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[https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]

I easily spotted Ikuye’s cerulean hair just above the rows of greenery in the garden. Her head bobbed back and forth as she paced around.

As we approached closer, she peeled away and quickly navigated the walkway to meet us. Another person appeared, standing up from a hidden seat where Ikuye was a moment ago.

His ginger hair gave him away.

Tomin came along too, huh.

“Hail sister!” Ikuye yelled excitedly, “I was waiting for your call this whole time! Do I get to beat up some knights now?”

Her soft intonation and the way she tilted her head at the end of her question would have been kind of cute if she wasn’t leaking an unmistakable blood-lust that made my hair stand on end.

“I know you’re bored but not today, unfortunately. This is Strea,” I turned with my arm wide to point at the elven girl following after us, “She may be accompanying you when we attack Axio.”

Ikuye’s expression twisted into a sinister grin.

“Oooh! Another resistance check then? That’s fun too, I guess. This one, you said?” She asked, pointing at Strea.

“Yes. She’s a talented healer and would be a good fit for your strike division. I didn’t know it had so many vacancies but it should work out, I think. With your mobility, you could fly her around and drop in on the critically injured.”

“Eeeh? That doesn’t sound fun though.”

“Excuse me?” Strea interjected, “What do you mean by ‘fly around’?”

Ikuye looked at me, “Can I?”

I looked to Tomin, who had walked up a moment ago, “Is the area clear?”

“It is, Your Majesty.”

“Go for it, Ikki.”

All of us gathered nearby were blinded in an instant—I even knew what was coming and tried to shield my eyes and look away, but it didn’t help. The radiance of Ikuye’s transformation was just too brilliant.

A heavy wave of pressure washed over me. I’d gotten accustomed to this, after the few dozen times testing promising soldiers and numerous training sessions.

The bout of nausea was hardly an issue and my fight-or-flight senses didn’t kick in nearly as hard, but the suddenness of it was still terrifying for a moment.

Ikuye’s six grand wings stretched out behind her into the air. The light of her halo’s golden glow sparkled off her metallic armor.

I dismissed the notification telling me that I’d resisted her aura and looked over the two adventurers.

Tamirayth seemed unphased by the aura’s effects but very interested in Ikuye’s big reveal.

Strea was on her knees and holding her stomach in a desperate bid to keep from hurling its contents on the ground.

Well, that’s a promising first response. As long as she didn’t pass out, this is something that can work out.

“Awh yeah! Look at you. A little bit of training and you’ll have no problems. Hah! Tomin, did ya’ see her? She looks just as sick as you did the first time.”

Ikuye slapped her hand hard against Tomin’s back while laughing wildly.

He wasn’t entirely unphased by her aura, but handled it just as well as the rest of us, save Strea.

“What… the fuck… is she?”

Strea struggled to speak through labored breaths.

Before I could answer her question A thick cloud of Aethermist coalesced near us and ripples in the air suddenly gave way to Zophiel, the elven sorceress we’d just left behind—who’d apparently teleported to us.

“ᚹᛖᛋ ᚻᚪᛚ, ᚪᛚᛇᛏᚢᛋ. Hail, First of the Gods.” She greeted Ikuye in a bow, “I am blessed by the Guardian of the Forests, I can accept your declaration.”

Ikuye stared at the new arrival, looking quite taken aback.

“Uhh, this one isn’t gonna come with me too, right sister?” Ikuye asked, turning her head towards me, “I don’t mind his kids but I hardly get along well with Uncle Sagi, and her blood reeks of the guy.”

Zophiel looked equal parts confused and offended.

Strea, now on her feet, was staring at Zophiel, “Is she one of those celestial warrior people?”

Zophiel held her arm out as if shielding Strea and Tamirayth from Ikuye.

“An Alaetüs. But I’ve never encountered one with… a personality quite so developed.”

I clapped my hands to pull everyone’s attention.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“Hey! Let’s all calm down a bit. Ikuye, the woman who just teleported in is Zophiel, a friend. And no, she won’t be coming with. Zophiel, this is Ikuye. Yes, she is an Alaetüs—but no, she is not here to deliver any kind of… declaration. She’s my companion. We have a, uh, complex relationship.”

“We’re sisters!” Ikuye shouted, and I rested my palm against my face.

“Something like that, but the particulars are sort of a secret, remember that, Ikuye?”

“Oh yeah! Oops.”

Zophiel’s curiosity didn’t appear to be sated at all by my explanation, nor did it seem to disarm her defensive posturing.

“Well,” I started, “What matters here is that there is no problem with Strea accompanying Ikuye’s division. So, unless you’ve got any issues we should be all set. Our forces will stay here tonight, and set off tomorrow to rendezvous with an advance force that should’ve set up a proper camp a few miles north of the town.”

Strea nodded her head, “I’ll pack my bags and meet with you in the morning.”

