Crisis of Faith by Benjamin Medrano (z-lib.org)

by Unknown

  “Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty, but I do not blame you. Just as I do not blame the church of Medaea for the attack, no matter what holy symbols the attackers might have worn,” Elissa replied, nodding and looking at Nadis, whose eyebrows rose slightly.

  “Indeed? I thought that you might believe us behind it, or at least to blame,” Nadis replied, meeting Elissa’s gaze fearlessly.

  “Ah, but such would be out of character for you, Archpriestess. I’ve gone over all the information I could gather about you in the last several months, and I cannot see you authorizing such an attack. Additionally, while it might be possible that zealots might act without your permission, I sincerely doubt that,” Elissa said, nodding to Diamond as she continued calmly. “None of them shouted battle cries to Medaea, which would be most curious for zealots, and as I told Lady Diamond, there were too many minor signs of it being set up to draw suspicion on Medaea’s church. It is possible that I’m wrong, but I refuse to assign guilt when I do not know who is truly at fault. Tyria would disapprove of such.”

  “That’s interesting. I haven’t gotten much information from my investigators yet, but if what you’re saying is true, that doesn’t sound like any sort of religious zealots I’ve heard of. They usually are quick to cry out the name of their deity,” Desa said, her eyebrows rising. “It’ll take some time to gather all the clues we can, and Helia is doing her best to track down where they came from. Her initial report doesn’t look promising, though. Apparently, they settled in before the snowfall, which isn’t going to make it easy.”

  “Unfortunate,” Phynis murmured, frowning unhappily. “It’s really too bad, since tracking down where they came from would make things much easier.”

  “Very true,” Nadis said, and paused for a moment before continuing, looking at Elissa. “I should also thank you, High Priestess. I would entirely understand if you were to blame my faith for the attack. I didn’t have anything to do with it, but the chances of a zealot being involved are… unpleasantly high.”

  “There’s no need to thank me. I’m simply trying to look at things logically,” Elissa said, looking around the room for a moment before continuing. “In fact, all of you have good reasons to despise me, though you may not be aware of such. All except perhaps Sistina herself.”

  That brought a round of raised eyebrows from everyone else around the table, and Sistina’s eyes opened to look at Elissa. When they did, Elissa found herself unable to breathe for an instant. The power and age in those eyes was… incredible. Not the same as Tyria’s, but powerful nonetheless, and it distracted her for a moment. Long enough for Sapphire to speak, in fact.

  “What do you mean? You are the high priestess of Tyria’s faith, but…” the blue-haired woman said, looking at Elissa with an oddly measured gaze.

  “Ah, my apologies. I was… distracted. I’ve rarely seen those with as much power as Sistina, and it was startling,” Elissa said, pulling her gaze away from the dryad. “I said that because it’s unfortunately true. Yes, I’m the one who shaped Tyria’s faith to begin with, which is why I’m the high priestess, or originally was. Things have changed, however. I’m no longer merely Elissa of Silence. I’m also no longer the woman I was when I accompanied Ivan Hall, Ulvian Sorvos, and three of our friends into the Road to Hell, and from there were dragged into the presence of Irethiel.”

  “You what?” Desa demanded, suddenly standing as she glared at Elissa, her voice sharp. “You associated with that monster?”

  The others were reacting as well, and Elissa suddenly feared that she was going to be attacked as several more people stood. Then Sistina spoke.

  “Silence.” The dryad’s voice echoed through the room almost like thunder, and everyone froze, even Phynis as she half stood. Elissa saw the expression of shock on Nadis’s face as she looked at the dryad, but Sistina had not finished and was looking around the room with an oddly disappointed expression on her face. “Tyria allowed her to live. After she was freed. Withhold judgment for facts. Not anger.”

  The room was quiet, and after a moment Diamond nodded. She’d been one of the few who hadn’t overreacted instantly, Elissa noted, and the woman spoke in a measured voice. “I agree. You might have noticed that she said dragged in front of Irethiel. It makes me wonder about the precise nature of the relationship between Elissa and Sorvos.”

