Laelia tapped her fingers on the hard wood of the desk as her eyes scanned over the letter she had just received. Ferio's Ocussuary had captured yet more of Epemirial's forr followers as they tried to set up a ritual to sink one of the islands. Fucking insane zealots…
The thought was both for the mortals that had tried to kill everyone on that island and the knights Ferio had let loose in Ebenlowe. They might be good at their job, but the Ocussuary were not re guards. Usually, the Goddess of Life and Light would use them to break open heavily fortified positions or send them to clear out a dungeon that had gone haywire.
As the leader of Aperio's church Laelia had also contributed forces to secure Ebenlowe, not that they had many at the mont. At least the ones we do have are in a league of their own. How Maria's father had managed to get that many high-levelled people to rally to their cause was beyond her, but she welcod it nonetheless.
Even Kairo got his gear out again… The proprietor of the house of healing had once been a part of Tuvmi Mitschi, travelling the world to go into the deepest dungeons for the sole purpose of healing the adventurers they found there. It was a dangerous prospect even if your entire party consisted of various fighting healers.
"Thank you," she finally said, giving a nod to the aide that had been patiently waiting while she read over the letter. "Tell them that we will send soone to look at the ritual site." Laelia sighed. "Maybe this ti we will find sothing."
Another prayer to Aperio went unanswered and the [Scion of the All-Mother] shook her head. "Where are you?" she asked nobody in particular, standing up from her desk.
A few steps brought her to the shelf that took up an entire wall in her office. Laelia's fingers nimbly flew over the spines of the books until they landed on the one that held the list of mages in her employ. If her Goddess would have answered her prayers, this problem would've been taken care of already, but Aperio had remained quiet since she had killed most of the known Pantheon four days ago.
She was not dead, Laelia knew that. Not only because Aperio was her Goddess, but also because both Roots and Ferio had told her as much. The All-Mother apparently chose not to speak with them for so reason. Probably has to deal with so divine bureaucracy. Laelia did not envy her Goddess in that regard. She had been dealing with Ebenlowe's convoluted laws for a while now and was still nowhere near understanding them. The only reason she had gotten anything done was thanks to so connections she had made during her ti as a paladin for Vigil, as well as so generous help from Lord Terenyk.
"Maybe I should visit Maria again," the Scion mumbled to herself as she flipped through the ledger, looking for soone who was still available while also suitable for the task at hand.
The girl had not taken well to her prolonged absence — even if it had only been a couple of days — going as far as to bla herself for it in her worst monts. Luckily that had not happened in a while since Brenia took it upon herself to explain the working of divine bureaucracy to her new friend. Surprisingly enough, she had done a better job at that then Laelia. At least the Scion assud as much, as Maria had been a lot happier since.
Her eyes stopped on a na she had not seen in ages. One that had almost made her throw her life away in a futile attempt for vengeance. When did Inerlius co back?
She had almost started a fight with Aperio to figure out where he was, and now the idiot just appeared as a mage in her books? …Why did he not tell ? They had been through a great many things as paladins of Vigil but, more importantly, as friends. If it wasn’t for Ira, Laelia would have perished fighting the literal creator of the universe in an attempt to figure out where he was..
A swipe of her finger caused the na to glow and a small piece of parchnt to appear in her hand. With a rather loud slam the to holding the nas of the mages in employ of the Church of the All-Mother hit her desk. The noise was quickly followed by the sound of a quill scraping over parchnt in angry swings. Inerlius would do the job she gave him and then report to her. Tell
why he never spoke to .
She had invested a non-trivial amount of resources searching for him since she had beco head of Aperio's church. Lord Terenyk had not objected to her endeavour either, once she had told him who he was and why she was searching for him.
"I still have your ring," Laelia grumbled, grasping the small gold ring that hung from a chain around her neck. "That's not a promise you break."
She tugged the piece of jewellery back into her clothes and adjusted the still-too-heavy bow she had slung across her back. It did not have a na — even the bowmakers she had shown it to could not find anything suitable — but it was certainly a good weapon.
The first ti Laelia had managed to actually use it with any degree of competency, she had accidentally destroyed a part of Aperio's temple. Luckily it had repaired itself and the All-Mother herself had either not noticed, or not cared. Why did she even give this to ?
