Chapter 136: Revelations – Chapter 128: The Next Step (And Some Art)

GamingWolf

Caethya shifted slightly in the embrace of her Goddess. While Aperio had seemingly managed to fall asleep, she could not say the same. Despite the All-Mother's outward relaxed appearance, calm breaths and gentle embrace, Caethya was worried. How long have we been here?

Aperio had been acting strange lately. Incoherent, almost. It was obvious that she wanted to be liked by her daughter but, just like she had said, Aperio did not actually know Ferio. That they had both seemingly ignored each other for months on end certainly did not help. And she doesn't like me…

It was clear as day to Caethya that the Goddess of Life and Light was not fond of the fact that she was with Aperio. Probably thinks I want to exploit her… She obviously did not want to do that. By now she was certain that she was in love with the All-Mother and not merely interested, but Caethya also knew that she would have to wait a while before Aperio would be able to show her own feelings.

"What has she been through?" the Elf mumbled to herself, removing her hand from Aperio's arm and running it along the inside of her wing instead. So soft…

Aperio tightened her hold on Caethya slightly, mumbling something the Elf did not understand but still somehow knew was good. The aura of her Goddess helped a lot with that. Even if she could not see her face or understand her words, Aperio would always show how she felt with her aura. Or, perhaps, through the blessing?

She was not quite sure how it all worked, but she could feel what Aperio felt even without looking at her Goddess’ aura. When the All-Mother got really angry, Caethya would even feel some anger herself. But she has been oddly calm lately. Almost too calm.

The small metal armlet Aperio had acquired after going to meet Moria caught Caethya's attention as it brushed against the exposed skin of her arm. She could feel the untold amounts of mana flowing within. It was soothing in a way, like lying by the beach and listening to the waves roll against the shore.

Is that why she is so...  serene now? Caethya wondered. She tried shift a little in Aperio's comfortably unyielding embrace, managing to shift herself just enough to get a better look at the armlet.

It was made out of the same silvery metal as the armour that sometimes adorned her Goddess' dress. Two feathers, their quills and tips carefully entwined, formed the delicate yet somehow sturdy shape. Did it always look like this? She could swear that she saw tiny flashes of blue out of the corner of her eye, ones that danced across the surface of the armlet, but whenever Caethya tried to actually focus on them, they seemed to disappear from view.

What she had no trouble telling, however, was the age of the piece of jewellery. She did not know how she knew, but she did. It was absolutely ancient. Whenever Aperio had made it, it had likely been before anyone else actually existed. Maybe it contains the first universe she made?

The idle thought was pushed away as soon as it had come, as everything she knew about the old Aperio painted her as anything but sentimental. She would not have kept something just because it was her first creation. And yet, the idea somehow called to Caethya; almost as if the armlet had noticed her thoughts and wanted her to pursue the matter. But then, did it always look like that?

Caethya reached out, her fingers brushing across the metal surface and Aperio's arm. The All-Mother shifted her wings slightly in response, unconsciously turning Caethya in her arms so that she was now face to face with her.

The rapidly flicking eyes and expression of anguish were not present this time. A few errant strands of Aperio's hair hung in front of her face, shifting gently with every motion of the All-Mother's head.

A small wiggle was all Caethya needed to free both of her arms, and the first thing she did was to brush the offending strands of hair out of Aperio's face and place her hands on those sleeping cheeks. The All-Mother mumbled something that the Elf thought was her name, but was not quite sure. She still found herself smiling at the confused expression of her Goddess.

Who knew the All-Mother needs some sleep every now and then? Caethya thought to herself. Perhaps this is because she lived a life as a mortal?

The Demigoddess of Creation did not know how long she simply lay there, mulling over the recent behaviour of Aperio. Her musings came to an abrupt halt as the All-Mother's eyes snapped open. Caethya was immediately caught up in a hug that was tight enough to warrant a tap on the arm, as well as a prayer to be a bit more gentle.

"I'm sorry," Aperio mumbled, her voice somehow still echoing through the empty expanse of her Void. She looked at Caethya for a moment longer before she averted her gaze, a feat the Elf was not quite sure was possible for a normal mortal at this proximity. "I… I dreamt that you left me."

"I told you I would be here," Caethya said, trying to get Aperio to face her again. The All-Mother resisted a moment longer, and the thought that Aperio liked the idea of leaving had just enough time to cross her mind before she found herself pressed against her Goddess with enough force to kill any normal mortal.

"Please don't leave," Aperio mumbled, her voice still perfectly clear despite the fact that she was speaking into Caethya's hair.

The Demigoddess wrapped her arms around the All-Mother as best she could, gently stroking her back. She had known fairly early on that Aperio would need time, something that had only become clearer with each passing day.

"I won't," Caethya said, trying to keep her voice as clear and steady as she could while being embraced by Aperio as she was. "I knew what I was getting into, and I am here for it all. I'll be happy to repeat that for you every day, if that is what you need."

The All-Mother relaxed her embrace a little, holding Caethya in the soft embrace of her wings as she cupped her disciple's face with her hands. Aperio simply looked at Caethya for a moment, her thumbs gently brushing over her cheeks as those intensely blue eyes darted left to right, seemingly trying to find something that only she could see.

Neither of them spoke, Caethya content to give Aperio the time she needed to think. She offered her a small smile that caused the All-Mother’s brows to furrow in thought ever-so-slightly. She could feel the indecision in her Goddess’ aura; how she was on the verge of a decision but could not quite make it.

