Break of Autumn, Week 3, Day 7

”Lady Nora, care to explain how you were able to kill a blight 15 Levels your senior?”

I thought about lying. About saying, No, actually, it wasn’t me. But Sir Rellar saw through all of my lies from the beginning. From my mana practice to now. He didn’t have any doubt it was me –I could see it in his eyes.

“It wasn’t 15 Levels higher than me,” I started. “It was five.”

Sir Rellar furrowed his brow, “Five shouldn’t be possible. You’ve only been awakened since Rise. That’s–”

“Only three months,” I finished for him.

His grip loosened, and I pulled away from him. I gripped my sides with my arms, and I felt my stomach churn. When tears started welling up in my eyes, I bit my cheek in frustration. I was tired of being afraid—afraid of judgment, afraid of slipping up, afraid of being found out, afraid of being known. But maybe it was time to fix that. The only way to stop being afraid was to push through the fear, to make the fear a reality and overcome it.

“I gained twelve levels when I Awakened,” I forced out.

I was met with a heavy silence, and I decided that if I was going to admit to anything, I should admit to it all. Otherwise the fear would continue to fester, to haunt me. And I was ready to move on. To be better. To be the God of Nora. Because a God, no matter how small, would not concern themselves with the opinions of others.

“I gained a special Class –based on darkness, on shadows. It’s,” I paused, closing my eyes, reliving the feeling of unleashing myself on the blight, and I winced, “It’s how I killed the blight. With my Class Skills.”

“Lady Nora,” Sir Rellar stopped me, and I looked back to him. He held up his hand, palm facing me. “To clarify, are you saying you received 12 Levels in an elemental Class upon Awakening?”

I nodded quietly.

“With your noble status and elemental –that’s a Rare at minimum,” he said. He furrowed his brow as he did the math, then he swore under his breath. “You gained 288 stat points at once?”

“I was paralyzed,” I said, “I had to be fed like a toddler. I was lucky a maid was there.”

An unreadable expression crossed his face, “I wouldn’t call that luck. But it does explain why we were briefed on a Level 2 Uncommon Class at minimum.”

I blinked, then a stone settled into my stomach. “You knew, then. I was hiding for no reason.”

“I wouldn’t say that, Lady Nora. But after your Affirmation and the blights on the road, it was clear there was something off about the briefing.” Sir Rellar glanced up at the ceiling and then back to me. “Not to mention the sheer volume of Skills you possess. This makes it all make sense.”

“Are you going to tell the Countess?” I said softly, the tears that had been prickling behind my eyes finally falling over. “About everything?”

Sir Rellar was quiet for a long moment, then, “I will have to tell her some things. Such as the rarity of your Class and that you killed a monster.”

“Two.” I corrected on instinct before thinking better of it and closing my mouth.

“Explain.” He snapped back.

“I killed a juvenile mimic the first time we camped,” I mumbled, my eyes focused on my feet.

Sir Rellar let out a long-suffering sigh, “Of course you did. What’d you do with the mana pearl?”

“I, uh,” I blinked, surprised that was the first question about it, “I absorbed it.”

“No, you didn’t,” he said calmly. “So, what did you do with it?”

Confused, I looked back at him. “I did. It looked like candy– so, I just… Swallowed it.”

“You just swallowed it?” He said in disbelief.

“Yes?” I replied, uncertainty coloring my tone.

It may have been painful, but it didn’t seem that dangerous.

“Lady Nora.” Sir Rellar was quickly looking exhausted by this conversation.

“Hmm?” I hummed.

“Don’t do that again.” He paused, “Wait, what did it give you?”

I opened my mouth to answer when Dame Arella and another knight rounded the corner. Sir Rellar stood up and gave me a look as if saying, ‘This isn’t over.’

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I had no illusions that it was.

“Captain, George and Undein have the Baroness, and the guards are all accounted for. Everyone is in the reception hall downstairs.” Dame Arella said, her voice cool and collected.

“Very well, let us attend to them,” Sir Rellar spat, then looked back to me. “Lady Nora, you will lead the way, but once we are in the reception hall, I will direct you to the main seat, and the Dusk Knighthood will perform its sworn duty. To protect the Dawns and the Duchy. So I will lead the questioning.”

I nodded, looking as serious as a child could, and then we were off. I was still coated in grime from running, but I didn’t care. Now was the time for answers. Anxiety welled within me as I feared the answer.

She’s making it worse. The Baroness is manipulating the blights. She’s the monster, not me.

I bit the inside of my cheek again.

I’m not a monster.

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The walk to the reception room was made in a tense silence. The only interruption was Sir Rellar tapping the emblem for the Dusk Knights as we made our way through the manor.

