(Part 3) Reincarnated as an Elf Mage’s Cell

“That’s right, bro, Lye is our host. Bet neither one of us ever imagined being inside her this way, eh?”

Cutting off his chuckle, Rukara hard slaps the back of Zerk’s head. The force of the recoil makes him rub his head to minimize the stinging sensation.

“This isn’t the time to be crass, Zerk. Look at Lyrielle’s face, you are embarrassing her!”

“Come on Ru, it was just a little joke between bros. I’m not married anymore, so I’m free to make those kinds of innuendos just like the old days. Let a man live, will ya?”

“Time and place, Zerk, time and place. You shouldn’t make things awkward for Lyrielle! At least wait until she can’t hear you, is that too much to ask?”

“It’s fine, I’m not offended at all…I’m just a little self-conscious of speaking with my tongue sticking out of my mouth like this. So much drool is leaking and it’s hard to contain, so…could we continue the conversation from my hand instead?”

Lifting her left hand up to the tip of her tongue, Lyrielle graciously offers her hand as a transportation service. The trio of cells nod at each other, ensuring that they are all on the same page, and cross over together hand in hand.

The very second they landed on Lyrielle’s hand, she closed her mouth and swallowed the build-up of saliva. The swallow was so deep, it was nearly indistinguishable from a roaring waterfall.

“Rukara, Zerk, and now Kaden. Our entire party is reunited again after so many years, I-I can’t believe that I’m making contact with you once again. I-I thought I’d be all alone forever, guilty of outliving my human companions by centuries, but…but…you’re all here again. Oh how I wish I could hug all three of you just like before!..s-sorry.”

With every word she spoke, Lyrielle risked succumbing to her tears, but she fought back nevertheless. However, this was a losing battle with an inevitable victor.

Now, she sobs as little tears fall from her eyes. In unison, without the need to say a word, her three miniature friends quietly wrapped themselves around her pinky, “hugging” it. Eventually, Lyrielle’s sobbing comes to a natural end and she regains control.

“...thanks. Sorry for getting so sentimental, I never was this way back then.”

“Time changes people, but it never distorts our bond. We will always be the Halo party, and I will always be your charismatic leader!”

“But now even you are one of my cells, no? Wouldn’t that make me the de facto leader now? I could even change our name, right?”

Kaden’s puffed out chest deflates, unable to withstand the sharp needle that came from Lyrielle’s mouth. He thuds onto her palm, weakly acknowledging the reality Lyrielle casually pointed out. Lighthearted laughter fills the air.

“Speaking of party-related matters, we should discuss the dynamics of our new circumstances. I’m completely out of the loop, so I’ll need everyone to fill me in. Lye, you are still our magic expert, yes? Does this kind of situation seem familiar?”

“Hmm…well, I am familiar with the concept of reincarnation, though that is beyond any magic that I know. Did you all speak with a god in the afterlife who did this to you?”

“Nope, I don’t recall anything happening between my death and reincarnation. Rukara? Zerk?”

The twins take a moment to look at each other, shrug, then shake their heads in sync.

“The chances of the three of us from the same party all reincarnating into the same thing around the same time at the same place is absurdly low. Something caused this, and I want to know what it is. I mean look at us, what kind of new lives are we supposed to live? We can’t just simply go on like normal.”

A still silence filled the bathroom air all-the-while, everyone’s minds were hard at work brainstorming to varying degrees of efficiency.

“Well…maybe…”

Cutting through the silence, Lyrielle’s voice attracts all attention towards her–all other pondering was abandoned.

“Do you have any ideas, Lye? Please say it, anything would help!”

“On your death bed, I…I said that you all would forever be a part of me. I know it sounds silly to suggest that a figurative phrase like that would result in your reincarnation, but…”

“No no no, that’s far from silly–that has to be our answer! Your words basically wished for this to happen, like a magical spell. Perhaps some special magic hidden deep within you from your elf bloodline awakened. You truly are powerful!”

“Not only does she have powerful magic, she does it while looking just as beautiful as she did 60 years ago despite being the same age as us! Why didn’t I get reincarnated into an elf? It’s not fair.”

