What Does This Shard Do?, Part 2

Hailey and Karina both flipped through the pages of note in the tome for some time. A few passages would spark interest in the two of them, but some of the religious related details soared over my head.

Because of my family's position in the Church, I had to make an effort to learn enough about the scriptures and practices to pass the Sacrament.

It was when I learned the few holy aligned magicks I knew. Thanks to those spells I was able to specialize as a paladin, which allowed me some freedoms.

Such as not having to attend the advanced courses that would've inducted me into the priesthood.

Hailey was much more immersed in the lore of the Church's everyday operations due to the qualifications required to hold a priest specialization.

Though, with her family history it was something she was driven to achieve; whereas I had preferred to avoid the Church as much as possible.

Politically, being registered under a specialization that fell under the jurisdiction of the Church was a huge power play. The Church had influence over all the noble houses, and if you didn't maintain a level of influence within the Church itself… well, your family could be strong-armed that much more easily.

Trying to distance myself from the scriptural rabbit-hole, I found myself wandering the basilica in search of my sister.

As luck would have it, my search ended just moments after it started. Rias was at the altar just like she said she'd be, even though I was prepared to have to look around the entire place to find her.

As I approached I heard the desperate voice of Anathalo pleading with her to step down from where she was.

Rias had climbed atop a grand pedestal and was very closely inspecting a golden statue depicting, wholly inaccurately mind you, the Goddess Virgo.

"Please, Miss! You mustn't disturb the reliquary."

His words went unnoticed as Rias kept about her inspection.

"Rias, what are you doing up there?"

Anathalo was caught off guard and turned to me in surprise.

My voice garnered my sister's attention and she finally tore herself away from the statue.

"Airis! Is this what the Goddess looked like? On a scale of one to… five, how close is the resemblance?"

"Honestly, zero."

"Ouch."

"Well, to be fair, the Goddess is hauntingly beautiful. So they get maybe a single point for having the statue's face look so alluring. But everything else is way off."

"S-sacrilege!"

Poor Anathalo was visually disturbed by my blatant disregard for what was obviously considered a sort of holy relic.

"Sorry, Exarch. I mean no disrespect. But I have seen the Goddess in person—well, in spirit, but nonetheless I've spoken with her face-to-face. And that," I pointed sharply upwards, "looks nothing like her."

"You claim to have met with the Celestial Goddess?"

"Two of them actually. One of them actually in person. And technically I've also spoken with another Celestial God as well. So, three in total."

"Unbelievable…"

I patted his shoulder as I passed by to help Rias down from the pedestal.

"I can hardly believe it myself."

Rias braced herself by grasping one hand around the wrist of the statue and reaching out to me with her other.

"Eeeah!"

"Huh!?—Oof!"

As she stepped down the arm started to swing down with her, causing her to lose her balance and tumble down over top of me.

The off-putting noise of stone grating against stone pierced the chamber as the altar inched forward. Rias has tripped some sort of unseen mechanism, revealing a hidden stairwell.

A sickly and foul smell stung my nose as air seeped out of the darkened abyss. Anathalo retched and took off towards the Karina's office.

"Well you've done it now, the bishops gone to tattle on us. Goddess, what in the Aether is that putrid smell?"

Rias pinched her nose closed and we scrambled to our feet.

"It's not like I meant to! All I was doing was looking at some statues. How was I supposed to know we'd end up as the characters of an impossible plot story—whoa, what's wrong?"

I grabbed a bronze tray and jumped in front of Rias and using the metal to shield her as a projectile whistled past us.

Mechanical clicking sounded from the depths of the passage. Followed by the unnatural creaking of animated bone shambling up the stairs.

I grabbed Rias and we ran after Anathalo.

"Undead! Find cover! Move it!"

Shouting through the church I waved the remaining clergy members out of sight.

Hailey and Karina rounded the wing in a rush with the Exarch trailing behind.

I steered Rias towards the safety of the side office, but she resisted.

"I'm sticking with you. I can help."

I shook my head vehemently.

"No chance. I'm not taking you to fight an unknown enemy. I've no idea what's going to crawl up from that hole. And I can't damn well seal it back up."

"I wasn't asking!"

"Dammit, Rias!"

Hailey pulled at the back of my coat.

