System's POV - Chapter 1373
Chapter 1373: Evacuation Plan
“You’re sleeping in a different room tonight?” Stella asked.
“Yes,” Thirteen replied. “The aphrodisiac should be out of your system by now, so you’ll be fine.”
He also wanted to avoid mishaps that could and would happen if he kept sleeping with Stella. The past two days were an exception, as they needed to be together to counteract the effects of the aphrodisiac.
Thirteen deemed that it was now time to part ways. He had no plan to wait until Stella accidentally woke up in the middle of the night, only to discover that a big baby was suckling her.
“Undertood.” Stella smiled faintly. “Goodnight, Zion. Goodnight, Tiona.”
“Goodnight, Stella,” Thirteen replied.
Tiona flicked her tongue twice at Stella as if bidding her a good night as well.
Thirteen then moved to the room right next to hers, which gave the young lady some peace of mind.
As he closed the door behind him, the teenage boy could finally sigh in relief.
The meeting between him, Stella, Camazotz, Euphemia, Yogi, and Poh was quite intense since he didn’t hold anything back.
He explained the situation on the continent, as well as the movement of the Celestial Armies, which were now nearing Olympus.
Euphemia was very smart and easily understood the gist of Thirteen’s plan. She even commented that the young man was very bold to attempt to do such a thing, but that she was also very thankful that he didn’t hide anything from her.
The teenage boy lay down on his bed, closed his eyes, and replayed the scene of their meeting earlier.
———
“Isn’t this bad?” Yogi asked.
“It’s not bad,” Poh replied. “It’s very bad!”
Yogi and Poh felt anxious after learning that a Celestial or Fiend might come knocking on their doors very soon.
They immediately proposed an evacuation plan to ensure everyone’s safety, but Euphemia raised her hand to calm them down.
“Our Ancestor knew that this would happen, so she left us all a path of escape,” Euphemia said. “Inside the temple is an ancient portal that will allow us to traverse great distances to arrive in a place she deemed the safest for our people.”
“Such a thing exists?!” Yogi’s eyes widened in shock. “What are we waiting for? Let’s order an evacuation right now!”
“Calm down, Yogi,” Poh commented. “If you blurt something like, ‘Enemies are coming! We have to escape now!’ the people will panic. The evacuation must be orderly, so we can properly prepare what we need—like food supplies and other necessary commodities. After all, we’ll be in for a journey. Isn’t that right, Euphemia?”
Euphemia nodded. “That’s right, Poh. We’re a good distance away from the mainland, so even if a Celestial or a Fiend, along with their armies, are on their way, it would take them a while to reach this place.”
The beautiful woman then glanced at Stella and Zion before telling them something important.
“If both of you have no plans to go anywhere, can you please accompany us to our destination?” Euphemia inquired. “We’ve been living in the Fortunate Isles for thousands of years, so we have no idea what the outside world is like.”
Stella glanced at Zion since he was the one who called the shots on their journey.
The teenage boy pondered for a bit before agreeing to Euphemia’s proposal.
“Why not?” Thirteen replied. “I’m also curious about where the portal of the temple leads to.”
Hearing his reply, Euphemia smiled widely. Truth be told, she felt a little anxious about the world outside the Fortunate Isles.
She was confident that she, Yogi, and Poh could easily protect their people from harm. No one could defeat them unless the opponent was a Fiend or a Celestial, whose powers greatly surpassed theirs.
What she didn’t know was that there was another reason Thirteen agreed to accompany her and the beastkins of Fortuna City to their destination.
The White Crane and the two Bears had shown them great hospitality.
Even when they realized that Thirteen and Stella had come to their domain to take the key in order to stop the Celestials or Fiends from acquiring it, they didn’t think of taking it back to be used as a bargaining chip for their safety.
Their conviction and honor were something that the teenage boy respected.
Because of this, he decided to accompany them and make sure that the new location they would call their new home was a safe place for them to live.
After their meeting ended, Euphemia, Yogi, and Poh discussed how to declare their evacuation plan to their people without causing too much chaos and panic.
