Chapter 318 – Re: Turning

Day 58

The morning passed quickly.

Returner showed up at dawn with information on the Elves and this Yggdrasil legend. They were still arguing about it, but he had convinced four of the twelve families to join him no matter what the others chose. It was around 300 elves, and they would be ready to move out in two days. As for the information Returner and Mail gathered, the summary was that Yggdrasil is supposed to be a tree that connected the nine realms through time and space and led their souls to the afterlife. It sounded vaguely familiar to him, from one of Earth's mythologies, but he couldn't place a finger on it right then.

After his morning coffee with his mother, he met everyone outside, then began to explain his plan to move the village to another world, using similar theatrics he had used with Chief Esseba. 

With help from Jean, Lina, and Sato, John screened the new arrivals. He split them into two lines, gave them a short interview, and assigned them temporary jobs around the village. There was some fear when he addressed them as an Ogre, but he kept his voice gentle, letting Lina do most of the talking as the pair of them interviewed everyone individually or in small groups, using Card or Scouter to verify everything. He wasn't expecting to find anything nefarious; he just wanted their honest thoughts. Sato did the same thing with Jean, taking down anything of note.

Oddly, a couple of the younger kids from the orphanage decided to use him as a climbing tree while he talked to their caretakers, which ended up with a bunch of laughter from the kids and astonished expressions from the adults. He decided one of the first things he would do once they were safely in HOTD was open a school for these kids and any others he managed to save along the way. 

After that was all done, Aqua and Riana showed up and guided him to the mana pool. It was time.

Unlike humans or other humanoids, Dorians had complete control of their bodies and didn't go into labour. He held her hand as she floated in the pool, her belly splitting open as both the power of the mana well and his ki flowed through her. Aqua cradled the glowing, translucent sac that Riana pushed out, then another, and a last one, allowing them to float in the pool. As the goo they were suspended in washed off in the magical waters, each showed a different colour: vibrant green, sun-kissed orange, and autumn red. Inside each was a small form about a foot long, its silhouette wiggling away inside.

"Normally, this would be when I would bind my daughter to a tree and walk away... but now... What do I do?" Riana said as her body reformed. Her hand was trembling in his, clearly out of her element.

She is used to having all this shared knowledge from her race to lean on. With whatever happened here, there must be nothing in that knowledge that would aid her, and that is making her nervous.

"Well, we can't leave them in these sacs... these are like amniotic sacs, right?" Aqua said, lifting the red globe out of the water and examining it.

"I have no idea what those are, but yes, they need to come out. I need to just break them open- Ooo... that took more out of me than I expected."  Riana replied, trying to stand up in the pool.

"Easy. I got you." He said, picking her up in his arms. Her face was flushed, but she was healed now, her belly back to its normal size with no sign of any stretch marks or belly fat from her pregnancy. Her breasts, however, were larger, with small amounts of milk trickling out of her nipples.

"Thank you. Here, Aqua. Hand her to me." She said, taking the red sac from Aqua's hands.

She cradled it to her chest for a moment, rubbing its surface with a hand bathed in magic. It slowly dissolved, revealing a small baby girl floating just above her. It wasn't a goblin, a dryad, or even a human, but some mixture of all three. She was a little chubby like a human baby, and her skin had a slight red tinge. Her eyes were closed so he couldn't see their colour, but her short hair was red like a maple leaf in the fall, with pointed ears like Riana's, and a small flower bulb with four rust coloured leaves on the back of her head. She was sucking on her thumb and making some sweet little grunts that babies make.

"She's beautiful." He said, his eyes blurring a bit.  

"She... she is!" Riana replied, gingerly embracing the baby.

"Aww... she is just so adorable!" Aqua added. She held the other two sacs in her arms, but John had eyes only for the woman in his arms and their new baby.

He didn't have any words right now, the reality of the situation hitting him like a ton of bricks. He was a father again. An eighty-four-year-old father. 

"Here, I'll take her and wrap her up. You still have two more to... release?" Aqua said after a few moments, casting a floating spell on the two sacs she was holding and placing them within easy reach of Riana before taking the little bundle from her arms. She pulled a blanket from her pocket dimension and wrapped the child on the edge of the pool, then placed her safely in a wooden box she had brought into the room to serve as a makeshift crib. 

Riana then performed the same procedure on the other two, revealing two other healthy little girls. The orange sac revealed a yellow-skinned baby with bright orange hair, with two flower bulbs on her head, each with three yellow leaves. Her little hands were making fists on either side of her head, and she made some cooing noises.

