The Sacramento Order of Gaia

Within one of the rooms on the second floor of the Rafaela family castle, Tracy had just put 'little Hugo' to sleep.

She double-checked to make sure that the child was properly tucked into the woolen baby bed sheets, before casting a simple isolation spell around the area.

Tracy then sat down on one of the chairs in meditation while awaiting Vivian's return.

After about a quarter of an hour, Vivian came back to the area enclosed by the spell. It was at this moment that Tracy noticed that Vivian's spirits seemed to have fallen once again.

"What happened?" She inquired as to ascertain what had caused this change in her friend.

"Tracy… I have recovered most of my memories. We need to talk." Vivian replied; her solemn expression indicating the severity of the situation.

"What? Did you regain your memories? Do you now recognize me? … There are also Jonas, Uncle, and Aunt? They've been looking for you. I didn't tell you before because of our previous circumstances. … Oh. Mother Gaia!" … Tracy's emotions were not in check.

"Thank you, the Omnipotent Gaia," Tracy lunged at Vivian giving her are tight hug.

"I was really scared about how to handle you from now on. I hate being a big sister." She sobbed.

"Tracy! I may have recovered my memories, but we are in a dire situation." Vivian replied while patting Tracy's back to calm her down.

After a few seconds, Tracy released her friend from the tight embrace, but when she observed that Vivian's face was devoid of any expression of joy, she knew that something was seriously wrong.

[Have the Manroes found out that we are hiding in the Rafaela family castle, or are the Rafaelas threatening us?]

[… No! If it was the former, the Manroe family head would have attacked the Rafaelas right away. … And the latter situation is out of the question since the Rafaelas would come directly to me instead of threatening Vivian.]

Vivian could see the confusion in her friend's face. She gently held Tracy's hand and led her to sit on the nearby bed – just by the side of the now sleeping 'little Hugo' before continuing the conversation.

"Tracy! I need to leave as soon as possible otherwise we shall all be in danger." Vivian continued the conversation without masking the sorrow she felt.

Tracy abruptly stood up so that she could take a clear look at her longtime friend. [What kind of a mother could abandon her child even before he was a day old? … Or what kind of danger could force a mother to take such an action?]

Although Tracy knew that there were doubtlessly interesting events leading to Vivian's current predicament, she couldn't come to terms with such a statement.

Seeing the sorrow in Vivian's eyes, Tracy quickly sat back down. However, she knew that her body language had hurt her close friend's feelings. "I am sorry." She mumbled.

Although Vivian was hurt, she could understand.

She had shocked even herself when she made the decision.

Thus, she ignored Tracy's actions and continued. "When I was in the Manroe dungeons, I lacked the courage to face my fears. … And that is why my mind took so long to recover."

"But after seeing little Hugo's smile, something clicked in my mind – forcing me to try to understand the gravity of my circumstances."

"As I was in the shower, I tried thinking about what led to my current circumstances… That is when I started recalling the memories hidden in the depths of my mind."

"It all started three years ago. After leaving Red-Sky Island, I joined a secret organization that was trying to bring together people with 'inborn-abilities' like mine."

"… They call themselves the 'Sacramento Order of Gaia'. They possess hidden bases and operations all over Gaia. Their spies have even infiltrated the Red-Sky Island of our Medici family."

"… The Sacramento Order helped to greatly improve my advancement pace by providing me high-level items like rank-3 potions and orange-level mystic arts. However, that was on the condition that I complete some tasks for them at a later date."

" I was promised a lot of materials to raise the level of my mystic powers and I fell for the temptation. They kept their word in my first year of membership. I even managed to attain the rank of 'disciple' in the Sacramento Order."

"The only downside was that only those who had risen to the rank of 'Priest' were allowed to leave the training grounds and roam the outside world."

"After my first year, everything changed. I got the opportunity to meet the high-level deacons of the Sacramento Order, after becoming a priest in the organization. However, my requests to leave the base and visit my family were never fulfilled. There was always an excuse to keep me there…"

"I was confused until I met the man who was to be Hugo's father, about 2 years ago. He was a high-level deacon inserted as a spy in the organization by the Planetary Government. He invited me to join his circle and told me about the Order's true motives."

"Its founders were early colonialists who wished to recruit high-level mystics as cheap labor from Gaia. Talented mystics are given hope by raising their powers to a certain threshold, they are then shipped off to other planets as slaves."

"...The worst part is that they run a forceful breeding program for new slaves before the old ones are shipped out. Hugo's father and I went through this in preparation for being shipped off Gaia."

Tracy shuddered despite herself and glanced at the sleeping Hugo, trying to imagine what would happen if the Sacramento Order caught wind of him.

"The low-level members or potential entrants are blissfully unaware of the organization's goal...

"Many talents with inborn mystic abilities like mine have thus been drawn into the Order's clutches unwittingly. By the time they realize the true motives of the Order, they have already been entrapped with no hope of escape."

"… Hugo's father died creating a chance for us to escape the organization's base in the Eastern Sea. I was lucky to escape with light injuries due to the chance he created."

"Only the oath preventing me from revealing critical information about the Order's bases tied me to the Order. I hadn't sworn any other high-level binding oaths giving me a slight loophole to temporarily escape the clutches of the organization."

"I could thus still escape without a lot of backlashes."

"Hugo's father was not so fortunate to escape with us as he was already a deacon. All the pursuers were focused on him… Sigh… You can imagine the rest." Vivian paused, her eyes expressing her grief. However, she quickly returned to normal before Tracy could notice.

"… Tracy! We've been friends since we were four. And you are a sister to me. Thank you for your help in these 2 days." Vivian looked into the eyes of Tracy while holding both of her hands.

"However, I now really need your help. I need you to look after young Hugo for some time until I find a way to escape from the organization's clutches."

"If I stay here with you, you'll both be in great danger. I have to leave now before he wakes up." Vivian continued, her voice firm and calm.

"Vivian, can't we go back to Red-Sky Island? Your parents surely have a way to resolve these issues. Remember, they are high-level members of the Gaia Trading Union? If they can't help, your grandpa will have a solution. He has a seat on the Parliamentary Council of Gaia."

Tracy couldn't help but offer a different opinion. [Vivian's memories haven't fully recovered. She's forgotten about the immense power and influence her family wielded. She even forgot her grandfather who is one of a handful of peak level mystic-kings in Gaia. Is there a problem they can't solve?] She thought.

"No! This is not an option I can take. … My whole family would be in a great deal of danger if I went back to the island." Vivian replied in a very firm voice.

She sighed before continuing. "Tracy! The powers we studied about at the academy are just the basics in mystic arts training."

"Most people on Gaia only know about the low-level realms of martial-mystics. The realms of the mystic- 'apprentice', 'scholar', 'witches/wizards', and 'mystic-knights' are just low-level realms..."

"Martial-mystics at these levels are at the genesis of their training in the mystic arts. Mystics at these levels are only required to construct their 'mana-wells' without even refining their souls. Consequently, they can't cast high-level mystic-spells that borrow the mana of the world."

"These realms are collectively referred to as '1-star-rank' power in the Sacramento Order."

"Above those realms exist the so-called most powerful mystics we learned about from my dad, the mystics that many people assume to be at the top of the power pyramid." Vivian paused to let her friend reflect on the information before continuing.

"However, these are just at the '2-star-rank' of mystic-power, according to the Sacramento Order, and have only started refining their souls. Even though they can cast rank-3 spells that borrow world energy, they are otherwise just slightly stronger ants in the face of an organization like the Sacramento Order." Vivian added…