She shook her head as she pushed the thought from her mind. Why the All-Mother had given her a weapon that could likely wipe out a city on its own was an issue for later. For now she had lunatics and a lost… friend to deal with.
Aperio tilted her head as she placed yet another rune into the infinite complex that was the System. The flow of mana changed a little in accordance with her addition, the part she had just changed now looking a little less broken. There was a certain asure of calm that ca with fixing the System, sothing she sorely needed right now.
She would never be able to forget what she had seen — not unless she killed herself again — but perhaps that was for the best. It had shown her that there were dangers to making soone into a God; dangers she apparently had known about and had led her to do sothing else before.
Sothing with this, Aperio thought as she turned the armlet around her bicep slightly. She had an idea as to what her old self had done; why the piece of jewellery felt so ancient. Aperio was almost certain that her old self had destroyed her first attempt at creation but had kept the armlet as a nto. How could you cram an entire …everything... in an armlet though?
"Feeling better?" Caethya asked as she ducked past a few solid projections Aperio had created in order to better understand the System. "You feel a little calr, at least."
The All-Mother offered a small shrug, the motion still a bit exaggerated by her wings. "I am trying to fix the Classes," she said, pointing at the complex of runes in front of her. "It doesn't quite make sense to , but I think I know how to fix it."
"Because of the new mories?" her disciple asked, setting herself down next to Aperio.
"Probably.” She wrapped a wing around Caethya, pulling the Demigoddess a little closer as she squinted at one of the runes she still did not understand. "So of it still makes no sense, however."
"There are a great many things that don't make sense, Aperio."
She turned to look at Caethya. "Yes, but a System based on rather basic logic should not be one of them. Especially not when nearly all of existence depends on it."
"I wouldn't call the System simple." Her disciple shrugged. "The music players we have on Verenier are simple, this'' —she gestured towards the various projections that floated around Aperio— "is not. You made sothing that enables everyone to achieve almost everything they could ever want. Definitely not simple."
"What it does is not simple, no," Aperio agreed. "How it does that, however, is." She moved the section titled 'Classes' closer to herself and her disciple, slowing the projection down so Caethya could actually see what was happening.
"All it does is look at what a Soul did in the past." Aperio began pointing at the relevant sections as she spoke. "Then, it checks what this specific Soul is good at doing." A thought caused the section in question to light up slightly. "And after that, it is supposed to generate a number of Classes that matches the Soul’s past actions and aptitude and present them to the mortal to choose from."
"What about that part?" Caethya asked, pointing towards a small, still-broken section the All-Mother had left out. "I recognise 'Title' in there."
Aperio tilted her head slightly as she inspected the part her disciple had pointed out. She knew most of the runes that made up the segnt, but what exactly it should do was still beyond her. "Offer better Classes based on the titles you acquired, I would assu."
She made a pulling motion with her hand, the broken section leaving the greater complex and becoming a little larger so it could be better inspected.
The runes for 'Title' and 'Reward' were clearly present and linked. There was, however, another rune that piqued Aperio's interest. It was mostly broken, parts of its taphysical ink seemingly having been washed away. Still, the rune was familiar to her, almost looking like the one she had seen upon gazing upon the System's space for the first ti.
It was composed of multiple parts, four of which were undoubtedly supposed to be in perfect symtry to each other but were sohow broken, as parts of it were clearly missing. The golden colour of the middle section of the rune shimred ever-so-slightly whenever Aperio focused on it a bit more, almost like the kaleidoscope of colours in the space beyond reality, but fragnted. Broken.
Aperio did not know what it ant — at least not fully — but it gave her a feeling that was close to when she had thought she had found her Domain. Just that strive isn't it, and that I probably don't have a Domain. It made little sense, at least to Aperio, for the creator of everything to have one.
"Do you know this rune?" the All-Mother finally asked, a thought creating yet another projection. This one showed the rune Aperio had first seen when she had looked at the System. "It feels familiar, but I cannot recall what it ans."
Caethya tilted her head as she looked at the rune, mirroring the All-Mother as they both stared at the projection. "No," she finally said. "I don't know that one, but I do know one that looks similar."
