“Mama… uh… Kyr Elkay, can you help me with something please?”
Elkay growled to himself as he finished placing a row of books on a shelf. One of the many parts of the deal that had given Elkay divinity involved building a massive, universally accessible library, available for all races to visit. Elkay had admittedly always wanted to be A-Class but his stupidly powerful Phantasma abilities (not to mention a blessing from the now dead Silent Blade) meant he ended up trapped in K-Class. Now Elkay was both Class-less and technically dead himself, he wanted to focus on satisfying those A-Class desires. But he kept on getting distracted.
And most of those distractions were coming from the younger members of the Twelve Anew. Nanik was fine, she was a sweetheart who was trying to learn customs and traditions from other races, since Vohra didn’t really have much culture. Kohra helped Elkay as much as Elkay helped the Forever Lord Prince, Kohra was young, even for a Spast, and he often wanted historical help. Elkay hadn’t realized how young Aster was, but he just seemed to want reassurance than actual help, and he seemed very intelligent either way. Litvir though… Litvir was a pain. A curious child always asking questions. Which would be fine if they weren’t physically an adult Rethavok, and a rather tall, skinny, clumsy and rather stupid one as well.
“Call me ‘mama’ again and I will hit you…” Elkay snarled, turning around to greet Litvir. Litvir was wearing a cape, as always, but it was caught up in a heavy bag on their back. Litvir was also carrying a handful of books under one arm and holding another open in his free hand.
“Sorry, Kyr Elkay. My brain is stupid. Can you help me with my homework please?”
Elkay calmed down, then inspected Litvir some more. They were wearing something new. All Rethans wore a loin cloth to cover their modesty, but Litvir had a thin, bright yellow belt on top of their loin cloth, with a small, gold coin hanging off of it.
“What is that?” Elkay pointed at the belt.
“My 900th Legion belt!” Litvir beamed. “Kyr Relkir and Kyr Kaldoran put me in a school so I can get my education certificate. Year 12, last year, so my belt is yellow. But I am the top of my class so I get a gold medallion! Does also mean that I have a home now. I live in the Junior Stratos barracks of Vretania. Live with a lot of other 15 to 16 year old Rethans though. They do not like me because I am too smart and talk too much.”
“Well, for a Rethan, you do talk a lot…” Elkay muttered. “How are you getting the time to have a full education while also doing your duties and border patrols?”
Litvir immediately stopped smiling. “School is 0800 until 1500 hours. Now is 1530 hours, but I need to finish my homework before 1600 hours, because we have a meeting with the other Twelve Anew at 1615 hours. That will last an hour, I will have a 45 minute break to consume some food, then I will start my border patrols at 1800 hours, until 0600 hours, with a short break at 0000 hours. That gives me two hours to clean myself up and prepare for school again.”
“Litvir, little one, that isn’t enough time.”
“It is fine. I am a god, I do not need sleep. I am given a lunch at school, and Kyr Aster said I can use his kitchen to cook myself some noodles, since the Junior Stratos barracks are often busy and I have to hide the fact that I am a god while I am there… Hm… maybe the other students dislike me because I wear a cape, on top of my constant asking of questions and talking too much. I still have not quite figured out when I should close my mouth and if I am dominating a conversation. And sometimes I hear other people’s thoughts too and accidentally comment on them. Actually, I hear other people’s thoughts a lot but mostly I know to block them out, because that is rude.”
Elkay inspected Litvir some more, then sighed. “You are related to General Kuta.”
“I still do not know who this General Kuta person is!” Litvir snapped. “People keep on saying this but whoever General Kuta was, I know NOTHING apart from the fact that they were white-plated like I am, had fangs and saved a lot of important Rethan Generals before dying in the Sudden Darkness before I was even born!”
“I know, little one, I know…” Elkay patted Litvir on the leg, then led them to a small seating area so they could sit down. Litvir was quite glad to be able to put their school books down as well. “Funnily enough, I knew General Kuta personally.”
“You… you did?”
“Mhm. Now, before I tell you, I need you to promise me that you won’t tell anyone, alright? Kuta was a secretive fellow, they didn’t like folks knowing about them.”
“But… why was General Kuta a… a general?” Litvir asked.
“Kuta liked to hide in plain sight. They had unnatural powers, a lot of them, and they kept themselves secret. It was only this year that Kuta slowly allowed other people to get to know them. But I knew Kuta from when they were a kid.”
“A… a kid like me?”
“A bit younger, actually. I first met Kuta when they were 10 years old. They accidentally shadowjumped to Zero Zero, where all failed shadowjumpers go. I happened to be on shadowguard duty that night and lots of folks just thought Kuta was a teenage Skyan. I taught Kuta how to use their dark abilities.”
“General Kuta had… Phantas… uh… phantasy… uh… phantis… Phantasma powers?”
“Yep. But they also had fangs, the same way you do. And telepathy. That is why you can hear people’s thoughts, you are reading their minds.”
“Oh…” Litvir blinked, then fell silent for a moment. “I thought the telepathy was like the telekinesis we all have?”
“No, no. Only Nanik has proper telepathy, because she’s a Vohra. When you get a chance, you should speak to her, and she can help you reign your mind-reading in. But Kuta… was a good kid. They worked in the 606th Legion for a while, then moved to the 11th Legion, became General of Hidden Internal Affairs then moved to General of Deitic Affairs because they wanted an easier job for a bit. But Kuta always tried to secretly help people, they helped me deal with the aftermath of multiple assassination attempts and… Well, sadly, Kuta protected the High General and many of the Below Twenty Generals, they kept the building standing and fought the Corruption directly and… Kuta didn’t make it. They were a noble soul who sacrificed themselves nobly.”
Litvir didn’t know how to respond at first. “I… I want to be like this Kuta… Kuta sounded like a good person.”
“They were. And you’re a good person too, Litvir. You just… have a lot to learn. And you do talk too much.”
“How do I not talk too much?”
“Uh… Knowing when to shut up takes time and experience.”
“I have neither of those.”
Elkay shrugged. “You’re right there. But you’ll work things out…” Elkay paused, then sighed. “But I also… I’m the god of knowledge. I need to help you learn. So, tell me, Litvir, what help do you need with your homework?”
“Oh!” Litvir gasped. “I forgot! Do… do we have time?”
Elkay glanced at his watch, then nodded. “We’ve got plenty of time. And even if we go a bit over? Your education is more important.”
Litvir hesitated, then smiled. “I appreciate that. Thank you, Kyr Elkay. And I am sorry for accidentally calling you ‘mama’… Is… was Kuta my mama?”
The god of shadows and knowledge inspected Litvir again, then thought to himself. “No. I don’t think so… Hm… Kuta mentioned, a couple of months ago, that they had a cancer removed from their ovaries. One with plating on it. Kuta said it was a teratoma, but the operation had been done by the Allbirther, disguised as a surgeon. I… I think… maybe it wasn’t a cancer, it was you. You may have been a parasitic twin that the Allbirther discovered and removed then experimented on, before being handed over to Epani, tweaked then forcibly grown into a real Rethan via the Whenvern’s time powers.”
Litvir went back to blinking and being confused. “I… did not understand much of that.”
“Fair. Let me help you with your homework, and we can come back to your chaotic origins later.”
“Yay. Thank you again, Kyr Elkay.”
Elkay smiled, then patted Litvir on the shoulder. “No worries, kiddo.”