A New Beginning In A Mana Apocalypse

"You might not think so Daryl, but you have had it the easiest of all of us." Annitte told me. "The tests our parents put us through are unpleasant to say the least. Corrin and Ellina got it the hardest as the first." she told me.

"The first?" I asked.

Annitte nodded. "Corrin is the oldest but only by a few minutes. The two of them are twins, and while they have been kind to Zelia and I, it has become obvious that the only ones they ever trusted or cared for were themselves." she told us. "I have no idea how they got in contact with them, but Corrin and Ellina seem to have become members of the Rightful Rulers, another group like the Lost Ones, but this one is made up of bonders from our parent"s world, and they are just as bad as the Lost Ones. I doubt they have contact with the Lost Ones, as they both wish to rule over all others so I doubt they could get along. Yet they must know someone who knew what was happening, because as soon as it was confirmed that the Lost Ones had succeeded they made their move and bound every leader in the havens to them forcing their submission. As bonders ourselves Zelia and I can not be forcefully bonded. Zelia and I ran as soon as we understood what was happening, unfortunately we went in different directions, I have no idea if she escaped and am too afraid to check on her. Our siblings know and understand my peak ability and know how to trace it. If they were able to catch Zelia they will trace my probe back to me. However I do know that the Rightful Rulers have taken complete control over the haven." she told us.

"What of my family?" Calidia asked worriedly.

"They are fine. Your family has always been close to ours, they didn"t like it but they understood that fighting was useless and submitted early on sparing them any lose of life." Annitte rea.s.sured.

Calidia didn"t seem happy but she at least seemed relieved.

That was more than a bit to take in. "What of Zelia, are you sure she isn"t a part of the plan?" I asked.

Annitte shrugged. "Zelia and I have been pretty close since I arrived. Whether she is a part of this I have no idea, nor do I know what our elder siblings intended to do to us if they caught us, though I have some supisions of what the Rightful Rulers wanted." she replied.

"And how can we be sure that what you are telling us is the truth?" Courtney asked suspiciously.

We were all silent for a moment as we realized that everything was just Annitte"s word.

"Tracy." Annitte replied. "My peak ability allows me to observe people and places no matter where I am, even from another world. I have been watching you for a long time little brother, and other than being a pervert. I know you are someone I can trust in. You are inherently a good person even if you are a bit too soft. When Jessarn came to me I grabbed Tracy and had her accompany me. Honestly I was a bit curious as to why you have clung on to your initial bonds so tightly. Having one of them for me to observe close up helped me to understand a few things I hadn"t noticed. Also it meant she has been there with me the whole time since our elder siblings began their take over. She hasn"t seen everything I have, but she has seen enough to vouch for what has happened in the havens."

I let out a long breath as I looked back to Tracy who nodded. "It was pretty scary. Zelia is really pretty and seemed nice. The others though, they seemed a bit crazy." Tracy told us. I could feel some lingering fear through the bond.

I nodded then looked back to Courtney. As she had brought up what was a valid point I wanted to see if she accepted the explanation.

Courtney noticed my gaze, she hesitated for a moment then nodded.

"So now the next question is, what do we do? We still need supplies for everyone, but both Earth and the havens aren"t available to us." I asked.

"Don"t you already have everything you need?" Annitte asked.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

Annitte pointed to Mary. "She has her tendrils all over the Great Realm, and she can produce a lot of things herself. With her you can hunt and gather in the Great Realm in relative safety." she told us.

I looked at Mary who simply shrugged. "We could do that, but we can not guarantee anyone"s safety. Though admittedly the risk wouldn"t be much greater than the havens or Earth with these new circ.u.mstances." she replied.

"How are the supplies we currently have on hand?" I asked.

"I have a girl with a s.p.a.ce pocket, she stored a lot of things in there before you all came." Jasmine suddenly spoke up.

I nodded to her then looked at the others who reported what they had, Jessarn was much more forthcoming this time around. Thankfully when pooled together we seemed to have plenty for everyone for a few days. So we could make some plans before we tried to hunt and gather in the Great Realm.

Once everything was confirmed Annitte asked to speak with me privately. I didn"t want to agree, the twins also wanted to see me privately but they rea.s.sured me they could wait then ran off with the rest of my wives. I was hopeful they had made their choice. Derek didn"t seem happy when the twins ran off with my wives, but the pretty major dragged him away, which he didn"t seem to mind at all.

Even Calidia left though she made my sister promise to come see her as soon as we were done talking.

"So what is so important that it can"t be said around anyone else?" I asked her once we had walked a ways away from everyone else.

"It"s about you, and your abilities." Annitte replied. "And some things about our siblings." she told me.

"Which first?" I asked.

"Our siblings." Annitte replied.

"What about them?" I asked.

"Do you know the tests our parents put us through?" she asked.

"They want to see how we will use our bonding ability." I replied.

Annitte snorted. "That was you and you alone." she told me. "For the rest of us we had other tests to pa.s.s as well. That one was just the only test they would kill us themselves if we failed." she told me.

I frowned but I couldn"t say anything, thinking back to my meeting with my parents it was the feeling I had gotten from my mother.

"What are the others?" I asked.

