185 - The First Reveal (Patreon)

Arielle clung to Elric's neck as he carried her out of Gio's home.

Thankfully, he'd used a spell, at her request, to clean himself up so he no longer smelled.

But that was only a little comfort to Arielle now. 

Her body still hurt, and her heart felt heavy. Her mind was full to bursting with all the things that had transpired in what seemed like a lifetime ago, but was likely only a few hours. 

It was odd to look at the bright sky without there being a demon obscuring the view. Her eyes scanned the atmosphere, her muscles twitching at every rustle in the bushes.

The demons might come back, her mind told her.

Though she had broken the spells, they might be able to rebuild them. They could come at her from anywhere, at any time.

They could capture her again and poison her, and this time, she might actually die, rather than meeting with Cornelius, who was, in the end, thoroughly unhelpful to her.

Just the thought made her breathless, and she tensed in Elric's arms.

"Are you okay?" Elric asked.

She waited and shook her head. He patted her back, but that didn't give much comfort either.

There was so much mental load for her to unpack, but she had no energy to even do that right now. She was achy and exhausted, as they stepped out into the open garden.

Gio's mansion was surrounded by a lush orchard with apple and peach trees, where the servants were plucking fruit. None of them looked up as Arielle and Elric passed, their pure white uniforms glittering in the bright sunlight.

The sight of the well-manicured shrubs should have brought Ari comfort, but it made everything worse. The difference between the brightness of the day and the darkness of last night was so stark that she felt nauseous. Her current reality felt fake, the sun too bright, the sky too clear.

Any moment now, the illusion would break and she would be in hell once more. 

The few statues they passed by, she scanned for signs of movement, for unusual orb arrangement. She searched for a threat anywhere she could find it.

She wasn’t sure how to deal with all the repercussions of last night–so for now she did what she did best. 

She pushed it to the back of her mind with all the other things she would think about later and pulled the most urgent matter to the forefront.

Her meeting at the system center. 

Nerves bounced around in her belly and chest.

She wasn't pleased at this development. She also wasn't pleased that she didn't have access to her EPUQ and wasn't allowed to use magic in the meantime.

Could she use magic?

She didn't attempt to generate a spell right then, because that would likely be breaking the rules, but she wondered if she was still capable of doing it if necessary. It wasn't like she needed her Grimoire and her EPUQ to cast spells. She could simply use her battery. And she could even steal spells if necessary. 

Would the system know? It didn't seem like it, as she had stolen powerful spells comfortably before without a [Hidden Ability] marker. But how come it couldn't tell when she was controlling someone else’s spell, even though she had to use her cores for that? What differentiated the origin of the spell from the rest of the execution?

Curiosity battled with the worry in Arielle's mind. She was scared of this whole reevaluation process because of the proximity to the High Ascendant. The fact that they could report their findings to him and she could get her cores suppressed. 

At the same time, she wondered if she could learn something from this evaluation about herself, about how she could do the things she did, why she could see essences. 

She clung to Elric as they finally stepped through the sliding gates that let them out onto the bustling street.

Then they disappeared, reappearing in the desert, steps away from Vittoria’s home.

Elric had never teleported right inside her home before, because as Arielle understood it, that was a luxury reserved for her and Vittoria. Every other person could only get as close as the outskirts of Vittoria's shields, and if she did not want them around, the defense mechanism would kick in, and the home would not show itself to them. 

As it were, the oasis was clear in the distance. Vittoria's tree house was bent at a strange angle, the roof nearly touching the ground. It also seemed to shudder the closer they got, which Arielle had never observed it do before.

“What happened?” Arielle asked as Elric floated across the hot sand, and she swallowed one of the pills that changed her appearance back to her regular disguise. 

“There was an attack,” he said. “One of the demons showed up here.”

"What?” Arielle was immediately alarmed. “Is Inara okay?”

“Yes. Vittoria’s built-in defenses protected her, along with Catriona."

"Who's Catriona?"

"A friend of Vittoria's."

“Are you sure she’s a friend?” None of Vittoria's friends had ever visited before.

“Well, the house let her in and let her stay. That should be enough evidence that she is, at the very least, not an enemy.” 

“I see.” Arielle wondered if this was the same friend that had helped her with the dragon potion in the past.

