"There's no denying that Queen Malphas is the strongest being in the of the new world"
Goddess of War Morugarius.
Hope woke up sweating, the nightmare she had burning in her mind as she opened her room's windows. She had gone back to her home to visit her parents and tell them the good news.
"You, dating the third prince?" Her father asked with doubt in his eyes "Ye gods the high nobility will skin you alive daughter" he sighed "Well congratulations, I know you were a bit of a loner, and it's great you find someone to date, your mother was getting worried she would die without a grandson and all that"
"Don't say that!" Hope's mom tossed a potato at her father who dodged with the grace of a bull, he then spoke "Love of my life didn't you listen to what our daughter just said? she's dating the bloody third prince! I don't have enough pull with the High Nobles to keep her safe!"
"Dad it's ok, I have someone watching my back" Hope smiled at the thought of her friend.
Hope's mom sighed "Associating with a Kinkiller...Daughter of mine that's an ill omen even if she did what she did for good reason, plus her name has been damned by one of the biggest Goddess of the Kingdom! Are you sure she doesn't have any dark designs for you and your future? our sources tell us much of her dealings nowadays, it seems she's poised to establish a brand new faction!"
Hope's dad grunted, "I've had the opportunity to deal with her face-to-face love, that job for the Saal'Xhir envoys from the Imperium remember?" She nodded letting her husband continue his tale "I will not deny, there is something off about the woman, the envoys were on the verge of completely shutting themselves down when she was near, only their chief managing to keep her blessing in check while she dealt with Lucrezia, yet the would-be duchess was perfectly fair and honest in her dealings, a paragon of virtue compared to other High Nobles we know"
"What I am saying here is this, I doubt Lucrezia will do anything bad to our little flower here, and given Hope is growing as a warrior at a pace never seen before I doubt she would even be able"
Hope was jogging towards the cathedrals of the capital Religious quarter, looking for the one she was called today. From grandiose buildings with breathtaking art done to humble places of worship, with barely a sign on their doorstep, the capital had it all.
Fiding the small church at the end of a busy road, she halted her jogging and stepped inside, the place actually had people in it. All mages as Hope's Blessing told her, these men and women turned to her the second she stepped into the hall, likely triggering their spells.
Hope sat down, circling among her Blessings with the aid of her Greater Blessing of the All-Father was so easy nowadays, ever since Lucrezia had given her the idea of picturing the damn thing as a wheel with slots where she could easily swap the other blessings from gods wanting a piece of that power.
Including the one that was currently being worshiped in this church.
A familiar face walked to the altar, in his hand a simple notebook and a magical staff, he looked a bit high strung but that was normal for him, after all, he never did like being the center of attention according to Arthur.
Her face burned red for a solid second, her second slotted blessing burning its sigil as small waves of pleasure rocked her body, and to think Lucrezia had hers running at full blast at all times! how could she even maintain rational thought with that was something Hope was afraid to ask.
"Welcome, welcome to the Church of Gwenarius, Goddess of Time" Kaine spoke, his voice resolute and calm betraying none of the anxiety he was feeling "First things first, this won't be a regular occurrence, Gwenarius was not happy about having to draft any sort of rules for her would-be followers but that's how Divine Bureaucracyworks and she's not above it"
With a few laughs from the mages, Hope couldn't help but smile as the All-Father blessing reacted with warmth to that word, the Divine really loved his Bureaucracy, didn't he?
Kaine went on, explaining the very few mandates from his Goddess, which all boiled down to "Don't mess with the river of time, give me more Followers and I will let you play with it at my discretion" which in her opinion was fair, and that seemed to be the general consensus of the group, thus Kaine moved on to more practical applications, showing how Chronomancy could be learned, giving copies of his notes and answering any questions the mages had, Hope, assisted him with her own mastery of the magic, helping Kaine with the bigger showy spells and such.
At the end of the day, they bid their farewells and teleported out of the place, Hope stayed behind and helped Kaine fix the place up since they had made quite a mess with a few spells, thanks to her blessing and a pointer from Lucrezia who told Hope to help the schools staff for a day, she now had a gamut of cleaning and fixing spells under her belt which was extremely useful for this sorts of messes.
"Thank you, Hope, really" Kaine spoke as he plopped onto the ground "I didn't think this would be that tiring but once the spellcrafting and theorizing began I couldn't help myself" he had a warm smile on his face "How did she even get this place I'm afraid to ask, Godsdamned that woman sure is something"
Hope watched as Kaine's eyes went upward, watching the little star system Illusion he had cast minutes before the end "You should avoid using Saal'Xhir's Blessing that much, It does things to the mind you know?"
"Yet Lucrezia has it on full power at all times, If she can handle so can I" Hope huffed.
