Crusade – Chapter 97: Overture

"Hello," Aperio said, tilting her head lightly. Mayeia's reaction was not what she had expected. "Why did you come here?" Unannounced, too.

The Goddess simply looked at the All-Mother, her magic flowing around the temple as she seemingly tried to take in as much as she could. Aperio narrowed her eyes slightly. Her wings wanted to twitch but she held them back to simply flaring slightly and, with but a thought, directed all of Mayeia's mana back to her.

"Before you try and explore my temple you should at least tell me why you came, no?"

The two mortals took another few steps backwards. They clearly wanted to further distance themselves, but Roots stood firmly in the way of further retreat. Instead they stood there, muscles tense and magic prepared, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

"I am sorry," Mayeia eventually replied, bowing her head. Then she took a deep – and likely useless – breath before her words began spilling out. "I just never thought I would actually get to meet you. I have so many questions, but can't even think of how to ask them when the mere existence of this island already breaks most of the rules I thought magic had to follow."

She rushed over to a junction in the pathways that snaked their way through the ocean of flowers, excitedly pointing at a set of runes that slumbered beneath the surface. "How can Dispersal and Accumulation be paired? Or Death and Life? They're all coexisting in this set of runes, and it makes no sense!"

Aperio tilted her head to the other side, her senses focusing on the enchantment the Goddess had pointed out. There were more than the four runes she had pointed out — a lot more, in fact — and most of them meant nothing to Aperio. Despite this, she could still figure out what it was supposed to do.

There wasn't all that much it could do out here, and following the mana proved her theory correct. The enchantment circulated mana throughout the ocean of flowers, drawing some from the surrounding space if there was not enough in the System and dispersing it if it had too much. 

The Life and Death parts Mayeia had pointed out were runes Aperio was able to read, their purpose also quite obvious. One supplied the fields with new flowers while the other removed all that was left of the ones that had died, funnelling whatever it took to another enchantment deeper in her temple.

"That enchantment merely keeps the flowers alive and well," the All-Mother said, appearing next to Mayeia. A thought caused some of her mana to condense and become visible, forming a replica of the enchantment below the earth. A small, unneeded, wave of her hand moved the projection, every rune a slightly different hue of silver and blue, showing what it would do in normal use.

Aperio might understand what her creation did, but she was woefully unequipped to explain any of it with actual words. In addition, the idea of verbalizing it – putting the enchantment's concept firmly into the mind of the Goddess – was not one she wanted to entertain.

"See?" she asked, looking down at the other Goddess. She was not sure what, exactly, the woman wanted, but explaining a few more minor enchantments was certainly something she could do. It sounded like she just wants to learn? "It makes perfect sense. It does not, however, explain why you elected to come here unannounced."

Mayeia slowly looked up at the All-Mother, likely not having expected the woman to appear beside her. Aperio did not react to the quiet whisper that escaped the other Goddess' lips, nor the slight twitch of her hand as she, for but a moment, tried to touch her.

"I want to learn," she eventually said, taking a step backwards so she would not have to strain her neck looking up at the All-Mother. "I have been searching for the one that made all of this," Mayeia continued, gesturing vaguely at the world around them. "Searching for you so I can understand it."

Aperio tilted her head slightly, directing a mental query at Caethya who had thus far remained silent, asking if the Goddess in front of her was always so scatterbrained. "If you have come to seek a position as my disciple, I will have to disappoint you. Caethya and Maria are the only ones I intend to teach at the moment." Not that I would know how I made all of this in the first place.

According to her disciple Mayeia's behaviour was not out of the norm, just more excited than usual. Just because she got to meet me? Of course, Aperio knew that some people revered her; that she disliked that did not seem to bother them. But the excitement the woman in front of her displayed was something else. The longer the other Goddess remained in her presence, the more Aperio thought she would simply explode into an unstoppable flood of questions.

