Caethya leaned back against Aperio as her Goddess held on a little tighter. She brushed her hands over the All-Mother's arms as she offered up another prayer to ask what, exactly, she was supposed to do.
"Help me not get unreasonably angry," Aperio said. "Moria thinks that whatever she found out will greatly upset me, and you are the only person I trust to help me at the moment." Ferio would probably try for a crusade…
"I will certainly try," Caethya said with a small nod. "But, shouldn't you introduce us first?"
Moria simply smiled, causing the All-Mother to shift a little from the words of her Disciple. "Yes, I think proper introductions would be good," her surrogate mother said, keeping her eyes fixed on Aperio.
"Fine," Aperio mumbled, slightly wrapping her wings around Caethya. "This is Caethya; currently a disciple of sorts, and perhaps… more." Her surrogate mother's smile widened a little at that. "The stupidly smiling Beastkin," she continued, trying and failing to hide behind her disciple, "is Moria, an old friend and the closest I have ever had to a mother."
"Old friend?" Caethya asked, looking up at Aperio. "Do you remember her?"
The All-Mother's wings and shoulders slumped a little at the question. "No…" she replied after a moment of silence. "I remember our time together when I was a slave, not what happened before. I simply know that we were friends of sorts."
"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this now?" Moria asked, her eyes wandering to the crystal shard that was still floating next to Aperio. "What I found is not good, yes, but it is also not something that you can fix at the moment."
"I have to know," Aperio said, lifting one arm away from Caethya's stomach to reach out for the floating crystal shard. Even before she grasped it fully in her hand, she could feel the mana flowing within calling to her — could hear its yearning to tell her all that Moria had uncovered.
The All-Mother paused as she felt worry permeate the bond she shared with Caethya. "Are you sure?" her disciple asked, gently brushing her hand over the arm still wrapped around her midsection. "I will help in any way I can, but you seem almost…desperate to know."
Because I am, Aperio thought to herself, her gaze stuck to the crystal shard in her hand. It was not just the memories of Moria in this crystal, but all the memories she had lost. Her fear of turning back into who she was before had vanished, replaced by a desire to know. Why — or even when — that shift had happened, the All-Mother did not know. But it was in line with her growing more comfortable with her power and her role in the world. Namely, that my role is what I make of it…
"I want to fix what I have done in the past," Aperio said, hesitating for a moment before she continued. "I want to find out why I forgot. Was it really something others did? Or did I do it myself?" And if it was me…
"Most of what you did was very much justified," Moria said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I do not know everything you did, of course, but I know that you did not really care about the mortal worlds.
"That's not necessarily nice," Moria continued, offering Aperio a small smile as the All-Mother was decidedly displeased with her words, "but it also means that you rarely did anything to mortals that would need fixing now. Most of your violent interactions with mortals that I know of came about because they were experimenting on souls."
Aperio narrowed her eyes, her aura giving a slightly subtle flare.
"I see you are still as angry about that as before," her surrogate mother said, a little more quietly. "This is also why I am hesitant to tell you to look at what I found. The Repens Nabu is… very interested in figuring out how souls work."
The words gave Aperio pause. She had a memory of Gods and Goddesses that were part of the Repens Nabu in her temple, experimenting on mortals. While she could not recall what they were trying to do, it wouldn't be a stretch to think it had something to do with souls. But I did not care about that at the time… Her anger at the memory was not remembered, but stemmed from her current view of the world.
"If they are playing with souls, it is even more important that I see what they are doing," Aperio said, trying her best to keep her rising anger at the mere idea under control. "Thus far I have not done much to pursue the Repens Nabu, but if they all mess with souls like Vigil and Inanis did, I will stop them."
Her surrogate mother hesitated for a moment before lowering her head. "I do not know what exactly they did, but I know what I saw wasn't very good. It felt wrong."
Caethya shifted a little in Aperio's lap, holding out her hand towards the crystal. "May I?" The All-Mother obliged and gently placed the shard in her disciple's hand. "Weird," Caethya mumbled as she turned it over in her palm. "It feels like it doesn't want to be held by me."
"Because it doesn't," Moria said. "Those are my memories, and they would rather stay with me and mine."
"Understood," Caethya said, handing the crystal back to Aperio. "I was just curious."
The All-Mother shifted a little, inspecting the tiny shard again. "How do I view them?" she asked in an effort to stop any tension from forming between Caethya and her surrogate mother.
"Just do what I did," Moria said. "I am sure you saw exactly how I guided my mana to unlock my crystal. Even in your brief time as a mortal, you were more sensitive to it than most."
