The Blessing

The sky was still dark, although there was the slightest hint of purple, creating a beautiful dawn. The sun had barely even touched the horizon, and yet all manners of life had already woke up. The bugs buzzed, and the the early birds woke up, chirping in the forest full of life.

Inside a house in a now quiet village, a boy laid on his bed, wide awake.

He was one of those early birds. Laying on his old bed, he put his hands behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. Even in the dark, he could find the littlest of details in the ceiling. Every crack, every gap, every tile, he remembered them all. Simple, small memories long forgotten slowly engulfed him as the boy couldn't help but just stare.

All of a sudden, there was knocking noises at his door. His nostalgic reverie was broken.

"Tacitus, Rin? Are you two up? The priest is coming in a few minutes, so get ready and change!" said a woman's voice. Before the boy could answer, footsteps were quickly moving away from the door, seemingly already hurrying outside the house.

"Alright, we'll get ready!" Tacitus shouted at the door, moving to wake up Rin. The two of them both share a room, as the house wasn't a big one. There was a living room, the main bedroom, his older brother's room, and their room.

Speaking of their older brother...he had not seen him yesterday.

'Perhaps we'll see him today?' he thought.

Lucius had always been busy helping out the other villagers, like the nice person he was. Although he had no bad recollections about this older brother of his, he also had no good ones. There was no love for him, but there was still a modicum of respect.

As for Rin...Tacitus was not sure. She never bothered to ask about him.

Anyways, their bedroom was an average size room, but it can fit the both of them fine. It wasn't as if a bigger space was needed for the two. The bed was quite large, and both their figures were small.

His little sister, Rin, sleepily muttered an "okay" as Tacitus headed off to wash up and dress.

A memorable event was about to arrive on this momentous day.

...

Minutes later, the two siblings were both dressed up, and walked out of their houses. Even before Tacitus had opened the door, he could hear sounds of multiple footsteps and excited voices. It had only gotten louder when he opened the door.

As the door creaked and opened, Tacitus and Rin came into view of many villagers walking towards the entrance. They were talking to each other excitedly, and he couldn't help but overhear some of them.

"One of the priests is coming, and I've heard he's one of the higher ranking ones..."

"Really? Oh Goddess, this must be important then. The only time when someone higher then a priest comes to a village is when..."

Before Tacitus could hear any more, someone began tugging his sleeve.

'I wonder who that is.'

"Big brother, let's follow them!" Rin said excitedly, pulling him towards the entrance.

"Okay okay, you don't have to pull me," Tacitus said, a smile immediately forming on his face.. They then both followed the tide of people, Rin being abnormally excited and curious.

...

The sun had barely risen above the trees as the villagers gathered into a group and watched the village entrance.

Normally to a village far out here, the church usually only sends a priest alone, or rarely a priest with a couple of knights as guards.

However, this time was very different.

From the crowd, Tacitus and Rin watched as minutes after they arrived, multiple people in fancy armor and robes walked out of the forest.

Even before they walked out of the dark forest, golden holy light fell like rain, and white petals spread drifted onto the ground. The blessed and holy aura surrounded the group, akin to an angel descending into the human world, bathed in light. In terms of extravagance, it was absolutely unneeded, at least to Tacitus's eyes. However, for most of the villagers, it was awe inspiring, making their belief in the goddess of light grow even more.

A priest who seemed to be quite important, with a platoon of about twenty holy Paladins, walked into the village. A platoon would be a group of around fifty, but that would be for normal platoons. This one was indeed different from what is 'normal.'

Holy paladins in beautiful white-silver armor marched behind an old man. They marched in formation with their heads raised high, their large, silver shields marked with a symbol of the sun.

Of light.

Different from the knights, the leader of the group was the most regal-looking. Although he was not as intimidating as the knights, his presence was not of aloofness nor pride, but of humility and grace.

That seemed to awe the villagers even more.

The old-looking man's wrinkling face exuded even more kindly as he saw the villagers gathered. Dressed in white robes lined with gold, he also was wearing a somewhat bland miter on his head, also with patterns of white and gold; a symbol of his rank as a bishop.

A higher ranking priest in their church.

'Now this scene is just like in my memories,' Tacitus thought.

'I suppose this dream is distorting only some of my memories...'

Even as he pondered on this strangely fascinating phenomenon, he still kept on eye on the people from the church, who had just arrived in front of the villager entrance.

His thoughts, however, were interrupted when someone start pulling on his sleeve once again.

"Big brother, look at them! They're so cool!" Rin shouted excitedly amidst the murmurings of the other villagers, her eyes shined with unconcealed awe.

Our entire village was hushed into silence as they slowly approached us. The presence that radiated off them made the rest of the villagers restless.

It's to be expected, as the platoon by themselves have much, much higher stats than the rest of the adults in the village. They, who pose danger, can easily intimidate the weak villagers.

'Looks like this hasn't changed...' Tacitus thought, watching them approaching.

