Chapter 81 Abuse Of Power,
“My goddess, Lishtina, El’No, your mortal eyes require guidance. Please grace me with your knowledge.” Aria prayed aloud with her head bowed but her eyes fully locked onto the book laid out in front of her. Letters started to appear on the page after a small handful of seconds. They came from nowhere and were written in bright golden ink that darkened the entire way to black before each letter was even finished being written.
I am listening, I know what answers you seek and what questions you have. They come, be ready, death accompanies them, watch, commit history to memory, be careful.
With the final punctuation the book slammed closed. Aria sighed and slumped onto the table. “I’m exhausted.” She said and closed her eyes.
“That looked like it took a lot out of you.” Isaac commented. “Why can Lua and the Reaper just stop by for a visit but El’No can’t?”
“A few things.” Aria replied but didn’t elaborate for a long moment. She took a deep breath and pushed herself back up. The puzzle box caught on her shirt and tumbled to the floor with a thud. She didn’t make a move to get it. “The first is that El’No isn’t that strong compared to deities like Lua and the Reaper. Those are truly ancient beings. They both predate sentient life by so incredibly long that I doubt the barrier really matters very much to them.”
Isaac nodded in understanding. “But a human god of strength or something wouldn’t even be able to contact their followers like El’No just did to you right?” He queried.
Aria nodded. “Yes. Either way, we acolytes, priests and priestesses bear the brunt of the burden for things like this. The barrier makes travel between the upper and lower planes basically impossible and communication is heavily hindered too.” She finished explaining and nodded towards the teapot that was blasting steam into the air. “Can one of you get that?”
Isaac nodded and stood up. Lenna caught his hand. “He can’t turn it off.” Lenna explained. “He destroyed our heating rock after one use.”
Aria groaned. “Fine.” She sighed and started struggling to her feet. The slight shake to her movements proved that she wasn’t exaggerating her weariness.
“I can do it but it might take a few uses off of it.” Lenna said with a hand out to stop Aria from getting up.
Aria dropped back down into her chair. “It’s not mine. Usually I try to take better care of things that aren’t mine but this time I am willing to make an exception.” She replied.
Lenna got up to help Isaac with the tea. “I didn’t sense any mana at all.” Isaac commented and started looking through the cupboards for teacups or mugs.
“Second from the left.” Aria told him and he found the cupboard with simple teacups in it. “That’s because it didn’t take mana.” She explained. “It drains lifeforce. It’s a good thing us living beings make more of it after a good meal and a nap.”
Isaac chuckled and turned to give her an incredulous look. “Lifeforce? Really? That’s a quantifiable thing?” He questioned.
Aria shook her head. “No. It is not. As much as all of us hate to admit it, the ritual is witchcraft. El’No is the elvish goddess of knowledge, an elf witch came up with the ritual. Through a series of dreams and a witch hunt one of her clerics happened to stumble upon the basic design. Once the secret was out in the open El’No continued bending some of her own non-interference rules to get us the ritual so we could talk back and forth easier.” Aria explained.
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“So she manipulated her followers to ‘stumble’ upon a secret unnaturally.” Isaac summarized. “That… that gives me the chills.” Isaac told her honestly. “My favorite part about deities and gods is the rules they have to follow. Bending them like that doesn’t sit right with me.”
Aria gave Isaac a long searching look as he poured them their tea. “They are gods Isaac, we aren’t meant to understand everything.” She replied.
Isaac gave her an incredulous look before retaking his seat. “Isn’t your whole purpose basically just you searching for knowledge and understanding?” Isaac asked. “You of all people should want to understand the true extent of your goddess’s limitations.”
Aria shook her head. “It isn’t like that Isaac. El’No wants what is best for us. There is no reason for me to doubt her, especially when in the end, everything worked out for the best.” She countered.
Isaac sighed into his tea. “I’m not trying to get you to doubt your goddess, Aria, especially with all the help you and her have given me.” He explained before the conversation got out of hand. “I am just voicing my concern over her abuse of power, no matter the reason, beings like her need to be very, and I mean VERY careful when it comes to things like that. If I abuse my power the number of people I can affect directly is limited to this city. With gods it’s different. How many people’s lives were irrevocably changed during her arranged witch hunt to get her cleric’s hands on that ritual? How many people died because of it?”
Aria was silent for a long while. She stared into her tea and watched as the tiny plant fiber that escaped through the sieve floated across its surface. “Isaac, I remember you telling me about the one thing you wanted to remember after you came here.” Aria began. Isaac nodded even though she wasn’t looking at him. “I see where you are coming from, but I don’t know if I can understand how deep your hatred is towards authority. Who knows what happened to you in the past to cause such a lasting impression but that is neither here nor there. These gods and goddesses have existed for tens of thousands of years on the low end. If they were truly bad then we wouldn’t still be worshiping them. I know that El’No doesn’t truly care for my safety the way you or Claus would but she still wants what is best for me. I have talked with her, seen her face in my dreams, yes, some could say that she abuses her power a bit from time to time but I don't think that is a bad thing. Not when every abuse of power is a benefit to her followers.”
Isaac frowned and took a sip of his tea. It was still too hot to drink. “Sometimes I wish I remembered the context to some of these feelings that didn’t get left behind.” Isaac confessed. “But even without context, I think that people need to pay more attention to what those above them do with their power.”
“But didn’t Lua tell you where we were in the tunnels before so you could come save us?” Aria protested.
“Lua’s job isn’t very well defined.” Lenna explained. “She is the patron goddess of misfits, outcasts, and exiles but they aren’t actually in her portfolio. She has no defined domain over them but she helps them all the same. Technically speaking she is only the goddess of beauty. She is the deity of the moon but she isn’t really the goddess of it.” Lenna explained.
“So she is a deity who just does whatever she wants without consequence.” Aria shot at Isaac. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with that.”
Isaac frowned. “You’re right.” He conceded. “But I wasn’t really thinking through the implications because I was worried about the two of you. I don’t exactly have that many friends so when a deity pops into my bedroom and tells me that my friends are in danger and where to go to save them I wasn’t exactly thinking through the implications of what she had done.” Isaac shook his head. “But like Lenna said, she isn’t really defined that well. El’No is a different story. She is the goddess of secrets but she specifically arranged events for a secret to be exposed. That is a breach of contract if I’ve ever heard one.”
Aria gave Isaac a very conflicted look. “You are going to make me think on this, aren’t you?” She said more to herself than to him.
“I would like you to, yes.” Isaac replied. “But we have gone so far off the track that the minecart was left behind and we are lost in the tunnels.” Isaac joked and shook his head again. “There was another reason we came.”
“Oh?” Aria asked, her face visibly brightening at the change of topics.
“What is going on with the Windwalkers?” Isaac questioned.
“Oh.” Aria said again, her face fell slightly. “I don’t know. Jennie couldn’t leave behind the tavern that she and her husband built. She wants to but it’s the last thing she has of him. She wanted Chris to come along with us but he wouldn’t leave her alone with just Gregory to take care of her.”
Isaac sighed. “I saw this outcome coming but it was worth a shot. Maybe with some more time she’ll come around.” He offered.
Aria hummed in agreement. “Who knows how long that will take or how bad the catalyst of that decision will be.” She replied.
“That’s not ominous as all hells or anything.” Isaac shot back. “Way to throw up death flags. Hand me your written will or something next why don’t you.”
Aria chuckled. “Oh it’s not that bad.”