"And how can I let you and Caethya see?" They can't take over mana like I can, after all.
Her surrogate mother did not reply immediately and simply looked at Aperio. "You can't," she finally said. "I don't think either of us is skilled enough to do that, let alone strong enough to force even the slightest bit of will on any of your mana. Even if you do allow it to be controlled."
"She is right about the last part," Caethya said, turning a little to look at Aperio. "Your aura alone makes it harder to cast magic. It's easier for me now, but I still notice it."
"So my mere existence makes mortals stronger, but at the same time also makes it harder to use magic?" Aperio asked, tilting her head slightly as she considered the phenomenon. Her next words were only a murmur. "I hope they cancel each other out after a while…"
She took an unneeded breath and stretched her wings to their full length. The motion was too wide for the hidden space, and as Aperio's wings brushed past the edges of it a few stones crumbled away, eliciting a giggle from Caethea as well as a raised eyebrow from Moria. The All-Mother ignored both of them and wrapped her wings around her disciple again. For convenience, she told herself. Not because I'm embarrassed...
The crystal shard, now the object of her attention, seemed to react to her gaze by floating in front of her face. It slowly spun before her, the mana inside brimming under her scrutiny in the same way her own mana yearned to bend to her will when she reached out to manipulate the world around her. The crystal mirrored her own excitement, her own desire, and Aperio let out a breath of wispy mana as she began to weave her magic into the same formation Moria had used.
"I'm ready," she declared, having mimicked Moria's mana formation with her own to a degree that she felt acceptable.
Caethya moved slightly, shifting herself from Aperio's lap to sit on the floor in front of her. The All-Mother allowed the movement, retracting her wings so that they spread behind her, out of the way. Moria's ears twitched slightly but she remained quiet, simply giving her de-facto daughter a small nod.
Aperio closed her eyes and gave her mana the last nudge it needed to complete its formation. The yearning force within the crystal flowed into her, and a part of her mind was on a continual loop of checking that it was doing nothing but presenting her with memories. She frowned as nothing seemed to happen, oblivious to the fact that barely a moment had passed.
Another unneeded breath later, Aperio found herself looking at a piece of paper. She could not read the words written on it, but she still knew what they said. It was a simple list of names — ones she recognised quite easily as soon as Moria's memory had translated them for her.
The Repens Nabu, Aperio thought to herself just as her view of the memory shifted. She was no longer viewing the world through Moria's eyes, but was back to spectating the memory like a ghost.
Her surrogate mother, flanked by two other Beastkin, was slowly making her way through a field of corpses. Aperio could smell the stench that filled the cavern, could feel how the other two Beastkin tried to hide their disgust and fright.
The sudden sound of breaking bones caught everyone's attention, and as Aperio was freely observing the scene she quickly spotted a skeleton with red fire for eyes at the end of the cavern, one that was slamming another cluster of bones into a wall.
"You came," it rasped, adjusting its black robe and brushing a bit of bone dust off of themselves. "I know that words cannot atone for what has been done, but I will still offer my apologies.
"What my kin has done here is unacceptable," it continued, a purple fire spreading over the other robed skeleton who started to scream in pain. "I can only offer to burn him free of his sins before sending him on."
One of the two Beastkin with Moria mumbled something about the Great One as he looked at the skeleton. Her surrogate mother, however, merely sheathed her blade and let go of the mana she had started to gather in her hand.
"You are lucky she isn't around," Moria said, ignoring the screaming skeleton. "I hope you have a good explanation for her when she comes back. For your sake."
The skeleton — a Lich, if Aperio recalled correctly — remained quiet for a moment before it sighed, the noise sounding more like someone drawing their nails over a gravestone than an actual sigh.
"I will face whatever punishment she deems just when the time comes," the Lich said. "But I have tolerated them for too long."
Moria made a motion with her hand that Aperio did not understand but which caused the other two Beastkin to start moving through the sea of corpses, taking the time to place each cadaver on their backs as well as closing their eyelids. The two of them crossed their arms in front of her their chest for everyone they rearranged, mumbling a prayer — the mana that left them at the words leading Aperio to believe it was one, at least — before moving on.
"What do you know?" her surrogate mother asked after making another motion that caused the screams of the other skeleton to cease.
"Extraction of memory and power," the Lich replied. "He said it's for the greater good; that the Gods are on his side." It sneered at the words. "Anyone who claims these methods are right is not a God, but a Demon."
Before the conversation could continue, Aperio was whisked away to another scene Moria had stored in the crystal. The rapid changing from one scene to the next was nowhere near as smooth as with the other memory crystal her surrogate mother had used, and was more akin to her experience with the dungeon cores.
