Her red hair swung while her tail started to wag as she looked outside the office windows. She held up the cat to observe the view together as Devina and I figured out how to deal with the lusian bird.
"Look Princess, it's the ocean!"
"Nyyaaaa!" The kitten meowed.
Eris looked worriedly behind her seeing her friend being taken care of by us.
Devina asked the bird if she was able to say anything. The only thing that exited her mouth was a hum.
I went over towards the lusian dog to try to start a conversation. They seemed to trust us due to Devina possessing the blessing of the moon. The dog told us they were from a place far from here, hidden in a lox zone. They had lived there for millennium but then cams that day a mage with constantly changing loxes ambushed them and took them away. They were given to the Royals which in turn gave them to the research facility of Wien. She told us that they were planning on creating loyal soldiers that had lusian and human DNA to wage war against the Luvian empire.
"My friend, Celia, the moon longer exists within her. For Lusians the act of reproduction is sacred and needs to be done under the blessings of the moon. Losing our mother's blessing is the same as losing our reason to live."
Then I remembered something, a person who was obsessed with the moon. I dashed out of the office and ran down the corridors.
She had to be there! I slammed open the club door and there she was playing cards with Fiviana.
"Vivshi?"
"Aylin I need you for a quick second!"
"Wait what? You just came back, this is so sudden!"
I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out.
"There's no time to explain."
Fiviana looked down at the cards Aylin had dropped.
"She had two aces this entire time?! AUGH'
Aylin pulled on my arm and asked what was going on.
"I will explain once you get there."
"Whaaaat?"
I burst through the office door with Aylin in hand. The moment I entered the room and Eris's eyes laid upon Aylin she immediately got onto her knees and bowed her head. Sensing the presence of loxes of Desire Celia finally rose from the sofa and her body fell onto the floor kneeling as well.
Aylin scanned my expression with the look that said "what the actual fuck is going on" and then she looked at Devina who wore the biggest smirk on her face.
"So what exactly is going on here?"
*After some quick explaining from me and Devina*
"L- Lu--- LUSIANS? THOSE CREATURES FROM THE FAIRYTALES?" Aylin screamed in shock.
She scrutinized the dog.
"Fluffy ears... fluffy wagging tail..."
Then the bird.
"Wings... feathers... talons..."
"They are actually half human half animal..."
"The reason I brought you here was due to her", I gestured with my head towards the bird who was kneeling on the floor.
I explained the circumstances and Aylin retorted back in disgust, taking a step back. She stood there with her finger trembling.
What was this reaction from Aylin? I had never seen her make that face before.
The smirk from Devina's face slowly vanished and she turned her back to stare out into the window with her arms crossed.
Aylin then held her stomach as if she was about to throw up and ran out of the room. Celia looked up and saw that Aylin too had vanished.
There was this look in her eyes, this look of expending the last option and still being hopeless. She continued to kneel on the floor with her head touching the floor as if Aylin was still standing there.
"I think it would be best if you go check up on Aylin, I will take care of things here." Devina spoke out still facing the windows.
Eris looked up with puppy eyes as if begging me to find a way to help her friend. I looked away in guilt before running after Aylin.
Seeing the pink strands vanishing into the bathrooms I followed. The moment I got into the bathroom I heard the sickening sounds of liquid being expelled into the toilet bowl. Passing around the toilet stall I saw Aylin hunched over on her knees on the dirty toilet floor. The smells of bile and stomach acid filled the room and she continued to dump the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl. She was panting with saliva dripping from her lips as she looked up at me. Teary and red she apologized before expelling more of her stomach contents.
My hand touched her shoulder as she sat there completely exhausted resting against the wall.
"You okay?" I asked concerned.
"I just feel a bit sick."
I gave her some paper to wipe her mouth and sat down besides her to wait for her to recover.
"Vivshi, I'm not the person they see me as. I'm just a vessel for this being inside of me." She said holding up her moon necklace around her neck.
"You are the closest to what they hold the most important."
"That's not me, it's this thing inside my heart."
"Aylin, I want to apologize, I should have thought it through more before bringing you to those lusians."
Aylin shook her head.
"You couldn't have known, and you simply wanted to help those lusians."
