Crusade – Chapter 89: Upsetting the Balance

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With Caethya still holding her hand, Aperio appeared in the main hall. Away from the throne. She had no desire to be seen as the new master of the freed people before her. If she was honest with herself, she did not truly wish to speak to them at all. 

The All-Mother sighed slightly. The chance that they saw her as their new master simply because she killed their old one was there, and she did not like it one bit.

Laelia was the first to notice her arrival, letting out a breath as she gestured towards Aperio; the cluster of freed slaves she had been talking to turned around. It only took a moment longer for the general chatter to die down as the rest of the ex-slaves followed suit and turned.

Letting go of Caethya's hand, Aperio took a step towards the crowd, causing a few of the freed people to take a couple steps backwards. Her shoulders dropped slightly at the reaction, even she should have expected it.

Even if they had not seen how she had slaughtered the army, they had all witnessed the impact she had made with her landing — had all been teleported by her. Why those things frightened them was not something she could claim to understand, but neither did she know what they had been through.

She might have once been a slave, but it was very obvious that, even when she was a mortal, her mind had always worked differently than those of other people. For some reason she had never been broken like the others — did not know for certain what the mortals in front of her felt.

"My name is Aperio," she began, lightly inclining her head in greeting. "Most of you have likely never heard of that name. But, it is not the only name I have."

She did not know if Laelia or Ferio had told them about her, but going by the murmurs of the mortals she suspected that many of them were indeed unaware.

"You may have heard of the All-Mother — the Creator. That is me." She paused for a moment, waiting for a reaction that did not come. "During my absence, things that were never supposed to happen...did. Now it is my duty to correct those mistakes.

"Your master is dead," Aperio said after a moment, her eyes flicking over each and every mortal in front of her. "He cannot reach you here, nor will I allow the followers of his house or Goddess entry to my home. Should you wish to stay here, you are welcome to; should you wish to leave, you need only tell me where you wish to go."

A few of the ex-slaves moved to bow or kneel at the words, an action that caused Aperio's brow to furrow. "I do not expect your worship, nor am I your new master. There will be no slaves in my home."

Her last words were accompanied by a flare in her aura, the wave of mana washing over the mortals in front of her. Pieces of jewellery, bracers, and greaves fell free from the people in the crowd, and the clanging of metal as it fell to the floor filled the room. The runes on them had not survived the teleportation, but removing them seemed like a good gesture that those present in the room would better understand. Even if it is only symbolic.

"You do not have to fear for your freedom," the All-Mother continued, trying to restrain the power in her voice at least a little. "Not anymore."

Aperio had not noticed the slight shake of her hand, and it was only when Caethya gently took hold of it that she realised she was trembling. She spread one of her wings behind the Elf, gently resting it against her back. At the moment she did not care that it might harm her image as the All-Mother. Quite the opposite in fact; if it helped the mortals see her as something closer to their own, she would welcome it.

There was a moment of silence before the crowd erupted into frantic murmurs. Aperio used the time to reach out to her daughter. Ferio had not been near Laelia or the freed slaves when Aperio had brought them to her home, and it was only now that she remembered to reach out, to ask if her daughter was all right.

The All-Mother knew where her daughter was, a wandering thought having procured the information from a deeper part of her mind. Ferio was in her temple, alone in a room at its heart. I am a terrible mother…

Even if her daughter did not reply, she could still know how she felt — a few of her emotions flowed back through the link Aperio had opened with her mental query. Her shoulders only dropped further as she felt a small fraction of Ferio's sadness — her pain.

The All-Mother gave her daughter another small mental nudge, trying to convey her own feelings with the mana she used. Whether the attempt had succeeded or not, she did not know but Ferio did show a reaction; the smallest of smiles tugged at her lips. A moment later the Goddess of Life and Light disappeared from her temple, the trace her magic left behind filling Aperio with the warmth of Ferio's Dominion.

Does she want to be alone? Aperio would grant her daughter the wish; when Ferio was ready to talk, she would come back. She can enter my home, right?

A quick mental query to her favourite tree confirmed that, yes, Ferio was allowed to enter Aperio's temple as she pleased. Another confirmed a hunch that the All-Mother had: Roots could take care of most of the temple on its own. It had only needed a bit of help from the All-Mother to get going again.

"Your holiness," one of the mortals called out with a shaky voice, the woman shrinking as the All-Mother set her eyes on her.

"You are free to call me by my name, I am not very fond of titles."

The woman swallowed slightly, looking at the people beside her for strength. None of them spoke up, leaving her to be the one that would talk for their group.

"A-Aperio, my Lady," she said, wincing slightly as she added a title despite being told not to. "What are we supposed to do?"

The All-Mother tilted her head slightly at the question, her wings twitching slightly. "Whatever you wish to do. I am not your master or anything of the like. You are free."

Her words fell on deaf ears, only a few of the ex-slaves seemingly understanding what she meant. The woman that had asked just look lost, tears forming under her eyes as she slowly fell to her knees.

Aperio frowned at the reaction. At first she had assumed that the woman simply needed more time to understand that she was free, but now the ex-slave was looking at her with pleading eyes, almost as if she could not live without receiving a command from her.

A gentle squeeze of her hand caused the All-Mother to direct her gaze towards Caethya. Her disciple gave her a reassuring smile as she lightly inclined her head towards the crowd, and a small prayer urged her to approach them.