Finally, the green sac was dissolved, and their final child was revealed. She had the same light green skin tone and darker green hair as Riana, with a single bulb on her head and four green leaves. Unlike her sisters, one eye was half open, revealing a steely blue iris with a pearlescent sheen. It slowly blinked as it looked up at them... then closed its eye, opened its mouth, and started to cry.  

"Ahhh!!! What... what is this! Why is it screaming?!?" Riana said, looking worried at the little girl in her arms.

"It's okay, Darling. She is just hungry or is scared because of all the new things. Here, give her to Aqua to wrap up, then we can get out of the water and find somewhere more comfortable to meet our children." He said through watery eyes.

"Okay... I think I can stand now, but I would really like to go sit down." She replied, handing the green-haired girl to Aqua and standing up. 

"Don't worry. We will help you out today so you can relax. Momma." Aqua said with a smile. "By the way. Did you choose names for them yet?"

John and Riana shared a glance, the realization dawning on both of them at the same time: they hadn't even thought about names for their children. He could use Card to see their true names given to them by the gods, but that isn't what their everyday names should be. Before he could say anything, the girls joined with their sister and started to cry as well, their little voices echoing loudly around the chamber. 

"Heh, we don't. I guess we have a lot to talk about, don't we, darling?" He said. He then walked over to the crib, where his children were screaming, as the two women got dressed in the shallow part of the pool. He placed a finger on his green-haired daughter's hand that was stuck out of the wrap that Aqua had made. She grasped it, squeezing it tightly as she stopped crying.

He played with the three for a few moments, calming them down, before scooping up the baby burritos and cradling them in his arms. He followed the two women as Aqua helped Riana out of the cave, leading them back to the mansion. He had no idea what he wanted to name his children, but they would come up with something.

"WHAT! I-I-I-I need to feed them?!?" Riana gasped loudly.

"Well, of course. You weren't planning on stuffing grubs into their mouths like a goblin would, were you?" Aqua replied. "Were you not listening when the other women were giving you advice? What did you think that milk coming from your breasts was for? Feeding John?"

"Ahh... I'm really not ready for this..."

"No one is. Not for the first one anyway. That's what family is for." 

"First one? There are three! How did I even have three... What am I supposed to do when they cry? What if I can't get them to stop? WHAT IF THEY DON'T LIKE ME!?!"

"Heh, don't overthink it. They will love you. You're their mother after all."

"Just wait until you have to change their diapers... we only have cloth ones right now," John added with a smile as he rocked the babies in his arms. While his wife had done the lion's share of diaper duty in his last life, he still remembered doing middle-of-the-night changes on all three of their children so she could get an extra hour or two of sleep. Their first child had cloth diapers, but they'd switched the other two to disposables.

"Wait? They can't just go on their own?"

"Hah, no. We need to take care of them and see to all their needs. This might only be for a few days, or for as long as a couple of years, or even over a decade; We have no idea how they will age." 

"A d-d-decade?" She said, then rounded on him. "Y-You will be helping me, Mister! And never cum on my flower and pollinate me again without permission, do you hear me? No more babies for this Dorian until these ones... these... aww... they are so cute... and she has my hair... what was I saying?"

"Nothing at all, dear, nothing at all." He said, smiling down at her. Apparently, baby brain was a thing with her race as well.

Day 60

"These. My grandchildren?" Angel said, holding the red-haired baby in her arms. It looked up at her with sparkling green eyes, cooing happily at meeting her.

"I believe that is what they would be called to you," Riana said, holding the orange-haired one to one of her breasts, feeding her while talking with Angel. "I'm still trying to get used to this and all these new concepts."

"You got it," John said, bouncing the green-haired girl on one knee gently as he rubbed her back. She made a cute 'wawawa' noise as he did so, then let out a loud burp that stank of milk.

"What. Are their. Names?"

"You're holding Pyra. I have Citra, and John is holding Rayna... Hey! Stop bouncing her so hard! Aqua will get after you again if she catches you doing that!"

"Hehe, yes dear," John said, cradling the now burped baby and taking a drink of his coffee. 

It was kind of funny how things had turned out. Aqua had turned into a mother hen, chasing him and Riana around at all hours of the day and making sure the kids were being well taken care of. She would snap awake whenever he got out of bed to deal with a crying child at night, and rushed out of the room before he or Riana could.

The six of them were losing sleep... well, five were anyway. Ee seemed to be able to sleep through a thunderstorm.