"Survive." Annitte told me.

I frowned, that didn"t seem so bad.

"You are forgetting the fact that your world started early, what about if this happened in ten or fifteen years, when you were married, had children, and your parents didn"t warn you it was coming?" she asked.

"They wouldn"t.." I started.

"They did!" Annitte told me firmly, "For all of us. Zelia had it the easiest as she was a career woman and hadn"t had kids yet, but she still lost her husband since she was on the other side of the world when it happened. I lost a daughter who was in school on the first day and a cla.s.smate became a twisted. My husband suicided by twisted from the grief. I nearly followed him into the grave. Corrin and Ellina were even older when it happened in their worlds, their kids were grown and they even had a couple grandchildren. None of them survived. They gained immortal life after watching their spouses, children, and grandchildren die to the hands of twisted, and beasts. While they pa.s.sed our parents test, it broke them in a weird way. They don"t have the same beliefs as the Rightful Rulers, but they might be the only group that have the power and ability to catch our parents. That is the only reason I can think of that they would work with them." Annitte told me.

"Then why did you and Zelia run?" I asked.

"Because we are pureblood from their world. If they had caught us, they wouldn"t hurt us, but we would probably end up forcibly married to one of them and pushed to pump out babies." Annitte replied. "At least that is what the Rightful Rulers would want."

No, that didn"t sound pleasant. "So?" I asked.

"Just thought you should know. Honestly I am not against making our parents pay. I could handle being surprised by everything like everyone else, but having our parents come to me later and explain they knew about it all along and that it was some kind of stupid test! It is a bit hard to handle, I miss my husband and daughter, and it doesn"t matter how many years or how many husbands there have been since. Our siblings might end up killing our parents and I thought you should prepare yourself for it." she told me.

I closed my eyes refusing to look at her. All of it was hard to take in, yet my parent"s own words confirmed a lot of it. I sympathized with Annitte, I doubt I would handle things very well either.

"What about my abilities?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Yours are weird." she told me with a straight face.

"Huh?" I responded stupidly.

"Do you remember how they looked when you first awakened?" she asked me.

I nodded.

"That isn"t supposed to change! Look at all your wives abilities, none of them have changed from that! Even your non human wives should have a similar set up, just different abilities." she told me. "Yours has shifted and changed so much that it is nothing like anyone else"s." she told me. "You are also supposed to have a fairly linear unlocking of your abilities, add a star get a specific upgrade to your ability. No one powers up like you do."

"So what does that mean?" I asked puzzled.

Annitte hesitated for a moment. "There are three types of humans; unawakened, awakened, and supremes." she told me. "You know the unawakened and awakened. The supremes are those like our parents who have a special power inherent from their world." she told me.

I nodded.

"You don"t fit into any of them." she told me, "At best I would call you a fusion of awakened and supreme."

"But what does that mean?" I asked.

Annitte looked straight at me a serious expression on her face. "It means that you are screwed little brother." she told me.

Huh? "What do you mean?" I asked.

"You are dying." she told me. "I can feel it as I stand here next to you. Your power still hasn"t fully manifested yet and even if you can"t feel it, it is tearing you apart in its attempt to get out." she told me.

"But…" I asked fear overwhelming me.

"Just joking!" Annitte said with a laugh.

I glared at her angrily as I tried to control my breathing and calm my rapidly beating heart.

Annitte continued to laugh for a moment, "Sorry, after the day I had I really needed that." she told me.

I grit my teeth and turned to leave but she reached out and grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"I wasn"t completely joking. You aren"t dying, but your power still hasn"t fully manifested itself. Proof is the fact that nothing replaced the black lightning when it became a part of mother"s ability. We all have a peak ability, and the inherited abilities do not count. It is a personal ability that is supposed to complement and strengthen us, mine is as I said because I am an insufferable snoop." she told me. "I think yours is partially awake but you can"t completely comprehend it so it won"t fully awaken." she told me. "Before you say anything it isn"t l.u.s.t related. You are a ma.s.sive pervert who wants to have a huge harem of beautiful women, the how and why aren"t important, just realize it, accept it, and own it. Once you do I think it will be easier to understand what your actual peak ability is." Annitte told me.

I frowned at her uncertain what to say.

"Now let"s go see the void girl." Annitte told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you are an idiot and did something none of the rest of us would have. The manic twisted are a bane to every living being. No one would risk themselves to bond one as tightly as you have. She is the only one of her kind, and I am very curious about her." Annitte told me.

"Really?" I asked.

Annitte nodded. "Yeah a real moron, I mean your wives had just been talking about you not taking any more women then you immediately add the manic twisted you have never met before just because Megan said it was okay? You didn"t have too, you could have dumped her anywhere if you didn"t want to kill her. You just wanted an excuse to add another woman to your harem without understanding that it was a lot more dangerous than you realized. So yeah, you are a pervert and an idiot!" she told me.

"That wasn"t what I meant, and how do you know so much?" I asked suspiciously.

"I told you I had been watching, you are pretty impressive in bed, I will give you that, but the rest has been better than the soap opera"s your world invented. I haven"t found anything as entertaining in a few hundred years." she said then laughed.