The next day, mid-afternoon, on the way up to the Sepulchre of God…
Stairs are cold as I ascend them all by myself, dressed to the nines in the colours of St Elicia’s, Elizabeth slung upon my shoulder.
The past week with Anna has gone by so fast. The wheel just keeps on turning, like clockwork. We start each day with morning prayers, breakfast, exercise, combat training, studying spells, and as the sun sets… a nice warm bath, dinner, and evening prayers. Every day, the same dream. Nearly, and if only it were so.
Seriously, what the fuck was that… dream!? Nightmare, more like it. Just thinking about it unnerves me a little. I just hope I’m not losing my marbles right now.
Oh well. At least Anna isn’t here to see this. It’s her day out this afternoon, and she’s spending it in the town of Light’s Hope with Sister Luna, a fellow aspiring Paladin and friend of hers from a time long before I was summoned to this world. They’re gonna hang out and get some coffee and cakes or something. Good for her. Good for them! I know plenty of nice, scenic spots around town (it’s also the only town on the Isle of Spirits!) to hang out and chill.
As for me? I’m now standing before the gilded doors of the Sepulchre of God. Gotta say, the antechamber never fails to amaze me. Back in my world, I’ve heard of other Student Council Presidents from the other schools, who live in fancy penthouses just like this with a grand overlooking view of the city out the window. And some of them are already finished with their school’s syllabus! Honestly, no idea how they do it.
But that’s enough outta me. I’m about to meet Lady Iris for afternoon tea. Afternoon tea may or may not have become one of my favourite activities ever since I became Student Council President at St Elicia’s. To think that I used to think that afternoon tea was for stuck-up princesses with fancy ringlets in their hair and sticks up their… well, y’know. But eventually, afternoon tea grew on me. Just like exercise, it really is a case of not knocking something until you try it for yourself. Don’t tell the guys on the rooftop, though! It also helps a ton that the pastries and tea at these little get-togethers are usually really tasty!
That said, I don’t think Lady Iris merely wants to chug tea and wolf down cupcakes with me, much fun as that might be. Hate to say it, but we don’t have the same relationship we had in the previous timeline. In this timeline, we’re equals, and we ‘met’ as equals. It does feel a little… odd, if anything. Regardless, I want to help her out with the Akashic Record. I do have knowledge and mastery of the Clairvoyance spell, after all! And uh… yeah!
Oho! Don’t mind me! Just stalling for time here. Little nervous, is all.
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Afternoon tea in the Sepulchre of God…
Pastries, fruit, and biscuits are arranged neatly on gleaming silver platters set elegantly upon tiered stands. Lady Iris, dressed in comfy white and gold robes, sits pretty on the opposite end of this lovely spread for two.
“How are you, Lady Ishii?” Lady Iris asks me, teacup and saucer in hand. “You have been honouring our traditions. This much I know from what I hear of you over the past week.”
“I’ve got Anna’s back, and she’s got mine,” I answer confidently, reaching for a scone. "It’s a little awkward sometimes… but we’re making it work!”
“I had a word with Anna last night after evening prayers. I could not help but notice that her Mana has expanded significantly ever since she began interacting with you.”
“Yeah. I felt it too, Lady Iris. I’m not sure why, but I’ll take it!”
“It is almost as if you and she have an affinity for each other. Before your summoning, she struggled to master her spells under my tutelage. But ever since you arrived… she has gone from strength to strength at an unprecedented pace. I do not know why, but I know this – you have done well, Lady Ishii.”
“Thanks! But it’s not all me. She’s been putting in the effort to become a Paladin worthy of any Healer. Even me!” I declare with a heavy helping of enthusiasm. “I think she just needs a bit of confidence.”
“Oh? Fortunately, you seem to have that in ample supply.”
“Most days, Lady Iris.”
“Yes. And yet…”
Lady Iris examines me, gazing deep into my eyes. Hers are just like mine… golden like the eyes of a God. It’s a little… mesmerising. Just a little.
“Something appears to be vexing you greatly, Lady Ishii.”
“You think so?” I answer sheepishly, scratching nervously at the back of my head. “Shit. Is it that obvious?”
“Somewhat. Your gaze is harrowed,” Lady Iris states matter-of-factly. “Have you not been sleeping well as of late?”
