NOVEL NEXT Sabbatical – Chapter 207: Annoyed at the World
"So, what else is there to do here?" Damien asked as he inspected the solid nothing below his feet. "This entire space seems rather...empty, to be the home of a god."
"It is empty because it was busy flipping between personalities," Aperio replied. "I would imagine it did not have much time to actually decorate. Whatever decorations a particular personality would have made would have eventually been forgotten by the others, ceasing to exist by the time that particular decorator once again came to the fore."
"But they never forgot about the board?" Karla asked, gesturing towards the object in question.
"How could they?" the All-Mother asked, tilting her head slightly. "As far as I understand, each of those symbols represents one personality. Every personality it has ever had, in fact. Their fight for consciousness in the shared form is what has most defined this being for who knows how long. Centuries, at the least."
The woman eyed the tapestry for a moment longer before she shook her head. "I guess we can leave, then. There's not much to see here, and Eleanor was right; being in this place feels wrong. But next to this whole truth-feeling thing, it's only the second weirdest thing I have felt today."
Once both Damien and Micheal had given their assent, Aperio brought them back into the house of Micheal. Adam and the amalgamation did not indicate they even noticed their return while Eleanor almost dropped the cup of tea she held in her hand, only a small touch of the All-Mother's magic keeping it from crashing to the floor.
"You'll get used to it," Caethya said, still seated on the couch that had moved along with the group. She leaned forward, picking up a cup of her own from the table where Eleanor sat. "After a while, you will get a feel for when she might appear."
Micheal sat himself down by the table and he, too, reached out for some tea. He took a long sip, letting out a content sigh before he addressed Caethya. "I think that might be a skill exclusive to you. Your girlfriend is... quite beyond us." A small, somehow defeated-looking smile spread across his face. "I doubt any of us truly register in her mind. We're no more than a little blip, I reckon. She might like to think that we are memorable individuals, but give it a few hundred years and this moment will be long forgotten. The same goes for you too, I would think.
"You are not like her, or—" he glanced pointedly at the amalgamation "—whatever it actually is, but it is obvious that you are not like us," Micheal continued. "Even your Human friend is quite extraordinary."
Adam, who had been listening in on their conversation, couldn't help but laugh at that claim. "I am nothing where we come from. My teacher alone could probably beat me in a fight, and he’s lost nearly all of his magical capabilities. And Qhinya, well... pretty sure she wouldn't even need to use her hands to thoroughly trounce me."
"Where are you from?" Karla asked, still standing exactly where Aperio had teleported her. "Excuse me for being so direct, but none of you seem to really belong here. Sure, Adam fits in fine and knows what's what, but the two of you are stumbling about as if it was your first time on Earth."
"I will simply say that it has been a while since I was here and much has changed since then," Aperio replied, the lie flowing from her lips far more easily than she liked. "As for where my home is… Let us say that ‘far away’ is a good enough description.
"Not like there would be much for you to see, either," she continued, her eyes flicking towards the amalgamation who was staring at a painting. "It is much like theirs; it simply feels a lot more like home and has a few things that your singular ensemble of deities could never hope to gain.
"Aperio shifted slightly on the mana-made sofa she had created. "As for your claim that this will be a forgotten moment of history… As much as I would like to say that it will be, I am unable to forget unless I set my mind to it."
Karla blinked at the words. "You cannot forget something unless you, what, make yourself forget?"
"Essentially," Aperio confirmed. "But even then, the memory is merely faded and hard to find. If I try to, I will be able to recall it." She paused for a moment, briefly considering trying the tea like they obviously expected her to. "You seem to fail to grasp what being the creator of everything entails. Luckily, a demonstration will be forthcoming. All you have to do is wait a little longer."
"So you’ve made a decision?" Caethya asked, not trying to hide the amusement from her voice.
"A preliminary one, yes. I shall observe how they will handle the change and decide further actions based on that."
Bringing the System to Earth was not a hard task; all Aperio had to do was finally allow it to access some of her mana so it could assert itself on the world. The tricky part would be to direct it in the way she actually wanted. It shouldn't be difficult to do that, but Aperio knew better than to simply assume anything was easy when it came to her own mind. Or that things should make sense…
"What change?" Damien asked, his eyes fixed on the All-Mother.
"I will let your precious council inform you of that," she said. "Suffice to say that it will fix more than a few of your problems while also creating entirely new ones."
"Why are powerful people always so cryptic?" Karla mumbled to herself, stiffening as both Caethya's and Aperio's gazes settled onto her. "What? It's true."
The All-Mother rolled her eyes at the mortal's words. Sure, she was indeed being somewhat cryptic, but she also did not owe them any explanation. In fact, telling them now would only result in more questions. The disbelief in these mortals was quite deeply-rooted, and they seemed unable to actually accept her word. A very annoying trait…
"No matter what I say to that, it will be questioned; there is little point in actually answering." She gave a minute stretch of her wings, the one not supporting Caethya simply moving the sofa she had made. "Besides, even if your council does not inform you, it will be hard to miss when it happens." At least I think it will.
Given that she was trying to figure out what exactly the System was doing to Earth, she allowed it to use a little more of her mana. The changes made thus far were small, but Aperio still found them to be quite obvious. Only someone blind to mana would fail to see what was going on.
"Just ignore them," Caethya said, nestling herself not only under Aperio's wing but also her arm. "They'll figure it out sooner or later. If I can see it happening already, it won't be long before Adam notices. They should at least be able to sense something after that."
