it took a while until we arrive to the underground city of the Flora. I never knew that there was a clearing in the middle though... it seems that aunt Theia's estates really are that well-made... or she's just allowed to do whatever she does... she is the most powerful person in the whole of Laplace...
"Aunt Mei! Aunt Theia! it's nice to meet you again!" both Analisse and I say our usual formal greetings since that was what we were instructed to do... Analisse seems fine with it which is a surprise...
"Mother, Aunt Theia, it's nice to see you again"
"the pleasure's all ours, why don't you two have fun in the ravine? there's a local animal breeding area. you'll both see some rare and usual animals there."
Aunt Theia called in for mom and dad and left us with just the two of us... well, if it's something important then I won't pry in to their affairs.
"hey? Osiria, why don't we go where Aunt Theia told us? I'm sure it will be fun!" haha... I can't really Deny Analisse when she makes that face... all of my worries are just for naught whenever I see her...
"sure! why not?"
----------
inside the mansion. Liliya, Naoya and Mei are currently having a chat with each other waiting for Theia to return.
"so? is it true that Theia is currently searching for a new successor?" Naoya was the first to ask, Liliya was also curious about this and the only one with Theia all the time was Mei, of course, she'd know all about Theia about now-
"I'm still not quite sure about that..." Mei was reluctant- "Theia was being unusually hesitant with it, although I do get it since it also means trusting everything to that child, but what's also troubling me is how she'd find one..."
Mei sighs, Liliya and Naoya could feel her exhaustion. the mature woman, Mei was suddenly shackled to Theia's grasp, although it may have been the other way too. considering that Mei was always instructing Theia and Theia managing Mei's lifestyle.
"then what about Analisse? did you both consider it?" Liliya looked at Mei concerned. both of them knew Analisse capabilities, it was an immediate answer, both of them expected it-
"yes... we considered it but we couldn't bind her to it." Mei was loving to Analisse, she let Theia be her second mother as because of Mei's unusual schedule that always coincides and troubles Mei.
"Analisse can be Theia's successor, and yes it would also mean trusting everything to her which is no problem to us considering that she's my daughter. my problem with it is that I won't have any more time of meeting her, I'd see another clone of Theia by the time I'm finally relieved of my busy days..."
Liliya laughs, Mei smirked in the little chaos and looked to the window. "she's a free girl, I gave her that, of course I'd be lonely whenever she leaves or whenever she doesn't have the time to see me when I need her. even if she's the same as my old creations, Analisse is different, I gave her that kind of personality to give her the type of freedom she wants..."
Liliya suddenly perks up. "then why did you give her that personality in the first place? if you gave her a personality in the first place, unlike us, her future is already set in stone" Mei suddenly joints at Liliya's Opinion
"You're probably right... but that's all too late now. the Analisse that I see right now is my daughter, that will never change"
in the midst of their laughter, Theia finally arrived. carrying files and a computer chip. Mei was surprised to see her serious.
"Liliya, Naoya, are you both aware of what Osiria is capable of doing?" what Osiria was capable of doing... Liliya and Naoya already knew this, but even with their relationship with each other, they hid it to themselves. both of them were silent, reluctant.
"don't worry, I'm not here to give you two sermons nor scold you two about it... it's reassuring that you two want to hide your child's more than you trust us" Theia unfolds the files, showing a graph and charts with a virtual video inside.
"what's this?" Naoya asks. when Theia suddenly showed everything to them, Naoya showed slight hostility and cautiousness. his blood was circulating even more and the only one capable of stopping Naoya's rage was-
"Naoya, I ask you to calm down, I may not be your creator like my brother but I'm still your caretaker, do take that into account" unlike Theia who already knows what all three of them are capable of, Naoya and Liliya are still clueless of Theia's mutation, she has never shown it and probably never will even after losing the curse.
Naoya calms down, his blood finally resumed their normal circulation.
