Saintess Summons Skeletons

“The Orator… You really seem quite fond of him,” Sofia noted.

“Why, of course? He was a great man, through and through. Ya said ya met him, haven’t ya? Then by all means, ya should understand.”

“Well, he… He is quite generous, that I cannot deny…”

“That he certainly was! Ya see…” Henry started, as he rambled on about His Holiness’ endless virtues, Sofia had a different thought.

Now that I think about it… Orator, back then… He was quite surprised about how well I survive existing near him. And now all of the Lords, just saying their names can be hazardous… I get that they were taking human form during the lost Epoch, but then could they not just do that now? Is that not what Ormoncleth did as ‘Juliet’? Was it not her after all?

No, but… When I met her in that vision she said she might visit again…

Since she can do that, would the others not also be able to like they all used to?

I wonder what changed.

“… saved an entire fleet, just like that! Can ya see now, how great a leader he was? Hmm? Milady?” Henry stopped and turned around to face her.

“O- Oh, sorry, I was a bit lost in thoughts. Those stories of yours certainly inspire awe but…” Sofia started, her voice trailing as a repeated echo in the long corridor.

Strangely enough, she felt like she was thinking blasphemous thoughts. Sofia was not the kind to bite the hand that feeds her, much less the Lords’, but at this moment, all she could think about were the unknown voice’s words.

She remembered the cold voice, as it stopped time, freezing even Erredis, Richard and Creation, and the resentful words it uttered into her ears.I almost pity you. They will abandon you, just like they abandoned me. Such is their nature, I have learned. Struggle on. Soon enough, you will beg to join my side.

“Do you not resent him?” Sofia finally blurted out, her voice hesitant, “He left, abandoned you all, left you on your own to face… Only for you to end up here like this…”

For the first time, the chatty bard pirate was struck silent after being asked something. It was as though it was a perspective he had never even considered, despite having come to the conclusion that the Orator was likely a true god by himself.

“Well…” He started after a long silence, “I’m sure he had his reasons,” Henry said with a lighthearted shrug, turning back around, “I cannot claim to know what is going on through a god’s mind but… His Holiness… He was a true blessing to this world. The actions… The lessons he taught, the care he showed, the emotions he carried… I WOULD SOONER KILL MYSELF THAN BELIEVE OUR CAPTAIN WOULD ABANDON US ALL!”

Henry’s sudden shout carried unstable mana that shook the tunnel’s walls, causing debris to fall from the ceiling.

Sofia lightly waved her scepter. The soft ringing of the bell soothed the shaking on the emotional skeleton.

Captain? Sofia noted mentally. That’s new.

“It sounds like he was lucky then,” Sofia started, and saw Henry’s finger bones tightening around his weapons. “Very lucky to have such a trusting crew. If he is watching… I’m sure he must be smiling right now.”

Sofia gave Henry’s shoulder a pat, “Well? Aren’t you going to tell me more about his rise to fame?”

Henry suddenly looked all embarrassed and shy, something very few people would notice in a skeleton, besides Sofia.

Letting out a sigh, he gently took Sofia's hand off of his shoulder and turned around, holding his hat down, “... I got a bit too into my feelings there. Pityful show for a pirate, wasn’t it… But yar’ wrong… We were the lucky ones.”

Henry started walking again. After that he did not talk for a long while. Sofia felt that it was better to give him some space for a while.

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But the tunnel seemed endless, and eventually, Henry stuck up the conversation again, he sounded like always did. “I’ve thought it over,” he said out of nowhere, “While our crew would never grow to resent His Holiness… I can imagine… The followers of the other lor– I mean, gods… Well. I could see that happening. Ya know… Among the long-lived, love stories are few and far between. It’s not that the yearning for such connection stops… Just that the price of betrayal… It becomes too heavy. A couple that lasts for ten thousand years, when it breaks…” Henry paused for a short moment. “The body might survive, but somethin’ else shatters.”

Sofia nodded along, not really knowing what to say, as Henry seemed to be reminiscing on painful memories.

And Annihilator founded an Empire full of ageless ‘fiends’ at the very beginning of the era.

Moon’s guess was that the voice was likely a god from the lost epoch.

For an instant, Sofia envisioned the devastating heartbreak she would feel if Aphenoreth, with no explanation, suddenly stripped her of his name. Her name.

I suppose… The voice… Now I understand the resentment in his words.

… I will still fuck him up for messing with me though.

Erasing memories. Throwing me in Peace’s domain… Because of your own grudge that has nothing to do with me… You made my trial… And everything… So much more difficult!!!

Sofia heard her own finger bones crack under the strength of her grip on her scepter. The realisation of just how shaken she was sobering her down instantly.

Whew… Is this tunnel a cursed area that makes people emotional…?

Ahah. Look at me getting all worked up over nothing. The voice could have Edrazeketh’s counsellor or Aphenoreth’s knight, or Yvraveteth’s archbishop, or even some ridiculous shit like Ormoncleth’s husband, for all I care. And so what?

I can feel sympathy for you, but you aligned yourself with scripture.

Begging to join your side?

Don’t make me laugh.

Wait for me. I shall feast on your bones.

The group had continued in silence until they reached the end of the tunnel. What they found was not an exit nor a way deeper into the ‘dream’, but the hand people’s royal vault. After scanning the surroundings for traps, the group entered the rectangular corridor of the royal vault. It was built like a prison, locked cells surrounded in magic hand joined stone hands lining the walls, nine of them in total. There were four cells on the left and right, and one at the very back, each holding different things, while the main corridor was stacked high with tiny triangular gold coins.

“You don’t seem very happy about all the gold,” Sofia commented, watching Henry trudge through the mountain of coins toward the first locked cell.

He shook his skull, disappointed. “Gold is gold, I love it, but what use does it have here, in this accursed realm? It certainly won’t get out with ya either, and I cannot even take it with me anyway, how would I hold all this?”

“Storage magic?”

“Hah. That would be rare enough on its own, but one that works here? No such thing in the blood sea. Tssk.”

It’s true that I cannot even access the halls to store some bones…

Henry lightly kicked a pile of coins in frustration, “Tis’ like a ripe cleavage right in my face that I’m not allowed to touch. Torturous. There better be some exceptional booty beyond these doors.”

“There better be something in it for me, considering most things I can’t bring back…”

Henry shrugged, “I’ll make it worth yar time either way, knowledge is somethin’ I got no lack of.”

Sofia and Henry stood in front of the first cell’s door, the lock was a round dome the size of a head, with five conspicuous holes in the middle. Through the door’s bars, covered by a weakly shining semi-transparent magical shield, they could vaguely see the interior.

“Looks like… A stone hand holding a rolled up scroll?” Sofia observed.

“Seems so.”

“What now, do we break through the door?”

“Ya can’t do that,” Henry stopped her, “think ‘bout it. T’was the vault of someone far beyond our strength. And more importantly, we still haven’t found the way out. Means we gotta solve this properly, the way the dream wants us to. Or we could end up stuck here a while. Ya don’t want that, do ya?”

“Fair point… Well I was about to say, the two magic hearts we have look like they would fit easily into this lock’s hole. So that’s probably the proper way?”

“My thoughts as well. So come check them other doors first. If these ‘keys’ are single uses, we don’t wanna be openin’ that shitty door to get a scroll we probably can’t even fuckin’ read.”

“We could only open two of the nine doors then… Did we miss other ‘keys’ on the way?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Wouldn’t be the first time a ruin dangles an unattainable prize in front of me eyes. Just choose one door ya like the odds of, we play by ear from there.”

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