Side Chapter Metous 4: Family

The following events take place between when the Stella family decided to go on their trip to Earth and their eventual departure. As everyone took some time to think about recent events and finalised a few things before their trip beyond the atmosphere of Metous to visit Earth began.

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“Okay that is everything.” Tella remarked, after checking all the contents of her bag for the tenth time. It was a little over a week before they would take off, but she was already constantly worried she might have forgotten something.

She made sure to take some time off work. Which just meant she messaged Jenna and said ‘I won’t be coming to work, going on holiday, won’t be back for a long while, bye.’. A little blunt, mostly just to get the last bits of annoyance out of her system.

Sigh

Tella rubbed her face and sat down on her overly large blue bed. 

“Please, may no more harm occur to my children.” She prayed, in the slight hope the universe might listen. Tella wasn’t religious, same applied with most on Metous. But currently it felt like the only thing she could do was hope no more harm would come to her kids.

Tella was finally ready to give her kids her full attention again, only for the universe to come crashing back down on her. She wasn’t strong in a physical or figurative sense and she could only watch as everything nearly fell apart again.

“Hu… Chris what would you do?” 

Tella rolled over to her bedside table and pulled out from the bottom draw, a black rose in a glass container. She warmly smiled at the rose, reminiscing of time long passed.

The close bud started to open in reaction to Tella’s presence but Tella activated a skill to halt the process.

“Not right now.” She patted the box and gently placed it back into the draw. 

Tella stood up, did a few small stretches and then grabbed her phone.

“Let’s look up more travel guides, I've never been off on another planet before, don’t want to make any mistakes.” Tella mumbled to herself, now feeling a little better.

She left her room and made her way to the kitchen.

“Tyell… Tyell… Tyell…” She heard Mella’s voice constantly calling out.

What’s going on?

The two were on the couch, Tyell was sadly being his recently unresponsive self while Mella was just repeatedly poking him.

Unsure whether to laugh or cry, Tella quickly got to work making the pair’s favourite foods. A spicy broccoli pasta and a chocolate ice cream milkshake. Ceella was at work and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow, so she would make her food later.

I wish I could do a bit more… I'm a terrible mother. Can’t even have a proper talk with both of them.

Tella wasn’t blind and picked up the signs from Tyell’s actions and Ceella’s pained expression, that Tyell had at least something to do with the incident. But she was so scared to bring it up while the family was in an unstable state. In her mind the only option was to wait until after Mella got her limbs back, for a proper family discussion to happen. 

What could I do to help… or protect them…?

Unsure, her eyes darted around the room and they eventually landed on a picture, a family and friends photo containing her family at the centre.

Hmmm, before we leave I might visit Brigade. He still owes me at least fifteen favours, maybe it's time to cash some in and get into slightly better shape before we go. 

With that added to her new todo list, she finished her cooking, both her children were too lost in their own world to notice she had already made dinner.

She calmly walked over and hugged her son. “Come on you two, everything is alright.” 

Mella’s nose perked up. “Sniff Sniff?

Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes Mella, now let me help you over to the table.” 

“...Okay.” Mella's expression soured slightly, realising her limitations again.

“Tyell.” 

“Yes mother.” 

“It seems I accidently made too much.” She put her hand on her cheek and sighed.

“Pasta?”

“No,” and she pulled out a milkshake from her storage. “Here you go.”

He shook for a moment, but accepted it. Then after taking a small sip, he began to chug it down. “There is more where that came from, like a lot more, seven more large glasses in the fridge!” Tella chuckled. “Now let’s go, you two!” 

Tella started helping Mella get to the table, but only after one step, Tyell was by their to help them make the rest of the journey.

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Tyell was still feeling like shit, as if there was a massive iron ball in his stomach, but with the talks about Mella’s treatment and the ‘holiday’ plans to Earth he started to feel a little better.

It was nearing midnight and the moon’s reflection slowly moved across the massive river of Acrostar city. 

“You called?” 

Tyell looked up, to see the blond haired woman wearing her usual purple hoodie. 

Elly continued, “Long time no see.” And she plumped down next to him on the wooden bench facing the river. It was a quiet night.

