NOVEL WEB Chapter 12 - Intervention
Emeline was brought to another ritual room, the sight of it alone causing her to stare in amazement. The entire room was almost the size of the temple, which, to her, definitely indicated some space magic was involved.
That wasn’t even the craziest thing.
The ritual itself was just as massive as the room, and just staring at it began giving her a headache. It was infinitely more intricate than any of the rituals she had previously seen. She noticed so many sections made of precious crystals and metals that the entire ritual could definitely fund a small army of elite C Rankers for years.
The ritual also had so many shapes and runic words throughout that they just mixed into a giant puzzle that she would never be able to figure out in any number of lifetimes. However, seeing the giant ritual brought her some concerns, which Funryn soon alleviated.
Funryn explained the decision to make a Divine-tier Divination Ritual to Emeline and her thoughts that some other deity could be behind the lower-tier rituals failing. Of course, Emeline, seeing the destruction of just the previous smaller ritual, was concerned with Jasmine's safety. However, Funryn had also told her that she would have three other B Rank High Clerics maintain a shield around Jasmine, which would place the infant in complete safety.
After the explanation, Emeline was quickly taken to a small room, which, according to Funryn, would completely isolate her from anything that happened within the ritual room.
So Emeline watched as the three High Clerics prepared the ritual, which only involved adding a much darker blue dust around the ritual. Then, after finishing, all three clerics went and stood within another three circles that were also part of the ritual and looked like the one in which Jasmine was placed.
Once inside the circles, all three clerics began an incantation that Emeline did not recognize, but she could immediately see its effects as a completely white bubble enveloped Jasmine.
Soon after the bubble came into existence, Emeline heard Funryn start an incantation. The incantation quickly went silent as Emeline felt the room she was in hum to life.
Funryn, seeing everything was ready, stood in front of the ritual circle and began.
“As I utter this incantation, a sacred rhyme;
Let your divination flow through the Crystal’s gleam of space and time;
And through the sacred threads of fate entwined, I invoke the Goddess, pure and kind;
In realms unseen, where spirits align, Grant insight, O Goddess divine.”
Funryn channeled her mana as she spoke while also willing for Zefree’s Mana, which was stored in the core of her soul, to mix with her own. The mana then flowed out and entered the center of the ritual before flowing outward to the rest of the ritual circle.
Then, once the entire ritual glowed with a faint light, she felt it activate and draw in the surrounding mana. However, unlike the other low-tier rituals, this Divine ritual used more of the Goddess's Mana, which was faintly mixed into the air itself within the temple grounds.
Much like the others, the ritual grew in brightness until it reached its zenith once more, and Funryn felt it.
As the mana was consumed to trigger the ritual effects and the magic reached into the beyond, it hit some sort of barrier. Funryn assumed this barrier was what the clerics had encountered earlier, and their lower-tier rituals could not overcome it. It was apparent to her that something was hiding Jasmine's past or future, and it did not wish for anyone to see it.
However, this time, the ritual was powered by a God’s own Mana, which would not yield. So Funryn felt as the ritual’s mana clashed against this intangible barrier. All the while, the dust within the ritual itself began to rise as if stirred by ethereal winds.
The battle between the ritual and barrier lasted for seconds at most, and right as the strange barrier cracked under pressure, the dust glittered, and a vision appeared.
Funryn saw an outsider's view of the Free Spirit Orphanage in the dead of night. Then, the image flickered once more, showing a basket at the orphanage's door.
After the first flicker came another, however, this time, she felt the barrier not only regain its strength but also push back and snuff out the ritual, causing the room to grow dark as the divination failed.
Soon after the room went dark, Funryn felt a presence descend into the room, and she and the other three clerics kneeled.
Emeline felt hope return as she watched with amazement when the image of the orphanage appeared above the ritual. Sadly, her hope was shattered once more as the image, and the ritual darkened, seeming to fail again.
However, soon after the ritual failed, she regained her hope.
A white flame-like mote of light appeared above Jasmine. To her, it seemed like it was just another part of the ritual. However, that thought was also snuffed out as the clerics began kneeling.
In sheer shock, Emeline watched as the white flame grew to embody an all-white humanoid figure with flowing white hair. To Emeline, it was hard to notice any features outside of its apparent femininity.
It took Emeline a second to realize what the figure was, and when she did, she immediately began to kneel as well, but to her surprise, she couldn’t. In fact, she couldn't move at all and was held in place, only being able to look at the figure and unable to close her eyes. However, one thing that quickly stood out was that she could now hear again.
“Oh my, it looks like you have all stumbled upon something you shouldn’t have.” The figure spoke with a bit of playfulness in her tone, placing her hand in front of her mouth as if she couldn’t believe she had just said that. However, it obviously didn’t bother her, and she continued, her tone becoming a bit more serious.
“Oh well, let's just be glad you didn’t see more. Otherwise, things would have ended badly for everyone involved, including me. Now, I hope everyone forgets all that has happened here today.”
Pausing for a bit, she gained a discernable and mischievous grin on her face and spoke.
“Well, in truth, you all don’t have a choice in the matter. I hope you have a lovely day, tah, tah!”
And with a wave of the goddess, everything went dark.
Emeline left the small ritual room along with Avina, feeling content that the divination ritual had gone so well. From what they had seen, Jasmine was left at the orphanage's door by a cloaked individual who slinked off into the night carrying a bundle that was probably her brother. However, it seemed the ritual's power couldn’t show much.
So, still wanting to learn more about the situation, Avina called in two other clerics who helped her make a Mid-tier Divination Ritual, which showed a village in the woods under attack. They saw the mysterious cloaked figure slinking through the night while holding two babies. The figure traveled for days until they finally made it to Aloy and quickly left Jasmine at the orphanage in the dead of night.
From what Emeline and Avina could gather, the stranger was probably some family member who, with all possessions lost in the attack, could only really afford to take care of one child. As such, they left the card with both names behind to help identify Jasmine and leave behind a way for her to find her brother if she ever wanted to.
So, saying goodbye to Jill and Avina, Emeline quickly left the temple, but not before stopping before the clouded sword statue to pay her respects and thank Zefree for all she did to help.