Chapter 34: Gaia's Gift

"Can you repeat what you just said?"

"I want you to take Boo as your wife." Gaia spoke in a way like the weight of her words meant nothing.

"Explain." I didn't want to play any games, so I asked for an explanation

"What's hard to understand? I want Boo to be your wife." Even without seeing Gaia, I could hear playfulness in her voice.

"You know what I mean."

"You're no fun.... Ok, I will explain. After her transformation, Boo is in a really vulnerable state. You know that she is innocent and doesn't want to hurt anybody, but as we know her attitude always leads to her being hurt in the end."

I nodded at her words.

"I want you to be her protector, someone she can rely on in discovering what the world really is. To teach her how to be a human. Right now, she's lost about her future and herself, especially with her trauma that is connected to you." Gaia tried to get on my good side, as she for sure saw the feelings I showed while interacting with Boo.

"There are some things that doesn't make sense to me. If I'm to be Boo's protector, why would she need to become my wife? Or even better, why would you trust me in protecting her? You said yourself that I'm a man she needs to be careful around." I didn't hide my displeasure about her previous comment in addition to replying to her request.

"I know I said that, and it's one of the reasons why I want you specifically to be her protector. Man like you have a higher chance of protecting her, than a righteous fool would. And her becoming your wife is a installment in the future."

"Reasonable points. It's true that if she were to be my wife, I would care for her more...But it's not my decision to make, neither is yours." I made my stand clear.

Gaia stayed quiet for a moment before saying. "I see. Boo would you like to be Alexander's wife?"

"Be his wife?" Boo clearly was in her own world while we were talking and now Gaia's question suddenly disturbed her from her thoughts.

"Yes, his wife. You know how Alexander is your friend?" Gaia's tone was pleasant, too pleasant even.

"That's right. Him and Mr. Fluffy are my best friends." Boo smiled at me while saying those words.

"And what if Alexander wasn't around? Would you be sad, Boo?" I felt like this question had a double meaning.

"Is it true, Alexander?" Boo's smile disappeared, but her gaze intensified on my face. "You will leave me? Why?"

"No, Boo I..." Before I could finsh my sentence, Gaia interupted me. "Unfortunately Alexander has other friends that he needs to care for and it can mean he won't have time to spend with you Boo. But there's a way to prevent it from happening."

Boo caught the bait and hope soon appeared on her face. "Really? What is it, Mother?"

"You see Boo, wife is someone closer than a friend. So if you were to be Alexander's wife, he wouldn't only spend more time with you, but he would aloo think of you as a 'special' friend." I could only listen as Gaia was tricking Boo into her plan.

"Mother, I made a decision. I want to be Alexander's wife." Boo quickly agreed to Gaia's idea.

After this I heard a proud laughter and even more so words. "You heard her Alexander, Boo agrees to be your wife and that means your concern is now gone."

"You know she has no concept of a relationship between man and woman, right?" I tried to make Gaia understand what consequences her decision can have on Boo.

"I do. But you will teach her about it, and you will make sure not to hurt her in the process." This sounded like a threat.

"You seem awfully confident that I will go along with your plan." I raised a brow while speaking.

(The worst thing is that she's right.)

"I seen men like you Alexander. I know what you all want, even if it hurts me to give my precious daughter to likes of you." Hearing her said that made me grit my teeth.

"Don't speak of me like of those men. I know what you implies by your words, and let me tell you one thing, Mother-in-law...I'm not a man who thinks of women as toys to fulfill their lust." I showed my anger to the fullest.

"That reassures me then. And you called me Mother-in-law, does that mean you accept my proposition?"

"I do. But I won't call Boo my wife until she learns the true meaning of this word, and until she says she wants to be my wife herself." I left no room for negotiations.

"Does it mean you will still care and protect her like if she were your real wife?" This question brought seriousnes in Gaia which she never showed before in our talk.

"I swear to teach Boo how to be a human, and protect her in the process." When I said word swear, I felt like a lock got placed in my heart.

"That's great, Son-in-law. Now, let me give you a welcoming gift for joining our family." Gaia's playful tone returned, and with it I noticed a leaf heading towards me.

It's goal was my forehead, which it soon landed on and when it did, I saw a blurred image of a mature woman with long green hair.

She raised her hand, placing a finger on the same spot the leaf landed on.

(Is that Gaia in person?) And as an answer to my question, I heard Gaia's voice rang out in my mind.

"You finally got the pleasure of seeing me in person. It's a shame that it's only a blurry image." She chuckled at her own words, while I felt something entering my head

"Don't be alerted, it's my gift for you." Gaia wanted to reassure me, but how could I be calm when a being such as her was altering with my body.

I tried to move, but like I suspected, I couldn't.

Soon I saw a new scene in front of me. It was a transparent copy of myself, which has a growing green vine on his forehead.

"What is this?" Those were the only words I could say before I saw this vine growing longer and bigger in size.

It first came into my brain, forming some sort of roots there, but direction of its growth didn't stop there, as soon those roots followed my every nerve.

I knew it wasn't only happening to my copy, because I felt how those roots spread inside me.

(What is she doing?)

"Those are the roots of nature magic, which you lacked when I first spoke to you." She explained it to me calmly.

"And why are you giving me them?"I didn't believe they were simply the gift she decided to give me.

"You will soon find out." She didn't even try to hide her alternative motive, but she didn't need to as I wasn't able to prevent those roots from spreading inside me.

I experienced how they occupied almost every place inside my body, but their pattern didn't seem random.

(Is it?) Seeing the copy made me realize those roots followed my meridians, avoiding only my heart in the process.

But it soon was about to change, with a new root making its way just there.

(Why this one has spikes on it?) Contry to the rest of the roots, this one had 3 spikes on top of it. And I had a feeling it meant something bad for me.

I saw how it slowly crawled into my artery and found itself inside my heart.

"No pain?" This surprised me, as pain was what I expected from the moment this spiky root emerged itself.

"Not this time, Alexander Lambert, or maybe I should say Son in law." Her voice was cold, but the exact meaning of her sentence wasn't known to me.

(I knew dealing with her will never be simple.)

After the final root arrived at its destination, all of them started emitting a green energy, one I was quite accustomed to. It was mana, life energy that soon formed two bullets in my brain and heart.

They represented a new type of magic forming inside me, this time it was....

[New Magic!!! - Nature Magic]

I got this notification like all the previous times, but this one didn't provide me with joy the rest did. I felt this magic being a curse placed on me by Gaia, Mother Earth herself.

The last thing I could see while her blurry figure still stood in front of me was a grin, showing me she not only tricked Boo, but also me.

I thought I would be sad about this turn of events, but it wasn't the case. I truly wanted to take care of Boo, even before Gaia appeared.