Legacy of the M'Zee Chapter 18 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

So, I'm not a hundred percent sold on this chapter. I'm still not sure where this is all going, and how it is all going to work out. I'll try to do my best to make everything seem natural, but it's not going to be easy. I don't think I write relationships well, but that could just be my Imposter Syndrome acting up. Tell me what y'all think of this chapter, and how everything flowed!

In other news, my wrist is doing better from Wednesday, but I managed to pull the muscle on the left side of my neck. That plus two birthdays (my youngest and mine) this week plus Easter made me not get as much writing as I wanted. 

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

I stood still, frozen by the display of affection from the princess of the kingdom I’d been reborn in. I glanced sideways and found Jamila was frowning at me, but Vaya was beaming, which just left me more confused. I looked at Aleks and said, “Why?”

She pulled me to my feet then leaned into me, speaking directly into my ear, “You treat me like a person. You are good looking, strong, powerful, but mostly, you like me for me.” I looked at her, and she smiled into my eyes. “Everyone I have ever interacted with has treated me like the princess of the kingdom first, a woman second if they ever acknowledged me. You, you saw me, supported me, liked me, not the princess but me. I know you love Vaya and Jamila.” She let go and stepped back, looking at the ground in shame. “If, if you don’t,” she paused, gulping and obviously in pain. “I am sorry. This, us, this is inappropriate. I should not.”

Hanna had stopped her mad dash after Aleks when she jumped into my arms, then slowly backed away, a complicated look on her face.

I stepped forward and enveloped her in my arms. “I’m sorry,” I said, then I pulled her head into my shoulder. A bit of Wood Aether flowed from me to her, enhancing her healing by a small amount, the only healing technique I could use. I felt Aleks engaging her own self-healing techniques. I could vaguely feel the Aether of a healing pill working on her as well.

I looked over at Vaya with my arms around Aleks, and she smiled and nodded. She mouthed, ‘Love you. Love her,’ to me. Why does my heart desire three young women? I asked myself. On Earth, I truly desired only one. I mean, yeah, I was attracted to a bunch of young women, but I loved Jasmine and only her. Here, I almost feel like I’m being compelled to truly love three different women. I mean, how am I going to give them the attention and care that they deserve? How can I truly meet Jamila and Vaya and Aleks’s needs? Why is love so complicated on this world? Or was it always this complicated, and I just didn’t notice?

I kept my angst internal, pulling Aleks’s head into my shoulder. Only me, the transplant into this world, would complain about holding the affection of the princess, the oldest descendant of the King of the realm. I love Jamila, her kindness, her beauty, her desire to seek the best for everyone. I love Vaya, her drive, her strengths, her beauty, her goal of personifying power and helping everyone around her.

I paused for a bit, then sighed. Light, and I love Aleks, I thought. I love her desire to put everyone else’s needs before her own. I absolutely love her selflessness and how she just wants to help her people. I love how she focuses on me, and the feeling I get when talking to her, that I am the most important person in the world. I’m sure she gives that feeling to everyone that spends hours talking to her, but I still think she’s amazing.

I looked over to Jamila, who stood to the side with Vaya’s arm around her waist. She gave me a big grin while I held Aleks off the ground, though the wistfulness and pain it showed let me know that she wasn’t one hundred percent on board with a relationship between myself and Aleksandra. Even with those thoughts, though, I could tell she was more happy than sad when looking at the closeness between myself and the princess, over and above the feelings between me and Vaya.

Why is life and love so complicated, I thought. Back on Earth, I didn’t have the same thoughts I had about Aleks, Vaya, and Jamila as I had about Jasmine. I paused for a bit, thinking back through my feelings and experiences from the past month. Okay, so, I was attracted to Rebecca, the junior in my squadron who was always trying to get my attention. And Melody, my sophomore apprentice for the training officer role. Life was always this complicated, only back on Earth I couldn’t, wouldn’t, act on my attraction, while here it seems to be encouraged. Is that okay? Do I act on the morality of this world, versus my old world? Am I still who I was, back then? How much is this world changing me? How much has it changed me?

