Chapter 29 - Revelation

P-Psaï! What do I do? What do I do?!

I don’t know!

Fuck!

Elody smiled a bit, keeping her eyes on me.

Oh fuck, I think I did a surprised face!

Aaaaah! I don’t know! Play along?

You want me to what now?!

Isn’t it already too late?

Urgh, okay okay!

I frowned a bit, pulling myself together before nodding in earnest. “Abu!”

Okay, yes, I know. Loo, I still couldn’t talk because making my mouth do all the work needed for that was surprisingly difficult. Don’t judge me.

“Oh? If you do understand me, make two nods two times?”

I did what she asked, and her mild surprise became wild astonishment.

“W-wait, for real?” She seemed flustered, it was a rare sight on her normally stern face.

I shrugged, trying to convey “Not a big deal, right?” through my motion.

“What? For real?” This time it was Ophelia exclaiming her bewilderment, her eyebrows rising from the surprise.

She quickly moved toward me and, when the children tried to follow her, Elody raised a hand.

“No! You stay there.”

“B-but! It’s our little sister!” Vi complained.

“I don’t know what it is, little ones.” Shot Elody back, shaking her head as if asking them to forgive her.

Whaaaaaaat? I’m their sister oka-

Morgana. She’s just taking precautions. Try to keep your emotions in check.

M-okay.

She looked back at me, Ophelia now by her side, and asked me her next question.

“Are you a… a demon?”

Eh?

A what now?

“Abu?” I exclaimed reflexively, my young voice full of surprise and questioning undertone.

“Oh? Nod one time if yes, two if no, and… three if you don’t know what a demon is?”

I vigorously nodded three times, and the tension in both Shi fighters seemed to alleviate a bit.

“Goo-”

“Can we come now?” Interrupted Vi, with the tenacious audacity she normally kept for her most interesting questions.

“No, please wai-” She stopped herself in the middle of her sentence, as I had started floating without giving a fuck about her.

Morgana?

What? My siblings are calling me, I’m just answering.

I slipped by the fighters’ grasp, nestling myself in Vivianne’s embrace just before Ophelia could grab me with her Shi, and startled cuddling right away.

I mean, they know I can float, no need to hide it anymore. With them, at least.

Hum… Not convinced, but you’re the captain, captain.

That’s what I like to hear!

Elody was fast to walk toward the children in long stride, facing them and looking at Vi.

“Please, give her back. We haven’t finished assessing the situation yet.” She extended her hands to grab me, but Vi sheltered me in her arms. After all, Elody’s voice and motions weren’t really reassuring.

“She wants to be in my arms, no? Why do you want to take her away?”

“Because…” Elody hesitated a bit. “...She could be dangerous. We don’t know what she is. Not a demon, but maybe something else.”

“Dangerous? She is our little sister, she can’t be dangerous.” Vi answered as if the Shi master was out of her mind, even taking a step back, trying to protect me.

Unsurprisingly, Cris and Noa took a step forward in a swift ensemble motion, as if to form a wall.

“...Okay. Okay, keep her. But I need to ask more questions.” Elody conceded, trying to stay diplomatic.

“...Alright.” Vi looked at the two others and, shrugging, they stepped back.

“Let’s all take a seat, maybe?” Asked Ophelia, sitting on a bed and inviting everyone else to do the same, Elody quickly following her lead to try and reduce tensions.

The children hesitated but, after thinking for a bit, they went on the bed just next to Ophelia’s one.

My sister sat cross-legged and put me in between, as she usually did, yet this time she was a bit closed on herself, arms around me like a shelter.

“Thanks.” Elody seemed genuinely thankful. “Now, can I ask my questions?” She really wanted to avoid antagonising the children.

“Yes.”

“Thanks, again. So, Elayna, what are you?” She waited a bit then clicked her tongue. “Sorry. Are you human? Same type of answer as before.”

I answered with a single nod.

“Are you… sure?” She seemed sceptical.

Another single nod.

“O-kay? Then, did you use a… an Owari no Yari to pierce Vivianne’s veil of Shi?”

Owari no what?

That’s Alfar for sure, but I don’t recognise those words.

I nodded three times, unsure of what to answer.

“You don’t know? Ophelia?” Elody turned her head toward her peer.

