"Erik, what did you talk about with my uncle?" I ask and it feels a bit strange to address Sythara like that. Things are different now, though. I have not only my father but also an aunt, an uncle and two cousins.
"Well," he chews his lip, "it's all still very theoretical at this point, but there's a certain hope."
"Hope for what?" I tilt my head. I sense from Liana and my father that they know what this is about but me and Gotrid are in the blind here.
"Ryuu, I can't take it anymore," he whispers and his voice breaks. "I know that you love me exactly as I am and I appreciate it, but I want to share everything with you. I asked Chancellor Sythara if there's a possibility for me to become a Celestial."
"Change you... into a Celestial?" I gasp for breath. "But Erik... you don't have to... just because you feel pressured..."
"Don't you understand, love?" he sighs. "I want to have six hundred years to spend with you. I want to be able to defend myself. I long for the sky. I don't care about losing my humanity if it means that I can share everything with you."
My heart aches. Erik being pressured into becoming a different species is the last thing I want. I wrap him in my wings, determined to check his true wish. Does he really mean it? I clutch him tight and send him my love. I need to make sure that I haven't influenced him against his will. The Divementis might not be able to control people, but they can influence them.
See everything, I don't care anymore, he tells me and opens the parts of himself he was keeping hidden from me and I respected that.
His pain overcomes me like an avalanche. All this time I naively thought that Erik was okay while he was just keeping his frustrations bottled inside so that I could focus on work. He was suffering in secret every time I went for a flight. Every time I was training dual-casting with Gotrid. Every time he was left behind for his own protection.
He hates that he doesn't understand what happens when people around him do magic. He hates how overprotective I am of him because it makes him feel like a burden. He's jealous of Gotrid who will be able to spend centuries with me. Erik truly and desperately wishes to become a Celestial not only for me but for himself as well.
I cut the connection and open my eyes. I lower my wings a bit so that I can see the others, but I keep Erik in my feathery embrace. Everyone is waiting in silence.
"Sythara, is it possible? Is this what you've been discussing with my husband?" I turn to my uncle who is the Chancellor of Science, meaning the person mostly responsible for creating Draconia.
"Well," he coughs to clear his throat. "Theoretically, sure, we still have the technology for that. However, practically..."
"Just reboot the servers, plug Erik into the game and let him play all day long for a few months?" I say impatiently because I don't see a problem. Now that I know Erik's deepest wish, I want to grant him that wish as soon as possible.
"I'm afraid it's not so simple, my prince," Sythara has to disappoint me. "For the brain to believe in a new reality, you need total immersion which means a vibrant world full of other living people, not NPCs. We had to gather millions of players for that to happen. Besides, we had thousands of Divementis working relentlessly on the telepathic network that made it possible in the first place."
"Many people envy Draconians, why not offer the transformation openly then?" I suggest. "This time humans would know what they are signing up for and we would have more people to help us fight the Enemy."
"Because we're out of time," my father declares sharply. "It would take at least a year to transform another batch of players and another half a year for them to fully develop their new bodies, not talking about training them. We simply don't have time for this."
"B-but...," I caress Erik's hair. I don't want him to lose hope.
"There might be another way," Sythara says carefully. "We haven't tested it because it was deemed extremely ineffective and difficult, but it should be possible. In theory, at least."
"What way?" I ask eagerly.
"If it's just a matter of transforming a single person, one Divementis could theoretically do it," my uncle explains. "It wouldn't be entirely through the game, but through many telepathic connections that would simulate having a different body. It should work, but it would be extremely taxing on the Divementis doing it."
"I'll do it," I offer without hesitation. "I should be the one to do it anyway. I don't want another Divementis connecting to my husband."
"Would it be similar to when you include me in your flying dreams?" Erik smiles because he can see tangible hope now. "In them, I can feel as if I have wings of my own and I love it,"
"Wait, you what?" my father almost jumps up which doesn't fit his composed character at all. "Son, explain it to me!"
"I sometimes project my pleasant dreams to Erik, especially those in which I fly," I say, confused as to why he's so taken aback by it. "Is it something the Divementis don't do?"
"We do share dreams with our partners," he waves his hand. "However, we're both Divementis and we aren't trying to change the other person's perception of themselves. Son, don't you understand? What you've been doing without knowing is exactly what we'd instruct you to do if you wanted to change your husband into a Celestial."
I'm staring at him, dumbfounded.
"Are you telling me that I've been trying to change Erik into a Celestial all this time?!" I open my mouth in disbelief.
"You have," my father performs an exemplary facepalm. "Of course, your efforts have been unfocused and random so it would take many years, but you would change your husband eventually. On a certain subconscious level, you must have been desperate to prolong your husband's life or you would have just shown him a nice vision without altering his perception."
I'm left speechless. Even though it's great news, I feel guilty about altering Erik's perception without his consent. What if he wanted to stay human? Would he blame me for changing him? Could he ever forgive him for violating his very nature? The Divementis changed us forcefully without asking, but I don't want to be like them.
"Ryuu, don't be silly," Erik rolls his eyes because he can tell what's going through my head right now. "I'd take any chance to spend more years with you."
"Even if it means becoming a different species?" I make sure because Erik has always been proud of being human.
"Even if it means becoming a different species," he nods confidently. "Or maybe not. Not just any species. I wish to become a Celestial and share the sky with you. I love flying, you know that. If I had played Draconia Online, I would have chosen Celestials for sure."
For a moment, I'm so happy that I forget where we are and I start kissing him feverishly to make up for our lost time this morning. I'm brought back to reality only when my father coughs irritably to catch my attention. Right, the Divementis don't show their affection publicly and we're in the middle of a serious discussion.
