Peak of Autumn, Week 5, Day 2
The world around me was still as the woman physically shoved the other God back through the tear. The man tried to fight back, but she’d apparently caught him unaware as he grunted and the rip in reality sealed shut behind him.
“Scylla–” He hissed as all evidence of his appearance rolled in on itself and disappeared.
Scylla. I blinked at the woman, with her flowing white waves of hair and her striking blue skin. She was thrice as tall as any of the statues, and her head nearly brushed the top of the cathedral. The title of the book Eunora had suffered for flashed through my mind, Scylla and her Tydes: A Story of Fortuitous Waves. She was beautiful, and I was taken aback by her presence. So much so that it wasn’t until she was bounding towards me with her arms outstretched that I whipped my head around to the knights behind me.
They were gone. In fact, everyone was gone. No longer was Father Regin standing off to the side –nor were there people in the pews. The church was empty. I caught sight of one of the far windows and instead of a blue sky, there was simply white light.
I was jolted back to reality as Scylla clasped my shoulders tightly and spun me to look at her. She had shrunk in the time I had been looking away. She was still tall and lithe, but in the way a normal woman was tall –not a Goddess.
“Oh! It is so rare for a noble to be so defined at their Affirmation,” She cooed, crouching in front of me and looking me over, “And to be Godtouched! Twice! No– thrice–”
I stood stock still as the Goddess continued to coo at me –and my stomach rolled at the thought because her presence was so much more. The Countess and Father Regin and even Sir Rellar, their auras were in contention with my own. Present and uncomfortable but not suffocating. This was as if I had no presence at all before the Goddess. As if I was an ant.
“Ah, ah, now,” And Scylla flicked my forehead, causing me to blink, “I saw that.”
I felt myself gasping for breath, and I squirmed in Scylla’s hands. Immediately, she released me, and I rolled back on my heels. It was a near thing, but I remained standing.
“Who are you?” I whispered, not quite in disbelief, because I had already been calling the woman by the Goddess’ name –but in shock. In need of direct confirmation.
The woman stood up with a sheepish smile.
“Oh, sweetie, you know who I am. I’ve seen it. But I suppose it’s only proper to introduce myself.” She paused, then proceeded to stretch her arms out and bow deeply, “Little Light of Dawn, I am Scylla, Goddess of Prophecy and Gambling, Lady of Low Tides and Chance Encounters.”
As I looked at her, I could see the way her skin rippled as she spoke, and I could hear the sounds of the ocean as her hair rustled in an odd wind that shouldn’t have been able to pass through.
I swallowed, and as she rose, her eyes glinted, “Now, your turn, little Godtouched.”
“I–” I stuttered, “I am Eunora.”
The Goddess tutted, “Now, now, you can do better than that! You have a Title already, do you not? I suppose you call it a [Class]. Try again!”
My stomach dropped, and I felt my body move on its own as I dropped into the same bow that the Goddess had just given. My mouth formed the words before I could think them through as if possessed.
“I am Eunora Killian Dawn, Young Lady of Darkness, and daughter of Countess Mallorica Hanley Dawn and Count Evenor Firlein Dawn, the second daughter of the Duchy of Dawn and a child of Otherworldly origins.”
Scylla laughed, and the burning began. My mind was on fire. My hands snapped to my ears, and I could feel wetness falling from my skin. I was bleeding. I felt a tug from within me, and a green System box begin to appear only for it to immediately snap out of existence. The Goddess sobered up at the thought and looked at me curiously.
“How interesting! The System is punishing you even in my realm –that’s new! Otherworlders are known to me, so which Skill did it give you? Can’t be [Hidden Heart] or [Outworlder]. Even [Forbidden Motives] shouldn’t reach you here.”
Her eyes, pitch black as they were, lit up with seafoam as I gasped for air, “Oh! Did those cretins give you [Tight Lips]? I can feel the Twins all over your soul, so I know it’s them. Only Brel would be this cruel.”
She hummed thoughtfully before clapping her hands. Abruptly, the pain stopped, and I found myself. Just as I was about to speak –to ask why, Scylla held up a hand, “Stop! I don’t want to know. I’ll just pull at the tides myself.”
And then I was back to the day I awoke here, to when Theo had come to wake me up –for what turned out to be our Governesses going away breakfast, to sitting in that dark room refusing to even acknowledge the System, to knitting Noir, everything sped around me.
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“No, no! I want to see what should have been!”
At those words, horror welled within me. Eunora.
And then the world around me was the same room I’d sequestered myself in –but now was filled with a little girl staying up late to read etiquette books and tales of the Divine. It cycled forward to where I remember Awakening –and then the picture split and jolted before flowing through Theo coming in to Eunora grinning and laughing and saying, ‘It’s time!’ And then I saw Theo speak, and Eunora’s face break and splintered. Time was moving forward. I didn’t see what [Class] or [Boon] she chose, but I saw more studying, more meetings with others –tutors, and mages, and knights, all coming to Eunora’s room. Eve appeared rougher and with more hate as time passed. And Raphael came and yelled and chided. Leo and Leah came and curiously looked in on their elder sister from time to time. There was even a meeting with both the Count and Countess –it was formal, and Eunora was kneeling. Then another affirmation –this one so quick no one paused.
