One didn’t just walk up to Priest Olwen and simply have his request granted in the same way that “one doesn’t just pop in on the Earth King”. No, he would receive an entire monologue━a kind of verbal defense that took the Dai Li’s place. Okay, maybe that was a poor example...

Anyways, it wasn’t that the old man couldn’t remember things, just that he talked. Mostly spouting wisdom and informative things, like the original plan to invite spirits here was to organize a collective use of aether at one time. In other words, everyone would cast a spell, and with the size of the crowd already in the building, that could cause a splash big enough to intrigue spirits.

A wedding, as Olwen went on about, was also a big enough curiosity to attract spirits. From what Noa gauged, spirits were essentially drawn to things they found entertaining or stimulating. Then he’d gone on to say more trivial things, and...

“Priest Olwen,” Noa said, polite as he could as he tried to interrupt the man’s current monologue about seasonal flowers while he made his way to the library. Noa tailed him the entire way up. “The wedding?”

“Of course, boy. What do you think I’m doing?” Olwen asked, starting to dig through a stack of books that fell over near the stairwell. “There’s a book. Green, I think,” he said. “It’s one of the few with gold lettering. Help me search.”

Noa sighed, and got on his knees, shuffling through books next to the priest. “What’s it for?”

“Officiating. I used to have this stuff memorized, but not since all the young folks started going to the warfront instead of getting married, you know,” he said.

Sifting through books, Noa frowned. None of them were green with gold lettering, but he did pick up a red one with gold letters that read━Union Rites.

“That’s it!” Olwen said, and snatched the book from Noa’s hands.

Huh. “Do you know you’re colorblind?” he asked.

“Colorblind? I see colors just fine. Now come on, follow me,” Olwen said, and Noa raised an eyebrow.

Surely he knows. He’s ancient, Noa thought, and followed Olwen back down the stairs.

“Ack!” Olwen hissed, his form crumpling forward. Noa reached out in an attempt to catch him, but winced as he rolled all the way down the stairs.

“Priest Olwen!” he shouted, hearing a series of gasps and exclamations from the bottom of the stairs as well. Running down, Noa grimaced. Olwen’s ankle was... twisted at a sickening angle, and yet, he held his head, moaning loudly.

A large man in an orange tunic was already trying to lift the priest up, and Noa waved his hands. “No! Wait, let me assess the damage first,” he said.

The large man looked at him tentatively. “Why don’t you go get Eliaz, kid?” he asked, then proceeded to pick Priest Olwen up in his arms, the old man crying out.

“Curse you! Set my patient down, or there’ll be hell to pay. I am a [Mender],” Noa pointed.

The man paused for a moment, then slowly set Priest Olwen down. “I didn’t know we had another [Mender],” he said.

“Recent development. You go get Eliaz. He’s right outside the building. And someone get me some extra aether stones,” Noa demanded as he knelt beside Olwen. He pulled out a strand of Aether, designating it and stretching it over the priest’s body.

System [Lesser Assessment] level 2 → 3.

Noa gained the sense that there were a few superficial injuries, and two not superficial. The ankle, obviously one. He frowned, reaching over and pulling Olwen’s hand from his head. He grimaced as blood pooled from a sizable bump on hairless scalp.

Immediately starting with that, Noa stopped the blood flow with a [Lesser Mend]. Then he went ahead and did an examination. The wound wasn’t superficial. Damn helpful these lesser spells were!

System [Lesser Examination] level 21 → 22.

“I’m going to need aether stones!” he called out, and finally, people in the crowd started moving. He briefly exchanged a look with She-monstrosity who sat on a front pew across the room, his bones nearly shivering right out of his skin from the sour glower she gave him. Ignore her, Noa thought.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A brief influx of sunlight indicated the chapel doors opening, Eliaz pushing his way through the people so crowded in the room that they didn’t fit in the pews. “I’m here, what happened?”

“Priest Olwen fell down the stairs. Ankle break and head injury,” Noa pointed.

Eliaz nodded, and knelt beside Olwen’s ankle. He too started his work.

His final spell from his own aether reserves was another [Lesser Mend], which seemed to do something invisible, as there was no change from the wound. Well... mostly. It oozed out a clear liquid for a moment, as if it was spitting something out. Likely debris, Noa guessed.

