A Tale After Four Lives 8 Chapter 8: Neighbors

Alex heard knocking at his front door, "Who could that be, I just got here and I already have visitors", thought Alex as he went to get the door.

Opening the door Alex saw a man and a woman in front of him. Looking at the two Alex couldn't help but think they looked familiar but he just couldn't place his finger on it. The man wore glasses and was kinda scrawny with brown hair and eyes. If Alex were to describe him he could only say that the man looked very average. The woman wore a white shirt and a blue dress, she had long brown hair tied into a ponytail that reached her waist and vibrant brown eye's. Alex thought she was quite pretty and with her bulging stomach, there mas a maternal air around her which made her look like a very gentle person.

Staring at the two stranger's Alex just couldn't help but think where he had seen these two people were, coming up with nothing Alex thought it would be best just to greet them. "Eh, hello. May I help you?" asked Alex.

"Hahaha, well we couldn't help but see somebody finally entering this house, so we were just curious to meet our neighbor." said the man, while smiling.

Alex was confused for a second before he smiled and replied to the man, "Ahh, I see, well come on in, but I'm afraid I won't be able to offer you much hospitality. My name is Alex by the way"

"Oh, where are my manners I'm Gorou Hyoudou and this is my wife Miyumi," said Gorou with a smile. Alex suddenly froze, "Fuck no wonder I recognized these two, there Issei's parents and the baby must be Issei if I'm not mistaking. Well either that or it's one of the lost ones" Alex thought.

Seeing Alex stop moving Gorou couldn't help but ask worriedly, "Mr, Alex is something wrong?", "No, no and please just call me Alex", said Alex as he leads the two to his living room. "Then you can just call me Gorou," said Gorou, "And me Miyumi" Gorou's wife chipped in giving a warm smile. "Very well," said Alex

...

In the living room, Alex sat down with Gorou and Miyumi sitting opposite him sitting on sofas. "So, Alex what brings you back to Kuoh town, having been gone for so long you must have come back for a reason?" asked Gorou, Alex thought for a moment before replying, "I have been traveling the world, going to new places exploring untreated forests and mountains, It's just along the way it started feeling empty, it was no longer as fun as it was before. That's when I realized I missed home and decided to come back, unfortunately, a storm hit the ship I was on and we capsized somewhere in the Atlantic ocean."

"That's horrible," Said Miyumi coving her mouth in shock. "Indeed," said Gorou with a serious expression before smiling "how did you manage to come back?". "I was lucky when the ship capsized I blacked out and woke up on a drifting piece of the haul, I stayed on that piece of wood for a long time and just as I couldn't take it anymore I saw a ship. At first, I thought I was hallucinating but even if I were I didn't care because I would die anyway if I didn't get help so I swam with all the strength that remained in me and to my luck the ship wasn't a hallucination," said Alex as he lied through his teeth with a straight face.

"Well, were just happy nothing happened to you or we would never be able to meet our neighbor," said Gorou while scratching the back of his head. "Mhmm" Miyumi agreed with a smile.

"Now, why don't you tell me a little about yourself, or more preferably this little miracle resting there?" asked Alex as he pointed with his eyes at Miyuki's stomach. "Ha," Gorou' gave a sad laugh and looked at Miyuki's stomach with a hopefully gaze, " We have been trying to conceive for a long time, having had two miscarriages this will be our third and final attempt" continued Gorou. Miyuki's eye's turned red as tears threatened to come out.

Alex face turned soft as he heard them, "Don't worry, it will be fine this time all you should do is believe and pray honestly and everything else will be fine." he consoled them. "Your absolutely right," Gorou said with renewed vigor and Miyuki smiled as she looked at Garou then turned to Alex and said, "Thank you".

Alex's eyes suddenly glowed for a split second while the couple was rejoicing which caused both of them to calm down as their eyes glossed over and became dull. Alex stood up and walked towards Miyuki before kneeling in front of her then started talking to her stomach, "I guess I'll help you this time you little shit, in return, make sure you grow big and strong as to protect those that you love. Don't disappoint my little shit.", with that Alex place his hand on Miyuki's stomach and mumbled a word, "praesidium", a light came from Alex's hand and entered Miyuki's womb.

"That will protect you, though not very strong it will at least keep your life force from dissipating while also staying with you after birth. Unfortunately, it won't protect you from your predetermined death, but if I were to stop that the future would be too unpredictable and I fear I would be doing more harm than good," said Alex as he returned to his seat. He sat down and everything returned to normal the couple rejoicing as if nothing happened.

...

After talking for some more, the couple finally decided to head home. Alex leads them to the front door and waved them goodbye afterwords.

Returning into the house Alex couldn't help but frown as he looked at his dust-covered home, feeling ashamed that he had company while his house was in such a state. With a snap of his thingers, a tiny tornado started running through his house sucking in all the dust and spider webs while leaving everything else untouched. After that Alex went upstairs and entered his room.

From his pocket space, Alex pulled out a transparent crystal that shined in white light. "Ahhh, an elemental crystal or more precisely with this one a light elemental crystal," thought Alex as he stared at the crystal, "They are known to be created by highly concentrated elemental energy and are usually used as catalysts to either very powerful magics or certain specific magics. They are also known as some of the hardest things in existence" thought Alex as he clenched his fist crushing the crystal to dust, "Well maybe that last part is a bit exaggerated".

With the crystal dust, he started meticulously drawing a magic circle by poring the dust.

Chapter end