Chapter 63- Admissions

  Savage Lands, Mage Citadel- Medical Suite 4, 2nd floor- Late Autumn, Namor 1 (Early Morning?)

  Princess Namorita

  The princess jerked awake and looked around the room. She was seated in the only chair and was still in the room that Lythese was recovering in. Namorita wasn't sure what had awoken her this time, the st time it was the noise of one of the building's worker robots changing the bedding for her handmaiden.

  After looking around the room and the only other movement being the gorgon woman's shallow breathing, she assumed that she had just woken up because she had gotten enough sleep.

  Her throat felt dry, so she stood up and walked over to the tray of food that had been brought into the room at some point while she slept. There was no sink or other source of water in the room, so she reached over and picked up one of the three lukewarm gsses of water. She quickly downed the first, and then drank half of another, before she froze.

  She couldn't really describe the sound well, maybe the sound of air being forced elsewhere, but she had heard it enough times now to immediately recognize it as one of the mage's bodyguards appearing in the room.

  Sure enough in the corner of the room, beside her handmaiden's bed, stood the more modest of the two. Her long purple hair swayed a little as she examined Lythese's sleeping form. A few seconds ter, the doors to the room moved on their own, the thin metal pnks of the door colpsing in on themselves as they parted for the approaching mage.

  Nath'aniel held another tray of warm food in one of his hands, while he carried a rolled-up wooden scroll in his other elbow. He didn't speak to her, not since he told her that he failed to save two of her guards, he just gestured with the fresh tray, before his hand glowed and it floated over towards her on its own. She could feel the after-effects of his casting the spell, though barely. The mage was far better than her at controlling the flows of magic.

  Once the new tray parked itself beside the one from st night, she put down the water in her hand and began drinking from one of the three cold ones. As she did the mage moved towards the sleeping gorgon.

  "You have to give them credit, the snake dies are resilient." The purpled-haired woman stated after the mage cast a spell that she had seen him cast several times before. The mage only grunted in agreement.

  'Psylocke, I think her name is. The Brotherhood rarely came to Atntis, only Uncle Eric really did out of any of them.' The princess recalled as she watched Nath'aniel read the strange characters that his spell conjured into existence. Then she zoned out and recalled the several birthdays that she had spent with her uncle.

  At some point, while she was daydreaming, the mage had dismissed the conjured image, as he was now washing Lythese in brilliant white light from both of his hands. The princess frowned, as she felt the presence of the mystical energy, but as far as she could tell, the mage wasn't actually casting a spell. He was just unleashing raw magical energy.

  The curiosity got the better of her, as she asked in English. "Excuse me, but what school of magic are you using?" Namorita was momentarily worried that she might have distracted the mage and may have hurt the gorgon, but his hands were steady and constant as if she had never spoken

  "Lightforce energy is very mercurial, thus all spells from the school tend to be Expert and above in level. However, even in its raw form, the energy from this pne stimutes life and healing." The mage answered but still did not look at her as he did. Then as he finished he added. "There's a thought."

  Psylocke smiled and told him. "Oh, that's naughty."

  "I thought you tended to stay out of my mind." The mage said, more like a question than a statment.

  "Oh hell yes, Mage Sight scares the devil out of me. But as we have gotten closer I noticed that I can see some things just beneath all of your warnings before your vision takes over everything." The telepath expined to them, before also mentioning. "That and our bond tends to fill in some of the gaps."

  "Wait, what was he thinking about?" The princess asked and felt upset from being left out of the loop.

  "I was thinking about visiting my father's Archive, and reading up on the School of Lightforce, on the off chance that they have a fertility spell in their catalog," Nath'aniel answered her. This time he actually looked at her as he did.

  "Wait a minute, why would Lythese need a fertility spell?" Namorita asked confused, she knew that the gorgon had slept with her father a few times before leaving Atntis, but she doubted the mage knew that.

  The mage pointed at the still sleeping form of the gorgon and admitted. "Her? No, she doesn't need one. She is already pregnant. No, the fertility spell is for Sam."

  "Which one is Sam?" Namorita asked confused.

  "Basilisk's real name is Samantha," Psylocke expined, before also adding. "And before you ask, she and I are in a retionship with Nath'aniel."

  That was a name she knew. Basilisk was the Brotherhood's main heavy hitter. She stood taller than any Atntean warrior, and her four arms made her a real headache to deal with in a melee engagement. Only her father had been able to overpower her as far as she knew, but her father was on a level higher than almost everyone else.