A projection appeared next to Aperio's, this one a little more crude. "Sothing like that," Caethya said, her eyes fixed on the floating rune she had made. "I just can't make it clear for so reason. Almost like the world doesn't want it to be there."
"Is it because of mine?" Aperio asked, moving all the projections she had made away from Caethya's own. Nothing changed. "Or not."
"Like I said, it's like the world — or maybe your Void — doesn't want it to be there." She offered a shrug. "Not that it matters. This one represents sothing like Ascension, but I was told that it's not an actual rune and the aning is only an approximation."
"Who told you that?" Aperio asked, letting so of her own mana flow into the projection Caethya had made, taking it over from her disciple. She frowned at the feeling that took root at the back of her mind. There was sothing about it that she could not quite place. It wasn't like the nudges of ethereal knowledge that used to co to her — those had been all but absent after her stay in the obsidian sea — but more akin to sothing foreign trying and failing to enter her mind. Failing to talk.
"One of the professors at the Ahl Ghave Academy," Caethya replied as she leaned herself against Aperio. The All-Mother let a touch of her mana flow through her disciple, just in case trying to show her the rune had done sothing to her. "I'm sorry, but I don't rember his na."
"That's okay," Aperio replied as she dismissed the projection and produced a piece of parchnt instead. She was about to draw the rune in question when she lowered the quill that had just appeared in her hand. The projections Aperio had made of her System also faded, the link they shared with the actual System severed so her actions would no longer influence it. Not as easily, at least.
"I don't know why," the All-Mother said, shifting slightly, "but this feels… wrong."
"The rune?"
"No," Aperio replied, her shoulders and wings slumping a little. "Everything I’ve done after… killing the Accused. I'm still angry — I think — but I also feel like I need to do sothing besides sitting in my Void." She sighed. "But where should I even start? Sohow undo the brainwashing of the billions that followed them without using the sa thods they used? Go to Verenier and deal with that slaving empire?
"And how would I even do that?I doubt everyone there believes in what they do. How many just do what they do because they have no other choice? Should I just go to their capital and kill the ruling family? What good would that do, if they simply fall back into their old ways as soon as I stop killing everyone who does sothing bad?"
Aperio let herself fall onto the nothing of her Void. "Should I try to make the System govern this? I’ve already made a directive that says Gods should not tamper with Souls; why not also make the System give out the consequences?
"Because that would never cover all possibilities," Aperio said, answering her own question. She moved to cover her face with her hands, a pillow appearing just before they hit. The scream that followed was muffled but still caused Caethya — and the Void itself — to shudder slightly. "Why does every choice I make lead to… to whatever this" —she gestured at the countless projections she had made— "is supposed to be."
She remained silent as her mind began to wander; trying to trace the sothing at the back of her mind. It brought doubt to her mind as well as the promise of an answer; one she already knew but simply could not recall. All she needed to do was figure out how she could grasp it. Take it. Pluck it from its incorporeal strings and make it her own.
She felt Caethya lying down next to her, placing her hand on her stomach and moving it in slow circles. The motion — comfort it brought — caused Aperio to close her eyes. To relax. To see.
Oh, Aperio, Caethya thought as she laid herself down on her side, placing her hand on her love's stomach. It was not the first of her spirals into depression, and would likely not be the last, but so far none of that had changed how she felt about her Goddess.
"This cald you down from murderous rage to questioning yourself," Caethya said as she propped herself up a little more on the nothing to better look at Aperio’s face. "You even managed to fix almost all of the Class subsystem, aside from that weird rune. Maybe returning to Verenier is best for now. I bet Maria would be happy to see you; we haven't visited her in a while."
Aperio sat up, her wings scooping Caethya into her arms as she did. A mont later the comfortable nothing of Aperio's Void was replaced with air rushing through Caethya's hair and the sound of her Goddess' wings spreading behind her.
The Demigoddess now found herself held in a bridal carry by Aperio, floating high above Vetus. She shifted a little, placing her hand on Aperio's cheek. "So you made a choice?" she asked, brushing away an errant tear. "Going to visit Maria?"
"Yes," Aperio replied, setting down on an invisible sheet of mana. She let Caethya down as well, draping a wing over her and taking her hand. "I was away long enough.
