After Miles learned that the ritual platform script wouldn’t be his way home, he gave control back to me and became very quiet in my head. He seemed depressed and only gave concise answers to my questions. Even though he was still instructing me on what we should test, it was clear that this revelation had hit him hard. To make matters worse, we hadn’t made any noteworthy progress over the past day. This not only affected him, but me and Berla as well. With hung heads, we were taking a break in the guest room of the mayor’s house around noon. The only one who was eagerly testing things was Riala.

Last night we had taken a few white stones with us in secret and allowed her to test using them in our room for the first time. She had been trying to produce water on her own ever since, getting almost no sleep at night, and continuing during our break as soon as she had the chance.

Both Miles and I couldn’t quite explain what the conversion felt like, but to both of us it seemed familiar. Maybe that was why we were able to do it so effortlessly, while Riala struggled. She apparently didn’t have the same sense of familiarity. She could feel the difference, but just like we hadn’t been able to understand the white stone effect, she didn’t even understand the blue stone effect. At least this had been the case, but the silence in the room was suddenly interrupted by Riala quietly calling out to us.

“Look! I did it!” she whispered, as to not alert the guards outside.

I smiled a little. Even though our motivation had taken a hit, I was very happy that she was still enthusiastic and that she had been successful. I slowly raised my head, expecting to see her fill a bucket with water. “That’s great, Riala. Good jo—” However, when I looked in her direction it wasn’t water that I was seeing, but a ball of blue light that exploded into many smaller spheres and rained down around the room. Slack-jawed, I stared at the display until even the last light had fizzled out and disappeared.

“Riala!? How did you do that!?” I blurted out.

She stuck her chest out and looked at us with a smug grin on her face, clearly proud that she had accomplished something we had failed at. “I didn’t understand either of them, so I wanted to do the one you couldn’t do.”

I walked over to her and sat down beside her on the floor. “Can you do that again?”

She nodded enthusiastically and closed her eyes in concentration. When she activated the script on her hand, another red ball of light appeared.

“Miles says ‘Great job, Ria,’” I said and patted her head. “Can you do other signs as well?”

“I don’t know. I’ll try!” she said and grabbed another white stone to feel out more signs. The result was a pink sign, which she then quickly attempted to recreate, and after just a few tries, she did it. “Yay!”

‘Now she’s done it...’ Miles said, still sounding depressed. ‘Maybe she can explain how it’s done to an old man.’

“You know what, we’ll stop being so depressed right here and now,” I said and dropped control of my body, making us almost fall over.

“Ah! What are you doing!?” Miles said, barely catching us in time.

‘We can’t sulk forever. We have to make progress, and we need you on top of your game. Even this young girl is accomplishing things.’

“But I—”

‘And don’t you dare tell me you don’t feel like it.’

Miles let out a heavy sigh. “I won’t suddenly be all sunshine and rainbows just because you put your foot down. And I know very well what we have to do. But if I’m out anyway... Ria, can you explain how you’re doing that? What do you feel?”

She looked to the side and thought Miles’ question over. However, the answer that came a few seconds later was to be expected. “Dunno.” Just like we weren’t able to explain the water effect, she wasn’t able to explain this one. We needed more information.

“We need to go to the ritual platform again...” Miles said.

The timing for that was still not ideal though, because the monthly caravan from Alarna had arrived this morning. Assuming that the soldiers who had been after us had made their way back to Alarna, they would’ve met the caravan on the road. Even if no soldiers had been left behind, they might have instructed the caravan guards to continue the search for us, as they wouldn’t be stopped from entering the town.

Suddenly we could hear a knock, down on the first floor, at the front door. Peeking out the window we could see a squad of guards from Alarna, standing in front of the house, and Miles quickly moved away from the window again.

“God damn it! I’ve had it with this fucking world! If you go out, you’re likely to get killed! If you’re suspicious, you get killed! You’re just old? Well, good bye! And these stupid assholes from Alarna won’t leave us alone either!!” Miles ranted, gesturing at the window. “Is that really too much to ask? Just allowing people to live their lives!? And I can’t even leave this place!!”

‘Miles...’ I started, but I didn’t know what to say.

He turned away from the window and wanted to walk away, when he suddenly ran into Riala, who embraced him around our waist.

“I don’t want you to leave us anyway,” she said and looked up at us with a sad but determined expression on her face. “Isn’t it okay if you stay?”

Miles looked away from her for a moment. She had liked him from the start, and after losing her parents, and now being away from her big sister, he was maybe even becoming something of a parent figure to her. Of course she doesn’t want him to go, I thought.

With a sigh, and what felt like a hint of a smile, he looked at the young girl clinging to us. “It would’ve been nice to have a choice, Ria. Wouldn’t it have been much more impactful if I could’ve said ‘No! I’m staying!’ despite being able to go?” he said with a chuckle and patted Riala on her head. “Yes, it is okay to stay here.”

Riala beamed at us and let go. I was sure he didn’t suddenly make a complete one-eighty, and that he was mostly putting on a brave front for her, but he did have to confront the fact that he was most likely not going back.

“If I’m staying here, this can’t be our life though... Always looking behind our backs, worrying that one of us gets injured, or that someone might try to take advantage of us...” he said, letting out some of his frustration once more. He looked at the girls in turn, but none of us was sure where he was going with this.

“Isn’t that what you two are working towards?” Berla asked. “If you get the protection of the mayor, we’ll be safe in Cerus. At least for a while.”

“Yea, maybe. Until Alarna gets wind of what we’re doing here and decides to invade Cerus after all. You said they had been thinking about that already, right? What will the king and the High Priest do once we become part of that deal?” Miles said as he glanced out the window again, seeing the guards walk away in the distance.

