A Glimpse of Destiny

Kristel absorbed the scene before her. She needed to remind herself of the distance that allowed her to see Su’karix in full view, putting into perspective how difficult it was to find the Second Monarch.

Liona assisted her in that aspect, providing the Princess some sort of ability to spot and focus whenever she turned her attention towards her ancestor.

Kristella Irista blazed with meiyal. The energy itself was excited around her, eager to be utilized into catastrophic Arts. Her torn up clothes fluttered from the density of power surging within her direct vicinity. A royal dress customized for field combat that was barely representative of her stature anymore, only her purpose.

A one-sided cape flapped vigorously beside her right shoulder. It reminded Kristel of her own epaulet design, emphasizing regality. On the Second Monarch’s right hand, she held a glaive that was taller and larger than she was. The Princess recognized it.

Vantera, End of Zerax’thum. Evanclad’s weapon.

Like its wielder, the glaive amassed an incredible amount of meiyal. Kristel couldn’t fathom the density concentrating around the blade. It was like four…no, five times her maximum capacity.

“It’s ten,” Liona corrected. “And that’s in its idle state, merely manifested in reality.”

“I understand that it’s strong,” Kristel admitted. “But I don’t see it comparing against…that.” She pointed at the Thousand-Year Storm.

Su’karix was the embodiment of meiyal. Every layer of her—as Liona earlier pointed out while Kristel zoned out briefly when she admired the standoff—scale sizzled with lightning meiyal.

If Kristella’s Vantera amounted to ten times Kristel’s capacity, and the Second Monarch herself another ten, then Su’karix, in comparison, would be around a thousand.

Liona smiled again. “It’ll take you more experience to properly gauge strength that far surpasses your level. If I am to give Su’karix a numerical comparison to your capacity, a thousand would be too generous a number.”

“How much then?” Kristel’s urge to know triumphed against the fear of knowing the gap.

The fake retainer shrugged. “A hundred-thousand would be more accurate, but still probably far off course. You cannot compare a Deitar to a mere mortal, is the point I’m trying to make.”

“A Deitar…” Kristel recalled her history. These were beings favored by gods, avatars of their divinity. No wonder the Thousand-Year Storm possessed so much strength, so much power.

She also recalled Frein sharing this term, along with Worldborn which was new for her. He had learned them from Rindea, but the way he mentioned them didn’t reach this particularly profound strength. To him, they seemed a simple matter of fact. It made the term lackluster in comparison to what she was looking at.

“You’ve heard about it?” Liona asked, and the Princess nodded. “That makes it easy then. Su’karix employed with her the backings of three gods, making her one of the most powerful Deitars during her time. She was slated for godhood long before the Divine Severing.

“In fact, she was in the frontlines against Zerax’thum, fighting side by side with Evanclad.”

“So why are they fighting now?” Kristel knew the answer before she finished the question.

Liona answered anyway. “Jealousy, hate. Worldborns and Deitars and many faithful rebelled against Evanclad, blaming him for the Divine Severing. Conspiracies arose, that the First Monarch colluded with Zerax’thum and betrayed him in the end so that he, alone, could rise in power when things settled down. The conspirators even went as far as blaming the existence of the Cult of the Fallen Dragon on him.”

“That’s not true!” Kristel retaliated.

“Well, that’s for another matter, Princess.” Liona gestured towards the two ancients once again. “You wanted to know how Kristella can compare against Su’karix, right? Why don’t you look behind her?”

Kristel followed her instruction and found something odd. A gigantic circle rotated far behind the Second Monarch’s small frame. Smaller compared to Su’karix, but it was at least five times wider than the Vanguard, making Kristella a mere ant in comparison. For all the colossal things to surround such a small human being…it was honestly mesmerizing.

“Is that…” Kristel couldn’t finish. Giving voice to an impossibility strained all the logic in her head.

Liona finished for her. “Her Display, yes.”

The truth boggled Kristel. She couldn’t grasp the concept at all. Despite how large the Display was, she could only recognize a handful of patterns within them.

There was a familiar section containing the pattern for Siffera, but she couldn’t comprehend the enhancements or additional designs that surrounded the Art. What materials were those? How many levels above from the base form were her Meiyal Arts?

The questions overlapped and it hurt her head.

“Calm down, Kristel,” Liona said, massaging the back of her neck.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said the Princess, trying to calm her breathing. “The biggest one I knew was from Katherine before she left. It was barely wider than her wingspan.”

“Kristella, too, is a Deitar,” Liona explained. “Favored by three gods as well. In terms of strength, they’re evenly matched.”

“So, why is Su’karix afraid?” Kristel asked as she recovered.

“Explaining this one to you, I’m afraid, would be more confusing than just letting you see how the battle plays out. For now, let’s sit back and watch.”

As if in cue, thunder clapped once again. With it came an army of Living Lightning Elementals under the command of Su’karix.

Kristel could barely follow their speed, but Liona’s assistance was effective and subtle enough for her to adjust properly. The Princess came to this Recollection to learn first and foremost. And her companion, for whatever reason, caught it every time she struggled.

