Celestine woke up after our seventh game of checkers. She won every one of them. This girl is way too good at this. Did I unlock some hidden talent for strategy games? Maybe I could teach her chess. Also, simply being in her home is kind of a waste of a dream. I'll see what I can do tonight. I repeated what I did last night, followed the shivering of my spine in the darkness and reattached my senses to hers. Sight, hearing, and touch were the most important at the moment.
Mother was hugging Celestine's body tightly, blubbering sweet nothings through her crying. Celestine was softly patting the back of the grown woman and trying to get separated from her. She was still laying in the bed, which was soaked wet with what I hoped was sweat. It was a lot hotter in here than is was yesterday. Did whatever was keeping the building cool break?
I could hear the sound of nurses walking around and checking on others laying in the other beds. Thankfully the bed with the body was missing. The people laying in beds were sort of familiar. Especially that one woman with the blonde hair. She was laying on a bed sleeping. A nurse came by to lift her covers and wipe off sweat. Seems all of their robes were removed so they didn't roast to death in their sleep. Celestine managed to lift the cover off herself a bit to see she was also naked under the bed with nothing but her simple underwear on.
Celestine's sundress was hung up next to the white robe behind Mother. Now that the lights were on, the X could clearly be seen for what it was. A blue spiral galaxy was visible on the robe going from the right shoulder to the left waist. But underneath that, a pure black galaxy was going from the left shoulder to the right waist. This galaxy was clearly different. While the blue one was a spiral galaxy, the black one was a barred spiral galaxy. They're similar, but the barred spiral is distinctive in that from the center, the arms of the galaxy connect to a straight cluster of stars that pass through the core. While I was in my last life on Earth, I learned that the Milky Way was a barred-spiral, or at least it was theorized it was. Hard to see the shape of a galaxy when you're inside it.
It didn't take long to understand what the galaxies on the robes represent. Since the blue one looks identical to the galaxies on the other acolytes' robes, except in color for some. I guess that this is the galaxy this planet currently resides. Then the black galaxy is really the Milky Way. The galaxies represent the home galaxy of the person who undergoes the awakening then? But then why is the Milky Way there? For me? Okay, that seems kind of obvious. But I can't confirm it yet.
"Momma, st-stahp. I can't breathe!" Celestine whined. She lied of course. She could breathe fine and it seems Mother knows this since she didn't relent on her hugging.
The sound of footsteps on stairs and the clack of a cane echoed a bit. So the old man is coming back now? Maybe he can explain a few things now. He was accompanied by a few other acolytes. They weren't wearing their usual robes. The man acolyte was wearing a tank-top and shorts while the woman was wearing a crop-top sleeveless shirt and something like yoga pants. They looked really tight, but they didn't seem to be sweating so they did the job. Something I noticed in our time in the city is that people weren't too modest when it came to keeping cool. If it weren't for rules against public nudity, I'm sure a lot of people would just opt to go walking around in their birthday suits. The old man was still wearing his black robe with red galaxy, though, and he didn't appear to be sweating. So maybe he's using some sort of cooling magic. His beard and hair seem to be moving like he's standing in front of a fan.
They walked over to the foot of Celestine's bed and just watched the struggling Celestine while looking at the old man with eyes that screamed 'help me!' Of course they waited for, what seemed like ten minutes, a minute before the old man coughed loud enough to get Mother's attention.
Mother jumped a bit before turning to see the group at the foot of the bed. She looked back to Celestine like she was contemplating ignoring them to return to treating Celestine like a living teddy bear. Then she sat back on her chair and acknowledged the old man. "Head Priest Mohn, is everything okay now?"
"The damage is extensive. We'll need to order a new focus crystal to be brought in from @^%$#&%$#, but other than that, everything is fine." The old man turned to Celestine. "How are you feeling, Celestine? That was quite a scare for everyone. We'll have to cancel services for a few weeks to repair the damages."
"W-what did I do?" Celestine wanted to hide in the blanket of the bed, but at the same time she wanted to just get out of the bed because it was so hot and sticky.
