150 – Vague Divine Revelations
“First, to answer a few of your other questions, I made you a princess because I thought it would be fun, I had a lovely chat with Irylax after you left, I don’t actually want anything specific from you, and no I can’t make Lucena let your Saintess friend leave,” said Titania as soon as Elise appeared. “Did I miss anything?”
Elise reeled from the sudden wave of information and had to take a moment to process everything before responding.
“Is there anything else I can do to help Jessie?”
“No,” said Titania with a mischievous smile.
Elise narrowed her eyes.
“Is that because I don’t need to do anything else because I’ve already done it?”
“Correct!” said Titania. “Everything is up to her now. I’m sure she’ll figure it out soon.”
Elise sighed with relief, then turned her mind to the rest of what Titania had said. Making her a princess for fun tracked with typical fey behavior so she didn’t question it. Elise had been vaguely wondering what happened between Titania and Irylax, and while she doubted that “lovely chat” was the full extent of it, she didn’t care enough to press further. She had been wondering why Titania was so invested in her, but that answer also tracked with fey behavior, so she just accepted that as well. That really only left one big question.
“Why did you want to talk in person?”
“Do I need a reason to want to see your beautiful face?”
Elise looked down at her still largely amorphous soul form, which she knew for a fact didn’t have a face, then back up at Titania.
“Not really,” she said. “But after talking to Jessie, I noticed that you seem a lot more talkative than other deities.”
“What can I say?” said Titania with a shrug. “I’m a sociable gal. But also, you’re right about me wanting to talk to you for a reason. It’s a pretty long story, so to cut a long story short, things are heating up in the divine realm, and I won’t be able to talk to you, or anyone else again, for a while.”
“Oh.”
“But don’t worry about your rune. That’s actually automated, so if you just call out to me, it’ll work automatically.”
“Wait, it’s automated?” asked Elise, horrified.
She had assumed that Titania needed to consent for Elise to take her aether, so she trusted that Titania wouldn’t have sent any if Jag would have died from being taken out. If Titania hadn’t actually been involved, that incident could have gone very differently.
“Yes,” said Titania. “So if you need to use my aether, just do what you always do and it’ll work. I’d still recommend figuring out your Rune ASAP though. Just in case I die or something.”
“Is it that bad up there?”
“No, but also yes,” she said. “As I said earlier, it’s a long story, and one not made for mortal minds. There is a chance that I die in the next year or so. It’s not that high, but it’s high enough that you should probably have a backup plan, because otherwise, your Rune will just be a useless trouble beacon until you can figure it out. Also, if you could mention to Oberon that there’s a chance I might die, I’d be grateful.”
“I see,” said Elise. “And that reminds me, Oberon mentioned that you were his friend when you were a mortal.”
“His best friend, yes,” said Titania, her smile fading.
“Why did you leave him?”
“A better question would be why he stayed,” she replied. “We both learned an important truth about the world. I ascended, and he chose to stay. I still don’t know why. So yeah, tell him I’m about to die. I don’t mind if you exaggerate a bit. Maybe that’ll finally convince him to get his butt up here.”
“What was the truth?” asked Elise, possibilities racing through her mind.
“I’m not allowed to say, but–” She paused, evidently sensing Elise’s inner turmoil. “Okay, whatever you’re thinking, it’s not that bad. Actually, now I’m curious, what were you thinking?”
“That this world is fake?” guessed Elise. “It’s a simulation. Or an illusion. Or a dream. Something like that.”
“Okay, I can confirm that it’s not any of those things,” said Titania. “It’s just something that made me want to ascend, and I thought it would make him want to ascend too.
“Anyway, we’re running out of time a bit, so I’ll give you some final pieces of advice, then skedaddle before your soul melts. First, the Skill Quests that are available with your {Rune of Fate} are fake. Well, they’re real Skill Quests, but they’re not actually part of the Rune itself. The System just added them there on its own. Second, you should make some time to visit your dwarven friends at some point. Third, you’re getting close to figuring out your soul shape, and the Rune too. When that happens… Well, I’m not allowed to say that either. Fourth, dragons know things. Fifth and finally, if you have any plans that require the continent to be intact, you should finish them up in the next six months.”
