The First Mage

With a proud smile on her face, a young woman was walking down a hallway in the temple, coming from the back of the building on the first floor, where the priests typically resided. Today she would receive her Calling, which would finally make her a full-fledged priestess. Being a descendent of a long line of Worshipers, dating back to when the ritual platform was first discovered, she had been allowed to live in the temple, close to her parents, even before formally becoming a member of the clergy.

When she went around a corner, in the direction of the ritual chamber, she almost bumped into someone, and was momentarily annoyed. “Whoa, watch it!” she said, until she looked up and saw who the person was. Her face grew pale and she immediately fell to the floor and lowered her head. “Heavenly angel, I apologize profusely. I lost my composure for a moment, while being focused only on my upcoming ritual. Please forgive my insolence.”

When she carefully glanced up at the woman, she saw her looking down at her with a neutral expression, nodding, and then walking around her to continue on her way.

“Tsk, not too long ago you were just a second-rate priestess,” she said after the woman was gone and she had gotten back up. Living in the temple, she had known Aelene for a long time, but never liked her attitude. She had been flabbergasted when that woman had become a divine messenger, and wondered why the gods would ever choose someone like her, even over the High Priest and the other upper clergy. Yet she knew that it was not for her to understand the will of the gods, and she accepted it to the best of her ability. However, she was looking forward to what the gods had in store for her, a devoted young woman, from a reputable family.

She walked on and eventually reached the ritual waiting area, which was completely empty, except for one priest, who was waiting in front of the ritual chamber. The priest greeted the young woman as she approached. “There you are, Lilly. Good morning.”

“Good morning, Uncle... and please stop calling me Lilly.”

“Old habits die hard, Lilana,” he said with a chuckle. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

Lilana nodded and the two of them entered the ritual chamber. Even though she had lived in the temple almost all of her life, she had only ever seen this room from the outside. She looked around curiously, but was left a little disappointed by the sparse decoration. I expected more from a holy ritual chamber that nobody is allowed in... she thought.

Stepping closer to the ritual platform, she was at least able to see the ritual scripture sigils for the first time, an intricate web of circles, sigils, and connections between them, on a large platform, about two meters in diameter. Out of fear to anger the gods, she had never drawn sigils herself, but she found them beautiful.

While she marveled at the art on the floor, her uncle stepped around her and the platform, and prepared the ritual, placing her file on the altar behind the platform and laying a white stone on a marked spot on the scripture. “This is it. Please step onto the platform and stand in the center, Lilana.”

She swallowed hard and took a determined step. After a moment of waiting, she looked down at the platform, and she could see that the white stone had disappeared, but nothing else had happened. Her head suddenly snapped up and she looked at her uncle with wide eyes. He met her gaze, an uncertain expression on his face.

“N-no sign...” he stammered.

***

The first thing my eyes fell on when I regained consciousness was a seemingly unmodified ritual platform, presumably in a room that appeared to be dimly lit by candles. Doesn’t look like Cerus... Am I not with Tomar? I thought, but I was surprised when I noticed a pair of breasts in my lower peripheral vision. ‘Seriously...?’

My host’s head snapped up and a familiar looking room came into view, including a priest that I had seen before. “N-no sign...” he stammered “T-the last time there was no sign...”

‘Oh... this is not good...’

“Uncle... I—” my evidently female host said, when she was interrupted by the priest.

“Guards!” he yelled and took a step back. “Lilly, stay there!”

‘Listen! You’re not a Mad One! I’m not a Mad Calling! But if you stay here, it’s not going to end well! Get out now!’ I said, but she ignored me, just like Tomar had in the beginning.

As she started blinking more frequently, I could feel tears gather in her eyes. “Why me!?” she said and started sobbing. “U-uncle, I hear a voice, please help me!”

She took a step towards the priest, but he immediately took another step back. “Stay! There!”

The priest looked at us with wide eyes. Thinking about it logically, he shouldn’t be assuming that she’s a Mad One, because she isn’t going crazy, but if he was remembering the first time there had been no sign, he probably knew what had become of that boy. Whatever stories had spread, they probably weren’t favorable, and Reurig, a temple agent, had heard rumors that Tomar was supposed to have the Mad Calling. That would’ve been bad enough, but she was readily telling him about me. She’s calling him uncle... of course she would trust a family member...

She fell to her knees, crying her eyes out. This can’t end well, can it...? Won’t they just kill us if she admits to it? What will happen to me in that case? Shit...

