I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

She woke up feeling sore, her arms were sore, her back felt like it had gone through a wringer and somehow it was dark?

 

She could feel the shadow in the room and they told her that it was in the morning, around 8 to 10 AM. So why was it dark?

 

She also felt comfy and a sweet smell was hitting her in the face, trying to open her eyes and close them amounted to no success so she started moving her shadows trying to find the reason why it was like this.

 

For starters, she found out that she was in her room. Obviously. After all the hectic things that happened yesterday, they decided to try and solve the problem with the destroyed furniture and trashed living room tomorrow. Both girls were too mentally tired to do something productive.

 

Elizabeth was too tired to care so she just told Nyx to fix the apartment and clean the debris, while Rossie had spent almost all her mana and her stress meter finally left the negative numbers raising all the way almost to 50%!

 

She found out that the pink-haired girl was recovering her mana slowly since her stress meter was so high, she offered some of her mana drink but the pink-haired girl said that she knew a sure way to get the stress down. So she left to her room after making dinner for them.

 

Elizabeth had her status window open and sure enough, after the clock hit midnight the Stress on Rossie went down quite quickly...She lost a few points of HP but recovered almost as fast as she lost them... She...Worried for her friend, but since the pink-haired girl never went below 97% HP and her stress was going down at tremendous speeds...

 

One can't argue with those methods...Granted the pink-haired girl was losing mana too, but since she was going into negative stress her mana regeneration would go into overdrive soon enough, besides they wouldn't need to use their mana till Monday anyway. So Rossie could be frugal with it.

 

So after making sure her friend was fine Elizabeth threw herself into her bed and dived into her [Soulscape] landing in the reception, she wanted to hug Nyx while sleeping...But he was dealing with the disaster that was their living room...

 

Uuugh...she would need to buy new furniture tomorrow...And perhaps find someone to fix the flooring...So with that in mind, she willed herself to the outside of her [Soulscape] and started sleeping.

 

She remembered that at some point she had started hugging something...But since it smelled nice and was a good at hugging her back she didn't mind it, perhaps she had summoned Nyx at some point?

 

But if it was Nyx why it felt warm? And the smell...Nyx didn't smell like anything...Besides she didn't feel that typical connection she had with the Shadow Dragon...

 

Instead of a connection she just felt comfy, whatever it was in front of her was also really soft since her face was sinking into it, sneaking a hand towards her face she felt her hand threading the figure of someone in the back of her head, whatever this was it felt...Familiar.

 

When her hand made it near her face she was pretty sure to know what this mysterious comfy and nice smelling thing was, but her half-sleep brain needed more proof!

 

So she squished this mysterious soft and nice smelling thing!

 

*squish/grope*

 

"Hghnya❤" She heard the voice of her friend.

 

And in that instant, her brain quickstarted to 100%, she could feel the world slowing down, the sensations on her hand confirming what the back of her head was screaming.

 

The blood rushing from her heart to her brain (And making a quite suspicious stop in her face) she overdrawned all the 34 points both in Int & Wis she had.

 

In a mere second the feelings in her face and hand were engraved in the depths of her mind, the memory of the scent burned into her...All she could think right now was how to move herself to away and apologize to Rossie for...Why did she need to apologize?

 

THIS WAS HER ROOM!

 

If anyone needed to apologize it would be the pink-haired girl for coming into her room and sleeping in her bed!

 

Granted she was a really comfortable sleeping companion...And she smelled nice...Should she go back to sleep?

 

NO WAIT WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!?

 

Even if it was comfy she needed to solve this! A quick ping into her shadows confirmed her theory. She wasn't in her room.

 

Wait what?

 

She focused once again and indeed the accomodations were...Off...Her belongings weren't here, the bed was different, the clothing was different and even the mirror was covered with a blanket. A further investigation from her senses confirmed that her bed was across the room and... A weird presence in her bed?

 

It felt like a...Longing? A quick flick of her will in that direction and she found that where she had been sleeping now was a hug pillow, it was covered in shadows for some reason.

 

She focused once again on that trying to distract herself from the feelings in her hand that kept squishing, and also to distract herself from the voice of her friend that was hugging her quite strongly and sinking her face more into her chest.

