Chapter 33: Interlude – Maria 1: A Dream Come True

GamingWolf

Maria lounged on her bed, unable and unwilling to wipe the persistent grin off of her face. She had finally managed to meet the person that she had seen in her dreams for her entire life. Admittedly, to be able to do that she had to sneak out, running away from her estate and evading her ever-present maid, and there might be repercussions later. But it was worth it!

Maria knew full well that Amelia only wanted to protect her, but she couldn't just sit around when a Goddess – her Goddess! – walked into the city. She couldn't properly explain how she knew what she knew, and had never been able to convince anyone of the truth of it.

Speaking of truth, it had to be said that when she had run off she had not been one hundred percent certain of the Goddess status of the woman, but what other being could pick up a soul and throw it, literally, into the mortal realms? And she had been proven right all along.

The winged Elf had stood out in the milling crowd like a sore thumb. That the people seemed to naturally part and flow around her, some without even looking her way, just proved the point in Maria's mind. Who else but a Goddess would prompt someone to step aside without them even thinking about it?

The smile on her face grew wider as she relished her memory of being able to actually talk with the woman. After convincing Amelia, of course. The maid was her personal guard for a reason and, despite having run away to meet the dream-woman, Maria knew that Amelia had a good eye for assessing potential danger.

When the Goddess had spoken, Amelia had seemed startled, and wanted nothing more than to shield her and leave. Maria could not figure out why she should be shielded from a voice that filled her with a pleasant warmth, one that felt soft and embracing, almost like...like the few times her father would hug her. She had wanted to stay forever, but, sadly, the world had had other plans. Now she was back at the mansion. Stuck in my room for the rest of the day.

All day, every day. Hiding away in my room. Ever since her [Status] had first been revealed, her family had thought her to be cursed. At the tender age of six, how else could someone possibly acquire a title? The sheer illegibility of it did not help matters, and telling her father of the dream that kept coming back only resulted in her being trotted around to what felt like every doctor possible, and an assortment of priests just for good measure.

The doctors had found nothing wrong, but the priest of Vigil had said that it was indeed a curse. When a priest of Inanis had come up with the same result, it was confirmed in stone for her father.

Maria knew that both priests had asked to speak with her father in private. She did not know what was discussed, but afterwards he had been less than pleased, banishing them from the estate. Since then, no follower of either of those Gods had been allowed back on the property.

Small hope came from the visiting priest of Ediscio, who had told them that despite serving the God of Knowledge, he had no knowledge of what her [Status] was. He had advised them to seek an audience with Roots-Beneath-All, saying that the tree was more familiar with the ins and outs of the System.

Maria didn't want to talk to a tree. She wanted to pray. Pray to her Goddess, in fact, but as she began she came up woefully short. In her excitement in finally meeting the woman, she had not even asked for her name. Maybe...maybe she doesn't like to listen to prayers? Maria considered, trying to soothe herself into a calmer state. She did not even know why the woman had come to the mortal world in the first place, but if a Goddess of what she assumed to be death had come to the city, something important was clearly going on.

But… a thought crossed her mind. Doesn’t Natio claim to be the God of the Underworld? Climbing out of bed, Maria shuffled over to the wide set of shelves on the wall. Since she wasn't allowed outside her room that often, she had asked her father for books with which to pass the time, and over the years she had accumulated quite a number of them.

Picking one of the many scriptures about religion, she leafed through the pages until she came upon the section about the new Gods. She snorted. If the two Gods had arrived a thousand years ago, could they really still be considered new? How long until the newness of a God wore off and they were merely a regular God? Still, they were the most recent addition to the pantheon. The official one, that is. Maybe they're just the newest Gods?

Maria was certain that the Goddess she had just met was not part of the pantheon in any official manner; otherwise, with all these priests that had come and gone to check on her [Status], she would have heard of her outside of her dreams. Seen a drawing, at least, or read the vaguest description that matched. Maybe even learned her name.

