Chapter 165: Omen – Chapter 154: Coming Change

"Well, that was something," Igelio said, his armour clanking loudly as he leaned back in his chair. "How, exactly, did you meet her again?"

"My daughter," Geshton replied. "The blessing the stones could not read came from the All-Mother, and a few moons ago she simply showed up after Maria ran away again."

The armoured man scratched his head. "The literal creator of everything we know just walked into your house? I wouldn't believe it if I did not see her myself."

"Agreed," Telijha said. The woman had remained quiet during Aperio's visit, content to observe the Goddess. "You felt it too, right? The cold grip around your very being when she looks at you?" She shuddered slightly. "As if she is looking into your Soul to judge you. I wouldn't want to be part of whatever army Zeltar sends to face her."

"You think they will actually fight?" Lord Terenyk asked as he started to distribute the papers he had procured from his ring a few moments ago. "They have to see how pointless that would be."

"You imply that they care," Telijha scoffed. "They have no problem sacrificing fleet after fleet to Lightfray, what makes you think they won't try it against her? Unless you have been close enough to experience her, it all seems so far-fetched." She shifted slightly in her seat. "Why would something like her walk around Verenier? Why does she even care about us? She hasn't for who knows how many millennia. Why now? What changed?"

Geshton frowned slightly at the question, pushing the last piece of paper towards Lady Vinmaier. He was not quite sure what had changed. The fact that not only the All-Mother but also the Goddess of Life and Light had made his estate their second residence had taken quite a bit of his time, and even more of his mental energy. He should probably not be as worried about Maria being with Aperio as he was, but something at the back of his mind still told him that he needed to protect his daughter.

It was a stupid thought, all things considered. Aperio was probably even more protective of Maria than he was. In her own, weird way. How the All-Mother 'worked', for a lack of a better term, was not something Geshton knew — or even wanted to know — and yet he knew that she would help Maria should the need arise.

"Something on your mind, Geshton?" Igelio asked as he removed his armoured gloves, placing them loudly on the table to get Lord Terenyk's attention. "You left us for a moment."

"I'm sorry," he replied, shaking his head. "I was… trying to make sense of something."

"I wouldn't try," Mito said, inspecting the parchment the All-Mother had given all of them. "Things seem to defy sense today. Even this simple piece of...paper?" He turned it again, before he pulled out one of his daggers and stabbed it into the parchment.

Tried to, at least. Instead of cutting through like it was supposed to, the dagger merely scraped against the parchment, filling the room with screeching that caused Geshton to wince and cover his ears.

"Not paper," Mito concluded, placing both the piece of definitely-not-parchment and his dagger on the table, "but still, this simple thing defies sense." He set his eyes on Geshton. "Unless it was something not related to your new, totally-just-an-Elf friend?"

Lord Terenyk grimaced slightly at the jab. When Aperio had first appeared on his literal doorstep, he had informed the council of her but had not disclosed who and, more importantly, what she was. He had merely said that she was an extraordinarily strong Elf; exactly what he had thought when he saw her for the first time.

"It does concern her to a degree," he agreed, "but it also does not matter for our current situation." He cleared his throat lightly, shifting his gaze towards Lady Vinmaier. "We have much to discuss, after all."

The woman retreated deeper into her scarf at his words, as if that would hide her from the stares of her fellow councilmen. She might not have been the only one at the table that currently held a vast number of indentured servants, but she was the one who always pushed for looser laws regarding the topic, and something Geshton would liberally call a more… 'Human-centred' approach to running Ebenlowe. Some of the ideas Elariya and her husband had proposed over the years he had been on the council would have undoubtedly sent Aperio into a rage.

If she ever found out, he would not blame her if she chose to simply execute the entirety of the Vinmaier family for it. Already got one. So far, there were only rumours as to the prolonged absence of Ebenlowe's premier nuance noble, but some quiet whispers that Geshton was fairly sure came from the [Guides] led him to think that Kereman might be a little less alive than his parents claimed he was. At the hand of the All-Mother, if the rumours are to be believed. He was inclined to believe them.

"We do indeed," Igelio agreed, a small smile spreading on his face. "I doubt we have much reason to keep deferring the reforms I proposed for the last meetings."

Lady Vinmaier shifted in her seat, her eyes set on Mito. "I am not the only one here who knows that we cannot just abolish policies we have had for centuries," she said, sitting a little straighter. "I will make the list Lady… Aperio wanted, but I do not think we should change anything until she reads it."

