Chương 143: Chapter 135 - Conversing with an Infant

Amber"Okay, I'm now going to begin," the enormous Freya declared. Amber couldn't contain her excitement. She pushed with everything she had, trying to force the feeling out through a body that still refused to obey her properly. A small, excited sound escaped her mouth. It wasn't a cry. It was something new. Everyone looked down at her, smiling and laughing at the noise. They had no idea how difficult it had been to make it happen. Being a baby was far harder than she'd expected.

Amber knew what she wanted every part of her body to do, but her nerves and muscles weren't developed enough to follow the commands. Freya raised her hands, and the room began to change. The walls bent around them while the paintings stretched and shifted sideways. Light poured down from somewhere above, filling the room with a thick fog that obscured the furniture and the physical bodies gathered around her. Amber felt herself separate from the baby in Fiona's arms. She looked down. Her hand was normal. Holy shit.

She had a normal hand again. Amber held it in front of her face, bending each finger before turning both hands over to inspect them. She looked down at the rest of herself and found the body she remembered. Her school uniform covered her again, fitting exactly as it had before she died. She could see through herself. She turned in place and found everyone else standing in translucent forms about two feet in front of their physical bodies.

Fiona still held the baby Amber against her chest, but another Fiona stood beside her. Dewey had separated from his body as well. Freya was the only one without a second form. Chelsea still looked like the beautiful demon girl Amber had seen all morning. But the expression on her face belonged entirely to Chelsea. Amber immediately started toward her.

"We'll talk in a moment. Talk to your parents first." Amber stopped. Tears filled her eyes. That was Chelsea. Of course Chelsea would make her speak to her new parents before allowing Amber to demand answers about what had happened to her.

"Okay." Amber gasped at the sound. Her own voice.

"I can talk."

"Go say hi!" Chelsea said, gesturing toward Fiona and Dewey. Amber turned toward them. Her new parents waited together, both watching her with open emotion. Amber walked across the space separating them, still adjusting to the ease of moving her arms and legs again.

"Hello, I'm Amber. Your new daughter." Tears were already running down Dewey's face. He looked like he should have been terrifying. He was enormous and heavily muscled, with the appearance of a man who could tear apart anything that threatened his family. Yet Amber had already learned how emotional he was. Dewey stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. The contact felt real. Amber could actually feel the pressure of his arms around her back and the warmth of his body.

She remained still for a moment, overwhelmed by how much she had missed being able to hold someone. Her parents on Earth had once been affectionate. After the fire, that had slowly changed. The distance between them had grown over the years until hugs became rare and every interaction felt strained. Amber wrapped her arms around Dewey and held him tightly.

"Thank you for being our daughter," her new dad said. He sniffed hard but made no attempt to hide his tears.

"And don't you worry about troubling us by waking up so much. We might complain about it a little, but we're happy to do it." Amber laughed against his chest. Fiona joined them, wrapping her arms around Amber from the side. Amber found herself enclosed between both of her new parents. Only then did she fully appreciate how tall they were. Even in her eighteen-year-old body, she felt small tiny between them. Would she grow to be their size?

Would her reincarnated body follow their bloodline, or would she eventually return to the same height she had possessed before? Something she did note. Everyone else in their life was pretty. The sort of pretty that came from isekai books and anime. Where everyone was drop dead gorgeous except… Fiona. She was… She wasn't ugly. She just wasn't beautiful like Chelsea or her new short aunt, Bea.

"We aren't able to tell you how much we love you, Amber," Fiona said. Amber's laughter faded. They loved her? She wasn't really their baby. She was an eighteen-year-old stranger living inside the body of the daughter Fiona had given birth to. They could love the infant they had cared for, but Amber didn't understand how they could already love the person speaking to them now.

"We're so blessed to have a reincarnation. Please, tell us about yourself." Amber stepped back far enough to look up at them. These were her parents now.

"Well, I was eighteen. Both Chelsea and I are from the same world, and we're best friends, as you know. I was really into something I don't think this world has called video games. Though, from what I can tell, this world seems to be a video game, so hopefully that helps me." She paused, struggling to decide how to summarize an entire life for two people who knew almost nothing about her world.