“I saw it. Maybe it’s the name?” She turned her head toward me. “We’re talking about the… the spear of nothingness? That you used? The strange, colours-inverting thing?”

Aaaah. Okay.

They’re talking about the anti-space beam.

I cocked my head and smiled a bit.

A very, very tiny replica of what I used to save Vivianne appeared, floating over my hand, with force fields all around to be sure nothing (and in particular Vi) was hurt by it.

The two fighters took a step back, and Ophelia even pulled some Shi by reflex, as if she was prepping herself for battle.

I quickly retracted my magic, making the spear disappear. (Or un-disappear? It was always a mess to talk about it if you started thinking about its concept of existence.)

“I take that as a yes.” Said Elody when she had calmed down.

“Did you use it to… to save Vivianne?” Ophelia, on her side, had some more difficulties gathering her wits.

That question was simple, and I answered by a simple nod.

“So you have no malicious intent whatsoever to anyone in this city?”

I shrugged and nodded once again.

Suddenly, lighting seemingly struck Elody’s as her eyes widened, an idea taking form in her mind.

“Stories…” She whispered, then looked at me. “Are you… someone else, by any luck?”

I cocked my head in surprise, and I wasn’t the only one. Ophelia did not understand what this meant, just like the children. It didn’t help that, since the beginning, Elody hadn’t explained anything.

“What do you mea-”

“Wait, I’ll ask differently.” She interrupted Ophelia without taking her eyes from me.

“Have you… lived… before? Have you had another life before this one?”

Is she a genius or what?

Well, I mean, if they have folklore about reincarnation, and she connected the dots, in particular with our last coup d’éclat, it’s not that difficult to infer, yes?

It is... believable? Maybe? What do I do?

Well, commit, no? We’re already so far.

Okay.

I nodded, slowly, once, keeping my gaze locked with hers.

“O-kay. That could explain… a lot.” She seemed to remember something.

“Do you want to keep it secret?”

At this one, I nodded vigorously yes.

“Secret?” Exclaimed Ophelia.

“Yes. From what I’ve heard, the people subject to that tend to want to be let alone. Isn’t it logical?” Answered Elody before turning her eyes back at me.

“So you want us to keep this secret. Okay, but can I ask you a bit more about your past?”

I frowned, then nodded once. I wanted to give a somewhat good impression to this woman, since she could, you know, burn me. Or worse, tell everything to Mom and Dad.

“Were you, by any luck, part of the Radiant Clergy? Some tales talk about how virtuous men and women of faith came back…”

I was going to answer when.

Hey, mom. I feel really dumb, but why don’t we use writing to answer her? Just like, you know, when we needed it on the field?

...I feel very dumb. I was so focused on talking that I forgot about them.

Hey, don’t sound so sad, I’m the same you know. Let’s not try to think about it, and just use it already.

Ay ay.

“Erhm, hello?” I had spaced out for a few seconds, not saying anything, and I think I had started worrying the Shi master.

Suddenly, in a very nice shade of blue, something between Royal and Electric blue, and with a soft radiance from within, I wrote No.

And, to my surprise, it created some wild reaction. Both Ophelia’s and Elody’s mouth fell open, awe slowly flooding their eyes.

Urgh. What did I do this time? I was tired. I was just a baby after all.

***

Both Shi warriors had needed more than a minute to gather their wits.

“It’s Sacred Tongue isn’t it?” Asked an excited Ophelia to a squinting Elody.

“Yes. And I can read it. It says… No.” Her gaze fell on me, wild bewilderment now filling her eyes.

“Is this your doing?”

Yes.

Elody squinted again. “It says Yes.”

“You can really read it? I didn’t know you were proficient in the Sacred Tongue.”

“Because of my dad, but that’s not the most important here!” She turned back to face me.

“So you’re not a clergywoman? But you can write Sacred Tongue!”

Hum. So there is a discrepancy between our written languages then.

Well, it’s not that much of a surprise since what they speak is a heavily modified Common after all. That writing has evolved alongside Spoken language is within parameters. We’re lucky she can read us.

True.

It’s not Sacred Tongue for me, only my usual language.

“What is she saying?”

“I… I’m trying to read… Erhm. This is the term for Sacred Tongue in sacred tongue, but…” She had clearly a hard time reading me, so I changed the text a bit.