"I would not dare to ask such a thing," Mayeia said, her hands twitching ever-so-slightly as she tried to not fidget with her dress. The action brought a small smile to Aperio's face which, in turn, caused the other Goddess to relax slightly. "I had merely hoped that you would be willing to answer a few of my questions. There are some things that I have always wanted to know about the System but have never been able to figure out on my own."

"And what would those be?" Aperio asked, teleporting herself and Caethya — who had readily agreed to the request — in front of Roots in a sitting position, their backs leaning against the tree. Just as she had last time, Aperio used one of her wings to support her disciple. The two mortals who now found them directly next to the reason for their fright quickly moved away, their eyes never leaving the Goddess.

"Levels for one," Mayeia replied as she took a few long strides to close the distance that now separated them. That she had brought two mortals with her was seemingly forgotten already; she did not even react as Aperio made some chairs so they would not have to stand while their Goddess was talking to her.

"Someone with a higher level can be significantly weaker than someone with a lower one," the woman continued. "The System can translate foreign languages for you if you have the correct title, but there is no skill for it." She took a breath before she spoke again, the Goddess seemingly more attached to mortal ticks than Aperio had assumed. "And then there is how the System interacts with the world. I can feel it in everything, but whenever someone invokes its power the result just appears without anything actually happening along the way."

The All-Mother tilted her head at the words. The System very much did things when someone used it. She could see how it twisted the threads of reality to display the [Status] screen, for example. As for the other things the Goddess had touched on, Aperio did not know how to answer them besides pointing out that the System itself was currently broken, something she did not want to do — especially as she did not know Mayeia or her two followers well enough. Are they even her followers?

"And why do you think I would answer any of that?" Aperio asked, a part of her mind checking how the System's repairs were coming along. "I barely know you, after all. And, as much as I trust Caethya, I have been thoroughly disappointed with most of the deities I have met after my return."

"That's an understatement," the mortal she had fought before mumbled. A sharp glare from the Beastkin that accompanied him brought Kiro to silence, which did wonders to quell the voice inside of her that wanted to squash the mortal for his impertinence.

"Perhaps," Aperio replied, trying her best not let her aura flare up even a little. Caethya's hand gently brushing past her wings and resting in the small of her back helped, but also showed that her attempt had not been successful. "But engraving runes onto a mortal's soul so that they might enslave them is not something I tolerate. Slavery itself is bad enough on its own."

"It is," Mayeia agreed, her cheerful demeanour from before nowhere to be found. "Most of the Elder Gods seem fine with it. But, as you are undoubtedly aware, they are also not very fond of you."

"I am aware, yes. Some mortals are already marching on Ebenlowe in response. I removed one of those armies already; the mortals they held are free now."

"Are they the ones inside the temple?" the other Goddess asked. "I can sense the mortals inside, but not clearly. The enchantments of the building are quite unlike I have ever been able to observe before."

"Yes," Aperio confirmed, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at the Goddess. "But you are not permitted inside."

"Of course," Mayeia replied, her gaze briefly lingering on Caethya. "If you are not yet willing to answer my questions, may I at least know how Caethya has been doing since she found you? She did not even say goodbye."

The All-Mother looked at her disciple with a raised brow. "I do not speak for her. If she wishes to tell you, she is free to do so."

Caethya moved herself a bit closer to Aperio in response, the All-Mother wrapping her wing around the woman slightly tighter in reply. "I'm doing just fine," she said. "And I am sorry for not informing you of my change of faith, I was very excited as you can surely understand."

"Oh yes," Mayeia replied, a small smile tugging at her lips. "It would also seem I underestimated how fast you were progressing towards divinity. Being a Demigoddess at twenty-five is very impressive."

The two mortals the other Goddess had brought stiffened slightly at the mention of Caethya's status as a Demigoddess, a reaction that caused a frown to flash across Aperio's features.

"Why did you bring those two?" she asked. "I cannot see anything wrong with them that would need my attention and neither am I particularly fond of their past behaviour."

"I understand," Mayeia said, slightly bowing her head. "I simply brought Kiro because he is something akin to my disciple, and Jerien did not want to let her boyfriend come along without her protection."

