บท 29: Forgotten Memories Pt.3
"So, what did you come here for?"
"I should be asking you that Red." Maddox replied with a smirk. "Y'know, for someone who only just turned eleven, you sure as hell didn't seem fazed by me massacring 8.9 million soldiers in an instant. That reminds me."
Maddox took my hand and placed something in it. It looked like a small green gemstone that gave off a dim glow and a low hum that I felt vibrating in my hand.
"What is it?"
"I don't know the name, but it slows down you're ageing by a lot. You'll physically age one year every hundred years or so."
"Whoah…" I inspected the gemstone and raised it, so the sunlight bounced off it, causing it glow even brighter than before almost like a glow stick. "How does it work?"
Maddox turned to face the landscape again.
"You crush it so that it's almost like dust then swallow it."
I didn't like the idea of what was essentially eating glowing green sand, but it was still valuable, nonetheless.
As I put it in my pocket Maddox spoke up again, still staring off into the distance.
"How's mum?" She asked in a soft voice while rubbing the back of her neck.
As she did so I noticed a small golden Ankh symbol on the side of her neck, hidden just below and behind her right ear. It was exactly like Kyla's except for its placement as well as the mark itself being slightly faded with the gold colour also having a slight reddish tint to it. I hadn't noticed it before as it was so small and practically impossible to notice unless you were close to her. However, once you were, it stuck out like a saw thumb as the colour contrasted with her pale white skin.
"She's ok." I answered after a short pause. "She'll probably shout at me once I get back considering I took off as soon as I saw you fly over. You should come visit for once. It's been almost three years since you last came."
Maddox smiled turned sad for a brief moment.
"I'm sure three years is a long time for you Red but for me it's no shorter than a day. I'm almost a thousand years old now so I don't experience time like you do especially since I travel across existence a lot. But mum is always at that house not doing much so time must pass slowly for her."
Long, long before I was born my father, Viro, brought my mother here and married her. They were happily like that for a long time however my dad apparently had to leave sometimes in order to fight the D.C.E which would lead to him spending some time away from Mama. Mama assumed it was always that he had to fight but she was wrong. Apparently, he hadn't always been leaving the C.F.R to fight the Demoreals, in fact, he'd been within the C.F.R for most of those leaves having an affair with a Demoreal who he'd smuggled into the C.F.R. My mother was understandably outraged along with many other members in the family. They would be annoyed if he had an affair with any other kind of Ethorian but a Demoreal, the very enemy they had been fighting and he'd smuggled one into their home no less. That was too far. The ensuing fights got so bad that even the family head Ada got involved. Originally the Demoreal was going to be killed until it was revealed that the Demoreal was pregnant with my father's child. Ada said that an Ethereal Demoreal Hybrid could be very useful and should be welcomed into the family and that they'd dispose of my father's mistress once the baby was born. Surprisingly, my mother (Sylvia) begged that they keep the mistress alive saying that she could work as a slave who would serve her and my father directly. It took some time but eventually Ada was persuaded, and the child was born not long after she began to work.
That mistress was Kyla, the maid who works at my house and that child she gave birth to was none other than Maddox. Maddox is my older and only half-sister, the eldest of all my siblings. There are clear things that point to us not being 100% related, the main one being the Ankh symbol on her neck that she shares with her mother. It's a symbol all Demoreals are born with but her's is faded slightly and has its reddish tint due to the mix of Ethereal, Demoreal and Cosmos family blood she was running through her veins. But hybrid or not the symbol is complete proof of her Demoreal heritage. It's why her eyes are purple as well. Instead of turning blue when there is a limiter in place, her eyes turn purple due to her Demoreal half mixing with the Cosmos Family blood.
Despite the fact we may not be completely blood related, I've always viewed Maddox as if she was my full-blooded sister. I'm far closer with her than Diablo and Kara, always meeting up with her while she also apparently helped my mother a lot in raising me. She has never judged me for being the only Wolf Rank in a family where all other members are born Demon Ranks, she's always been there and defended me. Not to mention she's incredibly strong although I've never really seen her use her full strength, in fact, I've never seen her eyes even change from purple to red. As much as I love her, she's still a mystery to me in terms of what she is capable of. I've just been told things and I've never had the guts to confront her or ask her about said things for fear of offending her and making her angry. Apparently, Maddox was the youngest to ever awaken in the entirety of the whole family, past and present. This was supposedly due to her Ethereal and Demoreal genetics mixing, resulting in her only being five years old when she became an Awakened Ethorian. By the time she was nine she was already stronger than half of all the family members at that time. Over the years she's become a force to be reckoned with, a being who has taken out multiple D.C.E Armies, twice the size as this recent invasion, at the same time; an individual the D.C.E has learned to fear greatly. She's become the second strongest in the family, only behind Ada, but even that is not a good enough measurement of her power due to Maddox herself saying that she would be no match against the head of the family. Ada is another mystery who very few truly know her as a person. All I know for certain is that Maddox has Skills or abilities that allow her to seemingly perform the impossible, even by Ethorian standards. She is considered to be the true prodigy of the family.
