CH773 Thera's Perspective

It felt like only a moment had passed by the time Thera awoke but once she began to stir she shot up, memories of the day before flooding her thoughts in a way that took a second to be sure wasn’t just a lingering dream, leaving her putting her head in her hands by the time she was certain.

It hadn’t even been a day since she’d in essence adopted her cousin after he’d been dropped on her doorstep and she was feeling just as out of her depth then as she was the day before, maybe even more so now that her anger at her aunt had faded, leaving only what she would do from there.

Thera had never expected to have children, the idea dismissed far back in her youth in the same way she’d expected to avoid romance as well because of the difference in lifespan there was sure to be in the end but now, even though it looked like she’d been given a child who could outlive her, she didn’t know what to do about it. How did anyone raise a kid in the first place, let alone one that was in essence the closest thing to a god that existed in the mortal realm without having true divinity?

“...Okay, first things first, I need to talk to aunty,” She muttered as she forced herself up, getting dressed and out of her room, gaining just a bit of peace from hearing Ben talking in Mora’s room, going on about sculpting from the sounds of it and helping to keep the young spirit occupied as she went to see Sonya, gently knocking on her door.

She got no answer but as bad as she felt about it she didn’t let up until her aunt awoke, letting out a groggy voice for her efforts.

“Mmh, what is it?”

“Aunty, it’s me, can I come in?”

“Mmh, sure dear, come on.”

It sounded like she was ready to go back to sleep at any second so Thera wasted no time, letting herself in and sitting at the edge of her aunt’s bed while she in turn looked like she was doing her best to stay awake, right up until Thera spoke up.

“I took in a child.”

That brought some energy to Sonya’s eyes, forcing her up as she rubbed away the last bit of sleep she was under

“Um, I think I misheard you, say that again love?”

“You didn’t. It’s complicated but Vividus had a child and decided he wasn’t as good as she hoped he would be so she dropped him at our doorstep and I couldn’t just abandon him but I know this is your home and I know I should have at least asked you first and I’m sorry but if you’re against it if you’d just give me a couple days to figure things out-”

“Thera, relax, I’m not going to kick you out. This is obviously surprising but… If Vividus just had him, did she really abandon an infant on our doorstep?”

Anger came to her aunt’s voice as she put together the implication but Thera shook her head as she explained a bit more calmly.

“He’s technically only a couple months old from the sounds of it but mentally I think he’s around ten and Ben agrees. He’s not like me, not a half-spirit, at least in a normal way. His father is Nox. He was born a soul spirit. A great soul spirit.”

“...Alright, well I suppose I should meet him sooner than later then. Is he up?”

“He isn't going to need to sleep in general. Ben’s entertaining him for now.”

“Alright, give me a moment to get myself sorted.”

She only needed a minute to get dressed for the day before going out and hearing the voice coming from Ben’s old room, heading over with Thera before letting themselves in, giving Sonya her first look at her home's newest resident.

Too late, Thera realized she hadn’t warned her aunt about Mora’s appearance but to Sonya’s credit she didn’t blink, instead just making her way over before bringing herself to eye level where the child sat with Ben, a few small sculptures resting on the bed between them.

“Hello there sweetie, I’m Thera’s aunt Sonya. You can call me Sonya or aunty or whatever you’re comfortable with while you’re here.”

“Hello,” The child said, just as reserved as he had been the night before while her aunt continued to just give him a bright smile.

“And what’s your name?”

He hesitated for a second at the question, still needing time to get used to just having a name but eventually answered.

“I’m Mora.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet your Mora, I hope we can get along. How was your first night with us?”

“It was fine.”

“Well, that’s good but if there’s anything we can do to make you a bit more comfortable then just let us know, okay?”

“Alright.”

“Wonderful. And since we have a little time still, why don’t we chat over breakfast? We can tell you a bit more about ourselves.”

Getting him to open up more would be a process but they could at least begin to pave the way by letting him get to know them and with the same hesitance that came with any of his answers, Mora nodded, joining the others while they ate and began the day.

