Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 330: Chapter 330: The Seal of All Stories

Chapter 330 – The Seal of All Stories

"><My pretty baby, I love you so much! Thank you for this amazing gift! Tell me what you want, and Aunt Sera will give it to you! No matter what!>

Cassius smiled faintly as he read one of the numerous messages sent by his aunt. And this was the shortest and least intense of them.

"I truly wonder how she looks now." He muttered. "As the potion only made the individual beautiful in a very unique way depending on their nature, she must be a very different kind of beauty from my Isolde and mother."

He tilted his head. "Should I ask her for a picture or just wait to see her in person?"

[My question is, why are you sitting here?] Ananke asked, puzzled.

Cassius was sitting at the very top of the Hades Building, his legs dangling in the air, his white hair whipped gently by the wind.

A notebook was resting on his lap as he read, for the third time, all the messages his aunt had sent him as thanks.

The Last Born was truly happy that she liked it. He was eager to see how she could change now. Would she regain her past self? Or find a new purpose in her life other than being the First Queen of the Kingdom?

Cassius didn’t know. But he just hoped it would be something that could make her happy, while at the same time not compromising the happiness of their families.

’Please, Aunt, just not another Revolution, I beg you. I am afraid that King Dantes won’t allow you another breath if you do it again.’

However, with his grandmother, Morenna, Cassius wondered how the King would even kill his own sister.

’It’s my own family, but bloody hell...this is—!’

[I am talking to you, Cassius!]

"Huh?" Cassius exclaimed, shaking his head slowly to regain his grip. "Did you say something?"

[I asked why you are sitting here.]

"Ah, oh yes. It was starting to get suffocating." He replied with a sigh. "I know being too much of anything is detrimental, but even beauty? This is crazy."

[It’s too soon for you to regret it.]

"Are you with me or against me, Queen?"

[I warned you of the consequences. But like most of the time, you never listen to me.] Ananke’s voice was tainted with hidden grievances. [All I want is what’s good for you, Cassius.]

"I know that, and I am sorry." Cassius replied, taking a deep breath, looking overhead.

The blinding sun was slowly setting, bathing the whole Academy in a fading light of orange and white, the sight beautiful in a way only natural things could be.

"But sometimes, even if I know the consequences of something, I must choose it in order to make my path easier."

[Easier or more complicated?]

"I just need time to adapt to my new Beauty." Cassius said. "It shouldn’t take long with my evolved Innate. So don’t worry."

[It’s impossible not to worry with you.]

"And you love me like this."

[I do.] Ananke admitted. [But I hope your children will treat you the same way you treat me. Causing problems all over the world, while you worry about their safety.]

"Hey, Queen, too far! That’s a nasty thing to wish upon me." Cassius complained. "But it’s fine, who cares? I will create a world where anyone can die but my children."

[You will create tyrants then.]

"So what?" Cassius shrugged. "But all of that doesn’t matter now, you see. Before thinking of children, I need my wife back."

[She will be.]

"And I need to reach a certain level of safety in life where I can allow myself to have children. And finally," his eyebrows knitted together, "I must be able to have children. I didn’t want to think about it, but the words ’Last Born’ people keep calling me don’t make me feel good when I think deeper about them."

He looked at the sky.

"Does it mean I am truly the Last of the Desdemona? If yes, can I have children or not?"

Ananke slowly shook her head, her face forlorn as she read the Book of Fate. [I have no idea, my beloved Blessed. But tell me, beloved, do you mind not having children?]

"Well, I would love to have children." Cassius replied. "And Isolde would love that too, even if she is frightened by the idea. She doesn’t say it because she is conscious of me, but she is unsure whether she can handle children. She doesn’t have the best of parents, after all."

[Yet, ironically, it’s people like her who become the best of parents if they live beyond their trauma. Because they would know what not to do to their children.]

"Yes," he smiled, "I think she will be the best mother. But all of that on the premise that—!"

[Don’t think about it now, beloved.] The goddess interrupted. [You will get there eventually. Don’t think too much about it now.]

"Your words sound ominous."

[I can promise you one thing, however.]

"What?"

[You will never feel alone.] Ananke said, and at that instant, she desperately wished she could hug him. [You heard me, Cassius? You will never feel alone, even if you reach the end of your story.]

"These words make me wonder," he closed his eyes, feeling the tranquility all around him, "what is my story, Queen?"

[Do you really want to know?]

"Is it bad?"

[Depends on how you see it.]

"Then tell me."

[Your story is to bring everything together and give an ending to everything. You are the seal of all stories, my beloved.] Ananke said. [With you, everything shall have its deserved end.]

Cassius paused, taking a deep breath. "...How do you know?"