  "At the same time?" She asks them, while Psylocke nods and the mage just shrugs his shoulders. "Oh, that makes sense." The princesses then calmly states, making Psylocke give her a confused look. "What, he is the st of the mages, that makes him king of the mages…"

  "Magi." Nath'aniel corrected.

  Still, the princess pressed on, saying. "And a king should have multiple wives. Perfectly normal." Then what the mage said hit her and she snapped. "WAIT?! Lythese is pregnant?"

  The mage blinked once, before reacting completely calm as he answered. "Yes, she is about six weeks along. And unsurprisingly she is having a girl. That's why she hasn't woken up yet, her body is feeding most of its nourishment to keep the child healthy, instead of her.'

  "Why do you think I come by every morning? I care little for your handmaiden, but the child is an innocent. I have to make sure the two of them are getting enough to survive till she eventually wakens and she can feed herself. Thus the Lightforce energy, it not only heals it feds most life forms."

  Namorita had to act after hearing this. So she rushed over and hugged the mage, before anyone could act. Once her grip was firm she said into his chest. "Thank you, thank you so much. I will see to it that Father rewards you for your kindness." Due to his height, the mage easily patted the top of her head.

  Once she released him, and looked around the room, she only then noticed that his other bodyguard. The blonde woman with a primitive spear had also joined them, and she didn't look all that pleased that Namorita was holding the mage.

  "What?" She asked the blonde defensively.

  "You are Atntean, your strength is vastly greater than his." The spear-woman stated as if that was the only matter at this moment.

  "And I have been away from water, other than drinks, for longer than a week. So my 'strength' is greatly weakened as a result. My body is probably nearly reduced down to his level by this point." Namorita told them like it was obvious.

  "The Atnteans of the Savage Land do not have this weakness." The blonde argued.

  "That is because they have remained on the surface for so many generations." She shot back.

  "Really?" The mage asked her surprised.

  The princess nodded, before expining. "Much of our people have changed since the time of the Fall. As you have seen in my guards, our common folk have all lost the ability to breathe air like the rest of you."

  As she expined that, Nath'aniel wove a spell in front of her, once it was complete a white mote of light hit her nose, and a conjured image of her body stood in between them. The mage had to take a step back so that he could read her results.

  He frowned at what he saw before he asked. "Your father I am told is only half Tribe of the Sea."

  She nodded that this was so, before saying. "And I am a quarter Surfacer from him."

  "He also gave you his Mosul gene, although yours is inactive." The mage muttered.

  "Mosul gene?" Namorita repeated confused.

  Psylocke answered her, expining. "It means like your dad, you are a Mutant. But your powers haven't awoken yet."

  The princess' eyes went wide hearing that, as she imagined having the strength and power of her father. 'With powers like his, I could have beaten King Tilis.' She thought.

  "If you got powers like his." Psylocke reminded her. "Mutant powers vary even among family members. My brother has strength and durability like your dad, yet I am a telepath."

  "And you can teleport." Namorita pointed out.

  "Actually she gained that and other abilities when Nath made us into his Servants." The blonde told her.

  Hearing that, she looked towards the mage, even before she could ask; he looked her in the eye and said. "No." Then he turned and headed for the exit. The doors again opened for him and closed once he was through.

  "I guess I should ask, but am I a prisoner here?" Namorita asked the two women who were still there with her.

  Psylocke grimaced, and couldn't look her in the eye, while the blonde told her honestly. "Kind of, in the end, the staff, heck this entire building runs at the mercy of Nath'aniel, and to be blunt he doesn't like your people very much. Your stable guards were moved down to the dungeon, but that's because the isotion cells can be flooded safely. When your father showed up for Entreatmeant Day, we offered to hand you off to him then and there, but instead, he said he would prepare a proper ransom for you and your people."

  'Father left me here?' She thought in total worry.

  "No, your father seemed truly distraught over what happened to you," Psylocke told her after thinking that. "But he had to weigh the worries of his realm, over your life. So instead he sought Nathy's understanding and asked him about what the Sky Tribe did to our ancestors over four thousand years ago."

  Her admission made her pale. She had never even heard of this sky tribe, but she now understood that the Magi called the Surfacers Tribesmen of the Land, and her people the Tribesmen of the Sea. So a tribe of the sky, the implications terrified Namorita.