 

"Stop it Eli-Eli ❤...We can't❤..." mumbled the pink-haired girl, whatever she was dreaming included her for some reason...

 

For her part, the blonde could only think very few things 'WHAT WE CAN'T DO?!?' Thought the blonde while focusing her mind on the feeling she had in her room.

 

'OF COURSE, WE CAN'T!!! YOU HAVE A LOVER!!!' And while thinking about that she felt herself sink into the shadows.

And like that, she got surrounded by the shadows and felt herself sinking into her own bed.

"No..." Was the last thing she heard from the pink-haired girl before landing in her bed.

The nice smell gone...The soft feeling in her hand was gone..." huh?" said to herself the blonde girl while the light of the morning fell on her face. A small corner of her heart was disappointed by the absence of both the scent and feeling of the pink-haired girl.

She looked around the room to find all her things and saw herself in the mirror, face flushed red all the way to her ears and a disappointed look on her face.

She wondered if all of that was a dream (Albeit a very vivid dream) but her shadows told her that the pink-haired girl was trashing in her room searching for something, the hugging pillow now on the floor.

"Wonder if Rossie would mind if I went back..." Said to herself the blonde before striking her own cheeks to awaken herself from that random train of thought.

She needed to know how she ended there...And how she returned here for that matter, it felt...Too smooth of a transition, almost like how she communed with the shadows in general. How the shadows moved at her whims and emotions.

And so, she focused inward...Being somewhat exasperated at herself for finding it easier when she didn't have the full sleeping body of her friend in front of her as a distraction. And sure enough, a new blue screen was found in the backlog of her [Soulscape].

...And that explained how she ended there.

Perhaps since she had started using her shadows inside the [Soulscape] as a way to transport she awakened that use? She didn't think it would count...Since one needed to use the [Skills] in a real environment.

Was it because no other powered had ever traveled to their [Soulscape]?

She didn't know.

Now the only question was why she had teleported herself toward Rossie's bed... Did she subconsciously feel the pink-haired girl hugging the pillow and used the skill to change places with the pillow?

Was she so starved for hugs? She was hugged enough at home by her mother, and while her father was more of the stoic type he didn't resist her hugs...

And Alexa also had that habit of hugging her when she saw her... Was her life one hug after another?

She would need to buy herself a hugging pillow, when did Rossie get one though?

She didn't remember seeing it before, granted she didn't usually cast her shadow senses over her room, privacy being a thing and all of that. For now, the blonde girl would change clothes, and while putting on a casual wear.

A pair of comfortable black sweatpants with a top that matched it, she didn't remember having this particular pair of clothing so they may be one of the ones provided by the school. She never used to wear pink before...So she had her doubts about them. Perhaps they were intended for Rossie and not her?

They fitted her quite well though, even if she wasn't used to showing her belly button, but since they were comfy and cute she didn't mind it too much. Somehow the top made part of her hair get a pinkish tone in the end.

And it came with a cap!

She loved her caps.

She wondered what the X on her new cap meant...But she didn't think too much about it and just walked towards the living area, her senses on it were fuzzy since the shadows were moving all over the place. So she wanted to know what that was about.

Hoping her teleport while sleeping thing hadn't affected it too much, she...Didn't want to think too much about her powered side, the skills were acting almost on reflex and that scared her since her magical side felt too much different.

More precise, like the skills [Status], [Identify], and [Inventory]. While only her shadow-related ones were somewhat more accessible and susceptible to her emotions.

And after opening the door to the living area she found...

"Hah?" Flabbergasted by what she was seeing.

She saw Nyx always loyal directing a group of Shadow dragons all over the place, other smaller versions of him frolicking around... And in the middle of it, two ones stood more bizarre than the spectacle around.

One was holding a broom and sweeping the floor, that in itself was weird since dragons shouldn't have hands to hold a broom after all. But that in itself wasn't the problem here.

"A butler? A shadow dragon butler?" Said the blonde girl not sure if she was seeing things right.

