She doesn't answer me right away, rather choosing to tilt her head, indicating me to grab on to her.
I move forward and place an arm over her.
Right then I had the weirdest feeling.
Its the opposite of what I feel when I use [Void Step].
When I use [Void Step] my vision darkens, the temperature around me drops and I feel like I am descending.
But now, it's the exact opposite, light fills my vision and I ascend, as I feel warmth.
A few seconds later the effect disappears.
And we're now floating above the city.
Or rather standing on an invisible platform
"Oookay?"
"We can talk here without fear of being interrupted."
"What about mana beasts capable of flight?"
"They can't affect us, we are in a different plane altogether."
"We are?"
"Yes, in fact you have been travelling through dimensions for a while."
"What? When did I do that?"
She sighs, "I suppose it would be better to explain from the start."
I avert my eyes as she begins glowing like a second sun.
After the light fades, the wolf in front if me is replaced by a middle aged woman with long silver hair entending to her back and regal blue eyes.
"I...You know what? I'm not even surprised anymore."
She chuckled at my reaction, before turning serious,"Noctis has agreed to train you, but not your brother."
"What?! Why?!" I spat out incredulously.
"Calm down child. He has a reason for doing so." She tries to reassure me.
"What reason?"
"Your brother has been chosen by the Asuras of Epheotus. They will handle his training." She explains.
"Asuras? Epheotus? I don't understand."I say, confused out of my mind.
"Asura is the true term for deities. Because calling them deities would be incorrect. They are not gods, in fact they are very much mortal." She said confidently.
"And this Epheotus is their homeland? There are three continents on this world?" I asked.
"No, Dicathen and Alacrya are the only continents on the surface of this planet, Epheotus hovers in its atmosphere." She answered.
"So it's like Xyrus but on a much higher scale?"
"A crude analogy, but yes. You must have hundreds of questions, but we do not have much time now. I will explain as much as I can, but the rest will be revealed to you when you come to train with us."
I nod in acceptance, "You keep refering to the Asuras as 'them' as if you aren't an Asura yourself."
She looked sad for a moment, "We once stood at the top of the Asura hierarchy, as a member of 8 main clans. The leader of the Asuras were the Indrarth, you would better know them as dragons."
"Yes, Noctis did mention an Indrarth the first time we met."
"The Indrarth were the strongest of the Asuras, but we were the smartest. We are called the Marchosias." She said with a hint of pride on her face
"The Marchosias?"
"Yes, we didn't have inherent power, but we were able to gain it artificially. But Kezess, the king of the Indrarth saw us as a threat to his reign and declared war on us." Her voice had a tint of anger on it.
"Just like that?"
"Just like that," She nodded, "And so war broke out, leveling the world and ultimately splitting one mass of land into two."
"Noctis said something about being banished by his own race, so I'm guessing you lost and had to run away." I said.
"Yes, all because of those snakes!" She hissed out.
"Snakes?"
"The basilisk, Vritras." Her answer had my blood run cold.
"The Vritra..."
"Yes, they were our own flesh and blood, our own descendants, yet they betrayed us for a spot among the 8 great clans." Venom dripped from her words.
"That...must have been bad..." I mutter.
"Oh it was, we had hidden down in the surface continents, but were hunted by the Asuras. We eventually stumbled upon a spatial anomaly connecting to another dimension. There were only a few of us with the power to manipulate space back then, and they needed time to stabilize the rift. Time we didn't have." Her tone turned into one of melancholy.
"Our leader sacrificed his own mortal life to buy us enough time. We didn't even get to retrieve his body for a proper burial. The dragons turned his carcass to ashes. The rift disappeared just as the last of us passed through. And for a couple hundred years we were trapped with no way out."
"I...I'm sorry?"
"You have no need to apologize. Most of us are over it and hold no grudge over the Indrarth, however we have no intent of helping them." She waves off my apology.
"Wait if the Asuras are going to train Arthur, doesn't that mean they are on Dicathen's side in the war?"
"Yes." She confirms.
"You do realize that I will be fighting for Dicathen right?" I asked.
"And why will you be fighting for them?" She shot back.
"Because I want to protect my friends and family. That is kinda the point here." I answered her.
"You don't necessarily need to fight under Dicathen to keep your cherished ones safe."
"What do you mean?" I narrow my eyes.
"Exactly what I said. Why fight under someone when you can fight alongside them with no shackles on you." She replied slyly.
I understood her implications, but how will I get such a powerful position?
"Tell me, what do you think about becoming our Champion?" Her expression turned serious.
Their champion?
Like...an ambassador?
"Why would deities such as yourself offer me a position as powerful as that? After all I am merely a human." I reply skeptically.
"Let's just say someone of supreme authority favors you. Besides, you are not as human as you think." She replied cryptically.
"What do you mean by that?" I was extremely confused by her answer.
Who is this supreme authority?
And what does she mean I'm not as human as I think?
"That's irrelevant for now. There are personal reasons to choose you as well." She refused to answer.
"Huh?"