"I don't know. It's hard to explain myself. What do you want to know?"

"What's your favorite food?" her dad asked. The question was so simple that Amber almost laughed again.

"It's something I doubt is in this world. It's called pizza." Fiona gasped.

"Chelsea has made it for us a few times. I agree, it's incredible. What about, um… how do you feel about us? I know this is probably a massive change, but can we do anything better for you?" Amber considered the question seriously. They had done everything they could to make her comfortable despite not knowing who she was. Fiona had created the eye open and shut system to help her communicate. Dewey had responded to every cry without making Amber feel unwanted.

They spoke to her constantly and treated her like a person.

"No. You guys are killing it. The eyes-open, eyes-shut thing really helps. Though, after letting loose in here, it's going to be so hard going back into that body." Amber laughed, but the thought of returning to it already frustrated her.

"As far as how I feel about you, honestly, I adore you both. If it's okay, do you mind if I call you Mom and Dad?"

"Of course, sweetheart! Oh gods help us, she's as nice as Chelsea." Fiona pulled Amber into another tight hug.

"I'm hoping to do this again. I don't want to be selfish with all of the time. Go talk to Chels." The massive woman kissed Amber on top of the head. Amber held her for another moment before stepping away. She returned to Dewey and hugged her new dad one more time, pressing her face against his chest while he held her close. Then she released him and turned toward Chelsea. Strangely, Freya was on her knees with her face buried against Chelsea's neck. The enormous goddess was breathing heavily as she cried.

Chelsea held her close and rubbed one hand across her back, speaking too quietly for Amber to hear. Chelsea looked over and noticed her approaching. She said something else to Freya, then gave her a final reassuring pat. Freya raised her head and turned away from Amber while wiping at her eyes. The movement did little to hide what she had been doing. Amber slowed as she reached them. She had expected their reunion to be emotional, but she hadn't expected to find a god crying into Chelsea's shoulder.

"So why do you look like that here and not your Earth version?" she asked. Chelsea laughed.

"That's your first question?" Amber had to admit there was something captivating about the new Chelsea. In her infant body, her vision had still been too underdeveloped to see her clearly. Chelsea's face had appeared softened and slightly distorted whenever she leaned over the crib. Now Amber could see every detail. Chelsea was stunning. The horns curling around the sides of her head suited her, and the blonde hair framed a face that was both unfamiliar and instantly recognizable.

Her white wings were folded behind her, and the fangs visible when she smiled gave huge vampire vibes.

"In here, our souls appear however we view ourselves," Chelsea explained.

"You still view yourself as your Earth self. Scars and all. I view myself as demon Chelsea now." Amber looked down at herself again. Chelsea was right. She wore the same school uniform she remembered, and the scars left by the fire remained across her body. Chelsea had changed so completely that this demon body had become the version she considered herself.

"I have so many tips and tricks and pointers to give you. Have you picked a class yet? A weapon? How long have you been here?" Chelsea laughed again, though her expression softened at Amber's urgency.

"Yes, I already have a class. And my weapons are a shield and spear, with an axe at close range. I've been in this world for just under a year. Time moves weird here. I estimated that a year here is about five days on Earth. But apparently it's not always like that. The time thing is weird."

"Wow. A year?" Amber studied her more carefully. Chelsea didn't appear injured or frightened. She stood with confidence and seemed comfortable beside the enormous goddess kneeling next to her.

"I'm so glad you're doing okay. You never wanted to play my games. It's surprising to see you still alive."

"Alive and thriving," Chelsea replied.

"The whole world thought you'd run away except me. I knew something had happened to you. All of your stuff was still at your house. Your mother was even sure you ran away."

"Ah. Her." Chelsea's smile weakened for a moment.

"Yeah, well, I obviously didn't." Amber noticed the change but chose not to press her yet. There would be time to ask about Chelsea's mother and everything else that had happened after she disappeared.

"So tell me about your class, and how did you wind up engaged to a god?" Chelsea laughed with a familiarity Amber had desperately missed.

"Well, as of earlier today, I'm the new Holy Empress. It basically means I'm the most powerful mortal on the continent, though I haven't explored it fully." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Amber stared at her.

"In a year? What level are you?"