“Yeah… It’s been a bit.” He replied, then an awkward silence sprung forth.

Elly said, “No friendly chat tonight? Just business huh.”

Tyell could only reply with, “...yes.”

Elly sighed, but she knew she couldn’t do much else, she didn’t believe she possessed any skills in comforting others. Especially when it came to what he was facing. She didn’t find out immediately, but she did eventually learn Mella got hurt in the incident. 

Elly breathed out and activated her skill. Thinking of Tyell throughout the process so it would stay relevant to him. 

[Diviner]’s main skill [Future Prediction] was a strange one. Always consuming 50% of one’s total mana, could only be used once a day and it lowered the user’s mana recovery for a week after use. These were part of the reasons why the skill was considered hard to use. This was ignoring the fact the skill had a high chance to not be accurate at all, but Elly’s 40% success rate still meant many paid her just for the chance to know their future.

For her though, the hardest part of the skill was focusing on what she wanted to divine. If she lost focus for a second, instead of knowing the future of a client she would get a divination of some child’s mid year test. Worst part still, she wouldn’t even know if it failed as the prediction was nearly always cryptic.

Her eyes glowed a sharp red, and she began to chant.

“The falling star rises again.

The once extinguished star consumes itself.

The p–”

Elly paused for the briefest of moments, as if something was stuck in her throat.

“The planet and star gather around the star which attracts them from the dark.”

“A sentence this time?” Tyell asked.

Elly replied, “Yeah? Is that a problem?”

“No…” Tyell replied, grateful but confused. “It’s just the last couple of times it was just some words, ‘Drowned. Fire. Sorrow. Found. Pain. Family.’.”

He thought for a moment, and continued, “Does the order of the sentences matter?”

“I don’t believe so.” Elly answered.

After some deliberation, Tyell asked. “Do you think it's a true prediction or a fake?”

“Well, if it is correct?” Elly put her hand to her chin, “Hmm….. Would you say the last one was correct?”

Tyell soberly replied, “Yes.” 

“Then not a high chance, cause that would be three in a row, which is crazy even for my talent.” Elly sighed, then after four seconds frowned. 

Tyell asked, “...Is something wrong?”

“YE-no.” Elly shook her head.

“Elly.” Tyell said firmly, “If this is true, and what you're worrying about relates to it… it could harm my family again I got to know…. I was only lucky this time.”

“It’s.. just, argh. When I was using the skill it felt like it was cut for a second, and… that has never happened before.”

“Is that bad?”

“You said you were leaving, right?”

“Yes.”

“Wherever you plan on going, I would switch it now.” She said firmly.

In Tyell’s mind. I wasn’t able to piece anything together about the last one… Tyell felt he should’ve been careful once Ceella came home. Even if the words made little sense, ‘Found’ and ‘Family’ were two of them. ‘The falling star rises again’… could mean Mella does get better. This thought caused a smile to appear on Tyell’s face. But that could just be me projecting. 

Elly was clicking her fingers. “Tyell, Tyell.”

“Ah, yes sorry?” He snapped out of his trance.

“You were out of it.”

“My bad, just thinking.” He scratched his head, his eyes refocusing on the calm river in front of them.

Elly bit her lip, and asked. “Tyell, was your family planning on visiting Earth?”

Tyell instantly lied, “No actually, but I was thinking of going there after you mentioned changing our vacation location.” He wasn’t completely sure why he lied, yes he never planned on telling Elly where his family was going to go but…

“Good.” She sighed in relief. She brought her feet up onto the chair and hugged her cold legs, “Any thoughts on the prediction?” 

“I think the ‘Star’ could refer to someone within my family, because of you know ‘Stella'. But besides that I’m not sure…”

“Well, that’s a better start than last time.”

“...yeah I guess so.”

They stared silently at the moon’s reflection, the wind slowly began to breeze by and owls started to sing.

Elly jumped off the bench and pulled her hood up, “Take care you idiot…”

“Thanks Elly…”

“You sure you won’t come back?”

Determined, he said. “Never.”

“Sad…”

Tyell said, “I’ll find a new job somewhere…” Elly, who had fully turned away now, began walking.

