Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Someone had already cast a cleaning spell on Ruwen, likely before placing him in Ash’s bed, but he cast Scrub anyway, feeling the familiar tingle across his skin as the spell cleansed his body.

Hamma pulled a bundle of clothes from her dimensional bag. "I had a chance to do a little shopping. They’ll help you blend in."

Ruwen accepted the clothes and stood. Hamma did as well and her happy expression triggered a memory.

“What?” Hamma asked.

“Nothing,” Ruwen said, kissing her.

“Nice try, now spill it.”

Ruwen laughed. “When I was on Rainbow’s End I summoned some images from the future. Our future. One is you sitting across from me at a bar, smiling at me. You looked impossibly beautiful. A goddess come to life. I thought my imagination had created you like that. Some type of fantasy depiction. Now I know it was the truth, because your Fortification to Deity has shaped you into the person from our future.”

Hamma leaned close and kissed Ruwen. “I don’t know if that was the truth, but it was a great answer. You’re not so shabby yourself. Wait until Sift tells you what those Fae wanted to do with your naked body. Turns out you’re very popular in the Creation Realm.”

Ruwen looked for any indication that Hamma might be referring to his Pumpkin Spice alias and the misunderstanding with the leprechauns, but her smile seemed innocent.

Hamma emptied the bag onto the bed. “Those are called jeans and that’s a T-shirt Sift insisted on buying you. He's been trying to convince Shelly to mount a water cannon on her shell since discovering whatever those things are. See you in a minute.”

With a final kiss, this one longer, Hamma left Ruwen alone. He glanced around, taking in the simple room. The space had a comfortable energy that his eight Awakened chakras resonated with. Notifications had piled up, but he left them minimized for now. He just wanted to relax for a bit before reality returned.

 The jeans felt good against Ruwen’s skin, and he understood why Hamma liked them. He kept his Harmonic boots on since they didn't clash with the denim, and then pulled on the thin cotton shirt Sift had chosen.

The shirt made Ruwen pause. A blue turtle wearing sunglasses stared back at him. The text on the shirt read “Squirtle Squad—Deal with it!”

Ruwen glanced at the armed turtles on the image next to the bed. “What’s with this planet and turtles?”

Ruwen left the bedroom and entered the short hallway. The open door to Grandpa Pine's bedroom revealed a simple but organized space. During chakra training, the old man had emphasized that the most precious things in the universe could only be carried within one’s self, so it made sense that the old farmer’s personal space wasn’t crowded with items.

Turning down the hallway, it only took a few strides to enter the main room.

Colyn jumped to his feet and pulled Ruwen into a tight hug. “Your mom and I are so sorry we didn’t search for you. We didn’t know.”

Ruwen returned the hug and wondered when he’d grown so much taller than his father.

“You guys didn’t do anything wrong,” Ruwen replied. “It was nothing to get worried about.”

Sift spoke from the kitchen. “That’s right Mr. Colyn, you know how the girls exaggerate.”

“The girls?” Lylan asked, clearly unhappy with Sift’s choice of words.

Sift yelped in pain.

Echo chimed in. “We exaggerate? You’re the blabber mouth.”

Colyn hugged Ruwen tight one more time before releasing him. “We’re glad you’re back.”

Sift appeared and slid a pie onto the table. The unmistakable scent of pumpkin rose from the brownish-orange dessert. Ruwen turned from the pie and studied Sift’s face.

“You owe me,” Sift mouthed, evidently referencing his confirmation that Ruwen hadn’t been in danger. Sift made no comments related to Pumpkin Spice.

Ruwen wondered if he might have become a little paranoid.

Grandpa Pine's weathered hand clasped Ruwen’s shoulder with surprising strength. “Welcome back. I’m shocked at your progress, but your friends assure me this is normal for you. We need to talk about that foreign energy in your Root and Sacral. The sooner the better.”

Ruwen nodded his thanks. Lylan stepped up next to Sift and Ruwen stared. Her transformation into a Deity was just as striking as Hamma's. Lylan’s dark hair absorbed the light, and her beauty had become otherworldly. His Third Eye revealed black smokey wisps rising from her skin as if her blood smoldered. That could only mean she’d successfully absorbed Destruction Essence during her Fortification to Deity.

“Stop staring at my girlfriend,” Sift said. He placed two hands in front of Lylan, moving them up and down trying to block Ruwen’s view.

Ruwen shook his head to clear it and repressed a blush. Lylan smiled mischievously at Hamma, who returned it.

Lylan slapped Sift’s hands away and stepped closer to Ruwen, giving him a hug. He leaned forward trying to minimize the amount of body contact.

Hamma and Lylan both noticed and laughed.

Lylan let Ruwen go. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She turned serious. “Thank you for what you’ve done for us. We can never repay that kindness.”

Sift, still rubbing his hand from where Lylan had slapped it, spoke up. “Yeah, it almost makes us even.”

“Even? How do you—” Ruwen stopped suddenly as a little girl in pigtails appeared beside him. She held up a sheet of paper.

Ruwen carefully took the offering and glanced at the picture Blapy had drawn. A young girl in a dress and pigtails stood on a cliff facing a distant city. She had a potted plant under one arm, but on closer inspection it only had one stalk that ended in an eyeball, and he knew it was supposed to be Archie, the seemingly omnipresent unkillable creature linked to Hamma. A traveling case sat on the ground next to the girl.

In the middle of the city, a black tower rose and disappeared into the sky. It’s base blocked half the horizon and no windows marred the smooth surface.

“Do you recognize this place?” Blapy asked.

