Reincarnated in the Astral World

Arthur suddenly remembers all the times his mother was talking to him about Astral beasts. She taught him that there are two major sources of power that people can harness, the first being the power of lineages, such as Draven's and Aria's, which give them the potential for Warrior training or Magic.

The second, though much rarer, can overcome human limitations, such as talent and bloodline; that's the Astral Beast. Such creatures are connected to their masters through their souls, forming a bond during Awakening.

No one fully understands the Astral Beasts, and Aria is one of the most accomplished scholars in the area. She believes that Astral Beasts are the manifestation of their master's personality, talents, and lineage, just as Draven has a golden lion due to his heroic disposition and pride.

Aria, on the other hand, has an owl as her Astral beast, a manifestation of her calm, protective, and inquisitive personality. That made a lot of sense to Arthur, but he always wondered why his Nexus is a pink heart. After all, what kind of Astral Beast is that?

When Arthur finally sees some reaction in his Nexus, what appears in front of him is a cute little girl.

'it can't be..' He finds it hard to believe. 'Could she really be my Astral Beast? But all signs point towards it. The Pink heart, horns, little bat-wings, and tail with a heart-shaped tip. From my memories as Liam, weren't these beings called Demons? Not just any demons; she looks just like a Succubus.'

As Arthur muses in his thoughts, the little demon is looking at him calmly, as if waiting for him to finish, while hiding her private parts with her hands. Eventually, he awakens from his thoughts, remembering that he is in the bathroom where anyone can enter at any time.

"Hey, little girl, are you really my Astral beast?"

"I don't know!" She quickly exclaims with a cute and shy voice, seemingly as confused as he is.

Arthur tries to speak again. "I don't even-"

"I don't know what I am." The girl responds quickly. "I also don't understand why things are like this..." She looks downcast as she avoids looking into his eyes.

Arthur can feel a mixture of emotions in the tone of the mysterious girl. 'She seems really confused...and lonely?'

As Liam, he never cared about other people's feelings because all empathy was taken away from him from a young age, but Arthur had loving parents who taught him to have empathy for everyone in need.

"Everything will be fine," He speaks in a confident tone with a warm smile, deciding that there's no point in acting cold towards her anymore.

The girl instinctively smiles as she feels her heart warmer. 'His voice really calms me down…'

She starts to feel better, but then she notices that she is completely naked, turning red in embarrassment, and cannot help but shout.

"D-Don't look at me!!!"

Arthur tries his best to cover the little demon's mouth, however it is too late, as before he could even make a move to silence her, his fears came true.

"Arthur???" Aria's voice echoes through the hallway outside the bathroom.

"Mother?!?!" He responds immediately, struggling to hide his worried tone.

"Is everything okay?" Aria's voice sounds even closer and more concerned. "I heard a female voice..."

'I fucked up this time,' Arthur starts to panic while thinking of a solution.

"Uhh.. No.. there wasn't." He stammers a little as no excuses come to mind.

"Son?" Aria becomes really worried and heads straight to the bathroom.

Arthur doesn't like to hide things from his mother, but how is he going to explain this situation? He is aware that he is different from any other child his age, and adding up the even weirder Astral beast, he is afraid his parents might see him as a freak and distance themselves from him.

Doing the only rational thing his mind can think of, he whispers to the little girl, "You have to go back!"

"No!" The girl replies with a pleading look."I don't want to get back there alone..."

"I can't let my mother find you here, not now." He urges her again to return to his Nexus.

Contrary to his wishes, the girl turns her face away, acting stubbornly. "I don't care about your problems!"

Arthur really doesn't understand the girl. She seemed upset about coming out of his Nexus, and now she's upset about having to go back. But she also has a cute side, so he can't bring himself to hate her.

Arthur tries to search in his past memories for how to deal with a girl like that, but poor Liam has no such experiences to share.

'Think, think, think!!' Arthur tries to put his mind to work as fast as possible. "I got it!"

He looks directly into the girl's eyes as he pats her head. "Listen, little girl. This is only temporary. You can come out as much as you want in the future as long as it's just the two of us, but I really need you to hide for now."

The girl ponders for a few seconds, after which she replies. "Really?"

"Yes, now go, we don't have time!!" Arthur starts to feel irritated with how much coaxing the girl needs.

*Knock-knock* *Knock-knock*

The sounds of Aria knocking on the door feel like hammers breaking Arthur's heart, as if this didn't work, he has no more ideas on how to salvage the situation.