I hadn’t been able to see anything anymore, but after a few seconds, the priest had apparently gotten closer again, because I could hear his voice from right above us. “Lilly... A-are you okay? Are you... you?”

She looked up at him with watery eyes, but she had trouble speaking. “I... I w-will be k—... ki—...” she sobbed.

I heard the door behind us open, and I could make out the footsteps of at least two people storming in, but the priest raised his hand to stop them. “Lilly, how do you feel?”

“I d-don’t want to d-die!” she said as she tried to wipe away her tears a little.

The priest waved the other people over. “Get her into an isolation room, I need to talk to the High Priest,” he instructed, and when Lilly was grabbed by her arms and looked around, I could see that the people were agents. Wait, why were there no guards...?

“Ahhh! Wait! Uncle! Don’t let them—” she said in a panic and started struggling, but he managed to calm her down a little.

“Please don’t worry, Lilly! You aren’t acting like a Mad One. We will get to the bottom of this. Just go with them for now. I will come to see you soon,” he said, and the agents turned her around forcefully, to lead us out of the room and deeper into the temple.

It easily took five minutes until we arrived at a series of rooms with heavy looking doors that had numbers on them. The temple is way bigger than I thought... The agents shoved us inside the first room and Lilly barely managed to catch herself, while the agents left and shut the door behind us.

“*Sniff*” came a sound from her as she stumbled over to the bed and sat down. She only looked around briefly, but there wasn’t much to see. This mostly barren room was more comfortable than my last jail cell, but it was still clearly a cell. There was nothing in it but a simple bed and a chamber pot, with the only light coming from very small windows, close to the ceiling. Would we have been brought here if the temple had captured us back then?

I didn’t know how I had gotten back to Alarna, or how much time had passed. I had a lot of questions, and a host who wasn’t willing to talk to me. Since we were in the temple, I also couldn’t assume that there would be anyone who would encourage her to speak with me. Miss you, Phiona... The only thing I knew was that I was still in Erinn. Wait... Erinn? That’s the name of this world, right...? But nobody here has ever used that name... Where did I get that from? Whatever. Doesn’t matter for now. Options...

Best case scenario, her uncle would trust that she’s okay and somehow get her out of this. However, even in that case, she would not have a proper Calling yet, and if they tried to do the ritual again, I had no idea what would happen to me. Or they might try to learn more about me and this Calling, which was also something I wasn’t keen on.

Worst case scenario... Well, they would just kill us. I didn’t know what would happen to me in that case either, but I was certain that it would not be good.

My instincts were telling me to flee, but that would be difficult from inside an unwilling host, and technically this girl had at least a chance to get out of this unscathed. If we tried anything, however, that would presumably be the end of it. Would I be willing to risk her life? I felt like the answer to that question would’ve come more easily to me before I met Tomar.

‘You don’t have to be scared, Lilly. I can’t hurt you, and you won’t hurt anyone because of me either. There’s even a chance they won’t kill you.’

She didn’t respond. Instead, she started to repeatedly hit her head lightly with her hand. “Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it...”

‘Don’t do that, Lilly, you—’

“My name is not Lilly!” she suddenly blurted out, before covering her mouth with her hands in a panic.

‘Oh? Sorry about that, that’s what the priest called you. What is your name? I’m Miles.’

“Y—... You have a name?” she said in a careful whisper.

‘I do. I’m not what you think I am.’

She was quiet for a moment, but eventually she did continue. “I’m Lilana...”

‘Nice to meet you, Lilana.’

“Y-you t— Ugh, what am I doing!?”

‘It’s okay, we—’

“Screw you!! Nothing is okay! Whatever you are, you are the reason I’m dead! I was finally going to be a real priestess!! And now...!? Now...”

‘I’m sorry that this happened to you, but it was basically an accident.’

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better!? Just get out of my head!”

‘Unfortunately, that would take a bit of work.’

“What...? Wait, you can get out!? You just don’t want to, is that it!? You want me to die! Do you even know who I am!? Who my parents are!?”

‘Oh... you didn’t seriously just go there...’

“Get! Out!!!”

‘You know what? Fuck you. What was I even thinking? Alright! We’ll do everything we can to get me out of here right now. Just lay back and relax. Clear your mind and picture floating in the sky, weightlessly drifting along, without moving a muscle.’

“Are you messing with me!?”

‘Just do as I say, and I promise you, I’ll leave.’

Hesitantly, she followed my instructions. She layed down, closed her eyes, and relaxed every part of her body, focusing on her mental picture.

3... 2... 1... I thought, and took over control.