Novaris: Adventure in the Shattered Fang Continent

Novaris. Novem. 903. AGC.

After arriving at the orphanage, Annale checked on Jasmine, who was unconscious but stable. She had also spoken with her fellow High Cleric to gather any other information, but Neladrie claimed she had only gotten there seconds before Annale. So, after Neladrie had been satisfied with Jasmine’s safety, she left and, with the permission of the orphanage, took Jeremie's body with her.

She said that Sol’s Temple would fund and attempt a true resurrection as the body had been dead for far too long for a more common revival spell to work. However, she couldn’t promise much, as Setiel’s assassin could have caused the soul to move on or even magically defiled the body, stopping all attempts at resurrection outside of a god’s avatar stepping in.

Once Neladrie had left, Annale spoke with Emeline, who, as Jasmine’s closest relative, could make decisions on her behalf. And though Emeline wished to give Jasmine’s care to Zefree’s clergy, Annale had convinced her that Jasmine contained Luxana’s power and would be in better care at their temple. Emeline, still feeling irritated at Zefree’s clergy for not catching on to Jasmine’s issue, let Annale take Jasmine.

Annale, for her part, was glad Emeline relented. She knew Luxana took Jasmine’s existence very seriously and did not want a possible clash between Zefree’s and Luxana’s clergy. They were allies, after all. Annale also did not want to further lower Emeline’s opinion of Zefree, as she knew the goddess would not interfere with another’s celestial issues.

So, after two other High Clerics arrived just in case Setiel tried anything else, Annale found herself escorting Jasmine’s limp body to her temple.

Novaris. Duodecir (December). 903. AGC.

It took three months for Jasmine to fully recover. Annale knew Jasmine’s nature was the cause for the long recovery time, as the girl was one of Luxana's special creations. Annale was curious as to what exactly Jasmine was, and after taking her in and being put in charge of her, Annale wanted to investigate the issue.

That was when something odd happened. She had asked for a soul-peering ritual, but she was denied. This had raised all sorts of questions in her mind, as something was clearly being hidden from her.

She had naturally followed up by attempting to peer into the girl's soul with her own presence, but she was rejected. It wasn’t Jasmine’s doing, but something else. Whatever it was made Jasmine’s soul invisible to her senses, and she simply did not want to push against whatever it was.

After that, Annale went to Sol’s Temple to speak with Neladrie, as the woman had inspected Jasmine’s soul. However, other than telling her the ritual had shown a fake soul encapsulating Jasmine’s true soul and that Setiel was somehow involved, she didn’t or couldn’t say anything else.

Annale was in an odd spot. She knew of her goddess's experiments, which were effectively attempts to create celestial-mortal hybrids. These hybrids were created as a weapon against the Eldritch God.

At first, Annale was confused when she heard the reason for their existence.

She had asked herself why the gods needed these celestial hybrids. In fact, why hadn’t they sent out their Celestial Archons to eliminate the aberration from the moment it appeared near the planet?

That was when she learned that all entities had limits.

The Eldritch Gods were blocked by the Ethereal Barrier. World Deities could not manifest outside their divine realms without mortal assistance. In turn, mortals could not reach true godhood and were limited to demi-god status. Monarchs had as many enemies within their own Realms as they did outside of them, and not to mention, they required souls. Even the World Crystals, the creators of worlds and the conduit for gods were bound by the laws of the universe itself.

Well, what about celestials?

Celestials were the ultimate divine weapons, except for two glaring problems. One was that gods were limited in the number of True Celestials they could make, and two was that outside of their god's world, celestials were highly weakened. As soon as a celestial left a planet's Ethereal Barrier, its connection to its god would grow dull and weaken, heavily limiting their powers.

Of course, the gods had tried to go around this problem. The primary way was through their clergy. As a clergy's soul or body were not celestial in nature. Sure, they had a god’s mana within them, but that was not the same as the connection made from being created by a god.

Even so, the issue still persisted, and once clergy left a world's Ethereal Barrier, the connection to their god would grow weak, and their intake of godly mana would dwindle. This wasn’t as bad as it was for celestials, as mortals still had their own mana stored within their souls, with the higher ranks being able to have mana almost as pure and refined as any god. However, this still left the issue of not having enough constant power to outmatch any Eldritch God in power because no mortal demi-god or otherwise would ever have enough mana without a god-like entity supplying it.