We came to a stop outside a set of double doors with birds carved into the panels. A flock of some kind flying around the two suns. Dame Arella stood to the side and put her hand on the door handle. I stood back, Sir Rellar to my right. A message. I was in charge, and Sir Rellar had my power backing him.

Dame Arella pulled the door open, and then it became a battlefield. No longer was I in a safe space. I was in a war. Us vs. Them. It was like in elsewhere. Only something in me had changed. I was no longer in charge of boardrooms. I no longer had boundless confidence. I was just a girl.

A girl with a powerful family, I reminded myself. A girl with a decision to make. A girl with a destiny.

Yes, I was just a girl, I decided. And I swallowed every feeling other than anger and I became a girl with rage. And a girl with rage would get what she desired. At that moment, it was to watch the manor burn.

So I didn’t shy away when the Baroness Perry made eye contact, I didn’t flinch when Jenny averted her eyes, I simply walked to the chair pulled separate. Away from the two chairs placed for the Perry house. My place was above them, and this proved it. To either side of them was a knight –next to Jenny was Sir Neil, and next to Lady Perry was Sir Limrick. Dame Undein and Dame Arella made their way to the middle of the room, between where I would sit and the two Ladies Perry.

Them. It is their fault. The thought came unbidden, but watching the knights position themselves between us stroked my anger.

I felt it, then, the way a member of the Dawn was meant to feel. The true strength of a name was shown to me for the first time. Yes, I had knights that claimed I was in charge –but would then push me around. Yes, I was treated with respect –to my face. This though? Looking at Lady Perry and Jenny unable to rise to greet me? This was power.

And it was heady. I decided to let it run through me. I let it lead me through the delicate situation that was sure to unfold. I let little Eunora’s teachings and muscle memory take over. My back was straight. My head was high. My heels clacked.

At once, I was both —-- and Nora. I was both versions of me. And I didn’t even need to use [Steal Nerves], though the thought had crossed my mind I was not nearly so desperate. Because at that moment, I was more than a [Class] could make me. More than a so-called Divine Skill could give. I was the God of Nora.

I was ice and fire swirling in an insurmountable force.

“The Child of Dawn arrives,” I said from in front of the plush seat and turned on my heel to face Jenny and her mother. My voice was calm in the way anger is cold—in that it wasn’t really calm at all. “And I will see who has done Dawn a disservice.”

As I spoke, Jenny refused to look up at me –but Lady Perry had no such compunction. She looked calm as if she’d done nothing wrong.

“I will know exactly what is happening in Perry,” I let the weight of the words settle in the room, and then I sat, crossing my legs, and leaned forward –bracing myself on the armrests, “Captain Rellar, you may begin your inquisition.”

“Your will be done, Lady Eunora.”

I did not flinch at the name, did not stutter a breath. I simply leaned back in my chair and did something I never thought I would.

I flexed my power.

[Shadow Conjuration]

Every shadow in the room darkened to pitch black. A dark miasma began rolling out of them, making the shadows look alive. It was a stark contrast to the evening light flowing in from the windows. I watched as Lady Perry flinched at the darkness that created voids around the room. And where it was lightest, just underneath the lights, it was surrounded by the darkest shadows.

“It shall, Captain, and if it is not, I will take over.”

[Shadow Manipulation]

The shadow in the room rushed to my back, condensing and shifting. There was no use for finesse, not at that moment. This moment was a show. A show of aptitude, of willingness, of force.

With the darkness sucked out of the room, the light was even harsher –and my chair ever darkened. The shadows coated it, making it more like a throne than anything else. I added large swoops of darkness off the edges, and I snaked thin tendrils of shadow into my hair and rolled them, making my braid shake as if my very power could not be contained.

I may have been a Child of the Dawn, but at that moment, I was a [Young Lady of Darkness] more than I ever had been before.

The room was silent as I made my display. Lady Perry had flinched at first, but now she was simply staring with her mouth pressed tight, and the knights stood still. I could see the tension in their bodies, but I chose not to think too much about it. I chose to trust in them.

They were my knights, and they hadn’t failed me yet.

Sir Rellar was the first to regain his balance, taking his place next to the throne I had perched myself atop.

“As a Captain in the Dusk Knighthood, and by the power granted to me by the Divine Right of the Nobility under the grace of the Dawn name: Margery Perry, Baroness of Perry, Lady of the Forest of Julep and Head of the town of Perry, under suspicion of heresy and possessing a corrupted mana source I hereby begin an inquisition into your Domain.” He spoke harshly, with nothing but a chill to his voice.

But Lady Perry was smiling now, a vicious thing. It had too much teeth. Her crimson hair was loose around her, and she was in riding clothes coated in dust. Wherever the knights had grabbed her from, it was not from within the manor.

“I accept your inquisition, Oberon, Captain of your contingent,” she said, “And I invoke the Divine Right of Nobility to be judged by a Noble higher than me.”