"I am Second Bishop, Samuel, of the Church of Holy Goddess.."

He spoke in a loud voice, and the villagers started whispering to each other in hush voices. This confirmed the rumors. A bishop is an important rank in the Holy Church, ranked beneath the archbishop. Not only that, he was ranked second. He was literally beneath the archbishops in terms of ranking.

Now this was surprising, and even Tacitus elicited an "oh" when the bishop announced his name.

'If my memories are correct, the ranking in the church would start from deacon, priest, bishop, archbishop, cardinal, and finally the pope. Well, at least I know why he came here.'

In his last life, in the future, Tacitus had searched for the reason why...and he did.

It's because there was a prophecy given from the goddess. It was foretold that some of the heroes would be born here in this particular village at this time of year.

Heroes to face the coming calamities.

The seven trumpets of catastrophe.

They who shall bring upon destruction onto the people who have sinned and broken the taboo. That means most of the sentient races in the world. If one had to choose a specific race that had most of the blame, then it would be...

Humanity.

The ones who have sinned the most were themselves.

While musing in his thoughts, Tacitus missed the introduction the bishop gave to the villagers. So, he focused his attention back on the bishop talking.

"-in thirty minutes the ceremony will begin. Bring all the children who are near the age and at the age for the blessing."

The village chief, who was attending the bishop, hesitated.

"Your Holiness...all...the children? You mean all the twelve year old children, right?

The bishop glanced at the village chief.

"Not just them. Include the children from ages ten and eleven."

"But...sir..." the village chief hesitantly said, but the bishop pushed further.

"This is a momentous occasion, and the Goddess of Light is mysterious in her ways. There can be no room for mistakes. You would dare question the Goddess?"

When the bishop narrowed his eyes, the village chief immediately bowed, backing off.

"...yes. Of course, your holiness. We will do so immediately at your orders."

"Go, for the Goddess is always watching over us..."

Tacitus looked at the scene with apathy, as the bishoped bowed, and the village chief followed suit. Before he could continue watching them, he suddenly heard footsteps approaching them. The two siblings turned around, greeting their visitor.

Charmeine, with her hair braided from the back of her head, and down the middle of her back, smiled as she walked closer to them.

"What a fine morning it is, Rin, Tacitus. A good morning for such an exciting event, and to think that some things will change for the event this time. Are the both of you excited for the blessing?"

Tacitus looked at her, nodding blandly. Everything that was happening was as it should be. With the exception of her.

'This girl really crosses paths with me in life, doesn't she?'

She stopped him in his last life, and now she dares continue to bother him? Is the Lord God Almighty messing with him, even in this dream.

"I'm doing just fine, Charmeine. As for the ceremony...I don't really care about it at all."

Now that was truth. In fact, he only came here because Rin was here. At the response, the girl exasperatedly shook her head.

"That's just like you, not even caring whether or not a high ranking priest of the church came, or the requirements for the blessing had changed. Still, to think they'll even bless us, even when we're not twelve..."

"Something must be happening, right?" Tacitus asked her, trying to instill his voice with confusion.

"Yes, something must've happened for the church to send a bishop here to bless children who aren't twelve yet..." as she said that, Charmeine turned to look at the bishop. He was still standing around with his platoon, looking around while watching the village chief preparing for the blessing.

Tacitus nodded his head in agreement. Something special is going to happen after all.

"You're right to think so, as a blessing for children that are not twelve years old is really rare. Perhaps it is by the grace of the Goddess that we can experience such a grand opportunity?"

To his surprise, Charmeine instantly looked away from the entourage and back at him. Her eyes seemed to be scanning his face, and after a few seconds she stared into his eyes.

"...indeed, it is all thanks to the Goddess, but you..." then, a strange face formed on her face as she trailed off.

'This girl is really strange...' he thought. Still, in retaliation, Tacitus simply blankly stared back at her.

So the two simply stared at each other. Rin, the spectator, was looking at them back and forth. Even the villagers were taking notice of the strange situation.

Then, Charmeine simply shook her head.

"...sorry, I was just...thinking about something. By the way, why don't you call me 'Char?' It's much easier than saying Charmeine all the time."

"...because I never thought to call you that," Tacitus said, this time truly voicing his bewilderment. Now, this truly confirmed that Charmeine really is a strange girl, even when they were young.

"So, will you call me Char? Only the closest of friends can call me that," she said.

Tacitus can only blink at her words.

'We're friends?

When they did become friends close enough to call each other nicknames. No, Lord God Almighty, why was he even thinking about these mundane things now? Why was he even entertaining these figments of his imagination?

Damn his curse of thinking.

Then, he remembered why.

"No, it's because...' Tacitus simply closed his eyes.

It had been almost a full day since he 'started dreaming' of the past. Still, this was a chance to do something he always wanted to do.

To make his little sister happy.

'With Rin...I'll focus all of my power on making her happy, even if I can only do so for only a couple of days.'

