Bab 127: A feeling of wrongness
Kenshin opened his eyes to see the purple and golden canopy covering the sky.
He always felt at ease inside his soul, this place was his 'home' to somehow explain it.
After asking Ei, all he got was a blank stare. Ei's Plane of Euthymia was the proof of her suffering, as she decided to abandon her body to stay there meditating, so Kenshin's question earned him a thunderbolt that left him on the floor with an unresponsive body.
And Yae took advantage of it, casting a complex spell that turned him into a girl for a day.
Kenshin shivered remembering that harrowing day, losing his brother had been a traumatic experience.
But with a gentle look, he looked at the softly breathing woman at his side, hugging him and the 2 soft mounds on his chest showed the intense night they had.
"I know you are awake and embarrassed" Kenshin's words made Yae's face turn red, but she opened her eyes, not willing to be on the teased side. "Good morning."
"Ehem, yeah, good morning" this was a first for Yae, so she didn't know how to react.
"Do you like the scene?" asked Kenshin, opting to leave some space for Yae to get her ideas in order.
"Hmm" Yae hummed in agreement, and ignoring her nakedness, looked at the purple and golden treetop covering the sky. "Ei's soul is one of the strongest in Teyvat based on your analysis, but her Plane of Euthymia is as big as the throne room in the Tenshukaku. How is your Plane this big is a wonder. It's almost like a planet on itself."
"A planet is a bit much, I haven't tried exploring, but I sense that there are some limits to this place" explained Kenshin, hugging Yae closer.
"You have grass here, a huge tree and a sky. The only thing you need is water" commented Yae, thinking that her idea wasn't that ridiculous.
"Who knows, maybe even the whole Teyvat is nothing more than the soul of a superior being" Kenshin thought that the idea was at least interesting.
"Do you really think so?" asked a shocked Yae.
"No, if it was I would be able to see outside my Plane" Kenshin shook his head. "But that doesn't mean the true nature of this world is any less fantastic."
They fell silent for a while, pondering about the biggest mystery this world could offer them.
"You know, I still have nightmares about that thing" Kenshin's words made Yae look at him in worry.
She had sometimes heard him wake up screaming in panic, remembering what he felt during Makoto's 'soul retrieval', and from that time now 6 years ago when he lost his sight.
And the fact after Ei started living with her, as Kenshin thought that Ei staying in the Tenshukaku that so many bad memories had for her was a bad idea, was also waking up with a panicked expression was not reassuring.
"What's wrong?" asked Yae not hiding her uneasiness. She was confident they could manage any trouble the world sent their way, but that was the problem.
Based on what little Kenshin told her and what she read in that book Kenshin wrote in a moment of mental weakness, this Being was not from this world. And that caused her an untold amount of anxiety.
"The nightmares didn't change, but there is something I have been feeling for the last months" Kenshin thought for a while, trying to explain the vague feeling he had. I feel.... no, it's not a feeling. It's something even lower, a faint sensation of something."
"Just put it into words and define it later" Yae suggested, unconsciously hugging Kenshin a bit tighter.
"I feel.... nostalgic" Kenshin's words made Yae open her eyes in surprise and alarm. "Is not what you were feeling yesterday in that forest. I just feel that there is something for me there, something waiting for me, calling me."
"Where?" Yae asked with a trembling voice, but Kenshin was too lost in his thoughts to notice.
"Beyond the portal" Kenshin said with a lost look in his eyes. "Where the Being is. There is something in me telling me that there is still something left for me to do. Calling me, tempting me. Inviting me to go there again, almost as if I wasn't from this place to begin with, as if my true home lays in another place."
Yae's expression gradually contorted in alarm seeing Kenshin's gaze lose focus with every word he uttered. She felt that Kenshin was going to a faraway place, a place she wouldn't have access to.
"These last months I have been sensing an increasing feeling of homesickness, but why would I? I'm at home here, with you, my parents, the rest and the baby. And yet, I feel like I did when I lost my sight and wanted to return to the comfort of Inazuma. The feeling of being a foreigner in this world is slowly increasing but not stopping, and every time I dream about that place, the feeling intensifies. I also feel like a foreigner in that place, after all, no living being should have even known of that plane's existence, but.... there must be something beyond that."