"Airis, we might need her help. If things get too wild we'll need to fall back anyway, it's better if Rias is with us if that happens rather than hidden away."

"Aarrrgh! Fine. Yes, it makes sense. I still don't like it. Hey, Exarch! You fighting?"

"Y-yes."

"Great. Primarch?"

"Of course, My Lady."

I pulled up an interface and added them both to our party. Two other robed clergymen rushed to our position and declared they too would fight along side the Primarch.

Full party. Leaning a little hard on the spell caster end of the balance beam.

Without a weapon of my own, I would have to rely solely on my offensive magick.

Five priests, a paladin, and a junior artificer walk into a church. We sounded like the setup for a joke that would get you thrown out of a tavern.

Skeletal abominations reached the final step, their grotesque blackened skulls creaked as they turned to face us.

A bombardment of holy magick lit up the altar and a good number of the initial attackers were vaporized in righteous fire.

I appraised one of the surviving skeletons.

- - - - - -TARGET- - - - - -

[FORSWORN DEAD]

HEALTH: (22 / 125)

STAMINA: (45 / 50)

MAGICKA: (0 / 0)

» TARGET SUFFERS FROM AN UNKNOWN EFFECT: [HIDDEN]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

My target's skull was impaled by a jagged lance of pure-white ice. The spell was powerful enough that it continued on and pierced two other skeletons that had barely made it through the our opening salvo.

"Whoa, I got some!"

Rias exclaimed with astonishment.

"Peer past the infinite veil. Let the power hidden within our being come forth, Brilliance!"

A soft purple glow flooded over my party members as I cast ARCANE BRILLIANCE. The melding of magick tingled my skin. I readied a HOLY BOLT in each hand and crossed the chancel towards the altar.

Bones stirred along the reliquary wall and I blasted the would-be ambusher into dust.

I flattened myself against the altar's side and craned my neck to peer down the stairwell. Firing my charged bolt down the stairs, I used its impact to light up the landing.

Clear. As far as I could see, at least.

Karina and I both started reciting party buffing incantations at the same time.

"Source of light that dwells among the veiled. Journey with us as we make our way in the darkness. Come forth and guide our way, Radiance!"

"Shining light, shield us in all directions! In hands divine, embolden our life, Fortitude!"

My AURA OF LIGHT would illuminate the pitch-black passages below and Karina's FORTITUDE would provide us with a defensive barrier. If there were any skeletal crossbowmen still lingering down below, none of us would take a fatal shot to the head at least.

"We're heading down. Stick close and keep a watch on our rear. It looked like there were a number of outcrops along the walls. Let's not be taken by surprise down there."

The dank catacombs winded their way underneath the city in complete disarray. Entire sections were collapsed, flooded, or barricaded with debris.

I scavenged a rusted atlen targe, a rounded metal shield with three semi-circles cut out of the edges, and a serviceable long sword.

The sword felt clumsy in my hand. Poorly balanced and heavy.

I'm never leaving home without my blade again.

Only a few pockets of undead were roaming the eerie tunnels. They were dispatched without incident.

While our party may have lacked severely in defensive capabilities, we made up for it in raw power—obliterating the skeletal remains like glass cannons.

"Take the next right!"

Bright light flickered against the stone walls as Ignicorus' voice echoed from Hailey's staff.

"Here! Right here."

"There's nothing here. Just a recess."

Primarch Karina quickly examined the passage-way. Determining that it wasn't one.

The stonework along this particular section did look a little different than the rest of the catacombs.

Centered in the wall was an inlaid symbol—a crest. A cut gemstone with eight feathers flanking it, four on each side.

"Is that…" Hailey held her staff out before her.

As she raised the gem-like egg level with the crest, the ground began to tremble.

Around the crest, the stonework began to disintegrate. Seemingly solid granite blocks turned into dust and were blown away down a newly revealed corridor.

The walls past this threshold were white, as if made of marble, but as we ventured forwards I realized the more macabre truth.

Along the walls the skeletal remains of hundreds were placed neatly and intricately.

As if tunnels filled with the undead weren't creepy enough.

Karina, Anathalo, and the other two priests stared at the bones wordlessly.

Hailey said a hushed prayer as she slowly walked through the ossuary.

"I recognize this place. We are almost to the sanctum."