  “I agree. I’ll admit to having… acted on impulse for a moment,” Phynis said sheepishly, then looked back at Sistina and smiled. “At least I have someone to call me out when I do so. Everyone, please sit and allow the high priestess to continue.”

  It took a few moments more, but Elissa felt herself relax as the others obeyed Phynis’s request, though the looks she was receiving were considerably less kind now. She took a deep breath, then let it out and shrugged.

  “If I thought it was possible, I likely would have chosen to hide that Ulvian and I were acquainted, but such would have been impossible in the end, and Tyria would not have approved. Instead, I believed it was best to bring into the light as soon as was reasonable, and not via the cowardice of a letter,” Elissa said, looking around the table calmly. “Yes, we were part of the same group of adventurers, but that was before I was aware of his ambitions. Each of us had our own goals. Ulvian wished to master magic, Ivan wished to be wealthy and powerful, and I… I was a vain young woman who wished to find the secret to eternal youth. So we dared try to kill the Road to Hell, and half our group was slaughtered. We were all on the verge of death when Ulvian offered a risky escape route. We said yes, for we didn’t have any other choice.

  “Ulvian took us straight into Irethiel’s throne room with a planar jump. I only then learned that he was in love with the demonic bitch,” Elissa continued, ignoring the choking sound from at least one of the Jewels. Instead she studied her hand as she continued. “He spoke quickly, and that’s all that kept us alive. He had already hatched the plot to take over Kelvanis and give Irethiel slaves, and she was interested. Interested enough that while she branded all of us, she promised not to control us as long as Ulvian’s plots pleased her.”

  “Goddess… when was this?” Desa asked, much of the anger in her voice turned to shock by this point.

  “Approximately eighty years ago,” Elissa replied, glancing over at Desa and smiling unpleasantly. “I can’t claim to have felt the same as you all did, since I was never actively controlled, but I didn’t appreciate the threat hanging over my head. I was angry enough that I left him, continuing my search alone. I didn’t find it, though I did find a way to restore my youth some three years ago. Then he asked me to come to Kelvanis, and I felt I had little choice but to agree. Of course, that’s just an excuse… he also offered me eternal youth, and I was still enraptured by the idea. So I came to Kelvanis, and when he made his offer I decided to enact his grand plan and to create the faith of Tyria, the Goddess in Chains.”

  “You dared do something like that to a goddess?” Nadis demanded, anger smoldering in her eyes. “For something as simple as eternal youth?”

  “As simple as eternal youth? I don’t believe you have any idea what you’re talking about,” Elissa replied, her eyes narrowing. “I’ve had an explanation from Tyria’s own lips about it, and it’s something that even gods don’t bestow lightly. Did I dare? Yes. Then, as I interacted with others, it reminded me of who I’d once been, before I became a self-absorbed, pigheaded adventurer. I’ve enjoyed being high priestess and helping others. So, when Tyria asked my absolute allegiance in return for the gift of immortality… I took it. I am her faithful servant, and should I ever stray from the path, Her flames will reduce me to ashes before anyone has a chance to realize what I’ve done. I accepted that willingly.”

  “What do you mean, her flames?” Phynis asked, her voice soft now.

  “I walked into Tyria’s flames of my own accord at the time. If I had been uncertain about my allegiance, or if I was lying about it, I would have died there. Instead, I’m now a vessel for Her power,” Elissa ex
plained, smiling slightly as she saw the faintest hint of understanding dawn on several faces. “That fire is within me. Should I stray from her service, even the tiniest amount… it will consume me. There are no second chances, especially once I told her what I did to her. Tyria will not allow it.”

  No one spoke for a minute. Elissa took a certain amount of pleasure in that, after the uproar from before. She didn’t like it when people implied that she’d been lying, not after everything that she’d been through already.

  “I sense Tyria’s power within her,” Sistina said simply, then half-closed her eyes and leaned against the wall again.

