CH836 Thera’s Perspective

Calling demons the enemy of the world was really thinking too small by that point, they’d destroyed and conquered countless worlds and shown no inclination to stop. Even Ben, a mind reader with no preconceived notions about them when he’d arrived, had looked in their souls and found nothing redeemable. The universe was something for them to kill their way across before they’d set their sights on each other and there wasn’t a single part of her that viewed reality as better for their existence.

And yet, like it or not, by the way the system measured things those same creatures were people. Able to think and learn and grow, all to an extent that anything lacking sapience would fail at with that fact leaving a definitive mark on reality as well.

Thanks to the meddling of the forbidden gods, the people of the world saw them as such as well, whether they understood that fact or not, with all of those problems linking together to come crashing down on Mora and what Vividus had wanted for his existence. She’d wanted a weapon that could kill with the strength of any of her kin but what she’d gotten was a child being asked to murder indiscriminately, with the worst part being that she didn’t know what to do about that fact.

Demons were monsters, sapience or not, and their existence was a blight upon the universe. No matter how much she disagreed with and disliked her aunt, she could agree that their existence wasn’t something to be tolerated but that was a concern for adults. No matter what the outcome, she and the planet as a whole hadn’t fallen so far that they’d throw children on the battlefields for whatever little they could do.

But he’s not just a child. Came a whisper from the back of her mind. He’s a great spirit, someone who can handle an invasion point by himself. More than one even, if he had access to some mini–gates then he’d be able to lessen the strain on some of the other points too. He’s powerful enough that-

She took a deep breath, cutting that thought off. It didn’t matter how powerful he was, he was a child. She wasn’t going to look at just the numbers of it and if any part of her was in agreement with Vividus then that was a good enough indicator that that part was in the wrong, no matter the benefits there may have been to get, leaving the only problem being what to even say to that as her thoughts flashed to what she would have needed at his age, settling the matter easily.

Reaching out, she pulled him close, into a tight hug as she spoke. “Mora, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, at least nothing like that. If anyone tries to make you then you just tell me or Ben and we’ll make sure they can’t ask you again, okay?”

“…Okay.”

She felt him hug her back and didn’t let go, wanting to give all the comfort she could without worrying about if she was right or not. It didn’t matter in the end, what was right for the world was a problem for the gods, she only needed to worry about what was right for him.

She rubbed her eyes after he let go, feeling a bit overwhelmed herself before clearing her throat. “Alright, now there’s one more thing you do need to do, okay?”

“Um, alright. What?”

“No matter what you meant to do, you did something wrong to Bloom. You have to apologize and then together, we’ll try to figure out how to make up for it, okay?”

“…Okay,” He said, nodding slightly before turning to the other spirit who’d been quietly watching the entire time, bringing his head down as he spoke. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think about what I was doing but… I can’t undo this. Is there any way I can make this right?”

The plant spirit was quiet for a moment, its thoughts a mystery before it spoke. “I understand you didn’t mean anything and I can forgive you for that,” It said, sounding confused and unsure of itself. “But… what I am is a great spirit?”

“You are,” Mora nodded.

“But I am alone.”

“…You are,” Mora nodded, a small shift in his mood catching Thera’s eye but was something to bring up once that was done.

“Can you change that?”

Mora looked to Thera, looking for something but she didn’t know what until she asked.

“Mora?”

“You said I should ask you if you weren’t sure about if something is okay?”

“I did. What is it you’re looking to do then?”

“Can I make regular plant spirits then?”

“…Are you going to need to use any other spirits to do it?”

“Yes.”

“Then as long as you get their permission after explaining exactly how you’d need to do it, okay?”

“Okay.”

It wasn’t long for the life, water, and earth spirits to arrive. It was their beloved princess who called for them after all, along with not one, but two great spirits. The fact that those two in particular didn’t fit in with their understanding of their race was strange but not insurmountable and once they took the time to explain what they wanted to do it felt the same. Strange, but in its own way. Something they couldn’t fully understand as they began, the mana making them up mixing while Mora stared on in concentration for what he was about to do.

“Mora?” Thera asked him. “If you can’t, it’s okay sweetheart, just do your best.”

“I can,” The soul spirit told her, not with confidence but with certainty. “There’s no reason I can’t, it’s just manipulating different locks than before. It’ll just take a second to make sure I get right.”

She had no clue what he meant by that, her spiritual sight giving nothing away, even if she was sure there was something going on within their souls that Ben probably would have wanted to get a look at but it didn’t matter. Even if she couldn’t see it working, she could feel it, the mana in the room changing from just the three pure affinities to something new as the first dozen plant spirits to exist came into being.

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Not changed the way Bloom had been but instead born in an interaction that normally never would have been possible, the original spirits who’d contributed their mana were not changed for the experience as they went on, Thera reaching out with her mana empowering to make up for what they’d lost and to keep replacing it as that small starting group only grew as a dozen plant spirits changed to a hundred and then more beyond, the room growing thick with them and the sounds of their chatter and Bloom lighting up to have them, becoming more whole for their existence.

A great spirit needs regular ones as much as they need their greats. Thera thought as they went on, her eyes turning to Mora and feeling her own sense of understanding. He was alone in that sense, the only one of the soul spirits, but if he could do that then there was no reason he had to be.

But later.

It was going to be his choice if he wanted other soul spirits to exist in the end but for the moment her focus was directed to the new spirits around them, hearing them chatter to each other in curiosity and to their great one too, seeming collectively positive overall and letting her breath a small sigh of relief.

At least they all didn’t react to their newfound existence like Bloom did, that would have been a nightmare.

“I think they handled it better because they were born like this,” Mora said, seeing right through her. “With Bloom, I combined things that shouldn’t have been combined, forcing each conflicting individual into one. That was a mistake.”

“One you’ve made up for,” She said, rubbing his head before turning to the other great spirit in the room. “Bloom, are you satisfied? Has Mora done enough to make up to you?”

“He has,” It said. “Thank you!”

If the boy could have blushed he would have, settling for a small bow instead. “I’m still sorry, I won’t make a mistake like that again.”

“Everyone makes mistakes, Mora,” Thera told him. “What matters is learning from them. I think you did that.”

“I did.”

“Good, now-”

A knock on the door cut her off, her expectations about who it was betrayed as when it opened, the other great spirits weren’t revealed but instead her mother, looking far too interested in what she’d walked in on and leaving Thera to sigh.