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“There you are!” Lanz’s head shot up at the sound of Sena’s voice. He turned to look at the girl, full of energy as always.
“Heh, I knew y%u’d find me here. Wh&t’s up?” He tried to sound casual, ignoring the obvious issue.
“You shouldn’t be climbing all the way up here. I know it was a cakewalk when you were in your prime, but you’ve gotta slow down a bit.”
“N%nsense! I g%t up here just fine, didn’t I?”
“This time, yeah. But you’re getting too old for this. You need to slow it down a bit.” Hearing that, the man smiled.
“Gettin’ %ld… remember when we didn’t even kn%w wh&t th&t me&nt?” He saw Sena pause before walking over to sit down next to him. The two them sat in silence for several minutes before the man sighed and leaned back, a couple of his inner gears creaking with the strain.
“It l%%ks just like the d&y &i%ni%s w&s seper&ted, d%n’t it? The sky, I me&n.” Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Sena turn her head to look at him again. Upon turning to look directly at her, he saw the concern lacing her features. She drew her legs up in response, a stark contrast to the stretch he’d just done.
“And just like that day, we’re going to be separated again…” she whispered, Making Lanz’s eyes widen.
“I-I didn’t me&n it like th&t! I w&s just thinkin’ &bout the %thers!” When he saw Sena loosen up a little, he knew he had to continue.
“I’m s% gl&d the w%rlds remerged &fter N%&h seper&ted them. Sucks th&t %nly the pe%ple wh% were c%nsci%us &t the time remember wh&t h&ppened, but &t le&st th&t let us find each %ther &g&in.”
“Yeah. And it’s ultimately a good thing we were able to stick together. I don’t know what would’ve happened if I didn’t have you by the time I needed to pick a driver.”
“Y%u w%uldn’t h&ve lived this l%ng, I c&n gu&r&ntee y%u!”
“True. I was so scared back then, though. Failing to become a driver can kill a person and I didn’t want to be responsible for your death.”
“Eh, I knew I’d be fine! I w&s &n %rub%rus, right?”
“Yeah, but Kevesi drivers are about as rare as nopon drivers. You can’t blame me for being concerned.”
“True.” It was all he could say to that. Upon seeing her pose relax, he started reminiscing even more.
“But it &ll w%rked %ut, right? Kind& sucks I still l%%ked like & kid when N%&h and Mi% were fawnin’ %ver their gre&t gr&ndkids.”
“Well yeah, but at least you were able to play with them on their level and tell them about everything we’d done together as a team, right?”
“Th&nk g%%dness t%%. M&tthew and N&’el were such h&ndfulls.”
“But more than worth it. I remember the moment I noticed they looked identical to those founder statues in the old city. It was so fitting, given their royal heritage.”
“Ye&h, but th&t w&s n%thing c%mp&red t% meeting Shulk, Rex, &nd their f&milies!”
“Oh yeah, that was surreal. Seeing four of those founders right there and finding out that two of them still had enough memories of Aionios to tell their stories thanks to being stuck in Origin like they were. As Taion would say, it was invaluable information.” She gave a wistful sigh, looking back at the sky. By this point, Sena had completely relaxed again. And this time, she was the one to start reminiscing.
“It’s too bad about Taion and Eunie, though…”
“Ye&h, they were & perfect m&tch. If %nly the enti& didn’t &ge sl%wer, it w%uldn’t h&ve been s% &wkw&rd. Gl&d they eventu&lly m%ved %n &nd f%und different sp%uces, th%ugh.”
“Yeah and platonic love is still a thing, so they could still love each other in that way. I know they weren’t completely content with it, but it wasn’t like they could do anything about it. Otherwise it’d look like an old man was with a young… girl…” She trailed off, realizing that she’d just described the two of them.
Blades like her didn’t age at all and with her being one that was born from an actual pair instead of being a core crystal first, that just meant she had until she reached her natural stasis age to pick a driver. Until that point though, she had aged at the same speed as a normal human.
“D%n’t f%rget it used t% be the reverse. Y%u l%%ked the s&me &s y%u &lw&ys did b&ck when y%u &sked me t% be y%ur driver. Me&nwhile I h&dn’t even hit puberty yet!”
“... Not exactly sure if that makes it worse or not.”
“Well, we didn’t h&ve &ny kids until %ur &ges m&tched, right?”
“Still, the fact that we had to move to Agnus in between Eunie’s death and you growing up was pretty telling. At least over there, people are used to apparent age gaps between blades and drivers.”
“Spe&king %f kids, th%ugh. H&ve you decided wh%’s g%nn& get y%ur c%re cryst&l &fter I’m g%ne?” There was a bit of silence. Obviously, this wasn’t something they liked talking about. But they both knew it needed to be addressed sooner or later. If Sena didn’t want to talk about it, then Lanz would drop it. But he still wanted to know. The girl’s answer surprised him, though.
“I… I already talked to our kids and grandkids about it. We all agree that keeping a biological ancestor’s core crystal in the family would be too awkward while there are still people who remember me. So until the only ones left are our great grandkids, my core crystal is going to be shipped off to Agnus castle and kept with the royal family there.”