"good, you don't need to worry about your daughter alone with Analisse, I already entrusted her with protecting Osiria and just to be safe, I ordered a few of my top spies to cover her when it is necessary" Theia was holding the meeting the best way she can, she may be capable but not omnipotent.
"with that, I want to know everything that has happened with the last month and this month"
Naoya was silent, staring at Theia with murderous eyes.
Liliya trusted her though, she was the first one to speak up in the middle of the silence-
"she's... I'm not to say about this but... Osiria's strong enough to even defend for herself, probably even more than that..." LIliya dug her face downward, an expression of both fear and admiration was seen to her, not akin to what a mother is
"her synchronization is as powerful as the ancient dragons that Naoya and I fought a long time ago... her ability to both synchronize with mine and Naoya's is scary but that's not everything..."
she told Mei and Theia everything. Osiria was powerful, but her power is enough to engulf her fully, both of them don't know where she got that power but there was one both of them are aware of. her power was similar to the power of Parva, the 1st generation's power, his creation.
Mei was slightly surprised while Theia dug into the files "that are the readings I got from the files... but there's also one more thing-"
Theia showed a book, glitching into space and as if broken into bits- the words were indecipherable but weirdly enough, understandable as if they knew the words but not the letters
"this book... I found this but I'm not simply showing it to you because it's weird" she flips the book and displayed a holographic vision in one of the papers
"this emblem is my concern. there's a group called "The age of the Fallen" that wears this symbol, calling themselves heroic enigmas that will engulf the world with the peace and right they deserved. and lo and behold, all of them are Fallen."
both Liliya and Naoya suddenly widen their eyes, it hides their true feelings. Hate, Anger, Madness, both Liliya and Naoya are on the verge of running amok.
"Theia..." Liliya suddenly talks, trembling with anger and her voice was coarse "where... are they...?"
the moment she stared at Theia, her eyes were near to bloodshot, it's been a long time since Theia has seen them this mad, and it was to Theia's surprise that they only show this when Kirin wasn't in their vision, when Kirin was alive...
"I'm still unsure about that... forgive me about that..." Theia bows, the moment she turned her own head to the ground, both Liliya and Naoya was suddenly slapped back to reality, finally seeing that their own kin, their so-called mother was bowing to her head.
"N-no... Theia... please, raise your head" finally calming down, Liliya and Naoya sat back to their sit.
"no... it's true... my information and power wasn't even capable of finding even the simplest goal... for that, you'll have to forgive me. I understand your hate and anger"
it took a few minutes for both of them to finally calm down. continuing back to their topic, Mei was the next one to explain
"we're currently both investigating towards the mysteries of this group but we're still at a blank paper here... but there is at least one thing that both of us are aware of"
Mei took a sip of tea and glanced at Theia for assurance.
"this has only been discovered recently, that is why we have strengthened Osiria's protections as much as we can without troubling both of them."
as vague as an answer it gets, both Liliya and Naoya understood Mei's comment. their target was Osiria, but as to the reason why is still unknown.
"I have my theories but the most prominent one is that they're planning to revive Parva, being Osiria as their catalyst for the reincarnation... it sounds hilariously stupid but I've heard that they were successful in their project... but that is still speculation, theories and yet to be proven facts..."
a long silence continued after Mei's answer. the only thing left for Liliya and Naoya to say was-
"so? what is our objective?"
both Mei and Theia smiled and continued with their conversation.
. . .
. .
.
a long time of conversation took place. a few minutes, a few hours, they speculated and made opinions until-
"we're back!" both Osiria and Analisse returned, all with bags and new clothes.
"welcome back, now I assume that both of you didn't waste the savings I gave you?" Theia stared at both of them.
"N-Nothing! we're going to our rooms!" dashing before Theia could even retort. Liliya and Mei laughed.
"ahh... youth... such a nice time to have ignorance..." Mei nonchalantly made her comment and both Liliya and Naoya were laughing with her.
a day's afternoon finished with good news on the way. even with a big target in Osiria's back, both Liliya and Naoya are resting with confidence that Osiria is under safe care with Theia.