I thought back to the battle, if you could even call it that, and how quickly she ended it. In fact, how did she even end it? The Demoreals turned on each other and she was only singing, did that have something to do with it.
"You look like you wanna ask me something Red."
Maddox's voice snapped me out of thought, and I turned to look at her to find her looking at me with kind eyes.
Red was a little nickname she started calling me a few years ago, a little thing that was just between us.
"Yeah, I do actually. Umm…" I said, trying to figure out a way to form my words. Maddox was strong but incredibly secretive about her power and didn't like to give anything away. Only the higher ups of the family probably knew a lot more about her capabilities.
Maddox cocked her head to the side.
"C'mon Red, spit it out already."
"Right, um… so if you don't mind me asking, how did you exactly… beat the invasion."
There was a long pause as Maddox stared at me. I got a little nervous.
Should I not have asked?
She raised an eyebrow.
"Really? That's it?"
I nodded.
"Sure," she replied casually inspecting her fingernails. "Just… don't tell anyone."
I gave her a salut.
"Yes ma'm."
That put a smile on her face as she rested her arm on her knee before looking out into the vast distance once again.
"It's my Omuni." She said.
Omuni. I'd heard quite a lot about those. The rare ability given only to a few Awakened Ethorians, the unique power of the Omuni supposedly originating from the eyes of the Ethorian's Sentient Ethos infused within them.
"My Omuni is called The Devil's Whisper." She continued. "It allows me to to have complete and utter control over my opponent's mind through commands. Essentially, I can control an opponent's actions, decisions, and very thought process, making them completely obedient to me and me alone. I can also see through the eyes of the people that I have under my control."
She let a sigh as if remembering something unpleasant.
"When I say commands, I don't just mean verbal ones. I have other Skills that allow me to speak directly into someone's mind and or transfer my thoughts and replacing that with speech still works just fine with my Omuni. But that is not why this power of mine is so deadly. This power also bypasses abilities that make one immune or resistance to other similar mind-based abilities. So long as the opponent hears my commands in some way, they will immediately be put under my control."
Maddox turned to look at me, she wore an expression that was completely unreadable.
"And its more than just forcing my will onto another and making them follow it, it's much more akin to reprogramming their brain so that my command becomes their own desire. Once under my control the opponent will WANT to do as I say, it becomes their highest priority, the thing they desire most, and they won't hesitate to do anything the leads to them completing it."
She turned away from me to look back into the distance, still wearing that same unreadable face.
A mind controlling power that cannot be negated through resistances or immunities designed to counter mental abilities. That's terrifying and to add to that, the opponents will want to do as she says, no matter what it may be. Adding to the fact that she can literally transfer her thoughts into another's mind, there's no real way to beat the ability. A mind controlling power with nothing to counter it. Practically unstoppable.
"Are you scared now?"
I pulled myself away from my thoughts and focused on Maddox.
"Huh?"
"I said, are you scared now? Or to be more precise, are you scared of me?"
Maddox's unreadable expression suddenly became one that was very readable and very sad. She continued to stare off into space, facing the vast landscape in front of us. Even though I was sitting right next to her, she seemed so… alone.
"Why would I be scared." I replied after a long pause.
Maddox turned to me with a slight shocked and confused look.
"But I-"
"No buts," I interrupted her quickly. "You've been nothing but good to me ever since I was born. You're one of the only few people in this family that I feel like I can actually call family. Despite me being weak and being aban… being left out by all the other, you're always there next to me. Your power is terrifying, yes. But that's because how powerful you are and that just makes me respect you that much more."
Maddox stared at me for a long while, slightly slack jawed as her eyes seemed to become watery. She suddenly grabbed and pulled me in close, burying my face in her chest has she kept me in a tight embrace.
"Thanks Red." She said, almost whispering. "I've needed that recently."
She let go of me and stood up.
"You should probably head back otherwise Sylvia is gonna give you an earful."
I pictured Mama's face the moment I had left to chase after Maddox and felt a bit of dread deep into my body.
"I'm probably going to get that already," I said, laughing weakly. "Promise me you'll visit later today; it'll be one of the rare times when you will be with us big sis. All of us will be the together."
Maddox stood completely still, the cold wind blowing her pitch-black hair back in a gentle flow.
"Kyla would really appreciate it."
Maddox glanced at me quickly at that before looking back into the distance.
"I'll think about, you get home Red."
At that, a glowing purple outlines her body before she rocketed up into the sky before a sonic boom echoed across the mountains as she flew off into the distance, disappearing from sight in an instant.
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