[Kliss Eliza Cessna - Equality Acolyte, the Overseer of Skyisle]

Cottage number 117 looked far better than most, but still quite rustic in terms of its architectural design. According to the Overseer’s log the house was inhabited by [Cassandra Alana Skyisle - Agromancer: Lv 20] and [Georgi Alan Agamemnon - Carpenter: LV 20].

I sent a wide, weak [Identify] pulse through the door, checking for life-signs. The ward offered no resistance to me. It was unlocked by the Master-Key amulet hanging on my chest. The answer came back from the armacus.

[Two adults]

Perfect.

I evaluated the door. It looked new and very solid. A disruption spell might not be able to handle something that was made by a specialized Carpenter if it was reinforced with his magic. I aimed the armacus at the keyhole and shot an [Unlock] spell at the lock. The door clicked open. I turned the thick, metal handle, swung the door open and stepped inside.

I knew that two level twenty’s could not fight against a level 24 mage in full magisteel armor, wielding a fully charged armacus stacked with level 88 spells. The patheticness of the locals was my advantage and the reason why a single Imperial Overseer was enough to handle this tiny, remote settlement.

A woman yelped as I stepped inside.

“Cassandra Alana Skyisle,” I said as I slowly turned towards the sound of her voice. When I saw the woman, I aimed the armacus at her head.

“I find you guilty of concealing an aberration. A most vile crime against the tenets of Equality! How do you plead?”

“What? Uh?!” The silver-haired, blue eyed woman yelled back, some kind of a green spell forming in her right hand.

"Dante Alan Skyisle was a child born with level six, was he not?" I demanded.

"What? No!" The woman sputtered. "That's..."

[She stinks of lies and guilt,] my Angel whispered in my hear. [Pull the trigger.]

I didn’t let her finish. The armacus truth-sense rune told me that she was lying to me. She clearly believed that the aberration was her child, just like many other fools before her. Guided by my Vow, my finger reached to switch the armacus to kill.

I pulled my finger back. I needed to know more, damn it!

Cassandra suddenly moved. My level was higher - I was faster than her. She was a threat to my life. Aided by my Vow, my finger pressed the trigger and Cassandra slumped to the floor before she could reach me.

“Cass! No!” A man screamed from the kitchen. It was undoubtedly her husband. The brown haired, hazel eyed man rushed into the living room. I aimed the armacus at him.

“Georgi Alan Skyisle, I find you guilty of concealing an aberration!” I yelled, my voice shaking. “How do you plead?”

“Cass! Cass!” He yelled. “By Ishira!” He looked back at me.

“Concealing an aberration is a crime against the tenets of Equality,” I repeated the script my Angel whispered in my ear. “The law is quite clear on this matter. You’ve lived under the wings of the Equality Empire long enough to know our laws!”

"My son isn't an aberration, you damned Redcape!" Georgi barked.

"Is he not Level Six?" I asked, my voice trembling. I tried to remain calm as I was taught at the Academia of Magic.

The man glared at me with hate-filled eyes. He was undoubtedly planning to hurt me.

"So you admit to concealing an aberration?" I inquired. “You must realize that the punishment for this crime is death.”

He rushed at me, a muscular hand aimed to grab at me. The Overseer's Vow held my hand steady, helped me press on the trigger ring.

Georgi fell next to his wife.

I shook my head, trying my best not to have a breakdown. I didn’t think that the locals would actually attack me so openly. Didn’t think that they had actually conceived and hid an aberration. This wasn’t like putting down beasts at the Imperial Academia in Cessna. These were people. I just took down a family. I didn’t want to… and yet here I was, a servant of the Empire… the hand of Justice. I stood there, looking at the two bodies under my feet. I took my helmet off, as I started to sweat.

My armacus-armed hand started to tremble. I lowered it.

“Sorry…” I whispered to the two bodies. "You should have come to the Overseer’s office as soon as you found out. I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me no choice. Forgive me.”

I made the sign of Equality at the bodies.

My words felt hollow, empty. The helmet in my hands felt heavy.