Since their succeeding actions were not really their business as mere guests, Thirteen, Stella, and Camazotz bid their farewell and retired for the night.
“Time to visit the Domain of the Apocalypse,” Thirteen muttered.
He had been too busy as of late, so this was a good opportunity to talk to Metatron and inquire about the events that were happening in the places he couldn’t see.
When he arrived at the Domain of the Apocalypse, he immediately saw four ladies waiting for his arrival.
“Zion!” Princess Aracelle immediately pulled him into her loving embrace and kissed his head. “I’ve missed you.”
“It has only been a few days since we last saw each other,” Thirteen commented.
“I still miss you. Is that a bad thing?”
“No. I missed you, too, Aracelle.”
Naturally, Sherry, Princess Xynalia, and Shana didn’t hold back and also gave their lover a few quick pecks on the lips and cheeks.
Erica was nowhere to be found as she was doing something in another place.
Fortunately, she wasn’t there because after greeting Zion, the four ladies immediately noticed something. Tiona felt it too, so she slithered away, as if to escape something that she had already seen coming.
“Zion, where did you get this?” Shana asked as she gently caressed the kiss marks that Stella had left on his neck.
Thirteen blinked once, then twice, before realizing that he had made a mistake.
Under the suspicious gaze of his lovers, the teenage boy coughed lightly before answering their question.
“Something happened in the Fortunate Isles.” Thirteen began his tale. “The Guardian of the Divine Key played a trick. She trapped Stella and me inside a room, which was fully scented with aphrodisiac.”
He didn’t mince his words and told them everything that had happened.
If Vincent were in his place, the self-proclaimed Love Master would have said that he was bitten by a big mosquito and would try to play it off like a fool.
Thirteen was different.
He was the System of Cannon Fodders, and understood that most problems that could be avoided all started with a simple “misunderstanding”.
These same misunderstandings would turn into distrust and would then change into suspicion.
After that, the relationship between people would crumble, which would lead to dire consequences in the future.
As someone who had personally witnessed all of that and more, he knew that coming clean was the best option to do in this kind of situation.
“Wait… you slept with her?” Princess Aracelle asked.
“I slept with her in the literal way,” Thirteen replied. “We just slept together. I didn’t do anything else.”
The four girls exchanged glances before looking at Zion with a smirk.
They had been with him for a very long time and knew all of his sleeping habits. Although he didn’t do anything to Stella when he was awake, the same couldn’t be said when he was asleep!
“Zion, did you wake up with your head on her chest?” Shana asked, her voice so sweet that it reeked of honey.
“I did,” Thirteen replied.
“Then, that confirms it, right?” Princess Xynalia smirked. “After all, you are a big baby.”
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Princess Aracelle asked in a teasing tone.
“I have no excuse,” Thirteen replied.
“Did she notice?” Sherry asked, her face beet-red as she asked this question.
Thirteen didn’t answer right away. He carefully pondered if there was a chance that Stella might have discovered his secret.
“While I am not a hundred percent certain, her actions told me that she’s still unaware of my sleeping habits,” Thirteen answered. “So, I decided to sleep in a different room tonight to avoid complications.”
“That is a good choice.” Princess Aracelle nodded. “You’ll be sleeping here tonight with us, yes?”
Seeing that the four ladies were looking at him like hungry lionesses who had found a juicy piece of meat, he decided to follow the tip that was written on the notebook that Vincent had given him.
“Of course,” Thirteen replied. “I would love that.”
All the ladies liked his answer, and just like a long-awaited promise, they made sure that he would feel so loved that he fell asleep with a faint smile on his face.
———
A/N: There is a chance that I will be admitted to the hospital. For nearly two weeks, I have been suffering from minimal pneumonia, and after two rounds of antibiotics, I still don’t feel any better.
My doctor said that if the heaviness in my chest persists, I should go to the hospital to have it properly checked by specialists. He added that there is a high chance that I will be admitted there, so that they can monitor the situation.
So if I am unable to upload any chapters, you guys already know the story. It just sucks because I don’t want to spend my Christmas in the hospital.
Only one chapter tonight. Sorry, and I hope you understand my suffering.