She's giving me the option to not hear it. It's possible I could survive if we are caught. Newt shakes off his thoughts and looks dead in Cynthia's eyes.
"I would."
Cynthia's eyes widen before giving a genuine smile, the only true smile Newt had ever seen from her, then as quickly as it came, it disappeared, only existing in Newt's Memory.
"The scrolls don't go into much detail on what their end goal was, it did however, describe a thorough encrypted plan spread amongst multiple minor reports, actually when i first wanted you to read them, you wouldn't have understood anything it said. I was still in shock."
Newt doubted this to every fibre of his being, however he could suspend his disbelief till she was finished.
"I'm still human you brat!" Cynthia said as Newt was shaking his head and had an expression as if he was listening to a crazy person.
"Anyway the scrolls need some background information first, Uniune is the name of our great country!" Cynthia said mockingly. "The union between The kingdom of Elencik and Sanctum, the sanctuary of Mages, the union was formed out of desperation as the church grew stronger by the day and the Ki users and Mages were being killed mercilessly. Because we are under the influence of "demons" and perform heretical acts. That we are evil. So to survive both Sanctum and Elencik merged and formed Uniune, the Oligarchy, a nation ruled by a council."
"We resisted the church, pretty much the only ones that did, for centuries.
The mere existence of Uniune sparked hope in those that despised the church, and also for those who wanted to grow stronger unrestricted by their beliefs."
Newt nodded understanding what she’s saying but not knowing where she’s going with this.
”However here is the kicker, the story that those explain.” She gestures at the pile of scrolls, records and reports before continuing. “Almost all of it, is a hoax.”
A pin dropped.
”W-What do you mean hoax?” Newt nervously asks, dreading creeping from the pits of his stomach.
Cynthia grimly laughs, “Well you see, dear student of mine, is that the union between Elencik and Sanctum, was the last time the resistance against the churches existed. Truly existed.”
“‘Truly existed?’” Newt questions receiving a nod from his mentor as she takes a deep breath.
“Sanctum was, true to its name, a sanctuary for its people, more specifically mages. Whilst there was some cases of the church’s corruption here and there, it was always squashed and forgotten about. However the problem never was with Sanctum. No it was Elencik that was the problem.
Kingdom that had existed for nearly two thousand years, whilst it wasn’t always thriving, it always stayed independent of outside forces and was strong enough to stay a independent party.
It was nigh incorruptible by the church as the nobles and the royal family were just and kind rulers. The Kingdom didn’t need help even during the harshest of winters, fully self sustainable.
As the story goes, the strength of the church increased exponentially over the past couple hundred years putting pressure on the kingdom and finally the unification of both nations.
The true story, though, was a bit different. Whilst yes the church’s strength grew incredibly fast, that wasn’t what had drawn the King of Elencik to the Unification.”
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Cynthia catches her breath noticing Newt was truly invested before asking him a question.
“What was the cause, or more accurately, the two main causes for the church’s sudden increase in strength and growth?”
Newt taken aback at the sudden departure from the story takes a moment to gather himself.
“The Holy Guide and the Devoted?”
Smirking and nodding Cynthia then asks Newt another question.
“Discarding the Holy Guide for lack of importance, elaborate on the Devoted.”
Newt nods and begins his explanation.
“Well for unknown reasons the Devoted, those born with Drana, and will be given the Holy Guide, have had a sudden rise over the past few centuries… All of them being completely Faithful servants, or rather, slaves...”
Cynthia has a dark twisted smile and watches as Newt finishes explaining, getting more, and more, quiet… Reality began dawning on Newt as his expression slowly morphs to shock, and then… Despair.
“No… That can’t be right?” Newt denies what is becoming more and more concrete in his mind, filling gaps and confusions he had on the history of Uniune.
“Yes, what you’re thinking is true. Simply put, the King of Elencik, was a Devoted.” Cynthia’s grim facade starts to crack.
“It’s perfect for the Church isn’t it?! The highest authority in a nation becomes completely devoted to their church! Their gods! They couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to increase their power, to turn Elencik into a holy kingdom!”
“Would they had not been halted by something more important then even a Holy Nation. An oracle from one of their fucking gods! ‘Put pressure onto the Kingdom of Elencik, get into communication with Harris, the King of Elencik, and create a larger unified nation, and lastly create a indefinite false holy war’.” Cynthia releases the pressure and wait of her knowledge onto the young 15 year old.
“Why the gods wanted this war to be indefinite with no sides truly ever winning? I’m not sure. Though what is known for fact, is that we’re all dancing in the fucking palms of the gods! Any time one side gets an advantage? Give the other an advantage. A incredibly one sided war deciding discovery made on one side? Assassinated.”
“Hah…Haahhh….” Cynthia breaks into tears with a seemingly unending stream flowing from her eyes. “Those fucking bastards!” Cynthia screams at the heavens.
Newt watching as the women who he had always known to be methodical, logical, calm and who always has a plan let’s loose her bottled emotions.
“Hundreds! Hundreds of thousands of people! MY FRIENDS! MY FAMILY! MY PREDECESSORS! ALL WHO WALKED MY PATH AND ALL WHO ACCOMPANIED ME! THOSE WHO BUILT THE FOUNDATIONS FOR MAGI-ARTIFICING!”
“So many who died from unfortunate mistakes or events?! ‘The church had laid a trap and sadly there no survivors.’ ‘A professor hired a assassin to kill your teacher and claim his researchfor his own.’ AGAIN AND AGAIN!”
“Heh, hehehehheh.” Cynthia bursts into a mad hysterical cackle. “In hindsight it was so obvious, even a blind man could see it. They tried so hard to get rid of me.
Why they kept sending me on missions that ‘only I’ can do that always go wrong, why they tried to dissuade me so passionately not to steal key information as it was ‘too dangerous’, and finally why it was so fucking difficult to get all this information.
They were actively trying to stop me any way possible, assassination? Failed, impossible solo missions? Always escaped.”
Cynthia slowly turns quiet, whispering, tears still falling from her face, “Just what was the point in all the sacrifices we made? What’s the point of even trying…” her face lowering to the floor, gaze glazed.
Newt snaps Cynthia back from her despair filled thoughts.
“Because we have to, because, it is the only option. If you stop here, will all the sacrifices you’ve made, all the sacrifices made by those before you mean nothing? They’ve made a difference, hell, you’re here now having discovered a conspiracy on a global level, passing this knowledge to me.
I sure as hell am not going to waste the opportunity you’ve given me, teaching me Magic, Magi-Artificing, experience, I will always be grateful for all you’ve done Cynthia, no Master, even if you give up here, you can rest knowing I will carry on your legacy. Your teachings, the crucial information you have risked your life for I will pass on, your existence will be forever engraved in my being and I will engrave it into others in the future. Just as your predecessors before you, you will have made a difference.
However, are you really going to give up like this Master? Giving up having achieved the bare minimum, making a small ripple rather than a splash that could flip the world on its head. Are you truly this…Mediocre?”
Newt questions, poking and stirring his Master’s pride.
*Sniff, “You’re truly a terrible disciple Kid.” Cynthia chuckles wiping away her tears. “Though I know why you said that, I’m going to make you the best Mage, the best Magi-Artificer, and most importantly, A fucking Pioneer the likes of this fucking world or those bastard gods have ever seen!” She excitedly declares.
“Understood Master! Your expectations will be surpassed!”
“Good!”