Chapter 16: Elea's Problems, P2
~16.2~
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After the meeting, Alethea, Adele, and Michelle returned to Arslade, taking Kaede and Joey with them. Aliana worked tirelessly on the mansion in the Void while Liliana and Astraia stayed with Kye, the latter in weapon form. Aisha, Carys, and Luma were sworn to silence by Astraia, though nobody understood why she was so insistent on keeping her presence a secret.
Carys arranged an emergency meeting with the High Priest and the Cardinal for Kye. They met in a large, well-decorated room with a large table. Luma and Carys sat on the same side of the table as the High Priest and the Cardinal while Kye and Aisha sat alone on the other side. Several guards were standing ready along the wall.
"Archbishop Carys, is this the woman who claimed to be the goddess?" asked the Cardinal, a man dressed in a fancy red robe.
"Yes, that's me," Kye answered.
The Cardinal scoffed and stood up. Walking toward the side door he had entered through. "Sword Saint, execute her. There is nothing more to discuss here."
Kye snapped her fingers, and a wall of white aether barred his path to the door. The guards immediately jumped into action, bringing their swords down upon Kye. She didn't as much as flinch at the guards, their swords striking a thin film of white aether.
"Obstinate wench, are you?" the Cardinal said. He waved the guards off.
"I won't have you leaving without hearing so much as a single word of explanation," Kye said. "Or does Your Eminence wish to be known as rude?"
"I have far too much to do to sit idly and listen to some common girl claim to be our goddess."
Luma, unwilling to listen to the Cardinal's disrespect, added her own wall of golden aether in front of Kye's wall of white aether. "Return to your seat, Cardinal. You would do well not to ignore this woman. I know you are not so blind as to ignore the aether in front of you that she manipulated instantaneously."
"Lady Luma?" said the High Priest, a woman wearing a simple white robe. She noticed the degree of control Kye held to bar the Cardinal's path without as much as a word of incantation or even a spell. She controlled the aether directly...
"Guards, leave us," Luma ordered. "We have sensitive matters to discuss. I am here, so there is no need for protection." The guards obediently filed out of the room while the Cardinal returned to his seat. Once they were out, Luma continued, "Everyone still in this room knows my true name, Luma the Ninety-Ninth. High Priest Olivia Curtana, Cardinal Aderyn Rhongomaint..." she stood up and gestured to Kye. "Meet the eldest soul of us all, Elysia the First."
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"This is difficult to believe." The Cardinal was walking laps around the room. Kye, Luma, and Carys had just finished explaining the situation to Cardinal Aderyn and High Priest Olivia. "Lady Luma, your word is the most valuable here, and you're telling me this woman is Goddess Elysia?"
"Correct."
The Cardinal continued walking laps while the High Priest studied Kye. She held her hand out and asked, "May I examine you?" Kye nodded and Olivia began chanting a spell. "Goddess Elysia, divine creator of our world, I am your humble servant. Before me is a woman claiming to be you. I ask that you grant me your blessing and show us the truth. <<Divine Appraisal>>."
White and silver aether surrounded the High Priest's body, then moved to surround Kye. After a moment, a status screen appeared showing everyone Kye's stats, name, age, and titles.
"Kye Akari of Nippon Sekai," Olivia read. "Born in New Tokyo, Nippon Sekai in Realm 4. Nineteen years and one month old. Birthdate AE100-11986-12-10. Royal Heir of the Atlantis Empire. Daughter of Zen Akari I and Layla Barrett. Two siblings. Several children. Several other familial relations. Affinity with all elements and alignments. Divine Affinity with all elements and alignments. Pure Affinity and Pure Divine Affinity. Hmm..." She noticed a tab that showed Kye's real name and selected it. "It's true. Here it is. Elysia Athas of Elysium. Data for birth and age are N/A. Creator of Elysium. There's very little information on this page, but what is here is very clear." She paused and looked over at Aderyn, who had stopped pacing and was carefully studying the screen. "Lady Kye is Goddess Elysia."
The Cardinal was frozen in place. Even Carys was a bit surprised to see the details on the screen. Aisha was impressed with the status, and even Luma was not unfazed.
"Lady Kye, your stats are quite impressive, I must admit," Olivia said. "Even Lady Luma did not have stats this extraordinary when she was your age. Your STR and other base stats are in the mid 300s, except AGI is 650. Your current maximum mana output is 10.2T, but your capacity is 9999T+."
What? I have base stats?
"Actually, my capacity was also like that," Luma corrected, "but wow, the rest of your stats are way higher than mine were. I lied initially, of course, since I was young and my body was not developed. It was necessary to keep certain details to myself."
"Indeed," Kye agreed. She knew all too well what Luma meant. A transmigrator with significant experience and power built up over countless lifetimes could not reveal what they were haphazardly or risk being killed before they could properly defend theirself. "Lady Olivia, the power you used just now..."
"We refer to it as divine light. It is rare and difficult to use and does not always work even when chanted properly." Olivia exchanged glances with Carys and Aderyn briefly. "We believe divine light chooses whether or not to fulfill any given request."
Kye averted her eyes. That...
Luma smirked and called Kye out. "What's wrong, Commander? Did that sound familiar? Hah!"
"Shut up, Luma. It's not funny." Suddenly, it didn't make sense. Kye held her head, recalling a memory she didn't know she had. "I..." She looked up, her vision somewhat blurry, and saw only Luma sitting there. Not Luma Caliburn, but Luma Athas.
"What do you think? The people of this world are begging for your help. Will you answer them or leave them to fend for themselves?"
"What?" Kye said. Luma was not looking at her and did not react.
"I know I need to choose." Kye looked over to find the source of the voice that sounded like her own. "It's been on my mind for a while." Sitting next to her was... herself.
Elysia.
"It's gone pretty far already, but you could still turn it around. If you choose a few champions - or even just one - then it's not impossible for them to turn things around."
Above the table, between Luma and Elysia, was a holographic image of a planet with several small lights across its lands.
"Should I not just let it happen?"
Kye was taken aback by what Elysia had just said. "What? You'd dare abandon people!" Neither reacted to Kye. "Is this a memory?"
"There is so much evil in this world. I am unsure if it would be better to let it die to allow the good souls to move on or save it and risk them suffering even more."
"Save them!" Kye shouted.
"I think you should save them," Luma said. "The evil in that world can be overcome. It's not too late."
"Dammit!" Elysia suddenly jumped up and kicked the table over Luma's head. "Why can't I just go do it myself?! I don't want to let them die, but I don't want them to suffer even longer if it fails. I could fix it myself if I could just... become mortal."
"I'm sure you could, but you know we're not allowed to meddle directly. You need to learn to trust mortals."
"After seeing so much evil, how can I?" Elysia flung her arm forward, laying her hand on the holographic planet. "I've made my choice." A burst of white aether blocked Kye's vision of what happened next. When it subsided, she was back in front of Carys and the others, and the table was still standing.
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Revision: 2024-5-22