"Level one," Chelsea replied casually.

"Ah, went for a glitch build. There have been professional Pokémon teams built around an exploit using level-one Pokémon. Never took you for that type." Chelsea laughed.

"You're either going to thrive in this world or fall on your face hard." Amber grinned. She was already preparing to ask what kind of abilities made Chelsea's build possible when Chelsea's expression became more serious.

"Something of note I have to warn you about is our family. If my mother, that's Adriane, ever offers you training, do not take it. Do you understand me? I already told her you're off-limits unless you agree to it. It's literal torture. Like the flaying-your-skin-off kind. It sucked."

"She seriously did that to you?" Amber asked, her excitement vanishing.

"It comes with a pretty good upside, but it's not worth it."

"Noted," Amber replied uneasily. She looked toward Freya, who had regained control of herself but still seemed unusually tense.

"And the god?" A huge smile spread across Chelsea's face.

"Yes. Freya." She scooted closer to Freya. The large woman drew in a deep breath before rising. Even in a place where everyone stood outside their physical bodies, her size remained overwhelming. Amber tilted her head back to look at her strange eyes, which shifted with the broken pattern of television static.

"Amber, this is my fiancée. She goes by Freya. We originally met because of one of my earlier class evolutions, but we bonded and got closer because…" Chelsea looked up at Freya. Her expression softened further before she turned back to Amber.

"Because of you."

"Did you tell her stories about me or something?" Amber laughed.

"Must've been some boring stories."

"Amber." Something in Chelsea's voice stopped her laughter.

"There's another reason we needed today to happen. I wanted to introduce you to the real her." Amber furrowed her brows and looked up at Freya again.

"The real her?" Chelsea placed a hand against Freya's back. The goddess took another deep breath. For someone powerful enough to create this place and pull their souls free from their bodies, she looked strangely afraid.

"Amber," Freya said, her voice unsteady. Amber's confusion deepened. Why was a god nervous about speaking to her?

"I was mortal once. A reincarnation too, just like you. This was about eight hundred years ago."

"Oh, cool! So you can give me pointers?" Amber asked excitedly. Reincarnation apparently wasn't as rare as she had assumed. If it happened often enough for one of them to become a god, there had to be records about it somewhere. Maybe entire books existed explaining how to make the most of a second life.

"That's not… well, yes, I'll answer what I can, but…" Freya stopped and looked toward Chelsea. Chelsea continued rubbing her back. Freya drew in one final breath and released it slowly.

"Amber, my name isn't Freya. Well, it is now, but it hasn't always been." Chelsea looked up at her fiancée with open affection, giving Freya time to continue at her own pace.

"On Earth, my name was Ashleigh." Freya's enormous body began to shrink. Her divine form receded until another person stood where the Goddess of Battle had been.

"Ash…" Amber had to swallow against the tightness forming in her throat.

"A-Ashleigh?" It was her. She looked exactly as Amber remembered, except for the static shifting through her eyes.

"H-how? As in…" Chelsea looked at Amber and nodded.

"I found your sister, Amber." Amber couldn't process what was happening. Her sister had died years ago. She had mourned her, missed her, and accepted that she would never see her again. Now Ashleigh stood in front of her, alive in another world. And she was a god. Her sister had become the Goddess of Battle. The pieces began falling into place. Freya had visited constantly since Amber's birth, hell, even before she was born in her dreams. Constantly checking on her even more often than Chelsea did.

Amber had thought it was strange that the Goddess of Battle cared so much about a random baby. She hadn't been checking on a random baby.

"You… used to tell me stories of Valkyries."

"Yes!" Ashleigh replied. She stepped toward Amber cautiously, her hands held close to her body.

"Can I hug you?"

"Yes, please," Amber answered immediately. Ashleigh closed the remaining distance and wrapped her arms around her. Amber held her just as tightly. They began crying against each other, neither of them able to stop. The body and voice were different from what Amber remembered, but the way Ashleigh held her wasn't. Her sister was here. After all these years and across an entirely different world, Amber had found her again.