Without bottles or pumps, he couldn't feed the babies himself, but he could at least do the diapers if that was the only problem. After the second feeding last night, Riana had just fallen asleep on the floor of the kids' room, letting the rest of them have an undisturbed few hours of sleep. With just a burst of his Ki in the morning, she was right as rain, so that seemed to solve their problem for now. 

I'll put a couch or bed in there for her to sleep on later... we will get the kids on a schedule soon enough, but for now they will need her nearby.

He had other duties to take care of, but he promised himself he'd make time for them every day when possible. Like today, he brought the family along to meet with Angel for their morning coffee. This body's mother was slowly improving, becoming less guarded around him as time passed. Pyra cooed happily in her arms, which brought a warm smile to her face that he hadn't seen on her before. 

Shortly, they both had work to do with the elves, but until then they could relax and enjoy some family bonding time. That was more important to him than anything else happening in this world.

Day 62

"The roll call is correct. We are ready." Returner said, bowing her head to John as she floated in front of him, Aqua, Riana, and Mail.

"Thank you, Returner. Please, take your position." He said, then surveyed the people arrayed before him.

Arranged in the field before them were sixteen ogres/half-lords, twenty-four hobgoblins, one hundred and sixty-nine humans, five hundred and ten elves, and surprisingly, four hundred and twenty-three kobolds. The doglike bipedal people joined them along with half of the elves, willingly submitting to his rule as the dominant power in the region. About half his people were armed and ready for combat against the zombies once they arrived in their new world. Many still didn't understand exactly what was about to happen, and frankly, neither did he. This was a gift from DEN, from the director himself, a reward for stepping into the realm of divinity.

He looked across his people, recognizing a few faces, but for the most part they were strangers. He nodded to Chief Esseba and Chief Hark, the leaders of the elves and Kobolds respectively. Hark had tried to introduce him to one of his daughters last night, but John had shot that idea down immediately. They looked like actual dogs and not beastfolk, and even Little John wasn't into that idea.

Jean and Lina were in front of the humans, the leaders of both the people and the budding church to him. Both were heavy with his children, along with another ten human women behind them, and would probably give birth within a week of their arrival on Earth.

Finally, Kichi stood in front of the goblinoids; the giant ogre led the smallest but most powerful members of his people. Kia and Mia stood beside him; the two ogre women were his advisors and actually seemed to control things in the background. Mia's belly had started to have a bit of a baby bump, which made John smile, as it was proof the goblinoids were not cursed to be completely needing to breed with other species to survive. 

Mi, Ee, Sato, and Ruby stood on either side of his group, guarding them and his children. He still hadn't taken it beyond some kissing with them yet, but he had accepted all four of them as partners going forward. 

What a weird world this was. I gained an astronomical amount of power here, grew my family, even had children, but I have never been so happy to leave one of these worlds before... I'm still pissed that I lost my leathers to that damn bear. I really liked those. At least my Substance X container survived, not that I need it, but those closest to me will. 

Casting a last glance over at his three babies, he turned and addressed the crowd. "My people! I will now cast a spell that will put you and this village into a type of stasis. You won't sense time passing, so in a few moments, you will arrive in another world. I will do my best to make sure the region around us will be safe, but be ready just in case." He shouted, silencing everyone. 

He then pulled out the scroll that Xiaolin had given him, and funnelled his mana into it. It ignited in a burst of white light, the energy bubble expanding outwards from him in a flash. 

Just as quickly, the light subsided, leaving him and Aqua alone on the barren plot of ground that had been part of the farm a moment ago. In his hand was a miniature of the village, no larger than his palm. He stuffed it into his pocket, then took her hand. "You ready to go?"

"I guess, but I can't help thinking I'm forgetting something." She said, squeezing his hand.

"Me too... but it will have to wait for another day now. Revert." He said, then pulled her in for a kiss as a human. He still towered over her, but at least like this they were closer in size. And they didn't need to worry about poking each other with their horns.

She returned it eagerly, and the two of them made out for a few minutes before breaking apart, happy to be alone again, even if only for a few moments. 

"Okay. I'm ready."

"Great! Xiaolin has a vacation plan for us, so we will have a couple of days off before we go to another world."

"You still want to do that...thing?"

"Yes. I have to... I'm tired of the nightmares."

"Alright... I'm with you."

"Good. DEN RE-"

"WAIT!!!! DON'T FORGET YOUR CONCUBINA!!!" A voice shouted, and a weight slammed in between him and Aqua.

"TURN! Pande? Where have you-" He tried to say, but the world turned black and white, turned sideways, and disappeared in a veil of blackness.