In response to the radiant light I called out after Hailey and Ignicorus.

"Sanctum? Why is this place hidden away? And buried so far from the rest of the church?"

"Airis! Come here, this has to be it!"

My questions went unanswered, and I hurried after Hailey.

A sprawling cavern chamber opened up just past the narrow passageway. It dwarfed the main basilica hall in sheer size as well as trivialized the grandeur marble interior.

This chamber housed an immense marble ring, centered around a strange metallic rigging. The stonework was inlaid with golden veins—which shone brilliantly as Hailey made her way forwards with her staff.

Ignicorus' gem radiated light brighter than ever before.

"This is the sanctum! Hurry! Perform the ritual and allow me to be reborn!"

"Waah!?—"

Hailey's staff raced out of her grasp, flying to the center of the marble dais.

Rays of golden fire spread around the staff's centerpiece like a winged star. The light illuminated the chamber in a blinding brilliance.

The gemstone vessel pulsated at an unnervingly fast rate. Like a heartbeat racing in excitement.

"Do it now! There is no time for hesitation. I long to be free again!"

Ignicorus' pleading voice rang out through the domed ritual site.

I pulled the SHARD OF REKINDLING from my pocket, holding it up to the light. As the golden rays touched the crystal it reacted. The crimson gem refracted the light, acting as a lens, aiming two concentrated beams at Hailey and I.

Hailey held her arm out to me, taking her hand we both walked towards the center of the dais. The shard floated just ahead of us, suspended in air by its own magicks.

I closed my eyes and turned my willpower internally, to the link between Capricorn and I. The connection of our souls opened and I felt the rush of magicka.

Redirecting my focus to the shard I channeled the power through both the luminescent tether and my palm, straight to Hailey's tightly gripped fingers.

The strand of light connected to me was altered in hue to match that of the trademark blood-orange of Chaos Magick.

Hailey's remained a golden hue, but its shine ramped up in intensity many degrees.

As the magicka pathways surged through the shard its shape deformed, coalescing into an orb of thick Aethermist. The interior of the sphere rampaged violently, arcs of energy jumped from its core to the edges like a miniature lightning storm.

The orb transited over top the staff, never breaking its link to the egg-shaped gemstone. Once it reached the apex a massive burst of energy broke the Aethermist's bond. The dense magicka, now free from its spherical core, enveloped the staff.

A bolt of fiery light ripped through the center and a tear in the space in front of us formed. Beyond the portal lied a sea of flames, a sky that surged in a fire storm of indescribable destructive force.

Violent flames rushed out of the portal, filling the chamber with wild heat. Light bathed the chamber once more as the fiery chaos abated.

The portal blinked out of existence, and in its place remained a silhouette of outstretched wings. Though in reality, it was not just a silhouette—the wings of the creature who had been brought into this world were ablaze in fire.

Ignicorus, the Phoenix God of the old empire had been reborn.

The grandeur summoning ritual had reduced the clergy members who joined us to incoherent babbling. Karina tried to say something, but her voice trailed off after a single word.

Any pretense of the phoenix's threatening aura were shattered when my arm went flailing up and down as Hailey jumped around in excitement.

"It's so cute!"

-✵-

Hailey, Rias, and I finally returned to the main street and headed to the garrison district.

We had parted with Karina and the other clergy members at the Basilica. They had been instructed to keep the majority of today's events under wraps for the time being.

The rebirth of a divine figure of the Church was a big deal, and we needed to handle it in a more delicate manner than just announcing at random that a Phoenix God was summoned into the world by the new empress.

For now we'll just say it's a new familiar… or something. Do priests have familiars? Should we say Rias finally specialized? A wizard could pass off a familiar. Ugh!

I sighed, lost in thought.

Ahead of me were Hailey and Rias—who were both fawning over our new addition perched atop the gnarled staff.

We'd arrive at the Citadel soon, and I could get feedback from my companions on how to explain this.

I shook my head to bring myself back to the real world and caught up with the girls.

"—to call you?"

"Flameblaze or Ignicorus is acceptable. I've been known by those names for many centuries."

Rias pouted and stomped her feet as she walked.

"But those names just aren't cute!"

"I am a manifestation of wrath, a destroyer of kingdoms, the protector of an eternal empire! I am not cute."