do and threw a tantrum. When that didn’t work, she grew spiteful and started to harass him. I did what I could to help, but there was only so much I could do.”

That was one of the few times where I hated my lack of influence and power. The fact that it was my own fault made it even worse. When it became clear that Effervescent Moonbeam wouldn’t let up, I set out to rectify my mistake. However, by that point, it was already too late.

“It culminated in Effervescent Moonbeam accusing Celestial Hound of raping her,” I said in a quiet voice. “No one believed her, including the Golden Dragon, but she was a princess of heaven. No one refuted her words. The Golden Claws arrested Celestial Hound and the Golden Dragon sentenced him to death.”

I don’t know when or why this story went from me telling Aurora about Dancing Lily to the story of how I ended up rebelling against the Golden Dragon, but my familiar didn’t seem to care. She listened with patience. It felt good to talk about this with someone. There weren’t many people I could open up to about this, so it was nice to have her by my side.

“The Golden Dragon knew Celestial Hound was innocent,” I continued. “Even if he wanted to indulge his daughter, there were other ways he could have punished my friend without sentencing him to death. However, I believe Golden Dragon started to view Celestial Hound as a threat, so he decided to get rid of said threat.”

Aurora’s expression hardened.

“You’re right,” she said. “He was a petty tyrant. Sentencing someone to death over something so flimsy is a scummy move.”

I nodded.

“I begged the Golden Dragon to spare Celestial Hound, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. Nothing I said or did changed his mind.” I clenched my fists until my knuckles popped. “So I took matters into my own hands and raised my sword against the ruler of heaven.”