My mind was whirling at what was playing. A life. A life. Eunora’s life. I screamed.
The images continued. Eunora was crying –she cried more often the older she got. She pulled at her hair and screamed at her creations. She had red, puffy eyes. Eunora grew to be angry instead. It took her until she was nearly an adult, but I watched as her power shifted as she crafted better and better objects. I watched her progress to Tier 2. I watched her sweet smile turn hard. It didn’t matter.
She had a life without me! I felt another pain welling up in my throat as I continued screaming.
I watched as Eunora attended an academy, as she toiled, as she lorded over her peers. I saw as her heart darkened and her spine turned to steel. I watched as she stood before the Queen, the Queen, and pledged her life. And then I watched her–
No. I couldn’t watch it anymore. I shut my eyes and finally, finally, stopped screaming. The taste of copper lined every breath I took.
When the sounds of time spinning stopped, I took a deep, painful breath and opened my eyes.
Eunora was fearsome, in a suit of white armor with two suns emblazoned on it in gold and a white whip resting in her hands. She was older –thirty, maybe, but with the vitality of someone in Tier 3 or 4 radiating from her. So she could have been anywhere from thirty to sixty, and it would be impossible to tell. Her hair was wild around her, and behind her, a house burned. No, not a house. A castle. Around her were creations of Light, shining monstrosities that burned in red and yellow and white. She was smiling. Across from her stood an army. She was mad, wild with rage and insanity. And then Scylla ran time forward once more.
And Eunora was dead.
A life.
“They killed her,” I wailed, tears falling from my horror-stricken face. Only, I wasn’t talking about the scene before me. No. I meant the child I had been shoved into.
Scylla turned, looking around with interest, as she had been the entire time, before she bent down to pat me on the head, “Oh, come now, they killed you too, you know. At least you got a second chance!”
“Why are you showing me this?” I whispered, my hands wiping away my own tears –because I was not in a place to be touched further by a Goddess. Not that I thought Scylla would comfort me so.
“Hmm?” She blinked, and then she smiled, and though she spoke with cheer, her words were anything but friendly, “Oh. Because I’m going to give you a gift, of course. It’s not every day a noble with nearly 100 Divinity comes around at eight! Eight, Eunora. Do you know what a single point of Divinity does? You’re a monster –and it’s messing with my prophecies.”
“What?”
Scylla nodded, “Yes! Everything had to be changed when the twin nuisances made their bet. Idiots –the whole world changes with otherworlders.”
Bet?
“Bet?”
Distracted by her own thoughts, Scylla nodded, “Yeah, and now I have to reset the scales a bit. Here–” She flicked her hand in the air, and the images surrounding us disappeared. “–Our time’s up. Don’t be a stranger. If you call, I’ll answer. Maybe.”
As I was processing her words, my body moved back into a kneeling position without my direction, and Scylla sat atop her statue –before leaning backward and falling into another tear in reality.
She was gone. And the world was awash with light.
The church was no longer silent. The sounds of gasps and hushed whispers hit me. I slid back, resting my thighs on my heels, and dropped my arms. My ears still stung, and I could feel the crust of dried blood forming, but whatever Scylla had done in the moment to stop my pain continued. My throat burned, and I could feel the numbness in my heart from crying too heartily. Whatever had happened was real –there was no denying that.
And I wondered what would have happened if I met Morloch instead.
Then I leaned forward and stood up, turning to the shocked audience. What had they seen? A God of Sacrifice or a Goddess of Prophecy? Either, none, all? Or was it simply the light that nearly blinded me upon my return?
My eyes scanned the nobles and citizens who were seated at the pews, and the priests that were stood stock still at the end of each row, until finally, I met the eyes of Father Regin –who, unlike before, had a smile on his face.
They wouldn’t be reacting this way if they’d seen the Goddess of Prophecy descend. No.
“I Affirm your Divinity, Eunora Killian Dawn. You are a True Light of Dawn.” The dual voice of the priest filled the church, and a shiver ran down my spine because as he was speaking, several notifications flowed into my vision.
[System Notice: The skill [Tight Lips] has been forcefully activated for the second time. Strike Cause: User uttered Otherworldly status in the perception of others. Strike recorded. Preventative measures initiated.]
[Warning: Additional Strikes will initiate purging of Otherworldly data.]
[Congratulations! Mental Fortitude has reached Level 7!]
[Congratulations! Mental Fortitude has reached Level 8!]
[Congratulations! Mental Fortitude has reached Level 9!]
[Congratulations! Mental Fortitude has reached Level 10! New features unlocked.]
[Congratulations! You have been noticed by the Goddess of Prophecy, Scylla! You've learned the skill: Eternal Communion.]
[Congratulations! Due to the Goddess of Prophecy, Scylla, you have received an additional 25 Divinity! You currently have 107 Divinity.]
[Congratulations! You have reached the first threshold of Divinity! Skill capabilities re-calibrated.]