Speaking of which, was Sir Spendulon okay? Had he gotten attacked by the demons too? She couldn’t believe that they had gone out of their way to barrage Vittoria's home too.

Why?

Neither Vittoria nor Arielle were there, and Vittoria had gotten rid of the imprisoned imp demon after their last attack, although Arielle wasn’t sure if she’d killed him or simply kept him somewhere else so that he could not be used to track them.

Why would the demons come here? Did they want something? Or was this about revenge?

Elric finally reached the door and waited for a second before he opened it. 

The first thing Arielle saw was black marks scorch marks, and gouges in the wall. All the furniture was broken, holes dug near the windows, and the ground was stained with black blood, debris and soot. Ari heard a growl and glanced over to the corner where Inara was sitting on the ground with a tall woman crouched in front of her, and Sir Spendulon between them, baring his teeth and growling.

“Enough of that,” the woman said. “I already told you that I didn’t hurt her on purpose.”

“She was just healing me, Sir Spendulon,” Inara said calmly, with one hand out and the other running over his back, although that did very little to actually calm Sir Spendulon down. He continued to glare at the strange woman, smoke curling out of his nostrils.

It wasn’t until a floorboard creaked that everyone acknowledged Elric and Arielle’s presence. 

Inara was the first to react, gasping and scrambling to her feet.

“You're back!” she said as she rushed toward her with Sir Spendulon not far behind. 

He began sniffing at Arielle, making whining noises as he reached for her with his front paws. He also made sure to continue growling at Elric in between excited whines.

The other woman straightened and stared at Arielle with shrewd eyes as Elric cast a spell that fixed up the room. Everything except the black gouges in the wall and the general bend of the home returned to normal. Even the stains were gone.
The convenience of magic.

“The rest has to heal on its own with time,” Elric explained as he laid her down on the couch. Even that gentle movement was enough to make her groan, making Sir Spendulon snap at Elric.

“You’re hurt,” Inara said.

“So are you.” She noticed that the arm Inara had been holding out had a deep scar on it, which exposed some of her inner tissue, despite it not bleeding anymore.

“I'm trying to heal her, but every time she makes a sound of discomfort, that pet of hers starts breathing fire at me,” the strange woman said in a dry tone that reminded Arielle of Vittoria. 

"He can breathe fire now?"

"He did it during the fight with a demon," Inara explained. "He was trying to defend me."

Arielle stared down at the dragon's wide eyes, and when he opened his mouth, she nearly thought he was going to demonstrate. Instead, his tongue just lolled out of the side. 

She reached out and patted his head, which he rubbed against her palm, \practically puring. 

"What happened to you?" Inara asked Arielle.

Elric responded. "We got attacked by demons too."

"You did?"

"Yes. It's sort of a long story, and Ar–I mean Tamsy is very tired, so she probably doesn't feel like getting into it now."

"I'll make you some tea!" Inara announced loudly, scrambling out of the room as the other woman called out, "Wait, you're not healed yet."

“I’m okay,” Inara responded. “I’ll be right back.”

The woman followed that up with a sigh as she ran her hand through hair, which was mostly braided, with a riot of strands having escaped.  

That was when Arielle saw that she was significantly wounded too, through the stains and cuts in her habit. 

"Is Vittoria not back yet?" Arielle asked.

The woman shook her head.

“It’s not unusual for some of her missions to stretch on for longer than intended,” she said. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

Arielle swallowed.

 Yes, Vittoria was fine. She had been fine every single time that Arielle had worried about her, so there was no reason for her to think that wouldn't be the case now.

"I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” the woman said. “My name is Catriona.”

“You’re Vittoria’s friend.” Arielle realized she also looked a little like that singer Vittoria had been staring at in Khor Inn.

The woman made a face. “That’s one way to put it. She asked me to come look after the two of you in case her mission went on longer than she expected. Which is why I'm here.”

"Is she still in the demon realm?”

“I don’t know, but I assume so. A demon was sent here to capture Inara, and I believe it was to force Vittoria's surrender. However, the attack stopped before they could take her, so hopefully that means that Vittoria won the battle. ”

That, or it could be linked to Arielle's breaking the spells in the abyss.

“So if she won, why isn’t she back?” Ari asked.

