Kai nodded his head at Arthaya. “Yes I do.”

“Ask away.”

“Where was that place and I’m assuming that wasn’t the real Tempest was it?” Kai asked

“He told you it was your dream which isn’t entirely inaccurate.” Arthaya said. “But it also isn’t really true. That was a mana scape. Just like this room, the place where you meet Seth or where you see your mana pool. They aren’t all more mental than physical. And the place where we just where was even more mental than this place. He created it using your dreams. Though now that you have so thoroughly rejected him and he has marked you as a heretic he won’t be able to enter your mind again.” Arthaya glanced over at him. “Keeping up so far?” She asked

Kai nodded his head in assent.

“And yes you are right that wasn’t the real Tempest. That was what is known as an imprint it is technically something anyone with enough power can do. Though in reality only gods can do it. So what's the next question?”

“What is a sage and why did he want me to become one? I kind of understand the why but I feel like I should still ask.” Kai said

Arthaya nodded. “A god's sage is at the top of the religious hierarchy, they gain the most support from their god and their church and are often the strongest in their respective field. The first sage of a god is their highest and most powerful follower. I am assuming what gave him the final push to try and make you his sage was your lightning affinity. Though that alone is not enough to make you a sage let alone the first sage. The true reason was because of the absurd amount of prawna and aether you have. Along with that you have me and Seth bound to you. You have the thunder tyrant spells. And finally the experiments performed on you.” she said. “The lightning affinity was just what would allow him to make you his sage. Technically the wind and water affinity would have worked too, though lightning is best. Though the main reason was because anyone that has a bond with you will be able to gain massive amounts of prawna. Since you have a not inconsiderable amount.”

Kai nodded at what she said. “So his main interest in me was the prawna and aether due to how rare it is.”

“Yes it was, though he could have helped you take control of Seth. And since Seth has the ability to kill a lesser god if given full control. It would have maken you one of the most powerful people in the world.” She said.

“But can’t I already do that? All I have to do is just stop resisting Seth.”

Arthaya shook her head. “No it isn’t the same. I am currently restricting Seth, and not just in the sense of preventing him from taking your body. I am also holding back a considerable amount of his power. Which is something that Tempest wouldn’t have to do, he would also make it so that you could have fueled him with your prawna making him even stronger. All of this would have come at a cost though.” Arthaya said while staring Kai in the eyes.

Kai nodded at her. “I know, it would have cost me my freedom. Or at least most of it.”

Arthaya nodded at what Kai had said. “Yes it would have.”

“My next question is why couldn’t I fully summon end clade. It worked last time I tried.”

“That would likely be because last time Seth was using it as a medium to take over your body. That spell is not a normal spell and the armor summoned with it will customize itself to match the person summoning it. The last time you used it, due to Seth’s interference you summoned his armor making it so he could use the spell as a medium to take you over. This time you were using it without any interference and you do not have enough control over the spell or over death to fully utilize it.” Arthaya bobbed her head back and forth for a minute. “Under the right circumstances you should also be able to summon it without enough control. Some of the more powerful spells will have you say different things like I am blank. This is a method to establish your control over that element. The thing that you are summoning is not truly sentient but it is somewhat conscious. If the circumstances line up in just the right way it is theoretically possible for you to completely use it. But for you to use it freely you will probably need to spend years, maybe even a decade practicing.”

Kai nodded his head in if not complete at least partial understanding. “Ok then the final question. What are the implications of being a heretic and what was the weight I felt after being named one?” Kai asked.

“There are two different types of heretics. There is your average heretic that someone with sufficient power in the clergy declares a heretic. Then there are those like you. People that were declared heretics by a sage or the god themselves. People like you rarely live very long since they have done something so bad it got the gods attention. The weight you felt was your aura being marked as a heretic.”

Kai cocked his head to the side. “What’s an aura?”

“Your aura is your weight on the world. It is made up of a combination of what you have done and what you are capable of doing to affect the world. Him branding you as a heretic created a sort of brand on your aura that anyone can feel unless you can hide your aura.” Arthaya smirked. “Or if you have someone that can restrain the mark. Someone like me.” Arthaya said with no small amount of pride. “I can restrain the mark and make it so only those with a well developed aura can feel it. You won’t be able to find that kind of person here.”

“Why won’t you be able to?”Kai asked. “Everyone is always doing something to affect the world so shouldn’t they be able to train their aura?”

Arthaya shook her head. “While they are affecting the world they are or can’t affect it to such a degree as to be able to take actual control over their aura. Or even be able to manifest an aura truly tangible. Actually you have an aura. The only reason that people can’t feel it is because I have been restricting it. You are also somewhat restricting it on your own without conscious control.”

“Oh.” Kai said. “So it’s like there is a threshold that people have to meet to be able to truly manifest an aura. And the two things that go into meeting this threshold is what you have done and what you can do to affect the world?” Kai asked

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Yes, that is more or less correct.” Arthaya said.

As she said this Kai let out a large yawn

“It seems you should be getting back to sleep.” Arthaya said with a kind smile.

Slowly everything went dark with the unconscious of sleep

***

Errol stepped out of the hole in space. Looking around he found the space mage in charge of the teleportation. The space mage bowed his head.

“Greetings High bishop. Do you know your way or do you need me to point you towards the church of Knowledge?” He asked.

“Thank you for the offer but I know the way.” Errol told the space mage.

With that Errol set off. Errol had grown up in a small town close to the border similar to Emberwood. Because of this he had never been able to get used to the grandeur of Luminex, the capital city of the Terell empire.

