Liria stared. It was all she could do to keep the shock and disbelief from showing on her face.
Her first thought was that this had to be a trick. An elaborate and very realistic illusion the Lich King was showing her to make her let down her guard. For someone claiming to be so "perfect" and "beyond trivialities like mortal emotions," that pompous skeleton was disturbingly good at preying on human weaknesses.
Therefore, the smart and reasonable thing to do here would be to erase him from existence before he could attack her first. Move on with her life. No one would fault her…
She should stop lying to herself.
Even at the height of his power, the Lich King had never been able to toy with her mind. Here in this altered past, the odds of a fledgling Serivhal being able to one-up her was nonexistent.
Liria? Aethon's voice echoed inside her mind.
What happened? Seralyth joined him only moments later.
Wonderful. She had been so shocked that she failed to stop the emotion from resonating through their shared connection. Now, how could she deflect without lying?
I… I'm fine. She reassured them. The world is just… so vast and full of surprises.
Oh? Do tell. She could almost see Vaelir's teasing smile.
This was embarrassing. Liria grasped the emotion like a lifeline, forcefully shoving it into their shared connection.
Not. Talking. About. It. She said sulkily.
With an understanding chuckle, her siblings' voices faded.
How long had Liria been standing there, lost in her own mind? A minute?
It was a minute too long. She could already see the cautious hope fading from the young Serivhal's eyes. The resignation and self-loathing taking its place.
Liria made her decision. If this was an illusion or just plain, good old acting, then it was truly inspired work. Serivhal deserved to get one over her after going this far.
Her siblings were only a thought and a teleportation spell away; she could afford to take the risk.
Liria crossed the remaining distance between them.
The circling wraiths charged at her in a screaming wave of malice. They melted against the barrier of light and life that she summoned.
The necromantic fire flared, threatening to consume her. She put it out with delicate precision, carefully manipulating the streams of light so that she wouldn't hurt the child.
Then they were finally face to face, with nothing in between them.
Awe had returned to the young Serivhal's gaze. Hope too, no longer cautious but desperate. As if grasping at a final lifeline.
Truly inspired acting, if this is what it is. Liria thought with a curious sense of detachment.
Her mind was still a mess. She still had no idea what to think, what to feel, about this ridiculous twist of fate.
Give me back my final confrontation, damn it! Give me back my absolution! She silently raged against an uncaring world.
Her time was quickly running out. She had to make a proper first impression. What would her siblings do in this situation?
"Goddess," the child spoke again. No longer a question this time, but a tearful plea. "Please save me."
The raw emotion in his voice was almost heartbreaking. And wrong.
Serivhal, the Lord of Ashen Eternity, should not be speaking to her like that. Liria wanted to scream.
"I am no Goddess, child," she said instead, in her best approximation of Aethon's solemn and serious voice. "And only you can save yourself."
She knelt, placing them at the same eye level, looking directly into his vivid green eyes. She arranged her facial muscles into a clumsy imitation of Seralyth's gentle smile.
"But I can help you get there," she reached out. "Will you let me?"
The young Serivhal looked back at her with a dazed expression on his face, as if he was looking at something far too bright.
He clasped her hand.
The necromantic taint inside him was still a wound in reality, the simple contact burning like acid against her skin. Corruption clawed at her very being.
Liria's benevolent mask never faltered.
The child was not Serivhal.
At least that was what Liria told herself, for the sake of her own sanity.
Other than the unmistakable necromantic taint, they had nothing in common.
Not even their name.
The child had been living on the run for as long as he could remember, moving from town to town, surviving by begging and theft. Whenever his power slipped free, people fled—or drove him out with stones and fire. His parents had abandoned him at some point, leaving him with nothing but a faint memory.
Seris. The child's name was Seris.
Did he modify it later in life? Liria wondered. To make it sound more impressive and menacing, maybe? Whatever happened to being "beyond mortal weaknesses," my dear Lich King? Vanity is a very mortal conceit.
For some reason, the image of the Lord of Ashen Eternity practicing his poses and speech before a mirror flashed through Liria's mind, and she had to bite back a strangled laugh.
No. That's ridiculous. I must be losing my mind.
They walked through the forest as the light softened toward dusk. The air was cool and damp, carrying the scent of new growth. Somewhere in the canopy, birds called to one another, their lively song a stark contrast to the death and decay that had surrounded Seris before.
