Chapter 5: Do I posses a creature called "father"?

Years passed.

Not many.

But enough to make Luna capable of chaos with her own two hands.

Luna was now nine years old.

Which meant she could walk.

This was widely considered a mistake by scholars in the far future.

The Royal Palace of Atlantis had spent nine years learning a valuable lesson.

The lesson was simple.

If Luna was quiet...

Something terrible was about to happen, something so soul shaking history books had to be rewritten and maps redrawn.

The Queen sat within the Hall of Tides.

Dozens of witches discussed trade routes to the Moonless Moonlight Coven, golden shell farming, military deployments to God knows how far in space and political matters that everyone acted as though they understood.

The Queen listened patiently.

Then paused.

"..."

A terrible feeling washed over her.

One she had learned never to ignore.

She slowly looked toward an attendant.

"The Princess?"

The attendant froze.

"..."

The Queen already knew the answer.

"...Gone."

The attendant looked down weakly.

"She vanished approximately forty minutes ago."

The Queen closed her eyes.

"How?"

"Nobody knows."

"..."

A pause.

"Did she take her bubbles?"

"Unfortunately so."

The Queen sighed.

"Then she's definitely planning something."

Meanwhile...

Luna was absolutely planning something sinister.

Unfortunately...

She had not decided what yet.

The streets of Atlantis stretched endlessly before her.

For years she had seen the kingdom from palace balconies.

Today...

She was seeing it properly.

And it was beautiful.

Truly beautiful.

Atlantis was not merely a city.

It was an entire world beneath Neptune's seas.

Gigantic marble roads curved through forests of glowing coral.

Ancient aqueducts carried streams of luminous liquids between districts.

Thousands of magical lanterns floated through the ocean like drifting stars.

Huge schools of colourful fish moved through the city in synchronized patterns.

Some merchants even rode them.

Luna wasn't entirely sure how that worked.

The fish seemed very cooperative.

Massive statues towered above the streets.

Queens.

Heroes.

Witches.

Guardians.

Some were hundreds of meters tall.

Others stretched so high that their heads vanished into the distant blue waters above.

"...Big, what do you think Stefan."

At some point Luna decided to call her most trusted aide Stefan, nobody knew why, she kinda just did.

Stefan saluted.

Luna nodded.

"...Very big...I wonder what would happen if we chip away at the ankles."

Luna donned a mischievous smirk.

A group of children ran through a nearby square.

They laughed.

Played.

Chased floating mana creatures.

One of them stopped.

"...Princess Luna!"

Several others immediately turned.

Within seconds...

Half the square was waving.

Luna blinked.

"..."

Then waved back.

The crowd exploded with excitement.

"..."

"...As you should you worms."

However it couldn't be dismissed her cheeks where slightly rosy with embarrassment.

She continued walking.

The city gradually changed.

Markets appeared.

Restaurants.

Mana workshops.

Libraries.

Public gardens.

Training grounds.

Everywhere she looked there were witches.

Young witches.

Old witches.

Rich witches.

Poor witches.

Military witches.

Merchant witches.

Scholar witches.

Every kind of witch imaginable.

Then Luna noticed something.

"..."

She looked left.

Then right.

Then left again.

"..."

A pause.

"...Hold on."

She looked around the street.

Hundreds of people.

Thousands even.

Yet...

Almost all of them were women.

Luna frowned.

"...Stefan."

Stefan saluted.

"...Have you noticed something strange?"

Stefan continued floating.

His moustache somehow looked thoughtful.

Luna examined the crowd again.

Women.

Women.

Women.

More women.

A woman carrying groceries.

A woman riding a giant seahorse.

A woman arguing with a fish.

A woman selling magical fruit.

Women.

Everywhere.

Eventually...

She spotted a man.

A single man.

He was carrying a large crate.

The moment Luna saw him...

Three young witches immediately started arguing over him.

The man fled for boys must keep themselves safe in these streets.

The witches chased him.

Luna watched silently.

"..."

"...Interesting."

A dangerous thought appeared.

For the first time in years.

A question.

One she had somehow never considered.

She had a mother.