“Sure you will.” She waved goodbye without looking.

“You know what, I will. And I’ll invite you along if the working conditions and pay are good.”

“...”

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“So are you really going away Melly?” Irene asked.

“Only for a little while.” 

On the second day after Mella got out of the hospital, Irene, Elka and Mike had decided to visit Mella at her home. Sam was out working, so he didn’t hear the big news. Mella was leaving. 

“You lot.” Tella called out, “Message me if you need anything, I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks mum!” Mella replied. Tella went out to the local market to pick out some fresh fruit. Tella had already taken time off work so she could spend every moment supporting the disabled Mella. But Tella figured now would be a good moment to give Mella and her friends some alone time.

“But…” Irene mumbled, unsure of what to say. Mella had decided to wait until she was out of the hospital to reveal the news to her friends. It was only a holiday, but she knew her friends would worry that she would be gone for over a month in three weeks time.

Mella patted her childish friend's head, Irene was a little older than her but acted as if she was years younger sometimes.

Elka asked, “Mella but you will be back soon, right?” 

“... It will probably be over a month before I’m back.”

My arm is itchy.

Mella raised her right arm and slowly moved it over to the left. But as she was about to scratch it, she felt nothing. Not wanting to cause a scene, she just lowered her hand and scratched her stomach instead. 

“So you will miss the start of the new semester of school?” Sam commented. 

“Nooo!” Irene cried.Mella flicked Irene’s forehead, “Calm down Irene. I’m not dead.” 

Irene stopped and sat back. “...yes… thankfully…” But tears were still forming in her eyes.

Sam asked, “Have they even figured out who caused the incident?”

“No…” Elka replied. They all were checking the news but the identity of the crooks stayed unknown. 

Mella had her suspicions, these suspicions were extremely biassed due to what the group had done to her sister. But her extremely short look at the perpetrators, they looked close enough like the depictions of Dominous Hood that she immediately blamed the fire on them.

Her expression went slightly pale when remembering her now strangely vague memories of the fire and explosion. 

“But have you been feeling alright?” Irene asked, “You got out of the hospital pretty fast.”

“I’ve been… Fine. Besides the obvious, my body has felt pretty spectacular.”

Elka cheerfully said, “Oh yeah, you’re the highest levelled one among us now.” In a vain hope to lift up the mood.

Name: Mella Stella | Race: [Human]

Level 22 | Awakened

Mana: 100%

Vocation: [Warm Wind Mage]

Skills:

- Wind (I)

- Fire (-)

- Warm Touch

- Warm Flame

- Warm Muscles 

[Wind (I)] – [Windy Breeze], [Wind Blast]

… Mella didn’t know what to think of her Soul Page anymore.

Before the incident she was only level 2, but after finally regaining complete consciousness she had reached level 22.

She had told her friends about it, but they said it must’ve been a reward for surviving the experience. Weirdly enough though, she felt she only received most of those levels after she escaped the nightmares and woke up by her sister’s side.

One of her new skills [Fire (-)] did absolutely nothing, it didn’t absorb [Warm Touch] and [Warm Flame], she couldn’t manifest basic fire, it just sat there in her soul. On the other hand, [Warm Muscles] was a passive that kept her body healthy, warmer and made her… more resistant to burns.

“Yay, good for me!” Mella smiled, but immediately realised her comment was too dry and sounded sarcastic. 

Elka tried to say, “Sorry Me–” 

“Nothing to be sorry about, it's just that I’m low on energy… I did mean to be happy about it.” She smiled devilishly, “Cause you idiots won’t catch up to me for years!” Mella cackled.

“Wel… Well you don’t know that!” Elka blushed, and wanted to say a comeback, but couldn’t think of anything.

Mike decided to have some fun with it, “Oh no! Whatever shall we do!”

While Irene, “Yay! Tough Melly is good Mella! No one will hurt you again.” 

The four enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the day, and night as the crew decided to stay and take care of Mella for the next day. This did mean Ceella couldn’t come home, but when she noticed Mella’s friend deciding to stay over, she just smiled and wished them all the best.