The Greatest Sin

Neneria called the darkfur from the ground to her service. The beastman stood as a ghost before, slightly opaque, his colours dulled. “I am Neneria.” The woman said and the beastman kneeled.

“I bow to Packmaster’s equal.”

“Take me to her.”

Sara returned to Arcadia. A day had been wasted on travel, she had slept four hours on the flight back, and then slept another thirty minutes on the short train from Arcadia’s single airport to the entrance. Then she had wandered in just as she had done before. This time, there was no foolish act, no stupid journalist about, nothing of the sort.

This time, it was a straight march towards to the Divine Library. Sara had discarded the damn hat but kept the coat, it was a good coat, and it was a better blanket for when she slept. She loosened her hair and strode with all the pride of the title that Arascus had gifted her: Duchess Sara Daganhoff.

She walked past the great guild halls without even casting a glance at them, they were huge imposing buildings, but she had taken enough pictures before Elassa had thrown her to Norje. On one hand, she was stupid for not choosing a location closer, on the other, she thanked every Divine in existence for the fact she said Norje and not the UNN.

She heard mages training their chants again. Same as yesterday, exact same in fact. She kept on carrying forwards, no reason to watch more basic attempts at making water hover. There was something in that made Sara irrationally angry, why even have that power if you’re only going to use it for a basic magic trick? She marched into the Divine Gardens, how grand they were. How tremendous, all ponds and fields and lone trees and benches, virtually everything, even the cobblestone pathways were blessed by Elassa. How amazing.

Sara did not care a bit anymore. Elassa had put far too much of a sour taste in her mouth. She did not even ask if Sara wanted to be sent back! She sat on one of the benches nearby the Library. Some people passed by every now and then, but there was little activity this far away from the centre. The sun slowly travelled across the sky, the shadow of that huge monolith of a building creeped its way onto Sara and the woman stood up.

If no one was going to appear here anyway, there was no reason to wait for darkness. She tested the front door, it was open once again. Of course the woman would have not locked the door. Sara gave on final look around herself, there was no one nearby, and she entered the Divine Library.

This time, she could actually take it in. Lamps miraculously floated through the air, the bookcases were much too high for her to reach even a quarter of the way up. They seemed to stretch on for eternity, more like tight alleyways than the furniture of a building. The staircase was there too, with its huge glass windows behind it, the dirty glass distorting the blue sky behind it. Sara took a tentative step forward. Then another. Another. She walked to the first stair.

Was she supposed to call out? Maybe the Divine she considered to be Anassa was asleep? Did Divines even sleep? Arascus never seemed to. Maybe Arascus was unique though? She had never seen him fly, whereas Elassa could go almost as fast an airplane. Whatever. Sara pushed the questions out of her head and took her first step onto the staircase. “I would not do that if I were you.” A cold voice said from behind Sara.

She spun on the spot. The Goddess Elassa had been talking to was stood there, in her silken red dress, that hair of pitch black. She stared at Sara with amusement. “I applaud your tenacity Miss journalist, but I must implore you to leave.” Sara stared back for a moment, beautiful did not begin to describe the woman, she had more akin to a carved statue of a queen than to humanity, her face was perfect, her cheek bones, her nose, her eyes. Sara could practically fall into them.

The Goddess smiled and snapped her fingers. A current of air pushed Sara off the stairs and she stumbled forwards. “Up there is my domain, you are not to enter.”

“I’m here…” Sara said shakily and she shook the worry out of her. She was damn nobility now, the title was given by a God himself! She had a better claim to it than any of the old aristocrats in Epa! “I’m here to speak to you.” Sara said sternly. The woman smiled as if Sara had just given her the best joke in the world.

“Well I did need some entertainment, but you’re not going to learn anything here.” She cooed. “And if you do write about this, you won’t get published.”

“You’re Anassa.” Sara said accusingly. “Of Sorcery.” The woman’s smile dropped. Her posture changed entirely, the leopard playing with her prey was gone. Her eyes focused, she straightened and stopped looking down her nose at Sara.

