Trust

Chapter 9

"Xelqua are you okay?" Astaria asked, not mentioning any of the events that just happened.

"I'm fine. Is what he was saying true?" Xelqua asked, short and sharp.

"It's more complicated than that," she replied.

"So it is true! How are we meant to trust you when you are hiding so much? When you don't tell us things as simple as your last name!" Xelqua cried out.

"I- it's-," Astaria started, surprised by the outburst, turning her face away from his.
"Why can't you just tell us? Why can't you just trust us? And how are we meant to trust you?" Xelqua asked, the anger showing through his voice.
Astaria took a deep breath and then turned back to face Xelqua, "Okay I will tell you the truth. About what I know, about why I've been watching you and my last name. And I hope that I can once again gain your trust,"

"I suppose I should start with how old I actually am. When I said that I grew up in isolated settlements that wasn't the full truth, what I grew up in was the starting of the watcher and admin colonies. When I fell into the void that many years ago it wasn't a good number of years as I told you before, it was 1000," Astaria started.

Xelqua was shocked at the first revelation, but at the same time it felt as though it fit in with everything he knew, or he thought he knew about Astaria. How she seemed to know so much, how she was so powerful and why she decided to hide away for so long. Astaria then continued, "The spells that I left on the altar are ones still used to this day, though I thought that all of the books had been lost, it seems that they were just kept hidden. I did have a feeling that it was one of the spells that I created that could have possibly led to everything that has happened, it surprised me how Mirinn managed to change it from its original purpose. Most else of what I told you was true, just earlier.,"

Xelqua couldn't help feeling a cold chill surrounding him when she talked about how she originated the spell that helped Mirinn create the pain and chaos. He knew that it wasn't her fault but his subconscious couldn't help but wonder how everything would have turned out if she didn't create the spell. It also made him think of how almost every spell that he knew would have come from the person in front of him, after all, no one else he knew now or in history had written any spells, no one ever tried. He supposed that a lot of those spells were used for bad things as well, but a spell to bring back others from the dead was different, even if its original purpose was only for animals and other creatures.

Astaria then continued, "Now Mirinn mentioned that I kept a close eye on you specifically, which is true but I kept an eye on the council members in general, the formation of the council happened around the time that I escaped from the void. I've seen it go from having only three members to having all thirteen of you. I've seen how you all started and how you all helped moderate a society that was better than history has ever seen, a society that was no longer at war, where peace reigned. Yes, the peace got disrupted but you have all dealt with it and stuck together, watchers, admins and players are still one people. Again Mirinn wasn't wrong about me keeping a closer eye on you..."

Astaria stopped for a second then asked, "Do you remember when I told you about my love, the one I told you was called Rene and how she created a child from both of our magic,"

Xelqua nodded, he remembered it when she told him. "We'll Rene's full name was Raxiene Carolus, your ancestor who went to the academy and was in the first-ever class, much like I was,"

It took a few moments for Xelqua to comprehend what he had just been told, when the information finally processed in his head he said, "So... Does that mean that you- you're related to me?!"

"I am, and I knew it from before we even met. Back when I used my watcher vision to look over every world I knew that you were my descendant," Astaria clarified.

"Why didn't you just tell me earlier then? I don't see why you had to keep it a secret," Xelqua stated.

"I guess I just never felt as though I could, at first you barely knew me and then there has been attack after attack. A part of me also just didn't want to tell you," Astaria explained.

Xelqua could understand not wanting to tell others things just because you didn't want to tell them, he had a similar feeling about telling the hermits he was a watcher. He would tell them eventually, probably. If he was forced into a position to tell them he wouldn't want them to react badly, so he calmed himself down. Astaria then continued, "You know Rene was the one who created Lyciris Isle and the wall entrance. The initials in the middle are hers, our child's and mine,"
"A.Z then?" Xelqua asked, remembering that only one of the initials started with an A

"That's correct," Astaria answered.

"So what is your last name? And why wouldn't you tell us?" Xelqua asked.

Astaria took another breath, "My last name is ⨅ᒷꖎ╎⎓ᒷ ̇/, that's why during the war it was used as the word for the worst traitor of all. Back then I was the traitor. The reason I didn't tell you was I didn't know how you would react, and I thought that I would have to tell you the truth about my past before I was ready, not that I told you in my own time anyways,"

"I suppose that makes sense, after all, I can remember in the first class photo Raxiene was holding hand with someone with the last name ⨅ᒷꖎ╎⎓ᒷ ̇/. It doesn't surprise me that the person with the last name ⨅ᒷꖎ╎⎓ᒷ ̇/ isn't a traitor or worse but by today's standards," Xelqua replied.

Astaria then looked like she was about to speak, then stopped herself. She then opened her mouth and said, "We should probably head back, it looks as though there is an attack approaching, the same attacker from before,"

"I'm not sure I can, I don't know what Mirinn did to stop my magic," Xelqua said.

"Here," Astaria said, shooting a warm lavender light towards him.

When the light hit him he felt his magic fill his body again, and he flapped his wings since they had cramped up. "Thanks, how did you know what to do?" Xelqua asked.

"It was another of my spells. I made sure to have a counter to all of them in case someone made a mistake," she explained.

"Right, it'll take me a while to get over the fact you created pretty much every spell I know," Xelqua replied.
"I can teleport us back," Astaria said, pulling up her admin screen.

After she typed a few keys a red light soon engulfed them as they disappeared from the academy grounds.

WC~ 1223