The First Mage

‘What is that?’ Lilana asked as I was looking at the script I had found.

I knew that Tomar and I hadn’t written this back when we were still in Alarna, so it would have to have been left here afterwards. Though it wasn’t really a functioning script. The output location didn’t make any sense for scripting, but it appeared to point towards the south in real world terms, like a compass. Specifically, in the direction of our campsite where we had spent our first night after leaving Alarna.

“It’s a message from my companions. Looks like they've been here, but they didn’t stick around. This tells us where we will hopefully find them though.”

‘Great, we don’t have to go to Cerus then?’

“Probably not. Though we do have to leave town.”

‘Ugh, couldn’t they have just stayed here?’

“It’s seriously not that bad out there. Actually, you might even like it.”

‘Right, who wouldn’t want to walk around the beast-infested Wildlands?’

I couldn’t be certain that the script meant what I thought it did, but it was the only thing that made sense to me. I knew that there had been money in this drawer when Tomar and I had last been here, and nobody else should be able to write a script like this. Not to mention that there was absolutely no reason to leave any kind of clue here if you didn’t assume that someone might come here to find it. They realized I might not be dead and they went out of their way to leave a note for me, just in case I somehow managed to come back and landed here of all places.

With our next destination decided, we’d now only have to find a way out of town. Unfortunately the only viable one I knew about was the east gate, when the workers returned in the late afternoon. Since it was past noon, they would’ve already left again after their lunch break, so we had to wait a few hours. I didn’t mind all that much though, since that meant more time for the pain to pass. I went into Tomar’s room and laid down on the bed to relax for a little bit.

‘Huh? Shouldn’t we go meet them?’

“Getting out of town without permission isn’t that easy. We’ll slip past the returning workers at the east gate in a few hours.”

‘Hm, okay.’

Since all signs pointed towards Tomar and the others being nearby, I had to assume that they decided not to stay in Cerus for one reason or another. They had apparently also decided to stay outside town, which would probably be safer, seeing how all four of them were essentially wanted here.

Reurig had told us that getting out of Cerus wouldn’t be an issue, so he would probably be able to get in and out of Alarna unnoticed as well. Depending on how much they had been able to prepare before they left Cerus, they might have needed Tomar’s money to buy some provisions here, and Reurig might have left the note while he was here to get it.

I still wanted to know what the soldiers were up to, though I could only speculate. Instead, I thought I might be able to learn more about the current situation.

“Hey, the High Priest is probably making moves, now that he has Hope, right?”

‘He’s just doing his job as the head of the temple, to promote our work and to get people to pay their respects to the gods.’

“Right... Say, what exactly do the gods even do that makes people worship them?”

Based on what Tomar had told me, people believed that praying would bring good fortune, especially when done in the presence of a god, where they would bless their followers. However, even though gods would appear in Alarna every now and then, many people didn’t pay much attention to them, because they didn’t seem to actively do anything.

In a way, the situation wasn’t so different from earth. There was no concrete evidence for any gods existing in my old world, so it came down to believing, both in their existence and that they were actually doing anything. Here, something akin to gods evidently existed, but people didn’t know what exactly they did, so it came down to belief as well.

‘Please don’t tell me you’re one of those who refuse to see their greatness... The gods created this world, they brought us the water sources and the ritual platform, and they assign people their Callings. That should be enough to be thankful, yet they also visit us to bless their faithful followers! It’s only natural to devote your life to them!’

Natural, huh? I thought. I had never been much of a believer myself, but if I didn’t know what I knew, maybe I could’ve seen her point to a degree. These beings did seem supernatural, and they did have powers that would seem otherworldly to these people. However, I also had to assume that their powers were based on Omega, because they seemed to have mana and had definitely used scripts in our presence. It also seemed like they had been monitoring the ritual platform in Cerus, but based on our experiments, I was fairly certain they weren’t involved in the normal Calling ritual. It was still possible that they had originally created these so-called divine instruments, but would that really warrant a following for eternity?