After a moment's hesitation, the All-Mother did. Folding her wing back behind her back so as to not accidentally topple Caethya, she took a couple of steps towards the crowd. Aperio did not quite understand why her disciple wanted her to approach them as most of the mortals seemed to be scared of her.

Nevertheless, she continued onwards, trying to appear as non-threatening as she could. Or is this more threatening? She was not sure how her approach appeared to the mortals. The magic she was using to steady herself, her body still using the recently retrieved pool of mana to improve itself, the slow steps she was taking because of these factors — what was the impression they were getting?

Did they think she was coming to take their souls after they failed to submit themselves? Or did they think she had injured herself by freeing them? In the end, how she appeared to the mortals mattered little. Aperio would not change how she looked. They would learn that she was not like the other Gods or their masters. She would not change who she was to fit whatever mold the mortals had made for her.

Lowering herself in front of the kneeling Human, Aperio very slowly stretched out her arm and brushed away the tears on the woman's face. The All-Mother was not sure what Caethya expected her to do and neither did she know herself what the correct course of action was. She simply did what felt right to her in the moment.

A small mental query towards Roots caused the lights in the hall to shine slightly brighter as a few of the runes embedded in her temple came to life. The mortals around her started to look around, trying to figure out what was happening.

The one who currently knelt in front of the All-Mother tried her best to remain calm, but Aperio could her the frantic beat of her heart, the rapid breaths she took. A thought sent a minuscule amount of her mana through the woman, looking for anything that might be off. She could not find anything aside from a few old injuries that had not healed properly, something her mana fixed in passing after a small nudge.

"I am not your new master," Aperio said slowly. "I do not expect your devotion or gratitude, only that you live a life you enjoy."

The confusion of the mortals around her died down as various foods started to appear on tables spread through the hall, courtesy of Roots. The tree was also kind enough to remove the last pieces of broken furniture the All-Mother had left behind. Aperio herself had no desire to eat any of the banquet's offerings, but she hoped that it would at least show the freed slaves that receiving care was not something that required their servitude.

How long she would grant them hospitality in her home, Aperio did not know, but she knew how she still felt about her captors — how her mind drifted on its own to places she did not want to go. The mortals would need time and help, both of which she intended to give them until they could care for themselves once more.

The first pieces of a plan started to form in the back of Aperio's mind, and the All-Mother gave the slave in front of her a smile as she withdrew her hand. "I do not expect you to know what to do right now. You are free to stay here for as long as you need."

Standing up, Aperio vanished from where she stood, reappearing next to her Scion. "Laelia," she said, a small touch of her magic preventing their conversation being heard. "I have a proposition for Mister Penbrooks, and would like you to convey it."

"You want his establishment to move here, do you not?" her Scion asked, turning slightly to face her Goddess.

Aperio nodded in reply. "I do, yes. They might have experienced what I did, but it is obvious that I am not affected by it in the same way most of them are." She lowered her head slightly, looking at her hand as a few arcs of her mana danced between her fingers. When next she spoke, she mumbled her words. "What makes me so different?"

Her Scion did not respond immediately, her eyes flicking between the group of freed slaves and Aperio. "You are the Creator. Comparing you to a mortal is a foolish thing to try; your mind works in ways that do not compare to ours, or even that of the Gods.

"I know that there is more to your past that you have not shared," Laelia continued, glancing at Aperio's disciple. " Your aura has been much calmer ever since you brought her here. I think you should talk more with Caethya. Perhaps she can help you understand yourself."

"Perhaps," Aperio agreed, setting her eyes on the Elf in question. She had started to talk to the freed slaves, clearly taking demonstrative samples from each food item before the others would begin eating. Do they think it is poisoned?

"Your daughter did not take your departure well," Laelia said, shifting slightly as she brought the topic up. "She tries to help, but you keep pushing her away. I cannot claim to know what you have been through, but please. Let us help you."

Her Scion gestured to the mortals in front of them. "How you feel about them is how we feel about you. You want to help them, but they push you away — don't trust you."

"I try," mumbled Aperio, a part of her noting that no disgust was present as she prepared to say her next words. "I am not perfect. I barely understand why I feel the things I do. But, that is not an excuse. I must do better." Be better.

"We are all simply worried, Aperio. Even Brenia." Laelia waited for a reply that did not come. Then, after noticing the portal that had silently formed behind her, she sighed. She stepped through it, giving her Goddess a last look before it closed.

But what can I do better? Aperio thought to herself as she appeared on her throne. She did not know how she could magically make herself trust others more. The only one she somehow could speak more freely with was Caethya. But why? Ferio knows more about all of this than she does…

The All-Mother loved her daughter, but could not bring herself to broach the same topics as she did with her mortal disciple. A part of Aperio's mind continued to try and figure out the why behind her feelings as another set itself to building or finding a portal the mortals could use to freely leave her temple.

On the fringes of her perception she had to grimly note how every single slave she had freed had calmed as soon as she had sat herself in her throne. Almost as if everything was back to how it should be. She despised the idea so much that she considered removing the throne right that moment but, in the end, she decided against it.

It was something her old self had made and, perhaps more importantly, was a chair she could actually sit in. The mortals would learn that she had no desire to command them — no desire to own them. That everything in existence was still connected to her in one way or another was pointedly ignored.

GamingWolf

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