I looked over to Vaya while I held Aleks off the ground. She grinned and nodded, more resingened than happy. Jamila seemed sad and ecstatic. Both of their reactions to Aleks’s leaping into my arms left me confused.

While I comforted Aleks, Lilianna and Bridget cut out the Core of the level six crocodile, and Xiao, Ming, and Bridget sliced off the scales from the Beast. They dumped the level three meat, then Jon and Lea started to cook the crocodile's meat as they and others cut it off. The smell of level six meat cooked to exquisite perfection by Jon and Lea made my mouth water.

I started to walk towards the cook fire, smelling the amazing meal cooked by my friends, only to be distracted by the accent of lilacs that Aleksandra’s perfume put out. She was still wrapped around me, her arms around my neck and her leg around my waist. Aleksandra flat out refused to let go of me. “You’re okay,” I said calmly, “There is nothing else around to hurt you.”

“Everything wants to hurt me,” Aleks sobbed into my shoulder. “Even my friends. So many people I thought were my friends, only to find out they worked for my father, or worse, Duke Camilo. They only care about holding onto power, and would love to trample through me to consolidate theirs.”

“To get through you, they’d have to move through me,” I said. “And every discussion I’ve had with the King only serves to solidify my political power. If they try to take your place, to strip you of your birthright, I will fight for you. Know and trust in that.”

“Everything is so complicated,’ Aleks sobbed into my shoulder.

“That’s life,” I said calmly. “All we can do is our best, and your best is more than sufficient.”

“He is right,” Vaya said, sitting down beside us. She reached forward and rubbed Aleks’s back, and slowly the panicking princess calmed. Jamila came over, carefully balancing four plates of food, cooked crocodile seasoned with Wood Plums and a side of Earth Potatoes and Sharp Asparagus.

“Thank you,” Aleks told her, taking the plate as she released her death grip on me. Aleks tried to smile up at the young woman, but her smile faltered when she looked into her eyes. “I am sorry. I did not mean …”

“I know,” Jamila said. She frowned at Vaya too, “I am not used to this either. I can tell your affections are real, and that is the only reason why I am even entertaining this.”

“Well, first off, we needed to tell you all about our discovery,” I said.

“Discovery?” Milenna asked, not even trying to pretend she wasn’t eavesdropping.

“Two weeks after we entered, a Tower of Trials will become available in the center of the Divine Territory. It seems that it is the main purpose behind the existence of the territory,” I explained loudly.

“Also, we found a trial ground,” Vaya added, then described the location without talking about how to get the reward. “There should be another that is available near where you entered.”

“And the reward?” Aleks asked, her princess face coming to the fore.

“Worth it,” I said. “Though you’ll need to dual-gather with someone to best survive the effects.” I told about how Vaya and I spread the power between us from the pill, while being very careful to not mention how we got it. When pressed, I told them, “If you know how to solve the trial, you will be barred from completing it.”

“What else have you found?” Aleks asked.

We all spent the next hour and a half talking about our discoveries. We pulled the berries and hairy fruits out to share around, and Aleks and Lilianna pulled out a bundle of sugar cane. “Sucking on this enhanced my Metal Affinity,” Lilianna said.

“How’d you figure that out?” I asked.

“Uh,” she blushed and looked at Xiao out of the corner of her eye. “My dad used to bring me (Metal) Sugar Cane when I was younger, and I would spend hours walking around sucking on the sweet sticks. When we fought a Steel Armadillo for these, I knew they were valuable.”

“The improvement is tiny,” Aleks said. “We have ten times this amount packed away. I am hoping Master Narwan will be able to use them to make a better Metal Affinity Pill.”

“We also found this,” Milenna pulled out a massive coconut-like plant. “Rubbing the juices on your body strengthens your skin a little bit.”

“I figured that one out,” Aleks laughed, smiling for the first time since we ran into them. “I was trying to get the thing open when I accidentally split one in half and soaked my face. Afterwards, a branch slapped across my cheek and it did not hurt.”

“Neat,” I said.

“Thank you for your gifts,” Ming said.

