26: Other Mother
“Let me explain.” Calla said, frowning. “You… No, I fucked up. I’m sorry.”
Eliza’s face paled.
Hearing a goddess say she fucked up?
Was she about to be sent on a mission to go fix whatever’s wrong?
“When I sent you to this world…” Calla said, dragging the plot out.
Eliza looked at her, annoyed.
“I gave you my body. The reason you’ve grown so strong this quickly, Eliza… Might be because your body is that of a goddess.” Calla said. For the first time since the conversation had started, she was showing real remorse, as if this was a terrifying situation for Eliza.
Eliza felt a bit tense at her words.
“That’s… a good thing, though, isn’t it?”
“No. It’s not. Eliza, do you know what happens when a person reaches the peak of this world? Whether it’s martial arts, swordsmanship, or magic?”
When Eliza shook her head, Calla nodded, then continued explaining.
“They feel a pull. A calling. Something telling them to leave this world… To try and make their attempt at becoming a god. Why do you think there are so few swordsmasters? It’s because unless they have something to keep their mind steady, such as something they truly deeply care about… They’ll naturally seek to become one. A god.”
“A god…?” Eliza asked. “Like you?”
Calla nodded. “Yes. A god. Like me.”
“That’s… not a bad thing though, is it?” Eliza asked.
“Eliza. How many gods have you seen in this world… Besides me?”
Eliza looked forward…
And then her eyes widened.
Slowly but surely, she was understanding.
“You mean gods are… like, in a different part of the world?”
Calla shook her head.
“No. They exist in their own dimension altogether. A unique individual dimension, created by each god. It’s simply impossible for them to overlap, and unless the god can develop its abilities to be like mine, manipulating space… They’ll not be able to leave their dimension.”
Eliza nodded.
“I see. That means once I become a swordsmaster, I’ll feel the urge to leave Lily… is that it?”
“No. It means you should never become a swordsmaster to begin with. Once you ascend to that power… You’ll be unable to do anything but leave.”
“What do you mean? Shouldn’t Lily be enough for me to hold back? She means the world to me. She’s the reason I wanted to be stronger in the first place. Lily is someone I deeply care about. She’d be enough for me to stay here.” Eliza insisted.
“I’m afraid not. The real reason that you having the body of a god is trouble… Once you reach that standard of power you won’t even have a choice. Your body already naturally belongs in its own dimension. The only thing keeping you here is your level of power. Once you become a swordsmaster… this world… it will no longer be the one you live in.”
At that, Eliza realized what she meant.
The moment she became a swordsmaster…
Eliza would have to say goodbye to everything she knows and loves.
Her friends, Rin, Olivia, Theodore, Lucas.
Her mentors, Sorin, Grant.
And most importantly.
Her daughter, Lily.
She began shivering.
“I… see…” She said, trying to keep her emotions calm.
Eliza in a mere moment realized the crux of the issue.
Growing as a person is inevitable. As one experiences new thoughts, emotions, sights, they grow and continue to grow.
And right now… She was experiencing fear. True fear for the first time. If she let her mind get out of control and allowed herself to be consumed by panic…
She might become a swordsmaster right here and now. And then be forced to leave this world.
But before her thoughts could spiral out of control, Calla gently walked forward…
And pressed her finger on Eliza’s nose.
“Boop.” Calla said with a grin.
Eliza’s fear instantly was wiped away, replaced with confusion at that point.
“Why did you…?” She almost asked. But then she realized it.
Calla was here so that way Eliza could uphold her part of their ‘deal’ by making sure that Eliza’s emotions didn’t spiral out of control. Her action just now was to reassure her, or at least prevent her from experiencing emotions that are too strong as well.
Eliza sighed. It felt like a shitty situation to be in.
“Don’t worry, Eliza. I’m here for you.”
Strangely, despite Calla seeming completely and utterly unreliable… Eliza trusted her words.
As long as Calla was next to her, she would probably be safe, too.
After all, she was a god, right? It was highly unlikely that any random stranger could hurt Eliza or Lily if she was around.
“I’m going to try my best to make sure that you can fulfill your end of the contract. Staying with Lily until she reaches 18 years of age. And… if the worst comes to pass, I’ll stay with Lily, too. I know she won’t like me as much as she cares about you, but it’s the least I can do.”