Not realizing Yae's horrified expression, Kenshin continued.
"It's a fact that there are other worlds, there is no way the Being is that big with only the souls of Teyvat. And judging by what I think the Being is, probably the place it resides in acts as a link to other worlds, every soul that dies goes there. What if a soul was able to resist to some degree the 'washing' they are subjected to once they get immersed in the Being? What if when this powerful soul 'reincarnated' in a baby, it was me? What if a tiny bit of the Being's power over souls got stuck, or somehow got dissolved into the soul? That would explain my power, and why I don't have any memories. That would also explain this feeling of wrongness I feel every time I wake up. This fragment of soul wants to return to its birthplace, I want to return to that other world..."
"KENSHIN!"
Yae's shout brought Kenshin back to this world, and he jumped with the sudden shout.
"W-What's wrong?" he asked, scared and confused, but seeing Yae's face and soul he understood what happened. "Well, you know, just a nightmare. There is no way I would leave your side."
And yet, his reassurance didn't tranquilize Yae in the slightest.
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"How did it go?" asked Guizhong with a teasing smile, making Yae smile, who chose to shelve that ominous topic for later.
"Aren't you supposed to be a 'majestic' and 'serene' Goddess? How did your personality get that twisted?" Kenshin replied sitting next to Makoto, who quickly scouted closer with a smile.
"You tell me" Guizhong scoffed.
"It went well" Yae sat on Kenshin's other side, and imitated Makoto, making Kenshin wear an uncomfortable expression.
"What a playboy, flirting with the familiar of the mother of your child in front of her" Guizhong mocked, knowing that Kenshin wasn't at ease with this situation.
As shameless as Kenshin was, indeed it was a bit too much.
"Ehem, how is Morax's plan progressing?" Kenshin asked trying to change the topic, knowing that the only thing Guizhong liked more than poking at his weakness was her husband.
"It will be in a few months, he is going to wait until the Lantern Rite" Guizhong asked calmly.
"Honestly, indirectly releasing a sealed God just to prove a point is a bit much" commented Makoto with a hesitant expression.
"Nothing will happen, the Adetus will help" Guizhong shrugged. "I live in Liyue, and with Morax there nothing will go wrong."
"Doesn't that defeat the purpose?" asked Yae with a pondering expression. "I thought he wanted to make Liyue realize they could move forward alone, if Adepti helped them, how does that prove anything?"
"Adeptus are a step lower than him" Kenshin explained, patting Makoto's head, who leaned into his touch. "He is going to remove the biggest 'ceiling', and Adeptus will slowly disappear with the years."
BLAM!
Everyone looked wryly at Shenhe, who came through the door with her usual blank expression. After a month of living here, the white-haired girl still couldn't control her strength, or maybe it was just disinterested, but when the ground trembled you knew Shenhe had opened a door.
Shenhe looked in thought at the scene, but quickly sat next to Kenshin.
As his sides were occupied, she sat in the only place possible, on top of Kenshin.
"Now this is awkward" muttered Kenshin, making Yae smirk and Makoto shake her head in exasperation.
After a months everyone realized that Shenhe was too direct, and yet she didn't have a single mean bone in her body, for her friends at least. So everyone learned to ignore her quirks, and appreciate her for the always ready to help and caring girl she was, even if her disinterested appearance suggested so.
"As I was saying" Guizhong continued, choosing to ignore the way Shenhe's boobs bounced. "Cloud Retainer will start living in the Harbor, and the other 2 will as well."
"Master will do that?" asked Shenhe with her always calm voice.
"Yes, even if she doesn't say it, she is lonely now that Shenhe is not there" Guizhong's words made Shenhe depressed, and Kenshin who was able to see her soul patted her head. "I'm not saying that to make you feel bad, you were going to leave sooner or later. And it will be a good thing for her to mingle with more people and leave her isolation."
"It's going to be hell for her" said Kenshin, leaning to the side to look at Guizhong, as Shenhe's boobs were in front of his face. "There is fried chicken everywhere."
"Just leave the chicken alone" said an exasperated Guizhong. "What's wrong Shenhe? You look like you want to say something."