“What?!”
“But also, don’t rush anything, because there’s really nothing you can do, so make sure to take your time and have fun!”
“Wait, what’s going to happen?”
“Well, looks like that’s all the time I have!” said Titania, holding up a disintegrating bedsheet to demonstrate the effects of her presence on Elise’s soulspace. “Seeya later unless I die!”
Before Elise could say anything more, Titania vanished, and her consciousness faded back into sleep. She had a series of nonsensical dreams involving enormous buzz saws and lasers cutting islands in half before waking up at the crack of dawn, more confused than she had ever been.
Titania? she thought, hoping that perhaps the whole thing had been a prank.
There was no response, which didn’t rule out the possibility of a prank, but Elise had a sinking feeling in her gut that very little of that meeting had been as unserious as Titania acted. It was entirely possible that she would never see Titania again, and it was highly likely that something huge would be happening in six months. Titania said not to rush because there was nothing she could do about it, but Elise still felt like there was plenty she could be doing to prepare. For one, she needed to tell the Grays. The last thing she wanted was another surprise catastrophe splitting them up.
Then again, they had Irylax with them now. While Elise might not be able to do anything about what was coming, Irylax no doubt could. Plus, there was also Titania’s fourth point about dragons knowing things. It was vague and cryptic, but Elise suspected that was related to the things that Titania hadn’t been allowed to say. Perhaps the thing with the dwarves as well.
She focused her {Aether Sense} in the direction of Irylax’s room and found that unfortunately, the dragon was asleep. She had no desire to wake a sleeping dragon, so she focused her senses elsewhere to see if anyone else was up, and unfortunately, they weren’t. There was no one she could talk to at the moment.
She was about to just enter soul meditation to work on her soul shape when her senses touched upon the basement below and the secret passage hidden in it. No one else was awake, but she had a direct pathway to Ostra headquarters, and through it, Freddy’s office. If he was there, he no doubt would know at least something about whatever was going on. She doubted that something big enough to alter the entire continent would just come out of nowhere. If anyone would know about it beforehand, it would be Freddy.
She got out of bed, changed her clothes to something casual, but not overly so, then activated her wings so she could descend the stairs without creating any footsteps and waking anyone, then made her way down to the basement. Once in the Ostra base, she slowed down and took her time walking down the halls. She was surprised by how quiet and empty everything felt. She had only ever been there during the regular meetings when there were hundreds of monsters roaming around.
All the doors at least in the main spaces were either unlocked or open. There were a few leading off into more private areas that were locked, but fortunately, she didn’t need to go to any of those places. She flew to the ballroom, reveling in the silence and the way she could even hear the beat of her own wings, then went to the door leading to the hallway with Freddy’s office. That door was unlocked as well, and she soon found herself in front of Freddy’s door.
Here, she paused. It was still early in the morning. Would Freddy be asleep? Did he need sleep? Was he busy? Could she really just barge in unannounced? What if-?
“Come in!” said a voice from within the office.
Elise was so startled by the voice that she didn’t stop to think that it wasn’t Freddy’s until she opened the door and saw the strategist Firona sitting on one of the couches.
“Oh, it’s you,” she said, staring down at an array of constantly shifting papers on the desk. “Freddy’s not here. He’s out on business. He should be back around noon, or I can call him if it’s an emergency.”
“It’s not,” said Elise, a little distracted by the papers on the table. “I’ll uhhhh. I’ll come back later.”
“I can help too, if you want,” said Firona, still not looking up. “I’m Freddy’s assistant, so most of what he can do, I can do.”
Elise looked at the papers for a few more seconds before responding. They changed too quickly for her to make out anything important, but she got a general sense of what they were. Newspaper articles, letters, reports, and more appeared, then disappeared a few seconds later, only occasionally sticking around when Firona shot a quick flash of mana at them. Elise caught one headline that said something about pirates in the east, and a report from a Carsas explorer. It seemed that Firona was doing some extreme information gathering.
