Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

No sparring happened between me and Sun Wukong. Instead, I got taught a new board game and was told a very interesting tale.

When Kai and I arrived in the Celestine Manor, I immediately searched for Sun Wukong. When I did find him, he was practicing with his staff which I remembered to be called Ruyi Bang.

I immediately hid my presence so I could observe Sun Wukong more.

From what I remembered, Ruyi Bang was a heavy staff. And when I say heavy, I meant ‘very’ heavy. Sun Wukong once told me that it weighed more than seven thousand kilograms. I did not believe him at first so when I tried to use it, I almost snapped my arm. Other than that, the staff could shrink, grow, and duplicate whenever its owner wanted. When he wasn’t using it, he would shrink it to a very small size and would put it on his ear.

To be honest, I still have no idea how he does it.

Anyway, it was one hell of a weapon.

I froze on my spot as I stared at the staff. Upon closer look, I could see something etched on its surface, something I didn’t really pay attention to before.

-I swear I’ve seen similar doodles before.

I tried to recall where I saw those symbols before. All of a sudden, a memory of Bernard doodling on a piece of paper from a month ago came into mind. He was writing the same symbols as Wukong’s staff.

-How does Bernard know those symbols? Sun Wukong and his weapon are not of this world.

With that in mind, I decided to grill Bernard for information at a later date.

Suddenly, my eyes drifted on Aunt Zaira who was reading a book on the pavilion. Once Sun Wukong was done, he walked towards the pavilion where he sat on the seat opposite of my adoptive aunt. I watched with a raised eyebrow and a suspicious feeling, as Aunt Zaira got up, poured some tea (I was pretty sure it was tea) on a cup, handed it to Sun Wukong and started wiping his sweat off his face. She even sported that ‘very’ rare smile as she dabbed him with a towel.

-The hell is that?! Why are they- What?- But-

I could feel my energy as well as the energy surrounding me flare up, reflecting the turmoil in my mind.

-Something’s up between the two of them. Could it be…

I couldn’t help but gasp at the theory forming inside my head.

-Could it be that, Aunt Zaira is Sun Wukong’s mistress?

At the thought that the damned monkey actually cheated on my sister caused me to get mad even more.

I mean, he dared cheat on my sister!

I stared at the two of them and later on, I met their gazes. They even gave me a smiled which irked me even more!

“Kai! Luna! Come here! Let’s have some tea.” Aunt Zaira said and beckoned us to come to the pavilion.

She asked us to sit down and offered us cups filled with the semi-transparent green tea.

“Archduchess, I need to talk to you.” Kai suddenly said sounding very urgent. “Uhm, privately if possible.”

“Very well.” Aunt Zaira turned to me and Sun Wukong. “I’ll leave you two here. I’ll be back later. Try not to kill each other!”

Moments later, she and Kai were gone.

I couldn’t help but keep glaring at Sun Wukong, who probably felt my murderous intent.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” he asked with a curious gaze. “You look like someone whose ready kill.”

“You might not be far off.” I took in a deep breath as an attempt to calm down. “You and my aunt seem very close. Are you sure you’re only comrades?”

He gave me a pointed look. “Yes. Well, if we’re being technical then you could say it’s more than just being in the same group.”

-That’s it! I-

“I’d say our relationship is like an uncle and a niece?”

I froze at his words.

“Or maybe even a guardian and his charge? Like you two are.”

“What does that mean?”

He looked at me with a lopsided smile on his face. “Would you like to learn a game from me little red?”

-With the nickname again?

“I’ll teach you a board game and if you learn, I’ll tell you how I met Marii.”

-Marii should be Aunt Zaira.

Well , I couldn’t pass up a chance of knowing more of Aunt Zaira’s past, since she’s basically one big enigma, so I agreed. He taught me a board game called ‘Go’. He said it was a popular game back in his original world, one of the oldest too.

I managed to learn the board game within a couple hours, but I never got to defeat him. He said I had to practice even more.

“I’ll lend you some books about it.” he said as an afterthought.

I could only sigh. Still, it was awesome though, learning a game that’s literally out of this world!

“So, how did you meet Aunt Zaira?” I asked and looked at him pointedly, reminding him of the promise he made before teaching me the game.

“Right, I did say I’d tell you. Let’s see… I met your Aunt Zaira back when she was just a kid, about eight maybe? And she still bore the name Marii von Chrishni. At that time, she just ran away from home. Well more like she got kicked out to be honest. Saying she ran away is too nice to the people who kicked her out.”

-So Aunt Zaira does have some tragic back story.

I did remember her telling me once that she got chased out by her father’s second wife and her child; who was Torii’s biological father.

“Well, let’s just say I was the one that took her in and gave her a push on becoming a mage. I suppose you could say I was the one who guided her into becoming this world’s strongest magic user?”

If jaws could drop, mine were probably on the ground. It was too shocking!

The Sun Wukong I knew only knew how to play around! I never thought he was the ‘guide’ material!

“She had Elthesia’s blessings you know…” he paused, looking at me. “Ah, Elthesia is my… you could say, she’s my wife.”

And I knew that, but I couldn’t tell him.

“Elthesia, as in that goddess of war from the legends? The fox deity from the Celestial Realm?” I questioned, as to not sound suspicious. I was still not ready to tell him who I was.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m a very awesome person you know?”

I mentally rolled my eyes at his self-praise. I only nodded at his response. I could tell he was a bit baffled at it but he continued anyway.

“As you know from the stories, the fox deity Elthesia was executed for being a traitor to the rulers of Celestial Realm.” I nodded my head. I had read legends about my clan’s demise as well as the execution of Liada’s greatest warrior, in which I internally mourned. “I guess Marii was the last mortal she ever blessed. Not to mention her mother was one of my people.”

I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at his last sentence. “One of your people?”

“Yes. We’re quite… different from the rest of Afasia I suppose.” he smiled. “I looked after her as she grew up and fulfilled her destiny to assist the founder of Praiji Empire in defeating the demon king and sealing the demon clan. That’s how we became close.”

I nodded my head in understanding, suddenly feeling sorry that I suspected the two of them having a relationship.

-I guess with that kind of past, I understand how Aunt Zaira can be so caring towards him. She had the blessings of Elthesia, so Sun Wukong watched over her for her sake. I wonder if that has something to do with the promise he once told me when I asked him why he got himself involved with the last demon war.

I spent the rest of the day trying to beat him at Go, completely erasing my anxiousness of the next day’s events.