"So, you and Arthur huh? Never thought I would see the day you know? the few that know about his gift kept far far away from him, poor dude was rejected more than once thanks to it, and it is a big thing for him" Kaine got up and gave Hope a pat on the back "Thanks for sticking with him even after that, He's a good chap and deserves better than rot away lonely or worse, being married against his will"
Hope smiled again, Arthur had a great admiration for Kaine, as it was thanks to him he fully mastered his Necromancy powers, it felt good to Hope knowing that Kaine was happy with them, it was like in a way getting approval from a family member.
"And you Kaine? No one special for you? Arthur worries you know, you dying off alone and soured on the world" Hope said only for Kaine to laugh "I hope this is not leading into a pitch for me to date our crazed northern friend? Arthur was ever the worrywart, as I said before to him Hope, my passion is arcane, my love is mana and to that, I will dedicate my whole life"
"Oh yeah, there were rumors you two were together before," Hope said out loud "I wonder if she will ever find someone"
Kaine closed his notebook "Back in Wulfgrem her vassals had the same worry, we know so much about her yet so little of her thoughts don't we? sometimes it's almost like she's following a script, knowing everything there is to know at any particular moment, but then..."
"She goes off script, and hell breaks loose" Hope finished his phrase.
"Look at you, finishing my words just like her! mayhap Arthur should be worried that she won't conquer you next! but then again knowing him it's likely he's gonna ask for a threesome instead of getting offended" Kaine shook his head as Hope started going red on the face again "He told you?" she asked her voice trembling a little.
Kaine shrugged and said nothing.
Night had fallen in the Capital and Hope was itching for some booze, one of the habits she had picked now that she was dating Arthur was a love for alcoholic beverages, her boyfriend was a master in the topic, knowing which pubs and restaurants had the good stuff and which had ale that was watered down with sewage.
Walking into one of the good pubs, Hope ordered Ale and waited as the sound of the place washed over her, one of the new things she come to love thanks to these pub crawls Arthur was so fond of, here the city's people were lively, loud and loving, you could be alone but among everyone here that feeling of loneliness was blunted.
Hope was sipping on her cup when a tall man cloaked in a hood as dark as the night sat beside her, she barely noticed him until her blessing flared up, as if All-Father himself had turned his ever-watchful eye towards her!
Hope sucked up air and was ready to bolt it from the pub when the stranger spoke, his voice harsh and cold but with no hostility, it was more like a deep sense of sadness and defeat.
"At ease child, that is but an automatic reaction from the Blessing" he continued "Even after Millennia it still acts up that way, anything if not consistent huh, but I digress" Hope felt the Blessing calming down as if the thing was sighing even!
"As if I would come here in the flesh, foolish old man..." the man spoke to no one "Listen to me child and listen well, A day will come when those who you stand no chance against will rise up against you, a great battle will be fought and...huh seems my time here is over" he laughed as the doors to the pub opened and two tall elven women walked in, the man beside Hope disappeared into thin air and the elven women spat on the ground, clearly mad.
Hope was frozen on the spot, whatever or whoever had come to talk with he clearly had issues with the All-Father, she quickly made her way to her house, hoping its walls would protect her from the night and its mysteries.
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"Always impressed by your diligence Miss, most of the commoners we hire to do this job laze around all day you know?" one of the Academy cleaners spoke to hope as they went on cleaning the huge chandeliers in one of the auditoriums, Magic was being employed by staff but Hope could just teleport workers to where they needed to go, making the job go faster.
She had seen Lucrezia do these odd jobs before, wondering why a noble would get their hands dirty she decided to copy her friend and found out that there was a whole world under the one she currently lived, the academy staff was a thriving community, full of drama, love and above all true grit, for working these halls and classes was nothing if demanding.
And for that, they even had Gods watching over them! Hope was quick to learn its prayers and slot in the blessings of the God of cleaning and upkeep, then her usual magic and time blessings to help around with her budding arcane mastery, the ones in charge quickly assigned her to the more magical demanding jobs and so she went, helping as needed and learning much as the day went on.
"Aye, a tad too strange a High Noble like her workin' the godsdamned kitchen, but she did, and gods above and below the woman could cook and clean like the best of them, heh the only noble in these cursed halls that can I bet ya, haha," a dwarven chef told Hope when she asked about Lucrezia who learned a more hidden side to her friend by the way of these conversations.
Kind, always paying attention, accounting for her mistakes, and always eager to learn, Lucrezia did in a week what most would take years, far more talkative and willing to put her foot down whenever someone didn't want things the way she was doing, it was like she could see the future! yes indeed Hope thought to herself, Lucrezia's "future sight" was far more pronounced in these parts it would seem.
