Chapter 121: Revelations – Chapter 118: Reading into Things

Aperio held the book the [Keeper of Tomes] had given her, her eyes flicking over the rapidly changing pages. Despite the fact that she still had one arm wrapped around Caethya and held the book in her free hand, each page turned over in rapid succession with the barest effort of her mind. She could have read the book without opening it, but something about the slight rustling of the papers as her magic turned them over and the act of actually reading the words — even though she barely spent a second on each page — felt nice.

With a sigh that echoed too much for her liking, Aperio teleported the book back to its owner. Sadly, there was not much to be learned from the book, as she had already checked on most of the locations the [Keeper of Tomes] had written down, and already checked out the ones she had not as she encountered them in her reading. The only ones she had yet to search were, for the most part, the Dominions of Gods and Goddesses she had less than a stellar opinion of, which meant that getting within the Dominions themselves to take a look was quite a bit harder. I'd have to find them first, too…

Aperio did not know where she would even begin with that search. Finding Vigil's Dominion had been mostly luck — having Inanis come to his aid even more so. I doubt every deity is as… bold as they were.

"Find anything useful?" Caethya asked, turning slightly in the All-Mother's gentle embrace.

"No," she replied. "Most of the locations listed there are ones I have already searched, and the ones I had not yet searched also turned out to be wrong.

"I did not look into the Dominions yet," Aperio continued, her wings twitching a little at the prospect of fighting more deities. "I would have to find where they put them first."

The [Keeper of Tomes] blinked at her words, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times as he struggled to find the words he was looking for. Mayeia giggled at the man’s unbelieving face but made no move to say anything, likely not wanting to risk saying something the All-Mother would find disagreeable.

"I am not omniscient," Aperio said, quirking an eyebrow. Not that I couldn't be. It was very much a conscious decision; her brief stint as a formless fog had done a good job of dissuading her from the idea. Another reason for staying corporeal was currently wrapped in her arm and a wing, bringing a sorely needed note of calm to the brewing storm in Aperio's mind.

Selehan took a moment longer to get his bearings, the information he had received seemingly a bit much despite its rather mundane nature. He cleared his throat, placing the book somewhere beneath his table again before he asked, "But could you be?"

The All-Mother narrowed her eyes as she glared at the man. Caethya's free hand settling onto her stomach caused her to let go of the magic she had started to weave and shift her attention to the countless books surrounding them. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"I do not think so," the [Keeper of Tomes] replied. His voice was unsteady; a little higher than before. Almost as if he is scared now.

Aperio tilted her head as she inspected the Beastkin a little more closely. Something about his behaviour was… off. But, against expectation, she did not find anything wrong with the man. At least not with his body. Selehan had also seemingly not noticed her more forceful look, something that only furthered her suspicion.

A light, almost unnoticeable tap on her stomach caused the All-Mother to shift her attention to the new arrivals. Caethya then removed her hand from Aperio's stomach and nudged the winged Goddess' arm around her shoulders away. Aperio obliged, folding her arms in front of her chest instead; only keeping her wing loosely draped around her disciple.

Why Caethya reacted to these new people with less comfortable casualness as she usually did was a mystery to the All-Mother. A quick mental query did not help either, only getting her a mental shrug.

In the end, it mattered little as long as Caethya was around. Even if it's a little selfish… The calm her disciple brought, the fuzzy warmth Aperio felt when she was near, it was all unquestionably good, but she did not feel she gave something of equal value back.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the annoying practice of bowing to someone of a higher social strata than yourself. Aperio merely sighed, her free wing sweeping upwards slightly in a motion the new arrivals easily understood.

The group of Beastkin rose, the rustling of robes and slight creaking of leather filling the room as other sounds had seemingly left the world at the All-Mothers exasperation. "Are these the Archivists you mentioned?" she asked, her eyes settling onto the [Keeper of Voices].

They had been scattered throughout the hall, noticeable in her aura in the same way a mortal might see something in their periphery. She likely could have inspected them more closely, but the All-Mother was making an effort to not intrude too much into everyone's life. Which I do anyway just because I am who I am…

"Yes," Selehan replied. His voice sounded normal again, the man having seemingly gotten over whatever had unsettled him in the first place. "There are some who are currently not present as we dispatched them to check some of the locations we considered good candidates.

"Of course," he continued after a brief pause that seemed to bring back of his previous agitation, "that is no longer necessary."

"I will have a [Communika] call them back," the [Keeper of Voices] said as a bit of his mana flowed through his staff, gently illuminating a few runes. After a brief moment, Aperio could sense a sliver of the magic flow into the network of runes that seemed to be omnipresent in the building.

"Perhaps it would help if they actually tell us what they know instead of just staring," Caethya said, inclining her head to the newly arrived Archivists. "It's pretty rude."

Aperio shifted her wing slightly to better cover Caethya. While she did not like them much either, she had not considered the mortals’ stares rude. It was the first time many of them likely saw a Goddess; something her disciple had usually been the first to point out. Maybe it’s the way these ones do it?

"That will happen a lot more in the future," Mayeia said. "The path you are on is one is less travelled and will get more attention one way or another." She paused, and Aperio could feel a small pulse of mana emanate from the Goddess of Magic, as well as the slightest narrowing of her eyes.

"Caethya has a point, however," she continued. "Everyone here seems awfully slow in their search for the third Keeper. I would have thought that this would be something the [Ancestral Guard] would enlist the help of the Tribes for."

A tense silence settled over the hall as neither of the Keepers replied. It was only broken by an ethereal sigh of the All-Mother.

"I do not care what they have done to find her," she said, her voice filling the room despite her having not raised it. A few wisps of mana had also started to float around her as she drew a little more on her well. "I came here to find out what they know," Aperio continued and turned to face the new arrivals. "So please, tell me what you know."

