Chapter 67

Emergency Union of Souls

Octavia awoke with a sudden jolt, as she received a message from the great forest spirit.

Sister in need. An emerging sister has sent out a call for help. Gather with the High Priestess to form a Soul Union and save a future priestess of the order.

Seeing the words in the language of the gods, Octavia couldn’t help but feel a flood of emotions wash through her mind. A new sister? Did this mean that the powers of the great forest spirit were spreading? If so, then how? Then what was this about a Soul Union? Octavia had never heard of such an event, though she guessed that it was a known way that could be used to help this sister.

Shaking free the thoughts, she quickly got dressed, which in her way was just draping over the outer cloths of a priestess before she ran off down the hallways. Her feet were cold against the hard marble flooring, but such discomforts didn’t mean much to her. In this moment she only had but one focus, to get to the high priestess’s chamber.

As she approached it was clear that she was not the only one who had received the summons so late at night. Judging by the clamoring and voices coming from so late at night it appeared that all seven of the priestesses received the same message. Well at least the six lower priestesses, as there was no sign of the high priestess currently.

“Enough!” Perhaps anticipating the gaggle of flustered priestesses who had all been drawn from their slumber, the High Priestess herself was out and directing people into the main meditation chamber.

“You.” High Priestess pointed to the first priestess nearby and directed her in the meditation chamber, clearly pointing to a spot off in the distance.

Octavia felt her heart begin to race as she got to enter the main meditation chamber. It was always a place where grand workings of the great forest spirit could be witnessed. The chamber was set up to be run by a group of seven priestesses, which was everyone in their order. Well, everyone who was left in their order. They had originally started with eight, but one lost her faith. Or rather the great forest spirit lost their faith in her, meaning she was stripped of her title and powers. Such a fate had almost befallen Octavia. Fortunately for her the person whom she broke an oath with was Lykan, a kind and gentle boy who grew up to be a man in her presence.

At first, she had been saddled with being his caretaker as he adjusted to life here at the refuge. But the more she got to know Lykan, the more she felt a true bond with the man. He was the first male who Octavia had felt anything for, worse she had never had a chance to tell the man how she felt before he left.

There was a way she could meet him, but only after the calamity that was being enacted by the gods had been cleared by the denizens of the planet.

Octavia herself had thought about leaving, about moving out to find Lykan calamity or not. But her sisters were what kept her back, tonight was a prime example of why she was still needed here. Without her, this emergency soul union wouldn’t be possible. For six priestesses were needed to sit at the key focal points of power, while a seventh stood at the center and directed the energy.

From there the center, or foci of the ritual would merge with the priestess in need and guide them through whatever efforts were needed. In a way this was a sign that all sisters were united, for the knowledge of one would be able to be shared through the joining of souls.

The High Priestess was quickly directing everyone to their spots. Soon enough it was Octavia’s turn to enter, as she was the last of the priestesses to join. A quick look around showed the reason why she was late, as she was the only one wearing her cloak of the priestess. Even the High Priestess had forgotten such formalities.

Shaking her head at how she had messed up so badly, she moved to go to the last open spot. Before she could, a gentle hand grabbed her by the elbow.

Shaken from her own internal thoughts she turned to look at the arm that now held her in place. With a glance it was clear the arm belonged to none other than the high priestess herself. Locking eyes with the woman a look of confusion crossed Octavia’s face. She wanted to ask but knew the sacred rules of the meditation chamber. Only the foci of the event could speak and even then, it was only to help guide the sister needing guidance.

Looking at the high priestess, she was confused to see her pointing towards the center of the room. At the center was a smaller circle that was connected to by six equally placed lesser circles. At the center the foci of the ritual were expected to be standing, at least at first. While all the other priestesses took up meditation poses in tiny circles that had groove lines that fed energy directly to the foci of the ritual.

Octavia paused not quite understanding what was meant.

The high priestess again pointed to the center of the room, where the foci for the ritual would stand.

Octavia paused, trying to take in everything. Finally, the high priestess shook her head slightly before giving a slight push to Octavia directing her to the center. As she stumbled forward, the high priestess moved to take up the last open spot on the ground, meaning Octavia had to take the position at the center.

While the events of getting everyone into place had only taken minutes, it felt like a lifetime. As she grew closer to the center of the room, she could feel the danger and peril that the new priestess was in. There was a monster, and a loved one who was gravely hurt. Not wanting to waste any more time Octavia darted forward. Her hands moving in the ritual patterns.

These were the same movements that all priestesses did as part of their morning calisthenics, so even now, even tired her body moved almost on instinct. This was the reason all priestesses trained the movements so habitually, for moments like this. At least that was the reason Octavia had been told she had to practice such motions perfectly every morning before the sun arose. Recently she even took to practicing the movements before she went to bed each night. While some believed this was due to her becoming a more devout priestess of the great forest spirit, the real reason was a lot more selfish than that. These were also the movements required to perform another ritual where she could meet with Lykan on the nights of a full moon.

Fortunately for the emerging priestess, tonight was the last night of the full moon. Meaning the rituals that she had spent so much time practicing and perfecting would work.

As she entered the center circle, she felt the spirit of the emerging priestess beginning to wane. Before she even had a second to doubt herself or the actions needed, she completed the motions necessary, directed her internal energy and merged her spirit with the spirit of the emerging priestess.

***

There was a strange stretching sensation as Octavia felt her senses first stretch out from her body to the body of the priestess who was fighting desperately to stay conscious. As Octavia’s consciousness drew near, she could feel the layout of the world around her. There was a man who was gravely injured. A monster who was in the process of being changed by corrupted energy. Then there was the priestess who had the mark of a heretic but glowed with internal purity.