"You took care of my son when I couldn't, and for that you have my utmost gratitude." She suddenly bowed.
I was so shocked that I didn't even register when Zeke shot out of my shadow with wide eyes.
"Hello my son." She smiled widely upon seeing him.
My mother?
Yes Zeke, are you happy?
I don't know what to feel...
Coming from someone who has already lost one family, you should be happy and hold no grudges against your family.
But they were the ones who left me.
They must have had a reason Zeke, don't let this form a rift between you and them. You never know when fate might snatch them away from you.
Fine, I'll listen to you on this one.
You won't regret it.
A few moments pass in silence.
...how do I talk with her? Only you and Sylvie can understand me.
Sylvie can understand you? You never mentioned that.
He gave me the equivalent of a mental shrug, It never came up. But that's not the point here.
Yeah you're right.
"Uh, we're gonna have a problem with that." I spoke.
"Hmm? What problem? Is this about us leav-"
I interrupt her, "No, it's not that. I managed to convince him not to hold it against you." She gave me a grateful nod, "The problem is, he can only speak with me and my brothers bond."
Wait if Zeke is a Marchosias shouldn't he be able to speak out loud?
Hell does he have a human form like that?
She looked at me, perplexed for a second, before turning to Zeke, "You haven't figured it out yet? Deities can naturally talk in their beast form."
"We can?" Him suddenly speaking out loud catches me off guard.
"Whoa!"
Well that's one down.
Even Zeke looked surprised at himself, before he shook his head, "You said we can speak in our 'beast form' naturally. How many forms do we have? A human form, a beast form, and anything else?" He asked.
"We normally have three forms, a humanoid one, a canine one and another form merging the best of the other two." She nods.
"Normally?" Zeke tilted his head.
"Although it is rare, sometimes offspring's of two different variants of Marchosias do have a fourth form combining both of their parents powers. In that case you could have a fourth form." She elaborates.
"I see. Can I transform to a humanoid form like you?" He asked.
"How old are you?" She shot back.
"Five,"
She nods, "Your powers should be mature enough by now."
Zeke tilts his head, before his face took on an expression of immense concentrating.
The area around him started darkening, and in a few seconds it was dark enough that I couldn't even see him.
When the blackness subsided, I was met with a pre teen child, with obsidian black hair ending in a fiery red hue extending to his upper back and piercing silver eyes.

"Z-Zeke?!" My mouth hung open.
"H-How do I look?"
Absentmindedly I conjure a square piece of ice for him to see his reflection.
"..Well this is certainly trippy." He commented.
"That it is."
"Um," I look towards Sierra, "Could I...?" She trailed off, her arms held wide in an unmistakable pose to embrace someone.
I turn to Zeke, who is stiff as a board, "It's up to you Zeke."
Remember Zeke, they must have had a reason for doing what they did. Try and look at it from her perspective, she is seeing her son for the first time since 5 years...no wait you were in stasis so it's completely viable if you were born a long time ago.
Zeke doesn't answer me mentally, instead choosing to nod his head ever so slightly.
Nigh-instantly a body went past me in supersonic speed, and I heard the startled voice of Zeke, who was buried in his mothers chest.
Looking at the scene unfolding in front of me, with Zeke struggling to breathe and his mother having a blissful smile on her face...
It does put a smile on my face.
"I-I can't breathe mother!" Zeke tried to get her to release him.
If anything her grip tightened and she squealed, "You called me mother!"
Zeke turns to me with a pleading look on his face that basically screams 'Help me!'
I shake my head, This is on you Zeke, I'm not going between you and her. Haven't you heard? Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.
It takes a good hour for her to release him.
By the time Zeke looks half dead and breathing heavily.
"Was that...really necessary..." He panted out.
"Yes," She immediately responded.
Zeke grumbled something under his breath.
A device on her hand 'beep's once, and she sighs as she looks down.
"We do not have much time left, so I will explain everything we know about the situation out here."
I nod.
"A while ago the new head of the Vritra, Agrona, decided to experiment on the 'lesser' races as they put it, to enhance the Vritra's abilities. Long story short the Asuras had another civil war, this time with no apparent winner. Agrona got the continent of Alacrya in exchange to not ever touch Dicathen again. Surprise Surprise Agrona didn't hold his end of the bargain and decided to conquer Dicathen again." Her voice Dripped sarcasm at the end there.
"And now he has thousands of capable soldiers, and individuals capable of defeating your so called Lances in mere minutes." She continued.
Just like Alea.
"Then we need to get stronger than the Lances are." I answer her.
She nods grimly, "You have a long and arduous path ahead of you, let's just hope you can get through it."
"I will, I have to," I nod with determination etched into my face.
And that's when the device on her hand started glowing, "Looks like I have used up all of my time."
She advanced towards Zeke, and got down on her knees, "I love you my son. We will meet again in a few days," She kissed his forehead, right before exploding into millions of balls of light, which consumed our vision.
When we regained our sight we were back in the spot I found Sierra in.
And only then did I realize.
"She never told me how I have been crossing dimensions!"
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