But there was something, some ungraspable part of her, that told Maria her Goddess was more than a simple guardian of the dead. Something about her felt ancient in a way completely separate from the older pantheon. It was a thing to be puzzled over later, perhaps. Right now the question in Maria's head was why. Why did she come here? In no world would Maria assume that her Goddess had come here for her specifically; she knew she wasn't important enough for that.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock and the subsequent opening of the door. The intruder turned out to be her personal maid Amelia who held a tray with her dinner on it. She silently placed her meal on the sole table in the room before addressing her charge.

"Your dinner, Maria."

After placing the book back in its spot on the shelf, Maria made her way towards the table. She could tell Amelia was still mad at her, justifiably so. But she simply had had to go; her need to see her Goddess had been so vast as to fill her completely, unable to be ignored.

"Thank you," mumbled the girl as she sat down.

Dinner itself was the usual silent affair, punctuated only by the noise of cutlery scraping against the porcelain plate. Only after Maria had finished did Amelia speak again.

"Your father wants to see you."

Wordlessly, Maria stood up. She had known that this would happen. Sneaking out usually only resulted in a reprimand from her maid, but this time she had done so during the Festival of Life. It was still unknown to her why exactly her father did not want her to leave the estate. Neither did she know why he had specifically told her not to leave during the Festival. Ebenlowe was a city with a good guard, they would protect her. It was their job after all. But now she had invited an unknown woman into their home, something she knew her father would not like. He vetted every person that came to their part of the small isle. Maria had seen – and read some of – the large pile of notes he had compiled on everyone that passed through.

Following Amelia out of her room they made their way through the sparsely decorated halls, their footsteps muffled by the thick carpet. Maria was anxious, and did not know what her father would do now, but she did not regret her actions. When her Goddess came to visit, she would be able to prove that she was not cursed. Maybe then I won't have to sneak outside anymore?

They passed a few of the other servants during the long walk to the office of Maria's father, and most of them bowed slightly before going back to their tasks. Some looked uncomfortable at their passing, but a sharp look from Maria caused them to quickly turn back to what they had been doing before. Maria herself knew none of the servants they had passed personally. The only people that spent any significant amount of time with her were her father, Amelia, and her brother Jace.

When will he come back? Her brother had left to study at an academy in Kejeran a few months ago as part of his education. He needed every advantage he could get, as he would take over the house one day. She missed the little lessons he had given her, teaching her about the world and helping her when she got stuck with her language studies.

"Don't fall behind."

Upon hearing Amelia's words, Maria sped up again. She had not noticed that she had slowed down, preoccupied with her thoughts. The rest of the way to her father's office she spent looking at her feet. It wasn't long before before she heard the sound of knuckles rapping on wood and the voice of her father calling them inside.

His office was – as always – filled with notes and papers, the man himself looking tired. Ragged even. Stepping past Amelia to face her punishment, as was proper, Maria did her best not to break form and run to give her poor father a hug. She knew he did not like it, always saying that it was improper, but that did little to stop her from wanting to do it.

"Stay, Amelia." Her father's words cause the maid to halt her movement and close the door instead.

"Of course, Lord Terenyk," she replied with a slight bow.

Looking down to properly face his daughter, lord Terenyk gestured to a rather plush-looking chair in front of his desk. "Please sit, Maria."

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Once the girl had done as she was told, her father spoke again. "I have been informed that you ran away. Again."

"I did," Maria replied, fidgeting in her seat. "But I had to meet her!"

"Meet who?" her father asked. "Some woman you see in a dream?"

"She is real! I found her!" Maria protested. "Amelia saw her too!"

Her father just rubbed his temples at her reply. "Yes, she told me that you found someone that matches her description. Even the wings. But, she also said that she is likely strong enough to influence how people see her. What you saw might have just been an illusion fuelled by your own imagination."

Maria wanted to tell him that she was a Goddess, not some random mage that made a habit of abducting or manipulating children. But the woman had said it was a secret and Maria was not about to interfere in a divine plan she had no hope of understanding. "She wants to visit us! Then you can find out on your own. If she's just an imposter, daddy, you'll find out!"