  “That settles it, at least enough for me,” Diamond murmured, sitting back and looking around the table. “I’m not going to claim that your revelation makes me happy, High Priestess. In fact, it makes me quite unhappy about your presence here… but I’m willing to reserve judgment and have faith in Tyria.”

  “Thank you,” Elissa replied, looking at Diamond calmly. “What I’ve done… there’s no way to properly make amends, even if it was relatively minor compared to what Ulvian did. However, I intend to do whatever I can to make up for it.”

  “You don’t expect forgiveness, do you,” Ruby murmured, her tone indicating that it wasn’t a question.

  “No, I don’t. I might get it from some, but I don’t expect it,” Elissa said, smiling slightly as she nodded down at her clothing. “Zenith surprised me with her lack of anger, earlier, when she delivered my new clothing. She said that it was a message that I, and the church of Tyria, would be required to change. On the other hand, she did require an apology.”

  Opal snorted softly at that, shaking her head as she tried and failed to suppress a laugh. “An apology? After everything we went through with her… she decided to require an apology?”

  “I’ll remind you that she apologized to us,” Sapphire said, glancing at Opal and clicking her tongue. “A lot of people were controlled. A lot of people did terrible things out of fear. I don’t believe that anyone in this room could have changed what happened without knowledge we didn’t possess. After all, if Elissa had tried to stop Ulvian, all that would have resulted was someone else in her place, or her being forced to cooperate with her brand.”

  “A definite point,” Desa admitted, shivering visibly. “I remember some of the things he could do, and they chill my blood.”

  Elissa’s attention turned back to Nadis, and she could see the barely suppressed distrust in the woman’s eyes. Not that it surprised her, considering their differences. The question was, how would she react?

  “I’ll give you a chance,” Nadis said at last, her voice calmer than it had been before. “I am going to keep your origin in mind when it comes to our discussions, though. I’ll also warn, I won’t tolerate a situation where you are in charge of any resulting church to my goddess.”

  “You won’t be in charge either,” Elissa replied, and felt a surge of satisfaction at the sharp look from Nadis, and she headed off the angry protest by continuing. “Or do you think that with Tyria here in the city with us that she’s going to tolerate us making a church that doesn’t suit her needs? She has two incredibly divergent faiths dedicated to her, and she has to not only merge them, but who she was with who she was made into. Neither of us are truly in control.”

  “I suppose that is true,” Nadis said, obviously dissatisfied, but her glance at the rest of the room made it obvious that she wasn’t willing to argue in the presence of everyone else.

  “It also runs rather far afield of why we came here,” Desa said, clearing her throat. “At the moment we don’t have enough information to properly make decisions on what to do about the attack. It appears that everyone is willing to wait for additional information to be acquired, so with that I suggest we adjourn for the moment. I will ensure that each of you are kept informed of any additional information that comes to light.”

  “That seems quite reasonable,” Elissa agreed, nodding politely.

  Phynis smiled and stood, prompting most of the others to stand as well as she spoke. “I believe we are best served by following the captain’s suggestion. I look forward to speaking with you further, and hopefully under better circumstances. Welcome to Beacon, High Priestess, and I believe that an invitation to dinner will be forthcoming.”

  “I look forward to the invitation,” Elissa replied, bowing her head slightly and nodding to the others as well. “Now, as much as I would like to speak with all of you further, I believe I need to check on my companions and ensure that all of them are settled in. It was an eventful day.”

  “Of course,” Phynis said, her smile fading. “Let us know if there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable.”

  Elissa inclined her head slightly and turned to leave. As she did so, she could feel Nadis’s gaze follow her to the door. She ignored it, knowing that the archpriestess wouldn’t do anything more here.

  Tomorrow was another story, once they were discussing the fates of their churches. But Elissa had been expecting that much.

  Chapter 8

  Tyria sensed Diamond’s presence and opened her eyes, smiling as she looked down from where she was hovering.