Just who is she?

“Concentrate on the fight, Kristel,” Liona said. “Who I am matters little for now.”

The Princess sighed and committed all her attention to the spectacle before her.

The Living Lightning Elementals, beings of pure lightning that changed shapes in the chaotic ways of electricity, sent a barrage of lightning bolts towards the small Monarch. She barely moved in response, but timely slow-motion revealed her using Vantera to parry the projectiles.

She deftly reflected one back towards an unsuspecting elemental, causing it to violently shake as if it caught a stroke. Kristella followed up with a strike, waving the glaive casually from where she stood. The elemental promptly got its body severed in half, as if reality itself just decided it had to happen. The Monarch was nowhere next to it.

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“How?” Kristel asked.

The Recollection, then, slowed down to a stop.

“There will be a lot of these that you will not understand yet, Kristel,” Liona explained. “However, should you be able to fix your Mind Palace, you will not only gain access to this Recollection, but to the rest of your ancestral line. You will have all the time in the world to study it all, but for now, accept that I cannot answer all your inquiries.”

“Alright, but I’m mostly just gushing,” Kristel admitted. “You don’t have to stop at my every question.”

Liona smiled. “Understood.”

The Recollection resumed. Kristella Irista pushed an opened hand towards one of the Living Lightning Elementals. It froze in place. Then, with an abrupt gripping motion, she closed her hand in a fist. In response, the elemental burst to sparks of lightning, dispersing into nothing.

“Wha—” Kristel managed to stop herself.

“Meiyal Weaving,” Liona answered regardless, unable to stop a giggle. “I did say not everything, but I can provide you with short answers.”

This time Kristella moved. The Recollection significantly slowed down, allowing Kristel to track the Second Monarch as she sliced open four elementals in a straight line. The Princess also noticed that, even while she moved, Kristella’s Display remained affixed where it was.

“Observe her weapon,” Liona instructed.

Kristel Drew her observation Meiyal Art, wishing subtly that she could use Mesiffera instead. This would have to do.

Regardless, it was enough to show her the amassing concentration of meiyal within the center of the glaive. Kristella pressed it further, flattening it and wrapping it in more meiyal, absorbing everything around her. Even the elementals she killed weren’t spared.

The Living Lightning Elementals, in return, didn’t stop their relentless assault. From the clouds above Su’karix, they stormed like raindrops. The Thousand-Year Storm herself was gathering an enormous amount of meiyal, absorbing them from the lands she coiled around. Her maw crackled with lightning.

Meanwhile, Vantera amassed so much meiyal that it pained Kristel’s eyes. The Second Monarch found herself caught in the middle of lightning elementals attempting to dogpile her.

Kristel saw her ancestor smirk before she spun once, driving Vantera in a full circle.

The energy within the glaive burst to life, unleashing a magnificent circle of fire. It caught every single elemental and they instantly vanished from existence. It was a beautiful sphere of flame, lasting only but an instant and leaving a heat haze in its wake. In Kristel’s estimate, it was as large as Minaveil Town itself.

“Ferenfra,” Liona introduced.

Kristel snapped at that. “What!” she exclaimed rather than ask.

Liona nodded. “The strongest version in history.”

The Recollection didn’t pause this time and Kristel was forced to swallow her questions as Su’karix unleashed her own attack. A massive beam of lightning meiyal. It spread in a wide arc, blasting all dimensions in front of her.

It painted the entire scenery in electrical white and blue, save for a small pocket in the middle. Kristella blocked the lightning breath with both hands, using the flat of her glaive. The beam reached the other landmasses floating in the air, it even reached the sea below, causing massive meiyal explosions and sparks to fly off everywhere.

Kristella remained where she stood, sizzling and panting.

Art fatigue? No. It was due to the lightning, causing the threads of the Monarch’s clothes to catch slightly aflame before abruptly fizzling out in smoke.

“There were no battle gears back then?” Kristel mused.

“Most practitioners depended on a film of Siffera during Kristella’s era,” Liona explained. “Not only did it serve as an extension of Siffera, it also protected their clothes without relying on another Art. Battle gear Meiyal Arts, however, I appreciate them. You can make such intricate designs for those.”

“Does Frein know how to use it? The film, I mean.”

Liona shrugged. “He’s learning. You should as well.”

The fight between Kristella and Su’karix returned to a standoff. Kristel could see the Second Monarch speak but she couldn’t hear any of it. Even with Liona’s assistance, most of what she heard was blurry or disrupted.

“Not exactly an interference,” she explained. “It’s because half of your Mind Palace doesn’t exist. We’re almost to the part that I want to show you.”

Kristella’s face twisted in anger. Her grip on Vantera tightened, unleashing a surge of meiyal that caused space to crack, not bend. It was reminiscent of Frill’s destructive meltdown, only in this case, the Second Monarch made it look so casual and easy.

