Alma 76 Memories From Another Time

Ma laughed and said, "Has Vel' been teaching you his old tricks? That sounds like something he'd say whenever he got into trouble. I can see why he likes you so much…"

"For now though, why don't we move someplace else? My home is just up ahead — I wouldn't want to keep out here in the Woods… Shall we?"

Reed had no reason to reject the offer and he preferred not to get on the bad side of his benefactor's wife, so he did as she asked. He also deeply interested about her and the knowledge she possessed.

The only other person he'd heard of living before the Unification Era was the Holy Pope, but know he'd learned that there were another two people!

Of course, he sure that the Four Sovereigns likely lived before the Unification Era too, but what were the chances he'd able to speak to them on any given day?

Reed needed other valuable sources of information to cross-check what Lu'um and Lacrima had told him about Mulia and its history. Not only that, but the dreams, the knowledge that had been imparted on him by the hooded man...

He trusted Lu'um and Lacrima… to a certain extent.

He just needed to make sure that they weren't lying. That was it. So he could continue believing that one day…

They both had multiple opportunities to harm or even kill him, but they never did. He also had to admit that they both have done nothing but help him in whatever he wanted to do. Teaching him, training him, assisting him in his endeavors... they were, practically, his own angels.

But even from the beginning, he knew how unnatural, how forced it all felt.

Nothing is for free. There is always a price. Always.

It was the ultimate truth of Reed's life and it formed the person that he was today. All things in his world were subject to this one truth and twisted under the weight of it.

He could trust people to a certain extent, but he never to the fullest extent. That was a price he was terrified of paying. The price, in his opinion, was too much to even consider.

Being lied to was part of the price.

Being betrayed was part of the price.

Being rejected was part of the price.

Being exploited was part of the price.

This was what Reed had come to conclude about trust — that the benefits of trust could not outweigh the possible cost it could incur.

As much as he wanted, desperately wanted to believe in them, he could not force himself to do it. To make the jump. He wanted the strength to pay the price, but...

Kindness is the sweetest lie.

Selflessness is a purely theoretical construct.

Justice is a slave to relativity.

A disgusting, hateful, and irrational monstrosity had taken hold in his heart. The summation of all his misery and more. It slept in the darkest reaches of his mind where Reed feared to venture.

Whenever Reed thought about even trespassing into its territory, he felt the hot, painful burn of the tattoo on his chest. The brand itself perhaps punishing him for his recklessness…

"Is something the matter, son? You spaced out there for a minute…"

Reed looked up and said, "What? Oh, I was just thinking about how strange this place is…" He stared at the tea cup in his hands and took a small sip.

Light, fragrant tones that reminded him of the flower fields of Citlai. A strange connection, one that made him smile a bit.

Ma smiled and said, "That's a secret… If I told you, I'd lose one of my special weapons. In any case, it's not something you'd be able to make because the flower I used for this tea can't be found on Mulia anymore…"

"The flowers don't exist anymore? How did that happen?"

"The Great Barrier War happened. We fought desperately with the Ancient Mulians during the chaos until they abandoned us, or rather the main fleets did. The rest of us, Ancient Mulian and Otherworlder, had been left to die. After that, we fought like hell to hold back the Infestation while the remaining Ancient Mulians set up the Great Barrier," said Ma.

She poured herself another cup of tea and said, "Much was lost, my boy. So much. In the end, we were unable to hold the Infestation back completely before the Great Barrier had been activated. As a result, we had to purge… turn the North into glass. Then, we manipulated the lands and buried everything under the soil… and an eternal winter, just to make sure."

Reed tried his best to not imagine what that looked like. It sounded like a nightmare made reality and said, "Is that why Humanity and the Avunians fought so hard over who would claim the East?"

"You could say that, yes. At the time no one wanted to go anywhere near that dead, cursed place. Even though we had cleaned it, sterilized it down to the last blade of grass, it was still a land stained with many terrible memories for everyone involved."

"But time heals most wounds and the people of my generation, the First generation, eventually passed away. And with them gone so too, did their feelings about the Great Barrier War. But those sentiments would be transformed into something else in the following Unification Era.

Reed realized what she meant and said, "Your descendants ended up with a twisted inheritance instead though, right… I don't even know what to say…"

"Neither side wanted to live in the North and eventually our arguments escalated into conflicts, and then… war. In the end — the Second Generation — our poor children suffered because of our failure. Hatred and fear born because we failed in reaching a compromise with one another. A stagnated, cold peace followed after for thousands of years until now…" said Ma with a small smile on her face.

Reed felt her sadness and in an effort to change the subject said, "How did you meet gramps in the first place?"

She grinned and said, "I met him back when we were first transported here. He was a real smooth-talker, that I can assure you. Back then, we were all part of the same caste that the Ancient Mulians had created for us as Otherworlders, chosen people who'd been called to assist them in their war against the Infested."

"Otherworlders? What were you supposed to do for them?" said Reed as he eagerly awaited for her answer. This was what he wanted to hear.

"Fight with them against Infested and in return, receive a single wish for anything that we could think of once we won against the Infested," said Ma.

"And in order to fight them, we were given this," and then pulled down her blouse a little bit, exposing a bit of her chest.

Reed immediately looked away and said, "U-Um, Ma, that's a bit…! I-I don't think that I can, you know..."

Ma laughed when she saw Reed's reaction and said, "Relax, it's just my lower collarbone and a bit of my chest. Come now, don't be a wuss. If this is enough to make you worried, how will you behave once your girlfriend attacks you again, hmm?"

Wait, WHAT?! She saw that?! Agggghhhhh! As If Gramps wasn't enough!!

Reed wanted to die all over again… He face-palmed and mumbled, "Fine, whatever… The whole world again seems to know anyway…"

He reluctantly turned toward her and then looked at what she wanted to show him. That was when his jaw dropped.

That tattoo… that unique style and calligraphy was unmistakable.

The design was far more simple than his and much smaller in size, but it was unmistakable. She had one, too. She had the same brand as him.

"W-Where did you get that?!" blurted Reed as he bent over and inspected the tattoo in shock.

Ma said, "It was something we all got when we first arrived. This little tattoo is what allowed us to manipulate Anima and everyone who was brought here got one. Your grampa also has one too, but his tattoo is on his back."

Oh, would you look at that… But what does this mean for me…?

Reed sat down and said, "You learn that piece of information fast, Ma? Sounds like you, or rather gramps went to work as soon as he saw you, huh…"

"Can you blame me? I'd never seen an elf— ah, an Alf before. Those amazing, pointy ears! And that smooth, handsome face! It was like he'd hopped out of a fantasy book, for Christ's sake! I was at a disadvantage when he popped up out of nowhere and started chatting me up…"

Reed laughed when he heard that and said, "Sounds like he had it easy, then. But what do you mean, by 'fantasy book'? Did they not exist in your world?"

Ma sighed and said, "Not at all… I lived in world only inhabited by humans. Not only that, but I had been raised off-world on a dirty, dingy red planet far away from my people's home-world. A colony on a world that had little to offer other than boring technicians, engineers, and freight-movers."

Reed said, "Your people colonized two worlds?! That's amazing! But the way you describe it is... not as incredible as I'd thought. What about your original homeworld? How was it there?"

Ma closed her eyes and said, "Earth had clear, blue skies… and vibrant landscapes. It's faint but I can still remember the feeling of the sun caressing my face outside of my grandmother's house."

"Sounds like a wonderful place," said Reed.

Ma sighed and said, "Yes, it was. Even now, I still think of it every now and then…"

Chapter end