Seeing the emerging priestess, a feeling of pride filled Octavia’s heart. Just by looking at the sister she could tell how powerful such a person would be amongst their ranks. Then when their souls melded, she gained so much more knowledge.

Bits and fragments of data filled her mind. She understood that to some extent the pure white pillar that stood off in the distance was part of the calamity she was only able to speculate about. Looking at the pillar it was clear that there was once a great malevolence that resided from within the pillar but had since been cleaned up.

Though the signs of corruption still existed all around. From the poor dragon who was being warped into unnatural proportions, to the male warrior who suffered from grave injuries that were made worse by corruption.

Looking at the injured man through her eyes, Octavia could see and feel everything that her fellow sister felt for this man. Love, deep and unyielding for this man.

There was clearly some form of control the man had over her, seeing this Octavia thought about severing that bond almost immediately. But before she could get too far down that train of thought, she felt the woman she was merging with fight back against such an action.

“No.” The body who she had merged with demanded.

Hearing the union speak steadied her hand. “He is not deserving of your love, nor your devotion.” Octavia said of the man who was mere hours away from death. It was clear that if nothing was to be done, then he would die from the festering wounds that had already gone deep within his body.

Feeling the emotions of the woman whose body, she now possessed, Octavia couldn’t get deeply accurate accounts of memories, but she could understand enough. It was clear that this man while being a kind man, didn’t have any feelings for the future priestess. His heart apparently belonged to another.

“Save him, please.” The woman, whose body she now inhabited begged.

With that plea, more memories came flooding through and past Octavia so quickly that she couldn’t keep up. Everything went by in a blur. In the end all she could see was he was a great warrior who had bested her in battle. Then she saw how the man had healed her body of the same form of corruption that was now going to take his life. Seeing this, Octavia relented. She knew all too well the karmic price that such an act could place on a soul.

Seeing the way, he had cleansed her slowly, night in and out for months let Octavia appreciate the man. While he was still garbage for not reciprocating feelings for such an amazing woman, Octavia couldn’t help but begin thinking of ways to help.

She looked at the damage that the corrupted energy was playing on both the dragon, who had likely used the pillar as a source of power just as this priestess she had melded with had. Such a process would need to be healed if the dragon was going to recover.

Seeing the dragon Octavia felt a want to protect and nurture such a majestic creature. She found herself having more sympathy for the corrupted dragon, than the injured man dying of corruption. Though part of her mind had been closed off since he was a monster for not at least acknowledging the love this sister priestess had for him.

These thoughts rolled through Octavia’s mind quickly. Even as they went past, the body whom she was merged with could feel and understand the thoughts.

“Can you save him?” The woman she merged with asked.

“Yes.” Octavia said haughtily, though it was clear that she would rather save the dragon than the man.

In a way it was endearing to the person she was merged with. Octavia could feel her gratitude for the outrage she had on her behalf.

“He really is wonderful.” The entity said.

“If he was so wonderful, then why does he pine for someone he hasn’t seen in years. You need to tell him; this is a wakeup call. That you might not always be there to save him. Especially if he continues to treat you like he has.” Octavia shot back indignantly.

She could feel happiness coming from the bond with her sister priestess. Feeling her finally happy made Octavia feel a little better.

“Could you tell him? I don’t know if it would come across the same from me.” She thought back.

“You better believe I will.” Octavia said as she finally had a plan in mind to save both the dragon and the ungrateful human. A shudder of revulsion went down her spine as she thought the word human almost as if it were a curse word.

Laughing.

The spirit she was bonded with laughed. Only after a second did Octavia realize her faux pas, as the new sister was also a human. Shaking her head, she realized she shouldn’t be so dismissive of humans, though years of bias couldn’t help but linger for a while. Humans were after all the reason for the fall in the first place, at least according to all records she had read of those events.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to include you with that, obviously.”

“Haha. No, it is all right. Just save that stupid man please. Then tell him what you just told me.” The sister priestess said back.

Hearing that Octavia readied herself to begin the most complex transference blessing she had ever performed. This would be a complex working that involved her own energies trying to manipulate the corruption from the dragon and the corruption that had taken over the body of the ingrate.

Even from their connection Octavia could feel the appreciation the new sister priestess had for her overprotective feelings for her.

“Thank you. It is nice to be appreciated.” The sister priestess said.

“He should appreciate you regardless. I will do this, this one time, but only for you. If he is too stupid to realize how great of a person you are after this, well I’ll hunt him down and force him to accept you myself.” Octavia said.

Through their bond, it was clear the sister priestess got more and more relieved the more Octavia took her side. Which in Octavia’s mind only strengthened the bond she had for her. Seeing the emotional state of the woman, it was clear she had been treated as little more than property by her family. Even being sent to seduce this man by her brother.

Then he ignored her. Such an ingrate, Octavia thought to herself as she began to cast the spell she had in mind. It was a long and complex spell, but fortunately one that was almost ingrained in her very being as she had performed the necessary movements countless times so far.

“What is it that you intend to do exactly.”

“Fight fire with fire.” Octavia responded back coolly as she began going through the final gestures.

“Wait, what?”

But it was already too late, as Octavia completed the final gestures. This would hurt him a little, but she felt such actions would be a wakeup call to this imbecile who would dare snub an emerging priestess. Feeling the vengeful thoughts of Octavia, the merged spirit cried out.

“Wait, stop.”

But it was already too late. There were gentler ways of doing this, but sometimes a priestess had to stand up for her sister out of sheer principle. With this, he would be healed, and he would remember just who saved him.