Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 283

Chapter 283: A Familiar Reunion

Lysette was ushered to a small and rather-dreary looking cottage just outside the main temple proper.  After being rushed into the main temple itself upon her arrival, Lysette had little time to explore and take in the vastness of the greater temple complex.  Now, however, with little to do but explore and wait until Zarielle’s next summons, she spent much of the early morning strolling around, taking in the surroundings and occasionally making smalltalk with the acolytes tending to the grounds.

Zarielle’s Grand Temple, a hyperboloid tower about ninety yards in diameter at its base and slowly tapering in width before expanding outward over the final fifty feet of height, stood at the center of both the compound and the capital city as a whole.  However, there were dozens of other buildings which together made up the remainder of the complex.  A small dining hall in the back.  A few cottages little bigger than Lysette’s dorm room back during her time at the Academy for distinguished guests and senior staff.  Barracks for the remainder and for visiting pilgrims, of whom there were a not insubstantial number.  And finally, a lot of buildings for administrative staff, diplomats, liaisons to the secular functions of the nominally-separate government, and so on. 

As befitting the Grand Temple of Darkness, none of the day’s light made its way to the surface, and not just because of the high latitude keeping the sun low at all times of the day.  The entirety of Ereill City was surrounded by a veil of shadow not unlike being eternally shrouded in a dark fog bank or cloud of black smoke.  But on the temple grounds themselves, the veil was thicker still, such that even a trained mortal eye would have been unable to see beyond their hand if not for divine assistance.  Only a few lighting crystals in some of the buildings and a dimly-lit pathway from the outside gate to the main temple doors provided the barest reprieve from total darkness.  Beyond the aesthetic and religious ambience, it was also an effective deterrent against spies and other ne’er-do-wells that might try to infiltrate the compound.

All of the acolytes were Cultivators, as to be expected, but most of them were far weaker than Lysette would have anticipated.  Far from being an elite guard force for the temple, it almost seemed as though their strength was being deliberately hobbled.  But when Lysette returned to her quarters around noon and began to Cultivate herself, she realized that that weakening was just a byproduct of the Temple itself and no act of sabotage.

Essence moved strangely on the compound.  She couldn’t tell for sure just through her aura, but it seemed as though the Temple was funnelling most of the ambient Essence into itself.  Lysette reasoned that the confluence of parallel worlds all anchored together in that single point had something to do with the irregularity, though how and why exactly remained unclear.  Even her best efforts to speculate came up with nothing.

After an hour of Cultivating with nothing to show for it, she was roused back to the physical world— her physical world, she corrected— by tapping at the door.  It was still far too early for her summons, and her promised clothes weren’t set to arrive for a few more hours.  Though her bemusement at the situation turned to anticipatory excitement as a familiar indignant voice permeated into her mind.

“I swear, Lady Lysette, if you do not open this door in the next five seconds, I am going to come in through the window, and then I will see to it that Lady Zarielle bills you directly for all the damages!”

Lysette opened the door to the greeting of onyx feathers fluttering about all around her as a certain Celestial crow made its way up and around Lysette.  Though, Nightshade stopped just as quickly when reaching her hair.

“There is something very different about you, Lady Lysette.  I would have an explanation.”

“Ah.  I created an avatar because I could not leave the people of Ciricu unguarded, even when I am also needed elsewhere.  Zarielle was quite clear during our earlier meeting that securing the safety of my people is and ought to be my highest priority.”

“How quickly the young godlings grow up.  I remember it like it was just yesterday when you were just starting off your journey and you needed me to keep your wits about you because you clearly had no idea what you were doing.”

“Nightshade!” Lysette shouted.

“Cultivating while unprotected on the side of the road, letting a potentially hostile individual sneak up on you like that?  Letting yourself get involved in matters beyond your ability when you should have been taking time to learn how to use your power.  In secret, mind you.  Or did you just decide to ignore Lady Zarielle’s orders because you thought you knew better or wanted to choose a path that was ever so slightly more convenient in the morning!”

“It all worked out in the end–”

“All worked out in the end?  You want to say a quick prayer to your lucky stars, Lady Lysette?  Maybe pat yourself on the back for a job well done?  You owe Lady Zarielle for all the work she’s done making sure you didn’t get your sorry excuse for a deity canned I don’t even want to count how many times.”

“Nightshade,” Lysette said flatly.

“Don’t ‘Nightshade’ me while I’m in the middle of ranting, Lady Lysette!”

“Fine.  No wing scratches for you then.  Your preferences have been noted.”

“How dare you, Lady Lysette!”

Nightshade began flapping around Lysette and cawing at maximum volume directly into her eardrums.  The ringing sensation was less than pleasant, though easily ignored as Lysette focused away from her avatar until it stopped..

“I was told you were looking forward to seeing me again.  But if all you’re looking forward to is berating me for every misstep I’ve made on the journey so far, then I’ll take my chances with the cost of window repairs.”

“Feh!  Truly, you have no respect for your elders, Lady Lysette.  If I were a couple hundred years younger, I’d peck the respect you are lacking directly into that thick skull of yours.”

“Do you want to continue to act like an ass, or do you want to settle down, get some scratches, and catch up like friends instead of enemies?”

“Fine, Lady Lysette.”  Nightshade settled down in Lysette’s arms, and then in her lap as she sat down on one of the small couches in the sitting area.  “But I will insist on the wing scratches.”