“Wh&- th&t’ll t&ke th%us&nds %f ye&rs!”
“I know. But we all agreed that it’s for the best. After all, who better than Noah’s and Mimi’s descendants? They even signed a contract to return my core crystal to the family once the terms have been met.” This didn’t sit well with Lanz, but he knew he had no right to argue. It was Sena’s core crystal, after all.
“Well… &lright, then. If th&t’s wh&t every%ne’s %kay with.” He then saw her smile and look directly at him. Not a single wrinkle on her skin, not a single grey hair, and no mobility issues whatsoever. Every day with her was a reminder of how much his age was getting to him. But after the hell that was Aionios, he wouldn’t have it any other way. He watched as Sena stood up and extended a hand down towards him.
“Yeah, now let’s get you back to the village.” He smiled and took it, allowing his wife to pull him to his feet. The churning of mechanical parts inside him could be heard as he strained, but he still had some life left in him! Even if his time was coming to a close, he wasn’t gone yet.
But it was only a week later when Sena was out getting the groceries with one of their kids that she was there one moment and gone the next. Nothing but a grey crystal clattering to the ground where she’d been standing. And despite it being a Kevesi town, everyone who saw it happen knew exactly what that meant…
…
Prince David of Agnus sat at his desk, waiting for the dark grey core crystal in front of him to turn blue. He knew who was inside and he was more than ecstatic that he’d been given the privilege of being her new driver. He’d already read through The Tales of Aionios several times by now. He knew the significance of her. In fact, he’d even met her a few times before her driver had passed.
He wasn’t without his grievances, though. Of course he didn’t like the idea that her core crystal wasn’t staying with her family. But apparently this was what they wanted. He still intended to take her to visit them at least once. If nothing else, then to show them that she would never be mistreated!
His thoughts were cut off by the crystal suddenly shining a bright blue once again! FINALLY!! He was so excited, grabbing the crystal immediately and bonding with it as soon as possible. He already had two other blades, so he was experienced enough with the process. The crystal flared to life with white flashes three times, the final one making out the silhouette of exactly who he was expecting!
Everything went white for a split second and the next thing he knew, a familiar woman stood before him. Brandishing a hammer that none would expect her to be able to lift, she tossed it into the air as if it were a ball and loudly introduced herself.
“Sena, here! Ready to kick some butt!” She loudly proclaimed, catching her hammer/ball and posing with it, like most blades would upon being awakened. After he introduced himself, the young prince went on to explain that he knew her previous driver and how he had been entrusted to be her new driver. More explanations would come over the course of the rest of the day.
One thing Prince David noticed about her was that she looked different from the pictures and how he remembered her. She had some slanted markings all up the lengths of her arms and her skin was discoloured in angular patches just like her previous driver. Looking closer, he saw a small white spiky patch of hair on the very top of her head and her right eye was now the same red as his. Were these changes a remnant of how long she spent with him as her driver or was it due to that ‘interlink’ thing the book mentioned happening?
They’d probably never know the answer within his lifetime. In order to get said answer, they’d need a lot more machina to become drivers when they’re still kids and then grow up with their blades. And getting even one Kevesi to become a driver was a monumental feat in and of itself. Still, it was interesting to see the differences.
…
A grand multitude of eons passed. Enough for several generations of machina to come and go. Sena’s core crystal had been passed back to her descendants and she stayed with them, keeping that book with her the whole time. That was until her core crystal changed. Everyone knew it would happen eventually. The crystal had accumulated enough information for it to be thrown back into the sea so it would one day reemerge as a titan.
There were few titans left and people were no longer reliant on them, but that didn’t just stop them from existing. Still, only the machina ever lived long enough to try to keep records. And after placing a tracking device on Sena’s crystal, they knew which titan was her once it showed back up. Records stated that this could never happen in Alrest, given the lifespans of the people there and their relatively lower tech. But by this point, every titan that still lived had records of who they were when they were a blade.
And so, they tracked down the new titan and found a serpentine creature energetically ducking below the water and surfacing with a surprising amount of force. Still they approached, banking on the titan instinct to protect any life that landed on them. And sure enough, she stopped at that moment and turned her head to stare at her first passengers. The titan calmed significantly, allowing her whole body to surface and bob on the water.
After she seemed to accept her new conditions, she carefully laid her head back down and moved in a circular motion. Having read through the reprints of The Book of Aionios, the crew gasped as they watched this titanic snake move so that its body made a ring and gently bite down on its own tail. Later examinations would lead to the conclusion that outer side of the ring that was created, her right side, was coated in a thick layer of metal while her left side remained soft and fleshy.
Over time, most of the Machina moved to this new space and built three towns upon this titan, connecting them with a suspended airport and miniature settlement that covered the area in the middle. The majority of the town knew that they shared genetics with this gigantic creature and The Book of Aionios became a religious text within their culture. And once again, the machina had an ancestral deific being who they lived alongside, just like their ancient culture that was once lost.
All upon the back of Sena, The Ouroboros Titan.