Crusade – Chapter 93: Audience

With her back against Roots, eyes closed in the ocean of flowers, Aperio waited, her mind's eye keeping watch over Caethya, Maria, and Laelia. She did not know when the God of Knowledge and Love would receive her letter, or if he was able to actually visit her island. Maybe telling him 'above Ebenlowe' was not enough?

When her attention was suddenly shifted away from her followers and the newly-freed mortals by a subtle pressure in the back of her mind, her worries about Ediscio not showing up were squashed. A moment later, the All-Mother sensed a presence a few paces away from the land that made up her flying island.

The man that floated there was undoubtedly Edisicio, the mana that flowed through and around him much purer than that of mortals. Still, despite this, Aperio could not help but scoff slightly at his weakness. The more Gods and Goddesses she encountered, the more she questioned how they could have ever killed her old self. She would need nothing more than a thought to crush the man where he floated; a blink of an eye to erase a God.

Aperio shook her head and wrapped a few threads of reality around the man. She shifted them, and Edisicio was brought through the fabric of space to be deposited into the ocean of flowers, a few steps away from her. He looked around for a moment, seemingly not believing that the All-Mother would simply sit in a sea of flowers, leaning against Roots. What did I do in the past when I had an audience with someone?

"You wished to talk?" Aperio asked, tilting her head slightly at the unwillingness of the God to start the conversation after having asked for it.

"Yes," he replied after a moment of continued hesitation. "There are a few matters I would like to discuss. If you find it agreeable, of course."

The All-Mother cocked her head to the other side, a touch of her magic stopping her hair from falling in her face. "If I did not want to talk, I would not have brought you here, no?"

She had expected a bit more from the God of Knowledge. At the moment, he seemed to her like a child that had broken something and feared the punishment of their parents. Not that those brats ever got punished for what they did.

"Of course," Edisicio replied, nodding hesitantly. "I was simply not expecting this." His words were accompanied by a gesture of his arms that seemed to indicate the flowery sea. "The last time I had the honor to be in your presence the arrangements were vastly different."

"Things have changed," Aperio replied, her wings twitching slightly as a careful touch of her magic adjusted the blanket covering Caethya. "But what, exactly, do you wish to discuss with me?"

"The death of Kereman Vinmaier and the fate of Ebenlowe."

Aperio remained silent for a moment, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at the God of Knowledge and Love. The breeze that flowed through her temple had vanished, the world shifting in accordance to the anger that slowly rose within the All-Mother. "Was he one of your followers?"

"No," Ediscio replied, his voice shaking slightly. The mana surrounding Ediscio shifted a little, the God drawing more from his own well. If you can even call it that. The reserves everyone else seemed to have barely qualified as a puddle to Aperio.

"How you plan to proceed will have an impact on a good number of my followers," Edisicio eventually continued, drawing more on his mana, likely doing it for comfort as Aperio sometimes did. "The Vinmaiers do not seem to be aware of the true nature of their son’s misdeeds and I fear that some of my followers might be caught in a confrontation."

"If your followers do not partake in such vile acts as the Vinmaiers, they have nothing to fear," Aperio said, a bit more of her power leaking into her voice. "I do not intend to let slavers run free when I find them."

The other God remained silent at her words, probably asking himself why she had not yet removed every slaver if she did not want them. Aperio herself did not know the answer to that. She did not want anyone to be forced and follow someone else's will, but enforcing a ban on slavery would be exactly that. But it is infinitely better than not doing it.

Edisicio tapped his chin, as he stared at a window the System had provided. The window had shifted for a moment, trying to hide itself from her view, before it seemed to notice who exactly it was trying to hide from and stopped.

What the God of Knowledge and Love was looking at was a map of sorts, one with various seals present. Aperio would have an easier time reading the screen if it was not somehow showing more than one world at once, overlapping them all to a mess that offended something deep inside her.

"Do you intend to change the System?" Ediscio finally asked, his previous hesitation gone. "The Repens Nabu will not like it," he mumbled to himself, not waiting for a reply. "But she already killed three of its members…"

"If there are more deities who have forsaken their duty like Vigil, Inanis, and Natio, they too shall die," Aperio said, a thought removing the window in front of Ediscio from existence. "I have ignored them for too long." Not that I knew of them before…

The other God looked at her, his eyes darting around as if he was trying to spot something off about her. Aperio tilted her head slightly, keeping her eyes fixed on the man. She did not know what he was looking for. The only thing she could think of was that he thought her an impostor. Can't he feel my mana? My strength?

To prove her point, she drew slightly more on her well, the wisps of her mana flowing out of her skin to lazily float around her form. As the slight glow of her skin became more pronounced, small, barely perceptible, lines of silver mana that she had not noticed before were visible on her exposed flesh, overtaking the spots that would usually be occupied by the blood in her veins. Is my blood even blood?

Aperio shook her head, a small flex of her mental muscles teleporting her in front of Edisicio, her wings slightly flared. The man had to look up to meet her gaze, the All-Mother easily standing a head taller than him. She could feel the mana surrounding him clinging to his skin, flowing more closely as he readied himself for a fight.

"Do not stare," she said, folding her wings behind her back and stopping the draw on her well. "It is impolite."