Luminex was massive, being able to hold about 4 million people if it needed to. Though it generally only had around 1 million people, maybe a bit more. The reason for this was because of how the city had been built.

The city had been created in between two mountains. After the city had been built, someone had then decided to dig into the mountains and create massive tunnel networks and cave systems that had buildings inside that could be easily used in an emergency. Though this was not something a normal person would know. This wasn’t even the part that truly awed him. It was the beautifully crafted buildings of storm gray marble streaked with electric blue veins. And the massive ever present storm above them. The storm was a swirling vortex with flashes of lightning that never dissipated and never rained. Other clouds would come in with rain but never the vortex.

Errol let himself wander the streets of the city only vaguely heading in the direction of the church. Errol watched the people walking the streets buying from the vendors and going about their business. Children played on the streets and adults went about their jobs. No one in the city was poor, especially not when taking into consideration the wealth of normal people. Yet it also wasn’t only the poor that lived there. It was one of the things Errol liked about the Terell empire when compared to other empires.

Eventually Errol decided that he had spent enough time wandering around and 10 minutes later he was in front of the church. The guards bowed to him as he passed through his face and aura identifying him. Errol watched acolytes sitting out of benches or on the ground reading, talking or studying. As followers of Knowledge they did not favor martial prowess though it wasn’t un welcome. What they focused on was academic prowess.

Errol walked into the church which looked like a seamless mixture of a temple and a library. Since that’s what it was. No one in the pursuit of knowledge was ever turned away. Except for those performing illegal experimentation.

An acolyte rushed over and bowed her head to Errol. “High bishop, how may I help you today?” She asked him.

“Is the archbishop around?” Errol asked her.

“Yes he is in his office, I can take you to him now if you would like.” She said.

Errol nodded his head in assent and the girl guided him to the archbishop’s office. Knocking on the door Errol got permission to enter.

The archbishop Kenith Dell was sitting behind his desk with a stack of papers in front of him. Glancing up, Kenith smiled when he saw Errol. “Hello Errol.” Kenith said, greeting him. “It’s good to see you.” Kenith got up and shook Errol’s hand.

“It’s good to see you, Kenith.” Errol said with a smile.

“So did you get the book?” Kenith asked.

“I… Did get it.” Errol said hesitantly.

“What’s wrong? You said that as if something went wrong.” Kenith said nervously.

“Nothing went wrong exactly.” Errol said. “It just didn’t go as planned. We’re going to have to use the backup.”

Kenith was hard as he spoke. “Errol what exactly happened.”

“I was instructed to give the books to a boy.” Errol stated simply

Kenith’s confusion was visible on his face. “Instructed by who and to what boy?”

A divine aura feeling of vast libraries descended. It coalesced into an ethereal woman wearing the simple robes of a librarian. “He was instructed by me.” Knowledge said, her voice carrying an undertone of absolute power.

Kenith and Errol feel to their knees bowing to Knowledge.

“My apologies goddess, I did not realize that he acted under your orders.” Kenith said.

Knowledge let out a sigh. “Stand up you two. Proprietary has its place, right here right now when we are alone is not the place.”

“Of course goddess.” Kenith said as both of them stood up. “Do you wish for us to use the backup gift?”

Knowledge nodded. “Yes, it won’t be as impressive as before but it will do.”

Kenith nodded his head. “We will do that goddess.” Kenith hesitated for a moment but didn’t say anything else.

Knowledge let out a sigh. ”I am Knowledge not Tempest or one of the others. If you have a question, ask it. While there is some knowledge that should not be known there is nothing wrong with asking. As long as you don’t take it further if you are told not to.” Knowledge said.

Despite her words Kenith hesitated for a moment before asking. “Why did you give those spells to some kid? If I’m understanding this correctly you gave it to some random commoner child. There is far more value in giving it to the prince.” Kenith said.

Knowledge shook her head. “You are wrong, there is not more value in giving it to the prince than giving it to Kai. Kai has astonishing potential and will more than likely be one of the most powerful beings on this planet one day. Yet Zach is the same and along with that it is likely that he will be the next ruler so why do you two think that I gave Kai the book.” Knowledge asked them.

Kenith glanced over at Errol, seeing he didn’t know Errol answered her. “I do not know it doesn’t make sense. The prince will actually be able to understand its value and if he masters it they will be able to pass it down. How is there more value in giving it to some random commoner boy?” Kenith said.

Knowledge smiled at him like a mother would smile at a child that can’t understand something obvious. “Your right, the prince would understand its value but Kai will value it. There is a major difference between the two. The prince will fully understand what it costs to obtain and therefore will understand its value. Kai does not know what he holds and he has no clue what it costs, yet it is far more beneficial to give it to him. Can you guess why that is?” Knowledge asked.

Kenith shook his head. “No I do not, to me it still makes more sense to give it to the prince.”

Knowledge’s smile was indulgent as she answered the unasked question. “It's because Kai will value it based on what it lets him do. This makes it so that its value is rooted in what he accomplishes with it. He will truly value it, and there is a massive difference between understanding something's value and truly valuing it.” Knowledge said.

Kenth bowed his head. “Thank you for explaining this to me, goddess.” He said.

Knowledge smiled at him. “Of course child, you should always seek knowledge. Plus that wasn’t the only reason I gave it to him.”

Kenith lifted his head to look up at Knowledge. “What was the other reason?” Kenith asked

“It’s because I liked him, of course.” With that the goddess turned around leaving. As she left she could be heard muttering to herself. “I also like the name.” Knowledge disappeared, the only thing left behind was a single word. “Athena.”