Chapter 121 One Night's Dream
-- POV Freya --
-- PING --
[Congratulations ! You\'ve got 800 citizens/subordinates !]
The festival was over, the announcement of Gaya\'s pregnancy had gone perfectly well and I knew that tomorrow the whole Empire would be talking about it. At the end, Shiro had fallen asleep in my arms and had gone home to sleep accompanied by Triss the half-human cat who was watching over her.
Gaya and I had stayed behind to finally meet all the newcomers to the Empire that had been brought back during the Commanders\' mission. There were many, many of them, for now the city of Elysium had over 1000 inhabitants. Each section was growing little by little and more were to come in the days to come while I was away.
As I had announced before the festival, in a few days we were going to explore with the Commanders and their Lieutenants with the objective of evolving my 10 best warriors. I didn\'t know yet how long we were going to leave but it was absolutely urgent to level up for them as well as for me because things were going to get messy.
Besides, I also had every intention of freeing Kira before I returned, even if it took me a month. Things had to be manageable without me in the Empire, and if anything went wrong, I knew I could contact Gaya telepathically or return on my own very quickly. I didn\'t know yet if the Kingdom of Zal was targeting us, but what was certain was that in the next few months an army attack could happen.
Kira had gone to rest her mind and go to sleep in the space that allowed her to be quiet while Shiro was sleeping in her room right next to us. I was currently in my room with my wife who unlike me seemed tired from the huge day. She had taken a nap with our daughter in the afternoon but all the emotions had exhausted her and Gaya just wanted to sleep.
"I\'m sorry Freya, I know what I said to you earlier but...I\'m far too tired to handle anything."
Earlier, my wife had indeed said something to me that I hadn\'t forgotten and that had left me very interested in her proposal, unfortunately it looked like I would have to wait after all. As Gaya slid in beside me under the sheets, I hugged her and laid her head on my chest.
"Don\'t worry, this is normal. How are you feeling ?"
Since she was pregnant, she had not stopped working despite my insistence and not a day went by without me asking her if she was okay.
"I\'m fine honey, thanks. I never got pregnant but I feel like I\'m losing more and more energy and mana. Our baby will be born healthy and I have no doubt that it can be as special as you haha~"
Straightening up, I touched my wife\'s belly before placing a tender kiss on it, making her smile radiantly. Instinctively, I put my ear to it as if I was going to hear something as I answered.
"Of course ! This baby will be born as strong and beautiful as its two mothers kufufu~"
Gaya giggled lightly before starting to stroke my hair gently while my head still rested on her belly. I had never been done this before and just like my little moon, I could feel my big tail wagging gently despite myself.
*What kind of enchantment is this ? Is this how Shiro feels every time ?*
For the first time, I felt my body free of all my stress, I felt light, soothed and I didn\'t know why, but the feeling of lying on a cloud came over me. My wife\'s hand was caressing my hair, my ears and the more time passed the more I felt the fatigue invading me.
"Gaya I..."
"Shhhh sleep my love. You work so hard for this Empire, for our family, without ever stopping once. You\'re doing a great job, you\'re the bravest young woman I\'ve ever met and if I can help you take the pressure off, I\'d love to. Let me pamper you a little bit okay ? Get some rest."
"..."
Only with my soul mate, my Queen, my wife could I show my most vulnerable side and as Gaya kissed me on the forehead, I let myself sink gently into the world of dreams before hearing three precious words.
"I love you"
____
*What am I doing here ?*
Before me was an empty, deserted world, devoid of life, sound and smell. I had my body but I could not move, I had no voice and I could not feel anything as the landscape began to change. A huge black, white and luminous stone, full of particles that danced around it, appeared before me. Suddenly, as this jewel, bigger than the highest mountain, spun around in the sky, it stopped and sank into the ground.
Just then, a blinding light began to cover absolutely everything and absorb the dead landscape in a pure white glow while the starless sky turned a deep, unfathomable black. From that moment on, as the glow dissipated, I could see everything change at an amazing speed. I was in the sky like an omniscient, omnipresent being and I could do nothing but watch without moving and without being able to interact. Before me was the birth of a world.