The memories stored in this one entered her mind but did not take hold right away; they needed a moment to be accessible. Why she got stuck on any one of them for any amount of time was a mystery to her, but the few scenes that had already flashed before her were already enough to make her angry.
How Moria had managed to observe Vigil remove the soul from a mortal and start engraving the runes she had already seen on it in the past was beyond Aperio. But, here she was, watching it happen.
He was not the only deity present either. A little further back, near the corners of the dimly lit room, the All-Mother could spot Epemirial. The Goddess of Duty and Loss had a wicked grin on her face as Vigil performed his vile act, looking decidedly too pleased with what was happening.
There were other Gods, ones Aperio did not know herself, but Moria's memory helpfully supplied their names. Lor'Kem and Heshtar stood out to her in particular, as they were on the list of deities the System claimed had tried to access 'higher privileged functions'. There were also others: Olderia, Indurom, Viekal, and Poskerium. All were names she did not know.
How many members does the Repens Nabu have? Aperio asked herself as the disturbing memory of soul-etching retreated into the swirl that had come from the crystal.
Memories danced past her mind’s eye, never staying long enough to hear what was said or see more than a glimpse of the people present. All Aperio knew was that every single image showed her more deities taking the souls from mortals and changing them to suit their needs.
Aperio's anger was flaring up, despite the far-distant touch of what had to be Caethya's hand on hers. Her focus had narrowed to the things playing out before her in these memory records, and all Aperio wanted to do was to figure out a way to turn back time and stop them. Punish them. Kill them.
The influx of Moira's memories was banished to the back of her mind by a twofold interruption: a familiar blue window materialized in front of her mind's eye, and a rather significant drain on the mana in her well appeared. Whether it had been something else the crystal had brought to her, or her full-minded desire for the offending Deities to stop, something had caused her System to react.
| New Directive created. Non-System interactions with component designated 'Soul' have been disallowed for all entities. The Court record has been updated. Quests generated. In accordance with previous Directives, entities 'Roots-Beneath-All’ and 'Diskrye' have been exempt from the Directive. |
GamingWolf
If you like the story, do leave a rating. If you really like it, please write a review!
Want to chat? Join the Discord. Want to read ahead? Check out the Patreon.
Caethya leaned back against Aperio as her Goddess held on a little tighter. She brushed her hands over the All-Mother's arms as she offered up another prayer to ask what, exactly, she was supposed to do.
"Help me not get unreasonably angry," Aperio said. "Moria thinks that whatever she found out will greatly upset me, and you are the only person I trust to help me at the moment." Ferio would probably try for a crusade…
"I will certainly try," Caethya said with a small nod. "But, shouldn't you introduce us first?"
Moria simply smiled, causing the All-Mother to shift a little from the words of her Disciple. "Yes, I think proper introductions would be good," her surrogate mother said, keeping her eyes fixed on Aperio.
"Fine," Aperio mumbled, slightly wrapping her wings around Caethya. "This is Caethya; currently a disciple of sorts, and perhaps… more." Her surrogate mother's smile widened a little at that. "The stupidly smiling Beastkin," she continued, trying and failing to hide behind her disciple, "is Moria, an old friend and the closest I have ever had to a mother."
"Old friend?" Caethya asked, looking up at Aperio. "Do you remember her?"
The All-Mother's wings and shoulders slumped a little at the question. "No…" she replied after a moment of silence. "I remember our time together when I was a slave, not what happened before. I simply know that we were friends of sorts."
"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this now?" Moria asked, her eyes wandering to the crystal shard that was still floating next to Aperio. "What I found is not good, yes, but it is also not something that you can fix at the moment."
"I have to know," Aperio said, lifting one arm away from Caethya's stomach to reach out for the floating crystal shard. Even before she grasped it fully in her hand, she could feel the mana flowing within calling to her — could hear its yearning to tell her all that Moria had uncovered.
The All-Mother paused as she felt worry permeate the bond she shared with Caethya. "Are you sure?" her disciple asked, gently brushing her hand over the arm still wrapped around her midsection. "I will help in any way I can, but you seem almost…desperate to know."
Because I am, Aperio thought to herself, her gaze stuck to the crystal shard in her hand. It was not just the memories of Moria in this crystal, but all the memories she had lost. Her fear of turning back into who she was before had vanished, replaced by a desire to know. Why — or even when — that shift had happened, the All-Mother did not know. But it was in line with her growing more comfortable with her power and her role in the world. Namely, that my role is what I make of it…
"I want to fix what I have done in the past," Aperio said, hesitating for a moment before she continued. "I want to find out why I forgot. Was it really something others did? Or did I do it myself?" And if it was me…
"Most of what you did was very much justified," Moria said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I do not know everything you did, of course, but I know that you did not really care about the mortal worlds.