Eliza nodded.
“Yeah. You’re right. The least you can do is own up and take care of your own daughter.” Eliza said.
Slowly, though, her mind shifted to something she had been thinking about since earlier.
“But why were you watching me? You said you were, right?” Eliza asked, feeling curious. Why would this goddess be watching over her? Was it about Lily…?
“Well, it’s just that I can watch over everyone, normally. Why would I not watch over you? If it takes no effort on my part, and I could clearly see anyone, why wouldn’t I watch over you?”
Eliza felt like it made sense, but she still didn’t quite like it.
“Wait, but… what was the thing with the demons about? Wouldn’t it have been good for Lily to have another mom? She’s definitely noticed that she is a little bit different than other kids by now, yeah?”
“Well… I couldn’t just let you date random strangers, right, yeah? What if you fell in love with them and really became a swordsmaster on the spot, right? You need to be here to take care of Lily, after all.”
Eliza nodded, but…
It felt like Calla was simply acting again. The way she said that felt weird to Eliza.
But if someone as dense and oblivious as Eliza could realize this…
“Wait, are you actually interested in me?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Eliza realized her mistake. “Wait, no, I apologize.” She said. “I didn’t really consider our positions. I forgot that you’ve only met me once before this.”
But when she saw Calla’s face…
It was tensed up, with a clear blush visible. She seemed to be attempting to hold a neutral expression and failing.
Eliza’s eyes widened.
‘There’s no way, right?’ she wondered to herself.
But looking at Calla’s face… and seeing that Calla was blushing, Eliza felt her head get a little strange.
Eliza naturally felt a blush creep up on her own face, too. Seeing the once mysterious, strange goddess who had visited Earth act shy in front of her…
She couldn’t remember that much of Earth, having been away for so long, but… there were a few things that she did remember.
‘Is this what they call gap moe?’ she wondered to herself.
“It’s not like that!” Calla finally shouted.
Eliza nodded.
“Yeah, yeah, it couldn’t be. There’s no way that we’d… yeah, we’d never be like that.” Eliza said, trying to reassure herself more than anything else.
But at her words… Calla’s face contorted.
Eliza, seeing this, was confused.
Was Calla… Sulking?
As if to prove Eliza’s point, Calla retaliated with her words in her anger.
“Hah! If I wanted to seduce you, you’d be in a relationship with me in mere hours! Someone like you…!”
Eliza laughed at Calla’s words. Somehow… she felt like Calla wouldn’t ever be able to do that.
The person who effectively kidnapped her and sent her to another world? Could she ever truly love someone like that?
But then, for a moment, a glimpse of Lily ran through her mind. She thought back to how she was once known as Elias, and how depressed she was back then.
And now? She was a mom, a teacher, and a beloved warrior of the union. All of that coming to her mind made her gradually realize something.
She didn’t hold a grudge against Calla. In fact… she might actually be happier on Atlan than she ever could have been on Earth.
She looked at Calla, who was still a bit annoyed, showing puffed up cheeks.
“How is someone like you a goddess…?” Eliza wondered aloud. “Not even asking permission before changing someone’s life so callously…”
Eliza thought more about it…
Sure, she was angry because of potentially being dragged away from Lily…
But it was better to love and lose than to have never loved at all, after all. If it was truly destiny that she would be dragged away, then she would ensure she would spend as much time with Lily as possible, and hopefully make the time spent as nice as it can be.
Looking at Calla, who was still sulking, Eliza’s expression softened.
She sighed. Calla was more human than most humans she had met in recent times.
Eliza supposed it was true that Calla used to be human. She didn’t know exactly how she went from being a swordsmaster to being the goddess of time and space, but since she got the gist, she wasn’t going to stress over the details. Rather than freak out about her past finally catching up to her and realization hitting her like this, she’d rather prefer to focus on the future… On what needs done.
“Let’s go down. Olivia will know where Lily ran off to.”
Calla nodded.
‘I suppose it’s time to introduce Lily to her other mom, then.’ thought Eliza.
And thus, after a quick conversation, Eliza and Calla went off to find Lily, who was with Rin at the union’s academy.