Aperio tilted her head slightly at the words, her aura focusing on the two mortals. What protection? "You make it sound like they expected a fight by coming here."

Neither Kiro nor Jerien said a word, both rooted in their chairs as Aperio's mana lazily flowed around them. Mayeia, on the other hand, moved a bit closer to the All-Mother. "I did not expect a fight, but neither did I think I would be invited onto the island, let alone actually talk to you. What the other Gods told me about you did not make you seem particularly approachable.

"Your presence and imposing physique also add to that," the Goddess continued, adjusting her glasses slightly. "The longer I look at you, the more otherworldly you seem to become. It is fascinating."

The response was not exactly what Aperio had expected. She felt Caethya tense up in response to the words of her old Goddess, and for her disciple's comfort wrapped her wing a little more firmly still around her. Does she think I take it as an insult?

While it was true that she did not enjoy being seen as something of a mystery to be solved by Mayeia, Aperio found no reason to be hostile. If anything she should probably take it as a compliment; the Goddess in front of her, seemingly solely focused on figuring out how the world worked, had found an interest in her. But then, I am also the world in a sense… At least, everything is connected to me.

"I am happy that you haven such interest in the workings of the world, but I am not sure I am able — or willing, as it stands — to give you the answers you seek."

"Why would you not be able to answer her questions?" the Beastkin woman — Jerien, if Aperio's memory was correct — asked. "Did you not make all of this?"

There was no immediate reply, the All-Mother remaining quiet as she tried to find a way to properly answer the question without revealing that she no longer knew. The world slowed, or at least to Aperio's senses it appeared to, as she debated with herself if she should reveal that she forgot. Until now, she had always elected to not reveal such things, fearing what would happen if she did.

But running from her problems, as she had done ever since she had returned, was becoming less of an option every day. The System would need to be repaired, and while it did so on its own, Aperio had a feeling that it would be better for her and everyone else if it was back in working order as fast as possible.

"Because I am unsure myself as to why some things have happened as they did," she replied, the mortals barely haven taken a breath. "The System has broken during my absence and I do not know if it was intentional or not. Repairing it is also not something I can do with just a wave of my hand; it is too complex for that, and too many people depend on it."

"It makes no sense because it is broken?" Mayeia seemed even more intrigued than she had previously been, something that Aperio would have thought to be highly unlikely to be possible. "How long has it been like that?" she asked, a chair made from her mana appearing behind her as she sat down.

Aperio could only shrug in reply, the wing that wasn't holding Caethya moving with the motion. "A few millennia, at least, but I do not know for certain. Time is something I am hard-pressed to keep track of. A day and a month can sometimes feel like the same thing."

Nobody spoke for a moment. Aperio closed her eyes and drew a bit more mana from her well, as well as bringing a bit of her Void into the mortal realm. It might have been just a few words, but speaking them had been harder than she had anticipated. Caethya's hand moving in slow circles on the small of her back coupled with small mental messages of reassurance helped, of course, but she still found the idea of admitting that her System was broken and she did not know why to be wrong.

"Would you be willing to let me help?" Mayeia offered, breaking the silence. "I have studied the System for centuries; there is bound to be something useful in my research."

Her voice carried an innocent eagerness Aperio had not heard before. There was none of the deceit she had grown so used to hearing over her life. Every noble in the Empire had always wanted to advance their own goals, an instinct most mortals — outside a few people, most of whom were now her followers, and her daughter — still had.

Aperio did not even know how she could determine someone's intent, nor did she want to find out. The possibility that she could read a person’s mind by merely being near them was high, and one she most definitely did not want to be true.

Pushing the thoughts from her mind, Aperio regarded the Goddess in front of her. She did not know her, but Caethya had vouched for Mayeia as best she could and Aperio trusted her disciple more than she was willing to admit. The comfort the woman gave her, the closeness she felt when she was with her contributed to her trust, of course; but there was something more that she could not quite place that made her trust Caethya's judgement.

"Yes," she eventually replied. "But should I find you are trying to exploit me or those close to me, you will regret it."

GamingWolf

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