"That's not necessarily nice," Moria continued, offering Aperio a small smile as the All-Mother was decidedly displeased with her words, "but it also means that you rarely did anything to mortals that would need fixing now. Most of your violent interactions with mortals that I know of came about because they were experimenting on souls."
Aperio narrowed her eyes, her aura giving a slightly subtle flare.
"I see you are still as angry about that as before," her surrogate mother said, a little more quietly. "This is also why I am hesitant to tell you to look at what I found. The Repens Nabu is… very interested in figuring out how souls work."
The words gave Aperio pause. She had a memory of Gods and Goddesses that were part of the Repens Nabu in her temple, experimenting on mortals. While she could not recall what they were trying to do, it wouldn't be a stretch to think it had something to do with souls. But I did not care about that at the time… Her anger at the memory was not remembered, but stemmed from her current view of the world.
"If they are playing with souls, it is even more important that I see what they are doing," Aperio said, trying her best to keep her rising anger at the mere idea under control. "Thus far I have not done much to pursue the Repens Nabu, but if they all mess with souls like Vigil and Inanis did, I will stop them."
Her surrogate mother hesitated for a moment before lowering her head. "I do not know what exactly they did, but I know what I saw wasn't very good. It felt wrong."
Caethya shifted a little in Aperio's lap, holding out her hand towards the crystal. "May I?" The All-Mother obliged and gently placed the shard in her disciple's hand. "Weird," Caethya mumbled as she turned it over in her palm. "It feels like it doesn't want to be held by me."
"Because it doesn't," Moria said. "Those are my memories, and they would rather stay with me and mine."
"Understood," Caethya said, handing the crystal back to Aperio. "I was just curious."
The All-Mother shifted a little, inspecting the tiny shard again. "How do I view them?" she asked in an effort to stop any tension from forming between Caethya and her surrogate mother.
"Just do what I did," Moria said. "I am sure you saw exactly how I guided my mana to unlock my crystal. Even in your brief time as a mortal, you were more sensitive to it than most."
"And how can I let you and Caethya see?" They can't take over mana like I can, after all.
Her surrogate mother did not reply immediately and simply looked at Aperio. "You can't," she finally said. "I don't think either of us is skilled enough to do that, let alone strong enough to force even the slightest bit of will on any of your mana. Even if you do allow it to be controlled."
"She is right about the last part," Caethya said, turning a little to look at Aperio. "Your aura alone makes it harder to cast magic. It's easier for me now, but I still notice it."
"So my mere existence makes mortals stronger, but at the same time also makes it harder to use magic?" Aperio asked, tilting her head slightly as she considered the phenomenon. Her next words were only a murmur. "I hope they cancel each other out after a while…"
She took an unneeded breath and stretched her wings to their full length. The motion was too wide for the hidden space, and as Aperio's wings brushed past the edges of it a few stones crumbled away, eliciting a giggle from Caethea as well as a raised eyebrow from Moria. The All-Mother ignored both of them and wrapped her wings around her disciple again. For convenience, she told herself. Not because I'm embarrassed...
The crystal shard, now the object of her attention, seemed to react to her gaze by floating in front of her face. It slowly spun before her, the mana inside brimming under her scrutiny in the same way her own mana yearned to bend to her will when she reached out to manipulate the world around her. The crystal mirrored her own excitement, her own desire, and Aperio let out a breath of wispy mana as she began to weave her magic into the same formation Moria had used.
"I'm ready," she declared, having mimicked Moria's mana formation with her own to a degree that she felt acceptable.
Caethya moved slightly, shifting herself from Aperio's lap to sit on the floor in front of her. The All-Mother allowed the movement, retracting her wings so that they spread behind her, out of the way. Moria's ears twitched slightly but she remained quiet, simply giving her de-facto daughter a small nod.
Aperio closed her eyes and gave her mana the last nudge it needed to complete its formation. The yearning force within the crystal flowed into her, and a part of her mind was on a continual loop of checking that it was doing nothing but presenting her with memories. She frowned as nothing seemed to happen, oblivious to the fact that barely a moment had passed.
Another unneeded breath later, Aperio found herself looking at a piece of paper. She could not read the words written on it, but she still knew what they said. It was a simple list of names — ones she recognised quite easily as soon as Moria's memory had translated them for her.