"I agree," Mito said, placing the dagger back into one of his many pockets a little more slowly than needed. "Like I have said many times before, change requires time."

"Of course," Igelio hissed in reply.

It was apparently time for yet another round of Igelio and Telija against Elariya and Mito, and like most others on the council, Geshton remained quiet. When one considered that Igelio was the de-facto leader of the Ebenlowe Guard, and that Mito currently led the [Assassin's Guild] — which, while technically legal, was still responsible for a large number of crimes — the confrontation was to be expected as relatively routine. Geshton was rather thankful that the [Assassin's Guild] had branched off into repossession and dungeon guides, instead of solely leaning into their primary — forbidden — export from Ebenlowe.

He might not like the existence of such a guild, but at least they had some guidelines they stuck to. And they turn in other criminals. It was always a weird sight when a group of assassins turned in some thieves or other lawbreakers, but it was certainly not unheard of. What Elariya and the rest of the Vinmaier family were trying to do, however, was not something he could even begin to understand.

In the past, he had been a lot more proactive in his fight against them. But, after his wife had died, he had had other things on his mind than these particular nobles and their schemes. Telijha, on the other hand, had lost most of her family to one of Uriel Vinmaier's plots and, while it could not be proven it was actually them, had since done everything she could to curtail their advances. Everything she can while being half-Dwarf. Most people would not notice by looking at her, but that did not change such deep-seated opinions..

"Do you really want to anger the All-Mother any further?" Telijha asked, placing her hands on the table and pushing herself up slightly. "Or do you perhaps still think that some dusty prophecy will somehow save you?"

Lady Vinmaier narrowed her eyes slightly at the remark of a prophecy, but did otherwise not react to it. "I have no intention of angering her further. She will get her list by the end of the day. I merely think that we" —she gestured at the gathered council— "should wait and see what she does with the information. Or would you want to make a decision that goes directly against the judgement she will make?"

Telijha lowered herself back into her seat, all the while glaring at Lady Vinmaier. She mumbled something under her breath before picking up the written agenda Geshton had passed around. "No, I do not."

This will be a long day…

///

Aperio let out a sigh, causing the small wisps of mana that danced around her to float away slightly, settling into a wider orbit. Caethya had told her to just let go for a moment and not hold back, so the tiny bits of mana her body could not incorporate swiftly enough were now floating around her again, melting back into her form whenever they touched her.

"I think you should always have these wisps of mana," Caethya said, shifting slightly on Aperio's wing. "It suits you, somehow."

"Makes me seem mysterious?" Aperio asked, letting the bits of mana flare a little with each word. "It certainly feels nice. Like I can finally breathe again." Even though I don't.

"You are trying to contain all of yourself in one body," Caethya replied. "I can't imagine that to be an easy task. Or even really possible."

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Aperio remained quiet for a moment, lifting her wing slightly so Caethya would move a little closer. Ferio had told her that she used to spread herself over multiple bodies, something that made a lot of sense in hindsight, but as the All-Mother had stated multiple times already, she disliked the idea of splitting herself like she had done in the past. Or being a cosmic cloud.

"If I don't," she finally said, "a stray thought could cause a lot of damage." Aperio pulled her free wing towards herself so she could be covered to the best of her ability. "Geshwen would probably be gone already. That moment of anger would probably have been enough."

She paused, not quite sure how to express herself. Technically, a thought was all she needed to erase Geshwen now, but that required her to actually focus on the thing she wanted to do. For the brief time she had been outside her body, everything was connected to her in a way that had removed this need for focus; she had simply needed a hint of a thought to do something. If someone had told her — the old, mortal her — that feeling what she could only describe as unlimited freedom would be terrifying, Aperio would have never believed them. But now, she knew. Having a body is better… At least it makes some sense.

Aperio could not claim to understand how her own body worked, but at least it behaved like one would expect. Besides the fact that I don't need to eat, sleep, or even breathe. All of those, however, were things someone who reached a high enough level would also no longer need.

"Perhaps you should gather some more dungeon cores," Caethya said, turning onto her side to look at the All-Mother. "Knowing more about how you… work cannot be a bad thing. And," she quickly added before Aperio could speak, "I think you have gotten enough of your memories back to say that it doesn't change who you are. It almost seems like you just put them in some kind of mental picture book for later reference."

Aperio frowned slightly at Caethya. Her love was not wrong in her assumption of how the memories of her past self ended up in her mind, and yet the All-Mother still felt a slight bit of unease when she thought about retrieving her past life. She did her best to push that aside.