“Only last night, to be honest.”
“Do you wish to talk about it?”
“I…”
Before saying anything further, I bite my tongue. Part of me wants to just play it cool and just tell her that I’ve been staying up late, burning that midnight oil. But then, maybe she’ll understand what I’m gonna say! I mean, she did take the whole ‘coming from another timeline’ thing relatively well. That is to say, she didn’t declare me insane. And maybe, just maybe, she knows something. If not, even a listening ear would still be nice to have.
“I dreamt of the Demon Lord last night,” I tell her, frowning slightly. "Bastard came calling, looking just like a shadow of me. Said it’ll be seeing me a lot more often, sooner than I’d think.”
“That is most ominous. However, it is also too early to draw any manner of conclusion…” Lady Iris muses thoughtfully, taking a sip from her teacup. “But it must have something to do with all those memories you shared with me. You did say that you slew the Demon Lord in another timeline, did you not?”
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“I did kill it dead. And uh… you think so? That bastard did say something about me and it becoming ‘as one’. I didn’t get to clarify what that meant, though. I woke up, and that was that.”
“I see. Have you shared any of this with Anna?”
“Not yet,” I answer, shaking my head. “Should I?”
“She is your Paladin, Lady Ishii.”
“I just don’t wanna scare her… y’know? Considering the gap between us, being my Paladin is already quite challenging. This feels like unnecessary stress for her.”
“Please think about it. You have to trust her, just as she trusts you.”
“I will, Lady Iris. I’m just… ugh! Sorry about that.”
“No offence taken. But please think on it, Lady Ishii.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll do that. Anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask you about something else. About the Akashic Record, actually.”
“I am listening.”
“I know how to cast Clairvoyance,” I say confidently, looking Lady Iris in the eye. “I’d like to share it with you and the Record.”
“Then let us get to work immediately, Lady Ishii.”
In a flash of holy light, Apocalypse opens up in Lady Iris’ palm, a flurry of pages shimmering with radiance. From those pages, she brings forth the Akashic Record – the combined knowledge of Healers and Paladins since the days of the First Saint. Before my very eyes, I see the divine chronicles binding spells like Heal, Holy Fire, Power Infusion, Dispel Magic, Spell Ward, Sanctuary, and many, many more. And now, soon enough… Clairvoyance.
“Enshrine your knowledge into the Record, Lady Ishii,” Lady Iris instructs. “By your will and your hands, weave it into a divine chronicle and preserve it forevermore to serve the Healers of the Order of Selene.”
Oh boy. Let’s begin!
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Clairvoyance – the Libram of Apocalypse…
Back in my world, in the big city where I live to attend St Elicia’s Academy, there’s a young human lady with white gold hair and blue eyes like the sea. She’s the scion of the family that runs a Conglomerate that sells everything from toothpaste to machine guns, a bloodline as ancient as the land itself, dating back to Saint Elicia herself.
She’s a ruler in all but name. Many would say she has it all. I would. And she would’ve really had it all, were it not for the dread disease that left her bedridden, confined for a lifetime to a gilded cage.
She lives in a hospital that was said to have been built by Saint Elicia herself in ancient times. She lives on its top floor, in a penthouse that has become a massive hospital ward catering to her every need. She has a grand view of the world that is hers by birthright, yet she can never set foot there. She can only stare out the window, gazing upon concrete skylines and neon skies far off into the distant beyond.
She wanted to see this world of hers – the good, the bad, and the ugly – everything. When she met someone who offered to render the world unto her, just as she had rendered herself unto it, she got to see it all. In that moment, she decided to act and change the world for the better.
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Back in the Sepulchre of God…
Holy light of white and blue emanates from the Akashic Record as it hums a tune heavy with Mana. My Mana!
Good fucking grief. I feel a little winded. I pick up a jewel-encrusted teacup close by with piping hot tea, taking a deep sip. It’s pretty good… but I’d rather have something icy cold instead, like that sparkling orange soda from the vending machine at St Elicia’s. I swear, that stuff’s the best! Even lemon-lime doesn’t sound half-bad, either.