The mayor’s wife, Melory, wasn’t a big fan of us staying here, and she avoided us when possible, but she turned the guards away without giving us up, just like the mayor had promised.

“After all, if we accomplish what we told the mayor we would be able to do, it won’t go unnoticed.”

“Well...” Berla started. “You might be right. I don’t know the High Priest that well, but the king probably won’t leave us alone like this... In that case it would be better if we went somewhere else, right?”

“Maybe... But anywhere else we will essentially be facing the same problems. And even if we go out to the woods and live alone in a cabin, we’ll always have to come back to civilization from time to time, especially in the beginning.”

‘What do you suggest? If you remove these options, there aren’t many left, are there?’ I asked.

“How about we revisit that ‘becoming king’ idea?” Miles said.

“What...?”

‘What...?’

Berla and I said in unison.

***

“Dear citizens of Alarna! I thank you for attending this historic event!” the High Priest said with grandeur, standing on a podium in front of the temple, his voice booming across the main square that was filled with people.

It was a few days after he had explained his plans to Aelene. The caravan had left for Cerus days ago and would’ve arrived by now, but the soldiers that had followed the fugitives hadn’t returned to Alarna yet. The High Priest’s plan to instrumentalize Aelene was in full force and the temple had informed the citizens about an important announcement taking place on the last day of the week. Since the people welcomed any kind of distraction from their usual routines, many hundreds of citizens had arrived to hear the announcement, even if they weren’t worshiping any gods.

“As you all know, our religion was founded over six hundred years ago, when the gods, in all their grace, bestowed the miracle of the ritual upon us! It gave us not just knowledge, but the chance to thrive! When the people in other settlements still cowered in their huts, just waiting for the next monstrous beast to invade their home, we built walls! We built farms! And we started striking back against the darkness that lurked in the Wildlands!”

The citizens listened intently to the rising speech and cheered the High Priest on. Most of them knew the town’s history, and especially the adults, who had heard the rumors of what would await you outside the walls, and in other towns, all their lives, knew how thankful they could be to live in Alarna, the safest town known to anybody. The festive atmosphere took a slight turn as the High Priest continued, however.

“Yes, we are truly blessed! But how have we thanked the gods? Ask yourselves, when have you last prayed to them? Have you visited the great god of rituals when he last appeared, to pay your respects? When have you last made a donation to the temple, to support us in our mission to improve the lives of all citizens? Many of us have not properly shown their gratitude!

You might think it unimportant, but what was the result of this? The beast attacks have increased over the last couple of years! And there were five attacks in the past weeks alone! After years and years without crimes, we suddenly have people destroying water sources! Even reports of blue stones thefts have reached me! And who could forget the ritual that failed just recently and left a promising, young boy without a Calling!? The gods are angry! And they’re warning us by taking away the gifts they gave us!”

Silence spread through the crowd, many citizens wearing worried expressions. Many rumors had spread about the crimes, a boy and a girl that had supposedly destroyed a water source, increased beast sightings, and a squad of Fighters leaving town and only two of them coming back alive. Without a doubt, something was wrong, but there hadn’t been any public announcements that would explain these events yet. Until now, when the High Priest revealed to the people that it was their own fault, that they hadn’t done their part, and to most of the citizens, this made perfect sense.

The High Priest waited a moment to let his words sink in before he continued. “Do not fret! It is but a warning! The gods are gracious, and they understand we’re not perfect! And to remind us of their glory, they have sent us a messenger! A divine being that will walk among us, bless us with its presence, and keep us on the right path at all times! I present to you: Hope!”

The High Priest motioned towards the temple’s large doors with big movements and they swung open to reveal a beautiful young woman, wearing an elegant white dress. Her aura flooded over the crowd closest to the temple and some of the affected citizens immediately fell to the ground, praying, as Aelene slowly and gracefully made her way towards the podium, Oryn following behind her.

“‘Hope?’ He didn’t say anything about changing my name!” Aelene said to Oryn in a whisper.

“Just go with it. It’s a nice name,” he replied.

“As if it’s not enough that I have to wear this ridiculous dress. And look at all these fricking people!” she said while trying to maintain a benevolent expression.

“It’s not like we can change anything about this now... Just smile.”

Aelene and Oryn approached the podium, where the High Priest bowed respectfully and stepped aside to let “Hope” say a few words to the people. Even though this sequence of events had been discussed in advance, it still caught Aelene off-guard to actually see the High Priest bow to her. She managed to keep her expression under control, but at that moment, it truly dawned on her that, as a divine being, she would technically stand above him.

Looking over the crowd, Aelene could see the stunned faces of her fellow citizens. Many of them had gotten to their knees in prayer, while others just stood there, frozen in place with wide eyes. She regulated down her aura slightly by force of will, to make it easier for the people to handle, and addressed the masses.

“My dear people of Alarna! I have been sent here to oversee the development of this area that is so dear to the gods, and to ensure that you good people will stay on the one true path. Seeing so many of you in attendance today fills me with hope for this town. Know that the gods will always love you, so long as you love them as well!”

This and no more was what the High Priest had wanted her to say. Brief and to the point. And now the “miracle,” she thought and raised her arm towards the sky. A blue stone was already in the process of dissolving in her hand and nobody noticed that it had ever been there, when a large stream of water shot into the air and rained down over the crowd.

The citizens started cheering and Aelene stepped aside to let the High Priest speak his closing words. “I have trust in all of us to do better hereafter! We will show our devotion to the gods and ensure a glorious future for Alarna! Certain factions in this town have had too much power in the past, but we will rectify this! We will make sure they cannot lead us down the wrong path anymore! Blessed be the gods!”

““Blessed be the gods!”” the crowd parroted.

Aelene meanwhile had twitched at the last part of this speech, that she hadn’t known about beforehand. Rectify?