"Listen here, girl." His voice was loud and sounded angry, it made Celestine flinch. "Nothing that happened upstairs is your fault. It is mine." His voice returned to normal. "We have never had to perform an Awakening on someone with a Voyager before. The Founders clearly underestimated the powers of a Voyager when they wrote that little clause in our doctrines. I should have been more prepared and placed extra precautions. BUT, nothing can be done of it now. It was a learning experience for everyone. We will accept our losses and move forward as the gods' will has wanted." He nodded to himself.
Celestine stopped trying to hide in her bed cover and let it fall to her waist. It's hot in here and she's still a child. Nothing wrong with this, right? Hey, yoga pants acolyte, why did you just punch the t-shirt acolyte? She went and closed the movable walls more to keep peepers out. That was too much an overreaction. Celestine's chest is still no different than a boy's at this age.
Celestine's thoughts were elsewhere. She turned to her mother and then to the robe. "Is the robe supposed to look like that?" She pointed to it.
"Noo, no, this is quite a shock. Usually when we do the Awakening the robe turns black and there is only one #&%##! on it. Quite curious how there are two. I suppose your next question is what the colors mean?" He pointed to his own robe and Celestine nodded. "The colors represent the age of the soul. Most are very young, that's why it's blue on most acolytes and why yours is blue there, see? But the longer a soul is in the cycle of life and death, the older and stronger it becomes. The colors range from blue being the youngest, then white, yellow, orange, and red represents the oldest. Or it was once considered to be the oldest before..." he pointed to the robe, "that. I suspect the black #&%##! represents Novos's soul."
I said and started my attempt to pull more control of her mouth. First I found the senses of feeling and taste in her mouth. Then I focused on more control. In order to use the mouth, I needed control of the lips, jaw, tongue, and throat of course. But there's more. I need to control the breathing as well. It took some feeling around, but bit by bit I was able to take control. And the process ended when I took a deep breath, which spooked Mother.
"This is Novos, I borrowed control of speaking for a bit to add to the conversation. Mother, do not worry, I asked Celestine first." I started off like that. Mother seemed to want to relax, but her body betrayed her and she was shaking. What the hell happened upstairs?
The old man wanted to speak, but I interrupted him. "First of all, please define #&%##!. It's a new word Celestine doesn't know."
"She would know it if she paid attention during sermons." Mother mumbled.
"A #&%##! is a collection of suns in the cosmos. We can see them in the night sky and we believe we are also within one." The old man said.
So galaxy then. "What did you mean by the age of souls and this cycle?" I asked.
"Souls have an age, of course. Usually they die with the body. But when an individual does something of significance, the gods may reward them by pulling their souls and placing them into a new body and clearing their memories. These souls retain their strength gained in the last life and are allowed to keep growing should they desire such. Our church Founders developed the robes and awakening ceremony to determine the age of a soul." The old man said.
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I suspect there's something else at play here. I honestly doubt these gods of theirs even exist, yes even despite the light show upstairs. But then again, I am proof in itself that souls exist and so does reincarnation. I need to be skeptical, but I cannot outright deny reality. Especially in a world where magic exists. I haven't even seen much of the world anyway, so I don't know what's even outside this city. Celestine and I need to be educated.
I was silent for a bit before I spoke of something that was mentioned previously. "What's @^%$#&%$#?"
"Ahh, that's an easy question to answer. It's the $@^$@#^ country to the north. They do a lot of mining and are the leading provider of stone and metals for the known world." The old man said. So it's a place. So I guess there's no need to try to translate its name. It's Saddath. But then, what's $@^$@#^?
"$@^$@#^?" I asked.
"Oh yes, I forgot Celestine is quite sheltered. Poor girl."
"Hey!" Mother whined.
