Chapter 3

As Lumi leaves, the man who I assume to be my father walks into the room at the same time. He seems a little… Intimidating? No. That’s not the word I’m looking for. Perhaps the word is ‘Majestic’. It’s the sort of feeling you get from respectable old men. Well, given his white hair and the slightly wrinkled skin he probably is an old man. The aura he gives off though… It’s hard to describe. What could I liken it to? A kingly presence, isn’t it?

That’s it! His aura is the same kind you’d feel from a kind king. I can’t believe I spent so long trying to guess such a simple thing, but then again, others would probably find it difficult to believe that their father emitted a kingly aura. It doesn’t matter; as I’ve worked it out I am no longer struggling to deal with such a useless matter.

Oh, it looks as though my father has sat on a chair which is next to the bed. Wait a second, was there a chair there before? I don’t remeber one being there! Is that really the fact I should be rebutting? The thing looks as though it’s made of gold! Or a material like it. Who the hell would need a gold chair?!?

I feel as though I just offended some extremely important figures – I’ll stop thinking these thoughts as they seem dangerous. That’s how one survives through bad times!

If anyone were to ask me why I’d say such tings, I’d respond with ‘Because I’ve experienced it all before!’ then probably be sent to some sort of psych ward. I’m speaking of in a previous world, not this one. I’m not exactly sure what they’d do in this one. Maybe they’d just write it off as a child’s ramblings. It’s not worth trying out so I’ll stick to trying to seem like an eight year old as much as I can. That’s totally not possible, right? I’m still going to try! I just argued with myself… Carrying on.

My father has just been sitting in the chair for a short amount of time but it doesn’t appear like he intends to start up a conversation just yet. Is he thinking I’m not up to one right now, or is he thinking about something else in his head? He might be thinking of ways to say ‘Luke, I am your father’! I just said something that made me want to shoot myself. Such a horrid thing is being thought but it’s understandable, right? It’s generally a misquote – but only if you are thinking of the films!

“Fei, my son, it would appear that you are finally getting better.”

…

…

Of all the things you could start with, you choose that? Is it just me that feels as though something is completely off here? Where’s the ‘Hello’ or something? Hang on, it would be good morning. I’m the one thinking of the wrong thing this time.

“Yes.”

The short answer combined with a curt nod is the response I offer my father, which is probably appearing as quite rude. I hope he’ll just take it as conserving energy. I don’t wish to offend anyone. Especially not family. Not after the last time I did something as stupid as that. Every time I end up thinking about that I want to cry for an hour. It’s not an experience that I would want to repeat.

“Right, of course. Lumi would never lie.”

Did you seriously need to confirm something like that? There seems to be something wrong with your though process! From what I’m aware, you’ve come to see me before but I was never healthy enough to so anything. Now that I’m here and sitting up, moving more and speaking your first thought is ‘Lumi would never lie’!

Why does that make me feel degraded? My response is totally over the top in my opinion. It’s a stupid and petty reaction. I should be the mature one.

“…”

Accompanying my inner dialogue is a blank stare. This sort of thing is something that happens a lot, I feel. Curse you reality! Or curse the goddess! Why doesn’t everything go my way? Is it that you have something against me? Ahem. I took a trip to crazy-land for a second but I’m back. Now, what was going on again?

“I’m glad you’re getting better, but it’s taking way too long. It is not permissible for it to continue like this.”

No, no, no. This doesn’t feel good. Not at all. The ominous sensation created is burning my so- oh wait, he’s continuing.

“As the prince, you have obligations which you’ll need to complete. As you are now, it isn’t possible. When we discovered your illness, we made it so that your elder sister would be the one to inherit the throne, but you still have things you need to do.”

“Huh? Older sister?”

An older sister… What the hell is he talking about? I was aware of having a younger sister, but an older one as well? Prince… Well it does explain why he’s sitting on a gold chair so I’ll let it slide. I’m sure some may question me on this but wasn’t it obvious that I was a person of high status? How the hell would an eight year old live ’til this age when they were extremely sick. Normally they’d die early!

“You don’t remember your older sister? No, of course you don’t… She hasn’t visited for years.”

He may of lowered his voice saying the last part, but not enough so that it wasn’t audible. Just wha the hell are you saying to me, you evil bastard?!? Ermmm…. He’s not actually evil, I’m just irritated with the way he said that. It made me feel a little bit of resentment.

“Sorry.”

“You’ll see her when you leave this room then. Now, where was I? Ahhh, your responsibilities. You might not be inheriting the throne anymore, but you will be required to support your sister in her duties.”