So, Tacitus would do everything in his power to assure that she would learn to be strong, strong enough to see the many beautiful flowers in the world without danger.

'Even if this was a dream, I want to be able to fulfill that promise...' at that, he opened his eyes, and he seriously looked back at her.

Charmeine blinked in response. Tacitus already has an abnormally amazing older brother, and so he could take the heat off of him.

In this village, there were many children near Tacitus's age, but he didn't make any effort to bond with them. How could he? Preferring silence and isolation from other people except Rin, and the things that other children would do truly bore him...

The one other exception, other than Rin, was Charmeine. That girl was truly an exception. Truly too much of an exception.

Thankfully, before he was forced to answer Charmeine's question, the chief seemed to have gotten the ceremony prepared, because he started yelling and ushering the children of the ages ten and above.

That included himself and Charmeine, who was also eleven.

"Okay children, get ready for the ceremony!" the chief shouted at us.

"Good luck big brother!" Rin shouted, waving her hand as he moved along with the other children, Charmeine following behind him.

...

Within a few minutes, the children between the age of ten to twelve all stood in a line. It was the moment of a lifetime. The moment they all dreamed for.

Well, the large majority of them.

The younger children and adults were farther away, watching them with curious eyes. The paladins, the platoon who accompanied the bishop, formed a large circle around the group being blessed. Obviously, it was used to stop any interference.

Today was very special after all.

The ceremony was exceedingly simple. The priest does a prayer, and the child being blessed steps up to the orb the priest, or in this case the bishop, is holding. Then he or she just places her hand on the orb, and with that the child is blessed with a status screen.

It was that simple.

Standing in line, Tacitus slightly leaned his body forward, and his head even more. Like he expected, he saw Lucius at the front. With his heroic, handsome appearance, it was impossible for anyone to not notice him. Looking at him, Tacitus didn't feel anything at all. It was just like looking at a familiar stranger from across the road.

He would walk past him or nod his head, then go on his way.

Tacitus shrugged his shoulders, and looked at the other main source of attention.

Charmeine, standing next to him, also exuded a strange feeling. It could be said that she was the angel of the village, and there was no denying that she was one of the more special ones. Being the next person after Tacitus, he could barely overhear her muttering a prayer for everyone to be lucky with their blessing.

It was very rare for people to get skills, especially titles, when getting blessed. It was sort of like a status symbol amongst humans, a status of one's potential.

It was inevitable it would create a rift between the talented and common people.

'How kind of her...' Tacitus simply closed his eyes.

Everyone else and himself were the average, normal looking ones, and so it didn't seem like they wouldn't be blessed with anything extraordinarily special. Adding to the fact that this was part of the memories of his past life, he's certain everyone else but Charmeine and Lucius will be blessed with something extraordinary.

While he was in thought, the bishop finally finished his prayer, and Tacitus opened his eyes.

"Let the ceremony of the Goddess begin," announced the bishop, and one of the paladins walked up to him, and carefully handed him a transparent orb, the size of a basketball.

The bishop carried the orb to the first person in line; Lucius. The bishop smiled at him, and Lucius, in response, calmly placed his hand on the orb.

The moment he did so, the orb immediately glowed and shined with such a light, it blinded almost everyone. Tacitus had already closed his eyes at the last second. Charmeine was also one of the few to look away from the fascinating phenomenon.

"This is..." the bishop widened his eyes, and for the first time since his arrival, he truly smiled happily.

"A hero has been born..." the bishop whispered, witnessing the dawn of a new era.

Although the bishop almost beamed with joy, he held himself back, and started blessing one person after another.

Soon, he reached Tacitus, and he stretched out his hand, and placed it on the orb...only for it to barely shine.

Just like the others.

His status appeared before him, and abruptly disappeared just like that. The same status he previous checked from earlier.

The bishop nodded his head, and moved on to the last person.

Charmeine.

Everyone, along with himself, watched with rapt attention as Charmeine placed her hand on the orb...

Only for it to barely shine. Just like himself and the many other children.

"...huh?"

Not only was the bishop confused, but the other kids, as well as the adults, silently looked in confusion before rioting. Tacitus himself was among the surprised, and his eyes couldn't help but twitch.

It was for different reasons that everyone was surprised.

For the bishop, it was because a part of the prophecy was ordained that two special heroes were born in this village. With that little girl being the last one, and she looked really unique...he thought that she would be the second hero.

For the villagers, it was because she was quite astounding amongst the children. So it obviously came as an enormous surprise to them when they saw that she didn't summon a special phenomenon, just like Lucius.

As for Tacitus...

'...how is this possible? In my last life, she was blessed as one of the heroes...so why wasn't she blessed as one?'

Few things surprised him at his age and knowledge...but this one was quite the shock.

"Oh well, that's quite unfortunate," Charmeine said, shrugging her shoulders.

"..."

Tacitus could only conclude that the dream really was distorting his memories. His face became more tired as Charmeine turned to look at him.

And she, like always, smiled.