-Grief is the Price, Part 2-

Of the many people I was made to interact with during my stay as the lead consciousness of Airis' body, these ecstatic researchers were somehow the least burdensome.

Others had wanted real resolve, answers to complicated questions, or moral decisions that would impact an entire populace.

But these nerds just wanted to study new information.

They didn't even care that the info was ancient and cryptic.

Aullis was actually crying tears of joy.

Two centuries of suspended research into an obscure band of tribesmen whose history was written over by thousands of years of civil progress had been propelled in an instant.

While I just knew the answer to the linguistic riddle, he and the other scholars were piecing together the root and meanings behind the written words. Given enough time, they might be able to read it naturally themselves without using the translated texts.

Alas, ruler privileges are like a cheat, and I'd never trade the instant gratification for all this tedious work.

My wrist-rune was blinking after I'd finished assisting their initial prep work.

» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE INCREASED:

» WISDOM HAS INCREASED TO 44 (42)

» CLEVERNESS HAS INCREASED TO 53 (54)

» LUCK HAS INCREASED TO 78 (77)

Uncovering lost knowledge wasn't without benefit; it appeared. Even though I hadn't understood the whole meaning, it was new to me and thus counted as gained wisdom—and my LUCK probably influenced the gain.

"Is that all then? I remember Hanna reported there were two tablets." I asked Aullis after he'd calmed down.

"Indeed, there is," He confirmed while shoving a collection of notebooks, loose papers, and strange baubles into a bag, "It is in another room like this one, if it isn't a trouble to request Your Majesty's assistance in translating that one as well we'd be most grateful. I can lead the way."

Nothing better to do.

I nodded and followed along with my troupe.

Thoughts of returning to the surface and enjoying a day of rest under the sun were far away. Only dreary tunnels and damp halls awaited me today.

We wound back through the maze-like corridors in a new direction and arrived at another chamber with a handful of knights and robed individuals.

"Rise and render salutations, Her Imperial Majesty has arrived!" Aullis called the room to attention, and the Seekers all snapped in salute.

I looked past them and reviewed the tablet. It was in the same script, and the words started automatically switching to common in my head.

"At ease," I gestured for them to return as they were, "I'm here to help, not critique your etiquette. When you're ready to transcribe, let me know."

Aullis was already notebook in hand, waiting with spirited eyes.

⌈THE DARK EXILE

Hearken and witness these truths that lie herein, for they are the last legacy of the Revan Natori who came to know alētheia and were placed under heel of the Abyssos.

So it came to be that there was a great revolution within the Celestial Heavens known as the Dark Exile. The Celestials cast out the three Zephyric Siblings for embracing the Abyss and banished their pneuma from the mortal realm.

Having been the most twisted by the Darkness, the Celestial Libra had their pneuma sealed and body imprisoned by the Gaian Celestial Capricorn for eternity.

The Pyran Celestials Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius fought to claim rulership of mortal realm during the absence of the Zephyrics, sprouting the many races to wage millennia of proxy wars.

All of the lower world was polarized between the banners of Aries and Sagittarius while the forces of the Celestial Heavens continued their fight against the Dark Beyond.⌋

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Huh."

I'd heard this story before, from Capricorn. But this was missing key elements and suggested the Celestials had already become Gods at the point of sealing away Libra.

I dictated the writings to Aullis, but I also paused when appropriate to give feedback on the information that was flawed.

How did the Revan Natori know things so close to the truth?

My thoughts kept circling back to something Airis had heard before, a conversation that had been fairly foundational when I was forming as an ego.

The guild leader of the Scarlet Ravens we'd met in Brookshaven, Tamirayth, was suspiciously well-informed about the goings of the Celestials. She even seemed to know about the Goddess Terae, referring to a 'Creator' above the level of the Celestials.

Even that elven woman, Zophi-something, seemed to know more about the truth of the Celestials than we did—and I was traveling with priests and a Primarch of the Church.

Aullis had noted the Revan Natori had been beaten in a war by the Ixian elves, and the tribe was re-founded under the Rena clan… But did all of them stay? Could there have been a branch that survived with more correct knowledge?

