I still felt overwhelmed by everything going on. Rudy chose all three of us! He openly suggested a marriage with three wives all at once, but he has something even more important he wants to talk about!? I struggled to think what he could possibly want to talk about in this situation.
"Is there... a fourth?", Roxy questioned. "It's Linia, isn't it?"
"I wouldn't mind", Eris responded. She seemed surprisingly OK with the idea. Perhaps even excited at the thought.
"What? No.", Rudy answered.
"Ariel?", Roxy guessed again.
"No! It's not another woman!", Rudy said with a little exasperation. "Follow me and I'll explain everything."
The three of us followed in silence. I can't speak for Roxy and Eris, but I was quite nervous about what he wanted to tell us. Rudy led us downstairs into his basement where the faint glow of the large teleportation circle illuminated the room. He knelt down and made some configurations to the circle. He effortlessly modified the stone carvings of the circle with great precision. It was comforting to see him using magic like he used to. To me it felt... normal, even if I knew that Rudy was anything but.
"Where are we going?", Roxy asked.
"To my room at the University's research lab. I just want to go somewhere quiet and private."
I stepped into the glowing circle, along with everyone else. Our surroundings changed in a blur; we were now in Rudy's lab where he often spent his days working with his friends Cliff and Zanoba.
Rudy pulled some chairs away from a workbench that was littered with papers that were covered in scrawlings of complex magic circles and armor designs.
"Oh."
He seemed to notice that we were short a chair; there were only three in the room. He reached down and formed a stone stool with earth magic. The stool was simple - three legs and a seat, but the speed and ease at which he did so was humbling. Rudy sat in the stool while the three of us each grabbed one of the chairs to sit in, turning them around to face him.
"I'm sure you're all wondering what it is I have to say. The truth is, I've been wanting to tell each of you for years, but I wasn't sure how you'd respond. I kept telling myself that you probably wouldn't believe me even if I did tell you, but that's just an excuse. The truth is that I'm afraid of losing you. Each of you... I've always been.
"Ugh! Just come out and say it!", Eris snapped at him, clearly annoyed with the way Rudy was dancing around the topic, whatever it may be.
"Right, sorry... I guess I'll just come out and say it then... I've come from the future. I've traveled back in time."
...
"From the future?", Eris was the first to break the silence and respond. "What do you mean?"
"It's hard to believe, but then again you have no reason to make up such a story", Roxy added.
"Why would you travel back in time?", I asked him.
"It's a very long... and honestly tragic story. It all started when Hitogami had caused Roxy to fall ill with a deadly disease known as Petrification Syndrome. In a desperate attempt to save you, I had traveled to Millishion to learn God-Tier detoxification magic. They weren't going to give it to me willingly, but Cliff knew where they kept it hidden, so he helped me steal it. Thankfully Luna had helped us escape with our lives after we made it out of the cathedral, but Cliff had been poisoned. On the trip back to our home in Sharia, Cliff had died."
I couldn't help but gulp when I heard him say that. I know how much Cliff means to him. He's Rudy's closest friend.
"Even worse, by the time I finally made it back home, I was too late. The disease had progressed and Roxy had died as well."
Eris and I looked over towards Roxy when he said that. She didn't say anything, but she looked uncomfortable.
"After Roxy's death I was a complete mess- totally unredeemable. Sylphy did everything she could to try to cheer me up, but I turned to booze instead. I started getting drunk constantly. Eris came by to chastise me every once in a while but I would just get angry thinking she was nagging at me. I had turned into a real piece of trash."
"Don't say that Rudy. You were just mourning Roxy's death."
"That's true, but it's no excuse for how I acted towards you and Eris- towards everyone. Even Norn and Lilia got fed up with my antics and stopped talking to me. All I was doing was feeling sorry for myself, not realizing that I wasn't the only one hurting. Eventually, even Sylphy gave up on me after we had gotten into a big fight, entirely my own fault I should mention.
"I would never!", I protested.
"You put up with far more than you should have."
"I don't care what happens, I would never give up on you!"
Rudy wiped away the tears from his eyes before he continued.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe you never did give up on me. I probably just didn't understand, but... in the end I never got to apologize to you. After our fight, you had left to follow- well... a mutual friend of ours. It got you mixed up in a fight between nobles. By the time I found you, you had been killed. I don't even want to describe how I found you..."
Rudy clenched his fists in anger as he said that. His knuckles had turned pure white. Just what fate had befallen me?
"It was after I lost Sylphy that I really spiraled out of control. I don't like thinking back on the person I had become. I killed people. A lot of people. Hitogami showed up in my dreams again and taunted me about your deaths. I made a vow that I would kill him."
