Meiris' search for any information regarding the crystal in her chest proved futile the first night.
snap
Neither had she found anything better than the gloves.
'This is getting rather frustrating...'
Though she did find something that could be of great help in her escape. It was a cloak.
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When she passed it for the first time, she didn't as much as wonder why it was there. It certainly stood out from the armor, looking like an ordinary - beautiful - noble garment, but perhaps her disliked color combination was the issue.
If not for the fact that she later pressed against it while reaching for a promising-looking box, Meiris would have never known that the cloak was imbued with a magic circle that changed its appearance.
The magic triggered when she admitted the beauty of the cloak's patterns, but thought a black one would be more useful.
'A little shabby, but... Fitting.'
Then she matter-of-factly read the plaque, but-
'Presence concealment? Not magic?'
Since Meiris was never much of a mage, she didn't know a lot about the special senses, but she knew one thing- It was far more difficult to sense presence than mana and near impossible to hide it, while any intermediate mage was able to obscure their magical silhouette.
The plaque wasn't explicit whether the cloak concealed mana as well, but - not quite luckily - she didn't really have to worry about that.
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The artifacts were now starting to blur in Meiris' eyes. It was a great task to take her mind off of difficult thoughts, but the fatigue started setting in.
'It seems the sun is rising already.'
sigh
'This is so odd. Feels like I'm tired, but I'm not actually...'
Her thoughts became brittle, the mind delayed in time, but her body was as easy to move as always, save for the reflexes.
Ordinary ghosts didn't tire, but Meiris' consciousness was anything but ordinary.
'It's useless. I might just miss it right now...'
With those thoughts she broke the routine for only a moment, but it was enough for her mind to shut down forcibly.
Her body fell on the floor, but it didn't wake her.
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The next thing Meiris saw was a wooden cabinet door a few centimeters away from her face, together with the familiar prevalence of orange hues. The sun was setting again.
She turned her head to admire the moment, letting her senses organize.
'It really suits this place...'
All of the equipment was bathed in a plethora of colors that the stained glass windows created. Many of the shiny items reflected the light which then formed intricate patterns everywhere around them.
It made for an almost otherworldly experience.
But sight-seeing could wait, even if that was the only time she would spend inside the treasury. Instead, Meiris reapproached her situation and the results of last night.
Or she would have, but the vertigo accompanied her awakening once again. Though this time it was different, her thoughts were being disrupted in jagged waves. It felt like her mind was momentarily jumping into the past.
snap
The symptoms of significant mana exhaustion. A little stronger than she intended.
'Well... Could have been worse.'
Meiris' goal was to improve her mana potential. Which, similarly to muscles, improved with use. Though it deteriorated far more slowly and grew infinitely, but at a constantly decreasing rate.
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Her flame grew by about a third. It may have sounded impressive, but in reality it would take her 10 years to reach what she had when she was human with only two years of sparse practice. When her affinity for magic was just about average.
'Whatever. Maybe there's something that will fix me, otherwise-
'If I am by any chance immortal... Eh, that's not that great of a prospect either. Would take me centuries.'
And at the very least it wasn't wise to spend centuries here.
She had hope that there was something more to the crystal. Maybe it had an affinity for a specific kind of magic, or an another purpose...
Something related as to why she came back to... "life". Some kind of an affirmation, because in truth- Meiris felt a bit anxious. Not just because of her past, but because she didn't understand what was going on. She wasn't the only person ever to be unjustly sentenced nor was she particularly deserving of a second chance.
Not that she did anything notably evil when she was alive, but she wasn't a saint either.
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Tonight Meiris spent most of the time recalling what she could about the palace's layout, considering which paths she could take.
She would also look through a few more shelves when she got stuck, but there really wasn't anything useful.
Eventually there was only one last cabinet left that she hadn't checked. It was deep in a corner opposite of where the entrance was. The way it was designed was somewhat unique, both in the sense of how dark the wood was and how the sharp geometric patterns made of... platinum? made it seem frozen. Even the glass doors had the pattern engraved on the rim.
'As expected, it's all related to ice. And there don't seem to be any empty spots...'