Seris walked just a little ahead of Liria; he was skipping. She still found the sight surreal.
What.
His childlike wonder was infectious, like a little boy experiencing the world for the very first time.
She recalled the grim scenery when they first met. The grotesque undead. The gray, lifeless wasteland stretching in every direction.
Liria's grudging smile died on her lips. Was that how his world had always looked?
Seris was looking at a simple flower now, a look of almost religious awe on his face. He reached for a white petal, and the flower immediately wilted in his hand.
Seris wilted along with it. His body shrinking in on itself. Tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.
Liria hurried to his side, patting the back of his hand soothingly even as her fingers burned from the contact.
"There, there," she said. "It's okay."
The flower bloomed under her touch, and the religious awe was back on Seris' face. Directed at her this time.
Liria felt goosebumps crawling across her skin.
This is so wrong.
She needed to distract herself with something. Anything.
She took in his large green eyes, took in the delicate features that had been hidden beneath layers of grime, and tried to picture how Seris would look if he were healthy. Without the dark circles, the sallow skin, the overly gaunt face.
She had wanted to fix those immediately, but their mana was too incompatible. Rejuvenation was out of the question, and even a simple cleaning spell made the child wince in pain. In the end, Liria had to wipe his face by hand, without the convenience of magic.
Liria did a double take. Something must be wrong with her mental reconstruction.
A healthy Seris would look quite… pretty.
The Lich King. Serivhal. Pretty.
Too pretty.
Her mind short-circuited.
Had the Lich King been a Lich Queen all along? The notion was absurd. Serivhal had clearly been…
Oh.
He had been a skeleton covered in thick robes, with a raspy and inhuman voice.
It struck Liria for the first time how little she truly knew of her enemy. Besides the methods to counter his spells and tactics, her knowledge of him stopped at: Mean skeleton goes RAWR. Civilization went BOOM.
Huh.
She really was losing her mind, wasn't she?
Seris was worriedly looking up at her, and Liria had to resist the urge to just check.
Her mind was going strange places in its efforts to cope.
Liria made an executive decision. Until she knew better—until she was comfortable enough to simply ask—Seris was a boy. Probably. The universe owed her at least that much certainty.
"Big sister?" Seris inquired of her, the words seeming to echo on repeat inside Liria's mind.
She had been called many things throughout her life. Little Sister. Great Lady. Princess. Even Goddess. But Big Sister was a first, and it did something strange to her heart.
The child tilted his head to the side, an adorably concerned expression on his face. Despite the gaunt face, despite everything, the gesture was… cute.
The world around her dissolved into white noise, Liria's overheated mind finally throwing in the towel.
Do not think. FEEL. She chanted in her head, not caring that she sounded more than a little unhinged.
Forget the past, forget the future which once was, forget the present. Seris is simply cute, and Cuteness is Justice.
For one blessed moment, Liria could finally look at her ward and see only a worried child. She should probably be worried that the nonsensical mantra had worked.
Liria gently patted his head.
"I’m fine, Seris."
The smile she directed at him was tired and unguarded.
"Just sorting out my thoughts."
His stomach chose that exact moment to growl loudly, but Liria no longer recoiled at the sight of his blush, no longer wondered if a twisted mind hid behind that seemingly innocent face.
Seris was simply… cute. And first, she would give him a proper meal.
Baby steps, but it was still something.
Liria should never have looked down on "baby steps."
She stood before a freshly killed boar, its bristled hide still smoking from the impact of her spell, feeling particularly useless.
Hunting it had been simple enough: scan the forest with the World Tree’s root network, pick a target, ask the trees to tangle it in their roots, then shoot it with a Magic Missile. Done.
But Liria had never cooked in her entire life, and she had no idea how to dress and skin game.
Seris was looking up at her with his big, soulful eyes, making her feel even more flustered. Who knew that feeding a hungry child would be so difficult?
She hesitated for a beat, then resolved herself.
Vaelir? She called the First Ranger, trying her best to keep her mental voice nonchalant and casual. Any tips on prepping a boar for cooking?
An aborted snicker was the only answer she got back.
Damnit.
The shadows next to her stirred, and her brother emerged, looking far too amused.
"Don't you have a Guild Alliance to manage?" she groused. "What are you doing here?"