---

…What am I supposed to do here?

When they’d finished eating, Thera, Sonya, and Mora had followed Ben to his work, all of them needing to make use of his mini gates to get to their own destinations for the day but as she stood there with the young spirit by her side, she couldn’t help but think about just what she might run into on the other side.

She didn’t think her father or aunts would say anything bad exactly if she passed through the one connected to her family home but she was sure that it would be a complicated surprise for them, even if they had known that Vividus was pregnant, one that was sure to get some strong reactions she didn’t want to expose Mora to if she could help it, at least not immediately. It was only the second day of having him but she could already see everything she’d done wrong on the first, she didn’t want the list to grow by exposing him to what family drama his existence might create. Better to try and find time to talk to them all herself in the future to sort things out a bit when he wasn’t around and then do a real introduction after.

She wasn’t sure if that was really the right move either but it was the best idea she had at the moment and chose to pass through the magic towers instead, gently taking the boy’s hand to lead him through the guild.

A move that got a different sort of regret. The place had enough adventurers in it, either looking for quests or just socializing, and while coming out of the guildmaster’s office was enough to draw a couple eyes, Mora’s appearance drew far more. Seeing ghosts may have been rare but if anyone was going to encounter them it would be those who traveled the untamed lands, with sightings only being more common after the gate to hell had been opened. She could only imagine that the people who saw her were assuming they were seeing a death mage that had bound a child to them but there were no other good options she could take instead. If she used either of Ben’s other two gates in Anailia, she’d still have to walk through the streets to get to the main network and people would still see Mora, left to make any assumptions they would.

So maybe I’ll ask Ben to make a new gate we can drop at… Even if I mostly go to one hospital, I do travel a bit so making a new gate wouldn’t solve this. Okay, it’s fine, I just need to pray it doesn’t lead to any uncomfortable confrontations.

She didn't know how aware Mora was of the looks he was getting, nor of what they meant, but she still tried to distract him, awkwardly attempting to force some conversation as they went down the streets with a boy who still hadn’t said more than a couple sentences to her.

“So, after your first night with us Mora, did you notice anything we could do to make you more comfortable?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? It’s okay if there’s anything, there’s nothing wrong with asking.”

“There’s nothing I need.”

“Okay, but if you change your mind just let us know. And is there anything that maybe you want to talk about?”

“...”

“Mora?”

The silence spoke volumes and told her that there really was a problem of some sort, forcing her to stop and look at him, bringing herself down a bit to match his face as she spoke.

“Mora, I know all of this must feel uncomfortable to you. We’ve only just met and Vividus… Well, what I mean is I know I’m just a stranger to you right now, but I don’t want to be. You’re my family, if there’s something wrong, I want to know so I can try to help, alright?”

As she spoke, it was easy to see that the issue could have easily been that despite the familial connection between them, he was a child living among strangers, but that didn’t seem to be it. He seemed unsure and uncomfortable but she didn’t get the impression it was because of her, with that only being confirmed with what he finally asked.

“Is Ben a bad person?”

“What? Sweetie, no, he can be a bit rash sometimes and-” A complete monster to any of his enemies. “A bit prone to over focusing when he gets an idea in his head but I said I’d look after you and he’s going to do the same. Why? Did he say something that made you uncomfortable?”

Mora shook his head and Thera waited for more, not getting anything further until she asked.

“Mora, if there’s something about Ben that bothers you then I hope you’ll be willing to let me know. We’re all living together and I know he wants to get along with you so if there’s an issue I just want to try and resolve it.”

Again she waited but this time he gave in, speaking with only a little hesitation. “His skills just don’t seem like something a good person would have.”

…Of course he can see souls.

