Miscalculations

Arthur Leywin POV:

Why did the lesser's evolve to be incapable of using Aether?

Such a simple question made me wonder, why?

Why when we could've been gods?

Oh how wrong I was.

After completing my insights, it became abundantly clear…

Aether is an inferior resource to Mana.

The reason is so simple that it hurts.

Aether may be more potent, but would you rather take a potent poison or one that was diluted?

Exactly. Because both Aether and Mana are poison to us all.

But, further, than that, Mana is omnicapable when in the hands of a quadra elemental, one can make impossible phenomena possible with time and patience, the legacy was proof of that, her capabilities made her a fierce opponent who was both an unstoppable spear and unbreakable shield.

But with time learning Aether…

It became abundantly clear that my potential, although not limited, was harder to obtain by vast margins.

When I learned this I wanted to cry, because it was then I had realized that my battle with Cadell and Nico hadn't been a blessing in disguise, allowing me to reach for greater heights, no, it had been a cursed blessing, an opportunity that shackled me to this insatiable thirst for the power to do anything. A power that I was desperately searching for all my life, and made it absolutely impossible to achieve.

After that day I had bouts of depression where I just wouldn't move for a day, a week, a month, sometimes even a year. I had inadvertently crippled myself in my obsession with power, and if there was ever a reason why I had lost everything in the end, it was this… this cursed power.

So ironic compared to my first impressions of the power, it felt so omnipotent, so perfect and yet it was just an illusion it used to draw me in, even the Djinn were crushed because of this cursed energy and they didn't even use it to even close to the capacity that I had achieved.

So naive…

I was so naive…

—

I guess someone who hasn't been in this situation would think 'Oh shit I've got a brother, great.' or something else along those lines but Regis and I are just staring at the little bastard and wondering one thing…

'Why the fuck do I have a brother?'

'What the fuck…? Wait, did you mess the spell up?!'

Ummmm…

'Arthur…'

'Maybe…'

A slur of curses escaped Regis's figurative lips, the most prominent being along the lines of words that I shall not think about as they are inappropriate even to do that.

Damn…

Well this is not how I expected my day to play out, first I got yelled at that I was being born and then I got a slur of curses for an admittedly massive mistake as far as I can see, being I don't know, right in front of my frickin face.

'Regis shut up, I think I figured out the problem.'

The string of curses didn't stop and only got louder so I decided to take in the faces that I had long since forgotten of my parents.

Looking around the room I saw that it was just as archaic and satanic as I had remembered it to be, damn I forgot how nice it was to have, you know, technology whilst I was in the post-apocalyptic future.

And if you're wondering, yes, we had toilets and television at that time, what? We aren't savages.

Finally, after what felt like a whole minute of looking around for my parents, I found my mother. She wasn't what could be described as a glamorous beauty, although she was beautiful, she was lovely in a very kind and gentle sense, she had distinct auburn hair and brown eyes. The long eyelashes and perky nose made me want to cling to her, or maybe it was the nostalgia of seeing her again for the first time…? Wait, that sounded weird. She permeated a motherly feel that was nearly palpable to me, is that why babies cling to their mothers?

…Urk?!...

For some reason the sensation of familiarity turned into the memories I had once lost and rejuvenated my mind, I didn't feel like an ancient man anymore.

I felt like a child.

Their child.

And at that moment, I started to cry as the memories washed over me slowly recollecting my knowledge of what happened and what will, how ironic, I become a baby again only when I have my memories restored.

The string of curses Regis had been throwing together masterfully as if he was playing Guitar Hero on steroids came to an end as Regis probed me with concern and upon realizing the situation, calmed himself enough to probe me for answers to what had happened at a later time.

'Just so you know, I'm getting those answers out of you one way or another, got it Cockroach?'

'Yeah, just give me a while, okay? I don't think anything bad will happen if we just leave it for now, and anyways, I've always wanted a bigger family.'

Taking my teary gaze and turning it to the man whom I now remembered to be my father, I continued to cry as I took in his features. He had been gazing at us with teary eyes and an idiotic grin stretched across his goofy face, Immediately after I looked at him he said, "Hi Little Art, Little Ben, I'm your daddy, can you boys say dada?" I glanced around the room to see that my mother and the 'doctor', or at least the guy in a medical gown, rolled their eyes as my mother managed to scoff.

"Honey, they were just born."

Damn, guess they are just as I remembered them, now that I think about it the only thing different about this is that I have a brother, he doesn't even seem to be affecting the timeline that much, for now at least.

The man I knew as my father was a very charismatic-looking man with a cleanly shaven square jawline that complimented his features. His hair, a very ashy brown colour, seemed to be kept trim, while his eyebrows were strong and fierce, extending in a sword-like fashion meeting to a V shape. Yet, his eyes held a gentle quality, whether it was from the way his eyes drooped a bit at the end or from the deep, almost sapphire, hue that radiated from his iris, even now I was unsure after seeing him while I was growing up in my previous life.

Looking back at my brother, he was a mixture of my parents, although as a baby it is hard to identify features, all of the features that are currently identifiable are the same… Unfortunately, it would seem that we are identical.