In the Destruction Realm Ruwen had studied the five Meridian towers and had projected himself over the connection those towers had with the original towers in the capital city of the Outerverse Destruction Realm. Those towers had also been epic in proportion, but they were covered in glyphs, and the surface wasn’t as smooth as the one in the picture.

Deryssa, the Val’dor queen whose genes had helped shape Ruwen’s Destruction Realm body, had spoken of the eight spires that anchored the vertices of the Destruction Realm. The Val’dor family were responsible for one of those spires. He’d caught a glimpse of the Val’dor family’s spire but only the bottom, and it hadn’t looked like this.

“No, what is it?” Ruwen asked.

If this disappointed Blapy, she didn’t show it. She took the picture back and another one appeared in her hand. She gave this to Ruwen.

This picture showed an angel facing away, eight wings spread wide. The rest of the drawing held swirls and dark vortices giving the whole picture a chaotic feel.

“Do you know what that is?” Blapy asked her expression more serious than normal.

“The Zealot I fought summoned purple winged angels that had four, but I didn’t see any with eight.”

“Echo told me about the Zealot. A very interesting conversation. She says you have four wings yourself. You also didn’t answer my question.”

Ruwen knew better than to try and hide anything. He was terrible at deceitfulness and Blapy was a master at detecting it.

Blapy narrowed her eyes and Ruwen threw caution to the wind, praying Blapy’s other form Miranda didn’t show up and start a fight. The information he had came from Varthon, Rami’s father, a powerful Void Wyrm, and Miranda’s ex-boyfriend.

Ruwen let the information out in a rush. “It’s true I’ve never seen a being like this, but someone we both know saw a painting like this. Our mutual acquaintance called the woman in the painting a Voidwalker.”

“Rami said you can survive the Void. You have four wings, do you expect to get any more?”

That was a question Ruwen hadn’t considered.

“Why are you so interested in this?” Ruwen asked as he considered his answer.

Blapy frowned and for the first time Ruwen detected what he thought might be fear. That terrified him.

Reaching up, Blapy carefully took her drawing back. “I’m dreaming again. The new ones bring up old ones.”

That didn’t clear anything up for Ruwen, but for once his curiosity remained silent. Maybe his Throat chakra had detected something he couldn’t articulate, but it scared him into silence all the same.

“Well?” Blapy asked.

Ruwen shrugged. “I don’t know if I’ll grow any more wings. I got the second set when my Saraph body formed in the Destruction Realm. I guess its possible if that happened again I might get another set.”

“Like if you survived the Creation Realm trial like Hamma and Sift.”

“I guess. Maybe. But I have zero intention of doing that. I’ve been warned I messed up any chance of a Creation form because my five Destruction Realm Meridians hold my Saraph body and a vast amount of Destruction Essence. Even if I somehow managed to gain a Creation form, I’d only have six wings, not eight. Unless you know of a fourth Realm, I’m not your guy.”

Blapy looked both relieved and disappointed. Under those emotions, his Sacral, Throat, and Third Eye combined to reveal the fear that remained.

Clarysa Starfield burst through the door and Blapy returned to the table and her colors. Ruwen’s mom hugged him tightly.

“I can’t believe we—” Clayrissa started.

Ruwen interrupted. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. Hardly anything happened and I took a short nap.”

Clarysa didn’t look convinced but didn’t press Ruwen. “I know you can take care of yourself, and I trust your judgement. I’m just happy you’re okay.”

Echo avoided the crowd around Ruwen and placed a plate of meat-filled tortillas on the table. She glanced at Ruwen and for a moment half her face turned into a skull. His Third Eye again. He needed to speak with Grandpa Pine about controlling what that chakra showed him.

Ruwen pointed to the tortillas. “Are you sure that’s correct? The one Sift had looked charred and burned.”

Echo smiled.

Sift responded from the kitchen. “Well done, not burnt.”

Clarysa pushed Ruwen toward the table. He hadn’t needed to eat for years and wasn’t hungry now, but he knew it would make his mom feel better to see him doing something normal and he sat. Grandpa Pine brought Ruwen a can of beer as Rami and Sift argued in the kitchen.

Blapy put her crayons and pictures away and pointed at the coins in front of Colyn. “You should show Ruwen your collection.”

Colyn tried to suppress his excitement and Clarysa groaned.

“Old men and their coins,” Clarysa said. “I need a fresh beer if there’s any hope of surviving another coin description.”

Colyn leaned toward Ruwen. “Don’t listen to your mom. This planet has fascinating currency designs. Look at these. They’re from the country we’re in now."

Ruwen took a bite of the surprisingly good food and examined the gold coins with genuine interest. The largest one had an eagle perched on a cactus, gripping a snake in its talons and beak.

"That's beautiful," Ruwen said, meaning it.

"The use of symbolism here is widespread," Colyn continued. "The eagle represents strength and vision, the cactus represents endurance in harsh conditions, and the snake—"

"The last thing Ruwen needs is another collecting hobby," Sift called from the kitchen. "It’s a close contest between him and Hamma on who’s the biggest hoarder.”

Sift yelped in pain as someone punished him for the comment.

Ruwen smiled at that, even if Sift had a valid point.

Clarysa stood behind Colyn listening to his excited descriptions despite her earlier words. Ruwen’s parents were obviously happy and sitting here in Grandpa Pine’s dining room, surrounded by friends and family, caused Ruwen’s Heart chakra to hum in joy. Hamma sat on one of his legs and put an arm around his shoulder. Her lavender-based perfume triggered familiar and comforting memories. Hamma kissed the top of his head causing his skin to prickle.

Ruwen couldn’t think of a time he’d been happier.