  Sistina’s caverns were incredibly peaceful for Tyria. They were lush with vegetation even in the middle of winter, and contained many plants that had died out in the world outside, but that wasn’t what drew Tyria to them. It wasn’t that she was linked to Sistina, though that helped, instead it was the soft, peaceful power Tyria still felt imbued into the ground after Irethiel’s defeat.

  The damage that Irethiel had dealt to the gardens had long since been restored, and that reassured Tyria, as well as accentuating the sense of peace it provided. Paths meandered their way through groves of trees, bushes, and fields of mystical flowers, many of which had been rare even before the Godsrage. Now they were practically unique, save for those which were being grown in the palace gardens above. Mana slowly flowed through the cavern, channeled by the subtle designs that Sistina had created to make the power move in an ideal stream without ripples. To most it would be imperceptible, which was truly remarkable to those who could sense it.

  That Sistina had channeled the remainder of Demasa’s power still startled the goddess, as doing so had shown that the dungeon was far more than she appeared to be. At the same time, it had also been both terrifying and wonderful, for while the dungeon had also channeled the power of Kylrius, the touch of Demasa’s magic had been comforting, a last touch of her old friend. Or she’d thought it’d be the last touch, if there weren’t some tiny remnant of that power imbued into Sistina herself.

  The thought caused Tyria’s gaze to turn toward Sistina’s tree, and her feelings grew even more complicated at the sight of it. Sistina looked like nothing more than a weeping willow with white bark, tiny fruit-like ruby beads, and bright green leaves, though motes of gold light drifted around the tree. Sometimes Tyria wondered why she hadn’t initially recognized the tree as the world tree itself, but she knew better. The old world tree she’d seen before had been truly immense, over a mile tall rather than merely two hundred feet, so she could forgive herself for the mistake. Yet at the same time, the old world tree had been far more alien, almost aloof in its own way, not so… so aware, as Sistina was.

  “Your Eminence?” Diamond’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried clearly to Tyria’s ears and drew her gaze down to the edge of the pond, where the priestess was kneeling, looking up at Tyria.

  Considering for a moment, Tyria chose to descend, her wings beating slowly as she drifted down toward the priestess, still over the pond. It amused her that she liked the spot where she’d been trapped by Sistina so much, but the crystal shaft that provided sunlight from the mountaintop above made her feel even better than if she was elsewhere in the cavern. Besides, Sistina didn’t object to her presence.

  “Hello, Diamond,” Tyria said, keeping her voice soft as she looked down to meet the woman’s gaze. Technically Diamond was one of her priestesses, Tyria
knew, but the situation had grown less certain when Diamond had wed Sistina and Phynis, especially with Sistina able to control Tyria. Diamond may not think she was Tyria’s equal, but the goddess tried to treat the woman that way.

  Diamond blushed, looking down at the pond as she cleared her throat, then spoke. “Are you well, Your Eminence?”

  “As well as I can be. I’ve been meditating a great deal of late, and this is an ideal place for it,” Tyria replied gently, considering the elf for a moment, then continued. “You appear disconcerted. Is there something that I can help you with?”

  “That’s the question, isn’t it? I’m certain you know of the attack on Elissa’s caravan, so I won’t go over that. I was…” Diamond began, then paused again, looking torn as she licked her lips and hesitated. She seemed to debate for a long moment, then continued softly, almost nervously. “I was startled when she told us that she was responsible for the changes to you, and even more surprised that you forgave her. May I ask why?”

  “Why? Why indeed,” Tyria said, slowly smiling as she considered, then stepped onto solid ground rather than hovering over the pond. She extended a hand to Diamond and waited for her to take it before drawing the woman to her feet, which relaxed a little of Diamond’s tension. The goddess started down the path, drawing the flushed elf with her as she continued. “I approached her after Irethiel was dead, to ask her if what I’d learned was true. She chose to confirm it, and I asked her why she hadn’t told me. Do you know what she said?”