Great…

"Hmm, Ben isn't crying. Doctor, I thought newborns were supposed to cry when they're born?"

I heard my mother's voice say. I decided to pay close attention to the conversation, it seemed eerily similar to the one from my first life as Arthur Leywin despite having two sons rather than just one. After the conversation continued and the day was coming to an end, it seemed my theory was correct.

Something is keeping the timeline the same despite the changes that were made.

How interesting, perhaps it was the work of my godrune but well, there is no way to figure that out because of my circumstances, I'll have to save my theories for the books when I can enter the library, after all, I want to figure out what that power boost of sorts is, the one similar to a beast will.

'Well about how your godrune is keeping the timeline in check…'

Regis? I thought he was angry. Why does he seem… nervous?

'Yes, Regis, what is it?'

'Well it looks like it went out of commission, it's dead Princess.'

I paled as I realized the implications.

A stream of all the different cuss words appropriate for this situation flowed through our mental link as if it was flowing water in rapids.

That was bad. Really, bad.

'Can it get any worse?'

'...'

'Regis…'

Regis seemed nervous as if expecting me to blow up in this useless baby body now that it seems that things didn't go to plan. I was waiting extremely impatiently for his response, practically poking him with a mental stick to get him to tell me the whole truth of the matter.

After an hour of this treatment he surrendered the information, albeit begrudgingly, seriously, how bad could it be?

I shouldn't have jinxed it…

'Fine, I'll tell you! Just cut that probing out, it's annoying as hell!'

Regis took a deep breather before he began to tell me the truth of what had happened.

'Alright so for starters, the only things that you still have are your body, mind, memories and insights into both Mana and Aether. Everything else, even your godrunes, are gone forever or until you recreate them.'

I sat there pondering just how fucked we were.

…Dammit…

'There is an upside though, it seems like that your storage rune and the weird power you discovered when using Aether, you know, the useless one that increases the potency of your abilities, yeah they're still there and the weird power works with Mana, albeit a bit differently.'

'How in god's name is that even close to a consolation prize Regis?! Granted having the rune is helpful as it has some resources that we could use for the future, but the weird power?! How in god's name is that worthless-'

'Princess just shut up for a minute while I explain.'

I let him continue despite pissing me off with his comment. Regis put on mental glasses before beginning his explanation, it only served to make me reach my boiling point.

'You see Princess, it seems that its abilities and downsides are slightly different with Mana than they are with Aether, for example, as a result of Mana not having sentience it can be manipulated without feedback, therefore the strain that takes place is lower than with Aether, additionally, the mental effects that come from using it with Aether are not present either.'

'Regis how in all that is holy did you find this out?'

'Oh that's easy, I tested it on myself.'

….

'YOU WHAT?!'

'Relax Princess it was a calculated risk, besides it paid off didn't it? Now you just have to learn to handle the strain, although that most likely won't be a problem for a masochist like you Princess.'

I wanted oh so badly to kick this annoying mutt out of my body, but if I did that it is possible that Regis could get noticed and cause problems to the timeline.

Because, you know, babies aren't supposed to have asura-made sentient weapons in the first place.

I felt like rubbing my forehead in frustration and exasperation but could only barely sigh due to my situation, Damnit why do I have to be stuck with this reckless wolf.

'You think I'm reckless? Look in the mirror, Masochist.'

'For now, it's getting late and I'm frankly exhausted from this conversation with nothing but bad news, so will you please let me rest, or do you have something else to say?'

Regis seemed to ponder my question for a moment before the metaphorical lightbulb lit up and he looked like he had one hell of an announcement to make.

'That reminds me, you have a metric shit ton of Aether in your body, I can't eat it either, it seems like it's waiting for you or something, I don't know what to make of it, but it doesn't seem to be causing you any problems, so we can probably just leave it.'

'...That didn't sound like something small Regis… you were going to eat that aforementioned Aether without even telling me of its presence, weren't you Regis…'

Regis seemed to flinch at the tone my mental voice came across as he recognized this tone all too well, my mother's voice as Sylvie and Regis would call it, was on full throttle and ready to scare the living tapeworms right from Regis's metaphorical asshole.

'U-Uh no M-Master…'

'Regis… you only call me Master when you're lying.'

Regis instantly left my body and hid in the shadows, running away from me.

'Dammit Regis, get the hell back here!'

'And what can you do, Newborn?! I'm invincible to your scorn!'

He seemed quite satisfied with himself, it was time to knock him down a peg.

'Oh I can't now can I? Well, I can cut you off from Aether and Mana for a year. After all, we don't have anything to do during this time do we?'

He turned to look at me, from knowing Regis long enough I knew he was paling at the threat… or whatever the equivalent of paling is for that mutt, but whatever that's beside the point.

He whimpered before returning to me.

'That's it, that's a good boy Regis-'

'Sike!'

'GET BACK HERE DAMMIT!'

AN:

Chapters will be coming out weekly until later on in May, I will not be available for two to three weeks and beyond that point it will be bi weekly uploads at 5:30pm CDT on Saturdays, thank you for reading, and I welcome objective criticism, if I make an error and you notice it as well as leave a note in my comments, I will come back and fix it in the future during an eventual hiatus that occurs between books.

Thank you for reading.