Chapter 71 — A Forever Regret

Ria was in a daze, but her feet knew where to go. Brisk steps quickened until she was running with all she had. She’d never been to Healer’s Hall, but she knew where it was. The buildings for Healer’s Hall and the Adventurers Guild were attached because of the dangers of combat training and the risky nature of mercenary work.

Ranger wuffed a question, and as she approached the open double doors of the Hall’s main entrance, Ria conveyed through the bond what she’d learned from the report, which brought a further confused wuff from her familiar.

The reason for Orlisi’s condition wasn’t that hard to guess. From Welkin’s admonition the prior day, Ria could only think that the elf girl had used the ‘dangerous mental focus’ potion to artificially increase her understanding of truths and her resulting power beyond what her body and mind could handle—that the girl had used a method riskier than even the potentially brain-melting technique Wind Through The Mountain Peaks Sees The Path Below in order to press Ria to the brink.

The Hall’s entry was set up like a waiting area with benches along the walls approaching a large reception desk, and as Ria hurried to the desk, her worry must’ve been plainly visible because the Healing-Hands-mantled woman manning the desk quickly stood, expression mirroring Ria’s concern, and asked, “Does someone need healing?”

Ria schooled her own expression back to neutral and apologetically shook her head. “I’m here to see someone. A second-year elf who was recently brought here.”

The woman’s eyes briefly went to the gossip sheet Ria was clutching in her hand, and the woman’s concern turned to a sad smile. “Are you a fan?”

A what?

Why would…? Did Orlisi have fans?

“I’m a friend,” Ria asserted.

The woman observed her silently before sighing. “I guess it can’t hurt. Third floor, room 5. Don’t cause any trouble, or the healer on duty will kick you out…”

Ria had already darted for the stairs and was running up them, two steps at a time with each stride. Ranger kept pace beside her, his claws clicking on the varnished wood. A man wearing a Healing Hands mantle yelped something in surprise as she blurred past.

Second floor. Third floor.

She stopped briefly to see which way the room numbers were going before continuing her anxiety-fueled rush.

Why had Orlisi taken such a terrible risk?!

When she reached the room, Ria hesitated. The door was already slightly ajar and sunlight was pouring out from the well-lit interior, providing missing light to the shadowed hallway.

Now that she was here, what was she going to say to Orlisi?

No. What she’d say wasn’t the reason she was here! Ria knew she needed to see Orlisi—see that she really was okay.

While Ria was gathering her courage and fixing her frown into something more supportive, she noticed adult voices from a room across the hallway floating on the quiet morning air.

“...never seen anything like it, and we still don’t know the cause. If not for Soulkeeper Eleron’s assistance…”

“For an elf to lose one’s affinity…”

Ria’s breath caught and her mind blanked.

Soulkeeper?! She lost her affinity?!

Because of the training yesterday?!

Guilt flooded Ria’s chest, and her stomach dropped into an abyss. Was that why Orlisi had become more and more impatient with each failure? Had she known the cost and continued anyway?

Why would she do that? How could proving a friend’s seed be something important enough for Orlisi to risk losing her affinity over?

If Orlisi had selflessly paid such a price on her behalf… it would be a debt Ria would owe for the rest of her life.

Unsure how to feel and even more unsure what she could say to her elf friend, Ria took a deep breath and unclenched her fists. She couldn’t run away. What was done, was done, and they’d have to face it—together. The least she could do was be there for her friend.

Ria pushed the door open enough for her and Ranger to get inside, then carefully moved it back to its previous slightly-ajar state before looking around the room.

Upon catching sight of the occupied bed, Ria froze.

The elf staring back at her with widened eyes, wasn’t the elf she expected.

“Woof?” Ranger asked, doggy brows raised and head tilted.

The elf girl’s gaze went to Ranger. “You’re…”

Though now sunken-eyed and with duller skin, the beautiful face before Ria was seared into her memory from their fight in the final match of the newcomer’s tournament and the desperate exchange of martial arts after her gambit with the devastator: Aelyri Windseeker!

If Aelyri was the one in the room, did that mean Orlisi was fine? Ria’s mind spun with the flip-flopping of her emotions, and she felt no small amount of shame at the relief that washed over her upon realization of the report being about this girl instead—assuming she didn’t have the wrong room.