A very nice mother.

A very pretty mother.

A very powerful mother.

But...

Where was her father?

Luna stopped walking.

"..."

The world seemed to pause.

"..."

Stefan floated beside her.

"...Hold on."

A pause.

"...I have a mother."

Another pause.

"...Therefore statistically speaking..."

Yet another pause.

"...I should also have a father."

Stefan saluted absolutely drowning in respect for the words he just heard, for he had never witnessed such genius.

Luna gasped.

"...How have I only just realized this?"

She felt betrayed.

Not by anyone in particular.

Just...

Generally betrayed.

The mission was clear.

Painfully clear.

She pointed dramatically toward the horizon.

Several nearby pedestrians immediately looked where she was pointing.

There was nothing there apart from a fish with a top hat.

A pedestrian commented-"he does look rather dapper, I'd except nothing less from the princesses eyes"

The others shook their head in agreement, meanwhile the fish felt a little bashful.

"...Stefan."

The bubble saluted.

"...We're going to find my father."

Stefan somehow grew a second arm from his first arm just to salute twice as hard.

The adventure had begun.

Unknown to Luna...

Several pairs of eyes had been watching her all morning.

Hidden among the crowds.

Watching.

Waiting.

Calculating.

One figure lowered a spyglass.

"...That's definitely her."

Another nodded.

"The princess."

A third looked nervous.

"Are we really doing this?"

The first smiled.

"The reward is enough to buy a mansion every day for the rest of our lives, so yes we will do this."

Elsewhere...

Far away, at least 5 miles I don't know...

A certain government official reviewed a report.

The document contained a single picture.

Luna.

The man smiled.

"...Excellent."

He stroked the picture.

Then he signed his name on the document.

Back in Atlantis...

Luna had absolutely no idea any of this was happening.

She was too busy investigating a food stand.

The vendor smiled.

"Princess."

Luna pointed at a pastry.

"How much?"

The vendor blinked.

"...You don't need to pay."

"..."

"...Excellent, I'd except nothing less."

Luna walked away.

Ten minutes later she had somehow acquired seven pastries.

Three drinks.

A flower.

A fish.

And a small decorative statue of a demon which is highly illegal to possess.

"...People here are very generous."

Stefan saluted.

Eventually...

A group of older children approached.

Friendly smiles.

Friendly voices.

Friendly intentions.

Or at least...

The appearance of friendly intentions.

"Princess Luna?"

Luna looked up.

"...Hello child of larger proportions."

One of the children smiled.

"Are you exploring?"

Luna nodded.

"We know a place that might help."

Luna blinked.

"...Help with what?"

The child leaned closer.

"Finding your father."

Silence, how did they know Luna wanted to find her father? Luna didn't care though.

Luna's eyes widened.

"..."

"...You what?"

The children smiled.

Luna immediately pointed at them.

"...Stefan."

The bubble saluted.

"...I think these people might be useful."

Far above Atlantis...

Hidden beneath layers of illusion and sorcery...

A formation slowly began activating.

Ancient symbols rotated.

Reality bent.

Space folded.

The children smiled.

"Come with us."

Luna thought carefully.

For approximately 0.3 nanoseconds.

"...Okay."

Far away...

The Queen suddenly paused during a meeting.

Her expression changed.

"..."

Every witch in the room froze feeling a disturbance.

The Queen slowly stood.

"...What is this power?"

Nobody answered.

Because at that exact moment...

A Void-Collapsing Array activated beneath Luna's feet.

Light exploded.

Space twisted.

The ocean vanished.

The city disappeared.

The world folded inward.

Luna blinked.

"...Pretty cool, I'll take ten."

The children smiled.

The formation completed.

And then...

They were gone.

Four billion kilometers away...

For the first time since her reincarnation...

Luna felt air.

She opened her eyes.

No ocean.

No Atlantis.

No Neptune.

Only an unfamiliar sky stretching endlessly overhead.

Luna looked around.

Then looked at Stefan.

"..."

A pause.

"...This isn't where I parked my kingdom."

Stefan saluted once again impressed by his lieges immense intellect.