"For a while, my newfound determination to kill Hitogami actually helped me get my life back on track, if only just a little. It gave me a purpose; killing him had become my only purpose in life. I spent my days researching ways to become stronger. Zanoba and I worked together to develop magic armor, similar to the set I have now but more of a far simpler model. I also researched new magic spells, particularly those that would be useful in combat."
He paused his story for a moment to take a deep breath.
"My search for a way to reach Hitogami led me to a meeting with Demon King Atofe."
"Is she like Badigadi?", Eris asked.
"Kind of. She's his sister and shares his immortality. She's a master of the North God Style and is a much better fighter than Badigadi though."
"Wait, is this the person that you fought in our dreams?"
"Yeah, that was her."
"Your dreams!?", Eris shouted. Roxy looked quite perplexed as well. "You guys shared the same dreams?"
"Um...", I paused, thinking of how to explain what happened to them.
"That's another story. We can explain that later", Rudy answered, saving me from having to explain it myself.
"My meeting with Atofe had turned sour and I ended up fighting her alongside all of her personal guard as well. Eris ended up taking an attack that was meant for me and getting killed in the process."
"There's no way I'd die that easily", Eris retorted.
"You're underestimating just how strong Atofe is. It wasn't until you died that I realized how you really felt about me."
"Well, I've told you clearly now."
"Yes, you have. I'm glad you did; I can be pretty dense sometimes."
All three of us nodded in agreement when he said that.
"Things were even worse by the time I came back home. I found my mansion burnt to the ground. A group of temple knights had discovered where I lived and attacked while I was away. Zanoba, Ginger, Julie, and Aisha were all killed."
At some point I had started crying as well. I unintentionally gasped when I heard Rudy say Aisha had been killed. The thought of poor little Aisha being burnt alive popped into my head. I'm going to have nightmares tonight for sure.
"By then, just about everyone I had cared about had been killed. Those who hadn't had fled long ago and I had no way of knowing where they were or if they were even still alive. I didn't bother looking for them though. My presence would only put them in danger - at least that's what I told myself. From that point onwards, I had become a truly terrible person. I was bitter and hateful. I would attack people at the slightest provocation; people's lives had lost their meaning to me."
The person Rudy was describing sounded like a complete stranger. I couldn't even picture him that way even when I tried. It sounded more like he was describing the tragic backstory of a character in a book.
"Over the decades, in my search to find a way to reach Hitogami I discovered ancient dragonfolk ruins that, among other things, described how the First Dragon God had developed magic that allowed one to traverse through time. I've long thought that no magic exists in this world that could bring back the dead, but the idea of traveling back in time... seeing all of you alive again... I had to make it work."
"I took Nanahoshi, who had become a true master when it comes to teleportation and summoning magic, to the ancient dragonfolk mural to help me in my research. Eventually, the two of us managed to tweak the spell in a way that we thought might work. I intended to go back to a specific point - the day before Hitogami's deceit caused Roxy to fall ill. However, the magic didn't work how we had expected. When I opened my eyes, I found myself reverted back into a newborn version of myself, held in my father's arms."
"So you basically reincarnated as your former self", Roxy said while looking deep in thought. "In one way it actually makes a lot of sense. It explains how you were able to master magic to such a degree at so young of an age."
"Well, that's definitely part of it, although I was considered a prodigy even in my first go around. It was all thanks to me having such an excellent teacher. But yeah... that pretty much sums up my story. From that point on you guys know what happened."
It was a lot to take in. Rudy - the same Rudy who I've always known, was actually from the future and had already lived a whole life with us once already?
"I need some time to digest all of this", I said quietly. "It's just so much all of a sudden."
"I think I understand", Eris said as she nodded her head like she was a sage of wisdom. "But, I don't see what any of that has to do with me loving you."
"Yes", Roxy said in agreement. "To be honest, I always knew there was something strange about you. The way you acted, even as a young child, you were not only a prodigy unlike the world has ever seen when it comes to magic, but also never acted like a kid. I always felt like you seemed more mature than most of the adults. It was always you that had control of the situation. I'm glad you told all of this to us; it helps me understand you better. But in the end, it's just as Eris said, I love you, time travel and all."
When Roxy put it that way it helped to calm my nerves a little. She's right. Rudy is still Rudy. The Rudeus I've known, the same one who saved me from the bullies, who taught me magic, who we all fought to save in the labyrinth... he's always been the same Rudeus - The Rudeus who I fell in love with. I need to be clear about my feelings just like Eris and Roxy were.
"I love you too", I said with determination. "Your story is a lot to take in, but it doesn't change how we feel."