Lysette grinned.  “Right here, if I recall.”  She traced her fingers along the base of each of  Nightshade’s wings, right along the analogue of her shoulder blades.  After an affectionate coo from the crow, Lysette’s fingers dug through the thick plumage and into her once-and-future familiar’s rough skin.  She started gently, rubbing her fingers in tiny circles, only intensifying once Nightshade had fluffed out and gotten comfortable within her new temporary nest.

“I had forgotten just how nice that feels, Lady Lysette.”

“An apology for earlier would be appreciated.  Unless you would rather I stop.”

“You are most unkind at times, Lady Lysette.”

“Sometimes I’ve had to be.  I can’t save everyone from themselves.  I’m sure if someone were reading a tale of my exploits some day in the far future, they’d malign me as terror incarnate, as a cold-blooded murderer, as the very incarnation of demonic ruin.  It takes a certain amount of unkindness to survive amidst eternal war.”

“I’m sure that’s true, Lady Lysette, but I’m not sure that’s relevant to my wing scratches.”

Lysette scratched a bit harder, earning more contented cries from the crow.  “I’m just a little frustrated about it, that’s all.  It’s easy to judge from the comfort of one’s own home, living in peace.  It’s easy to speak of one’s better nature when you don’t have to make decisions that impact the lives of thousands, if not millions.  To make split-second decisions of who lives and who dies, not knowing the infinite ramifications that might or might not later happen over the course of however many years.  But in the moment, when fleeing will only invite more people after you and mercy is just asking to be stabbed in the back at a later date, sometimes–  I sound a little like Karchek did, I suppose.”

“Karchek?”

“The previous owner of this body.  Anyway, I can’t even say I don’t like it.  Fighting.  Killing.  Walking the precipice, as Zarielle called it.  It’s who and what I am.  And as Mirette told Zarielle earlier, I will do anything to protect Mirae and the people of Ciricu, no matter what it takes.”

“I’m certainly relieved to hear your resolve has improved in the past several months.  It’s a good look for you.  Confident, calm, collected, able to make a decision based on what you think is best at the time.  In addition, you carry the will to carry that decision out no matter what people think of you, and when circumstances shift, the ability to change course accordingly.  And lastly, the strength to enact that will.  I am sure Lady Zarielle is proud of you.”

“Like a mother to her daughter.  That’s what she told Mirette.  I wonder if that’s how she really sees me.  Or if those are just words she said to tug at my heartstrings.  To make me more pliable to whatever future schemes she has.”

“I could not say.”

“I know, Nightshade.  You are a friend.  I can admit as much.  But I know that Zarielle is your first, last, and only liege.  You aren’t the type who could serve two masters.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“It’s the way you treated me just a bit ago.  You would speak ill of my previous self and the mistakes I’ve made, but I’ve never heard you treat Zarielle with anything less than complete deference.  I–  I suppose it’s not fair to put you on the spot like that.  You’ve served as one of her messengers and guides for hundreds, if not thousands of years.  Far longer than I’ve been alive.”

“Indeed.  It has been thousands of years.”

“I’m not the first who you’ve guided, am I?”

“The third of Zarielle’s Godslayers.  The first was about eight thousand years ago.  The second, fifteen hundred years later.”

“Were they both of this world?”

“They were.  Generally a deity will elevate a person from the world in which they have the strongest foothold.  Even so, neither of them lasted particularly long.  The first ran afoul of a rival Godslayer after twenty years.  The other was too overconfident in their abilities shortly after being promoted to divinity.  They didn’t make it a month.”

“That must’ve been difficult for you and Zarielle both.”

“Why do you think I was so incensed with you earlier, Lady Lysette?  You may be powerful.  More so than any of Lady Zarielle’s previous Godslayers.  And certainly more fortunate by far.  But your ego is commensurately large to accommodate.  The last thing she, you, or I need is for you to let your power go to your head and ruin everything we have worked so hard to achieve.”

“Thank you, Nightshade.”  Lysette continued stroking the bird’s wings until she had all but dissolved into a puddle of feathers in the demigoddess’s lap.  “I know reasons have kept us apart for a long time, but I am glad to see you again.”

“As am I.  If I may be so bold, what are your plans now?”

“Zarielle requested that I attend a ball with her tonight as her guest of honor.  Mirette volunteered me to acquiesce to that request.  I suppose I’m waiting for an acolyte to come by with my outfit.  And maybe some dancing lessons.  Mirette also promised that I would dance with Mirae back home.  Said it would be good practice for the wedding.”

“With Lieutenant Mirae?”

Lysette nodded.

“Congratulations to the two of you.  However, the question I was trying to ask was about after that.  When we head back to wherever it is that we’re going.  About the plans that you have for your own growth.”

“I suppose we continue the building of Ciricu, hopefully some people from surrounding villages want to join our community.  We’ll have to put together a temple at some point, I suppose.  Though that’ll have to be in the future.  I need it for my own development as a goddess, but…”  Lysette paused.  “Not if it comes at the expense of the people of Ciricu.  When they are fully established, comfortable, and we are all collectively able to defend ourselves from outside forces.  But not before then.  They are my first priority, even before my ascension and subsequent vengeance.”

“It sounds like you have a wise plan ahead of you, Lady Lysette.  I look forward to aiding however I may.”

“Thank you, Nightshade.”

Chapter 282: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116749814

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 284: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116884298