“You look awfully tense.” Aria says. “Are you alright?”

“Yes..” Cyrus quietly sips the tea from the cup in front of them.

Cyrus was brought to Aria’s garden full of flowers of different kinds. Multicoloured hydrangeas, irises, roses, tulips and every other kind of flower you imagined was there. On top of that, the garden had a few small water fountains, trees and even birds flying around. There were a lot of things going on inside of the garden but it still felt like a cozy place to hang out in.

Both of them were quiet, just silently drinking the tea out of their cup. Except one of them. Aria looked extremely calm, happily enjoying their surroundings… Meanwhile Cyrus felt too nervous to relax themselves and take in the beautiful sight around them.

“Cyrus… Do I make you nervous?” Aria asks.

“Um..” Cyrus hesitates to get their answer out, they put down their cup to the table. “Yes, kind of.. – I mean not that I find you mean or a-anything! You’re very kind.. and um–”

Aria laughs. “Forgive me, I had no intentions of making you feel this nervous.”

“No no no!” Cyrus waves their hands vigorously. “You didn’t do anything wrong! People with high status’ just make me nervous in general… and you’re a God..  which makes it scarier…”

“I have heard people say that before.. June has also told me that I should tone down my smile since it apparently adds to the ‘scary part’.” Aria frowns their brows with a smile.

Cyrus notices Aria feeling a bit hurt and tries to cheer them up. “..Oh, well I think your smile feels welcoming!”

Aria faintly blushes. “That.. is very kind of you.”

At that moment a maid came into the room with desserts to offer. Aria took a slice of cake topped with forest berries and Cyrus a plain chocolate covered one. Both of them thank the maid and she leaves the garden with the tray filled with other desserts. 

“So, I have heard of yours and General Azrael’s magnificent feats during the quest.” Aria says. “Your participation was unexpected, however I do not want to ignore your efforts and want to thank you for that.”

“O-oh.. You’re welcome..” Cyrus blushes as they stuff cake in their mouth. 

“I wanted to thank General Azrael as well, but he sadly stormed out in the middle of the meeting.. Though I am not surprised why.” The God makes eye contact with Cyrus. “I also wanted to apologize to you about the encounter with Mister Montagnac.. I had not expected such foul things to come out of his mouth. Such things are not tolerated by me nor any of my staff, please forgive me.”

Aria bows their head to Cyrus.

Cyrus suddenly stands up in panic. “Uh! Lord Aria, there’s no need for you to lower your head! I’m used to hearing that stuff anyways so it’s totally fine!”

“...” Aria raises their head, revealing a melancholic smile. “That is the problem. You should not be used to that.. no-one should. That is why I should have been stricter with him because no-one deserves to hear something like that about themselves. However my current position prevents me from interfering too much..”

“...” 

Cyrus turns their gaze elsewhere, to the bright green branches of the trees, then up to the glass ceiling. Cyrus felt their eyes get heavy and cloudy. Their heart felt heavy upon hearing those words. Words that no-one had told them in years. So they had always tried to accept the fact that some humans… Will never come to like beings like them – Half-breeds like Cyrus. 

Their sight was really cloudy with the water gathering up on their eyes. They quickly wiped out their tears to get rid of evidence of them crying but then their nose started dripping.

Aria offers a napkin with a gentle smile.

“Um.. I know you there obviously might be moments where you can’t interfere.. ” Cyrus blows their nose. “But I still want to thank you for that.. I haven’t heard that in a long time so it really means a lot coming from you.. Thank you.. and sorry.”

“Why the apology, Cyrus?”

“No- It’s about what happened last time.” they say, nervously caressing the back of their neck. “From that time, my memory is still a bit foggy.. but I keep getting glimpses of that day.. and others have already told me…”

“You are referring to what you had said then, am I correct?”

“...Yes..”

“Honestly being called a ‘bitch’ or a ‘motherfucker’...” They say the words in a sarcastic tone. “In all honesty, I found that quite entertaining.”

“...???” Cyrus was hit with a sudden confusion.

“You see, no-one ever dares to directly insult me like that. That is why that day, I was genuinely surprised.”

“In.. a bad way?”

“No.” Aria replies looking down into their empty tea cup. “For me, those are just simple words with no meaning. So worry not, I did not take those words into heart.”

“That’s good.. But I still want to give you a proper apology!” They bow down before Aria.

Aria chuckles. “I accept your apology, so please take a seat.”

Cyrus sat back down with a smile. Aria also smiled and reached to pat their head.

“Now.. to continue–”

Aria suddenly made a surprised face, got up and looked back.