"Arthur? Darling??" Aria's voice echoes inside the bathroom as she starts to open the door. "I'm coming in."

Arthur sees the doorknob turning and sighs. 'It's over; she'll see me as a freak...'

Aria's entrance cannot be stopped, and as soon as Arthur sees his mother's beautiful face, he tries to put on the most honest and innocent smile possible.

"Mom?"

"Arthur??"

He is confused because he doesn't see any shock on his mother's face, just a little bit of confusion and concern.

"What happened?" Aria only sees Arthur in the bathtub with sweat running down his face, which is quite strange considering he should have taken a bath just now.

"Eh…" He looks around and doesn't see the girl anywhere. Even her smell has disappeared as if she was never there.

'My Nexus!' He remembers and looks down; then, he breathes a sigh of relief when he sees that the pink heart has returned to its usual place.

Arthur's reactions leave Aria very confused and curious. 'I've never seen him so nervous... what could have made him like that?'

She understands better than anyone how Arthur is much more mature than he should be at his age. He always acts in a calm and restrained manner, so seeing him in that state is very strange.

"Darling? Is everything okay?" Even knowing that something is wrong, Aria tries to act calmly to reassure him.

"YEP!" Arthur ends up exaggerating due to relief and exclaims very loudly.

"I mean, everything is fine, mother". He replies as he clears his throat.

Aria's gaze turns sharp like a hawk as she looks around the bathroom, analyzing everything carefully. Arthur becomes worried again, fearing her discovering something about the girl, and tries to think of an excuse. Then he remembers that his mother heard the girl's voice.

He quickly has an idea. "You also heard voices?"

"Voices?" Aria asks in a curious tone.

Arthur tries to maintain his innocent expression while feeling bad for lying to his mother.

"Yeah, I heard voices," He pointed to the bathroom windows. "I think it was a couple passing by on the street; the girl seemed to be quite upset about something."

Aria can't deny that his story seems very real, after all, the only open window in the house now is the bathroom's, so the sound of the voices could have come in through there, and she heard it even being far away due to her sharp senses.

"Hmm…" Yet, Aria feels her maternal instincts telling her that something is wrong. 'Why would my son lie to me?'

Arthur becomes very nervous, but now he can control his emotions and remains cool inside while smiling lovingly at his mother. He doesn't like lying to her, but a small lie is a valid sacrifice in order to continue having the life he has with his beloved family.

Aria can feel that something is wrong, but since Arthur seems fine, she doesn't have anything to worry about. So she looks at the window with a thoughtful expression. "The girl did seem upset; I think I heard her yell more than once."

Arthur can sigh with relief again. "I guess so." Aria then gives him a stern look. "Some men can only think about their selfish needs and don't treat their girlfriends well..."

"What??" Arthur can't help but think about the mysterious girl. He didn't do anything bad to her, but he hopes she isn't upset with him. Yet, Arthur fully trusts his mother, so if she is saying that it was the man's fault, it probably was.

"Arthur," Aria speaks in a loving but also solemn tone. "Promise Mommy one thing."

"Sure, mom." He replies as he looks into her gorgeous eyes.

"Never be like those men who mistreat women," She asks. "When you have your girlfriend, treat her like a Queen, and she will always treat you like her King."

Those words are etched in Arthur's heart and mind. After losing his family, the thing he fears the most is disappointing his parents. So he swears to his mother that he will treat women well even if he is unable to understand them.

"Sure, Mom!"

"Good boy," Aria lovingly smiles at him and kisses him on the cheek.

But then her gaze finds another thing out of the ordinary, and she can't help but comment. "Oh my, you're growing up so fast..."

Arthur understands why his mother is saying that and quickly covers his member with a towel. "Mom!?!"

Aria can't help but continue seeing him as her beloved baby and smiles teasingly. "What's the matter? Are you ashamed of your Mommy? After I washed your body hundreds of times?"

Thanks to Liam's memories, Arthur is more grateful than anyone to have such a loving mother, yet he can't help but feel extremely embarrassed by that situation. Aria enjoys her son's reactions, but she doesn't want to torment him too much and leaves the bathroom.

But not before leaving some words behind. "It's okay if you take a little longer in the bath; I bet you have things to explore there..."

"..." Arthur has no response to that.

He feels very good teasing and mocking his father, but Aria always manages to make him embarrassed. Well, that can't be avoided; that's a healthy relationship with his loving mother.

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