The elf girl frowned and looked away. “Did you come to gloat?”

Gloat? Why would she gloat over something so terrible?

“Is it really true?” Ria asked, her voice barely more than a whisper. “That you lost your affinity?”

Aeylri’s head turned back to Ria and her eyes narrowed for a moment before the girl’s shoulders drooped in defeat and she slumped weakly against the headboard behind the bed. “It’s worse than that. It feels like entire parts of what made me me are missing. What kind of illness does that?”

“Illness?” Ria echoed in surprise. “It wasn’t your training?”

“There’s no way,” the platinum-haired elf denied, lazily waving a delicate hand. “The training wasn’t anything different from our usual—the only difference was that I had been feeling weak all day and my magic seemed weaker than usual. I wish I’d gone for help then instead of trying to tough it out…”

Ria was stunned. Was it really possible to lose one’s affinity so easily?

Aelyri sighed. “I almost wonder if I’ve been struck down by the gods, but what could I have done to offend the goddess to this extent? Was my performance during our Divinesday match truly that disappointing?”

Ugh. What goddess would be that upset at her? Ria’s victory had mostly been thanks to the devastator and unreasonable stubbornness. Though, if the girl worshiped Teshira, the goddess of storms and renewal… Ria could see a fickle goddess like that maybe doing such a thing.

Ria opened her mouth to voice an apology, but Aelyri shook her head and cut her off, “No, it’s not your fault. You showed courage in the face of certain defeat. My failure is my own.”

“Surely the gods found our match enjoyable!” Ria offered. If the crowd’s reaction was any gauge, the match had been tremendously exciting to watch! “Both our teams fought hard, with bold strategy and impressive magic!”

“Even so, I was overconfident—allowing myself to be led into such a trap and giving you the time to activate it.” Aelyri paused and drew in a breath. “And our fight with our martial arts…”

Visions of the clumsy exchange of grapples and blows in the underground space, their limbs weak and shaking from the lightning’s aftereffects, replayed in Ria’s mind. Ria had continually targeted places that would cause the delicate elf girl pain without regard for her own suffering, single-mindedly wearing away her opponent’s will to fight, until finally getting her in a chokehold and forcing her to yield.

Maybe, compared to the earlier grand displays of magic prowess and Iselyn and Malleron’s fight against the elite water mage Yeliir, her and Aelyri’s fight at the end was crude and cringeworthy—like the end of Tallien and Aldri’s evaluation match where a half-lightning-paralyzed Aldri had fallen through a portal to knock over a ‘crippled’ Tallien and stab him with a dagger.

With the strength of her path, Ria was sure she could now face Halis and Aelyri without having to resort to desperate tricks and traps.

Aelyri looked to be having similar thoughts and, for a moment, gripped the bed coverings. “I had hoped we could challenge each other again. But now…”

“Will you really never be able to do magic again?” Ria blurted out, drawing closer to the girl.

Aelyri’s gaze dropped to her hands before drifting to the window, and the elf girl admitted in a quiet voice, “I can still do magic now if I concentrate hard enough.”

Letting go the bedding, the pale girl held out her hand and furrowed her brows. Gradually, a faint breeze ruffled the sleeve of her gown.

“There. See?” Aelyri said with a sad smile.

Ria could only stare at the place where Aelyri had formed the spell, shocked. It wasn’t even a pale imitation of the beautiful and graceful magic Aelyri had spun with such ease during their match—simply a beginner spell, crudely formed and lacking any trace of presence or properties of elemental truth. And worse, it was the version of the spell with the air energy transformation included. Aelyri couldn’t even manage the energy transformation!

A sparkle of light falling onto the bedsheets caught Ria’s attention, and at the sight of the elf girl’s silent tear trails, Ria couldn’t help scooting onto the bed and pulling the girl into a hug. “I’m sorry, Aelyri. I wanted to face you again, too. To prove my martial arts and magic against you fairly this time…”

But now that would never happen. They both knew it.