“We should work on tempering with another Element,” I said, “and then we can do the Weltreich technique again as well.”

“But I wanted to watch the drama,” Lilianna fake-whined.

I turned and glared at her. “You all, gather and temper. Apparently, we have to set up a privacy Formation and have a discussion without any hangers on.”

“Awww,” almost everyone chorused. Ming and Lea were the only one’s not pouting, though Jon seemed to be hamming it up more than anything.

Ming took out a Beast Core and a Formation plate for it, moving off to the side of where we’d ended up camping and getting everyone else to follow him. He nodded at me, and I mouthed ‘Thank you’ back to him before I cast a dozen runes into the air around us.

“Do you love me?” Jamila asked as soon as it was up.

“Yes,” I said without any hesitation. “I love you.” Then I looked at Vaya, “And I love you. And I love you.” I turned to Aleks. “On my world, polyamory was rare and most often looked down upon. It was expected that you would be true to only one person.”

“Is that why you do not want to have sex with anyone?” Aleks asked.

“That is different,” Vaya said, then gave a succinct summary of my feelings. I smiled at her, happy that she had paid that much attention to my beliefs and desires.

We talked, expressing desires and wants from a relationship with each other. Hours passed, and we hashed out a basic plan for moving forward. “I still worry,” I said after everything we talked about, “that I won’t be able to give you all the attention you deserve.”

“Just give us your full attention when you can,” Vaya said.

“And no more girls,” Jamila said.

“What about Sam?” Aleks asked.

“She’s got a crush on me because I saved her,” I said. “And I do not feel towards her the way I feel for you three.” I gestured, and the layer of still air around us collapsed.

“So, did you get slapped?” Jon asked immediately. I threw a ball of Air Aether into his face, knocking him sprawling. “I will take that as a yes!” He laughed from his back. Everyone laughed, and just like that the tension in the group was shattered. Vaya and Jamila took their leave with a coconut each. Bridget and Jon went a different way into the forest, then Ming and Lea left together.  A series of whistles from Xiao accompanied them. Lilianna, Hanna, and Milenna went into their tent. Once they left, I stripped to my small clothes and cracked open my coconut. A tiny amount leaked, but I managed to catch all but a drop.

I covered every place I could reach, leaving only a small area on my back. “Hey Xiao, can you help me out?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said. “Though I am surprised you did not join your girls.”

“Why didn’t you get Lilianna to help yourself out then?” I asked.

“Uh,” he blushed, then looked over at the tent the girls had retreated to. “I have not brought up my feelings yet.”

“No time like the present,” I said. “Even if she doesn’t reciprocate, you should find out sooner rather than later. You’re going to be one of the most eligible bachelors in the kingdom when we return, and if you really want to be with her, you need to take a chance.” The coconut juice burned where it was spread on, waves of pain surging through me.

“I know,” Xiao said, “but I really like her, and …” He stopped, slopping a generous handful of juices onto my back.

“But you really like her, and worry that she doesn’t feel the same way about you,” I said. “Yeah, I know the feeling. You still need to act on it.”

“Like you acted on your feelings for Princess Aleksandra?” He asked.

“Hey, that one surprised me too,” I said. “Of course, almost everything about this world is surprising to me, so I’m used to it. Turn around.”

I rubbed the coconut water on his back where he couldn’t reach, then took mine out into the woods to finish up tempering my skin yet again. After finishing every bit of my body, I pulled out a knife and cut at my forearm. The coconut’s effect gave a fifteen to twenty percent increase in how strong my skin was and how resistant it was to cutting. I quickly got dressed, and then joined my friends at the fire.

Jamila sat next to me, and then a wave of Aether flowed from her into me. “Hey,” she said, sounding angry. “Why did you not tell us that you were injured! Your forearms are one entire bruise!’

“Uh,” I said. “Because I was letting my body heal with my Aether for better toughening?”

