Chapter Twenty-Three Clearing the Red Temple

Taking a breath, she finally pushed the door open with her friends following behind her. It was time to face the final challenge, and waiting for her was a goddess. She stood upon a dias looking quite divine, different from the others. She was shorter than her sisters, but still rather tall. She was regal with soft blue eyes. Long blue-green hair flowed down her shoulders, while three pairs of scaled wings spread from her back decorated with scales of silver, golden-white, and black. The same pattern ran up her arms and legs, across her belly and embraced her three pairs of naked breasts. Like the others she wore no clothing at all, but that didn’t detract from her in any way. It seemed only to add to the impression that her very appearance gave.

The goddess smiled, “Welcome Child of the Cycle, I’m Vishiera, Goddess of Shadows, keeper of the balance, and the warden of souls. You are here for your final test, but by this point I already know you will pass. Take your clothes off and we can begin.”

Arlie was already half out of her clothes by the time the goddess asked, she’d seen that coming. Her friends walked off as she drew closer to the dais. The goddess placed hands upon her shoulders, instructions on her lips. Then she was elsewhere.

Arlie blinked as she took in the new room, she was settled on the floor, in front of her was a throne, behind which hung a banner with her clan crest emblazoned upon it and settled on the throne was a nude woman with wings sprouting from her back. The other girl looked almost exactly like Arlie, her hair was the same, she had the same dark eyes with a mystic blue glow and the same petite figure. Even her large breasts seemed quite familiar to Arlie. It was almost like looking in a mirror, but there was something different about the eyes, a wisdom of spirit that seemed somehow wiser and felt ancient. The wings were lovely, covered in elaborate scale feathers, reflecting patterns of blue and green, numerous hues that seamlessly melded with each other. Instead of feet, the other girl had talons, scales ran up her skin as well, yet hid nothing.

“My daughter, we have much to discuss and so little time. It’s not often that we have a chance to talk like this, so we shall not squander it. I know you have many questions, but you will have to save them for another time.”

“Who are you?”

“I have many names, but most know me as the Queen of the Gods, Goddess of the Cycle. I created the world of Valiere, I shaped every mountain, filled every sea, breathed life into every continent and gave birth to the races that walk the world even to this day. It was I who gave your family the blessing they enjoy to this very day.”

“You!? And blessing!?”

“I know some of you chafe at it, but now isn’t the time to talk about it. As I said, we don’t have that much time to talk.”

“Talk about what?”

“Your initiation as my priestess, only a Bykura Kinsara has the ability to channel my power. Aurora wasn’t lying about the trial but she did leave a few things out. Most important of which is what the Bykura Kinsara actually is.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“As Kinsara you were born to be my vessel, in times of need you can channel my power to a level the rest of your clan can’t, but you aren’t ready for my full power. That is the purpose of these trials, sure they help the regular mage, but in special mages like you, they do more. You will understand that in time, but now that you have passed this first trial you will have more permanent access to my power. A mere fragment of what you are destined to hold, but it’s all you can use for now. Aurora can teach you to use it in full, but I can teach you the rest of the spell you have been learning. Now speak with me.”

She gasped, as she felt the spell come forth, countless formulas danced in her mind as the words came unbidden to her mind, each word on her lips reverberated with power, “By the Power of Light I destroy what was. To all things come an end and through the light of destruction, I bring forth rebirth. By the Power of the Dark, I restore what will be, shape the world and bring order to the lost, by the Power of the Shadow I bring balance to the cycle and take the next step along the eternal path. Life comes to an end, and from death comes new life, Aria of Rebirth!”

Arlie blinked at the understanding that ripped through her, this spell was part of her soul, but it was not one she could use. It wasn’t a spell one used on a whim, “What kind of magic is this?”

“The Aria of Rebirth is your birthright, it is the first piece to the Ritual of Rebirth. The mages of old didn’t die the way they do today, when magic was greater they would be reborn. Now, only the Kinsara has that honor.”

“What do you mean?”

“This isn’t the first time we have met, we have met many times before, just not in this lifetime. I was with you in your last life and the life before that, and every life before that one, but we don’t have time to discuss your long list of lives.”

More than one life? Who was she before this life then?

“When you learn to commune with me on your own, I will be able to share that. In the meantime, there is much I must teach you, the Aria of Rebirth was only the first item on that list,” she said as she stood up, light swirling around her into a regal garb fit for royalty yet strangely revealing, “Now come with me, we have much to discuss and so little time.”

