The Court of Souls?

“The dullahan is a type of Irish fae categorised in the unseelie court. Its head is permanently separated from its body, which it carries under its arm. It will always arrive riding a black horse and sometimes come accompanied with a wagon cobbled together out of skeletons. Either of these modes of transport will travel with speed so fast the sparks given off could set alight the roadside growth. Its rotted face is rumoured to have huge eyes and a very wide grin.”

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Crystal City***

***Shade***

I enter the study and freeze. The room is already occupied by Tisha, Chloe and Seria. But that's not what caused me to halt in my tracks. “Why is my daughter bound to a chair and gagged?”

Seria looks truly pitiful in her current state. She even managed to press out some fake tears. And yes, they are really fake tears. After an eternity of playing daddy for her I know that her shrewd personality doesn't allow for crying.

“She is the devil!”

“A hellion!”

“We have to teach her how to be a proper lady!”

“She is the princess, she has to hold up appearances!”

My gaze wanders from Chloe to Tisha and finally to Seria. Her eyes say everything there is to say. If I don't save her, all chance of being recognized as her father is gone.

“I'll take care of it, ladies.” I plaster a fake smile to my face and head over, picking up Seria together with the chair. I admit that I never expected that Tisha and Chloe would be able to restrain Seria.

Chloe blocks me from leaving. “Which guarantee do we have that you'll do something about her behaviour? She was rummaging through our private items. And she definitely wasn't doing it out of childlike curiosity!”

Ah! Perfectly normal behaviour for Seria. The first thing on her agenda is always knowledge about her relatives, preferably to be used for blackmail. “I'll talk to her. We are family after all. There is no reason to turn our bonds into a political war.”

I manoeuvre my way around Chloe, just to encounter Tisha. “She refuses to be taught her memory lessons. If she ever wants to regain all her memories, then she has to learn and train! Repetition is the only way in which it can be accomplished!”

Pursing my lips, I think of an appropriate answer. “Seria surely didn't mean that she doesn't want to learn at all. Nonetheless, I'll take care of that. Her mind will be as swift as anybody else's.”

I push past my mother and hurry to get away, feeling their glares stabbing into my back. If their eyes were real daggers, I would be dead.

For lack of a better idea, I head for the balcony which I find empty. I place Seria on the ground and remove the gag, not failing to notice the very complicated seal which is binding my daughter's magic. Tisha and Chloe didn't underestimate her, I have to give them that. Maybe they are even able to deal with her on an equal footing? Then again... it was two versus one... child.

“They hit me when I tried to flee! What kind of grandparent does something like that? They didn't even react when I played all my cuteness cards!” Seria calls out as soon as she is free.

I clear my throat and start removing the rope which is binding her. “They are steeled by a life in this world. If you remember your life as Legna, I am sure that you understand that such experiences produce hardy people, which doesn't mean that they don't love their family-”

I stop and after a few moments of silence I add, “In their own way.”

“And you turned out the same?” Seria asks.

Wincing, I shrug. “Hasn't Elona filled you in? We had quite some trouble to get to this point. And I fear that the story with Moonray isn't over yet.”

Seria squints her eyes. “No, Mom swooned over me and I had a hard time in getting away. Luckily I already have a brother who can be used as a distraction. Who is Moonray?”

I sigh and start telling her the story from my point of view. While doing so, the sky darkens and the city starts shining with her own lights. The crystal is providing its own light where it is needed. The old, medieval architecture is long gone and was replaced by modern buildings. Many rise several stories into the sky, but none come close to the palace with its four towers.

The streets are filled with busy people day and night. Most of our society's concerns revolve around agricultural problems like food production and waste management. A society which cannot allow anything to go to waste needs to put extra effort into recycling old stuff. Despite everything, we aren't at a point where being wasteful can be forgiven. Most other things are provided by our crystal technology.

A few determined individuals are already trying to get an entertainment industry going. Though it will be a bumpy ride until we can expect the first real movies from them. Elona showed me their first attempt and it was abysmal.

Nonetheless, I am sure that such problems are just a matter of time. As long as we stay in command as the absolute rulers, we can steer everything in the right direction. Our main concern is keeping the gods in check. Sure, our rule never stood in question, but Elona is determined on enforcing moral and jurisdictional values. She doesn't want anyone to be able to say that our great new world is a bad place to live in.

“That's quite the story. And you really think that the multiverse had a reset? Why? Don't you remember?” Seria asks after I finished my story.

I shrug and shake my head. “No, sorry. Not a single clue. Neither your mother, nor I remember the end. Maybe the multiverse simply ran its natural way and ended. There are theories that each universe has a limited lifetime.”

I decide to use the chance and clap my hands together. “So why don't we train together like in the old days? I'll teach you some techniques to train your memories. With my guidance you will be back to your old self in no time! I promise!”

Seria glares at me, wrinkling that cute forehead of hers. “You mean like counting Yggdrasil's leaves, or drawing perfect copy-paste pictures of him? There are machines for stuff like that!”

“But this multiverse doesn't seem to give you a free pass on your memories. There must be huge gaps in yours, don't you want to fill them?” I ask.

She looks up to me and squints her eyes. “Oh, but I remember. I remember the important stuff perfectly well, believe me. And those memories tell me that you owe me.”

“Ahem, yes. That's why I want to help you?” I answer.

An evil grin appears on Seria's face and she spreads her hands. “Hug me. At least twice a day!”

I fiddle with my fingers. “I am your father. A father shouldn't do that too often. Hugs with daughters are for special occasions. Anything else could have repercussions on my manliness. We have to keep up appearances.”

“Bullshit! A father can hug his children as much as he wants. Either you give me a lot of hugs or I will tell Mom!” Her expression turns defiant.

I try to play stupid. “Tell her what?”

“My memories took a few dents, but there are more than enough secrets in your past, and they still hold value if I spill them to Mom,” Seria growls, totally unlike a child.

I bend down and pick her up, crushing her against my chest. I feel my heart warm by doing this, but it also damages my image of being a superior father figure. After a few moments I ask, “Enough?”

“Hugs don't count if they don't last over a minute. Now. How do you want to go about this memory training?” she asks.

I bide my time to think about it. There are several possibilities and all of them are more or less the same. The main concern always lies in training your short-term memory to transfer memories more easily to your long-term memory. Ishaan's training involved a lot of counting and memorizing numbers at a glance. Elona's side of the family is training with pictures, creating something like a photographic memory.

Maybe a combination of the two techniques would be more interesting to Seria? She is a person who is easily bored. And we have to find another motive which actually interests her. Nothing against Yggdrasil, but the tree is boring. My gaze wanders to the big nature reserve right next to the palace. In its middle stands Yggdrasil, fanning-out above the city. The stupid plant is Doreen's pet, so we had no choice but to make room for it. Even though it is bigger than the palace. At least it is a good source of food. Eventually we will have to include one of those trees in every new city.

Then a thought strikes me. “Oh, I know! How about throwing some of the remaining slavers from our highest tower! You can try to memorize the patterns when they go splat in the courtyard!”

Seria sighs. “I think I'll pass on that. But I would like to see your new torture chambers and the laboratory. Maybe we find something interesting on the way.”

.