Vaya, Aleks, Jamila, and Hanna were all glaring at me. Jamila gripped my shoulders tight, preventing me from even trying to back away. More Aether flowed from her, and the slightly numb feeling of my arms immediately transformed into burning pain, then pins and needles. The burst blood vessels, damaged muscles, and even a few cracks in my bones were healed over the next ten minutes. “Your meridians are damaged,” Jamila said. “I have started the healing process for them, but only time will really heal them. At least, until I can learn the right techniques.”

“That was amazing,” Hanna said, crouching next to my arm. “You healed him so quickly.”

“Well, she is a prodigy,” I said proudly, reaching over and pulling her into a hug.

We spent the next hour talking, laughing at each other’s antics, and chewing at the Metal Affinity boosting sugar cane. “I wondered a bit why the Croc went down so easily to my attack,” I said.

“Well, it did take six of my Icycle Spears,” Jon said. “A bunch of Air Blades, two Fireballs, Spearing Roots from Jamila and Vaya, that was scary, some type of metal attack…”

“Steel Arrow Swarm,” Lilianna said.

“Yeah, that,” Jon laughed. “Most of the attacks hit while you were ripping the Beast’s jaw off. Which, Light, that was epic.”

“How did you do that, anyway?” Jamila asked. “I mean, you are strong, but I did not think you were quite that strong yet.”

“Uh, I used Metal and Earth Aether to make Strength Aether,” I said with a self-deprecating shrug. “The pressure of getting Aleks out made them collapse together quickly, and I used every drop of Metal and Earth Aether that I had.”

“Metal and Earth to make Strength, huh?” Ming said, a thoughtful frown on his face.

“You need to be a bit more careful next time you rush forward like that,” Bridget said. “I had to cut down a bunch of the Crocodile’s Water Whips before they grabbed you.”

“Thanks for helping out,” I said with a grin, “and I knew you all would cover me, so I could get Aleks out.”

“Well, okay,” Bridget said, frowning, “But you could take a bit more active role in your own defense, or at least tell us to protect you when you sprint off like that. None of us are that fast.”

“Okay,” I said, suitably chastened for my behavior.

The next day, we all journeyed together back towards Aleks’s starting point. I spent the first day talking with Ming, Jon, and Lilianna on how I made my finishing attack, and Vaya and Hanna were both able to create Strength Aether after I told them what I did.

It took two days to find the next hidden alcove, but we did. Again there was a herd of Fuzhu near it, and again we chased them away without killing any. “No need to kill anything that isn’t at least level five,” I said when we were planning our strike. “We have bags full of level five and six meat, a dozen level five Cores and two level six Cores to gather with, even after using a level five Fire Core last night.”

“Lampart wants to take one out for her dinner,” Vaya said.

“And that is a great way to get the rest to flee,” I said with a grin. “Go for it, Lammy.”

The leopard growled at me, unamused by the nickname, then vanished into the undergrowth. A few minutes later, the Fuzhu fled with bleats of terror. We walked into the clearing to find Lampart chewing on her target, and the other Fuzhu gone. Vaya and I coached Hanna and Aleks on dual-gathering again, and then they dove into the water. Again, I paced instead of gathering, my mind unable to stop imagining Aleks exploding under the impact of the pill.

Just like with Jamila, Aleks and Hanna breathed the surface two hours later, smiling with the euphoria of success. I pulled Aleks into a hug, and then she grabbed my face and kissed me. “You are the first person I have ever kissed,” she said. “And I think I like it.”

“It is fun,” I said with a grin.

“Lilianna, Milenna, are you good to go?” Ming asked.

“Yes,” Lilianna said, giving Xiao a wink, and then she pulled Milenna into the water.

I focused on tempering with Fire, moving my way through my blood vessels. This helped my meridians fully repair themselves, as the most damaged one’s were the tiny offshoots that followed my capillaries in my hands and forearms. Just before the girls reappeared, I ran into the exponential increase in speed, and finished tempering my blood vessels in Fire only ten minutes after Milenna and Lilianna returned from their trial.

We spent the rest of the time journeying around the circle. We sought out and ran into every other team, trading the knowledge of what was coming for various Cores and rare harvests. In the end, I profited immensely, everyone giving me the lion’s share of the trades because I was the one who could read the writing on the walls.