The Alans were simply under a [Lethargy] spell now, not dead, I reminded myself. They looked dead, limp and sprawled out on the floor.

If they purposefully concealed an aberration, I might actually have to execute them.

I felled many beasts in Cessna, but not people....

There was just one thing left to do. To find the aberration and to end its life. A child. I had to… end a child.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I felt even more nauseous.

“I can do this…” I whispered to myself, clipping the helmet to my belt. I didn’t want to put it back on, in case the nausea got worse.

[You will receive a ruby cross of Noble Heroism for discovering and ending an aberration which your predecessor had missed,] my Angel whispered.

The thought of wearing a medal did little to pacify my nausea and apprehension.

I sent another wide, scanning pulse through the armacus checking for life-signs. The midwife was correct. The kids weren't here. There was nobody left in the silent cottage to fight me.

I pulled Cassandra on a chair and bound her tightly.

“Equality steady my heart,” I prayed.

Then I shot [Vigor] at her head, disrupting the [Lethargy] spell.

Silver-blue eyes shot open. Her husband was still asleep on the floor, my Angel demanding I execute him as soon as possible for his crimes.

"What?" Cassandra blinked. Her eyes became filled with panic and hatred as she stared at my face.

I aimed a [Truth] spell at her head. My Angel pressed the trigger for me.

"Confess," I ordered.

"Confess what?" Cassandra snarled.

"Confess your crimes against the people of Skyisle, you daft woman!" I snapped. "Your child is an Astral Phantom wearing human flesh, a monster plotting to consume people!"

"Dante isn't a monster!" Cassandra cried out, her entire body trembling.

"Confess your sins against humanity!" I barked. "Why was Dante born an aberrant? Did you get hurt in a forest and tell no-one? Did you fail to reach a healer? Did you harbor a vile ghost within you?! Confess in the name of Equality! What other, treasonous deeds have you participated in?!"

[Threaten to kill her husband,] my Angel whispered, trying to grab at my lips to speak the words. Before I said anything Cassandra opened her mouth.

"When I was sixteen, I had a prophetic dream about it. In it I held a daughter with silver-blue eyes and silver hair in my arms. My newborn wore a silver crown atop her head woven from impossibly brilliant, blinding silver threads. I felt, knew her name… it was D.. De… I wasn’t sure of the rest, because I woke up," Cassandra spoke. "I went to the Church of Ishira in the center of the village and told the priestess about the dream, asking about the future, asking about her name. The priestess completed the Ritual of the Seer."

"A ritual?" I asked, feeling that I was about to unravel an arcane, dastardly plot. "What did she see?"

Cassandra began to speak, her mouth moving on its own, forced by the power of the Truth spell.

. . .

“Cassandra Alana! Your daughter is destined to bring ruin to Skyisle,” the priestess told me when she recomposed herself.

“What? The curse of the Alania?” I gasped. "But..."

“The curse of your bloodline, Sentinel.” The priestess of Ishira nodded, her eyes shining with divine radiance. “The blood of the Alanians in her is strong. Too strong. She is determined and curious enough. Like your parents, she will not be able to resist the call of the Quest of your Legacy. One day, she will run away from you, descend into the Valley of Death and enter the Forbidden city. There, she will awaken the long dead and bring them to Skyisle.”

“But… the air is poisoned down there! How will she survive?!" I gasped.

“I do not see these details, Sentinel!” The priestess interrupted me “I simply know that if nothing is done, our town will be overrun and everyone here will perish.”

I started to hyperventilate. “What can I do?”

“Sacrifice some of your life, give your blood to Ishira, the All-Mother Goddess of Fertility and Beauty,” the priestess declared. “The Goddess will wield me to snip this future away.”

I was terrified by the words of the priestess. My own parents had vanished in the poisoned mists of the Valley of Death just a year ago, leaving me as the last Sentinel, the last Alanian of Skyisle. I was young and scared and foolish enough to accept the priestess' offer of aid. I allowed her to cut my arm with a ceremonial rune-encrusted dagger. I poured my blood and my life into the rune-covered concave bowl carved like the eye of Ishira, the all-seeing one.

