Published at 16th of February 2024 2:25 pm

Chapter 2.63 The Lady And The Tortoise

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For the first time since he started spirit walking, Nox found himself in the dreamscape with more than one person. Pudge had yet to join them, but his practiced guidance resulted in Lillin and Aria joining him at Ygg's base.

The seasons had changed in the dreamscape. In the material world, Ygg's leaves never changed color. However, in the spiritual realm, yellow, orange, and brown rained from her branches. The wind carried a biting chill. It left Aria rubbing her hands over Nox's. Lillin appeared unaffected. More importantly, she looked different in the dreamscape.

Nox struggled to put his finger on the change at first. The Lillin he knew had pale, milky skin whose shade never changed despite the weather or situation. It was one constant about her despite the endless changes following each feeding. She never blushed or flushed. Her skin didn't break out in hives or freckles. They had spent the semester break mainly in the sun, and everyone had tanned except Lillin. However, in the dreamscape, there was a rosiness about her. The mimic-woman appeared more human than her usual self.

All colors were more vivid. Nox could smell Aria's natural aroma and the scents of the flora around him. He also felt the breeze on his skin. Goosebumps pickled his arms as a shiver pulsed through his body.

“This is different,” Nox stated, struggling to find the correct descriptors for the situation. “It feels real.”

“I've never had this lucid a spirit walk before,” Lillin commented.

“Is it you or Pudge?” He asked Aria. The noblewoman appeared too stunned to answer. She raised her hand, catching a falling leaf. It crunched and crumbled when Aria closed her fingers.

“It must be Pudge,” Lillin said. “They both have charm-derived magic, but Pudge has done this a fair bit before. His and Kris’ guidance must be strengthening our connection to the spirit realm.” She paused, studying Aria’s expression and body language. “You need to tell her.”

“Tell me what?” Aria snapped out of her daze. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the old friends.

“Lillin isn’t human,” Nox said. He had planned on sharing the truth with her after the semester ended, but the timeline now felt arbitrary. Given the stage of their relationship, it was about time she found out. “The real Lillin Grey died the same day as my father.”

The noblewoman’s eyes narrowed. She had claimed to get a weird feeling from Lillin when they first met, but the feeling had faded with time—probably because of the two feasts since. Aria still disliked spending time alone with Lillin and always kept Nox between them as a buffer. She thought it had more to do with personality or something more arcane. Aria had neither correctly guessed nor asked Nox about Lillin’s secret, so he didn’t enlighten her either.

“I think it would be more accurate to say that I’m not completely human,” Lillin added. “I’ve grown pretty attached to my shell. I doubt I could move on to something new even if I wanted.” She ran her fingers along her left forearm as she spoke. The act almost appeared subconscious. “We’re intertwined. Bonded even.”

“I suppose that’s true.” He thought back to the many spirit walks they had shared over the past handful of months. “Your dreamscape and spirit world body is supposed to be a representation of who you are and how you see yourself. “You haven’t once presented as anything but your current form.”

“Shell?” Aria raised an eyebrow. She looked Lillin up and down. “Are you a ghost? Or a demon? I’ve read about instances of them possessing bodies on the verge of death and getting stuck in them.”

“No. I’m not anything as broken or vile.” Lillin almost sounded offended.

“Lillin started her life as a mimic,” Nox said. “She was an amorphous blob of flesh occupying a chest when he first met. I helped her transition into the old Lillin Grey.”

“You let a mimic consume your friend?” Aria appeared horrified and sounded disgusted.

“Airborne toxins had already fried her nervous system and caused brain death. I wasn’t going to make it through the godfall alone. A mutant mimic offered me a contract, and I took it. I helped her flee the dungeon, kept her hidden, and feed her periodically. In exchange, she keeps me alive and shares a fraction of her strength gain with me. Every feeding makes her more human.”

“And what do you feed her?”

“Criminal mages and rift lords,” Nox answered.

“My meals don’t have to be criminals,” Lillin added. “That’s just how Nox likes it. I ate all the assassins the Gedges sent after him. Now, he sets me on criminals who do just enough to avoid the authorities or are out of their reach.”

Aria frowned, putting the pieces together. “You ate the first Oakheart heir.”

Neither Nox nor Lillin confirmed the accusation.

“Since our relationship is progressing and you’re aware of what you call my darker side, you might as well know this, too.”

“How many people?” Aria asked.

“It’s somewhere in the high thirties.”

“Is there anything else I need to know?”

Nox glanced at Lillin, wondering if there was anything else he needed to come clean about. “Nothing comes to mind. I think that’s all the skeletons in my closet.”

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“They’d count as skeletons if they were old and mostly forgotten.” Aria sighed. “This is more akin to a fresh and festering corpse.”

“Will this mark the end of our relationship?”

She shook her head. “It would’ve been if you told me this a few months ago. I’m in too deep now. You’re giving me a lot to think about and consider, though. This relationship…” Aria looked Lillin up and down. “I was uncomfortable with your relationship. The apparent lack of boundaries concerned me. It makes sense now. Although, this is a different kind of discomfort.”

Otis interrupted the conversation. The gremlin bounced and glided through the clearing and to them. He flicked Aria’s dress and lightly pulled Lillin’s hair before landing on Nox’s chest. The distant sound of children laughing filled the air. It toed the line between mirthful and chilling.

“Looks like your familiar is graduating from coward to trickster,” Aria commented.

“He feels incomplete,” Lillin said.

She held her hands out and beckoned Otis. He hopped through the air toward her, then changed direction and rubbed his fuzzy head against Lillin’s face—Nox wasn’t sure whether the gremlin’s head ended and torso began.