Naturally, failing with mortal clergy did not stop the gods, and they moved on to the next best thing—hybrids.

Hybrids were when things got complicated.

Too much celestial essence and a creature was considered a lower-tiered True Celestial hence relying on a god for power. Not enough celestial essence, and they gain traits of celestials but not any actual power. Sometimes, they gained celestial bodies while not having even the slightest speck of a celestial soul. Others had pure celestial souls and mortal bodies, which Annale had learned did not end very well for anyone involved.

So, it had been at this point that many gods had given up. After all, what did it matter if the Eldritch God took the moon and as long as it left the planet alone? They could handle the aberrations for however long it was needed. The true threat was the endless fights with the Realms.

Of course, Luxana did not agree with her kin. That was her moon, and she would see the world burn before allowing that filthy abomination to keep it. So she kept at it.

She did fail a few times, but eventually, she got it right.

Her goddess had found just the right combination to create the perfect hybrids.

A mortal with the capacity for near-unlimited growth while also having a semi-celestial resilient body. Their soul also having the slightest touch of the true divine but still considered mortal enough to allow them to siphon the smallest of trickles of power from Luxana herself.

Not to mention that if nurtured right, they could produce their own version of Luxana’s mana with just as high purity.

Sadly, there were still four drawbacks that were simply impossible to overcome.

One, their bodies could not fully heal through magic due to their celestial nature. Instead, they required time or Luxana’s mana to heal, which they had to first gain at higher ranks since they held no true connection to Luxana.

Two, they had no true connection to Luxana. The connection was a one-way door they took from Luxana, but she had no actual influence over them. So, they had no real reason to stay in the god's service, barring the goddess decreeing to hunt them down if they fled—something which, of course, she did not do.

Three, like any mortal, they needed time to grow in strength. Having a semi-celestial body only took them so far, and they still had to forge their bodies like normal rankers.

Four, like all mortals, they could die.

So, for those reasons, Luxana, above any other god, kept a tight watch on her creations.

However, all of that did not explain the oddity with Jasmine’s soul.

Annale had seen the result of Project Nodel with her own eyes and magical senses, but none of them had just rejected her from seeing their souls. Not to mention, if Jasmine was truly part of their kind, why had she taken so much time to heal? Surely, even the barest of Luxana’s mana trickled into the girl's soul should have sped the process by incredible amounts. At most, Jasmine should have been completely healed within a month of whatever the girl had done to damage herself like that.

The only explanation Annale could think of was that Jasmine was a celestial, but even then, Annale should be able to peer into her soul. In fact, her being a celestial wasn’t possible. Annale had been told Jasmine was part of Project Nodel, and all members of Project Nodel had been accounted for, and none were celestials…

That last sentence tickled her mind. Jasmine had been missing. Jasmine was part of Project Nodel. Something happened during the girl's absence, something that involved Setiel.

But what? A piece of the puzzle was missing. Why was Setiel after the girl? Annale didn’t think Jasmine was so important as to have her killed.

Annale just couldn’t connect the dots. It didn’t make any sense.

Was the girl somehow connected to Setiel? Annale had thought so at first after feeling the dark goddess's energy at the inn. However, now that she knew one of Setiel's minions had been about, it could be that the energy she felt was from whoever this assassin was. It could have been an attempt to trick her somehow. What if it wasn't, though? What if Jasmine was somehow an agent of Setiel?

Her thoughts were cut short when someone knocked on her door.

The conversation was brief. It had simply been one of the priestesses informing her that the Grand Cleric wished to speak with her.

Not wanting to make the Grand Cleric wait, Annale began making her way to the cleric’s office. The office wasn’t far off, and she arrived in seconds, pausing outside of the door to collect her thoughts.

Feeling ready and taking a deep breath, Annale went to knock but was interrupted midway as the Grand Cleric called out in her feminine yet gruff, draconic voice.

“Come in!”

Opening the door and heading inside, Annale felt the slight pressure around her as the dragonkin's glowing silver eyes landed on her. Annale wasn’t sure what happened after A Rank, but whatever it was, it really let the rankers unnerve anyone with their gaze.