The priestess brought out gemstone-covered gold scissors. Using them she snipped away the thread of blood pouring from my arm, snipping away the future that was not to be. Another Vow resonated in my Soul-Song, the one of [Sacrifice of Life].

I had another prophetic dream, clear as glass, one year later. In it as I held my crowned newborn daughter, she slipped through my hands like a ghost. I didn’t understand what the dream meant.

I rushed back to the Church of Ishira wanting answers, but the priestess wasn’t there anymore.

The Equality Redcapes arrived in their sky-ships that morning. They had executed the priests of Ishira and installed their own Order of Equality in the Church of Skyisle, one that was to be obeyed and followed. They had removed the altar of Ishira and changed the banners on the Skyisle Church. I saw the blood pouring down the steps of the church, saw the armored knights aim their ring-shaped artifacts at the people who tried to resist them. I heard the blasts of [Destruction] spells and screams of the villagers as I ran back to my house. The Imperial subjugation was done in but a day. Not much has changed in my life. The only people who knew who I was were now dead.

I met Georgi in Agamemnon when I was twenty three. He followed me to Skyisle. We declared our Vows to each other under one of the waterfalls in Skyisle. I sacrificed my [Fireball] skill to strengthen my love for him. He sacrificed his [Spelunking] skill to stay with me forever. I got pregnant at twenty four.

Midwife Tamara scanned me with her Eye artifact and declared that I was going to have a girl. I decided to give her the name Destiny.

I was no longer afraid of Ishira's prophecy. The Redcapes had killed the Ishira’s oath-keepers and shattered their altar. My faith was shaken that day. How could a supposedly all-seeing Goddess not see nor prevent the deaths of her chosen Seers?

I thought that everything was over. Except… instead of a daughter, I had... twins. A level six son and a daughter... a daughter that wasn't supposed to be born! A daughter that would doom us all!

I didn’t know the exact will of the Goddess. I didn’t tell Georgi anything. I didn’t want him to know about the ancient past nor the Quest that my last name carried. I didn't tell him that I was the last Sentinel, the last shard of Alania. He took my last name, not knowing much about my family. Not knowing why my parents died when I was only 15.

. . .

Cassandra wept, her eyes filling with tears.

"Who spoke this vile prophecy?" I hissed. "Who was the priestess in attendance?!"

"Giovashi Incandictia Skyisle," Cassandra answered. "The current Arch-Priestess of Skyisle."

"She's alive?" I snarled. "A Skyisle Ishira Priestess survived our takeover?"

"Yes," Cassandra spat, unable to lie to me.

"Where is she?" I demanded. "Where can I find her?!"

"I do not know," Cassandra said. "She appears only when Skyisle is in grave danger. She saved us all from a dragon twelve years ago! I thought that she was dead!"

"What level is she?!"

"I do not know."

I stared at the woman tied to the chair. She was a Sentinel of the old, nearly forgotten Empire one that I read about at the Cessna Academy.

[Execute the Almn-Inian Sentinel!] My Angel ordered. [She carries the stain of the Necromagi in her blood! Kill her daughter and son, for they are children of Almn-Inia, their blood capable of awakening the arcane soul-powered engines silenced by Equality over a thousand years ago!]

I pressed the trigger, silencing the crying woman before the Angel could force my hand.

Cassandra's eyes fell closed.

[Kill the Sentinel,] the Overseer's Vow to Equality demanded, grabbing at my fingers.

[She's... a witness,] I mentally hissed back. [The Almn-Inian cities are poisoned rubble! She might tell us more. We need her!]

My Angel let go of me.

I rubbed my face tiredly, blood pulsing in my veins. This was far worse than simply finding an aberration. I found something terrible that should have been forgotten and walked into a divine prophecy like a blind fool.

It would not be enough that my predecessors destroyed the Altar and banners of Ishira in the Church of Skyisle.

To end a prophecy one had to kill its speaker. I had to find Arch-Priestess Giovashi Incandictia Skyisle.