*What...*
Where there was dust and dry land, plants and trees began to grow. Mountains sprang up from the bowels of the earth, lakes, seas and oceans appeared falling from the sky like torrents and life began to spring up. All kinds of quadrupedal animals were now running around the place which now looked like a paradise after undergoing all these changes. Everything was still happening very quickly and little by little new creatures were appearing, but this time bipedal and capable it would seem of communicating.
In front of me I could see villages being formed, civilizations evolving into cities, then into nations, and then into ruins, and from the ashes new countries were rising. On this world walked humans, half-humans, intelligent beasts, and creatures of primal instinct. Birth and death, end and beginning, everything started again and again without stopping at an accelerated speed.
I knew everything, I saw everything and yet I understood absolutely nothing. Before my eyes I saw destruction, war, despair, hatred, and death that went on endlessly. My mind was flooded with information and even though I felt nothing, an unbearable sadness came over me as if I were carrying the weight of the universe on my shoulders. In this world, thousands and thousands of years passed, mountains, oceans and forests were born and died, when suddenly the landscape began to vibrate.
The world shook from all sides, shaking all living beings as the black and white jewel resembling its heart shattered. Without me being able to hear a single sound, the magnificent stone turned black and exploded into a thousand pieces, causing a shock wave. This wave then began to engulf everyone, bringing total destruction in its path, devastating everything.
Very quickly, although hundreds of years passed in a second, a new sign of life appeared before being joined by a multitude of others. Like the first time, new mountains, new oceans were rising but this time the animals that appeared were different and even looked very familiar. I wanted to stop looking, I wanted to get out of this place that carried an unhealthy atmosphere but I could do absolutely nothing, I was as if trapped.
*Why... why am I here ? Is this a dream ? Yet it seems so real...*
The same thing happened again and again, and I could only wonder why I was here while experiencing these destructive visions. Suddenly, instead of magical cities and kingdoms, there were simple villages, ordinary towns that were evolving. Half-humans, intelligent beasts and magic were no more and had exchanged their places with technology.
Buildings now stood on the surface of this world, planes crossed the sky, ships the sea and cars the ground. Everything was so similar to the world I had lived in during my first life, and as time went on, more and more questions invaded my mind.
Suddenly, everything stopped as if someone had just pressed the pause button while a voice I never thought I\'d hear again rose up.
"I\'m glad to see you again Freya. Don\'t you also have that deja vu feeling ? haha~"
Titania\'s voice echoed everywhere and nowhere at the same time as she appeared before me still unable to answer her aloud. Her long blue hair still reached her waist and her eyes as black as the sky looked at me intensely as if she was reading my soul. The first time I had seen her, I had found her beautiful, but that was long before I saw Gaya, whom I found objectively much prettier.
*My Queen is still the most beautiful, that\'s for sure*
"Mmh that\'s very mean that Freya fufu~ That said I have to admit your wife is incredibly beautiful indeed, and you..."
As I wondered if she could read my mind, the Goddess gently approached me before running her slender finger over my still face before resuming.
"...You I must admit, you are as beautiful as a Goddess...maybe even more. What a pity you\'re already taken, if I had known I would have taken the time to charm you before reincarnating you haha~. I wonder what you\'ll look like when you reach the peak of the system."
I still couldn\'t move my body, but my eyes perfectly conveyed the feeling of anger that was beginning to overwhelm me due to Titania\'s overly tactile actions.
"Don\'t look at me with eyes like that I\'m not going to do anything to you, I\'m not here for that. The last time we met I didn\'t have much time and this time too. I\'m stuck in a deep sleep by Time magic that I can only get out of a few times but that\'s another story."
As she finished her sentence, with a snap of her fingers I regained the use of my voice, my limbs and all the senses that went with them. Without waiting a second, I turned to the Goddess and asked for an explanation.
"Why am I here ? Why have you shown me all this ? Why did I feel bound to this world I don\'t know ?"
"Because you had to see it all with your own eyes and feel the birth and death of this world. What do you think you saw?"