The Grand Cleric motioned Annale to sit, and she quickly obliged while focusing on the dragonkin’s shining silver scales to avoid direct eye contact. Annale had seen Grand Cleric Ravnica thousands of times but was still easily enthralled by how her scales glimmered in the light. It was especially a sight to behold when they glinted under the moonlight while the dragonkin channeled Luxana’s power. It was as if she embodied a Lunar Dragon in grace and power.

Sitting, Annale still did not want to meet the dragonkin’s eyes and instead focused on Grand Cleric's white and silver robes. They were beautiful, just like hers, except that Annale’s robes had intricate embroidery made of an alloy of mythral and moonstone. In contrast, Ravnica’s robes were embroidered with an alloy of mythral and adamantium, giving her robes a nice light blue touch compared to Annale's own deep blue. Sadly, it looked like it was time to get to business as Annale heard Ravnica clear her throat before saying the words she had been dreading to hear.

“Annale dear, I know our robes are rather pretty, but at some point, it goes from a compliment to a clear stalling tactic.” Pausing, the dragonkin’s playful tone then became serious as she shifted the meeting into the serious matter it was. “I have called you here for a reason, and at the very least, I would like to look you in the eyes when I give you the news.”

Even though Ravnica’s last words weren’t a direct order, the shift in her tone had told Annale everything she had to know. So, having no other choice, she looked up, meeting Ravnica’s silver eyes, which caused the dragonkin to give her a warm smile.

A smile Annale knew was real. It was hard to tell sometimes with dragonkin as their overall rough features made it hard for them to express feelings with their smiles without also showing a mouth full of sharp, gleaming teeth. However, unlike their male counterparts, female dragonkin were more lithe and had shorter snouts, allowing for smiles that could actually convey emotions. And having known the Grand Cleric for almost half a century, Annale knew when her smiles were genuine.

Sadly, the smile didn’t stay for long, and the Grand Cleric continued bluntly.

“I have known you for quite a while now, Annale, and it does not excite me to tell you this but it has been decided that you will be transferred out of the kingdom for the foreseeable future.”

Annale took a few seconds to register the words, and she replayed them a couple of times, like doing so would change their meaning. The sheer shock of what she had just heard left her motionless, and she could only stare at the Grand Cleric as if hoping she would take the words back. Eventually, however, Annale regained some control and blurted out all her thoughts in a rapid-fire surprise.

“What! Why!?” The surprise then turned to confusion. “It doesn’t make any sense? Why now? Why me? Is it because of the shooting star incident?” Her words eventually turned into worry. “Wait, what about Jasmine!? She just gained consciousness! Our lady specifically put me in charge of her care! I can’t just leave her behind!”

However, it seemed Ravnica expected all of this and calmly waited for Annale to calm down. Something she did rather fast after realizing she had just yelled at the Grand Cleric, and the fact said Grand Cleric was sitting there waiting for her to finish.

Seeing Annale go quiet, Ravnica spoke. However, to Annale’s surprise, her tone was not angry or annoyed. She also didn’t seem moved at all by Annale’s reaction. There was no worry no sympathy, no nothing. Ravnica spoke directly and matter-of-factly.

“No, it is not because of the star incident. Yes, I am aware of our lady's command. Do not forget that you aren’t the only one who speaks to our lady. The reason for your transfer is a way for our lady to reward you for your part in finding Jasmine. Our lady believes it is time for you to reach for A Rank. So, you will be taken to her Divine Realm for further training. This is effective immediately.”

As Ravnica finished, Annale felt the mana in the room rise in purity. Then, in a swirl of blue-silver light, a portal appeared in front of the door.

Out of the portal stepped a silver-haired man with vibrant porcelain skin. The man was no mortal, as indicated by the silver metal wings sprouting from his back. His eyes were orbs of glowing silver, and he had the perfect physique of a celestial. His natural charm could also put any bard to shame, and thankfully for the two ladies in the room, he wore a simple white tunic embroidered with shining silver.

The Moon Angel’s gaze fell on Annale, and he beamed her a smile she would never forget before motioning for her to cross the portal into Luxana’s Silver City. Annale, seemingly forgetting all previous problems, got up and entered her goddess's Divine Realm.