“And?” Anassa said. That was all the confirmation needed to know she was correct.

“Is this place private? No one will overhear us?” Anassa gave no reaction, no movement as a thick black tar spread from her feet. In a mere second, Sara was swallowed into that darkness, she stood in a room without a floor, with walls, without depth or light, but she could see herself as if lamps were beaming at her from every direction. Anassa was the same, as if the simple ambience of whatever this… was it a place? Sara did not know, her eyes flickered about trying to search for a corner or an edge. There was something pleasant about it too though, the mages training outside were doing party tricks. This was proper magic.

“No one will overhear.” Anassa said, her tone a low rumble. Sara wished she could sound as commanding as that. That’s how proper nobility should sound.

“Why have you not escaped yourself if you can do magic?” She went off script.

“Do you know what a containment crystal is?”

“No.” Whatever it was, it did not sound good though.

“Then you would not understand the explanation anyway.” Anassa crossed her arms. “Now what do you want?”

“Are you loyal?” Sara asked. Arascus had said Anassa would understand. Anassa apparently did not understand… or maybe she did. Sara had expected bewilderment or joy… not raw rage. Anassa took a step and the distance between the two was closed. She looked down on Sara, almost twice her height.

“Am I loyal? Am I loyal?” She repeated the question in disbelief. “This is the thanks I get? Am I loyal?” She laughed as if Sara had just called her a whore. “Am I loyal? I have been locked in here for a thousand years! Elassa has not even heard a word out of me! I saw my sorcerers die one by one until they were wiped out! I have four! FOUR! Left! CHILDREN! CHILDREN I HAVE TO RAISE! When Fer asked me to assistance, I sent them away without a second thought! AM I LOYAL?” Sara felt her feet sink into the ground, or maybe Anassa simply grew taller. “Do not insult me like that you mortal girl. That is a question only my family can ask me. If you lived for another ten thousand years, you would not even have an iota of the prestige required to think of uttering those words.” Sara’s feet were raised off the ground and she floated up into the air to look straight into the woman’s eyes. “Choose your next words carefully.”

Sara struggled in the air as an invisible force wrapped itself around her chest. She could feel her ribs struggle and cry out as it pressed harder. She kicked her legs in the air and flailed her arms. “Your… your…” She struggled to the get the words out as air struggled to fill her lungs. “Pl-Please…”

The tension around her chest gave an inch. Sara took the mile. “Your father told me to ask you that.”

And just like that, Anassa changed from the tiger hunting her to a kitten. She blinked, the forces binding Sara faded away and the woman was dropped to the ground, she landed roughly and fell onto her rear. She looked at Sara with a new light, a certain respect. “I am indeed Anassa of Sorcery, what is your name?” Suddenly another force, so gentle it may have been a cloud, pushed Sara off the ground and onto her feet.

“I am Lady Daganhoff.” Sara said proudly. “Sara, title of Duchess.” That was far less smooth than Sara had hoped for but it got the point across, and it was her first time dealing with an angry Divine. That had to be worth something!

“Entitled by whom?”

“By Arascus, God of Pride.” Sara beamed, the tension had dissipated entirely. That show of force had been terrifying but looking at Anassa now, how those eyes practically beamed at Sara, she would not believe that the woman would harm her. The Goddess actually gave her a smile.

“That is good.” The Goddess even inclined her head, a single nod. “I have nothing to apologize for, you should have said earlier.”

“Arascus told me ask you that, he said that you’d know.”

“Indeed.” The woman sat down on nothing, an invisible chair of forces Sara did not even bother trying to comprehend. She even leaned back, her arms falling and her breathing slowing as if she was relaxing. “Sit.” Sara tentatively copied the woman’s motions. A single glance backwards told her there was nothing but that endless abyss of darkness there, but then her rear touched invisible pure cotton. She leaned back, this… was it a chair? Whatever it was, it had a back too. She wanted to close her eyes and go to sleep. To fade away in that spirit of pure delight that now caressed and massaged her back. “How long has he been out?”