Arlie hesitated for a moment, but then chose to follow her as she led her out of the throne room and down a corridor, lined with murals depicting another age. “I have been here a long time, when the world was new I was here to guide the newborn races alongside my children, the first gods. You’ve learned some of this in the temple, to be my priestess you must truly understand the first age. It was a primal time, mankind and the other races were quite different from the ones of today, they were far more in tune with the natural world and the magic that filled it. They had no need for mundane coverings, nature was their shield, the magic their very armor and weapon. The world was rich in magic, far richer than it is today, much of that being leftover energies from the process that breathed life into the world. It bled away with time, but the world remains very rich in magic, in part due to you, and others like you.”

“Like me? How?”

“Gods are vessels of pure magic, as Kinsara you are the mortal vessel of a god, more specifically my mortal vessel, my conduit, therefore you give off magic. If you really want to test what that means, use a drop of your blood, or your juices in a potion. I’d have added breastmilk to that list, but you aren’t exactly lactating at the moment. Then again, I could teach you a spell to induce lactation.”

Arlie blinked, “I already have enough trouble with the size of my boobs, I don’t want to be a cow.”

The other woman giggled. “Right, they can be a pain, still they help mark us as an adult. Not the first time we chose a feature because we didn’t want to be seen as a child.”

“Huh? Chose? What do you mean?”

The other girl didn’t explain, “Now right, where was I? The first age, the primal age...”

_______________________

“Negative impact!” shouted a young woman standing beside a glowing panel, looking out upon a viewing mirror displaying the night sky, set against that backdrop flying ships of unusual design were trading fire, mystic ballistae firing into the dark.

One group of ships were perfect spheres, the smooth grey hulls unblemished, not one projection, scratch or deformation. It was oddly strange with how lacking in features those grey spheres were, they didn’t have any banners or markings either.

The other ships were also strange, but she was much more comfortable with their shape. They featured long hulls, shaped like flattened saucers connected by thick struts to a pair of cylindrical pontoons slung under the hull, at the back of each elongated saucer was an armored superstructure rising up to meet a half disk. There was some variation between the designs but the general shape remained similar. Each of them was painted black and silver with a crest marked prominently in silver on the hull, a phrase written in a tongue she didn’t know yet could somehow read was written under it.

The symbology of the emblem didn’t mean much to her, it featured wings embracing as a sword and shield placed in front of a ruined world wreathed in fire. The phrase translated as, “In Ruin, we persevere, we are the shield unbroken, from the ashes, we will rise again.”

The floor under her feet rocked, cries filled the room, “Hull plating has failed! Hull breaches, decks fourteen, thirty nine, and fifty eight.”

“New course, two one six, mark three eight, return fire main batteries!”

The ship hummed as she turned about, blue beams of destruction lanced out, slicing into the sphere firing on them.

“Direct hit! They are moving off.”

“Let them go, status of warp drive?”

“Online! We can jump when ready, sir!”

“Get us out of here, course three one zero mark two, full emergency warp. Cruisers Bastion and Acclimator will cover our retreat, all other ships join us.”

She glanced at the screens, noting new spheres arriving, regrouping with the others, they were outnumbered, outgunned. Once again they were retreating. Peace was nothing more than a forgotten memory, all she knew was war, unending. They could cross the celestial void for another century and still their foes would hound them. Their faces may change but that was all. If only they had the strength to stand and fight. But as things stood, they would face unending conflict for another hundred years. The world distorted, the floor shook, then the battle was gone. Other ships sailing alongside them, the cruisers left behind would either perish or catch up later. More lives possibly lost because they didn’t have the strength...

Arlie gasped and sat up, blinking at the smiling face of a goddess looking down on her. She spoke up, “Welcome back to the living, my dear.”

A frown hit her face, “Did I fail?”

Vishiera giggled, “Goodness no, my child, you quite passed. You’ve taken your first step on the path, do you not recall speaking with the Goddess of the Cycle?”

“That wasn’t a dream?”

“No, and you will meet her again. Just not today, but I know she enjoyed it. You are her daughter, afterall.”

Arlie stood up, “Figurative daughter you mean.”

She giggled, “Sure, we will go with that, and you should hurry along. Your friends have been waiting long enough.”

Arlie blinked then hurried out of the room in the direction indicated. The goddess was right, she hoped they hadn’t been waiting too long. Little did she realize that something else was waiting for her, not just her friends.