"I still feel responsible in one way."
Aylin grabbed onto my hand and asked if there was anything wrong with her.
"What do you mean wrong with you?"
"It is said that Aeons select those they are most affiliated with. I just don't understand how I was chosen to become the vessel for the Aeon of Desire."
"I don't know..."
"I don't even know how to help those lusians even though I'm supposed to be the moon goddess' vessel."
"Have you tried using the Aeon's powers before?" I asked her.
"Mostly for minor things, for example, she held out her hand and chanted, "o moon, listen to my prayers, listen to my voice and heed my call, I wish for a strawberry."
Aylin's cheek sprouted the pink flower of Desire and her cheek lit up with a pink shine. In her hand appeared a strawberry.
"See? I can wish for small things, the bigger the wish the larger toll it takes on my body. There is a constant need to be under the moon's light after I have used a lot of wishes." She placed the strawberry into my palm and cradled her knees with her arms.
"Have you ever talked or seen this Aeon inside of you?"
"I don't think so. It exists mostly in the form of this flower." She pointed at her cheek.
"Do you spite being the Aeon of Desire?" I asked her.
"In a way, yeah. There have been many moments in my life when I could have changed fate, helped someone in need or simply made someone's day better yet I decided not to. Haha... I have the ability to grant anything I choose to ignore those who are in need. Isn't that a bit pathetic?"
"Isn't that what happened to the actual Aeon of Desire? She granted so many wishes that she stopped after realizing how much suffering granting those wishes caused. The nature of a wish itself is extremely selfish so why would you consider yourself pathetic if wishes themselves are inherently selfish. It's not as simple as saying, I want that and that to happen. What's the joy in getting something without working for it?"
"I don't know Vivshi, I just feel a bit useless. Even now when you need me to help you with something, I'm completely unable to."
"You are not indebted to me, you don't need to help me with anything you don't feel like helping me with. You are you, you shouldn't help or grant wishes on a whim."
"I know I might sound stupid for saying it but no matter how much you reassure that I'm not responsible for those horrible things that happen in the world. With the power I have, I just can't help but feel a bit guilty."
That's when he suddenly heard the bathroom door crack open and an orange furry creature walked up to Aylin. It stood there staring at Aylin and the flower on her cheek. It leapt onto Aylin's lap and loafed.
Aylin was shocked at first but eventually felt a sense of comfort hearing the cat purr on her legs. She stroked its soft orange fur.
"You are a lusian right?" I poked at the cat.
It raised one of its front paws as if defending itself from my finger. It then grabbed onto my finger with its small paws and started to nibble on it.
"Ow... ow..."
Aylin laughed a bit before using her own finger to get its attention.
"PRINCESS?!" Eris came bursting through the bathroom door and saw us on the floor huddled up with the Princess in Aylin's lap.
Eris saw the pink flower on Aylin's cheek and calmed down immediately.
Eris sat down on her knees and formally introduced herself.
"You are mistaken Eris, I'm not the moon goddess. Though it is true that I hold the Aeon of Desire inside of me, I'm not her. Not even close."
"No, you are her. The lukini inside of you are as pure as the moon. And the Princess seemed to be extremely attracted to the lukini inside of you. She's very sensitive to lukini and would most certainly not trust any random stranger. But you are different, she trusted you."
Aylin continued to pat the kitten as Eris explain.
"I know you doubt yourself, you are humble just like our mother. But deep within the souls of every lusian we know our mother, we spent our entire lives with her. There's not a single chance we wouldn't recognize her. And you, if you are not her, you are as pure and kind as her."
Eris eyes wandered around the room before she knelt on the floor.
"Please just hear me out," she groveled.
"Please offer my friend a small portion of your lukini and allow her to get some piece of mind."
"How would that help?" Aylin asked.
"Your lukini is very pure, it's similar to the moon, and I believe if it were to be touched by any lusian it would bring them relief."
Aylin thought about it before finally agreeing to help.
"Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."
An uncomfortable expression grew on Aylin's face seeing Eris thank her. Aylin handed back the Princess to Eris before standing up and taking a deep breath.
"Let's go shall we, Vivshi?"