He mutters something else under his breath but I wasn’t able to make it out this time. It was something I was not meant to hear, I guess, and I should act as though I didn’t notice him saying anything. That’s the most appropriate way to deal with the situation.

“And that’s why – I’m giving you this amulet.”

As he says that, an amulet appears in his hand as if it was always there. Such a magic trick! Teach it to me. That’s a trick that wasn’t possible in the old words, even with the use of magic. It was pitiful. You would have to take backpacks everywhere and they didn’t even fit a lot in them. That’s why it was impossible for a single ‘hero’ to fight an army. You needed an army against an army due to resources.

“It’s…. Plain?”

It’s just a plain amulet. No jeweles or anything fancy. It’s a simple piece of silver metal on a necklace. Are you going to tell me what this is for? Please father, don’t leave me hanging. I want to know!

“HA HA HA! It does look like that, doesn’t it? It’s a {Energy Amulet}. They’re used to store energy in the case of an emergency. This one has the equivalent of 300 years stored in it!”

Just what the heck is he giving to me? Isn’t this something of extreme value? Also…

“Why haven’t you given this to me before?”

I feel it’s a reasonable question. Seriously, if he had something with that sort of use shouldn’t he have given it to me earlier?

“Do you think you’d have been able to use it?”

Touché.

It felt weird thinking that. I’m not sure why, just did. Whatever, I get it, I wasn’t capable of using it before. Only now is it of any use to me.

“Well, now that you get it, it might take you a while to get used to it and it probably won’t last those 300 years in your hands…. But I’m sending you to the academy in the next few days once you’ve gotten a little used to it.”

Academy… No, firstly. Such a caring father you are! Is this what they call tough love? Bastard! I don’t need tough love! I may be thinking those kind of things, but he hands the amulet to me so I can place it around my neck. It’s not really tough love. I don’t really have any reason to complain.

“You’ll need to work out how to use it yourself. I have no idea.”
My father nods his head to say he’s leaving and makes his way to the exit. He glances back at me for a moment, then briskly exits leaving me to examine the amulet he has given me.

I have to wear it around my neck and then what? Hope to the heavens that it miraculously does all the work for me? I don’t believe it could be that easy. That’s on the level of plot armour. To me, it seems as though the amulet likes to play with its owner and changes its use for each person. It might be like that for someone else, but it doesn’t seem to be so for me. It’s impractical and unpleasant.

I place the amulet around my neck and I can feel the presence of a ‘soul’ pressed against my body. It’s not a real ‘soul’ just something that feels like it. Is it the accumulate energy gaining some sort of sentience? Probably not. It’s not like the conciousness of a living creature, but the pressure it exerts is overwhelming. How scary.

Is it required that I dominate over the pressure? I think that’s what I’m getting from the amulet, but that’s not possible, you know?! Damned world. What the heck am I supposed to do now? Dominating intense pressure is not the job of a sick person! Fine, I understand. Retorting to the world is not going to get me anyweher. I’ll get you back for causing me this pain, shitty goddess! I need to do it in a hurry because… I have a feeling which I don’t like sharing with others. Ahem. What to do?

I know! I’ll try and trick the amulet in order to overcome this hurdle. Okay, focus… The first step is to calm the mind. Think about what you wish to display. For me, that’s a dominating aura. Awesome, the envisioning was successful! Next, target the opponent… My opponent is an amulet, argh. Finally, release the image from your mind.

…

…

…

It’s successful?

The pressure coming from the amulet feels friendly now, I believe. Let’s try and draw out some of the energy and use it to stand up.

Pulling myself over the side of the bed, I place my feet on the ground. I hold onto the bed for support and raise myself up. I’ve managed to stand up, but I’m wobbling slightly and need the bed to stabilise myself. This is to be expected though, as I’ve been bedridden for eight long years. But with this, the world should not be as boring!

_____

The angel who was sent to this world by her elder sister watches the boy who was given an amulet by his father. As she does so, she wonders if it’s really necessary for her to come and watch over him, but she won’t reject a task given to her by her sister. She doesn’t feel it’s necessary to insert herself into the boys life just yet, so she observes the details of the boy she has access to.

“He’s a re-incarnated human…. Unknown soul-age? He’s only eight… Bad de-buff.. And very few skills. Sounds like fun!”

She seemed to find something about the boy interesting as her face perked up when she researched into him a little bit. She looked as though she wanted to jump up and down in excitement.

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