Like Nyx that one had obsidian scales and horns...But that was about it, his eyes were blue and looked more like a flame than a normal eye, slowly and silently burning in his eye sockets. He was donning quite the elegant suit fully equipped as if a regalia. That small humanoid kinda dragon moved with precision from spot to spot making sure everything was clean.

And when he noticed Elizabeth, he just did a bow that one would find difficult to emulate outside a royal court.

She...Wasn't too sure how to react to that, for one that small butler that couldn't be taller than 50 cm was cleaning quite efficiently the room. But if that was all...She could deal with it.

Nyx had done some cleaning before and he didn't even have hands like this one!

That the shadow dragon butler looked humanoid wasn't in itself the problem, while humanoid in form, his form wasn't truly human looking. He had scales on his head for starters, and most of his body while covered in his butler regalia. She could feel through her shadows that his body was the same as Nyx's.

A reptilian one full of obsidian scales. No. Her problem was elsewhere.

"THAT IS A CHAIR WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO NAIL A TABLE TO IT YOU IMBECILE?!?" Her problem was with the other...Thing...That was berating one smaller shadow dragon soldier.

The one berating the cowering Shadow Dragon Soldier was a small girl, she also seemed to be at around 50 cm tall, but she looked human enough. Her skin was fair and she had flowing black hair that reached her shoulders. She was dressed in a black summer dress with some red motifs and over it, she had what looked like a jacket with some design similar to that of a maid.

Granted she had the jacket open and she couldn't make most of the design of it.

"Oh, mistress you are awake. Is mother still sleeping?" Asked the little girl. While turning her red reptilian eyes to her, the shadow dragon that was being berated took that chance to run away and hide behind her.

The little girl ignored it and just looked around "Don't stop working you slackers! We need to finish this before Mother awakes!" And once again mentioned that...Mother...

Shouldn't that be her?

She was the one that summoned Nyx...But she referred to her as 'Mistress'...

"Hmm...Yeah, the scouts say Mother is still sleeping...Heh...I will use this chance to take victory and prepare the meal!" Said the little girl while turning to look toward Rossie's room.

She was too stunned to even answer...

If she looked towards Rossie's room...And her 'Mother' was asleep...

"Wha...why...HAH!?!?" Said the blonde girl while stuttering trying to make that line of thought work.

"Is there a problem Mistress?" Asked the little girl from the kitchen, her pure red eyes looking at her.

In the back, she could see how she was moving her hands as if a director of an opera ordering other shadows dragons. She also could see how in her back there were a pair of black wings.

Unlike the butler shadow dragon, she had more prominent evidence of her draconic nature. A pair of black wings on her back for one, a tail almost as thick as her waist flowed down from under her skirt, a pair of horns that pierced her hoodie, and finally her reptilian eyes.

She didn't look like Rossie at all, granted she didn't look like her either...Although...

She looked somewhat like how her face was during her [Shadow Shift - Shadow Empress]...So wouldn't that side of her be her Mother?

"Amm...Why do you say that Rossie is your mother?" She asked while walking and dodging most of the shadow dragons that were hard at work repairing furniture.

She was amazed at how they could repair it...Granted most of them just shoved nails into the pieces to make them look normal...And a few were bringing logs from god knows where...

Actually...One of them pulled one from his shadow? Her shadow? One of the shadows in the room. What?

"Well...For starters, only Lord Nyxfyre has a [Mother]." Said the little girl while pointing at Nyx.

So since only Nyx was allowed to call her Mother? But he didn't speak...

"And since you are our [Mistress] then our Mother should be your companion right?" Continued saying the little girl while pointing at the room of Rossie.

"And on that topic, since you were sleeping with her, and according to Lord Nyxfyre you also share baths and change each other clothing...Isn't her your Paramour?" Said the little girl while pointing at the blonde girl. "Also there is the fact that the appearance of this one was affected by Mother." Finished saying the little girl while pointing at her hairpins.

Sure enough, her Airpins had a heart motif...That...Wasn't a good enough reason thought the blonde girl while hyper-focusing in the fact that the little girl was using the Airpins as reason.

She totally wasn't ignoring the fact that the girl spoke about her sleeping with Rossie...Nor how Nyx told them of how she had shared baths with Rossie...