It was not one of the mortals in front of her that replied, but a cat-eared Beastkin that had hidden herself behind one of the impossibly tall shelves. Her black fur melted into the background, and the yellow highlights — almost golden — reminded Aperio of the one she had seen in Fel'Erreyth's Dungeon.

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"They do not want her to return," she whispered with a shaky voice, retreating back into the shadow of the shelf. It was clear that not everyone had heard her — but Aperio did. The All-Mother heard the next words the Beastkin spoke too, the ones said with eyes fixed upon her. "The [Keeper of Relicts] prophesied the end of the times we know, and her voice carries too much weight for them to ignore."

The magic that had started to form around the woman ceased to be as Aperio simply waved it aside. She had expected Selehan or Kenmo to be the source of it, but it was one of the Archivists that had gathered before her. Did they expect that to work? They had to either not know who Mayeia and she were, or simply be a lot more stupid than Aperio had thought possible.

"I have not come here to dabble in your games," she said with slightly more power in her voice. The Beastkin that had spoken appeared before her as, simultaneously, the one that had tried to cast the spell found herself unable to move.

The All-Mother directed her attention at the Beastkin who now stood before her, suppressing a sigh as she tried to make herself as small as possible. "What do you know?"

There was no reply. The cat-eared Beastkin just stared at Aperio and shook as she tried to make herself smaller still. The All-Mother's wings and shoulders slumped at the reaction; the room seemingly growing colder with the action. I helped her and now she is scared, why?

Caethya emerged from under her wing, Aperio lifting it slightly to let her disciple move past. She carefully approached the Beastkin, a few wisps of the All-Mother's mana trailing behind almost as if they did not want to let go. In a way, that was true. Aperio liked being near Caethya, and her mana was very much a part of her.

Aperio stretched her wings slightly before folding them behind her back. She tilted her head slightly as Caethya pulled out a small notebook from a nonexistent pocket on her dress and held it out towards the Beastkin.

"You don't have to be scared," she said as the Beastkin took the book. "But if you don't wish to speak, you can just write it in there, okay?"

The All-Mother wanted to tell Caethya to not treat the woman like a child, but she kept quiet as the Beastkin nodded ever-so-slightly and started to scribble into the book with the pen that had been attached to its side. That worked?

She would be lying if she claimed she had foreseen a positive outcome from her Disciple's actions, but nonetheless the attempt had succeeded. Aperio gave Caethya a small smile that she could not see and conveyed her gratitude in the form of some mana dancing around the Elf and a mental message.

A part of her mind was also reading what the Beastkin frantically scribbled into the book while another held the one that had tried to cast magic just a little tighter. With every word the cat-eared one wrote, the small flame of anger in Aperio's chest grew.

So far, the mortals she had seen had only shown their worst side after a more direct interaction with their Gods. That was not the case here, however. At least as far as she knew. The [Ancestral Guards] did not follow one God or Goddess, but many.

Perhaps she was a fool for thinking that the mortals would be less corrupt and misguided without direct influence of their Gods, but the All-Mother — despite her own mistrust — did not want to believe that they were all as tainted by greed as the Beastkin's allegations made them out to be.

"Do you have anything to say on the matter?" Aperio asked, her eyes flicking between the [Keeper of Tomes] and the [Keeper of Voices].

Neither of them looked like they wanted to be here right now; but they both knew full well that they could not leave. Kenmo sighed, leaning a bit more heavily on his staff. The [Keeper of Tomes], on the other hand, produced another book. Unlike the previous times, he retrieved this one from a black rift, and it was instantly clear that the volume was bound by chains that rustled slightly as it was held aloft.

"That," Mayeia said, squinting at the book, "should not be in a mortal's hand."

"Usually, it is not," the [Keeper of Voices] said. "Moria left it here when she disappeared. Despite what Meherisha has told you, we most definitely want to find our friend. She merely thinks we are part of the problem when, in reality, we had been unaware until recently."

"And are powerless to change it without Moria," Selehan continued. "Our titles may grant us power, but they are tied to the will of the entire [Ancestral Guard]. Most wish to be on this path, and we are forced to follow their wish."

The [Keeper of Tomes] carefully removed the chains that bound the book. Hushed voices filled the room shortly thereafter, whispering about things that could happen — promising great power, if you only opened it and spoke its text aloud.

"The [Keeper of Relicts] still holds the pages we require to remove the ones that have been corrupted by greed," Selehan said, offering the book to the All-Mother. "Mayhap it will help you in finding her."

A touch of Aperio's magic brought the book into her hand. The whispers ceased as soon as the tome was in her grasp, whatever magic was responsible either no longer working or too scared to continue. The All-Mother assumed it was the latter, as something about the book felt decidedly alive.

“I do not like being deceived,” Aperio said, glaring at both the [Keeper of Tomes] and [Keeper of Voices]. “You are lucky I want to find my friend.”

The mention of Moria as her friend had the desired effect as both of the Beastkin froze in place. Aperio directed her attention to the book in her hand, carefully leafing through the pages. Mayeia appeared next to her and also peered into the book, seemingly quite interested in what it had to say.

Aside from the fact that the book felt alive, Aperio was also sure that it was trying to read her. How would it even do that? Pushing the thought aside, the All-Mother kept leafing through the book. Caethya joined them after a moment longer, bringing the cat-eared Beastkin named Meherisha with her.

Aperio stopped. Written at the edge of the page were words she recognised before her mind grasped their meaning. When she had first laid eyes upon these words, she had not been able to read them. They had been written on an item that had been given to her by the one who had acted most like a mother to her during her mortal life. It was perhaps a foolish idea to think this phrase was a hint, but Aperio was willing to take that chance. She would still go and look.

GamingWolf

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