Chapter 15: Sacrifice – Chapter 13: Insight

The hallway outside her room was deserted, the only thing indicating that someone lived in the building were the fake torches that hung in neat intervals along the wall. The presence of the crystal-tipped lamps reminded her of the stones she had procured from the ruins. She still did not know what they were, but as she was going to look for answers she might as well bring them with her.

A brief moment later Aperio was back in her room, rummaging through the discarded robe that still lay on the floor of her bathroom for the two stones she had taken with her. It wasn’t long before her fingers brushed against smooth surfaces; one warm and the other cold that reminded her of the bath she just used. Maybe that’s what they’re for?

A look at the bath did not reveal anything that looked similar to the stones she held; even looking up the faucets revealed nothing of interest. With a sigh Aperio turned away and made her way back out of her room.

As knocking on the door opposite hers garnered no response, she made her way to what Ira had called the main hall. The groaning of the floor once again roused the attention of the young man, Thaddeus, sitting at one of the tables. His face shifted through a slew of emotions before it settled on something one could describe as fearful resignation.

Aperio smiled at the man, more out of habit than anything else, but it only caused him to flinch and hurriedly turn back to the scroll he was reading. The smile vanished from her face. Am I that scary? She considered the situation honestly. Being covered in blood, breaking wards, having a...disagreement with what she assumed to be his mentor; all were things that likely did not rate highly on the list of things you wished to see in someone else. Her first impression had probably not been the best with the man, or anyone she had met thus far.

She suppressed the sigh that wanted to escape her lips and instead walked towards the table that held the biggest collection of books. Most of them were the big leather bound tomes with fancy lettering on the front she knew. A few, however, were bound in what looked to be a thick, sturdier version of paper. Curious. Once she had reached the table she lightly cleared her throat, trying to get the attention of Thaddeus.

The man turned towards the source of the sound and gave her a questioning look.

“May I?” Aperio asked softly, gesturing towards the neatly stacked books. She hoped that speaking a bit quieter would not cause the other party to almost fall over.

It seemed to work as he only hesitated for a moment before pointing at a table to her left. After she had walked to the other table he gave her a nod and turned back to his scroll. Aperio’s eyes lingered on his form for a moment longer; she wasn’t sure if she should try to disperse some of the fear or if she should use it to get some answers. Maybe later, she thought, shaking her head. The wrongness of the task was still something that she had to overcome, but for now the books would hopefully provide some answers.

She directed her attention to the books in front of her; there was no guarantee that she would be able to read any of these, but trying couldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like the attempt would suddenly drain the life out of her surroundings like her magic did. To be comfortable with trying her hand with that again she would need a place far away from civilization. Maybe back in the ruins?

It was worth trying once she had answered a few of her more immediate questions.

She placed the two stones on the table. The resonant click attracted the attention of Thaddeus, who glanced over in her direction. His eyes went wide as they landed on the stone, but instead of stopping to stare he hurriedly returned his gaze to the scroll in front of him. Aperio tilted her head as she looked at the objects of his interest – it seemed like a few questions, either asked or received, would be inevitable. For now though she would try her hand at the books. 

Picking up the first one her eyes landed on filled her with relief that she could read what was written on the cover. Was that why he pointed me here? Probably.  ‘The History of Wine in Vetus’. Not what she was looking for, but at least she could read it should nothing else be of use. Laying it to the side, she picked up the next one. Then the next.

Aperio did not know how long she had spent shifting through the books in front of her, but she now had two piles. One for things she had next to no use for, like the histories of various foods and drinks or fictitious tales that might be fun to get lost in but sadly were too far removed from anything she needed and wouldn’t help her find answers.

The other was filled ones that should help her in one way or another, be it a guide to magic or the history of the various races and continents. After finding a chair that looked suitably stable – and did not have a backrest – she chose the book called ‘The Rise and Fall of the Inaru Empire’ to start her search for answers. How that specific Empire had come to dominate most of the continent she knew; they had taken every opportunity they got to remind everyone of it after all. How it had fallen on the other hand was still a mystery to her. 

After the ritual she was in the Void and who knows where that was. It certainly did not tell her what had happened after she had been commanded to take her own life. Skipping over most of the ‘rise’ part of the book she was saddened to find that the fall of the Empire only had a handful of pages dedicated to it.

What was written on those pages was also not very helpful; nobody really knew what happened. It only referred to something called the ‘Night of the Second Sun’ in which Ferio – Goddess of the sun, apparently – cleansed the heretics to let the Gods return. There were no dates written down but given where the 'rise' portion of the book had left off, but Aperio was fairly certain that this ‘Night of the Second Sun’ was a direct consequence of the ritual the Empire held.

So they didn’t manage to make a God but brought one back? She looked down at herself. Maybe I took a part of that God's power? It would certainly explain why she was healed and where that seemingly endless ocean of mana came from, but it was also something that she had trouble believing. She did not feel like a God.

Gods had Domains – something they held absolute control over – and she assumed that any God would know their Domain. It would be weird if they didn’t. But neither had she tried to find the full extent of her power nor was she particularly inclined to do so anywhere close to a city. The only thing she knew was that she was deeply confused, and she doubted a ‘Goddess of Confusion’ was something that existed.

Still, even if it did not answer the question of what had happened to her, it did put her on a track she could follow. Finding out if the Goddess of the Sun was still alive and well should be an easy task, she only had to find the right book or find a temple dedicated to that specific Goddess once she was in a bigger city. She closed the book and put it on an empty space of the table, starting a third pile; this one for books she was done with.