[I am Fate.]

"Fair enough. But all this sounds ridiculously heavy."

[It is.]

"Can I bear it?"

[Alone? You can’t.] She said flatly. [That’s why I am here. That’s why Isolde is here. That’s why your friends are here. That’s why your family is here. With us, then maybe, just maybe, you can bear it.]

Cassius fell silent before nodding, dragging air into his lungs. "After all of that," he said with a pensive smile, "maybe I can live a tranquil life with Isolde. Simply traveling, enjoying and experiencing things together. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?"

[It certainly would be.]

"But it’s a faraway dream, isn’t it? Let’s just walk step by step." He said. "Journey before Destination, right?"

[Indeed.] She said. [Journey Before Destination, my beloved. Now tell me, what is the notebook for?]

"Oh, this?" Cassius said, chuckling, looking at the notebook on his lap. "You know, my father thinks I do not know, but as the player of the game, I know he loved to document the lives of his children. After all, in the game, he only lost his mind when Emrys and the Chosen Ones destroyed those notebooks during the battle."

[He loves you all in his own way.]

"Yes, and now that I know the importance of Hobbies, I just realized that maybe this was his own Hobby. Isn’t it interesting?" He chuckled. "He used his Hobby to express what he otherwise couldn’t openly. My father is quite something."

[Do you intend to do the same?]

"I don’t think I have the consistency to document everything like my father, but if it’s to express something I can’t do openly, I thought about writing short stories about things I feel and think. It might be interesting."

[Oh my.] Ananke giggled. [What kind of story? Tell me. What is the first one you are thinking of?]

"Hm..." Cassius made a pensive expression. "I will start with a short novel about a man who is madly in love with a woman above his level, to be honest. That woman is in a relationship and loves her boyfriend. The man and the woman will find themselves drawn together, forming a solid friendship."

He laughed.

"The woman will come to deeply cherish the friendship, wanting nothing more. But the man is in love, and it hurts to see the one he loves loving another. So he is debating whether to stay or go. But every time he tries to go away, the woman pulls him back because she needs him. She needs his friendship."

[Why am I not surprised? You love drama.]

"Haha, I do, don’t I?" He laughed. "The world will be a modern world. No powers, no monsters, no nothing. Just a mundane world with two people seeking something the other can’t give. You will be my beta reader, Queen."

[A goddess as your beta reader? Aren’t you lucky?]

"I might be, haha."

[Then will you tell me how it will end? Will they end up together? Will the man go away? Will he accept the friendship and seek nothing more?]

"I wonder?" Cassius shrugged. "Let me first write the first Chapter, and let the characters guide me toward their ending. I am just a vessel, they are the wills. Some shit Kaden used to say, haha."

[And that brings us to the most important question...you do not know how to write, do you? You are a reader.]

"Hey, I was the best friend of Kaden!" Cassius defended himself. "He might have been a trash author, but an author nonetheless."

[You said you hated his book’s ending.]

"Oh yes. I don’t like sad things." He shrugged. "And he was pretty merciless. Can you imagine a world with no sun..."

Cassius’s voice trailed off, his eyebrows suddenly knitting together. He looked deeply at the setting sun overhead, something finally coming to his mind.

"Wait." He tilted his head, stroking his chin pensively. "Is it me, or was there also a White Phoenix in the book Kaden wrote?"

Ananke listened carefully. [White Phoenix...?]

"Yes, I quite liked her character, you know? She was a loyal friend and mother figure to the main character. What was her name again? Ah yes!" His eyes brightened. "Blanche! Her name was Blanche!"

[What is the importance of this discovery, actually?]

"I don’t know." Cassius admitted, his excitement dying down. "It’s just that ever since I learned Earth was created by my family, I tend to try to figure things out on my own. And the White Phoenix being here and also being mentioned in Kaden’s novel could be a coincidence, or maybe..."

He didn’t finish his words, falling silent. Ananke also didn’t press for an answer.

After a while, Cassius chuckled, shook his head, and stood up, remaining there for a moment, letting the cool air soothe his mind.

"Enough thinking, I guess." He grinned. "Tomorrow is the meeting with Sleeping Beauty, and I have an Origin Store to open before then."

"So shall we, my dear Queen?"

Ananke chuckled.

[Of course, my beloved.]

"Hahah."

Cassius laughed as he vanished in a burst of fire soon after, heading straight to his room.

Once he was gone, five seconds later, Mallory Octavia Claweye stepped out of thin air, standing exactly where Cassius had been.

She looked at the sun overhead, glowing menacingly, before her lips stretched into a cold smile.

"Blanche, bloody traitor, my annoyingly beautiful disciple seems to have heard of you."

—End of Chapter 330—