|Author's note: I will put illustrations of some characters in paragraph comments, the moms are in chapter 2 at their descriptions.|
3rd Person POV
"Mom, did you see that, that was amazing!" Rylee exclaimed as she reported the whole thing
"I know, I watched." Lynda nodded "What I wouldn't give to have him instead of you..."
"Though I do worry about him." Rylee said "Both Nyra and I tried getting him to talk with others, I would reason that it's because he's more mature than others, but...he just chooses to not talk to them, even making eye contact, he does it out of reluctance, he acts like a very outgoing person, but it seems he prefers to be alone."
"Well we can get your father to check on him, he might just be like your healer, one of those guys who just truly believe they can get on their lives better by being alone."
*****
Perseus POV
"Mom, why are you looking at me weird? I'm eating proper vegetables."
"It's just, you eat very healthily." Mom Nyra replied "You eat more than me an your mom combined, do we not feed you enough?"
"Don't worry, I just like to eat when given the opportunity, unless it's bell peppers, but otherwise, I'd eat just about anything, meat, broccoli...anyway, mom do you know about the blue rose?"
She should be old enough to know something, if anything, at least she will know someone who will.
"Do you want to join the competition?" she asked
"What is it about?"
"Well it's an endurance test, there's no really first place, but you basically have to physically climb down the tree and climb back up, the age limit is 16, you can use magic and there will be referees flying all over to make sure you can't cheat by flying or endangering others, you can fall, but if you fall to the ground, you're eliminated."
"Of course, you'll die."
"Oh no, we have watchers camping down there, even now, they are to slow down anyone's fall with magic and so there are no deaths so far." Mom Nyra reassured me "But I won't sign you up till you are cleared, that annual competition is very taxing on your body. Anyway, anyone who pass will be eligible to go with the chief to the blue rose where the guardian will most likely reject everyone."
"So where is it then?"
"Oh I didn't care enough to participate, I wouldn't know." she shrugged
*****
We had another session where I struggled with the slow pace again but at least my parents aren't as complaining anymore when mom Rylee told my other mom what I can do. We were then encouraged to stay over at our grandparents' house since it's a very long way back from their branch to ours.
But as I slept with a full stomach that night in a shared bed with my mothers in mom Rylee's old room, and that dream came again once I heard a woman with a familiar voice.
"Oh no, not this again. So, Leilah, where the hell have you been the past 5 years? I just thought you finally stopped tormenting me in my dreams?"
"You still remember my name?" Leilah giggled
Leilah looks to be in her mid 20s, about 170cm tall, she got black eyes and gorgeous flowing black hair and she wears this beautiful black dress as she sat on this staircase like usual.
"You're a rose guardian?"
"You know what I am as well...what's your current name?" Leilah asked
"Perseus Silver."
"A bit pretentious, don't you think?"
"It is, but it's my name now, so why are you here? How does the black rose contact me through another dimension?"
"Well, Perseus~." she put an emphasis on my name as she walked closer to me "Have you ever heard the story of the first hero and the first demon lord? Or the purpose of the summons?"
"Go ahead." I replied as I approached the staircase
"Well you see, they both came from the same world as you through the summons, that's why our languages are the same and some cuisines are similar, they both brought it here." she explained as we both then sat on the staircase "They were the best of friends, the demon race were taking over and the humans needed a hero, so they prayed to the 4 gods for a solution, the summons was the answer they received, which gave us the 2 heroes."
The 4 gods? I thought there were only 2, I'll ask questions later.
"And at one point, the demon lord, who was still a hero at the time fell in love with a woman." she explained "The woman however loved the hero, who did not reciprocate her feelings."
Of course, love, romance, the start of every tragedy.
"They managed to find peace amongst the 2 race, the hero then married the woman's mother." she continued, I want to say something, but I'll let this go on "The woman was so devastated that she killed herself, the demon lord who was still in love with her was angry at his best friend, but he never blamed him.
"They went on with their lives, the demon lord found a new lover and have a daughter who fell in love with his best friend and grew up to marry him."
Ok, I think I can see why this guy became a demon lord now, like just end the story there, bro loved a woman who ended up taking up suicide, and just when he thought life was good, his own daughter married his best friend, like just end it there, heck I'm rooting for the guy to murder his best friend.
Like at some point, isn't there a moral line you shouldn't cross? Like hey, she's the daughter of my friend, let's not go beyond that.
"The demon lord then confronted his best friend who he thought was his brother, his friend doubled down on it, and it took a very long time for him to respect his daughter's decision." Leilah explained "But the story doesn't just end there."