"I don't an the last few days," she continued, preempting the Demigoddess' question. "I disappeared millennia ago; left everyone to their own devices because I thought that would sohow fix everything. As if my ddling would undo itself if I left." Aperio heaved a sigh, the space surrounding the two of them rippling slightly as she did. "I said I would fix my mistakes, so that is what I will do."
Caethya was about to speak when another, stronger ripple ran through reality. "My first… action," Aperio said, giving Caethya's hand a squeeze, "is the return of Classes."
"You fixed it?" Caethya asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked at Aperio. "How?"
"I rembered," she replied. "Sort of." A wave of her hand caused a giant rune to appear in the air in front of them. "You know how I never figured out if I had a Domain or not?" Aperio asked, only continuing after Caethya gave her a confused nod. "I thought it was sothing like striving at first, and just a few monts ago I thought that I did not have one.
"I still think I don't," she added, "but when you showed
that rune — when I tried to make it myself — I felt sothing was wrong. It felt like it was trying to enter my mind. Like I do when I send you my thoughts." The words were accompanied by a string of thoughts and mories; what Aperio had felt during the brief mont she had tried to create the rune.
None of it made any sense to Caethya, the knowledge racing through her mind far beyond her understanding. Even the world she now rembered, perceived through Aperio's senses, was not sothing she would even recognise. And yet, despite all the distractions, Caethya could feel the slight tug at the back of her mind that Aperio had felt. A silent voice that stirred her doubt as she tried sothing that should not work, and another that tried to correct the course.
Neither could enter Aperio's mind, or seed to know how she felt; they were rely… there. As if the All-Mother had made them herself for this express purpose.
"How does that make you rember a rune?" Caethya asked, furrowing her brows as she took a step closer to Aperio and took both of her hands into her own. "And what does it do?"
"It doesn't," Aperio said, offering a small shrug. "Not really, at least. Realising what I should do just helped
sohow. When I laid down and you talked to
I just kind of did… nothing. I stopped thinking for a mont, and there it was." She nodded towards the rune floating behind Caethya. "Not an answer or a solution, but a sign of change. Technically, I still don't know what it ans. Just that it is an on. Kind of."
"A good one, I hope," Caethya said, turning slightly to look at the rune. The longer she looked at it the more she wanted to not do that. The rune seed to twist in on itself, the golden parts shimring and shifting whenever she tried to focus on them. "Because it actively gives
a headache."
"I'm sorry," Aperio said, the rune disappearing from Caethya's vision. "I had thought you wanted to see the correct version."
"I did, but I also did not think it would be as weird as that space beyond reality…" Her voice trailed off as Aperio brushed a few strands of hair out of her face, brushing her thumb over her cheek as she did.
"It doesn't have a na," the All-Mother replied with a small smile. "I just call it the beyond, and I am sorry for giving you a headache. Again." A touch of mana accompanied her love's words, taking away the pain that had settled over her mind.
Caethya let out a breath and lightly shook her head, undoing the work Aperio had just done with her hair. The All-Mother frowned slightly, a touch of her magic brushing the strands behind Caethya's ears again.
"It's okay," she said as she turned to face Aperio fully again. "It didn't hurt much and you took care of that, too. I am more concerned about how you rembered it while still not knowing what it does."
The All-Mother offered a small shrug. "It does not feel wrong, or evil, and my instinct has not been wrong on things like that since I returned. I chose to trust it, just like I trust you and, I hope, you trust
in return.”
"I do trust you," Caethya replied, stepping closer to Aperio and wrapping her arms around her. "But I still worry. I know it might be silly, but the idea of you getting hurt because of this rune won't leave my mind."
The All-Mother wrapped her arms and wings around the Demigoddess, picking her up in a smooth motion. The hug that followed was just shy of too much for Caethya, but she responded in kind nonetheless. Even up here, far away from anyone else, it was still hard for Aperio to show how she felt and Caethya would not pass up on this gift of a mont.
"I will be fine," Aperio said, her voice nothing more than an ethereal whisper as she lowered herself down towards Caethya. A small shiver ran down the Demigoddess' spine as their heads gently made contact with one another, the ever-shifting eyes of Aperio becoming the center of her vision. She could feel the soft tingling of exchanged magic on her face. Even if her love did not know what this ant, Caethya did. "I have you, after all."
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