"These new abilities…." Cleo hesitated for a moment before continuing to speak.
"Are they from your mother's race? Actually, do you know anything about your mom?"
The woman who bore Duke Peterlor's child was a mystery to even those in the upper echelons of the Earth Federation.
There were simply too many hidden races and species scattered throughout the universe who could successfully produce a viable offspring with a human.
It helped that the human genome structure was perhaps one of the most unique among the different races as it seemed to absorb the DNA of foreign species without any side effects.
Some hybrids were actually created by injecting or modifying different genes of an unborn fetus rather than from a natural birth.
"Cleo…. I wish I could tell you, but my dad told me to keep it a secret at least for now," Sophie bowed her head and whispered.
"He did tell me a little bit about how they met but I feel like he left out a lot of private details."
"I… honestly don't know how I feel about my mom."
"What do you mean?" Cleo squeezed Sophie's hand gently as she could tell that her girlfriend was struggling to get her words out.
Sophie could feel the warmth of Cleo's palm and the words that were trapped in her throat suddenly rushed out.
"Well I've been hearing stories about how great and powerful my mom is from my dad and other people but…. it's almost like hearing about a legend rather than a person."
"I've never seen a picture of my mom. I've never hugged her or even heard her voice."
"A small part of me even resents her for not being a part of my life for so long. Though I know that it might not have been possible because of her race."
Sophie could not help but tear up as a surge of emotions overwhelmed her.
She understood that her mother being an Insectoid could not be known publicly as the duke's wife.
She did not know the circumstances that parted her parents as her father had remained silent on that matter.
But even still…. what girl did not want to at least be held in the soft embrace of their mother?
Sophie had buried these emotions as she thought that it was selfish to blame her mother for not being in her life but facing Cleo's concern, it all came flooding out.
"Sophie… Sophie look at me," Cleo furrowed her brows and forced the hybrid girl to stare into her eyes.
"Shall I tell you a story?" she whispered quietly.
Sophie was a bit confused, but she nodded slightly which caused Cleo to take a deep breath and begin telling her tale.
"There was once a little girl who lived in a far away castle with her mother," Cleo's hands trembled softly but she pressed herself to continue.
"Now the little girl and her mother were both royals, but the king had no need for either one of them."
"They were abandoned and left to be forgotten. The girl cried for several days but her mother was always by her side and eventually she started to become happy once more."
"The girl's mother would tell her stories every night about far away kingdoms and wars, about magical beasts and demons who fought against brave heroes."
"But the girl's biggest hero was her mother who was always by her side."
"Eventually the girl was given a test and the results proved that she was a special child who could control mechs."
"The treatment of the mother daughter pair was improved greatly but the king still would not visit them."
"His daughter did not mind as she felt that her mother would forever be by her side."
"If only her mother had not turned into a different person."
"The changes were not overnight, and the daughter could not notice any differences until months had gone past."
"At first it was just the small things…. her mother was a bit more impatient and she seemed to sleep less and less."
"She started to talk to herself which caused the daughter to seek the help of the royal healers, yet they all said that nothing was wrong."
"Her mother became stricter and harsh. She rarely smiled and refused to interact with her daughter outside of brief lectures."
"The daughter was convinced that her mother had been placed under a spell, but no one seemed to believe her."
"Or rather no one in the kingdom cared."
"Every night the daughter would try to heal her mother with rare herbs and medicines, but nothing worked."
"Eventually even she could no longer handle the verbal abuse and violence that her mother used to mock her relentlessly."
"She gave up and wondered if her original mother had just been a childhood dream."
Cleo bit her lips and stared off into the distance with a nostalgic look on her face.
This was the first time that she had opened up to anyone about the suffering she had gone through over the years.
No one in the palace had trusted her words.
They all called her a liar.
"I'm sorry," Sophie did not know what else to say.
She could not imagine her loving father turning into a person that hated and abused her.
She got up from Cleo's lap and wrapped her arms around her saddened girlfriend as a gesture of support.
"Don't worry…. I will always love you," she promised solemnly.
Cleo could tell that Sophie was very upset and outraged on her behalf which made her love this gorgeous hybrid girl all the more intensely.
"Look's like we both got mommy issues," Cleo giggled as she planted a soft kiss on Sophie's forehead.
"Maybe we should start taking turns spoiling and pampering each other like real mamas," she said with a wink.
"Call me 'Mommy Cleo' when we are alone."
"Ewww that's fucking gross!" Sophie replied but she could not prevent the corners of her mouth from lifting up.
The mood lightened quite a bit after Cleo's joke and the two girls fell into a comfortable silence.
"Alright it's getting pretty late. Let's sleep for a few hours and wait for the secret realm to kick us out," Cleo broke the silence and yawned sleepily.
The ground was hard and very painful to sleep on, but Sophie had mastered the art of falling asleep, so she had no trouble drifting off.
Cleo solved the problem by crawling into Sophie's arms and resting her head on the two soft and fleshy mountains.
Cleo could not help but give one of the two peaks a firm squeeze as some not so innocent thoughts surfaced in her mind.
Maybe Sophie's new hunting mode could be very spicy in the bedroom!
(The next day)
"Just three more hours to go!" Cleo remarked cheerfully as she checked the timer on her wristband.
The girls were now trekking through the open desert in high spirits as they had not come across any significant challenges in their journey.
They had only encountered small groups of robotic dogs that Sophie had swiftly dispatched with her spider appendages.
Most of the students that had crossed paths with the two girls were actually pretty cautious so both parties simply avoided one another and went in opposite directions.
"Hmm… is that an oasis up ahead?" Sophie's golden eyes darkened as the scenery from several miles away suddenly became enhanced.
"I could use some water," Cleo wiped some sweat off her brow as the heat was particularly high today.
Cultivators tended to have greater resistance to hot and cold temperatures, but qi body and spirit cultivators were not capable of ignoring it entirely.
"Sophie!" came a happy cry from behind a nearby sand dune.
Poor Sophie did not have any time to react before a large mass of fur slammed into her body.
Lick! Lick!
Sophie found herself under the assault of the over enthusiastic greetings from a Mendolesa girl who was very pleased to find one of her best friends.
"Stupid mutt don't just a use a teleport spell and go on ahead," an exhausted Qiana raised her hand to half heartedly wave as she took a few minutes to recover from rushing over.
She seemed to be in good spirits as her clothes were not torn or damaged from any fights, but Sophie could smell the faint tang of blood from the dagger on her waist.
Qiana had always felt… weird.
Sophie could sense that her cultivation base was higher than this quiet girl and yet she could not shake the feeling that Qiana was hiding part of her strength.
"Um… Astrid could you please get off from Sophie?" came the polite request from Cleo who was now smiling gently at the Mendolesa girl.
Her piercing green eyes focused on the sides of Sophie's cheeks that were now covered in saliva and a subtle expression crossed her face.
Astrid decided to ignore this wicked woman who had stolen away her best friend.
Cleo continued to smile harmlessly but the air surrounding her had gotten noticeably colder.
Astrid halted her movements as her beast instincts suddenly warned her of some impending threat.
She glanced at the princess who was still smiling, then made the wise choice of getting up and helping Sophie to her feet.
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