Ediscio nodded and took a few steps backwards, obviously not wanting to stand too close to Aperio. The All-Mother simply twisted reality apart again, appearing leaning against Roots a moment later. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

She had no particular desire to continue the conversation — if she could even call it that. Ediscio did not seem confident in anything that he did; always taking ages to think about his answer. Is he scared, or simply confused?

The branches above her shook a bit, Roots seemingly quite amused with the situation at hand. Aperio could only sigh. Perhaps I should not have done the teleportation bit…

She had intended to intimidate him a little, as the way he just stared at her caused her skin to crawl. Like she was something he had to figure out — had to dissect.

"My apologies," he finally replied, bowing his head slightly. "You are simply not as I remember, something that usually does not happen."

"Does the sapling not believe the Creator is who she claims to be?" Roots asked, its voice rumbling across the ocean of flowers. "Can you not feel her mere presence invigorating the seed of your divinity?"

Aperio titled her head slightly at the tree's words. Is that why Laelia and Caethya said they could feel it in their soul? …Though, Laelia did say she knew before that I was different, but that was because I punched a Demon. "Why send a letter if you were not sure that I was the All-Mother?"

"I was sure," Ediscio replied, his eyes shifting between the All-Mother and Roots, "but I still remember the last time someone tried to impose their will on you. Their world is still a nightmare of molten rock and storms of glass, devoid of life on its surface and filled with despair below. Despite their status as a God, all they can do is watch their people suffer."

"Who?" Aperio asked, not quite believing the words.

"Eschengail," Roots rumbled. "The world and the God are one. They tried to enslave you in the same manner with which certain mortals recently made the attempt. You condemned them to a life of torture, to watch until the last of its people perish."

The All-Mother creased her brows at the reply. No matter how she viewed it, the punishment was cruel beyond belief. The mortals that called the planet their home likely had played no part in what their God had planned, but without the relevant memories to hand she couldn't be sure.

"I will look into the matter," she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose, not really caring that the other God might figure out that she had lost her memory. Edisicio had already figured out that something was off and Aperio was tired of pretending to be someone she was not. And it doesn't feel disgusting to just be me anymore.

The problem Aperio faced now was that she had no idea where that world was or how to get to it. She remembered the tunnel Adam had fallen through well enough — how it felt, how the System had twisted the threads of reality to allow the passage of a mortal — but none of that told her how she could pick a destination. No choice but to use my aura…

Edisicio stared at her for a moment. Aperio shifted slightly, drawing on her well again, and the God of Knowledge and Love quickly averted his gaze. It was clear that continuing to stare would not end well.

What would I do if he did not stop? Aperio asked herself. As much as she liked to fight, starting one over this seemed excessive. Doubly so if a mere thought would be enough to end the life of her opponent. But that's true for everything…

A touch of her magic brushed a few hairs out of Caethya's face. Focusing on her disciple did wonders to soothe her mind. Simply having someone she was allowed to care about, knowing she needn't fear the possibility of them being ripped from her life, felt very good indeed.

If it were feasible, Aperio would bring Caethya and Maria into her Void and enjoy an eternity of peace and quiet. Sadly, neither of them would likely enjoy the idea of spending millennia in a space devoid of anything they knew. As her knowledge of what she had done in the past continued to grow, she also had to acknowledge the worry she had about what she might eventually turn into. She didn't want to bring her followers somewhere they could not leave on their own. Not that they could hide from me...

"If you do not require my presence, I would like to take my leave," Edisicio said, the man having taken a couple steps away from Aperio again.

"You are free to leave if you wish," Aperio said, not really paying attention to the God. Most of her attention had shifted back to Caethya who was finally starting to stir.

"If you need to talk to me, simply ask. There is no need for a messenger," she added, as she brought into being behind him a portal that returned him to the spot he had previously been, just next to her floating island.

Edisicio did not speak, simply holding his bow until he stepped through the portal entirely, at which point he vanished from the mortal world.

Aperio lowered her head as a thought brought her back to her chambers. As awkward as the conversation had been, she had still learned something. Not something I enjoyed learning, but it is new information nonetheless.

She was not even sure if she should feel responsible for what the old Aperio had done. That was not her. Not anymore, at least. Did I just do all of that because I could? she thought to herself. She glanced at her hand, balled into a fist, and observed for a moment the way her mana jumped in arcs across her fingers.

"Memories first," she mumbled to herself, taking a seat on the edge of her bed next to Caethya.

After a moment’s hesitation, she laid herself down, flinching slightly as her disciple tried to wrap her arms around her. Even though the idea of being held was not inviting at the moment, Aperio did not stop her disciple. The comforting warmth that she felt was worth the paradoxical discomfort.

A thought let her wings vanish, the feathered appendages a barrier between the All-Mother and the Elf that she did not want at the moment.

The conversation with Edisicio repeated itself in her mind over and over, and with each pass Aperio drew a bit more mana from her well to soothe her growing worry. She did not want what he had said to be true — did not want to remember doing such a thing. But Roots had confirmed what the God of Knowledge and Love had said. In order to fix what her old self had done, she would have to remember.

Trying her best to ignore Caethya's breath brushing against her ears, and the words she mumbled in her sleep, Aperio retreated deeper into the embrace of her disciple.

GamingWolf

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