“Let’s say I’m on the fence,” I said. “Out of curiosity, if they weren’t actually doing all that, would you still say they were worth worshiping?”

‘What do you mean?’

“Hypothetically, if they weren’t responsible for the Callings, and their blessings didn’t actually do anything, would you still worship them?”

‘Hm. I think we would still have to be grateful for the things they brought us.’

“I see.”

It would probably be possible to shake this girl’s beliefs, just by showing her what we could do. This was good news for when we might need to convince people to follow us. Since she had been a priestess-to-be, I was sure that other people would be susceptible to the truth as well, though I didn’t know how actual Worshipers would react yet.

That particular Calling was still a little confusing to me. It supposedly turned people into more of a believer than they might have been already, and it also included some more random abilities and knowledge, such as what they needed to operate the school at the temple. But unlike the other Callings, which all had pretty obvious benefits, it seemed kind of useless to become “more of a believer,” so I wasn’t sold on the idea that it was actually part of the Calling.

Similar to how the Ruler Calling hadn’t originally been called that, and was only turned into it once someone had started using it in a certain way, I thought that maybe people were believers all on their own, and the Calling was about something else. Lilana certainly seemed like a strong believer, but she hadn’t gotten the Calling yet, so that was all her and her upbringing. Meanwhile, Oryn had seemed much more like a researcher than a priest to me. Maybe he did believe, but I had not felt like that was his priority in life.

Even if I were to assume that the gods had actually created the Callings, however, would they have really created one dedicated to following them? Unless there was some secret benefit for them in creating believers, it seemed weird to me, and it didn’t quite add up. In the grand scheme of things, the Calling seemed more like one for providing services, like teachers and doctors, even if it could be argued that physicians, clerics, and gods were somewhat related.

Time passed, while I was thinking all of this through, and eventually I got up again to make my way to the eastern gate.

***

After a physician had examined Oryn and confirmed that he was fine externally, Aelene relaxed a little. She and two priests had brought Oryn to his room, where she had been waiting for him to wake up, while she continued reading her book. Eventually, Oryn let out a small groan and she could see him open his eyes.

“Oryn, are you okay?”

“Ngh... Where am I?”

“We’re in your room. Do you remember what happened? I found you in the isolation room, you were unconscious.”

“Isolation r—... Oh! Lilana! Where is she!?” he said as his eyes shot wide open.

“Apparently she escaped after knocking the agents out. Both you and them were bound and gagged, and she was nowhere to be seen.”

“We have to find her! She knows more about the energy scripture sigils!” he said and tried to get out of bed in a hurry, though his movements were slow and weak.

Aelene quickly pushed Oryn back down and looked at him in exasperation. “You’re not going anywhere until you’ve been examined again! Do you really think the High Priest doesn’t have people looking for her already?” she said, followed by a quiet “Seriously... why was I even worried?“

Oryn struggled a little, but he felt weaker than he ever had and he quickly realized he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

“What happened with Lilana?” Aelene asked him.

“She knew sigils I’ve never seen...” Oryn said in wonder. “And I believe she used me to give herself the energy! Oh! The sigils!”

He examined his arm, but disappointingly, the scripture had been erased. “Where is my notebook!?” he said and tried to get up again, just for Aelene to push him back down.

“You’re staying here, you idiot! Your notebook was destroyed, we found it in a bucket of water.”

“Darn it! We have to find her, Aelene! She is the key!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Aelene said as she called for another priest to watch him, while she would go report that Oryn had regained consciousness.

For the majority of the past two weeks, her life had been relatively uneventful, despite her new position. She had gotten somewhat used to people treating her differently, and even to the performances she had to give in front of people. Now, however, she felt like her quiet days might be coming to an end.

She didn’t know what exactly had happened with Lilana yet, but she figured that Oryn would need a few more minutes until he would calm down a little and be able to give a proper report. However, he had mentioned giving energy to people, and that topic was one that the High Priest had been deeply interested in, so he would appreciate being informed as soon as possible. With a sigh, she made her way to his office, her book in hand once again.