Crusade – Chapter 96: Unseen Ties

It took Caethya a moment longer to fully waken from her stupor. The woman still looked confused, but at least she was no longer frozen in place.

"Are you okay?" Aperio asked, twisting reality apart to appear before her as she didn't want to go through the hassle of moving around the bed normally. At the lack of response, she reached out to brush Caethya's hand.

"Yes," she managed to say after a while, her eyes slightly unfocused as she looked at a System notification. at a System notification. The threads of reality in front of her returned to their normal state, and Caethya asked, "Why is Mayeia here? Did you call her here while you… did whatever that was?"

"I did not," Aperio replied, a part of her mind trying to figure out what the System had shown her disciple. "I had not planned to distract myself again from finally trying to solve some of my own problems." At least not on purpose…

She did not know if she had somehow reached out to any other deity while she had been free of her body. Everything had only been a thought away, and she would not discard the idea that Mayeia had interpreted her brief attention as an invitation.

"Will you let her in?"

I should, shouldn't I? The All-Mother thought with a sigh. It was another distraction that would yet again postpone progress on herself, but just letting a Goddess wait struck her as wrong. Of course, she knew that technically all other deities were below her, and would likely not say anything against her not wanting to meet them, but it still felt wrong to do so. I don't like waiting either…

"In a little while," Aperio replied with a slight shake of her head. "First I need to be sure that you and Maria are actually fine. Drawing mana of that purity might have changed more than just myself." I did touch everything after all…

"I feel fine," Caethya replied after a moment, the mana within her shifting slightly. Aperio could sense the magic of her disciple flow through her body, the crude way in which it attempted to determine if everything was alright.

How, exactly, she knew what the correct way to check a mortal body for changes was did not reveal itself to her, but she was getting used to simply knowing most things relating to magic. The brief moment she had spent as a formless mass of thoughts had made it quite clear that, in a way, she was the mana that surrounded her. It was not a perfect analogy, of course, but it was one that did not give her a headache and explained why her intuition on magical things was usually on point.

But why is there a world with no mana, then? She pushed the thought from her mind for the moment, easing a tiny fraction of her mana into Caethya to be truly sure that she was fine. The same happened to Maria down below in Ebenlowe, the girl giggling happily as she hugged the blanket closer to herself.

She still could not find anything wrong with either of them, however the nagging feeling at the back of her mind did not leave. Aperio knew something had changed, but she could not figure out what.

With a shake of her head, she brought the waiting Goddess and her mortal entourage onto her temple grounds, depositing them in front of Roots. She asked the tree to keep them company for a while, not wanting to meet them quite yet. Luckily for her, Roots was happy to oblige, the tree seemingly very eager to do anything she asked for. Did I make him this way, or is he actually happy fulfilling the tasks I give him?

The line of thinking was dismissed as quickly as it had come, the All-Mother focusing back on her disciple. Even though Caethya's eyes never left the winged Goddess, she still looked a bit lost; unsure what she should do. Aperio herself also had no idea how she should proceed. Something had changed in her disciple and she could not figure out what.

As carefully as she could, she took Caethya's hands into her own, giving them a very light squeeze. "Are you sure everything is alright?"

Her disciple nodded slowly in reply. "Yes. I am just struggling to make sense of what I felt. I can't even put it into words, not really at least. All I can say is that it felt good — right, in a way — but also overwhelming and oppressive."

That explanation had been much more helpful than the 'cosmic hug' one Maria had given, even if they were both, perhaps, correct in the end. Aperio still did not like the idea that her default form was essentially nothing. She did not want to call it her 'true' form, as it was apparent that she could take on any form she wished.

This is my true form, she thought to herself, bringing her wings slightly forward to drape them over her shoulders. The All-Mother was fond of the body she had inadvertently made for herself, the fact that it was merely a shell that could likely be changed on a whim not distracting much from it. Perhaps her attachment to a physical form was a remainder of her life as a mortal, but it enabled her to achieve her goals and allowed her to interact with the people she cared about in a manner she actually enjoyed.

As silly as it might seem to a normal person, Aperio found herself enjoying the interactions she had with her small group of followers. To her they were more akin to friends, or in the case of Maria almost a daughter. That Ferio still did not reply to her pained the All-Mother, but her continued failure to address the issue as she had promised to do was her fault. I also did not rely on her as I said I would…

"If anything changes, please let me know," Aperio said, giving Caethya's hand one more gentle squeeze before letting go. "I feel a change in Maria, Laelia, and you, but I do not know what exactly it is yet."

"I truly feel no different," Caethya said, her magic once again flowing through her body. "Is it dangerous?"

"No," Aperio replied with a shake of her head. "I know that much at least. It feels more like a blessing, but not quite." Did I give them another tool to ascend faster?

It certainly seemed as though that was the case. The intangible sensation that she could perceive in her three followers most definitely seemed closer to something divine than the mundane.

"I will let you know if anything changes," her disciple said, her voice devoid of its usual surety. "Do you plan to meet Mayeia now?"