The healers at the academy may have saved the elf girl from dying, but nothing would be the same for her. As the girl silently sobbed, Ria couldn’t help thinking about her own injury to her energy pathways and the risks she and Orlisi had taken. Would the gods reward them for their perseverance and recklessness… or punish them?

They stayed like that for a while until a pulse of magic from Jeni’s pouch brought Ria out of her thoughts and she gave Aelyri a squeeze and some space before summoning Keira’s communication stone.

“Ria! Where are you? Are you really at the academy? Is everything okay?”

“I’m at Healer’s Hall,” Ria reported, quickly adding, “I’m fine—just visiting with a friend.”

“…you should have woken me up or at least told me last night!” Keira’s voice chastised. “You shouldn’t have gone by yourself either!”

Ria grimaced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect I’d want to get an early start after everything that happened…”

“It’s about the divination, isn’t it?” Keira intuited and after a moment of silence continued, “I don’t understand why you’re worrying so much about it. Having a royal bloodline without having to deal with royal responsibilities and expectations is surely a blessing to be envied!”

Gah! Keira! Ria groaned and glanced in Aelyri’s direction. Why was the girl so good at revealing her secrets at the most inopportune times?!

“A-anyways, I didn’t go by myself! Jarrel walked me to the academy gates,” Ria disputed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t ask Miela to wake you. I was in an odd mood, and you’ve seemed tired of late…”

“…fine,” Keira relented. “I’ll see you in class?”

“I’ll be there. See you then!”

Ria withdrew her energy from the stone. Making the promise felt risky, like tempting the gods, but hopefully they’d be satisfied that she’d already had enough excitement for one day, even if the day had barely begun.

“Your light-mage friend?” Aelyri inquired, having already dried her eyes with her sleeves.

Ria nodded. “Keira Vorshan. She’s my sponsor’s granddaughter. Um… what she said, she was just joking.”

Aelyri gave her a kindly enough smile in response. “You came to visit so early in the morning because you were worried about me, right? I won’t repay your consideration so poorly. Don’t worry about your secret.”

“It’s really nothing,” Ria weakly asserted and, with a nervous chuckle, let her gaze drift to the window, not wanting to meet Aelyri’s eyes.

“So, what’d they say about me in the gossip pages?” the girl asked with a wry smile, motioning to the day’s Daily Shadow still clutched absently in Ria’s hand. “Any other interesting reports?”

Ria and Ranger stayed and visited with Aelyri for a while, reading through the gossip together until a group of distraught fans showed up to offer Aelyri their support.

For only the second time that year, Ria was on time for her elemental class. The class continued its current focus on earth magic, introducing the standard stoneshaping spell. It was another spell that Ranger was eager to learn about since he had some natural ability with stoneshaping thanks to his transformation.

Afterward, Zena escorted Ria to her anatomy class at the Adventurers Guild as had become usual, and she and Ranger met up with Keira and Iselyn without incident. The class’ second week topic had moved on to insects—a topic that Keira was less than keen about but one that greatly interested Iselyn from what Ria could tell by her silver-eyed friend’s rapt attention during the lecture and diligent note-taking with her monster compendium showing the relevant illustrations as each important type was mentioned.

Swamp spiders, boring beetles, giant wind wasps, cerulean caterpillars, flame-forged centipedes…

Ria could only roll her eyes at the naming sense. Did at least two of the words making up each name have to start with the same letter?

Glancing over at a progressively paling Keira, Ria was glad to have worked on her own fear of crawlies during her soul-strengthening sessions. Her friend was totally going to need help with the material extracting after lunch. Briefly, she considered that maybe Jax would actually get to play the gallant hero for Keira, but catching sight of the boy scrunching his shoulders more with every turn of the page brought a twisted smile to her face. Poor Jax was going to get teased again today.

When lunch came, Ria didn’t waste any time lining up at one of the Grand Library’s information counters to ask for Atresia.

“Don’t worry. I’ll relay your meal request to Ellen,” Keira assured, and with a bit of luck-wishing, Keira and Iselyn left Ria to her task, Ranger staying at her side to ensure her safety.

The line moved quickly, and it didn’t take long for the second-year boy at the counter to get Atresia for her. The third-year girl seemed to sense that something about Ria had changed and, after their greetings, led Ria to their usual attunement-testing room.