Chelsea quietly stepped away and joined Fiona and Dewey, giving the siblings room to hold each other. Amber wasn't alone in this world. She had Chelsea. She had her new mother and father. And somehow, impossibly, she had her sister back. Chelsea"What is happening?" Fiona asked quietly as Chelsea approached. Fiona and Dewey stood together a short distance from the siblings, watching Amber cling to Freya while both of them cried.

Neither seemed to understand why the Goddess of Battle had suddenly taken the form of a young woman or why Amber had reacted so strongly to seeing her.

"Freya was reincarnated into this world before she became a god. She's also from our world. She's Amber's big sister, who died years ago." Chelsea looked back at the two of them. Amber still had both arms wrapped tightly around Freya, showing no sign that she intended to let go anytime soon.

"Meaning you're not just going to have Freya as a niece when we get married, but as a… whatever the title is for a sister from a former life who's now a god."

"Ah," Fiona said. Her mouth remained slightly open as she tried to absorb the explanation.

"Her scarring?" Uncle Dewey asked.

"Her face looks melted. And one of her eyes is white and blind?" His voice held concern rather than disgust, but Chelsea still felt a protective response rise in her.

"She was in a horrible fire as a child that left her…" Chelsea gestured toward her friend.

"Scarred. We became friends about two years after the accident." Amber and Freya slowly separated. They remained close, each keeping hold of the other's arms while they studied faces they had never expected to see again.

"Looks like they're starting to come out of the initial reaction." Chelsea took a step toward them, then glanced back over her shoulder.

"Oh, hey, not to throw another log onto the fire, but I'm also the new Holy Empress." She continued walking, smiling to herself when Fiona and Dewey gasped behind her. Chelsea slowed as she approached the siblings, unwilling to interrupt too abruptly. Amber noticed her first. Which was impressive considering Freya was omnipotent in her domain. Amber sniffed, wiped beneath her eyes, and looked between Chelsea and Freya.

"Chelsea, you're seriously going to marry my dead sister?" Chelsea and Freya both laughed.

"Yeah," Chelsea replied.

"Don't worry, you can be the flower girl at our wedding."

"Wow, a baby joke. Those are totally never going to get old." Amber turned back toward Freya and slowly shook her head. Her expression shifted again as she studied the familiar face.

"I still can't believe it's really you."

"It is." Freya squeezed Amber's hands.

"Chels and I have been wondering how you ended up here. Did you die?" Amber's expression fell.

"Ah, yeah. That." She released one of Freya's hands and wiped at her face again before continuing.

"I did. When Chels went missing, I kept taking the long way to school past her house, hoping for some sign of her. A truck came out of nowhere and knocked me into a tree. It severed something in my spinal cord near my brain, and I also had a huge concussion." she let out a laugh.

"Literal got truck-kun'd." Chelsea's stomach tightened as Amber spoke. She had known her disappearance would hurt Amber, but she had never imagined it had placed her on the road where she died.

"After a couple of days, they declared me brain-dead, and Janine pulled the plug. My d… our dad wasn't even there. He went on a business trip with me lying there on life support. Messed up, right?" Freya's grip tightened around Amber's hand.

"The crazy part is, I was totally conscious. I could hear and see everything they were doing. I wasn't brain-dead."

"That's… yeah," Chelsea said. She wanted to offer something more useful, but there was nothing she could say that would make those final days less horrifying.

"I have my suspicions about that." Chelsea sighed.

"I think a few of the gods of this pantheon reached out to Earth's and orchestrated the whole thing. I have the ability to summon one of the gods involved, but I've been heavily advised against it."

"Yeah, don't," Freya said immediately.

"Just his presence in this world would bring chaos."

"You can summon gods?" Amber asked. The grief in her face gave way to sudden interest.

"I can," Chelsea replied.

"I can only summon gods whose blessings I have, though. Right now, that's only four. I do have the ability to commune with a god. It can be a random one or a specific god if I know their name. Like, I can't just commune with the Goddess of Motherhood because I don't know her name."

"Phouna," Freya said simply. Chelsea looked at her.

"Never mind. Now I know her name," she said with a quick laugh.

"That seems really powerful. How is that balanced at all?"

"You'll find this world doesn't have a ton of balance," Chelsea explained.

"How so?"

"So, my class evolution this morning, it's rare. Like, insanely rare to move past my previous class. Even my previous class was impossibly rare."