"Son, turning your husband into a Celestial will be extremely taxing on you," he makes it clear. "I suggest we wait with that after the war is over."
"What time frame are we talking about?" Erik asks tensely. Now that his secret wish is out, he wants to undergo the transformation without delay.
"We can't know that," my father sighs. "The war has been covertly on ever since we came here and we've been suppressing the rifts for two hundred years. The fabric between the two dimensions is getting thinner as the Enemy is pushing more than ever and we're running out of resources to suppress the rifts, but we don't suppose this war to be over quickly."
Erik bites his lip. He doesn't want to put more pressure on me, but it's obvious that he doesn't want to wait for who knows how long either.
"Sythara, tell me how to transform Erik as fast as possible," I demand. "I don't care that it's going to be taxing. My husband wants to become a Celestial and I mean to fulfil his wish."
Sythara sighs and nudges his wife Nyx.
"We actually have an alternative solution that wouldn't exhaust the Crown Prince as much so that he can focus on training his telepathy and learning strategy," Nyx suggests slowly.
"What alternative?" I ask eagerly.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, my prince, but is the main reason why you insist on doing it personally that you can't stand another Divementis connecting to your husband?" she needs to make this clear.
"Ehm... pretty much," I admit.
"First of all, your husband is bonded so there's no way another Divementis would be able to come between the two of you," she assures me. "Secondly, what if it wouldn't be a random Divementis doing it? What about someone you can't be even a tiny bit jealous of?"
"Who?" I flutter my wings anxiously.
"I know that you haven't had a chance to get to know each other yet, but my daughter Nala is a very skilled telepath and since she's both family and a woman, there wouldn't be any tension," Nyx proposes.
"Nala?" I blink and try to look for my cousin in the crowd.
She has been accompanying Erik since early morning and because both him and my uncle are here, she must have come with them. I find her timidly hiding in the corner. She has a startled expression now that all eyes are suddenly on her.
"Nala could take the heaviest load off your shoulders," Nyx continues explaining. "She could be working on altering your husband's perception while you train and study. Besides, your husband would be plugged into VR most of the day. Let Nala guide your husband through it, we simply can't waste Your Majesty's precious time on this."
"That... could work," my father agrees. "Aefener could alter his husband's perception in a dream state while Nala would take care of waking hours. Maybe it wouldn't even take a full year since my son has started the process already without knowing and Nala would be focusing on a single person instead of several hundred as was in the original game. That could even compensate for the lack of a vibrant world so we could deploy NPCs."
"I still need the game?" Erik is surprised. "You said Ryuu would change me eventually."
"Eventually... after two decades maybe," my father shrugs. "Besides, the game wasn't only for establishing a believable world and stretching our telepathic network. It was the best battle simulator there is. That's the main reason why Draconians don't need as much training in the real world. They trained for hundreds of hours in VR. The game might not have trained their physical bodies, but it trained their reflexes and other mental skills."
"Sorry, I know that you hate VR, but...," I try to persuade Erik, but he stops me.
"I understand," he says with determination. "I'll undergo whatever needs to be done so that I can transform as soon as possible. I'm ready to start immediately. I don't mind connecting to Nala telepathically. Nyx is right, she's both family and a woman and I'm bonded anyway."
"What about asking Nala if she wants to do it?" I frown that nobody asked the person in question. I hate when things are decided for someone else because it happens to me way too often.
"If I can ease my prince's burden then I'd be...," Nala starts but she stops when she notices me pursing my lips. I don't want her to be forced into doing something against her will. Moreover, a full telepathic connection is very intimate.
"Nala, we haven't had a chance to get to know each other yet," I release Erik from my feathery embrace, slowly stand up so that my head won't spin again and approach my cousin.
She's much shyer than her brother. Despite her height, she's slouching in front of me, but she isn't leaking her emotions as much as Advin. It seems she must be more skilled than him at telepathy. She's staring at my face, which is mostly Divementis, and it's obvious my golden eyes are unnerving her because it's the total opposite of the Divementis pitch-black colour.
"Nala, whatever your mother or my father say, I won't force you," I assure her. "I'm prepared to bear Erik's transformation on my own."
"I'm okay with it, really," she tries to sound confident. "I helped many players to transform so I have the necessary experience. I had a chance to spend only a few hours with Your Highness's husband this morning, but I admire his determination. Nobody has to force me, I volunteer. I should be asking if Your Highness is okay with me accessing your partner's mind."
I think about it for a moment if I'm really okay with it, but facing my cousin this close, all my doubts disappear. It might be a genetic familiarity, but I trust Nala. There's no way she would ever harm my beloved.
"I put my trust in you then," I smile at her encouragingly. "Erik will be in your care."
"I won't disappoint your trust, my prince," she bows.
I don't like the sight of my family member bowing to me, but I suspect that nothing I say would convince her to drop formalities. Advin might be teasing me on every occasion, but he wouldn't start addressing me by my name either. They can sense my Royal bloodline which is so important to the Divementis.
"Your Majesties!" a Divementis suddenly runs into the lab, looking for us. I don't know his name, but I noticed him twice because he was bringing us our meals. "We have a huge problem!"
"What problem?" my father frowns.
"The Japanese delegation is waiting in front of the Celestial Embassy and they are confused as to why the Emperor won't grant them an audience," he says, panting. "The Celestials who stayed at the mansion are running out of excuses."
"Damn, what should we tell them?" Liana laments. "We should be in Osaka."
I look at my father and we understand each other even without telepathy.
"Simple, we tell them the truth," I decide.