Chapter 18 - Bound By Destiny
Downstairs in the living room, a deeply bizarre dynamic had taken root.
Vincent, now properly changed, was sitting casually on his mother’s lap. He was staring intently down at a particularly interesting speck of dirt on the rug as his cheeks burned red from the disaster of what had happened between him and the two Goddesses just minutes prior.
Maribelle held her arms protectively around his waist, wrapping him in a fierce maternal embrace while glaring daggers directly across the coffee table at Deina.
Deina, completely unbothered, rested her chin on her hand. A predatory smirk graced her lips as she bit down lightly on her bottom lip, locking her golden eyes onto Vincent’s lips.
Sitting right next to Deina was Natasha, whose entire face was still flushed an embarrassing shade of crimson as she fidgeted nervously with her dress.
Maribelle clicked her tongue loudly, scolding her friend with a sharp snap in her tone. "Stop looking at my baby with such wicked thoughts, Deina!"
"Oh, come on, Mari~ It’s not my fault. He’s the one who attacked me up there. All I wanted to do was wake him up. Honestly, I’m so jealous you get to experience that kind of sublime release and... pure joy on a regular basis~"
Vincent leaned his head back slightly toward Maribelle and whispered, "Mama... what is Dee talking about?"
Maribelle tightened her grip around his waist, pulling him back against her chest, though her eyes never left Deina. "You don’t have to listen to a word that succubus is saying, baby."
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Natasha snapped, slamming her hands onto her knees. "Little Demi! Can you tell us already why and how you are still here when you left for Earth yesterday?!"
*Ahem* "Right. Yes. Well, firstly... I would like to formally apologise to all of you. For making you go through such a heartbreaking goodbye... only for me to show up again not even an hour after you must’ve accepted the fact that I wasn’t coming back for at least a hundred years."
"Oh, Mama raised such a well-mannered boy! Mama forgives you!"
"I forgive you too, Little Bird," Deina winking at him. "You already paid me back in full with that wonderful morning session we had~"
""DEINA!!""
Deina just giggled behind her hand as the two Goddesses scolded her.
Natasha took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure, though her voice still stuttered. "I-I also forgive you... and... and I’m really happy you’re back..."
"Thank you all." Vincent smiled with relief. "Now, as for what actually happened... The key thing you should know about this incident is that the old Way-Guide was completely drunk."
Deina blinked as she recalled the previous day. "Come to think of it... he did seem a bit out of sorts when he arrived at the gates, although... I was too sad to really notice."
"Me too..." Natasha said softly, looking away.
"I was crying like a real baby, so I definitely didn’t notice anything," Maribelle said with a soft pout.
"Right... Anyways, back on topic," Vincent continued, "When the old man activated the magic circle to transport me, instead of sending me back home to Earth... he accidentally sent me to a completely different world."
"Another world?" Maribelle furrowed her brow.
"Yeah. I can’t remember the specific name of the world itself, but the names of the kingdoms I heard while I was there sounded way too familiar. Mama, I heard the names of two kingdoms that you used to tell me about during your bedtime stories. Solara and Ebonspire."
Maribelle’s eyes grew wide at those names.
Deina gasped, sitting up straight. "Wait a minute... Mari, isn’t that...?"
"Yes. It’s the world that Dusty and I had to save... Pristina."
Vincent slapped his right palm with his left fist as his eyes lit up. "Yeah! That’s the one! Pristina!"
Maribelle let out a long breath when a sudden look of realisation washed over her face. "That explains why when you left, our times didn’t dilate."
"How does that explain it?"
"I haven’t told you this specific part of our story yet, but through many terrible complications and broken deals between the divine realm and Pristina... Dusty, I, and the rest of our party had to defeat the rogue God of that world.
"The after-effects of that battle caused such a catastrophic ripple in the fabric of space-time that Her Majesty had to personally step in and weave the realm back together. While she was at it, she interwoven Pristina’s time flow to match the Divine Realm’s time flow, in order to properly watch over them and ensure a repeat of that doom could never happen again."
Vincent sat there on his mother’s lap looking completely speechless as he stared at her. "What the actual hell happened with you and Dada in that world?!"
"Hehehe~ Silly Vinny. I haven’t even told you one-third of what happened on our journey... But wait. How did you return? Did you come back on your own? Deina did properly teach you how to open a divine portal back to this realm, right?"
"Yes, she taught me. But that’s not how I returned."
"Then how?"