In response, the Thousand-Year Storm flexed her own limbs, causing literal mountains to crumble. They floated away but stopped in stasis soon after.

And then the unbelievable happened.

Kristel blinked, trying to comprehend what she was looking at. Her head hurt and she felt like vomiting. The entire scenery suddenly cracked into multiple images. A broken kaleidoscope replaced the skies and the seas, reflecting multiple Kristellas and Su’karixes. At first, she thought the Recollection broke.

“Focus your mind, Kristel,” Liona commanded. With her words, the Princess found herself easing away from the dizziness, allowing her to focus on one slice of reality. The Recollection had slowed down, in fact, the rest of the divisions had stopped completely, and time only resumed for which reality Kristel focused on.

In this one, the two ancients clashed in a final collision. Su’karix unleashed a devastation of lightning strikes along with her destructive lightning breath. Kristella met them with an array of her own power, unleashing Meiyal Art after Meiyal Art in patterns the Princess couldn’t recognize, and in levels she couldn’t comprehend.

The clash settled down soon after with the Thousand-Year Storm standing proud above the falling Second Monarch. The lightning dragon roared and reality shook with her proud declaration of victory.

Liona pulled Kristel away from that reality, gesturing towards a second broken mirror.

In this instance, the initial events replayed, but rather than meet the lightning breath head-on, Kristella sliced open the space in front of her at the last second. The wide beam fed through that opening. It took Kristel a second to realize that it was Spatiera. And the implication of that Art meant that the Second Monarch had to match that beam meiyal for meiyal in order for it not to cause any sort of feedback.

But maybe there was another way?

Liona didn’t respond this time.

In any case, that improvised move permitted Kristella a step above Su’karix. She opened Spatiera behind her and moved away from the opening space, unleashing the lightning breath back at the storm dragon. It barely affected her.

But it was enough disruption for Kristella to deal a lethal blow with her Vantera’s Ferenfra. It was on a size and level leagues above her initial Draw, and it connected against the Su’karix’ lower jawline. Unlike the first reality, this one did not finish before Kristel was forced out back into reality.

“What am I looking at?” Kristel asked, exhausted from peering through the slices of reality. She had seen a few more play out, finding either one of the ancient winning, but never a draw.

“This, Kristel, is Reading Destiny,” Liona explained. “Both of them are peering through possibilities beyond infinity, looking to find resolutions that favor them and trying to manifest them into reality.

“I apologize if I cannot show you the resolution of this battle, Kristel. I’m afraid we have to stop here. You’re at your limit.” Liona gestured to end the Recollection.

But before it all ended, Kristel looked one last time, painting the absurdity of all realities colliding in a single space, and godlike entities grasping them and pulling them to manifest.

And one of them was just a small girl. She was around her height, and had the same frame. She was her ancestor. And yet, she carried such power, such responsibility, and she faced them all head-on.

I wonder how many times she cried.

End of Recollection: Returning to the Present

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Kristel breathed as she observed her surroundings reform back to the flattened mountain peak. Liona passed her a teacup.

“Actually tea, this time around,” she said.

“Thank you.”

After a few sips, her retainer began to speak. “So, what do you think?”

“Reading Destiny?”

“Yes. What do you think of it?”

“How can I do it?”

“Well, that’s a straightforward answer. I’m glad you’re interested.”

Kristel frowned at that. “Who wouldn’t be?”

“Common folk, ambitious folk. Most people, actually.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because you no longer have the means to achieve it.” Liona allowed that to sink in, sipping from her tea. “At least, not in the way people in the past did. The things most people reach now are premonitions, blurred divinations, and outright false guesses.”

“Because of the Divine Severing?”

The fake retainer nodded hesitantly. “It’s part of that. The Divine Severing did a lot of harmful things, but forgetting about the gods’ names is probably the most detrimental thing that resulted from it.

“See, as Deitars, Kristella and Su’karix are already extremely favored by Destiny, making them special even among their peers.”

“I don’t understand.”

Liona nodded slowly. “Only gods can bring Destiny to reality and only if it involves them. Not their subjects, not their plans, not their influences. Only if their existence is directly involved. So what business do these two Deitars have trying to bring Destiny into reality when even gods have strict rules to follow?”

Kristel couldn’t find an answer.

“Because they’re loved, Kristel. Loved by Destiny.”

“What does it mean to be loved by Destiny?”

Liona’s eyes turned to one side. “I think we should address this another time, Kristel. I’m glad that I was able to talk to you, but we’re running out of time. Before I let you go, heed my warning. Remember: there are two of us. And we will both try to earn your favor.”

“Wait. You still haven’t told me who you are.”

“Who else am I supposed to be? I’m Brymeia.”

With a smile, Liona vanished. And from her dispersing form, a small wolf replaced her.

“Princess,” said the wolf, “I’m Norazzel, faunel of Dreams and Memories. Frein requests that I bring you back to your Dream.”

Kristel didn’t process any of it and simply followed where the wolf led; her mind still busy with what she just learned.

“Yeah…”

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