"I guess," Aperio replied with a sigh and let herself fall backwards, a tiny touch of her magic making sure she ended up next to her disciple again. "The only reason I can think of for her visit would be my encounter with the two mortals she brought here. I… did not restrain myself when he challenged me to a duel."

"What did you do?"

Aperio slashed her hand through the air in reply, reality itself coming apart in its wake. Of course, the damage repaired itself quickly, but she could not imagine how being subjected to it would feel. Perhaps like being skinned?

"But I cannot imagine she came to enact revenge or something of the like," Aperio said, closing her eyes as her mind wandered to the waiting Goddess outside her temple in an effort to distract herself from what she had done to the mortal.

Mayeia wore a modest white and gold dress in a style the mortals in Ebenlowe seemed to favour, her long ears adorned by small, golden chains that were entirely too gaudy for Aperio's tastes. The ornament that kept her hair bundled up, on the other hand, was something she liked; the two staves crossed in front of a book depicted on it, likely her seal.

"You cut him in half?" Caethya asked. "How did he live?"

"I healed him. At the time I wanted him to suffer, though I do not know why. I simply wanted him to be in pain. My reaction was not exactly warranted…"

"What did he do?"

"He implied some unsavoury things," Aperio replied, her face briefly twisting into a frown. "At least, that is what it sounded like to me at the time."

Her disciple hesitated for a moment before she replied, the beat of her heart and her breath quickening slightly. "You have not been the most stable person, no. But I still trust that you would not kill someone in cold blood."

"I felt nothing when I killed the slavers," Aperio said quietly. She had not really given it much thought, but now it was starting to become a point of concern for her. "I gave them the option to not fight, but they ignored it. Every single one of them died by my hand, and there is nothing. No regret or remorse, not even a twisted sense of happiness or relief. Nothing."

"But you do feel," Caethya said, moving herself closer to the All-Mother. "Perhaps a part of you knows that letting yourself feel anything for those monsters would only make it worse for you. There is already enough for you to deal with, probably even more than that which I know about."

"Like talking to a Goddess who I have never met, and cannot recall," Aperio mumbled, not enjoying the prospect of having to talk to the Goddess.

"I can accompany you," Caethya said, taking Aperio's hand into her own after the All-Mother lifted it slightly. "I have been a follower of hers before I met you after all; have met her in person. She is usually not one for drama, or even formality.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she simply wishes to meet you," Caethya continued after a moment of silence. "She has been trying to figure out how the System works for as long I can remember. One of her priests said that she had been researching it before she became a Goddess as well."

Too bad I don't know how the System works myself, Aperio mused. "Are you sure she will not be angry that you abandoned her for me? Most of the deities I have met thus far had been annoyingly arrogant and resentful." But so have I, haven't I?

"Why wouldn't they?" Caethya asked, her voice slightly mocking. "Us mortals can't do much against them. Most don't even want to either; they behave like the deity they follow in hopes of gaining their favour."

"Explains their stupidity, at least," Aperio mumbled. All the mortals that had followed one of the Gods that went against her had been very stubborn to abandon their ways even when faced with death by her hand. If they thought they could win, it made at least some sense that they did what did.

"It does not tell me why I selected them in the first place, however," Aperio continued, her voice quieter than before. "I chose most of them — did not care what they did."

"You have already started correcting your mistakes, have you not?"

"I did, in a way," Aperio replied. "But who is supposed to stop me from doing something like that again? And how would they do it? Will I be killed again?"

Her disciple remained quiet at her question, the topic obviously not something she was comfortable with.

"I don't think any other God actually managed to harm you," Caethya mumbled, her eyes fixed on Aperio's hand she still held in her own. "I think you yourself wanted to forget. The other deities just seized the opportunity."

"But, why?"

"That is what we have to figure out, isn't it?" her disciple asked in reply, directing her eyes to meet Aperio's own. "Perhaps you have to collect more of your memories after all."

"I do," Aperio said. "But first we have to meet Mayeia." And I should inform the [Grandmaster] that some angry slavers might be marching towards Ebenlowe.

Informing Miss Videns was an easy task; a simple query directed at Roots asking if it could convey the message was enough. The tree did say that the [Grandmaster] was likely already aware of the issue, but Aperio thought it better to make certain. She also apologised for taking as long as she did, but things had not exactly been easy lately.

Her disciple did not reply, simply nodding her assent. A moment later, Aperio twisted reality apart and brought Caethya and herself outside. Mayeia turned around as soon as the All-Mother had emerged in the field of flowers, her conversation with Roots completely forgotten.

The two mortals that accompanied her did not react with a smile like their Goddess did, taking a couple steps backwards as Aperio's eyes lingered on them for a moment longer.

Nobody spoke for a few breaths, Aperio content to wait until her guest had collected her thoughts. The All-Mother did crease her brows slightly after a while as the other Goddess simply stood there, unblinking and unbreathing.

"Are you alright?" she finally asked, a touch of her mana flowing through Mayeia but not finding anything wrong besides the tension in her muscles.

It took a moment longer for the Goddess to get her wits back together, offering a small wave while mumbling a quiet, almost reverent, "Hello".

GamingWolf

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