Behind Aria was an open portal from which a character gracefully came from.

One foot at a time touched the floor with small, very small stars floating around them. Then the rest of the person’s body entered the room. His white hair reached the floor and on top of their head was a floating crown with small crystals on them. He had a pretty face but with an indifferent expression, that looked like he could pierce someone's soul.

The character looks around, spots Aria and then Cyrus who looked speechless.

“Greetings.” he greets the two with his hands crossed.

“Ah..! Altair! What brings you here?” 

“Business.” The person; Altair replies with one word, then following up with other things, not acknowledging Cyrus in the room.

Cyrus had also gotten up but still looked surprised. Now, they weren’t surprised by the person's entrance but the fact that they were extremely short. Like he was almost half of Cyrus’ height. On top of that, looking at Aria’s startled demeanor, one could think that the short one was Aria’s higher up.

“H-hello..!” Cyrus greets back and extends their hand to Altair for a handshake.

Altair looked at the hand then at Cyrus. “What.. is this what you are doing?” he asks bluntly.

Aria comes up. “Altair… That is called a handshake. It is something you do whenever you meet a person for the first time, like so.” They show an example using Cyrus’ hand that was starting to feel lonely.

“Ah.. I see. I’ll have to decline then.” Altair passes Cyrus and goes to sit on what was previously Aria’s seat

“...” Aria sighs. “Cyrus, don’t take it personally. Altair does not like making skin contact with people.” they whisper softly.

“I see.. Um, Is uh…”

Altair noticed Cyrus’ curious eyes eyeing him and sighs. 

“I did not forget to introduce myself.. I just did not want to..” He muttered, clearly annoyed. “I see that you are curious, so I will introduce myself. I am one whom everyone calls Altair, the God who observes worlds and the one who commands The Stars.” 

“Well I’m Cy–”

“I already know of you, Cyrus.” He says, while eating Aria’s dessert on the table.

“Oh..! right… um may I ask what you mean by ‘the one who commands the stars’?”  

“...Aria, why is this mortal asking such nonsensical questions?” 

“Altair dear, not everyone has the knowledge of multiple millenia like you.. please understand.” they try to calm down Altair who was annoyedly chomping down the cake on the table. 

Altair sighs. “Every god has something that represents us like a symbol, and those are called Elementals. Elementals could be anything a god desires it to be and it will become something a mortal will pray upon. Do you follow?”

“....Yes????”

He could clearly see that Cyrus wasn’t really following and sighs again. “Let me give you a simplified example. When you see a shooting star, you make a wish upon it, yes? That wish will be delivered to me and I will therefore grant it depending on what it is. Understood?”

Cyrus nods. “Yes, I think I understood it pretty well! Thank you.” They turn to face Aria. “May.. I ask what your Elemental is..? 

“It is the The Sun.”

“Oh I can totally see it! Your smile always reminds me of the warmth of the sun!”

Aria blinks in surprise and starts laughing. “Haha! You always manage to say the most amusing things, thank you!” 

“Class has ended now, would you mind leaving us then?” Altair cuts in with a stern expression on his face. 

Aria ignored the cake that had long disappeared into Altair’s mouth and pats Cyrus on the back. 

“It seems that once more, our conversation has been cut short…” they sigh with a smile. “Here, take this as a reward and the other one is for General Azrael. Please give it to him later on when you meet him.”

Aria hands a heavy golden sack. Cyrus curiously opens the sack, they see the sack full of golden coins, very shiny ones. So shiny, Cyrus felt like they could go blind from looking at them for too long.

“Uh.. why give me Azrael’s reward?” they ask in confusion. “He left so suddenly I have no idea where he could have gone and I don’t have any way of contacting him…”

“That is fine, I am sure you two will cross paths soon. So please, can I entrust you with his share until then?”

“...” Cyrus hesitates before putting a smile on their face. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to give it to him then!”

“Before you leave, may I ask you about your plans after this?” Aria questions them.

“Ahh…” Cyrus ponders for a while. They hadn’t thought properly in a long time about what they would do now that they were free to go. “I honestly don’t have any plans after this, so I think I’ll just wander around visiting new places.”

“I see, you have quite the curious mind.” Aria melodiously replies. “Then, I would recommend you to look around the city’s Adventurers Guild Novalius. They have a lot of fun and easy quests you could participate in, as well as exhibitions. I am sure it will pique your interest.”

“Thank you, I will definitely check it out!”

Cyrus bowes to both gods and leaves the garden to head out of the castle.

The demons and otherworldly dimensions - Arc end

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They who take high risks - Arc start