"The Valkyr one?"

"Yes. Exactly. There are only twelve Valkyr, so there has to be an open slot, and your personality has to fit right into that slot."

"And don't forget you have to meet the prerequisites," Freya added.

"That too," Chelsea said. Amber nodded slowly, though Chelsea could see she was already trying to organize the information according to whatever game logic she understood from Earth.

"But you're a long way from all of that," Chelsea explained.

"Just know the top, top, top-tier classes aren't balanced. Not even a little bit. My mother, Adriane, was thought to be one of the most powerful people on the continent. This morning, I soared past her stats by accident while playing around with math."

"You and your damn math," Freya replied. Chelsea gasped as another thought struck her.

"The merchant exam! Hurry up and learn to use a quill. I want to see how you do on the merchant exam."

"Why? Is it hard?"

"Nope. It's insanely easy for Earthlings. Like… sixth-grade math. Also, almost no one in this world can read. It's crazy and a bit sad."

"My parents?" Amber asked, looking back toward Fiona and Dewey. Both of them were still standing nearby, listening with varying levels of confusion.

"I started a group to learn to read, but then I left for Valhalla. I hope they kept it up."

"So you'll be living here, then? Not with me?" Amber asked. The excitement in her face faded slightly.

"Yeah, basically."

"Actually, I need to talk to you about that," Freya said quickly.

"You're the Holy Empress now. You have to live at the Crystal Cathedral."

"But… no," Chelsea argued. She turned toward Freya fully.

"I want to live here with you. Can I implant my domain here in yours?"

"We'll discuss this later. We only have so much time with Amber."

"Right," Chelsea said, forcing herself back to the present conversation. Amber looked between the two of them before shifting closer to Chelsea.

"Chels, so… as sweet as it was, and don't think I don't appreciate it, but please don't change my diaper." Chelsea let out a loud laugh.

"Let you keep lying in your own piss. Got it."

"No. It's just weird. My parents are fine, but you?" Amber leaned in closer and lowered her voice, even though everyone in the room could probably still hear her.

"By the way, how does someone go about earning the Brutal title?" Chelsea laughed again.

"You can always ask her yourself. I've killed tens of thousands of people and eaten hundreds of them, and I still haven't earned it." Amber's expression dropped.

"You've eaten people?" she asked in horror.

"Is that a demon thing? Does it make you more powerful?"

"No. Human is just my main diet." Chelsea laughed awkwardly when Amber continued staring at her.

"I'm sure there was a debate about letting me near you at some point."

"Humans? Like, alive?" Amber asked. Chelsea gave a casual shrug.

"Sometimes."

"She even ate your afterbirth," Freya added. Chelsea whipped her head toward her.

"You didn't have to tell her about that!" Amber stared at Chelsea, then at Freya, before slowly turning back.

"Why? It can't all taste very good."

"It does, actually. I'm debating going to birthing centers and telling them I'll buy any placenta from them for a good price. It's my new favorite food." Freya closed her eyes and let out a strained grunt.

"Chels." That was all she said before her attention shifted, apparently checking something Chelsea couldn't see.

"I just checked, and she earned the Brutal title by killing fifteen humanoids with the head of another humanoid of the same race within twenty seconds."

"That's it?" Chelsea asked excitedly.

"I've done way worse. Next time…" Her excitement vanished.

"Oh, fuck. I'm an Empress now. There won't be any skull-smashing." She released a disappointed sigh.

"Woe is you. No more killing and eating people," Amber said, giving her a strange look.

"In only a year, you went from a peaceful, sweet girl to a demonic killing machine?"

"It may seem that way, and you're not completely wrong, but this world is… it's not a video game." Chelsea's earlier humor faded. She glanced down for a moment, trying to decide how much Amber needed to hear when she had only been alive in this world for a few days.

"We're living in a world where people have literal magic. You never know what anyone is capable of. The first person I killed was way stronger than me. He wanted to kill me. He could have." The memory returned more clearly than Chelsea wanted. She could still remember how helpless she had felt and how easily the fight could have ended differently.