The Demigoddess brushed her thumbs over Aperio’s cheeks once more before removing her hands. She was about to speak but could not as but a moment later, Caethya found herself unable to move. She could feel herself blush and the tips of her ears turn red as Aperio leaned in close, giving her a gentle but all-too-brief peck on the lips.

The All-Mother unconsciously bit her lip as she looked at the frozen Caethya in her arms. Was I wrong? Too fast? …Too forceful? Questions without answers filled her mind as the Demigoddess of Creation remained perfectly still in her gentle embrace. Not gentle enough?

She was about to let go to give Caethya some space when her disciple lifted her hand, motioning for her to wait. Aperio took a deep breath of the nothing that filled her Void, unable to suppress a small smile as Caethya did the same.

"You don't have to push yourself," her disciple said after another breath of the comforting nothing. "I know that you are conflicted and don't know which of your feelings to trust."

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"Should I not have?" Aperio whispered, the shadows of her Void flowing closer as she attempted to hide herself a little. I knew it, I shouldn't have!

"No, no," Caethya said, briefly leaning closer to her Goddess before she seemingly thought better of the motion. "That is not what I meant. I liked what you did, but I know you had to push yourself to do it."

The All-Mother let out a relieved sigh at the words. While she could feel Caethya reacting to the action she had taken, she knew full well that instinctive reactions were not to be entirely trusted. Her mortal body had reacted of its own accord when she had been raped, after all.

"I felt like I had to do something," Aperio said, extending her arm to touch Caethya's face but stopping halfway. "Like I had to somehow show you what I feel." Or you would leave anyway…

Perhaps she should give voice to her doubts, but Caethya had just said she would not go. Aperio had no desire at the moment to test that resolve by telling her the darker concerns that always gnawed at her consciousness.

Caethya gave Aperio a smile. "I already know what you feel," she said, taking the All-Mother's hands into her own as best she could. "But, I appreciate the desire to make your feelings known. Just don't push yourself to do something you don't want to, simply because you feel obligated to do it, okay?"

"I'll try," the All-Mother replied with a small nod, frowning slightly as a few strands of her hair fell before her eyes. A touch of her magic moved them aside, the act eliciting a small giggle from Caethya that caused Aperio to tilt her head slightly. No hair obscured her vision this time as it was firmly held in place by her will.

Caethya let out a content sigh and gave Aperio's hands a gentle squeeze. "Feel better now?" she asked. "A bit less worried?"

"A little, perhaps." She did feel oddly calm at the moment. More than the usual comfort her Void provided, at least. Is it because of Caethya? …Or because of what I did?

The kiss she had shared — however brief it may have been — had been something else for the All-Mother. She had experienced it all before, of course, but this one was the first she had given of her own accord to a person she had actual, if still slightly uncertain, feelings for.

What Aperio was certain about, however, was that she did not want to leave Caethya if she could possibly avoid it. Is it selfish? The calm her disciple brought to the raging sea of her thoughts was something she found she was beginning to depend on; a path she could follow without feeling used, or abused.

Sadly, there was still a part of her mind that questioned Caethya's goals, that said that the reason she felt what she felt was because the Elf was simply a master manipulator; that her disciple was just waiting to stab her in the back and try to steal the power she had just recently reclaimed.

Aperio let out a long sigh as she sat up, gently removing her wings from Caethya and stretching them before returning them to their folded position behind her back. "Why did I have to make a pantheon of idiots?"

"I'd wager a guess that they weren't idiots when you made them Gods," Caethya said, following her Goddess and righting herself. She smoothed out a few wrinkles in her dress, giggling slightly at Aperio who looked at the motion with a slight tilt to her head.

"Your rediscovered comfort with magic, to the point that fixing your clothes with your hands is now a strange notion, is a good thing, no?"

"Perhaps," Aperio replied, looking at her own immaculate gown. I didn't even think about it… "Makes it harder to live amongst mortals, though… I still wish to do that once I’ve taken care of the Repens Nabu."

"I'll do my best to help when the time comes," Caethya said, hesitating for a moment before she continued. "But I guess that brings us to Epemirial, and what you are going to do with her once you’ve found her."

"That depends on what she has done," Aperio mumbled, mentally reprimanding herself for changing the topic. "I fear she has done worse than both Vigil and Inanis… If I am correct, I will put her to rest for all eternity."

Aperio did not like the idea of destroying a Soul, but now that she knew the River of Souls could be circumvented, she would not allow the continued existence of someone that wanted to make eternal enslavement a reality. Vigil and Inanis might already be somewhere again, plotting.

She did not know how the River of Souls could be sidestepped on the path to being reborn, but discarding the possibility that those two deities still existed was not something the All-Mother was willing to do just yet.

"That…" Caethya began, stopping herself as she furrowed her brows in thought. "Can you destroy a Soul? I guess you could, you made them after all. But do you really want to do that?"

"I do not," Aperio replied. "But even the chance that they could somehow remember their past life is dangerous." The All-Mother paused as an idea crossed her mind; one that would help her in the long run, but was nearly as bad as destroying a Soul outright.

There was nothing stopping her from marking a Soul. That way, she could figure out where it went if it did not enter the River like it should. But doing more is also only a step further…

"I will cross that bridge when I get to it," Aperio finally said, her eyes wandering to the Souls that lazily floated through her Void. "I have to find her first."

GamingWolf

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