“It appears to be a story of your world,” Lady Iris remarks thoughtfully as she looks over the pages I’ve added to the Akashic Record. “The story of a Ruler in all but name.”
“Things are a little complicated in my world sometimes…” I state with a sheepish grin, shrugging my shoulders. “Her family’s been pulling the strings of the city I live in for generations, and she’s the latest of their bloodline.”
“I see. Is this Ruler a friend of yours?”
“Yeah,” I answer, nodding solemnly. “Her name’s Riko Kuhouin. Learning and mastering Clairvoyance in the previous timeline reminded me of her.”
“Tell me, how did your paths cross?”
“It’s a long story, so here goes!”
I tell Lady Iris all about how Riko and I met. You see, it’s tradition for the Student Council President of St Elicia’s Academy to have afternoon tea regularly with the reigning head honcho of the Kuhouin Conglomerate. Riko and her family are patrons of the school, after all – it’s their dime that pays for nearly everything to keep the place running, and her great-great-great Grandmother built the damn thing! So, as Student Council President, you can’t say no.
My predecessors called it ‘Tea time with the Devil’. Never within earshot, though! In the words of my predecessor, before she handed her duties to me, ‘The Devil comes from the bloodline of Saint Elicia’. And Riko’s the Devil in Plain View! So they say.
Our first meeting was a little scary, I’ll admit! I was tense as fuck when a limousine picked me up at the school gate to bring me to her. It was the first time I had ever sat in such a fancy car, and I didn’t dare lean back on my seat throughout the trip.
We hit it off right away. Even now, worlds apart, I miss her. She’s everything I’m not – quiet, reserved, gentle, soft-spoken. Like Anna, in a way. She let me run my mouth off as we talked. Had I not known who she was well in advance, I wouldn’t have entertained the thought that she could so easily have me killed and dumped into the sea. Or that she’s a light sleeper who sleeps with one eye open and a loaded gun. And that those who thought a bedridden girl was unfit to rule over an entire city, who tried to plot against her, were now corpses deep beneath the sea, swimming with the fishes.
She asked to meet me again for afternoon tea. On the regular. As is tradition. I couldn’t say no, but I didn’t want to either. So, we did! One day, as she stared out into that grand overlooking view of the city, she asked for my help to see the city for what it really is. Her toadies and subordinates would tell her grandiose stories and give her nice photos little better than eye candy, but she wanted to see it all for real. I obliged her.
I went all around the city, taking photos with my phone. The good, the bad, and the ugly. My favourite things. Stuff I didn’t like. Stuff I found mildly interesting as well. When she saw it all… she didn’t say anything. But then, the next time I met her, she told me in that gentle, quiet voice of hers that she wanted to reshape this world of hers for the better. That with enough money, she might wash away the sins of her bloodline.
Before I was summoned to Nisha, the city felt… better and cleaner. Shelters, soup kitchens, and charities in the city suddenly had a lot of extra spending cash. Schools and hospitals were being built, and existing ones were renovated one after another. It was all out of her pocket, too, be it all these wonderful things or oiling the right palms so the whole process didn’t grind to a halt for all the wrong reasons. Somehow all this hasn’t invited a knife or a bullet with her name on it yet. At least, not a successful one!
Good grief. I haven’t had tea with Riko in so damn long. I do miss her very much.
“You will have a chance to meet Lady Kuhouin again,” Lady Iris states solemnly, teacup in hand. “It is the light waiting for you at the end of your Prophecy. Hope, fragile as it is.”
“I know,” I answer quietly, bowing my head. “But returning home means…”
“It does, Lady Ishii. But this too, shall pass. Do not be sad when the time comes. Smile because it happened.”
“I…”
“But that is a long time away. There is still so much to be done.”
“Yeah, that’s right…” I say, forcing myself to smile. “You’re right, Lady Iris! We should make the best of the time we have together. Let me teach you how to cast Clairvoyance effectively.”
“Thank you, Lady Ishii.”
“First, you gotta focus up…” I instruct as my eyes glow white and blue. “And then…”
In a matter of minutes, Lady Iris’ eyes begin glowing white and gold with Mana. She takes to this spell we perfected so long ago like a fish to water, and together, we project our consciousnesses outward, gazing out into a world of cloistered halls and Healers and Paladins.