Champion 3

First Chapter
Previous Chapter

*~*~*~*

When you wanted information, the best place in any kingdom to find it was the library in the holy academy.  When you didn't have a disciple of Yorn to escort you through a library large enough to contain a copy of every book that had ever been written, the second best place was the royal library.

This was where Lillian was, deeply ensconced in the Elyia Royal Library, poring over medical texts from the last three centuries, written by disciples of Clio and disciples of Yorn alike.  Only in the medical field were texts written by disciples of Yorn more interesting than texts written by disciples of either Lady or any of the Sisters.  Lillian's eyes were swimming, and her head ached.

Unfortunately, she'd yet to find what she was looking for.  Well, that wasn't completely accurate.  There was a lot of information about religious accidents.  Most were the normal sort: a disciple not noticing, or ignoring the fact that she no longer bore her tattoos of office and suffering injury for it, misuse of religious magic, and anything caused by the mixing of secular and religious magic.

But the recent trend was nothing like that.  She had green-wristed disciples of Runal with vegetables growing through them and somehow mesmerizing people, disciples of Yorn getting hurt, disciples of Clio dying of illness and injury.  This was not normal, and it was frightening, not only for the disciples who could no longer depend on their magic, but for the general populace, who could not come to the disciples in times of trouble.

The only thing Lillian could think was that there had to be some sort of precedence for this, maybe during the Great War, but she couldn't find any understandable answer.  Signs seemed to point to a time in history when the Ladies and Sisters abandoned humanity, but that made no sense.  They depended on humanity.  Collective faith gave them their power, and their power ensured faith.  That was how it worked.

Lillian naturally pursued that line anyway, just in case it lead her anywhere, but all she could find was a fairytale derived from an atrociously-mutilated journal detailing the battle of unnamed women known only as the "Disciple" and the "Champion" against a villain known as the "Untouched."  Everyone knew the fairytale about the untouched, whose impossible birth set them against the holy women who looked over the planet of Johse.

The journal revealed that the untouched supposedly had a much closer relationship with the disciple and champion than the fairytale intimated, but the condition of the tale, with large chunks missing at critical junctures, was the reason the personal journals making up a large portion of the holy library were in a constant state of being copied and recopied.  Lillian very seriously considered throwing the book.  It would do absolutely no good, but it would make her feel better about having discovered nothing usable.

She didn't do that, but she did slam the book shut, roughly grabbing the other books scattered over the table she'd been sitting at all morning, and all day the last five days.  She needed a break, she decided as she found herself slamming books into ever-growing piles.  She would give a lot to have the white line across her forehead that would allow her access to the holy library, or at least someone who had the line, but anyone who might escort her was either at the Hilean ceremony, providing their protection and assistance, or too far from the royal palace to be much immediate help.

"Wow, it's not even midday and you're already angry at the books.  What did they do to you?"

Lillian looked up at the sound of Maya's incredulous voice, and her day was already better, if a bit more confusing.  Lillian and Maya, in spite of both working on the royal grounds, rarely saw each other during the day, and even when they did, Maya was always in her armor, because taking it off and putting it back on again was far too much of a hassle.

Seeing Maya in a plain shirt and serviceable pants, sword belt rakishly thrown over her shoulder, was an unexpected delight for Lillian.

"Maya!  What are you doing here?  Don't you have trainees to terrorize?"  There was a book on the other side of the table, just beyond Lillian's fingertips, and Maya pushed the heavy tome closer with a fond chuckle.

"Not for the rest of the day.  Ritual, remember?"

Oh, the Hileans were working up some magic outside, weren't they?  Breathing on the training grounds probably felt like breathing oatmeal.  But then again, Maya was a bit more resilient than Lillian, and Jettas' disciples had to be tougher in general, so Lillian's brow furrowed, "I figured you'd just work through it."

Maya shrugged, "I can handle it, but the girls were having a lot of trouble.  Besides, aren't you at all curious what they're up to over there?"

"Not particularly."

Maya arched a brow at Lillian and smirked, "You are lying."

Lillian was nosy by nature, curious about most things, and yes, she was totally lying.  She laughed in response to Maya's declaration, making neat piles of her books, "I am completely lying, being that I am terribly jealous you get to go and I don't."

"Who says you don't get to go?"

Lillian paused midmotion, then squinted at Maya, "What did you do?"

"Besides scaring Shannon into growing flowers?"

"Dammit, Denice told her that spell wasn't going to come out right, no matter how she mixed it."

"That's roughly what Denice told me, too."

If Maya had been to the medical wing in search of Lillian, and spoken to Denice, Denice might have given Lillian leave to go see the ritual.  Lillian pushed the table away from her heavy, comfortable chair and slid her finger up her belt as she got up, moving closer to the gleeful Maya.

"...what else did Denice tell you?"

"That you were investigating the recent rash of religious accidents?"

"Maya!"

Maya laughed and threw an arm about Lillian's shoulder, pulling her along, "She said she wants you to take notes."  Lillian groaned deeply, flopping into the still-laughing Maya.  The only thing Lillian hated more than reading notes written by those who served her Sister were writing them herself.  So much detail.  Down to color, every subtle move.  She'd barely get to watch the ceremony for writing.

"I hate you both."

"That's a lie."

"It is not!"

"That's a lie, too."

By the time the pair reached the library doors, Lillian was throwing her arms everywhere, dramatically flopping all over Maya as the smaller woman laughingly pulled her along, "Yes, it's lies!  Lies, lies, all of it!  I don't hate you or Denice, but oh my god, note-taking!  Mayaaa!"