As the day turned into night, Hope gave her farewell to the staff and went to the gym, having gained a taste for working out she found Castra-Cam mock fighting with some Knights. The woman nodded when Hope came close, watching the scythe-wielding undead dance with her unpractical weapon, sometimes smacking the KNights with the wooden staff, sometimes slashing them.
After the bout was done they all saluted and went away, Hope climbed into the ring and stared Castra down.
"Yeah yeah, I didn't pull my weight in the dungeon run, I know and I want to make up to you and the rest for it," the Catkin said with an apologetic smile "Can you attune to Lord of Undeath Blessing? the rites are easy"
It took a while, Hope felt a tad uneasy learning the rites but she felt her Blessing kick in and suddenly her world went white, then red, and then back to normal.
"Wow, that fast? it took me a week before I got Life and Undead sight, jeez Lucrezia wasn't kidding was she?" Castra-Cam propped Hope up "With the blessing active you can see the life force of regular living beings, and the undeath power for folk like me, give it a try, concentrate on my essence"
Hope did so and found a darkly blue hue around Castra's body, she extended her hand and touched it, making the Catkin moan "Don't do that! bloody hells take that Saal'Xhir blessing off you freak AAAA" Hope removed her hand as if struck by a bolt of lighting. Castra-Cam composed herself and continued "Sorry! I didn't mean that, It's just... the Saal'Xhir blessing doesn't work with my body since it's long-dead but if the thing comes in contact with my aura then it kicks in without filter"
"Sorry Castra, I don't know what came over me" Hope said, crestfallen.
"Don't worry about it, we all make blunders, yours just happens to be more embarrassing than me summoning a devil instead of a skeleton...Anyway, why do you have that blessing even?"
Silence descended as a few Knights who had remained coughed and cracked smiles over the question, Hope couldn't help but giggle as realization dawned on Castra's face and if the woman could've gone red she would be red up to her ears.
"You fiends, I knew that woman had a secret" Castra-Cam whispered "Too good for a noble, too godsdamned good" she coughed "Ahem let us continue, now that you have his Blessing and assuming the Lich in charge of keeping track of the people who get it has gotten the memo by now, I will be able to teach you combat necromancy"
"Oh, that's the good stuff, little lady! I know a feller from the Royal Knights who trained under them liches, a one-man battalion that feller he is!" One of the Knights spoke and a few nods and hmms came from the others.
"Aye, I know that feller, Scion from an old house, rare that a Knight gets accepted by these skeletons but he was one in a generation type deal, wonder how the royals managed to spirit him away from the skellys" another spoke and the group went on a wild ride of speculation.
Castra-Cam nodded "They are talking about Bonehound Yukira, and the Royals have many dealings with us thus it's not that hard for ours or their people to cooperate, but that Yukira is something else, man is a beast on the battlefield and hunts rogues like the best of them" Castra-Cam sighed "Sadly he's arrogant to a fault, ego didn't die when he became an undead...Oh they got your Blessing, you can learn now"
"Just like that? Lucrezia had to go through hell to learn necromancy you know?" Hope asked, her mind going back to Lucrezia's tale of how she got the rights to learn the craft.
"Because our Duchess friend likely gets her kicks from suffering, I have no other explanation for what she did, hells she could've waited a few years to get the permit the usual way! but no, she loves to suffer!" Castra shook her head "And yes, just like that Hope, your little All-Father blessing there? that's a golden ticket, not even the infernals will deny, and I am not kidding, you can learn their foul magic for godsdamned free thanks to it.
"Gods..." Hope said, the weight of her power pressing down on her.
"Yeah, you lucked out, Lucrezia and Arthur? if they weren't backing you out some noble or another would've tried marrying you to their kids, but we aren't here to talk about your would-be life, Let's learn some magic shall we?"
Hope smiled, feeling thankful for the friends she had made "Let's!"
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Hope was together with her friends eating in the cafeteria when Arthur came by, they kissed and groans came from the rest of the people sitting with them, Kaine, in particular, saying "I am not one to judge open displays of affection but gods, you two are asking for trouble you know? these noble scions will get angry at the rate you two are going"
"Let them, I wanna see who of their lot has the stones for an old-fashioned duel" Orthus spoke while wolfing down his food "Gods knows how many times I challenged these weak-willed fools for combat, some from established warfare families even!" he slapped the table "All ran away the cowards!"
"Didn't you play cards with that one girl? House flower something?" Lucrezia asked while also wolfing down her food, she ate a lot Hope found out, even sneaking out at night to make her own food.
"Yeah, Flower of Noon, good lass but still I wanted to fight not to play some obscure card game that I am sure she made it herself" Orthus stopped "How in the hells you know about that?"