“Aw come on, Ru, cheer up. You’ll always be my adorable little sis.”

Zerk pats Rukara’s back in hopes of consoling her–to no avail. Instead, she rolls her eyes.

“We came out of mom at the exact same time. I’ve told you to stop arbitrarily making yourself the older one. If anything, it should be me since I’ve always been more mature than you.”

“Very debatable. I don’t think you really want to go there, Ru.”

“Oh yeah? How about we vote? Lyrielle, Kaden, which one of us should be the older twin based on maturity? Be honest.”

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable pressure, Kaden and Lyrielle take one look at each other, then nonverbally agree to avert their eyes away. Rukara face palms while Zerk triumphantly crosses his arms.

“...seriously?”

“To be fair, you are halting our more meaningful conversation with this…pointless topic. I think we should get back on track, who knows when we’ll get another chance to speak with Lye like this again.”

“Right…I won’t try to argue with that.”

Rukara’s voice sinks low, completely deflated. Zerk says absolutely nothing, but his cheeky smile does it for him.

“Anyway, now that I know how we ended up like this I feel more at ease. However, that still doesn’t give us an answer to our new purpose in existing. We aren’t humans anymore, heck, we aren’t even human cells–we are cells that belong to an elf’s body. We can't act as though we are the Halos, that is simply not our reality anymore, as much as it pains me to admit.”

“...but Kaden, I don’t think the answer is as complicated as you seem to think. You all may have your memories of your previous life, but you are my cells in this life, so just live inside my body as expected of a cell. Since you are sentient unlike the other cells in my body, we can still be friends.”

“And friends help each other no matter what, which means that we can take care of Lye’s body from the inside much better than anything else, bro!”

“Hmm, I get it, it’s like we are her guardians now. I don’t mind that role. After all, Ze and I are quite used to doing that anyway–from the outside, of course.”

Lyrielle enthusiastically nods in agreement to the twins.

“Uh-huh, that’s right! My body is your home now, so please treat me as such. You don’t have to ask me for permission to do anything, or feel awkward for any reason; you are cells now–my cells!”

Knock knock

“Um, Ms. Lyrielle? Are you still in the bathroom? It’s almost time for our training and I was hoping to relieve myself beforehand…”

A voice coated in politeness and respect seeps through the bathroom door and hits Lyrielle directly in her heart. Her positive energy now extinguished by guilt, she speaks frantically.

“C-coming, please give me a few more seconds, okay?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“That voice…Lyrielle, are you really–”

“Yep, I fully retired from adventuring as a mage and I’m now teaching private lessons to aspiring mages, mainly the descendants of all of you. My current student is indeed your youngest granddaughter, Kaden. Eden has grown so much since you last saw her–she’s like a new person!”

“And so am I, haha. Well, don’t let us stop you from living your life–right now we need to live ours.”

“Yeah, let’s go hang out in her boobs! I always wondered how those things worked from the inside–owww, damn it!”

The moment Zerk committed to uttering that sentence, his fate with his sister’s backhand was sealed. Rukara not only slapped the back of his head, but followed up with a punch from her other hand to complete the two-hit combo.

“I told you, stop being so crass! We may be her cells now, but she is still a lady, so be considerate for god’s sake, Ze!”

“But she just gave us permission to do as we please–we’re just cells, genderless cells who can behave somewhat like humans.”

“Well I won’t allow it!”

“Whatever…”

Realizing that his weak retort would get him nowhere, Zerk gives up, surrendering his autonomy to his sister. Lyrielle clears her throat.

“As much as I’d love to continue to spend time with you all, I must leave before my student has an accident on herself. Or worse, hears me talking to myself, greatly embarrassing both of us. We can use my magic to speak telepathically throughout the day–hang out wherever you want inside of me in the meantime, okay? Just stay inside and out of sight until we’re in private, please!”

Lyrielle’s words rapidly flowed out of her mouth, making it a challenge to fully process what she said at once. Before even one of her three cells could ponder a response, Lyrielle opens her mouth, stretches her tongue out, licks her entire hand clean, and finally swallows as she hurries out the bathroom.