Both she and Zophiel headed back into the estate.

Tamirayth remained behind and once the two had completely left our sight, she turned to me.

“Could I have a moment of Your Majesty’s time? In private.”

We walked a ways out into the garden. Once we’d gotten a fair distance from my companions, Tamirayth activated some kind of noise-quietening magick.

The area around us became distorted and discolored as an eerie silence settled in.

“Tell me honestly,” She whispered, “Are you a child of the Creator?”

She’d used that term before, ‘the Creator’. I wasn’t sure what she meant and assumed it was a cultural difference to mean the Celestials.

But something about the way she seemed to purposefully make a distinction was off, especially when Zophiel had clearly known about the Alaetüs and has some sort of direct tie to Sagittarius—though he is the Aestori’s God, so maybe that should be more normal.

“I can’t say I’ve heard of a Creator. Am I right to assume you don’t mean any of the Celestials?”

Her expression tightened.

“I do not. There are no mortal races that the Alaetüs treat with respect. They view humans, elves, dwarves, noblebourne, or any other minor race as nothing more than pests. They despise leaving the aetherial planes and have never remained on the mortal plane longer than necessary. And they certainly don’t…”

She trailed off, looking in the direction that we’d left Hailey, Ikuye, Tomin, and Beno.

“They’d never consider a human as an equal, or listen to and follow their commands as if they were a superior. So, who are you, really?—No, what are you? And how do you wield the magicks of creation?”

Tamirayth’s crimson eyes flared like wildfire.

“I—I, uhm,” I sputtered, “I’m not sure. It sounds like you know more than I do.”

“You must know something. That girl wouldn’t be following you as a companion for no reason. I beg that you give me your trust. This could be the only thing that matters.”

Tamirayth’s words bit like they were edged in steel.

“I’m something Virgo calls, an Altaer. Some special type of human she has grand plans for. My family, at the founding of the Empire and even further back, has some kind of ‘purpose’ she’s imposed on us. I’ve tried getting answers but she talks her way around it or is purposefully vague.”

“That’s… concerning,” Tamirayth muttered, “So you don’t know what Virgo hopes to gain?”

“I have my suspicions.”

“Anything is better than nothing at all.”

“I think she wants me—or us, my family I mean—to become more like the Alaetüs, or even surpass them. I accessed a sort of inner soul power, making my ‘first steps’ in the realm of the Divine. Or so she said.”

“You certainly aren’t human, then.” Tamirayth responded with authority to her words.

“How would that be possible? My mother was a human, and even if my father—”

“You may have been, once.” She cut me off, “But if what you said is true, you are no longer one. Humans cannot handle the powers of Divinity. It is why Zophiel feared the Alaetüs you call Ikuye. If she were to unleash her actual powers, all of us—except for you—would have been vaporized on the spot.”

“That… sounds terrifying.”

“Very. So if you have Divine energy running in your veins, the only reason you’re still alive…”

“Is because I’m no longer… h-human.” My voice wavered, and the introspection gave me pause. “What am I then?”

“I suspect,” Tamirayth whispered in a voice so quiet I could barely hear, “You’re a seed the Creator left behind. The celestial gods cannot create new sources of Divinity and, as far as I am aware, cannot wield the magicks of creation. If they could, why wouldn’t they come to this world as they please?”

Her words sent a terrible shiver down my body.

----------------------------------------

Hailey and I retired to our room—her old room which Haaric had maintained this whole time.

I was offered my own room across from hers, but after the surreal conversation I’d just had with Tamirayth, I didn’t really feel like spending the night alone. Plus, Hailey would not stop asking for the details.

I filled her in and we both laid in bed silently the entire night.

Only a few hours of sleep were had, and none of them were restful. I didn’t know whether to blame Beno’s energy tonic or the truth I was not fully human.

When morning finally did come, it was not welcomed.

We said our goodbyes to Haaric, collected Strea, and gathered up the soldiers in the town square.

The newly integrated Divisionals had already been assigned to our existing divisions last night, so forming up and departing Brookshaven went off flawlessly.

By midday, we reached the outpost set up in advance. Tomin rode ahead and cleared our entry.

My head still felt cloudy. Random thoughts just kept popping up.

So many questions that I wanted to ask Ikuye—or even pull on that tether I had to Capricorn and ask her.

By the Goddesses, I think Virgo even gave me that marble-like shard to talk to her.

The biggest what-if that assailed my mind, was that if I brought this up with any of them… How would they take it?

Neither of the Goddesses had come off as patient or cool-headed when things got stressful.

If they lashed out it might derail this whole operation, or worse.

And while I was trying to deal with possible bad scenarios, Hailey let herself into my tent and delivered actual bad news.

“Mei is a week overdue to call in. Hanna and Luke checked in yesterday, but Julius hasn’t heard from her team yet.”

Fuck. What in the Aether happened?