Rifling through her stack of unread but potentially useful books, she was disappointed to find that there was no book that specifically talked about Ferio. A search of the pile of useless ones only produced a collection of fairy tales about the entire pantheon of Gods. Better than nothing I suppose.

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Grabbing the book she flicked through the pages. Most of the tales were much like the ones she knew; the Gods appeared, created the world, and all lived on it before disappearing for no reason in particular. Only after she had been through more than half of the collection did she find something different.

The tale was helpfully titled 'The Return', and followed a boy on a quest to save his mother. The continent of Vetus was in a period of turmoil, with tragedy and death around every corner – something that sounded very much like the 'fall' she had just read about – and amidst it all, mother and son were fleeing from every danger imaginable. The son was one of the few in that time who dared to believe in the power of the Gods, and he prayed every day; begging them to save the life of his mother, who had fallen victim to a strike from a new and terrible beast. The boy's belief was unwavering despite the obstacles, and like in many fairy tales, his prayers were answered with much fanfare and an appearance of Vigil himself to heal the mother of her ailments.

Skimming over the rest of the stories only awarded her with one mention of Ferio, and in that one she was smiting evil-doers left and right; no sign of being weakened or otherwise encumbered. Maybe I got only a tiny fraction?

With a sigh, Aperio placed the book with the other finished one and grabbed a new one from the useful pile. It would be a long night – at least mentally – but it would be worth it. Hopefully. 

Her next choice was a ‘A Comprehensive History of Verenier’. Something that spoke about the history of the entire world should definitely provide some answers, one of which would hopefully be an idea of how long she had spent in the Void.

Much to her surprise, she discovered that Ferio’s ‘cleansing’ was much more thorough than she had thought. Apparently the Goddess, or the calamity that was attributed to her, had removed all life from the continent. It was only centuries later that it was rediscovered and people settled back on it. The book also spoke of hordes of monsters that roamed the land and things called [Catharat Crystals] which apparently either created or summoned them.

The image of the mist-filled crystal surfaced in her mind. Did it summon me? She shook her head; she wasn’t summoned by it. She had just taken the portal that was made for the small orb. So those orbs are ...monsters? Their essence? A soul? She lowered the book to rest on her lap. 

If those orbs of light really were souls or whatever else gave life to things, then what were the blue ones that had so willingly offered themselves to her? Aperio had a sneaking suspicion that the ritual the Empire had so eagerly performed was responsible for the death of everything on Vetus. And if those orbs really were souls, or at least a physical representation of something like it, she had taken countless of them.

What does that make me?  While it would explain her wings – they were certainly things an Elf shouldn’t have – the thought of being like one of those things she had seen in the ruins was not pleasant whatsoever. Disgusting even. She wasn’t some mindless beast; she was Aperio! The… What? She grabbed her head, her mind reeling as it tried to finish the thought but failed to find the words that had been so close just moments before.

What was that?! There was a part of her that told her she knew what she was, but as soon as she tried to focus on that thought she only found a void of nothing that gave her a piercing headache. Almost as if a part of her was missing. Erased. Who is messing with my mind?

She had no collar on her, nor anything else that looked like a magical device. Was it the crystal? It had tried to work some form of magic on her, and incomplete magic had effects of its own.

Maybe Ira was right and her best bet to figuring that out was with the [Grandmaster] in Ebenlowe. Or he is the one messing with my mind? A small, involuntary laugh escaped her and she shook her head. She doubted he had done it. His over-eager paladin on the other hand... Well, she had used magic in Aperio's presence, but that had felt good and quite unlike the rather obvious attempt from the crystal.

Ebenlow seemed like her best – possibly only – way to find answers. A city where she would undoubtedly be chased by the family of that stupid mage, and if their child had tried to enslave her, she doubted the rest of themwould be any better. 

Maybe I should do everyone a favour and kill them? The thought… excited her. Simply thinking about eradicating some slaving bastards filled her with joyous anticipation. She didn’t know if she could even fight them, but she knew she wanted to. The memory of the circle of death reappeared in her mind and, startled, she turned to look for the young man at the other table, dropping the book on her lap in the process. 

Thaddeus was still there and judging from the slow rise and fall of his chest he was also still alive, but apparently asleep. How he had managed to nod off was beyond her; he had been positively terrified of her. Or at least she had thought so, always hiding behind the paladin certainly made it seem that way.

Maybe I can use that? If he was scared of her, maybe he would answer some questions. Or, maybe, he would run away as soon as she got close. Either was possible, but if he chose to run she was fairly sure she could keep him where he was.

Asking questions would require her to ignore the feeling of wrongness that accompanied such thoughts. While it was harder to do than not listening to the part of her that was fine with stopping a sword with her hand, it was something she would have to do sooner rather than later. She wouldn’t be able to just stoically look at people and expect them to do what she wanted. It was a small miracle that had worked so far. 

After picking up the book she had dropped and placing it on the table, she grabbed the stones and slowly made her way over to the sleeping form of Thaddeus. Each step she took was measured, trying to make as little noise as possible. She did not want to wake the man before she was within arm’s reach.

Once she was close enough, Aperio took a deep breath, steeling herself for the inevitable feeling of wrongness that would surely make itself known in just a moment. Extending her arm she gave the sleeping man a gentle push. Or she tried to at least. Instead Thaddeus fell from his chair with a startled yelp. I really have to work on that.

Trying her best to repress the creeping sensation of the frankly illogical feeling of wrong, she leaned over the man and said, “I have questions.”

GamingWolf

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