“Sometimes she goes on unexpected detours, or her mission takes her to other places,” Catriona said. “When that happens, she often forgets to communicate or is unable to communicate with us. But I wouldn’t worry yet. I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Do you think she’ll be back within a few days?”

The woman gave her a tight smile. "She better be."

At that point, Inara returned with tea that Arielle sipped while petting Sir Spendulon, letting him rest his large head on her abdomen despite the discomfort it caused her. Catriona used that as a distraction to finish healing Inara's wounds, and then both she and Elric stepped to the side to have a private discussion.

As Inara sat beside her and petted her hand, Arielle felt herself getting drowsy again.

"I'm sorry," she told Inara.

"For what?"

"For your getting hurt."

"Don’t be sorry,” Inara looked stricken. “It wasn't your fault."

Somehow, it felt like it was. It felt like everything tied back to her first fight with Leviathan and, prior to that, the incident in Khor that had started this whole mess.

She wanted to see Maus and Lyra herself and make sure they were okay, but she didn’t have the energy to do so. Both mind and body felt weighted down, and she was so very tired.

Her eyes began to droop, and when she opened them, Elric was still telling her that he would step out for a few seconds to prepare for the council meeting.

She nodded.

“I trust you,” she told him. “Whatever you decide.”

Elric’s face went slack, and then tightened. A struggle appeared, but he patted her hair before he left. 

Arielle wondered what his decision would be, as she dropped off into sleep.

***

The ornate door opened, allowing Elric into Lord Wesley's office. The man didn't act surprised to see him, although he did peer at him from beneath his eyelids.

"Elric,” he rose and bowed briefly. “I’m glad you came.”

“I apologize for arriving on short notice,” Elric said. “But this is quite urgent, and I will need a pretty significant favor from you.”

Lord Wesley gestured to a seat. “I’m assuming that this has to do with Arielle."

Elric nodded and sat down. Even now, there was turmoil within him. It felt like he was making a brutal mistake, but there was no right move here. He'd turned it over again and again in his head, and there was simply no path that led back to how things used to be. 

With the meeting in just a few hours, he had to make his decision soon.

Gio was right in a way, but he could not trust Gio's judgment entirely. Even if he didn't have an ulterior motive for what he said, he often didn't consider the long-term repercussions of his actions, and he didn't have the fundamental empathy to think of the kind of impact this decision would have on Arielle. It wasn't just the danger. It was the fact that if they revealed her secret, her life as she knew it would be over. Once she became a Master, she was now at the mercy of the system and would begin to receive system quests. Of course, they tried not to send those to the younger masters, but it was also based on one's skill set, and for someone like Arielle, that was a dangerous position to be in.

She would also be in danger from those trying to take her place.

Arielle was powerful. But she was still just a child.

He didn't know if revealing her skills in front of all those people was the right move.

So, he'd chosen to start small, with someone he knew was a powerful ally, who likely had other allies who might be able to help him. Yet, even now, the words were completely stuck in his throat. 

He didn’t have to reveal the whole truth. A partial truth would be enough, something allowing them to understand Arielle’s skill even though they could not fathom the depths of it. 

“Now that you’re here,” Lord Wesley said, and he twisted the edge of his quill between his fingers. "There is something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What is it?”

“The statue outside. Wulfric said that Arielle noticed something wrong with it, and that was what called her attention to the invasion. Is that true?"

Elric swallowed. That was as good a lead as he could hope for.

"Yes," he admitted. "The truth is that it was Arielle who warned me about the demonic invasion."

The Lord did not look surprised. "How did she know?"

“She has a sensitivity to essences," he said. “She sensed that there were demonic essences on the premises around that statue, and came to find me to warn me."

"I see," Lord Wesley said. "And this sensitivity, what does it entail?"

"She can feel the general essence make up for an area and her cores are abnormally developed for her age," he said. "It also means that she can cast spells way beyond her perceived level."

Lord Wesley raised an eyebrow, and Elric shut his eyes and opened them again.

"The mage who was believed to be Vittoria's soul clone," he said. "The one that helped defeat the demons. It wasn't Vittoria. It was Arielle in disguise."

Lord Wesley didn’t react for a handful of seconds. He just kept staring at Elric who waited for his announcement to be digested. 

 Then Lord Wesley’s eyes grew so wide, they looked on the verge of popping out of his skull.

It felt like he'd stopped breathing for a few seconds, until finally he said two words. "You're lying."