Titania had asked me this question which confused me because I knew what I had seen but I was unable to explain it or understand what she meant by it. How was I supposed to know ? Of the two of us I wasn\'t the all-knowing, all-powerful Goddess with a world of her own. As I clicked my tongue, I still tried to answer despite my annoyance.
"Did I see the fate of Kleisaria several thousand years from now ? Or was it more like the past ? I don\'t know, I\'m not supposed to know any of this !"
"Both answers are correct because what you just saw was the birth and death of Kleisaria but by its destruction, that world gave birth to another devoid of magic and what happened after that you know better than anyone..."
As the Goddess looked at me with a serious face, a theory that I had long ago buried in my memory suddenly resurfaced. Titania, who had read my mind, nodded her head gravely and told me the truth, this truth I did not want to hear.
"Kleisaria and the Earth you knew are two sides of the same coin. Kleisaria is Earth and Earth is Kleisaria. Your soul has not traveled to another world but rather has traveled to a distant past."
I couldn\'t believe what she was telling me when nothing seemed logical. Why would she send me back in time and how ? Wasn\'t she the Goddess of Chaos and Ice ? How could she do that ? Earlier she had mentioned a Time spell, would this be the price she had to pay for sending my soul into the past ? So many questions were running through my head and as I was about to speak, the landscape began to blur.
"No wait, Titania !"
"I\'m sorry Freya, I don\'t have time to stay but I\'ll find you when I wake up again.."
I didn\'t want the Goddess to go away and as her body began to disappear, I still managed to ask a few questions.
"How can I understand ? Who am I and why did you send me into the past ?"
"Listen well. If I made you appear in the forest of Syn it was not for nothing, go back there because at the foot of the tree made of ice and water will be some answers. I can\'t tell you more, I don\'t have time, but I\'m counting on y..."
Titania didn\'t have time to finish her sentence when everything went black and familiar voices called desperately for me.
[ee..on..e...s..onee..s...onee-saaaaan please wake up !]
"Mo...*sniff* mommy !!!"
"Honey, please wake up !"
As I slowly opened my eyes, I felt my body heavy as a little white haired girl cried her eyes out on my chest while a beautiful dragoness held my hand, small tears running down her cheeks. I was confused, bewildered but seeing my daughter\'s and my wife\'s faces instantly made me smile as I straightened up and spoke.
"I...I\'m sorry if I worried you. Kira, Gaya, Shiro, I\'m back."
My little moon was jumping in my arms while my wife wiped her tears with a radiant smile of relief and love.
"Mommy mommy ! I was so scared *sniff*!"
[Damn it onee-san, what happened ? I... I thought I lost you...]
The night was already here and while I was overwhelmed with love, I couldn\'t forget that one night dream that had just changed everything.
____
FULL STATUS
Name : Freya
Age : 0 years old / Mentally : 25 years old
Sex : Female
Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult
Race : Imperial Demon
Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.
Dragon tamer
Ruthless slayer
Level : 36/70
Exp needed for next level: 16 600 / 37 000
HP : 120 000 / 120 000 MP : 60 000 / 60 000
Strength: 500
Defense : 500
Agility : 506
Endurance: 503
Speed : 502
Intelligence: 500
Charisma: 500 (imperial she-wolf)
Attribute points to allocate : 0
Married to : Gaya
Daughter : Shiro
Empire (menu)
Subordinates: 1239 (+800)
Humans killed: 153
Souls: 2/3
Elements: Ice / Chaos
Skills (all):
Attack - Demon Claws (Lvl 5)
- Bite of hell (Lvl 6)
- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 6)
- Fighting techniques (Lvl max)
- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)
- Demonic Empress aura (lvl 5)
Defense - Ice demon wall (Lvl 6)
- Demonic Cloak (lvl 5)
Pain Resistance (lvl 4)
Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 2) - (under condition)
Others - Humanoid form
- Ice creation (Lvl 6)
- Storage of chaos (Lvl 4)
- Devouring Chaos (Lvl 5)
- Analysis
- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique
- Telepathy
Detection and control of mana (lvl 5)
Master of souls (lvl 1)
Passives - Commander (lvl max)
- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]