“Six months, twenty-one days.” Sara forced her tired eyes open. “I led an expedition into the quarantine zone to crack the Godstone prison.” Anassa leaned forwards, her elbows resting on some invisible table. Sara carefully reached forwards, there was indeed something there. Invisible but present.

“You led the expedition?” Anassa asked. Sara nodded and started to explain about the drill Mikhael had constructed, about Iliyal and the cult he ran. Some details, the less important ones, she left out.

“We have a plan, we would have tried to rescue you earlier but we didn’t know where you were.”

“Do not worry, do not worry!” Anassa laughed out loud, her face pure joy. “The fact you’ve told me this means the thousand years have not been wasted, what is a thousand more? If he’s sent you here, that means we’re doing something? What?”

“We need your sorcerers again.” Sara said. “To kill Leona.”

“You want mortals to kill a Divine?” Anassa asked. “They most certainly could, I’ve heard Atis was killed by men, but Leona?”

“I don’t know the exact plan, it’s not my field.”

“Who made it?”

“Arascus and Iliyal I think, but I don’t know. I’ve just been told we need firepower and…” She shrugged. “We’ve tried mechanical firepower but we’re not willing to risk it when encountering Leona. Sorcery though...”

“Sorcery is tried and tested, there is no luck required.” Anassa seemed to understand. “And what about me?”

“Leona has to go first, Arascus is not willing to even contact Fer even though we know where she is.” Anassa leaned forwards and thought for a minute. Two. Three. The only sound in that darkness Sara heard was the Goddess’ deep breathes and her own heartbeat. “We will try Goddess, I can’t promise a date but-” Anassa waved a hand and interrupted her.

“Oh no, do not worry. Now that he is free, I’ll be out soon.” Anassa said. “I can give you two, not out of greed. One of the children I’m training failed his awakening, he needs to stay close to me so that I can stabilize his growth.” Sara nodded. This was… Sara had expected bargaining… Expected the woman not to get along, she thought she would have to try and patch up a thousand years of isolation. Anassa though... Loyal did not even begin to describe her. The glow in her eyes was pure fanaticism.

“Thank you.” Sara said.

“Do not thank me, it is for the war effort.” Anassa tapped her fingers on the invisible table. “Leona though… well after a thousand years, I’m sure father would have thought up of a way to kill her.” She leaned back. “Imagine it, sorcery unconstrained by her luck? It would be a higher class of human.” Sara did not know exactly how to reply to that. She merely avoided the comment.

“I will be staying away from Arcadia, I can leave you my phone number. We have about three weeks before the plan is finalized and apologies again, but I don’t know how long they’ll be away.”

“I’ll give you Edmonton and Fleur.” Anassa said. “They should be with you in a week. They’re both argumentative but fall in line to hierarchy.” Sara nodded.

That was surprisingly easy. It was almost… disappointing. Sara had wanted to report back to Arascus with how she had to negotiate and stand up to Anassa, not simply… not simply ask and receive. “I also have a question, for my own curiosity, if you’re going to be freed, what would it require?”

“I am trapped in Arcadia.” Anassa said. “There are more than a million mages here. Even Arascus in his prime would not free me from this prison. That is if you can do it quickly enough for Elassa not to notice.” Sara nodded.

“Very well, that is everything.” She finished and looked around. The darkness melted away to reveal the Divine Library.

“Leave through the front door, the lock hasn’t been replaced in nine hundred years.” Anassa said. “And it is good to meet you Duchess. I hope we meet again.” Sara gave the woman one final look.

This Divine that had been an Empress in character, a domineering, terrifying force of nature. All it took to turn her into a giggling girl who had just received an ice cream was a mention of Arascus. Sara realised she had never seen Arascus’ magic. The God simply talked and they listened.

If Anassa was capable of this, and she thought of Arascus like that. What was Arascus capable of?