  Again the mind reader was hearing her thoughts and worries, as the purple-haired woman agreed, saying. "You're right to be scared of the concept. We both, Atntean and regur humans, forgot that a long time ago, an alien race came to our pnet and conquered it. And once they did, they experimented on the survivors. They made the mutants, gave your people the ability to breathe in water, and gifted the Magi their long lives and Mage Sight.'

  "But we eventually rebelled and pushed them off our pnet. But we forgot. Only the Magi with their long lives remembered, and then your, who knows how many greats, grandfather started a war with said Magi, trying to conquer the world."

  "The Betrayal of Atntis. That's what the natives of the Savage Lands called it, those that remembered it, which are mostly the beastmen tribes." The blonde woman admitted to them.

  "Are we really such vilins?" The princess asked, feeling completely crushed by what she was hearing.

  "You are who you chose to be, Namorita," Psylocke told her, before adding. "But know that your ancestors made some really damning choices trying to expand and promote your people."

  Then, after a silence, the two women vanished in plums of colored sparkles. Purple for Psylocke, and yellow for the blonde woman, whose name Namorita hadn't learned.

  Citadel- Third Floor, Great Kitchen- 12th day of the month of Niffle of the 6983 GR (Evening)

  Nath'aniel-

  The mage sighed as he continued to reread the Servant Thesis, his free hand stirring a cup of Valley Berry juice. He had finished reading all forty-two scrolls of the Thesis and its four amendments a couple days ago, but he still didn't understand why his instinct casting had worked and all of the other peoples, his surviving kin even, attempts had failed.

  The sound of chamber doors opening made him gnce up, and he was surprised to see Deadpool walk into the Kitchen's preparation area, still in his combat suit, yet more so that the man had a rge damp spot around his neck area.

  "Did you shoot yourself again to visit Lady Death?" The mage asked him in reaction to the sight.

  The regenerator pulled up his mask, as he did; a fresh hole in the chin of the mask answered the mage's question before the tribesman admitted. "Maybe…"

  Nath'aniel shook his head at the admission, before saying. "I am not going to judge you, personally. You're not the first one to try. I hear Ra once tried to court Lady Infinity. But all things aside, Copycat acquired a debt to me for my healing you, and here you are now trying to date a cosmic entity."

  The semi-masked tribesmen moved and pulled out a seat opposite the mage, before sitting down, and once situated he said. "Yeah I kind of boned her, didn't I? But this wasn't the first time of me meeting Her, and she seems so lonely."

  "While I am not one to besmirch someone as ancient as Lady Death, but have you never paused and asked yourself that perhaps she isn't pying you?" The mage asked the tribesmen. When the other man looked confused he added. "She is after all older than the known universe."

  Deadpool nodded at that and admitted. "I get that she is vastly older than me. I do." The tribesman didn't know what to do with his hands, so he made a mix of pying with his fingers and crossing them before adding. "When we first met, she wanted to judge me like everyone else that she met, but she couldn't. It wasn't till I woke up in the morgue and my mutant powers had activated that I understood why at that time.'

  "I can't truly die. And over the st ten years, she has become my best friend… Hell, it took two deaths, and her pressing me to reach out to Ven in the first pce after I got my powers, to reach out to her. And a part of me will always love Vanessa, but, if I am honest. Me and Death have a much stronger connection than I have had with Ven." After all of that, he took a deep breath, and let the two of them sit before asking. "What about you, all I see you do tely is read these things. You need any help?" The regenerator pointed at the bamboo scroll in front of the mage as he asked that.

  Nath'aniel sighed after another moment, before admitting. "I have read, and am now rereading the mystical thesis that my forbearers wrote on binding a person as a Servant. And while the historians tell me the theory is fwed, I cannot see it. It should work.'

  "And I have achieved it, binding not one, but two people to me. So I do not know what it is that I am missing in these writings, or what others missed in these writings, where I have somehow succeeded."

  Deadpool turned the scroll around to face him. He looked over the strange Magi characters that he couldn't read before shrugging and suggesting. "Maybe it's not the writings, maybe it's you? Maybe like me, in that I can't die, something about you made this impossible thing work?"

  The mage initially wanted to ignore the tribesman's logic, but then he recalled that he had lost several thousands of years in a Sky Tribe's Medical Sarcophagus, receiving multiple upgrades while he slept. So he had to admit. "You may have something there."