This is perfect, actually, thought Elise.
“I just had a couple questions,” she said.
“Go ahead,” said Firona. “Wait, hold on. One moment.”
She reached for a paper that had stopped moving, bringing it close to her face and holding it such that Elise couldn’t see it. Then, she summoned a pen from thin air, set down the paper—which was now blank—and scribbled something in coded Common that Elise couldn’t even begin to decipher before returning the paper back to its place where it started changing again.
“Okay, go ahead.”
“I was just wondering if you knew of anything big happening in the next six months.”
For the first time, Firona turned to face Elise, her papers pausing behind her.
“What do you mean? Why do you ask?”
“I just heard something odd recently.”
“Odd how?”
“That something big was going to happen in 6 months.”
“Who did you hear that from?”
“I can’t say.”
Firona stared at her for a few seconds, then nodded.
“I see.”
She put a hand to her chin and turned back to her papers, and in that moment, Elise was struck by how different she was from her first impression. She first saw Firona during the Operation Blood briefing, and she had been stammering and struggling to give a public presentation, looking every bit the part of a flustered student, but now Elise was seeing a completely different side of her. The side that had probably earned her her position as Ostra’s chief strategist.
“Something big is happening in six months,” Firona finally said. “There will be a System update.”
“That’s in six months?” asked Elise
“You knew about the System update?” asked Firona, looking up again.
“Well…”
“Freddy suspected you would,” she said, nodding. “Yes, the System update is coming in 6 months. Do not spread this around, and keep the details of the update secret. It is going to be highly disruptive, and we are trying to prepare for the effects so we can appropriately handle the repercussions.”
“Alright,” said Elise.
Elise felt stupid for not thinking of the System update sooner. The Skill Recipes were an enormous change and would no doubt cause waves across the continent. However, at the same time, she wasn’t sure that was all of what Titania was talking about. It certainly seemed like something that might have caused turmoil amongst the gods, since they were in charge of the System, but she didn’t see how it would get Titania killed, or how it would leave the continent no longer intact. There had to be more to it.
“Is there anything else?” she asked after a few more seconds.
“Nothing on that scale, no,” said Firona.
“Are you sure?”
Firona narrowed her eyes. “What do you know?”
“Nothing. That’s why I’m asking you.”
“No, you know something, or you wouldn’t be asking. What is it? What did you hear?”
Elise internally debated whether it would be safe to share what Titania had told her, and ultimately decided against it. She wasn’t sure exactly why, but something about Firona was rubbing her the wrong way. {Sense Emotions} wasn’t working properly on her, but Elise still had a feeling that there was something off.
“It’s nothing,” said Elise. “Just a hunch.”
“Just a hunch,” repeated Firona. “But a hunch from an aetherborn is nothing to dismiss. Especially when those hunches are so often based on dreams. Dreams are powerful. What did you dream, aetherborn? Tell me.”
“No,” said Elise. “I don’t trust you.”
Elise wasn’t sure why she said it so bluntly, but there was something extremely off with Firona. Something off-putting about her gaze. And the way Firona reacted to Elise’s statement made her feel justified in her decision. For just a moment, whatever Firona was feeling broke past whatever was hiding her from Elise’s senses. It was a swirling mix of emotions at an intensity that Elise had scarcely felt before, and while she couldn’t tell exactly what Firona was feeling, the fact that she was hiding such emotions under a blank face and an aether suppression Skill was concerning. Elise’s words had set her off, and she didn’t know why.
“You do not trust me,” she said.
“Correct,” said Elise.
“But you trust Freddy?”
“...More than you.”
“I see,” she said. “That is fair. How can I earn your trust? If you have information on something happening in 6 months that could affect Ostra, I need it. I will buy it from you.”
Elise hesitated, then wavered, then activated {Fey Bargaining}.
“Will you pay me what it is worth?” asked Elise.