It’s my language.

“...Hem, she says it’s… It’s her language?” She moved her gaze from the text to me.

“It’s your language… you mean it’s what you used commonly before?”

Yes.

“But… but isn’t Sacred Tongue a language from a long time ago?”

Yes.

She frowned. “Who taught it to you? Why? Why not just common? Even more since you can understand me.”

Uh. How much do I say?

Without telling too much? I don’t know. This is hard.

I thought a bit more and shrugged.

Only language I know. Everyone used it.

“...No. That’s not possible, right? The only time it was used like that was…” She left her sentence hanging.

“...Before the Ashen Night.” Ophelia ended the sentence in a whisper.

Yes.

“W-wait! So you come from before the Ashen Night?”

Yes.

“...How… how was it? To be alongside gods?”

I shook my head.

No gods. Only war. Pain. Loss. Death.

“What?! No!”

Yes. Fought Entropy. Difficult.

“You fought what? I don’t understand.” She frowned even more.

I was at a loss for some time, then an idea popped on my head, coming from a tale I had heard some time ago.

War against the Eldrich Queen? Difficult.

“Oh. Oh yes, of course, I am so dumb! Of course, the war between Radiance and the Eldrich Queen!” She was moving her hands and shaking her head, as if berating herself from her idiocy.

“Wait, but this means you’ve lived at the same time as Radiance! Can you-”

No. Please. Painful memories.

“...Yes. Yes, of course. War is never pretty, and this one should have been even worse. I am sorry, Elder.”

Her behaviour in my regard had completely changed since I started answering with the blue words. I was curious though.

Question.

“Eh well, of course!”

Why surprised when I used floating words?

The sentence was somewhat difficult to her but, in time, she succeeded to translate it.

“What? You really don’t know?”

I shook my head once again.

“But well, it’s because this…” She pointed at the words. “...is the exact same way used by our Goddess Radiance to bestow Divine Wisdom to the High Clergy.”

This is very…

Yeah. Do you think Radiance is alive somewhere? Maybe she got reincarnated before us?

No, maybe it’s a fraud. But the only one able to use magic are…

Us, and Entropy’s remnant. It’s worrying.

Indeed.

Thanks

“You’re welcome, elder.”

***

With how the events turned out, Ophelia and Elody took the matter seriously with the children.

“Understood? Never, ever, say to anyone what happened today! Your little sister could be hurt if you don’t hold your tongue! You don’t want Elayna to get hurt, right?”

“Oh no! Not at all!” Noa.

“We’ll hold our tongue, we promise!” And Vivianne.

“I…” Crisnée looked at the two Shi masters. “I swear, on House Valince’s honour.” She ended up saying, with too much solemnity for an eight-and-half old child.

“Thanks, Lady Valince.” Surprisingly, the white-haired woman answered as ceremoniously.

“You three, keep this vow. And if anything happens, that as something to do with what went on today, you can come to me or Ophelia, whatever the hour of the day, or the night. You can count on us.” She flashed a reassuring smile, one of the rare to ever touch her face.

“Okay. That’s way too much emotion for one day. Go back home, we’ll wait till tomorrow to talk about the other thing that happened today.” Ophelia said to the trio. Ah wait, to me too now, since she knew.

“But before you go…” Ophelia started to say, making Elody stop in her motion of exiting the room.

“Can I ask you one last question, Elayna?”

Yes.

Ophelia’s frowned and, with a self-deprecating smile, turned her head toward Elody.

“Sorry, I need you.”

“Don’t worry. She says Yes.”

“Thanks.” She turned her eyes toward me. “And thanks to you too. My question is: now that you’re here, what do you want to do?” The question was legitimate.

See what it’s like to have a family.

“Oh.” Softly said Elody, slightly gritting her teeth before relaying my answer.

“Thanks. I think you got lucky, then.” Ophelia smiled at me, and I nodded back before cuddling with Vivianne.

All during the interaction, the trio’s eyes had been over me and, when they heard my answer, you could nearly feel them radiating with happiness, and a bit of surprise.

Noa put a kiss on my forehead and played a bit with my hair, the two others making similar gestures of love.

“Then we’ll be the best family ever!” Vowed Vivianne shortly after, supported by her brother and her friend.