Ok, she was whining now, but Maya was laughing at her, only half sympathetically, "I know, I know, notes are terrible and distressing and frustrating."

"And I don't wanna!"

"And you don't wanna," sniggered Maya, still pulling Lillian down the halls, heading for the amphitheater where the Hileans were bound to be working their magic.

"You don't sound very sympathetic," complained Lillian, opening the door so that Maya could pull her through it.

"I am very sympathetic to your made-up problem and overdramatic whining."  Lillian didn't even have to see Maya's blue hair go muddy, like dye washing away, to know that Maya was lying through her laughing teeth.

"Liiiiiiar."

"That was definitely a lie."

"Urgh."  They'd made it out of the palace, and the air was thicker than Lillian had expected, even coming in that morning, the sun high and hot, adding to the oppressive atmosphere.  It really did feel like trying to breathe oatmeal, and she was already exhausted.  She definitely didn't want to be clinging to Maya, who'd already had a hard morning of training in this.

"It wasn't this bad when I came in," Maya assured Lillian, leading the way along the path, people parting for the blue hair, now restored to its vibrant glory by confessing her joking lie, "Or I would have canceled training today.  This is bad."

Lillian felt jittery and tingly, like she wanted to escape her skin in a very intense way.  She hoped the ritual didn't take very long, or she was going to have a panic attack, and she probably wouldn't be the only one.

"Lillian."

Lillian almost crashed into Maya's back as Maya stopped, and she easily sidled around Maya, uneasy smile on her face, "Sorry, I'm with you.  It's getting to me."

"Should we get something to eat?"

Lillian shook her head, "We're already not going to have the greatest view, let's just get in there."

Maya offered her hand, and Lillian took it, squeezing tightly as they continued into the amphitheater, which was a sea of golden robes.  Lillian didn't know why Hileans liked uniforms so much.  They had their marks of office, like every other disciple, Hileans' marks being yellow handprints on their arms, halfway between the wrist and elbow.  The robes covered that.

She could see other disciples, purple-necked disciples of Clio and red-lipped Loliens, armored disciples of Jettas playing guard, their blue hair vividly bright in a sea of darker colors, most serious-faced, a few joking with one another.

There were even some members of the general populace, but they were few and far between, simply due to the sheer density of the air.  They were smart and went away from places where it was difficult to breathe.  But that was neither here nor there.  The important thing was that the royal Hileans were in the center of the room on a dias around a mirror, one which flickered, like a light rod at the end of its existence, and there were a lot of people in a small space.

Maya managed to get them seats close to the dias, on the side where the light flickered.  It looked like Lady Torina, was the focal person for this spell, all the other Hileans would concern themselves with funneling energy to her, and her vision would bring forth....whatever.

Lillian gathered her skirt behind her knees and slowly slid her finger down her belt, making sure to position herself over her seat properly before letting herself drop into it.  And she was to Maya's right.  Yes.  She wanted to be able to keep holding Maya's hand, after all, and she leaned closer to Maya, "Do you really think they'll be able to summon the champion of lore?"

"I think they're going to try."

Lillian tried to elbow Maya in the arm and got pushed off with a laugh, "I don't know, Lillian, what  do you want me to say?  Noone thought the queen would ever be a man, but he is.  They have enough energy to make a lot of things happen.  Why not the champion?"

"But what if it's not the real champion?  How will anyone know?  What if the champion is peacefully dead and resents them bringing her forth?  What if they summon a berserker whose only concern is subjugating us all to her will?  Or a clever demon with similar aims?"

"For one," chuckled Maya, "Demons don't exist anymore.  And for two, there's lots of us here.  Do you see the sea of blue hair?  All the white foreheads?  We'll help deal with anything that arises.  Now shush, I think she's ready."

Sure enough, the image of the High Lady was on the face of the mirror, and Torina spoke, her voice booming throughout the room, with the assistance of a bit of magic, "And now we begin."

The golden-robed Hileans all began muttering their prayer, chanting Torina's name to focus energy towards, and the air began to feel less oppressive as the gathered energy was poured towards Torina, who was already beginning to sweat and turn coppery in the face, the mirror glowing a bright, distinct yellow.

Lillian had no idea how long they all watched and listened to the swelling voices, overlapping and intertwining.  To Lillian's astonishment, a hand came out of the mirror, fingers curiously reaching, followed by a very human arm farther and farther, almost up to the shoulder.  A startled murmur rippled from the people close enough to see it, spreading up the crowd and disrupting the Hileans, as even they stopped chanting to marvel at the sight.

The mirror's light dimmed, and the arm hastily retreated, prompting the closest Hileans to resume chanting, but louder, the rest taking their cue and diving back in.  For a small eternity, nothing happened.  A bare foot stepped out, onto the lower edge of the mirror, causing it to wobble precariously before the owner of that foot thought better and hesitantly slid their foot down, clearly feeling for the floor.

Lillian was breathless, Maya's hand tight in hers.  The foot was followed by a leg, a hip, a hand and arm coming out to hold the mirror, higher up, then a body, nude, a head, hair, and a bewildered face.  They had done it.  They had actually done it.  They had summoned the champion.

There was a moment of breathless silence before Torina whirled, triumphantly thrusting her hands into the air and howling, "The champion has arrived!"  The silence broke like a dam overflowing, and everyone cheered, even Lillian, watching as everyone leapt to their feet around her.  Apparently the champion hadn't realized how many people were there, because they looked up, visibly stunned by the roaring noise and raucous cheering.  Lillian would feel bad for them later.  Now was the time to celebrate.