"I'm not."

"You have to be." The Master shook his head, as though trying to clear it. "The nature of the spells that were cast was not...these were not simply complex spells that a prodigy could master with enough time. I've never seen some of those spells before."

"Yes."

"The lightning. And [Living Earth]. She held the tens of titans and legions of demons in place with her very hands and pulled them out of the abyss, when she was ready."

"Yes, I know."

The Lord choked on his next words, then promptly stood from where he was sitting.

"Elric…” he stopped and began pacing. "Forgive me. This is hard to swallow.”

“I understand.” Already, Elric was regretting this and itching for a way to make the other man forget, but there was no going back now.

"She was able to use Vittoria's spell," Lord Wesley repeated. "[Living Earth] isn't a spell just any prodigy can use. Vittoria herself told me she crafted that spell and mastered it only after years of meditation and soul work."

“Yes.”

He looked at him, something between awe and horror in his gaze.

"Do you know what you’re saying?”

“Yes. She’s an unsanctioned Archmage.”

The master choked again.

“I hid it because I did not want her to be turned into a tool for the council, and especially not for the High Ascendant. I wanted her to live a normal life. To have a chance to choose what she wanted to become in the future. But now I can't hide her anymore. After her actions last night, she's been called in for a reevaluation, where the true extent of her abnormalities will be put forth."

"And her abnormalities? Where do they stem from? I've never heard a single Earthbinder have powers like that."

"Neither have I." Elric could share that she wasn't really an Earthbinder, but that might put her parents and family in danger as well, and as much as possible he wanted to keep them out of it.

Lord Wesley continued to pace.

Then, without warning, he barked out, "Montfort."

Almost as though the other man was waiting at the other side, the door opened, and he appeared. "Yes, my Lord."

"Get me the aged elvily ale."

Montfort reacted. "Sir?"

"It’s the strongest wine we have, isn’t it?

"Yes, but...you have the meeting with council in just a few hours, my Lord.”

"I know that, Montfort. Get it anyway."

Montfort bowed. "Yes, my Lord."

He glanced at Elric, before he retreated. 

Both men remained silent and contemplative until Montfort returned to pour them two glasses of clear liquid.

After he left, Wesley grabbed his chalice, downed the entire thing, and exhaled deeply.

"I truly don't know what to do with the information you've given me, Elric."

"I understand," Elric said. "And I understand that it was wrong to lie, but I couldn't risk the possibility of her having a suppression."

"A suppression?" Lord Wesley blinked. "But according to you, she's done nothing wrong."

"Yes, but how would I prove that? How do we prove that no laws were broken during her birth, if we were not there for it? How do I convince everyone that someone like her isn't a threat? How do I ensure that her talent doesn't rattle him?"

"Him?" Understanding dawned in his eyes. "The High Ascendant."

Elric nodded.

Lord Wesley rubbed his beard slowly. "I see. You're worried that he might view her as a possible candidate for his position, a high ascendant in training. No one has ever reached his level before, not even legendaries, given the exponential nature of magical growth. But if we look at Arielle’s development in just a year; she could ascend to challenge him in a decade or so." He ran his fingers over his chin. "This is an especially dangerous time for this too, with the coming war launched against the demons."

"If there is a war, he's going to put her at the forefront," Elric said. "I know it. I will not have that."

"I understand," Lord Wesley exhaled again, closing his eyes. "The things she did during that battle, Elric...the ones I saw and the ones I've only heard of...I thought it was Vittoria this whole time, so simply accepted that she had invented yet another technique we’ve never heard of. But knowing it was Arielle this whole time…" He shook his head again, clearly engulfed in disbelief. 

"I know. She's incredible. But she is still just a child, Lord Wesley. Remember that."

"I understand," he sighed. "Before you reveal anything to the council, let me put a few feelers out. I won't mention anything you've told me, but it will help us understand which way the council might fall, if there is a vote. That way, we know how to proceed."

Elric nodded, feeling some level of relief.

"Who else knows about this?" Lord Wesley asked.

"Gio found out recently," he said. "Vittoria too."

Wesley nodded slowly, although his gaze seemed far away. Then, after a while, he chuckled to himself, a tad weakly.

"I always knew I had an eye for talent," he said. "But this time, I might have bitten off more than I can chew."