What if she had missed the crystal? It couldn't have been an accident that she woke up here...
While Meiris thought about it, her eyes vaguely swept across the last row of the cabinet's contents-
[ ...cardinal magic... ]
Suddenly she spotted a keyword she hadn't come by often. Not even in such a place.
Among the varying kinds of magic, cardinal magic was referred to as the pure form. In theory it could do anything- Just that barely anyone was able to learn it, much less use it efficiently.
Especially when it came to imbuing items, such as the necklace whose plaque Meiris just read. Its chain looked to be made of gold and there was a small frame holding a black crystal with golden veins.
She found a couple other artifacts earlier that used this magic, but couldn't make use of any of them.
Then she read something that amazed her-
[ Queen Vell's... ]
The start of the description mentioned a name. A name Meiris knew very well, it was the founding queen of her homeland. She may have had no positive feelings left for the country, but she still liked the legend...
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Over 7 centuries ago - 63 years after the Artificer had disappeared - the Kingdom of Modeva was born from the ashes of the Destium Empire. Though it was already an empire in name only long before its fall.
The dominant religion of that empire - the Church of Destiny - had roots in all of the six nations that established it to answer the threat that the Vaunthon Empire posed. However, in an unlikely turn of events, the church ended up amassing both the political and militaristic power, taking it away from the emperor.
Eventually the church's council broke the status quo and removed him altogether, to pursue their goal of uniting the world under an odd mixture of themselves and their gods. Starting with the empire.
Perhaps that wasn't a part of their plan, but as their organization's position strengthened- Corruption and extortion began to spread. But there were enough blindly devoted people that it could be easily swept under the carpet.
At least until the few nobles who still had a notable influence over their lands rebelled. They attempted to rally more people by exposing the church's mistreatment of outsiders and believers alike.
Which did succeed to an extent, in no insignificant way thanks to the Artificer's legacy. The church tried to spin his work for their own benefit, but it was a difficult task. One they failed.
However, that still wasn't enough. The rebels had to resort to seeking help in the south-west - from the only other empire on the continent - if they were to win that war...
The emperor of Vaunthon would have made his move either way, the only uncertainty was when. And that way he could incorporate the rotting Destium more easily into his own territory. Though he didn't expect his own heroes to complicate this plan.
Aside the Artificer, no single person could hope to stand against an army. No matter how lucky, talented or hardworking they were. To exceed the average by tenfold was already a rarity, much less hundredfold. Which was still far from enough to do that.
But there was a way that just a few exceptionally powerful individuals could cause trouble. Like Vell's unit - code-named Amethyst - that consisted of 17 people- The strongest of Vaunthon and the last duke of the Destium Empire. Sometimes bonds were quick to form on the battlefield.
Soon, thanks to Vaunthon's support, the majority of the church's army fell. Then the duke gathered his people and marched right at the capital, leaving the south-western army behind. Though not fully, as the Amethyst took the spearhead with him.
The leftover army of the Church of Destiny moved in small groups, which would never work. Not with the soldiers they had. To kill a hero, one had to wear them down with cannon fodder and then go for the kill with their best unit. Something the organization wasn't capable of staging due to a combination of chaos, oversight and rapports written priests fearing for their positions.
On the night before the attack on the council took place, the duke gave Vell a necklace. She used ice magic almost exclusively, but the necklace wasn't about it. The duke imbued it with a shield, written in cardinal magic. The culmination of his many years of study, his proposal gift for her.
The act held dangerous implications. Vell knew very well that the duke's dream was to found a new country for his people. She also knew that her emperor wanted the land for himself. Despite that, she accepted the necklace. As it tends to be, love didn't favor the easy way.
On the next day, the pair led the assault on the council's walls. Most of the Amethyst's members were tasked with creating a path inside for the others, but Vell and the duke went directly for the organization's leaders.
They were quite surprised to find them prepared in the great hall. Unlike most priests, the council didn't try to run away. Whether it was because they trusted their strength, had a sense of responsibility or anything else- Their choice had to be respected.
But only one side of this conflict could leave the room alive.