System [Lesser Mend] level 27 → 28.

The large man returned as well, taking a moment to collect aether stones offered to him from people in the crowd, then handed them to Eliaz and Noa. After two more mends, the wound closed, and Olwen’s eyes focused. Damn, I didn’t realize they were even out of focus, Noa thought. He wasn’t sure he could heal a concussion.

System [Lesser Mend] level 28 → 29.

Moving to join Eliaz, he found the ankle much more complicated to heal. They had to manually set the bone, and... Noa was damn glad Eliaz had done it before. Eight [Lesser Mends] each, and Olwen’s ankle was back to normal. So was his talkative self, much to Noa’s dismay, though he was mildly distracted by several notifications.

System [Lesser Mend] level 29 → 30.

System Class [Mender] level 3 → 4.

System [Lesser Mend] level 30 → 31.

System [Lesser Mend] level 31 → 32.

“How do you feel, Priest Olwen?” Eliaz asked. “Think you can stand?”

Olwen nodded, and with Eliaz’s assistance, got up to his feet, though he was a bit wobbly. “The book?” he asked.

Noa looked around, and found that the tome had slid clear across the floor to the altar. After retrieving it, he handed it to the priest, who grimaced. “Just reading the words makes my head hurt. Here,” he handed the book back. “You officiate.”

“What?” Noa asked, raising his brow. “Am I even allowed to do that?” he asked.

“Hmm...” Priest Olwen hummed, he pressed a thumb between Noa’s eyes. “I anoint you an ardent of Elorn’s Esteemed Church. By his name will you do his work. May Elorn bless you, Ardent Noa Kai. There, now young these two marry fools.”

Noa scrunched his nose. Did I just... get a title? In a church? Ah, hell.

“Do you mean ‘marry these two young fools’?” Eliaz asked.

“That’s what I said!”

“You don’t have any other ardents?” Noa asked.

“I just anointed you! Get! Someone sit me in a pew. This old man’s too tired to be standing up.”

Not ten minutes later, Noa stood in front of a massive crowd of people, Lila and Eliaz facing each other before him. He was behind the altar, book on it, while the two of them held hands in front of it. Right, just a crowd of people, he... just had to read words.

The first page of the book had the ceremonial scripts for marriage, which started with, Announce intentions. Right. Erm, he could do that. He looked up at the crowded room, his hands growing sweaty. He wiped them off on his coat, and gulped. This crowd was a lot bigger than the one of indentured servants from before. Black Panther stood in the back, tallest man around, and... yeah, he wouldn’t be helping today.

Right, just... An idea hit him.

“Uh, Marriage! Marriage is what brings us together today. Marriage, that, um... blessed event,” Noa cleared his throat. “A dream within a dream!”

“Noa, no offense, but can you just get to the rites?” Lila asked.

Classic. Rushing to be married. Noa couldn’t help but smile. He began to read aloud from the book, which was so much easier than trying to pull movie quotes out of his ass. “Groom’s name, re━Oops. Eliaz Ruellan, repeat after me: I, your name, will devote my body, mind, and spirit,” he paused, allowing Eliaz to repeat him, then continued. Most of it was very basic, not much different than what was seen on Earth. A lot about love and loyalty. After Lila did the same, Noa read off the last part, using Lila’s last name to seal the union, “By the power granted to me through his Grace, Elorn of Aether, I seal you both under the house of Serandour.”

Almost immediately, Noa felt a wave of thick, mucky power wash over the room, much like when he tried to retrieve his lock. The spirits danced, the weight of their aether seeming to bounce into his [Aether Sense], threatening to topple him over. Instead, they smashed through him? It was an odd sensation, making his skin tingle, and bringing with it a slight chill.

Cheers from the crowd accompanied the change in atmosphere, and hopefully the wedding itself, but Noa got the sense that this community wasn’t... the tightest of groups.

“Eliaz, you may now kiss the bride,” Noa said, giving the man a smile.

Eliaz shot back a confused look. “What? Are you crazy? Public affection?” he asked. “We don’t do that in these parts, Noa.”

“Oh...” he said, then shrugged.

He closed the book, and nearly jumped at the words scrawled into the altar beneath, much like he’d seen on his glass door back in his apartment, just before all of this began.

I’m waiting for you...