“I have some good news about progress on the research,” Atresia told Ria, eyes glistening with excitement. “But let’s check your aura representation and attunements first.”

Due to unlocking her ‘body’ gate, it wasn’t surprising that the blob of her aura representation had grown again, and Ria was quick to mention it at Atresia’s eyebrow raise. But even so, there was also a problem. Her divine affinity and attunement increased even more noticeably.

“Okay… apart from unlocking your third mystic gate, you’re going to have to tell me what you’ve been up to this week,” Atresia demanded with eager eyes. “Increasing your overall affinities via improving your bloodline and gaining earth affinity via your familiar bond, those I understand, but specifically improving divine affinity AND attunement? That’s something entirely different. If it was just the attunement, I could see that by practicing fate magic, but…”

Fate magic? What was that?

Setting that aside for later, Ria returned her thoughts to the surprising test results. Surely, adding gold to her diet wasn’t the reason, and unlocking her ‘body’ gate didn’t seem like it would increase her attunement to the divine even if it could have increased her affinity—depending on the nature of her bloodline.

Soul-strengthening and finding her path were the only events that seemed possibilities. She hadn’t wanted to think about the possible divine nature of her bloodline, but seeing her attunement to divine energy increase as well—meaning she had used or been continuously exposed to divine magic—it did give credence that her seed of righteous judgment could really be due to an innate divine nature.

That of course left Ria with a further quandary. How much of her suspicions did she dare to tell the third-year researcher girl? How much did she trust Atresia?

Ria really needed to learn more about elven mysticism. Wasn’t that all about achieving immortality and ascending to divinity? If she could explain the increases just from achieving her path, then surely that was less risky.

“Could forming a mystic seed explain it?” Ria cautiously asked and received a dubious hooded-eyed look from the girl.

“...it could,” Atresia slowly answered. “But other than mystic seeds with divine, heavenly, or nether properties, such a change could only be achieved by an elven master at the beginnings of ascension—a stage well past seed formation…”

Ria nervously gulped as the third-year continued to measure her reaction.

“...according to the historical records anyway…”

Ugh. Maybe that wasn’t the safest direction to take the conversation after all.

It was too late to use that to explain away her divine affinity, anyway, Ria reminded herself. She had already told Atresia about the provenance of the amulet that hid her divine affinity when the girl tested her that first time.

“There have been some physical changes requiring me to add gold to my diet,” Ria attempted as a way to change the topic. Even assuming that her bloodline came from Revant's royal family, finding out more about what it actually was would still be helpful.

Atresia’s interest perked up. “Oh? That’s really interesting and could support my current hypothesis.”

While Atresia was jotting the information down, Ria added, “And Soulkeeper Renard has me doing soul-strengthening meditation...”

The older girl rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Because, of course, he is.”

“Could that explain the changes?” Ria pressed.

“Hmm… depending on the technique and purpose, it could,” Atresia admitted, then gave a mischievous smile. “If it was just a small amount. So, what seed did you form and how’d you do it?”

The girl’s smile turned into a full-on ‘you’re not wiggling out of it that easily’ grin, and all Ria could do was groan before grudgingly admitting, “It’s a seed of Righteous Judgment. I think it has something to do with my bloodline, somehow, and I’ve been training Furren-style martial arts under a main-line disciple.”

A snort escaped from Atresia and the girl shook her head. “Because, of course, that’s what it would be. What else would a divine champion form?”

Divine champion?

When her quill finished its movement, Atresia gave Ria a concerned look. “You know, Ria. It’s not my place to go against the will of the gods, but aren’t you progressing too quickly? This much change in such a short period of time is bound to have consequences—physical, mental, magical, spiritual. Maybe you should take a week to let the changes settle?”

Ria grimaced and nodded. “I will. I promise. Forcing the seed formation damaged my energy pathways, so…”

Her promise was met by another exasperated eye roll.

“All that out of the way, I’m pretty excited to show what I found.” Atresia turned her journal to a ribbon marked page and laid the book on one of the machines, motioning Ria closer.