"$@^$@#^ are beings like us, but with distinctive horns on their heads and long spindly tails. They are denizens of another world that decided to take residence in our world thousands of years ago. Saddath was a land completely unclaimed back then, so they took it. No one even wanted it anyway, so no one complained. Quite a nice people if you ask me. I met one many years ago. The historic description of their previous world is absolutely hellish. Fire, liquid rock, and the air was hard to breathe. The desert wasteland of Saddath sounds like paradise in comparison." So demons then. That's an easy one to translate. I picked up a few new words from context clues in his description, too. Old Man seems like a stereotypical old man who, if you get him going, will drone on and on and on about nothing. He was on about how wonderful the demon women are in bed before the female acolyte struck him in the back of the head. Even Mother looked at him like she wanted to hit him.
I coughed. "We're getting off topic."
"Yes! Now, back to the situation at hand." The old man said, rubbing the back of his head with red cheeks. "Sylvianna, I know you have misgivings with Daemon, but I am afraid I must insist you involve him. I don't know what you think you were doing in preparing for Celestine's future, but the situation has changed with Novos present."
Mother looked down at the floor and her shoulders dropped. "I just wanted her to be able to live a normal life. I've been teaching her what I know so she can be a successful housewife in the future."
"She was tested as having only a light affinity when she was born and she was in such poor health. You did what you thought was right for her future, Syl." The woman acolyte said.
"No one could have predicted this. We need to get Jorald to reassess her now that her #$@^@# are open." The old man said.
Celestine hand leaned over and started petting Mother's head.
"#$@^@#?" I asked, still in control of the mouth, but not the full body. Celestine was still petting Mother, which probably looked weird. A half-naked child petting a fully grown woman in a white tank top with thin straps and a knee-length skirt. Seems while we were sleeping, Mother went home and got changed.
"The #$@^@# is the method by which magic is performed. It's hard to explain without needing to define a word every so often. But you can think of it as a path by which magic power flows from the gods to allow people to perform magic feats." So conduit then? That is a good description. "Every person's conduit is different. Some are wider, which allows more power to flow to the body, and some are so narrow a person can have difficulty even performing a simple light spell. Conduit width is decided at birth, so to stop children from hurting themselves with magic, we bind their conduits shut shortly after birth and don't open them until they are of age. When Celestine was born, her conduit was identified to be very small. And with such a common affinity, there wasn't much of a future for her." The old man explained.
"Affinity? I think I understand the word, but I don't know the meaning here." I said.
"I'll leave the specifics to your tutor. Daemon will likely hire one as soon as he hears of the awakening. I've never been a good teacher, so I should probably just stop for now."
"You're an excellent teacher, head priest!" The yoga pants acolyte behind him shouted.
"Quiet you." He reprimanded her. "We'll leave you be with Sylvianna to get dressed. You probably want to get out of that bed. I'll send word to Daemon to expect you, but I will leave explanations up to you." The old man looked to Sylvianna. "Swallow your pain, Sylvianna. Whatever history you have with that man, you need to set it aside and think of your daughter's future."
"Yes, head priest." Mother said weakly.
"I'll have Jorald meet you by the door of the church so he can reevaluate Celestine. Now, if you'll excuse me." The old man said before turning to leave.
"Wait!" I shouted. "What happened during the ceremony? You never mentioned anything about that."
"If you want to know, Novos and Celestine, I will leave it to your mother to decide if you can be told. The way I see it, it's better left untold to a four year old." He walked out of the makeshift room and I could hear the tapping of his feet and cane going upstairs followed by the t-shirt man and the yoga pants woman, presumably.
"Well..." I murmured, "I supposed it might be?" I turned to Mother and she nodded solemnly in response.
A short moment of silence passed before I spoke again. "Mother, can we get ready to leave? Sitting in a sweaty bed isn't too comfortable. And we're thirsty. I'll give control of the mouth back to you now, Celestine." I said aloud so Mother would know. I recoiled my control of the body and I felt Celestine's control restore with little effort. Seems I will never be able to force her to do anything without her permission. She holds too much control in the body. Makes sense since it's her body and all. But maybe in desperate times I might be able to force control with enough willpower...