The Repens Nabu, Aperio thought to herself just as her view of the memory shifted. She was no longer viewing the world through Moria's eyes, but was back to spectating the memory like a ghost.
Her surrogate mother, flanked by two other Beastkin, was slowly making her way through a field of corpses. Aperio could smell the stench that filled the cavern, could feel how the other two Beastkin tried to hide their disgust and fright.
The sudden sound of breaking bones caught everyone's attention, and as Aperio was freely observing the scene she quickly spotted a skeleton with red fire for eyes at the end of the cavern, one that was slamming another cluster of bones into a wall.
"You came," it rasped, adjusting its black robe and brushing a bit of bone dust off of themselves. "I know that words cannot atone for what has been done, but I will still offer my apologies.
"What my kin has done here is unacceptable," it continued, a purple fire spreading over the other robed skeleton who started to scream in pain. "I can only offer to burn him free of his sins before sending him on."
One of the two Beastkin with Moria mumbled something about the Great One as he looked at the skeleton. Her surrogate mother, however, merely sheathed her blade and let go of the mana she had started to gather in her hand.
"You are lucky she isn't around," Moria said, ignoring the screaming skeleton. "I hope you have a good explanation for her when she comes back. For your sake."
The skeleton — a Lich, if Aperio recalled correctly — remained quiet for a moment before it sighed, the noise sounding more like someone drawing their nails over a gravestone than an actual sigh.
"I will face whatever punishment she deems just when the time comes," the Lich said. "But I have tolerated them for too long."
Moria made a motion with her hand that Aperio did not understand but which caused the other two Beastkin to start moving through the sea of corpses, taking the time to place each cadaver on their backs as well as closing their eyelids. The two of them crossed their arms in front of her their chest for everyone they rearranged, mumbling a prayer — the mana that left them at the words leading Aperio to believe it was one, at least — before moving on.
"What do you know?" her surrogate mother asked after making another motion that caused the screams of the other skeleton to cease.
"Extraction of memory and power," the Lich replied. "He said it's for the greater good; that the Gods are on his side." It sneered at the words. "Anyone who claims these methods are right is not a God, but a Demon."
Before the conversation could continue, Aperio was whisked away to another scene Moria had stored in the crystal. The rapid changing from one scene to the next was nowhere near as smooth as with the other memory crystal her surrogate mother had used, and was more akin to her experience with the dungeon cores.
The memories stored in this one entered her mind but did not take hold right away; they needed a moment to be accessible. Why she got stuck on any one of them for any amount of time was a mystery to her, but the few scenes that had already flashed before her were already enough to make her angry.
How Moria had managed to observe Vigil remove the soul from a mortal and start engraving the runes she had already seen on it in the past was beyond Aperio. But, here she was, watching it happen.
He was not the only deity present either. A little further back, near the corners of the dimly lit room, the All-Mother could spot Epemirial. The Goddess of Duty and Loss had a wicked grin on her face as Vigil performed his vile act, looking decidedly too pleased with what was happening.
There were other Gods, ones Aperio did not know herself, but Moria's memory helpfully supplied their names. Lor'Kem and Heshtar stood out to her in particular, as they were on the list of deities the System claimed had tried to access 'higher privileged functions'. There were also others: Olderia, Indurom, Viekal, and Poskerium. All were names she did not know.
How many members does the Repens Nabu have? Aperio asked herself as the disturbing memory of soul-etching retreated into the swirl that had come from the crystal.
Memories danced past her mind’s eye, never staying long enough to hear what was said or see more than a glimpse of the people present. All Aperio knew was that every single image showed her more deities taking the souls from mortals and changing them to suit their needs.
Aperio's anger was flaring up, despite the far-distant touch of what had to be Caethya's hand on hers. Her focus had narrowed to the things playing out before her in these memory records, and all Aperio wanted to do was to figure out a way to turn back time and stop them. Punish them. Kill them.
The influx of Moira's memories was banished to the back of her mind by a twofold interruption: a familiar blue window materialized in front of her mind's eye, and a rather significant drain on the mana in her well appeared. Whether it had been something else the crystal had brought to her, or her full-minded desire for the offending Deities to stop, something had caused her System to react.
| New Directive created. Non-System interactions with component designated 'Soul' have been disallowed for all entities. The Court record has been updated. Quests generated. In accordance with previous Directives, entities 'Roots-Beneath-All’ and 'Diskrye' have been exempt from the Directive. |
GamingWolf
If you like the story, do leave a rating. If you really like it, please write a review!
Want to chat? Join the Discord. Want to read ahead? Check out the Patreon.