Like any other spirit, he was tuned into his domain and if the soul mages and Ben were able to see them and interpret some of the information they held then of course a spirit directly related to them would be able to and for the first time, she was willing to mentally curse out some of the things he would raise without thought or care. Of course having awakened skills like his king of sacrilege, his ill intent, and his evil and destructive affinities was going to look bad to a child, not to mention his demon body skill as well. If Mora interpreted the world through the souls he would see the same way others used their vision then Ben had to have been a particularly striking sight.

Which meant that was a genuine problem she had to try and address. It wasn’t like Ben could just lose his skills, nor would he want to, but she couldn’t let it paint how the boy would see him either, leaving her to try and figure out how to explain it all.

Oh, gods above, if Mora can see some of his jobs and titles too then that’s only worse. Ugh, Ben, how did you let your status get so messy?

It was a question she was sure would have gotten a laugh from him in normal circumstances but as it was, she was left to do her best as she tried to explain it away.

“Alright, I know it can look pretty bad but there is a reason he has a lot of the skills and titles and jobs he does. Really, he ended up in a situation where he had to raise one bad skill, his sacrilege, but it left a few of the gods giving him some titles and then he realized that the jobs he got from it were actually really good which is why he kept taking them which led him to getting a few other skills that don’t exactly sound the nicest but because of all of the jobs he has with them they’ve been easy to raise and, well, Ben just also happens to be rather talented at raising his skills. If you can see them all then you were probably able to get that impression already, right?”

Mora nodded and seemed to be listening to her which she appreciated, even if she included a small lie in her explanation. Nothing had forced Ben to kill the forbidden gods to raise his sacrilege, he’d done it happily, but she didn’t have it in her to try and explain any nuance certain actions had when it was better to try and keep things clear as she went on.

“And even though a few skills sound bad, that doesn’t really mean they are, at least, that’s not how he thinks of them. All skills have their benefits and a few of them have helped save his life before which makes it so he doesn’t neglect them but I trust Ben completely. He’s a good man and if you try to judge him from the way he acts with you then I think you’ll see that. I can’t ask you to instantly like him, but do you think you could give him a chance and judge how he acts with you, not by the skills he has?”

“...Okay.”

“Thank you,” She told him with a smile as she gently rubbed his head. “I think you’ll see pretty soon that he’s not a bad guy.”

It wasn’t exactly resolved but she had to just trust that he’d open up to Ben in time and given that she still needed him to open up to her that wasn’t the biggest wish. The fact that he’d spoken to her about that felt like a step though, one that made talking just a little easier as they went on their way to the hospital for the day.

---

As she worked throughout the day she kept her eyes on Mora by her side but he seemed fine despite the constant carnage coming through. It had been a tough explanation when she’d arrived of course but ultimately she was the best healer available to them, it helped her get her way and was even easier when she explained he was someone she had to look after, with the work itself that day not being too bad either.

In fact, it felt downright smooth. Every day she’d been acting as a healer since the beginning of the second wave had been nothing but stress after stress but the longer things went on the easier it became, with even the hospital’s head seeming like she was in a good mood when she came over to talk at the end of Thera’s shift.

“This was a good day,” The director almost sighed in contentment, with Thera nodding along.

“Really feels like everyone had it together today, it would be nice if every one was this smooth.”

“Maybe it will be,” She said, giving a rare laugh before sharing the good news. “Nine of our healers leveled their magics while working today. Nine! It feels like maybe a watching god decided to gift us a bit of help.”

“Oh, that’s fantastic! That’s…”

Improbable.

Ben was happy enough to complain about what cheap customers the gods were and while she would never go quite that far, she knew they had other things to spend their faith on than helping to level up a few healers but if they weren’t at play, that meant nearly twenty percent of the healers working there had all raised up their magic on the same day. That was nothing impossible of course, with how much every one of them had been working, the idea that they’d get levels sooner or later was perfectly reasonable to hope for, but nine of them practically all at once?

It was too convenient and too coincidental. Even if it could have been possible, it was impossible to let pure coincidence sit at the top of her thoughts when the boy who should have held power over souls and supposedly refused to use his magic was standing right beside her.