I couldn't ask Tamirayth about these things since she'd stayed behind, but her adopted daughter Strea wasn't far away.

Ikuye should have awoken by now, but seeing as I hadn't gotten a report on the status of the unknown Alaetüs, it was probably an ongoing situation.

"Dammit." I muttered a little too loudly.

My knights and Aullis looked at me in surprise.

I waved their concerns away, "Sorry, I've just gotten a little too wrapped up in this. I've got so many questions that I think can be answered, but the right people are either too far or tied up."

Aullis' expression glowed, "Truly? Even a small lead would be wondrous, I've learned more about the Revan Natori in this short hour than a hundred years of independent research. I can wait a few weeks or months for others."

With nothing left for me to assist with and a lingering sense that if I spent more time with the Seekers I'd be consumed by my curiosity, my knights and I departed intending to return to the surface.

"L-Light-One to R-Regal-One!"

Hailey's voice trembled in my ear.

"Go for Regal-One, what's wrong?"

"You need to—No, I found—Wait, wah! By the Goddesses…"

She was panicking, jumbling her words in incomplete sentences.

"Breathe, take it slow. You found something, and I need to go there, right?"

"Hoo, yes. P-Please hurry. I can't…" She started crying, and the comms channel became incoherent.

"I'm on my way! Sit tight."

I turned to Hawken, "You're up. You've got the place mapped, right? Can you trace Hailey's JPS signal and led us there?"

He nodded, "Please follow me, Your Majesty."

As Hawken led us through the passages, I called Hanna to send reinforcements to Hailey's location and received an update on things topside.

Strea, Tomin, and Ikuye had recovered the abnormal Alaetüs and fell back from the city to our Command encampment outside the walls with her.

Renaultian resistance in Vanixian and Maarin districts had been ninety-nine percent crushed, leaving only a small pocket of die-hards hiding in fortified positions—but we knew where they were at least.

The Renaultian district was still a semi-active war zone, with some noble manors and their soldiers refusing to stand down.

Nothing else demanded my attention aside from Hailey, so we picked up our already fast pace into a near sprint.

I could sense Hailey's presence growing closer, confirming it with my mental map of nearby magicka signatures.

"Just past that archway!"

Hawken's voice rang out behind me, and I blitzed ahead, fueled with adrenaline and empowered by enhancement magick.

Dáinsleif ignited in crimson flames, and I entered the room ready for battle.

A raid-team of knights and mages looked at me with shock, scrambling to arm themselves as captains shouted them down.

"Hold!" "Stand down!" "That's Her Majesty, you dunces." "Lower your weapons, what the fuck!"

"Oh."

Dáinsleif's flames all but disappeared.

I carefully returned it to its sheath and awkwardly continued into the room.

It was reminiscent of Renaire's laboratory, but less scientific and more ritualistic. Shelves lined the walls, each overflowing with shadowy gemstones and strange objects.

A large, jagged, purple crystalline structure had pierced the center of the room, displacing the dark marble flooring and rising up into the ceiling.

Hailey was sitting in a chair nearby, surrounded by her fussing attendants.

I sighed with relief.

What in the Aether happened to get her so riled up. Don't tell me we found another set of Renault's kids…

As I approached, I caught sight of what had disrupted her emotions.

Within the crystal growing from the ground, was a woman.

Adorned in elegant white armor with red and gold trim; The Vanixian coat-of-arms emblazoned on her chest. Her flowing curls of auburn hair were locked in stasis along with a fearful expression on her face.

A face that looked near-identical to mine, only older.

Mother?

"Airis…" Hailey called out weakly.

A seething pain griped my heart, and the voices of the collective were silenced by a single powerful presence.

Oh, now you wake up? Whatever, that works out for the best. I'm exhausted, and Mother needs us at full power.

My control of the body was severed, and its legs went limp. Brief blackness filled my vision before I found myself returned to the backseat I was most comfortable with.

Airis staggered to her feet, and the room was flooded with divine power.

The knights who'd been awkwardly dancing around us were forced to their knees as her magicka crushed them.

"Stand back."

Airis' voice resonated with magicka.

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