"I really wish you would just tell us," Micheal said, but Aperio simply shook her head.
"Perhaps if you had doubted me less I would have explained, but now it is my turn to be annoying." She let her senses spread more clearly across the city, towards the river that was likely its namesake. "It will not be long before you notice. A few days at most."
The mortals sitting at the various beaches dotted around the rather wide river had no idea what was coming, and Aperio could not help but wonder what they would do once magic had been gifted to them.
///
Adelita flicked her blade,splattering the blood that had clung to it against the floor and wall. "Disgusting," she mumbled, looking at the corpse of the woman she had just removed from the world. "How are they still around?"
The woman might not have directly been part of the Vinmaier family, but her branch family was much of the same mindset as the main one. Just like the person who had previously owned her body, this one had been fond of slaves even in the face of a decree by the literal creator of everything they knew.
Of course, Adelita — like many others — had not truly believed at first that that was really the being who had made the announcement. A couple of experiences, however, gave her pause. There had been many oddities with the System lately, for one thing. For another, her body's previous inhabitant had a semi-encounter with something that had looked like the All-Mother. That entity had had an overwhelming presence, leading Adelita to consider that, perhaps, the existence of the Creator might not be a lie.
In the end, all of that mattered little to her. The decree was very much in line with her own personal goals. If anything, the All-Mother being the one that spoke out on this might be a boon to her in the future. Maybe she can get out the last bits of this stupid enchantment.
Her musings were interrupted by one of the doors leading into the room opening, causing Adelita to vanish into the shadows. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she held her breath and simply watched three knights as well as what she assumed to be the head maid rush into the room. The knights’ eyes only lingered on the corpse for a moment before they began scouring the room for any hint of the intruder while the maid slowly collapsed to her knees, tears streaming from her eyes.
Adelita had to bite back the remark that wanted to leave her lips and instead unsheathed a pair of daggers. The metal made no sound as they left their housings, the usual green glow of the enchantments on the blades subdued by a Class skill so as to avoid alerting any of the knights to her presence.
She waited until one of the knights left with the distraught maid and the other two were on opposite sites of the room. A pull on her skill moved her through the shadows, closer to the knight by the door.
Adelita could hear his breathing; slow and steady. Focused. He was not deterred by the happenings, the only goal in his mind likely that of his search for the intruder. She would grant his wish of finding her sooner than he would know.
As soon as the father knight turned his back, Adelita plunged one dagger into her target’s neck. The other plunged at the same time into his heart, and she gave that one a twist before she let go to cover the man's mouth instead, all the while pulling him into the shadows.
Following the guidance of her Class still felt a little weird. Too close to the [Mark of Servitude] for her liking, but it was also different enough for her to learn to feel comfortable using it. There was no malice in the System's actions, as it simply supplied her mind with the knowledge on how she should move to execute her goal and let her body perform that movement without prior training.
Of course, she was not as skilled as Lita yet, but that would come in time. She had had a lifetime to observe, after all. Perhaps after she had taken care of this 'noble' house she would be good enough to not rely on it. For now however, she would take every measure that could give her an edge in her fight.
Once the body had stilled, Adelita let it drop to the ground in the remaining knight's shadow, where it reappeared. When the poor fellow turned around to see what had made the sudden noise, she dispatched him in the same way as the first; a dagger in his neck and a matching one in his heart. The armour they wore was no match for the weapons Lita had been supplied with.
Can't have the enemies of house Vinmaier survive, Adelita mocked in her mind as she drew her blades out of the now-limp body and removed most of the blood with a flick of her wrist.
A moment later, and a liberal use of her [Shadow Step] skill, she found herself in yet another dark alley on one of Ebenlowe's many isles. There were a lot more people she had to dispose of and precious little time with which to do so. Lita was no longer in control of her body, but back when that detestable alter-ego had been in charge, Adelita had been privy to some of Jester's more nefarious plans.
None of them would break the letter of the law, but she was convinced they were very much against the spirit of them. Not that some of the [Adjudicator]s care about that. A good number of those were just as wretched as Jester himself, and the man knew and counted on that. And why a few of them will have to be replaced.
For them, Adelita had planned a less violent first approach. Killing off some nobles was fine, they did that to each other often enough anyway, but taking out one of the few [Adjudicator]s was a move that would put her on the fast track to the afterlife. For them, she would first have to provide some evidence of their crimes. Luckily, her last cleaning expeditions — of the filthy noble sort — had yielded more than enough proof. Now all she had to do was show the right people what she had found.
With a shake of her head, she jumped onto the building that had so graciously provided the shadows needed for her escape. Her next targets were the [Guides], but this time it was to plant some evidence for them to find. With any luck, they would talk to their precious Goddess and expedite the process, but even if they did not, having them be out for the blood of the [Adjudicator]s would be more than a little helpful.
After all, it was not only the council that directed the actions of the local guards. The [Guides] had a much longer history of helping run the city, one far less plagued with intrigue and backstabbing. The guards, to nobody's surprise, preferred such a state of things.
Adelita, now a decent number of houses away from her crime scene, gave the estate of the branch family a last look. She smiled as she watched more and more servants fleeing the property. Whatever binds that had held them there were now gone, just as she had planned.
Her smile stretched into a maniacal grin as the shadows rose from the ground to swallow her once more. There was more work to do. More vengeance to take, and more blood to spill.