“Incomplete?” Nox raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“I’ve felt Otis grow with each of your ascensions.” Nox often forgot that Lillin’s mimic powers extended well beyond her physiology. She didn’t just have excellent mana detection. Her senses extended into realms he couldn’t quite comprehend. Mimics naturally lacked all the human sensory organs except a tongue. Yet they were among the most fierce ambush predators known to delvers. “The books say he should’ve grown much more, but I assumed he was weak. Now, I see that’s not true. He’s just brimming with potential and mana but lacks direction and guidance.”

“I’m guessing I’ll need to dedicate a planet to him and seed it with his spiritual fragment to take him the rest of the way.” Nox sighed. “This is my last attempt. If we can’t befriend Bi Xi tonight, I might do just that.” Otis chirped and leaped off Nox’s shoulder again. He bounced along the floor around Ygg’s base. Then, Nox spotted a familiar figure through the falling leaves. “Speak of the tortoise, and he shall appear.”

Bi Xi appeared in better shape than when Nox last Saw him. Not as much sludge stained his legs. The centipedes seemed to be asleep. Only maggots and beetles squirmed on the shell or scuttled between the holes in them. He almost looked restored to the same state as when Nox first encountered him.

The tortoise watched passively as the trio approached. His ancient eyes looked calmer, sharper. The discomfort Nox felt, usually radiating from Bi Xi, felt less than usual. No old powerful jaws snapped when Otis approached. However, Bi Xi stiffened when Nox and Aria were within six feet of him.

“Hey there, buddy.” Nox kept his voice calm as he smiled at the tortoise. He didn't need to kneel to get at eye level. The spirit stood taller than he had during their previous encounters. He was several times bigger. “You look a lot healthier. Are you—”

The dreamscape shook, and the tortoise hissed. New cracks spread across his shell, and the angry red lines parting his scaly skin brightened. The centipedes emerged from his shell again, and they were almost as thick as Nox's wrist.

“What's going on?” Aria demanded, clinging to Nox. “What is wrong with that thing?”

Lillin silently walked past the pair, unfazed by the trembling. Bi Xi snapped his jaws but she still didn't stop. The tortoise retreated a couple of steps but stopped when Lillin held out her hand. A portal no bigger than her palm manifested, floating above it. Bi Xi’s pained eyes focused. He tilted his head almost like a confused pup, studying Lillin and her phenomenon.

“That's right,” she said. “I'm not human.” Lillin frowned as Bi Xi opened his mouth and sharply inhaled. Instead of retreating, he took a step toward her. “Hold on a moment.” She glanced back at Nox. “He recognizes this magic. Are you familiar with this spell, Bi Xi?”

“He recognizes spatial magic?” Nox's heart rate increased as his mind pondered the possibilities. The mystery of Bi Xi felt obvious suddenly, and he silently berated himself for noticing the similarities earlier. He studied the red-brown sludge trickling down the tortoise's legs.

The ancient spirit allowed Lillin to touch him. She ran her free hand along the shell while Bi Xi sniffed the portal and then licked it with his long, discolored tongue. Another tremor shook the dreamscape, and everyone but Lillin stiffened. She caressed Bi Xi's head.

“Tell me how to make it better, and we will,” Lillin said. Her icy voice reminded Nox of frostfire. The mimic woman was furious. “Nox and I will ensure the bastards torturing you pay for their crimes. If it comes to it, I will devour them all for your sake.”

“I'm sorry it took us this long to figure things out, Bi Xi,” Nox said, feeling ashamed of his stupidity. He took pride in his intelligence and sharp wit but had missed all the signs and hints right in front of his face. “I've brought you someone who understands you better than any human ever will. Just tell us what to do.”

Multicolored streams of light flowed from the tortoise’s mouth and coiled around the tiny portal Lillin had conjured. The dreamscape vibe as the two arcane existences combined and the portal grew. Nox felt the magic reverberate and reach beyond the current realm's boundaries. Something grand and magnificent was at work. Lillin didn't know how to use her newest magic, but Bi Xi appeared intimately familiar with it. Most curious of all was the pink glow radiating from Aria’s chest.

“Will you tell me what in Yggdrasil’s name is going on?” Aria demanded. She complied when Lillin beckoned her over. Then Aria’s eyes widened when the mimic-woman grabbed her wrists and pressed her hands on the tortoise's shells.

“Bi Xi didn't come here because of me or Nox. It was you that attracted him.”

Aria's mouth fell open, and she appeared at a loss for words for the longest time. Meanwhile, the portal continued to grow. “I remember now,” she whispered. “I've been seeing him for almost a year now. He's been appearing to me whenever I indulge in the tea.”

“But you don't often consciously spirit walk,” Lillin said. “So you don't remember what you experienced.”

“Who is he? Why does he want me?”

“Your charisma makes Bi Xi feel safe. Nox and I terrified him, but your presence made him feel reassured. So he trusts you to get him the help he needs.”

“I—I don't understand.”

“Bi Xi is the world turtle. He’s the titan who once carried the world on his back and paddled through the cosmic seas.” Lillin’s calm tone appeared to soothe the spirit. It rubbed its head against her palm, continuing to feed the growing portal. “Or so the stories say, at least.”

“That's Terrastalia, Aria,” Nox finally said. “Terrastalia reached out to you for help. Because of our increasing closeness, he's been appearing to me, too. I thought he was just a spirit of the land and was hoping to contract him.”

“But why me?” Aria sounded dumbstruck. “I'm not a delver or even a decent mage.”

“Because he trusts in the person you are,” Lillin said. “ I suppose you're a better person than the rest of us.”

“Not a lot of decent people get drunk on Spirit Caller’s Tea, I bet,” Nox said as an external force pulled them out of the dreamscape.

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