"Perhaps I should," she said. "The world would probably be a better place without them, anyway. Having something mindlessly produce monsters is not good, and neither is the fact that other dungeons might begin to think they are me.” Like that one in Ebenlowe…

"It was rather disconcerting. ...but did it even really think?" Caethya ran her hand gently over the wing Aperio had used to cover herself. "I am not sure if those things can even be alive. They always seemed like a slightly smarter version of the System to me."

"I don’t think they are...” Aperio said, tilting her head slightly as she thought. “Is there a dungeon expert I could go and ask? I doubt that in the time I was gone nobody tried to figure out how they work."

"Oh, there are a few," Caethya replied, a small smile spreading on her face. "On Spicor, the [Guides] were helping two of the academies I attended—”

“Academies?” Aperio interrupted. “Did they make entire schools devoted to studying dungeons?”

“Not quite,” Caethya replied, “but they do have classes for adventurers like me to help us prepare.” She waited for the All-Mother to give a small nod. “But my idea was that you could try asking the [Grandmaster]. She should know, right?"

Aperio remained quiet for a moment, lifting the wing she had used to cover herself and carefully pulling Caethya towards her. The Demigoddess wrapped her arms around the All-Mother in reply, no floor present to prevent the movement.

"I had planned on visiting her anyway," Aperio said. She paused for a moment, running her fingers absentmindedly through Caethya's hair. "She was not at that council meeting, because the [Guides] disagree with some of the policies certain people on the council are trying to push. I'd like to hear her opinion on the matter directly."

Caethya shifted slightly at the words, propping herself up with her elbow on the now helpfully solid nothing. "And what will you have them do?"

Aperio moved her free wing upwards slightly, the best approximation of shrug she could offer at the moment. "I primarily wish for them to help the slaves I will free acclimate to normal life. And help those still in my temple."

"Have you considered landing your temple?" Caethya asked, then paused. "Can it even do that?"

"I don't know?" Aperio replied, tilting her head ever-so-slightly as a part of her mind reached out to her temple. She still could not make heads or tails of most of the runes that kept it working, but she was sure she could figure out which one of the enchantments controlled its flight. Or do I make it fly and I just don't notice?

She dismissed the thought with a slight shake of her head. There were lots of things running off of her mana that she did not know about, but anything she personally did, she was perfectly aware of. Even those corpses I still have in my Void… At some point, she would have to clean them out.

"It's worth a try," her love said. "Having it hang above Ebenlowe is probably not the best idea in the long term."

"Perhaps," Aperio replied, "but that comes after I have dealt with Geshwen and whatever stupid ideas Ebenlowe still has."

Caethya sat herself up at the words, brushing her fingers over Aperio's arm as she did. "Should we get going, then?"

The All-Mother heaved a sigh in reply, taking another breath of the soothing calm that filled her Void before sitting up herself. She rubbed her eyes, pausing for a brief moment as something she had expected did not occur. Only when she remembered that she should not be able to see with her eyes closed did the universe seem to agree and turn everything black. Except for the bit where I can still see with my aura. This is weird.

When she opened her eyes again, her vision — her actual vision — was filled with Caethya's face. The Demigoddess' eyes darted around for a brief moment before a small smile spread across her lips. "Are you tired?"

"I do not tire," Aperio replied, tilting her head slightly. "I am annoyed at the state of the world. I lived my mortal life who-knows how many millennia ago, and nothing has really changed." She paused for a moment, smoothing out a non-existent wrinkle in her dress. "Is this how mortals will always be?"

"Not every mortal is like that," Caethya said, a frown marring her face. "I was a mortal, remember?"

"That's not what I meant," Aperio replied as she stood up. She offered Caethya her hand, pulling the Demigoddess up once she had taken it. "I meant a more general trend. That mortal society as a whole trends towards this."

"Well," Caethya began, "before you left you did not care about mortals, and while you were gone they operated under the traditions their old Gods had left them. Which included slavery. Those same traditions are what remains now, even if you have killed the Gods that made them."

"Only have to somehow reform a nearly infinite amount of worlds, then," the All-Mother said with a sigh, draping a wing over her love. "Let's start with Verenier."

A nod from Caethya and a thought of her own tore reality apart, placing the All-Mother and her disciple in front of the [Guides] headquarters, a sight Aperio had not thought she would see again this soon.

GamingWolf

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