Lord Terenyk just gave a dry laugh at his daughter's attempt to diffuse the situation. He had to admit, however, that she was right. If the being was an impostor, he would find out. But in reality, he just wanted this day to be a dream. Whenever the woman of his daughter's dreams came to visit, he would either have to subdue someone beyond his level or have what he feared to be some kind of Goddess come into his house.

"Why can't you just stay here until daddy figures out what's wrong with your [Status]?"

"But nothing is wrong with me!"

"Nothing we found so far, yes," her father replied. "But maybe we can't detect what it does, or whatever messed with your [Status] only manifests later on. I am just worried about you and want to know you are safe."

Maria perked up at his words. "I have Amelia for that!"

"She can't protect you if you just run away without telling anyone!"

The girl sunk further into her chair at his outburst. "But if I told anyone, I wouldn't be able to go," she mumbled.

"You aren't supposed to go," Lord Terenyk said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Here you are safe, but as soon as you leave, I cannot guarantee that." He looked at her, and she could see the weight of years in his eyes. "I've already lost your mother. Don't make me lose you too."

Maria hung her head in shame. Her father did not bring up her mother much, but whenever he did, it was because she had done something potentially dangerous. And yet, she felt that she had made the right choice. Something told her that she shouldn't be holed up in her room all day, but be free instead.

It had to be connected to the woman she had finally been able to meet. Maria knew she would have more answers for her. The why and how of where that knowledge came from was easily dismissed from her mind, as the prospect of knowing what was supposedly wrong with her simply outweighed such silly things as reason and logic. But right now, she had made her father sad. Something she did not like doing.

Looking back up at her father, Maria asked a question to which the answer held more importance than either her father or Amelia could fathom. “Can I still meet her when she comes?”

“If”– her father stressed the word –“she comes here, I will meet her first and then decide. That you invited her here is bad enough. We know nothing about who or what she might actually be.

“Go back to your room. Until I say otherwise, Amelia will stay with you to make sure you don’t run away again.” His words were final, the conversation over.

Getting out of the chair, Maria made her way out of the room. She knew that her father just wanted her to be safe, but she could not understand why that required her to stay in her room most of the time. She wasn’t some fragile flower. She could run away from Amelia, and the maid was pretty fast. Quicker than any of the other servants at least.

The walk back to her room was quiet, and seemed to feel much shorter than the plodding journey to see her father had been. Once back in the room that was her own, Maria did not bother to change her clothes, instead heading straight to bed. The day had been exciting, revealing, terrible and sad all at once. It was exhausting, she realized with a yawn, and as she was drifting off to sleep she heard a quiet "Sleep well, Maria," from the maid that had assumed her position at the door.

Maria dreamed, and the scene that presented itself to her was much the same. An infinite abyss of black nothing filled with rivers that held countless souls. Maria herself was, yet again, nothing more than a tiny glowing orb that drifted on the currents of the afterlife. That was, until a slender hand plucked her out of the stream and the face of her Goddess appeared in her vision.

The woman turned her spherical self every which way before gently tapping against her. A pleasant warmth spread from the point she touched, causing Maria to stir in an effort to more fully embrace what she thought of as a ghostly hug.

As always, it was not to be. She was tossed away, the scene she had painted a dozen times by now unfolding in front of her. Then, all the lights in the black abyss melted together, forming a tunnel of colours she could never hope to describe. Soon she would awake, fully rested even though she had gone to bed only an hour ago.

The cold sensation that usually heralded the end of her dream came and went, but instead of opening her eyes and staring at the ceiling of her room, Maria was looking a different scene.

She saw her Goddess flying in the air, holding another woman clad in the armour of Vigil’s paladins. Neither of the two seemed to even know she was there, but neither could Maria call out to her Goddess. A moment later the thought of interrupting her was flushed from her mind as she saw a golden-white version of the paladin slowly come out of her real body.

The process seemed to be painful as the woman screamed in silent agony, but Maria knew that her Goddess was doing her best to save the poor woman from something much worse. Just as Maria was about to question how she knew things she had never been told, there was an ear-splitting noise – something shattering – and Maria's real eyes shot open.

Before the dream could start to fade from her mind, Maria scrambled out of bed and began to paint the scene.

GamingWolf

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