“I found some really curious coincidences.” The third-year girl paused for effect as Ria glanced over the neatly written columns that looked like a ledger of some kind—date, seller, item, price. “About 70 years ago, dwarven artifacts and dwarvencraft suddenly started appearing more frequently in auction records with no announcement of a ruins discovery to explain the increase.”

“70 years…” Ria tilted her head slightly. Why did that number sound familiar…? “Luventi’s disappearance!”

Atresia nodded. “Indeed! It may just be a coincidence, but it was around that time that the Moon Elf purge happened, and the Moon Elf clans and House Rork from Tellia province were the main sellers of the dwarven items. Also during that time, a large amount of resources were directed to an undisclosed location in Tellia province under the direct authority of the Hall of Bindings and Inquiry. And, with Tellia province not having access to the sea, that must mean…”

The older girl gave Ria a smug grin as if the answer were obvious.

Ria’s eyes widened. “The dwarven ruin is in Tellia province!”

“Not just in it, under it!” Atresia confirmed, nodding. “And judging by some of the dwarvencraft items, ales and cheeses in particular…” The girl smirked meaningfully. “I’d say, rather than ruins, they made contact with an actual dwarven city—a Deep Dwarf city!”

A Deep Dwarf city!

Ria’s sense of adventure was burning at the idea but… “Umm… what does that have to do with my bloodline?”

“Remember what I said about dwarven royalty having precious metal affinities? This means that it’s possible that a dwarf with a royal bloodline could have come to the surface and secretly lived here—maybe as a Rockfire dwarf from the Holy Forge of Dar’Farren or as an outsider from overseas.”

Or been abducted by the Inquisitors, Ria thought but kept that to herself.

That was interesting, but… maybe it was time to come clean about being descended from the king of Revant—and that being the likely source of her bloodline—rather than have Atresia spend so much time and effort researching in the wrong direction.

Atresia was watching her, waiting for her reaction, so she needed to say something.

“Um, I’ve also had some success investigating, ah, things.” Taking a deep breath, Ria felt out telling her dread secret, “I performed some divinations, and the results indicated…” She hesitated as worry about the consequences of further confiding in Atresia caused her to second guess herself, choosing instead to offer only part of the truth first, “...that I do have a royal bloodline.”

Atresia’s arms raised in a cheer. “I knew it! For the record, what kind of divination was it?”

Ria explained the basic theory behind the spell as the Celestial Knowledge member eagerly noted down the details in the private journal.

Seeing the third-year girl’s sincere excitement and guileless passion in the pursuit of knowledge, Ria wondered if maybe Atresia was the one person at the academy that she could safely tell everything to. The girl did already know the truth about her divine affinity… and having someone to talk about these things with…

Ria again mustered her courage.

“Um… further divinations indicated my bloodline might be connected to the current king of Revant,” she tried, not meeting Atresia’s eyes and cringing in anticipation of some kind of dramatic reaction. “...and I was hoping you could help me learn more about the Revant royal family.” Her voice steadily decreased to an unconfident mumble as Atresia only blinked at her blankly.

After a few more blinks, Atresia blurted out, “Huh… soooo, the Revant royal family has royal dwarven blood? How surprising!”

Huh? Was that what it meant?

“It’s not worrying that I might be a relative of the king of Revant?” Ria asked, incredulous, as Atresia resumed vigorously scrawling notes.

“Um, should it be?” Atresia’s quill paused and her head tilted a bit as she met Ria’s gaze. “I mean, is that any more worrisome than you receiving gifts directly from a god? Or having such a strong divine affinity?”

Ah-! If she puts it that way…

“Besides!” Atresia’s eyes shone with greed and a huge grin spread on the older girl’s face. “Being able to directly research a royal bloodline and uncover its secrets—it’s an opportunity that a third-year could only dream of!”

A faint smile stretched Ria’s lips in return. Telling her secret to the third-year girl was a huge risk, and the girl might just be chasing imps with her assumptions, but having finally confided in someone… Ria felt some of the burden she was carrying inside her heart ease.

In the back of her mind though, with the experience of unresolvable regrets still raw from her morning encounter with Aelyri, Ria hoped that this choice wouldn’t result in another regret that couldn’t be undone.