"Wait...I NEVER SHARED A BATH WITH ROSSIE!" Said the blonde girl while quickly covering her mouth and looking at Rossie's Room. But no signal of her waking up came.

"It's okay Mistress. Mother raised a sound canceling barrier before going to sleep." Said the little girl while directing the shadow dragons to bring a couple of plates to the now-repaired table.

She was still iffy about if that was a good enough reason to call Rossie's Mother though.

"Ask Rossie's permission first if you are going to refer to her as Mother." Said the blonde girl pretending that her blushed face wasn't there.

At least no one was pointing that, so she lowered the cap to try and hide her eyes at the very least.

"...Only you can hear me though." Said the little girl tilting her head to the side, cute.

"Wait why? You are speaking quite well..." Answered back the blonde, also tilting her head...But to the other side.

"Amm...No...I'm using the [Link] made from [Shadow Essence] between you as our Mistress and me as a [Servant]. Since this form sacrificed almost everything just to be able to communicate and do some basic household chores...Thanks to that I could boost my [Authority] so I was able to speak... But the other ones..." Said the little girl pointing at the rest of shadow soldiers. "They are oriented at combat, so their intelligence is low, their [Authority] is low..."

And then she pointed at the butler shadow dragon "And since that one is supposed to work as butler he sacrificed almost everything to allow me some extra wiggle room, since in his own words..." Said the little girl while taking a more serious and grim appearance "A butler is silent and only works in the shadow for his mistress."

At those antics, the blonde girl couldn't help but laugh. The butler just once again bowed making her laugh even harder while the little girl giggled at it.

This was ridiculous, her skill was going nuts, and somehow those that should be her son and daughters thought Rossie was their Mother. And she was relegated as a [Mistress].

And so it seemed only one of her summons could speak right now, and if what that girl had said was true... Then Nyx would need extra effort to be able to speak for himself. Since he was the [Progenitor] of these ones...

Wait..."So is Nyx your father?" Asked the blonde girl.

All the dragons instantly sank into the shadows, most of the work was already done so she didn't mind them gone... But both the butler and maid turned very slowly to look at Nyx.

He only huffed a cloud of dark flames from his maw and shrugged his head in disappointment. Treating the words of Elizabeth as if she was dumb.

Rude!

"Amm...Mistress...While is true that Lord Nyxfyre is our [Progenitor] as the first of our species in this world...Our Father wouldn't be him...He might be the gate we use to come into this world..." Said the little girl while looking at her and pretending to not look at Nyx from the corner of his eye.

But after getting to that point something that never had happened before occurred. She heard Nyx growl, his growl reverberated in her body and while she knew it wasn't aimed at her she felt a primal fear.

And before she could even answer or do anything they all heard a sound out of place that brought them out of that situation.

A cup of tea was placed on the table with all her breakfast. The butler had at some point prepared her breakfast. "Right! He is right! Breakfast!" Said the little maid.

"Eat before it's cold Mistress...I will go and wake up Mother!" And on that note, she left running towards Rossie's Room. For a second she could swear the air in front of Rossie's Room rippled as if someone had thrown a rock into a pond.

But she was busy thinking of something else.

Was Nyx...Angry?

Perhaps he had some bad relationship with her Father?

But then again...Her skill claimed her summons weren't alive. But the shadow dragons she had seen had too much 'Personality' to be anything else but living beings. That little maid showed fear and a personality, as did Nyx.

And while she for one ordered Nyx to deal with this room...She could see how the furniture was fixed in different ways, some used nails, other screws...She could see a bottle of glue in the trash can even.

And she didn't order them to prepare breakfast...Besides...That butler... He had read the mood and dealt with the awkward situation created by her question.

"Thank you." Said the blonde towards the butler, who just bowed and sank into her shadow, now only Nyx was left. But he just huffed again and flew towards the bowl that Rossie had prepared for him in a corner. There was food that she wasn't quite sure of what it was.

But it wasn't the lizard food she had gotten for him before, that looked more like the meat of some animal...She just hoped it wasn't the meat of someone.

For now, she would try to not think about that and would eat her breakfast while waiting for Rossie.