Consequential Truths

What was that just now?

A silence fills the building. I look down at my unconscious opponent and take a deep breath.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” The announcer’s voice booms obliterating the silence. “We have our winner! The Feral Elemental! Yamakuma Lydia!” He finishes.

The crowd is still shocked in silence. If bets were made, lots of people probably just lost lots of money.

Just as quickly as they fell silent, the crowd now erupts into various sounds. Most being yells of fury or sadness.

“You little shit!” I hear one harsh voice screech at me in particular.

-- -- --

“I’m back.” I say to Hawthorn while I stumble back into the gladiator’s locker room.

“I can’t believe you did any of that!” The apprentice exclaims in relief. He runs up to me and hugs me as if he is my older brother. “Don’t ever do that again!” He takes a step back and looks me in the eyes before adding “Okay?”

“No promises.” I joke with a smirk.

“You little trickster.” He replies with a smile of his own.

-- -- --

I look up at the clear night sky. A full moon with so many stars. I never really thought about it until now, but the starry sky looks so different than the one I used to see. I wonder where the solar system is comparatively to this one.

“So this is where you are.” Nir’s gruff voice takes me away from my thoughts. I turn my head to look at the man. “Your roommate was worried about you.” He explains walking up to me his footsteps crunching the snow beneath them.

“I don’t know why.” I reply looking back up at the beautiful sky. “I’m older than that kid anyways.” I mutter quietly.

“What do you mean by that?” The man inquires standing next to me. Damn it, I vocalized that thought… The man shivers in place to warm up. A groan escapes my lips.

“Well the cat’s out of the bag.” I grumble in frustration. I turn to look at Nir, the snow crinkles underneath my moving feet. “I’m what the gods call a reborn.” I begin gauging the master’s reaction.

“A what?” Nir asks with a confused expression. “The gods?”,He adds.

“I died and one of the gods gave me a second chance. To fulfill my potential.” I say hoping that might clear things up.

“Okay, so you died.” Nir repeats slowly. “And one of the gods brought you back to give you a second chance.” He finishes connecting the dots.

“Correct.” I reply crossing my arms.

“Wait!” He exclaims pointing at me. “It can’t be Skadi because she cursed you.” He says. “She called you Eris’ child!” He nearly yells. “Indra’s balls!” He exclaims as realization smacks him in the face. “Eris brought you back to life. Then you joined a guild under Skadi’s guidance. No wonder she cursed you.” He says much more calmly than I would have expected.

“It’s more complicated than that, but you’ve put all the pieces together.” I respond. As much as he seems like a lovable idiot and treated as such by the other masters, Nir is actually quite sharp it seems. “Skadi is the one who possessed journeyman Ming to cast that anti-magic spell on me.” I explain before I begin to shiver.

“How do you know that?” Nir inquires rather aggressively, almost like I offended his own mother or something. Before answering, I stop shivering and create an orb of flames in each hand. Better than just rubbing my arms together for warmth.

“You said it yourself when we originally talked about that incident, ‘Only a god could possess someone without leaving a trace.’ Eris wouldn’t do it since she knew what would happen if I was struck by something like that. As would Skadi.” I explain in defense of myself. “Then there’s when Skadi talked to me while I was falling asleep back during the camping practical.” I mutter.

“You cannot be serious.” The man responds still filled with anger. “That doesn’t mean Skadi did it!” He continues. “Not to mention, Skadi talked to you in a dream?” He inquires with concern.

“It was at the end of a memory and the beginning of a dream, but yes.” I answer his question. “I’m fairly certain she would have killed me then and there if she really wanted to.” I explain.

Nir looks at me dumbfounded. Understandable since this is a lot of information to take in all at once. A silence surrounds us. Only the hissing and sizzling of the flames make any noise between us.

“Did you see what happened during my practice hunt?” I inquire the master before dropping the flames onto the ground. My own anger is warming me now as well.

“I didn’t.” He answers. “Bergenia and the guild master did.” He adds.

“I berated them for not killing it immediately.” I say. “I ended that creature’s life because they were just going to let it slowly bleed to death.” I explain as my anger begins to well up about that incident once more. I growl to let out the anger. “Then they-” I stammer looking down at the ground. “Then they got cursed because of me.” I finish, my vision blurring from tears forming.

“Hey, it’s not your fault.” Nir says putting his arms around me in a hug.

“It is.” I reply. My gaze meets the master’s before I continue “I’m the adult and I need to take responsibility Nir.”

“How old are you?” He finally asks me the most common question.

“I’m older than you.” I reply vaguely. “My roommate literally calls me granny in private.” I reveal trying to lighten the mood. A silence consumes the area once more. The flames continually melting snow is the only audible sound around us.

After a long moment, Nir finally chuckles.

“Let’s get you back to your room.” The master says. “Old timer.” He jokes adding a signature bellowing laugh. I regret this decision even more now.