"While I was in Pristina, I noticed this girl named Maelle who possessed divine power. She controlled that power despite not being a divine being herself. She pointed her hand at me and commanded, ’Return.’
"Poof. I vanished from that world and re-appeared right back at the golden gates. Also... another weird thing. The people around her kept looking at me with pity, calling me a ’slave’ or something. What was up with that?"
"""WHAT???""" All three Goddesses panicked simultaneously.
Deina’s playful smirk turned to one of deadly seriousness. She stood up from the couch. "Take off your shirt right now, Vincent!"
"Huh?!"
Maribelle’s arms tightened around his waist like steel bands, holding him firmly from behind. "Don’t fight it, baby! Just let her look!"
"Wait! Hold on–"
"Sit still, Little Demi!" Natasha leapt forward and grabbed his arms, forcing them up into the air.
"I can take off my own shirt!" Vincent yelled.
But before he could properly fight back, Deina reached forward and forcefully ripped his buttoned shirt open, sending buttons flying across the living room.
"D-DEE?!"
Deina ignored him, her golden eyes glowing brightly as a golden magic circle manifested in her palm. She began running her hand over his bare chest, scanning his whole body.
Natasha, meanwhile, was holding his hands in the air with her face inches from his chest. Her hands twitched nervously as she lightly brushed against his muscular torso.
"Nat! Stop fondling my nipples!"
"H-HAH?! W-Why would I fondle your nipples?! Unless... unless you want me to–"
"Sorry~ That’s me fondling your nipples, gehehehe~" Maribelle chimed in from behind him as her hands crept down his stomach.
"MAMA!"
"Got it!" Deina suddenly declared, her golden circle vanishing.
The Goddesses released him, though Natasha looked distinctly reluctant as she let go of his hands.
Maribelle sat up straight with her hands resting on Vincent’s shoulders. "Well?! What is it, Deina?! Don’t tell me...!"
"It’s... probably exactly what you’re thinking, Mari."
"N-No..."
Vincent looked between the two of them, entirely lost. "What’s wrong? What did you find?"
Deina looked him dead in the eye, her voice devoid of any teasing. "Vinny... the Way-Guide didn’t just send you to Pristina by accident. He accidentally sent you on a Destiny Path. Your soul is now permanently linked to Pristina through a binding summoning contract with this ’Maelle’ person... You’ve officially become that girl’s familiar."
"Familiar? What... What does that mean, exactly?"
"It means you are no longer your own master," Deina explained grimly. "This Maelle can command you, force a recall, and make you do whatever she wants."
"WHAT?!" Vincent scrambled off Maribelle’s lap, turning to face the blonde Goddess. "Dee! Can’t you unbind me?! You’re good at this kind of thing, aren’t you?!"
"I... I can’t. This isn’t something I can fix. Yours and her souls are permanently intertwined together now. If you die, she dies. And if she dies... you die. Also, to undo the link between you two would in turn destroy both your souls."
"But she’s the one who has total control over me?!"
"Not complete control. She cannot control your mind or your thoughts. She can only force your actions through the binding’s absolute commands."
"B-But what about Earth?! Can’t I return home?! What about my life?!"
Deina looked down, unable to meet his eyes. "I... I don’t know, Vincent. We’ll have to ask Her Majesty what to do... if there’s even anything she can do..."
The weight of her words hit Vincent like a gut check.
His legs gave out, and he fell onto his knees on the carpet, staring blankly at his hands. "That stupid... drunken old man... What have you done to me...?"
Maribelle immediately slid off the couch, dropping to her knees beside him and wrapping her arms tightly around his trembling shoulders. "It’s going to be okay, baby... We will fix this. Mama promises you, we will find a way to fix this."
Natasha crouched down on his other side. She reached out and gently patted his back, her voice soft and tender. "I... I’ll also help you in whatever way I can, Little Demi. We won’t let some random mortal girl command you."
"Little Bird. If you were sent there by accident... then who was actually supposed to be summoned in your place?"
Vincent lifted his head slightly and pointed a trembling finger toward the couch, directly at the egg resting on the cushion. "That lost soul... the one the old man turned into a dragon egg. Maelle was supposed to summon him."
"Ahh... I see. But for this Maelle person to have the authority to summon a dragon of all mythical creatures, and to possess inherent divine power... just who is she?"
"I think I heard she was called a princess–"
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Vincent Winters!" a loud voice echoed from the porch. "We are from the medical division. We’re here for the scheduled follow-up check!"