Lucrezia pulled a deck of cards from her person, her face blooming into a big grim "Hehehe" she laughed as Orthus shook his head.
"Of course, knowing you there's probably a plan to mass-produce the damn thing and in 2 weeks' time it will be all the capital is talking about," Arthur said, "are you ready for the ceremony in the castle speaking of which Lucrezia?"
"Yes, I have prepared a gift for your parents as well, plus I must meet with the Winter Spirit that resides there" Lucrezia spoke " It has a particular boon I need and now that word is out about our little ancient who's alive and kicking it should give it to me without issue, assuming there is no issue when I set foot in the royal quarter that is"
"I wouldn't worry about mother, well actually I would worry but not on the days where the ceremony is taking place, as you well know that's one of the few traditions we must follow to the letter and she wouldn't dare to muck it up by assaulting you"
Lucrezia smiled, her face serene but Hope knew she didn't really believe Arthur's words.
The minutes went by, the group trading small talk here and there, until one by one they left, Kaine coughed the second Hope moved to go back to class "Hope, a word please?"
Hope nodded and followed the mage, Kaine often looked tired but today it was like he was a wraith, he walked towards a bench outside the cafeteria and sat down with a sigh.
"What is it, Kaine? you don't look so good..." Hope asked worriedly.
"Pay no mind to it, much to do now that I have an ancient teaching me arcane not even the Goddess of Magic knows, anyway this isn't about me it's about you" Kaine sighed again and snapped his fingers.
A mighty illusion was formed, a river of glistering stars that flowed all around Kaine and beyond.
"This, this is the best I can do to represent the River of Time, your blessing should be telling you the rest if you have it active right now" Hope shook her head "Oh? Then it doesn't matter, that is not what I want to tell you anyway..." Kaine snapped his fingers 3 times, and the river focused on a branch, both leading to mighty waterfalls.
"See this? this godsdamned fork in the currents? that is a major divergence in the timeline of the entire godsdamned world" Kaine's anger was barely restrained by his tiredness "Something or someone will muck things up so bad its changing how the future will play out"
"Waterfalls, both will lead to major happenings" Hope spoke, her mind filling the blanks.
"Yes, fast as always, since you have already figured that out let me tell you the rest" Kaine focused on the fork making it bigger "After 3 days of communion with the pettiest, womanchild Goddess I ever had the displeasure of talking to she finally spilled the beans" he snapped his finger again and the fork morphed into...someone...
Someone Hope and Kaine knew far too well.
"Is that...It can't be, right? surely one person wouldn't have the power to outright change the future of the entire world?" Hope asked, her voice trembling with fear "Kaine?"
"I ran the spells Hope, every single last one of them, bugged Gwenarius until she gave me new ones and ran those too, watch" another snap, and now another face appeared in front of Lucrezia.
Hope, kneeling on the ground crying.
"Something. Something big is happening just after those boorish ceremonies in the palace end and you two are tied to it! I can't do nary a godsdamned thing about it!" Kaine kicked the ground in frustration, Hope knew the man looked up to Lucrezia, seeing her as a sort of leader that gave him true meaning in his life even if he was very quiet about it, and she liked to think he had come to see herself as a friend too.
"Me, Arthur, and her won't be in the school for a week, if anything anything happens you run to my church you hear me? take these" he passed a set of keys to Hope "Turn the third one counterclockwise the moment you reach the grounds and you will be safe from anything below a tier 2 artillery spell" Kaine explained "Lucrezia isn't bound to the same rituals Arthur has to perform, neither I am so we might be able to return a day sooner but anything happens you run ok? promise this Hope"
Hope took a deep breath, she knew deep inside that when she enrolled in the academy she was at risk of having these sorts of happenings occur in her life, doubly so when she began dating royalty, alas Hope was no coward, her parents had raised her well and she would never ever back down from a fight, she was trained by some of the very best in the country after all.
Come what may, she would endure, and then prosper!
"I promise Kaine" she took his keys and stashed them on her person, feeling the weight of his worries in her bosom.
Kaine sighed in relief for once and said "Good, good, had I told that to Lucrezia I half sure she would drag half her army to the capital and then we would all be tried for attempting at a coup"
"Have you seen, what happens after those waterfalls?" Hope asked.
Kaine stopped then began focusing on the illusion "War, combat, and bloodshed followed by... Gods above and below something isn't right here" he pointed to a section "It's like there's something not letting me see what happens after it!"
"The All-Father?" Hope threw him a lifeline.
"Could be, only he or the All-Mother would have the power to do so...At any rate as long as you stay safe this will probably not happen, Gods know Lucrezia deserves some peace after what happened in her home" he looked around "You people haven't seen, but beneath her sage facade lies darkness and lust for bloodshed, and I would hate for her to go back to that dark place again"