"How could I possibly miss this?" Vaelir grinned at her. "A hunting trip on your first day? I must say, Liria…"
His voice trailed off. The carefree smile faded. Vaelir had noticed the child hiding behind her.
Liria calmly waited for his judgment.
It would have been nice if he'd contented himself with guiding her through meal preparations from afar, but this outcome wasn't bad either.
She couldn't put off Seris' introduction forever, and Vaelir would make for an excellent test case.
He was the most easygoing of her siblings. Through this meeting, she’d be able to gauge just how badly they might react to the child’s presence.
His Perception was also higher than hers. If Seris had been deceiving her this entire time, she trusted that Vaelir would notice.
Liria absolutely knew what she was doing.
Probably.
That child is an abomination.
Vaelir's voice rang out in her mind, angry and tense. Liria was grateful that he at least had enough tact not to say it out loud.
He is an innocent. She levelly countered, meeting his eyes without flinching. Vaelir’s brows furrowed before he turned his gaze upon the child.
Seris tried to duck his head behind her back, and Liria almost felt bad as she stepped aside and gently pushed him forward.
"Seris," she coaxed softly, "I’d like you to meet my older brother, Vaelir. Say hello."
She could feel the child shaking under Vaelir's impassive scrutiny. Her brother's gray-green eyes, the color of distant hills, were colder than ice.
For a long awkward moment, no one spoke.
Liria placed a comforting hand on Seris's shoulder. She ignored the way Vaelir's eyes twitched. Yes, touching Seris hurt her. And yes, her brother had noticed. But sometimes, sacrifices must be made.
Her touch gave Seris courage—or at least the strength to pretend. His trembling eased. The hunched shoulders straightened with effort. If not for his clenched, white-knuckled fists, his bow would have been quite graceful.
"Hello," he said carefully, as if reciting something memorized. "It’s an honor to meet you, sir."
He immediately turned back to Liria, beaming. "Did I do well, big sister?"
He looked so much like a puppy waiting for praise that she almost indulged him. But correcting mistakes was her role as his guardian.
"You have to wait for him to answer first," she gently chided.
"Oh." Seris’ face fell. He reluctantly turned back to Vaelir, his pouty glare telling him to get on with it.
Her brother sighed.
"Nice to meet you too, kid."
Vaelir agitatedly ran a hand through his dark hair. He still did not look pleased, but at least the blatant hostility was gone.
Which meant that Seris was probably "safe." Relatively speaking. As safe as someone afflicted with his "condition" could be anyway.
To Liria's surprise, she felt relief. Just a few hours ago, she had wanted the child to be "evil" so that she could end him with a clean conscience. The thought now filled her with shame.
Talk to me, Liria. Vaelir's voice sounded unusually serious and subdued inside her mind. You've been acting oddly ever since you first woke up. We did not ask because we wanted to wait until you were ready to confide in us.
He fixed her with a piercing stare.
But this, I cannot let go.
Why are you with a child tainted by the essence of a Dead God?
Liria let out a resigned sigh. So her siblings had noticed. At least she never lied.
Thank you for waiting. She imbued the thought with all her sincere gratitude. All her love and longing.
She had to stifle a smile at the conflict on Vaelir's face. The way his eyes softened despite his best attempts to maintain a stern expression. She truly was blessed with a wonderful family.
I need time to sort out my thoughts. I'll tell you everything soon, I promise. Liria reassured him. Just know that Seris is my mission. I woke up in this era to prevent that child from going down the wrong path.
Hmmm. Vaelir pondered over her words. Did you receive a divine revelation?
Close enough. Liria hedged. She absentmindedly patted Seris's head. The child stopped looking back and forth between her and Vaelir in befuddlement. He leaned into her touch, giggling.
It once again struck Liria how surreal her situation was. What was she even doing to the young Lich King?
Meanwhile, Vaelir was giving her a very unimpressed look.
Your story better be a damn good one, little sister. He admonished her.
Just don't have a heart attack when I tell you. She shot back.
He chuckled at that and turned towards the boar, pulling up his sleeves.
"So. My helpless baby sister needs her great and majestic older brother to show her the ways of the world, huh?" Vaelir teased her. The solemn First Ranger was gone, and he was once again just her silly brother.
"Shut up." Liria grumbled. Internally, she let out a breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding in.
One sibling down, only five more to go.