She just kept petting Mother while she looked at the floor dejected. I already made the connection that this Daemon fellow is Celestine's yet to be introduced father. I wonder what he did to Mother to make her so reluctant to deal with him. A few bits and pieces in the lives of Mother and Celestine started to make sense now. Every opportunity she had, Mother was trying to teach Celestine housework in some capacity. Whether it be cleaning, organizing clothes, sewing, cooking, and shopping. She was preparing the weak girl for life as a housewife to any man who could support her without her lack of talents holding her down. And if she couldn't find a man, she could easily use her teachings as a maid. A somewhat dismal future, but at least it would have been her best shot at a stable life. Truly what other avenues are open for a girl in this city if she is so weak in magic power? Just like geniuses born on Earth. For every one person of talent and skill, you can be certain tens more are carving out a simple life in the shadows of society. I know, I was one of them.
I wonder who this Daemon fellow is, though. Perhaps he's the source of the weekly money purse?
Mother snapped out of her stupor and started to take care of Celestine. She wiped her down with a wet rag, changed her sweaty underwear, and dressed her in her sundress. Mother also put on the sandals that had been left at home previously. All the while Celestine felt like Mother was taking extra care to see if she was injured anywhere. She had to constantly answer that she was okay. 'Does this hurt?' 'No momma, I'm fine!' repeated about ten times before they were ready to leave. Mother was carrying Celestine on her right arm while holding the white ceremony robe with her left. We ascended the stairs and made our way to the front entryway of the church.
Now upstairs, we stopped in front of Charcoal Man as he was sitting on a stone bench by the doors.
Celestine's eyes were on the rest of the church though. The artwork that once adorned the ceiling was charred black with several gouges where the sun could shine through. The damage looked much worse than in the dream, confirming it was a dream. Some light crystal chandeliers were missing, stone turned to rubble, and a pillar was being supported, with magic presumably, by several very tired and sweating acolytes while shirtless muscly workers try to pack stones under the damaged section to support it. Murals on the walls were blackened, the floor under the central stage was cracked. Crystals were embedded in the stone pews, stained glass art was shattered. It was like a bomb went off.
"Celestine! Sylvianna! The head priest told me you were ready to leave for Daemon's place." Charcoal Man said. I could feel Mother's mood drop like a rock. "Well, before you leave I need to recheck Celestine." He stood up off the stone chair. "Have a seat Celestine and this won't take long."
Celestine did as he said and took his spot on the stone bench. She looked over to Mother as her eyes were glued on her.
Charcoal Man approached. He placed a rough hand on Celestine's head and the other on her belly. Unlike when he was observing us in the bed the night before, I felt something pour from him. It was like a rush of cold water. It made Celestine shiver. The chill started from his hand on her head and followed down her spine. It gathered at her gut before it dispersed and splashed out to the tips of all of her extremities, following her bones. The feeling ended shortly after the rush of cool water returned to her belly and exited into the man's hand.
"Her conduit is still the same. But her affinity is now %#&#%&#@$%. But there was more. Ohhh this is exciting!" His hands were still on Celestine. His black eyes bore into hers and it was like they were stopping her from moving. "There was another conduit mixed in with hers. It was like I scanned two people at once. This conduit is enormous! Wider than even the head priest's! And it had an affinity I couldn't identify!" His hands finally left Celestine's body and she exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. Charcoal Man started to spin around like a child who just got a new toy. It was so creepy for a man like him to do that. "Ohh Sylvianna, please bring her here more often! I want to watch her growth!"
"W-we'll see, Jorald. Can we go?" Mother said, picking Celestine up off the bench.
"Hmm? OH, of course! Don't want to hold you up anymore! Hmmm hmm hmmm~~" He started skipping to a side room that, from this distance, looked like an office with a wood desk. WOOD! Holy crap it does exist in this world!
NO! STOP MOTHER! I WANT TO SEE THE DESK!
And we left to parts unknown.