"Instead, he got too close to gloat about how powerless I was. It was sheer luck that I was able to get the upper hand. I incapacitated him, but what if he could heal himself with magic? Then I would've had no way of defending myself." Amber's expression lost the last of its disbelief.

"I had to kill him. I didn't want to. No, I didn't want to at all. But I had to for my own survival."

"I'm sorry, Chels," Amber said quietly. Freya placed a hand against Chelsea's back and rubbed gently between her wings. Chelsea leaned against her, allowing herself a moment of comfort before looking back at Amber.

"Stay a baby as long as you can," Chelsea said.

"Your parents are going to teach you to fight. That's fine, but don't join the Adventurer's Guild. Our family is on its way to being wealthier than most smaller kingdoms. You don't need to go out and fight. Live your life. Fall in love." She wanted Amber to have the kind of second life Chelsea had never been given the chance to choose. There was no reason for her to enter labyrinths, face monsters, or learn how it felt to take a life. Freya tapped Chelsea lightly on the arm.

"Yeah, I know. I can feel it." Chelsea looked toward Amber.

"Our time is coming to a close. Anything you want to say to anyone before Freya shoves you back into that body?" Amber stepped forward and wrapped both arms around them..

"I love you both, and I totally ship this."

"We love you too," Freya replied.

"We're going to discuss getting you moved closer to one of us with your parents."

"Sounds good. I'm going to go say bye to them." Amber released them and turned with a wave. Then she ran across the room toward Fiona and Dewey, taking advantage of the last moments in which her legs would carry her where she wanted to go. Freya watched her until she reached them.

"Chels, it's really her," Freya said, her voice catching.

"I didn't actually believe it fully until I saw her. My sister really is in this world."

"I know." Chelsea turned and wrapped her arms around Freya. The goddess lowered herself into the embrace and held Chelsea tightly against her.

"I know. I had some doubts too, but there's no denying it now. Now you get to start over and watch her grow up again." Freya's grip tightened. She looked past Chelsea toward Amber, who had thrown herself into Fiona and Dewey's arms.

"Thank you, Chels. None of this would be possible without you." Chelsea laughed softly.

"I didn't do anything. Everything just fell into place like this." She remained against Freya for another moment before remembering the comment that had been pushed aside earlier.

"And what's this about making me stay at the Crystal Cathedral?"

"Oh, yeah. I don't think anyone's explained it to you." Freya loosened her hold but kept one arm around Chelsea.

"You and the cathedral are in a symbiotic relationship now."

"Uh. What? Explain."

"The crystal it's made out of is a god. Or god stuff. It's hard to explain, but it goes dormant without an empress or emperor. It survives through other gods visiting while it's dormant. I'm sure you noticed the other glowing people?" Chelsea remembered the gods scattered throughout the city and the old woman waiting beside the drawbridge. She had assumed the Holy City simply attracted them because of the Church. Freya paused and looked toward the others.

Amber still clung to her parents, speaking quickly as the light around them began to thin.

"Let's finish this talk after we take the others back to Junstruce." Freya spread her hands. The movement of the soul cycle slowed. The fog surrounding the room pulled inward, and the false paintings stretched along the walls as the domain began returning to normal. Chelsea felt the familiar force catch hold of her. All of them were drawn backward into their waiting bodies. Chelsea's eyes opened as her soul settled into place. Her wings jerked, and she sucked in a sharp breath while sensation returned all at once.

"I hate that part so much." Celeste didn't come out that time. That was… strange. She looked up and found Freya standing nearby in her divine form again. Fiona held Amber against her chest while Dewey leaned close, watching the baby's face for any sign that she was all right. Chelsea stepped toward Freya.

"Thank you for doing that. I know you got just as much out of it, but still, thank you."

"It was my pleasure." Freya leaned down and kissed Chelsea. The contact was gentle and brief, though Chelsea found herself leaning after her when she pulled away.

"Now, let's get them home and you back to your cathedral." Chelsea sighed, already missing the freedom she had possessed before that morning.

"Yes, ma'am."...... Hey Guys! Please don't forget to Rate or Review. I noticed I average about 2000 readers per chapter but am sitting at 435 ratings/reviews Please, I'd love it if you slapped down some stars... 5 are obviously my favorite.;)