“I am not foolish enough to make such a vague deal with a fey,” said Firona. “Just tell me what you want.”
“I want you to tell me what you know. I think you know something too. Information for information.”
“No,” said Firona. “I cannot make that deal. Even if I wanted to, I could not. I am bound by contract. I will let Freddy know you stopped by. You can negotiate with him later. If that is all, you may leave.”
Elise hesitated a moment, wondering if she should just cave in and tell the truth. However, she decided against it. Originally, she didn’t intend to keep it secret, but something about Firona’s reaction was strange, and her response to Elise’s offer basically confirmed that something was going on. Something that Elise wasn’t supposed to know. If she could leverage Titania’s divine message to get that, she would. She didn’t like being in the dark.
“Thank you,” she said, nodding to Firona before turning to leave.
Elise spent the remainder of the morning in soul meditation until the rest of the household woke up. The moment she sensed Irylax waking up, she left her room and knocked on the dragon’s door.
“You’d better have a damn good reason,” said Irylax.
Elise froze.
“Well?” said Irylax.
“I– I have a good reason!” said Elise.
“Come in.”
“What is it?” asked Irylax, laying in her bed with a book
“I talked with Titania last night.”
“And?”
“She said something about the continent not being intact in 6 months.”
“I see. Makes sense.”
“Makes sense?”
“You don’t need to worry about it. And don’t tell the others. Now get out.”
“O– Okay.”
Elise left, not feeling any less worried despite Irylax’s reassurance(?). But with nothing else to do, she had no choice but to suppress her worry and focus on class again.
The morning classes were as boring as usual, and seemed to take ages to finish. When they finally ended, she got lunch with Samantha and Helene again, though the conversation wasn’t quite as fruitful as the previous day’s Elise and Samantha made some jabs at each others’ identities, but neither got very close. And if Samantha had figured out Helene’s species yet, Helene didn’t act like it.
When they got to Aetheric Illusions, they met with Jessie and Sophie again. Jessie was still disguised as a man, and now that Elise knew that fact, she could just barely make out some of the mana forming the illusion. It was truly an incredible disguise though, because even if she could tell it was there, she had no clue how to begin unraveling it.
After a brief telepathic conversation, Jessie confirmed that she had had no luck getting free of her duties, but she seemed happy to hear that Elise said she had a way. They tossed a few theories back and forth about what that way might be, but before they could come up with anything concrete, class began.
“Today, we have a more exciting class,” he said, smiling. “As I said on the first day, we will be practicing with some actual aetheric illusions, and to help, I’ve invited a guest. She’s been a friend of mine for a while now, and I believe that in the entire world, there are few as talented as her at aetheric illusions. She has a wide range of skills, and because of that, I’ll be inviting her in for a few more classes in the future, so I hope you all enjoy her, as you’ll be seeing a lot more of her. Now, your guest teacher for today is…”
“Tada!”
Right beside him, a woman appeared, standing as if she had been there the whole time. Based on the brief flash of aether, Elise suspected that she had been, and was just using a Skill similar to {Don’t Look At Me, Peasants!} to hide herself. What surprised Elise more than the other woman’s appearance, however, was her identity. She recognized the guest teacher. In fact, she knew her by name.
Erin??
Author's Note:
Erin is the 8-tailed Kitsune that Elise met while training in Everspring with Oberon. This was during the Franz Luger, aka Robert Robertson mini-arc, and she came to a dinner with Elise and a few nobles, and almost exposed Elise's disguise. When Elise got back to Oberon's castle, she found that Erin had been terrified by Irylax (aka Iris), and she left almost immediately. Erin is the adopted daughter of the Collector, and therefor the adopted sister of Nigel (the changeling who had infiltrated the Blood Syndicate), and Enya, who creates teleportation scrolls that may or may not take their users to the target location. There is also a dullahan among the adopted siblings, but it hasn't been made clear in the story who that dullahan is. Almost all of this is in publicly available chapters, but Erin's first reveal in a Nigel PoV epilogue to Book 2 has since been stubbed.