Chapter 29: The Problem P2
~29.2~
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"Let her finish," Eve said.
Annoyed, Atalante begrudgingly gave Kye her attention.
"-to discuss his blatant acts of invasion. My subjects are dying ultimately because of his involvement, and I'm not willing to let that go." Kye turned to Alethea. "You and Seris once led my forces to repel Adaal. I fear the time may come in the near future that we will see a repeat, but with a different outcome."
"What are you planning?"
"Worst-case scenario, Adaal does not accept my conditions. Best-case scenario, he does. My conditions are to revive all subjects that died because of Phantom's meddling, and I will not retaliate."
"What do you mean?" Atalante asked, her confusion plain on her face. "How would you retaliate against a foreign power?"
Kye hardened her eyes and turned to Atalante. "I do what they have always feared I would do. I eliminate the leader and destroy the core of their nexus."
Their eyes widened, all except Kye's and Eve's.
"Elysia, love," Alethea said, "You can't mean that! If you destroy a nexus core, the entire plane of existence that civilization is built on will vanish. You would erase countless souls!"
Kye shook her head, "No, I'll take the souls."
"Against their will?"
"Yes." Kye was adamant. "Adaal and the other leaders have tested my patience long enough. They want to meddle with Elysium and make their feeble attempts to take over? Fine. I am going to deal with them myself. They are ultimately all my subjects. The souls of Olympus, Atlas, Oceanus, Orthrys, and Erytheia are all Elysian, and before that... Alexandrian. They will cease or they will cease. Either way, I will have peace in my domain."
"Love..."
Elysia turned back to Eve. "Restoring Maya is a condition. And I will not budge on this condition. They will accept it or I act. Restore her, now."
"Elysia, you mean to enforce a condition before an agreement is made? That will not go over well."
"I'm aware, and I don't care. I will have this one way or another. So, go ahead and do it now."
Eve giggled for a moment, then burst into outright laughter, taking the Atlantis sisters and Maya by surprise. "Fine. Very well, my daughter. I will grant you this. I will restore Maya's original body and she may return with you to the Ten Realms. I am happy you are being more assertive." She stood up and held a hand toward Maya before releasing a massive amount of rainbow mana, enough that even Kye struggled to stay upright. Eve granted The Atlantis sisters a barrier to protect them, but left Kye alone since she could withstand it.
The rainbow mana fully engulfed the pink-haired soul. It remained for several seconds before disappearing. Once it was gone, she examined herself and repeatedly closed and opened her hands. She felt her neck where it had been severed and found no wound. With the immense pressure gone, the barrier faded away, and Atalante stood up and rushed over to her. She pulled the pink-haired girl into a warm embrace. "Alethea."
The others smiled. Alethea could see their smiles and smiled back. She pulled away from Atalante and smiled at her, too. "Mother, I'm coming home."
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Five years ago, when Adele was beginning her transition, she met with her family, her mother, aunt, sisters, and cousins.
"Your soul name is Adele Athas," Draelana said. She was in a meeting room with her three children, her sister, and her sister's two children. "You know of our family's roots, correct?"
Adele nodded. "I do, yes. Back on Terra before the war, our people lived in a country named Germania, or in our native tongue, Deutschland."
"Your soul name is very close to a name that belonged to a friend I had as a child. Her name was Adele, like yours."
"The same?"
"Right. It wouldn't be too strange for you, yes? If you are giving me the right to choose your new name, this is the name I would choose. Both, to honor your true name and my friend that was lost a long time ago."
Adele smiled and nodded. "I like it, and I'm honored."
"Then I shall handle the paperwork." Draelana smiled and opened her NeuraPhone. "From this day, Crown Prince Doran Maya shall be Crown Princess Adele Maya." She began typing on the screen.
In the present, Draelana wondered something. After Kye revealed everything about Elysium and their past lives to the public, she thought about a specific idea. She was together with the same company as when Adele received her new-old name. "I do wonder something, if you can answer. It's about your true bodies. Adele and Adara."
Adele and Michelle exchanged glances, unsure what she wanted to ask, but nodded.
"You are experiencing Gender Dysphoria because of being born in a male body, yet your soul is female. Adele Athas is female."
"Yes."
"Kye has regained her true body. Is that possible for you? I'd like to think having a natural female body would alleviate your dysphoria altogether."
Adele averted her eyes, unsure of what to say.
"It's not possible," Michelle said hesitantly, also looking away. "I suppose it's fine to explain this since Kye made everything public."
"I sense there's a serious reason."
Michelle nodded. "Aunt, Mom, Dani, Liz, Mike, listen... you are aware of the invasion that happened toward the end of our lives in Athas. According to Kye, Sanae, and Alethea, it happened similarly in every world line. Lord Adaal, Governor of Olympus, one of the satellite civilizations like our own Atlantis, invaded. Soon, two more satellites invaded. It was a massive undertaking. The fact that they could even enter Elysium was already a feat in and of itself, but they were able to enter with enough power and forces to put up a good fight."
Draelana and the others hardened their expressions and listened intently. "What happened?"
"As you know, we are immortal. Our souls will never die, and we can reincarnate forever." Michelle paused and glanced at Adele.
"All of us fought. All except Elysia," Adele said. "After our childhood and Elysia's ascension, Instructor Seris became Supreme Commander Seris. She led us in battle. The only ones on par with her, regarding mana, were Maya, Adara, myself, and our weapon partners. We were not enough. In the face of so many... we lost. We died. Our original bodies were destroyed... reduced to nothing. After that is a blank for us. The truth is, we don't know what Elysia did to end the war. We only know the three things that came as a result of what she did. At the cost of being separated from her body, she moved the entire population to the stars above, expelled all the foreigners, and raised a barrier around Elysium. That barrier was maintained by her own mana supplied directly from her body until she recently recovered it. Unlike her, we don't have true bodies to return to."
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Revision: 2024-9-17