Indeed, Shenhe had a curious expression that made those who knew her realize that she had something to say.
Shenhe stood up, much to Kenshin's relief.
"Ouff" he made a pained noise when Shenhe sat again, not trying to reduce the impact. Now Shenhe was sitting in Kenshin's lap again, but looking at Yaewith curiosity.
"Was it good?" was all she said, making Yae smile wryly.
"Why is everyone interested in my sexual encounters?" asked an indignant Kenshin. "Dusty Goddess, did I ask you-"
"If you don't want a meteorite in your head before time, shut up" Guizhong said with an eerily calm smile.
But Shenhe had an answer to that question.
"Because I'm next" and Kenshin had to admit that it was a valid point.
"...." as valid as the point was, Kenshin felt extremely awkward speaking about it when the pregnant woman was clinging to his arm. "Just...wait for a while. Ehem, Guizhong. Do you know anything else about the plan?"
"Wait a moment" looking at said pregnant's woman frown, everyone realized that it was Ei. "Why did you say before time?"
""Gulp""
Kenshin glared at Guizhong, who now realized her slip-up.
"I am going to train with Morax" revealed Kenshin, hiding the truth for obvious reasons.
Ei turned a bit obsessive about his safety, the trauma of losing all her friends weighing heavily in her mind. She now had the deepest bond possible with Kenshin, and expecting a child in the way didn't do Kenshin any favours to make Ei let him go to the toilet.
She calmed down after he arrived at Inazuma but Yae complained a lot about the amount of talking she had needed to make Ei stay here and not go to Mondstadt.
"Why?" asked Ei, her frown growing more pronounced. "You can train with me. What?"
She looked around in confusion seeing everyone's deadpan stare.
"Stupid" if even Shenhe said so, it was for a reason.
"If you fight now" Kenshin sighed, looking at the confused Ei. "You will give birth to a piece of charcoal."
Ei's panicked expression said everything she was feeling, and sensing some tears starting to pool in her eyes, Kenshin patted her head.
"Anyway, I have a scheduled fight with Morax after this whole mess ends" revealed Kenshin, directing a threatening glare towards Guizhong, who nodded with a guilty look. "Of course, only if it doesn't coincide with the birth of the baby."
"How is it going?" asked a curious Guizhong.
"Let me see" Makoto, who regained control of the body, took a step back to let Kenshin see the soul of the non-born infant. "It's....going well. Maybe too well".
"What does it mean?" asked a worried Makoto, Ei inside the Plane mimicking her expression.
"The soul is growing very fast" muttered Kenshin, studying the purple soul. "This is probably the first time it has happened in the whole history of Teyvat, so we can't learn from the past. The soul of Guizhong's child is still transparent, as it should be, but the soul itself is quite strong, maybe due to his or her parents. But ours' soul has already a colour, that in itself is strange."
"You are the parent, it couldn't be any different" wryly commented Yae.
"How can I help?" asked Shenhe, showing her caring nature.
"Nobody can help" Kenshin shook his head. "The soul is still fine, but the child may develop some sort of ability. The problem is the pace at which is maturing, I fear that the soul will end up maturing before the body."
"W-What will happen?" Makoto asked with trembling hands.
"...." Kenshin thought for a while, and everyone waited for his next words holding their breath. "I can manipulate souls, but the body is out of my capabilities. The soul remembers the body, as Guizhong's now fat body proves, but this relation may be a bit complicated in the early stages. In the worst case, I will use one of Albedo's 'meatballs' to craft a body after moving the infant's soul to it."
The rest sighed in relief, but Kenshin was praying that wouldn't happen.
"We still have a few months before that" Yae tried to change the topic, and with a huge effort, everyone agreed.
"Where is Sara?" asked Guizhong. "I haven't seen her in a week."
"With her 'father'" Kenshin disinterestedly replied. "She literally hates that guy, but he is also the person who took her in and cared about her for almost the entirety of her life. It's not my place to say what she should or shouldn't do, but that fucker is not coming here again."
"If he does, he won't leave" muttered darkly Ei, who after Makoto's and Kenshin's patient explanations realized much she fucked up.
"Ei shut up" Yae tiredly said.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone