The last three days flew by fast but thanks to that grey was able to learn more about the differences between humans and the two elves.
One thing grey noticed is that the human female terra sweated more compared to the elves even when they did the same things, but she seemingly had a never-ending supply of stamina which reminded him of the wolves from home who would hunt for hours to days in stories he's heard about from the elders.
The other thing he noticed is Sky seemed more energetic during the day while Lily was more energetic during the evening and night making the difference between light and dark elves more apparent to him.
Lily's dark elf heritage tied their power to the moon and its many cycles, while Sky was tied to the sun and its light almost like a plant. The weird thing is the human terra seemed to be tied to nothing but had a little bit of everything in her and when asked about it she said that humans were made by the god of creation Apo and the angel of nature Gaia as a kind of mix of everything.
Meaning they had a bit of everything connected to them but weren't tied to it permanently like other species. he found it weird, but it made him wonder where his connection would be now that he knows that he was an anomaly he once believed like all rabbits he was connected to Selena the goddess of the moon and death or Glory the god of beasts and evolution but know he didn't know any more, he felt lost spiritually so stayed silent the next few days like a lost soul.
He watched silently as lily tried out the temporary contract rings, however they soon learned it was very limited. Anyone that was called upon immediately appeared by her side but could only stay by her for 10 to 30 minutes depending on their power gap before they immediately returned to their original places.
Other than that, they could sense or talk to each other from far away with the rings allowing for better teamwork while she could also drain their energy to refill her own giving her a bigger soul essence pool than most others.
The next morning Steve origins woke everyone in the house early except lily's dad flos, everyone soon gathered at an empty dining table.
grey could sense a lecture a mile away, so he quickly disappeared and returned with a big red silk bag full of blueberries. the others looked at him strangely, but he just shrugged "what if y'all expect my full attention this early I need a full stomach." he complained pointing out a window at the barley risen sun peeking through the distant horizon.
Steve origins chuckled at that, " I get it little guy my brother would love to explain everything to you guys, but he really hates mornings which I love so it works out for our individual lives."
grey felt some sympathy for Mr. Veils as a evening person himself he could only imagine the pain of sharing a body with a morning person. just the thought of it sent shivers down his spine, he understood waking up early when necessary but to do so willingly and for fun was a different story.
Steve clapped his hands in excitement
"Ok just ask anything you want along the way, but I'll be recapping your missions, your final mission is to make it to the world rune academy or Jericho academy as the y are now calling it for some reason?"
lily raised her hand to speak which earned a silent nod from Steve " I know this is an important meeting and all and I mean no offense but why is everyone including Hugo here and not my dad?" she asked worriedly.
Steve saw her concern but just laughed it off "that fool of a father is too overprotective, so he'll get in the way of your progress the less he knows of the exact details of your mission the better. He may be one of my very best students in raw flow but he's not the best when it comes to putting his feeling aside so Hugo will inform him when you three leave."
grey immediately yelled with a face stained in blueberry juice "I'm here too!"
"Fine you three ladies plus that rabbit, ...wait?" he came closer to grey as his eyes started glowing bright blue as he peered into greys soul.
"Have you not used your flows artificial trait?"
grey just stared at him like he was crazy despite him being covered in blue stains himself. "~nooo~?" he said quizzically. "Mister flos spent like five minutes teaching me how to sense soul flow and only explained it can greatly enhance my body."
Steve facepalmed himself in nonbelief making a visibly strained face. "That idiot couldn't even teach a talented rabbit and just left you in the dark." he sighed deeply before continuing "Ok just give me a ring me and my brother will teach you all how to use flow and glyphs. just know glyphs take a lot of studying and skill to control the energy of nature instead of your own and take a while to make but are very versatile, while Flow is like taking direct control of your own essence inside yourself making your very soul more malleable its easier but you need to work hard to keep your soul healthy."
he grabbed one of the extra ring's lily hands on hand and as soon as he touched it disappeared
grey looked at him funny "Isn't that just that Aura Mr. veil talked about just with extra steps?"
Steve felt direct damage to his very being at those words which hurt more than any wound. "Ahem well I developed flow based off of aura BUT! my version is way more stable and usable; it won't even drain your life span just by using it. And the greatest thing is unlike aura my flow can store physical matter in the soul while developing artificial traits that can be inherited by future generations." he looked offended at the comparison as he explained why his technique is so much better.
'Geez I didn't mean to touch a sensitive subject?' grey thought to himself as he looked at the very serious face of Steve.
Steve stood up and quickly composed himself as he took a deep breath before talking "Ahem your first mission is to visit the fallen ARS kingdom as the queen Ferrum has taken over it she is a neutral party that will benefit either us or them depending on what side she chooses."
sky raised her hand gathering everyone's attention "And what exactly are up against and what is their goal we can't just fight aimlessly if we don't know what's going on?"
Steve let a deep and tired sigh before looked up with a serious face "What I'm about to tell you so confidential not even your father truly knows lily, do all of you still want to know?"
he waited till everyone nodded but none of them were backing down so he continued. "The origin and the Norris family has known about these people and their followers for some time, but we can't seem to kill them all. we call Them the Realm breakers, and their goal is to release the two demons of destruction that killed a goddess and injured the first God apo."
everyone stood from their seats in pure shock at the revelation even Hugo's jaw dropped at the news, Steve let it sink in for a few moments before he continued.
"There were originally ten gods who were the children of Apo the creator. Sol of sun, space and life who is the father of the light elves like lily, his wife Selena of the moon, death and fate and this was before the two gave birth to lulu-za of rebirth and undeath."
"Since apo believed in balance his other children had counters, but they weren't as powerful as the first two there was Zilch the god of dreams and time, Azazel the goddess of blood and chaos, mimosa vibes the goddess of emotions and combat, Peonies the goddess of luck and energy and finally Hydra the six headed god of the seasons summer, winter, spring, fall, dawn and dusk."
grey spoke up curiously "I'm from another dimension something you guys call the spirit realm but even I know those are all ten gods."
Steve stared at grey with a sad look in his eyes "There were two demons of destruction one an abyssal giant of pure destruction and the other a black slime thing that ate everything it touched. they invaded all four realms there is our realm the earth dimension, yours the air dimension, the now corrupt and ruined water dimension and finally the flame dimension which is where the two are sealed. Glory the god of evolution and beasts left your realm to keep them trapped there since the slime ate his beloved Adila broods the goddess of insects and minds which intern weakened all insects turning them mindless only a few have been able to regain some of their intelligence."
everyone here never really thought about why insects were so weak and small but for grey it made him realize something all insects he ever came across were weak and couldn't communicate but Tony's roommate peter the spider and maria were both intelligent insects he just never thought of it till now which made him think what made them special.
Steve continued his monologue after he felt they had enough time to take it all in "My origins family has served directly under the creator Apo since the beginning but since he was almost killed and watched as one of his daughters die, he hasn't been the same. And the reason is because he believes in balance, so he blames himself as a creature of love and creation of course there is an opposite destruction and Fear."
"So, who is a part of the realm breakers and why would they want to destroy their home?" terra asked feeling how serious this was before her eyes widened as she looked at lily "And what do they want with that elf?"
Steve was silent for a bit before he spoke "At the moment we only know of three leaders first is the entity Abyssal claw it's a time traveling beast of pure suffering that brought the titian here that's all we know about it. Then there is Cleo Dark the first apostle of the titan and the last blood elf after she slayed her entire clan to prove herself. And finally Clot gaze a massive black ooze phantom that finds a new host all the time their only identifying trait is its black blood."
"Kind of like joe? ...Oh no!" grey realized as soon as he said it out loud that the joe he knew before was gone, as he connected the dots.
Steve looked at grey sternly "Who is joe?"
grey gulped as tried to explain seriously "joe is a strong rabbit from a friends Burrow he is a real stickler for the rules and talks like a old man but last tome i met him his rune changed from earth to gravity and he could control black blood from his body, when i asked him he said he made a deal with a demon for revenge but we already got our revenge so it should be fine... Right?" grey asked nervously.
"Damm, their expanding realms now!" Steve muttered under his breath so low only grey heard it "Anyways we will talk about that later but answer your other question terra anomalies are creatures born outside of fate as they shouldn't exist meaning they could do things no mortal should be able to do and since she is a summoning that makes her one of five keys to the other realms but if she dies another will be born later and they won't be under our protection from the realm breakers but the abyssal claw will just kill you since it hates anomalies and favored and since it an irregular of some sort."
"And that is why we need to keep the New queen of ARS from joining them or at the very least staying out of it, but why does she need to come with us if she's in danger wouldn't it be better for her to stay here or with you?" lily aske as her beautiful white hair made of clouds was now a light grey reflecting her inner turmoil."
Steve shook his head "As someone outside of fate she could greatly help us if she was strong enough and the world rune academy is the safest place with the strongest orc living in a nearby mountain there. he is very powerful but a complete outcast as he is half orc half elf and was raised by an avian while worshiping the goddess of chaos and blood. he would only listen to his family, his goddess, children and other anomalies like himself as he has been betrayed by many."
terra walked up to Steve and got really close as she looked up into his eyes and stared him down "So you need two favored and an irregular to protect an anomaly that can either save us or destroy us while talking the queen of a kingdom out of joining the enemy while talking the most dangerous creature alive into helping us! And what pray tell while you be doing because we humans are weak and have short life spans, heck if it wasn't for the goddess of chaos's whim, we wouldn't even have blood scions as we can't use magic naturally this is the reason the dwarfs hate you elves you guys are control freaks with no plans on intervening!"
Steve looked hurt but didn't argue back he only replied calmly "yes elves are control freaks that don't usually care about other race but I'm actively trying to stop the end of our world, you want to know what I'll be doing I'll be gathering angels and apostles while trying to convince the two most powerful mortals alive to join us without dying."
he then pointed at lily "And her father will talk to the apostle of zilch the god of dreams and time to join us despite him destroying the last ARS kingdom with the chaos orc. everyone here has nothing to gain from this conflict but everything to lose should we fail... I know you're worried, but my brother already put your tribe's home under our protection, and we can appear there at a moment's notice... so please help us save this realm." he said before he bowed slightly.
terra stormed out in a fit of rage and sky flew out carried by a bed of clouds. grey stared at them before something flashed in his mind "so what is this aws kingdom exactly and why does it seem so important?"
Steve looked at the rabbit sitting on the table still with a strained smile "the short end it's a kingdom that grew into the most technological place and won many wars. but the chaos orc and the lucid death attacked them, the entire kingdom was wiped out and then their own weapons were turned to the survivors. meaning the queen of new ARS has some powerful weapon left from its ashes.
"I'm going to see my dad... and have breakfast with him." lily said in a slight daze as if just realizing she might not meet her father ever again.
Steve looked at grey with a sad face "since everyone else is mad at me or in shock you want me to teach you how to use your flow better?"
grey looked hesitant "I'll have you know if you're just going to explain it or talk then I'm good I learn better actively doing things.
Steve smiled brightly "what a coincidence so do I! how about you attack me in the yard, and I correct your mistakes while dodging and if you land a blow with just your flow ill... hmm I'll give you a bag of rare snacks I have in hand."
two hours flew by and it was time for lily to leave she gave her father a big deep hug as Mr. veils cursed out his brother for losing both of their rare snack that seemed to be a gift for their wife.
seeing this grey gave them the bag back after only taking out a red and green bean crystal out of it which saved Steve from a deeper scolding and caused Mr. veil to look at grey more favorably.
before they left terra joined them, but she was still mad at the soul twins for dragging her into this, while sky only joined after flos told her they would be helping her goddess and she might even become her next apostle.
at the same time lily was setting off to leave joe gravel finally met up with the now corrupted Jim swamps. joe seemed to be in a new body that made him seem like a bear sized black rabbit. "you know the plan the master has given us? you will have less than half a second when I fracture space to enter a random realm and help free master."
Jim looked different his once bright colorful skin was now a dull empty grey and his now missing arms healed into shoulder stumps. he nodded at joe as he walked past him near some trees.
His body was slowly being enveloped by black goo as his stumps grew three black tentacles each that grabbed nearby trees as he pulled back looking like a living slingshot.
his feet stuck to the ground as he stretching his arms for maximum recoil before he entered a jumping position ready to launch.
joe nodded as he weakened the gravity around Jim and had the rabbit with the space attribute he corrupted stand Infront of him a slight distance away.
cracks appeared all over its body as it was self-destructing its very essence. Jim used all his leg muscles to launch at the rabbit exploding so fast he created a sonic boom.
joe watched as the rabbit exploded into a messy gore that cracked space for less than a second when a black blur zoomed into it as the portal was quickly closed. Jim stayed there for a few moments staring before he smiled.
the next moment a day elf broke space and appeared before joe gravel with angry eyes made of mini suns his flaming hair burned brightly as he understood what just happened his robe seemed to be made of solid space covered in stars and when he spoke hit felt like lan explosion. "Foul traitor, do you know what you've done!"
joe didn't answer he only smiled before he was smited by flams so pure joe felt his very soul burning away which surprised him.
when joe was reborn in one of his infected bodies he dropped down in pain as his soul was not only still damaged, but he constantly felt like he was being cooked alive from the inside.