Echoes Of The Seven

“I trust that everyone will be able to focus on learning now that you’ve all gotten that out of your system?” Rita asked the question firmly and accusingly as Eris tugged her clothes back on. Eris nodded.

“I think so.”

“Good. Any questions from anyone before we continue?”

The petite Hima slowly raised her hand. “Umm, may I-”

“-No you may not.” Rita declared sharply. “If that is the last question, we’ll continue the lesson.” She turned back to the chalkboard while Eris slid into her seat.

“Now, I believe we left off when Golmori defeated Sajasmentra in the battle between Elzaped and Romnuch. This was a pivotal moment in the war for many reasons. Firstly, but not least, is the fact that the death of an Echo was seen as a grievous tragedy. To have the focal point of your entire army be defeated would naturally cause almost everything to fall apart in terms of both morale and physical effectiveness. Her death single-handedly won the Romnuch city-states that war-”

“For the love of Esmer, what does any of this actually have to do with skills?!”

Everyone in the room turned around, for the voice didn’t come from Eris, nor any of her tutors. Instead, it was Charlotte. Her cheeks were still red with a blush from the recent sexual escapades, but an armoured hand was rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“My apologies, but you were assigned to summarize and go over with all of us what Eris’s future skills may be. We have been sitting in this classroom for three hours, and you have yet to even mention any skills of any kind from any Echo, much less Eris. You are wasting all of our time, as well as time that the Syndicate could be using for far more valuable prospects.”

The staredown between the two was so intense and sharp that Eris actually felt the need to lean away lest she find herself in between where their gazes met and get cut by their stares. Rita never blinked.

“I was laying the fundamental information out, first. As for why I’m explaining the death of Sajasmentra in such importance, it is because she was a Druid of Lust, and her death did not figuratively destroy the power of the entire army she led- that was literal.”

Rita tapped her chalk against the board behind her, a sharp ‘click’ that echoed through the room.

“It is stated that before the battle took place, Sajasmentra performed a ritualistic orgy in the grove of a nearby forest with a total of thirty-seven partners. Records stated that wherever their mixed fluids watered the grass, berry bushes grew and provided an empowering bounty to whichever soldiers ingested the fruit. They were faster, stronger, and more fierce than any normal man. Nearly turned to beasts as they carried that power of the untamed wilderness with them into battle, bestowed by the blessing of Sajasmentra’s ritual.”

Surprising was when Rita set the stick of chalk down on the rail of the chalkboard and took a single step closer to the students.

“And they were not the only soldiers that charged into that battle under the will of the Echo that led them. While the mixed seed of the orgy grew the berry bushes where it watered the grass, it had other effects. When rubbed into the bark of a tree, it let Sajasmentra uproot that tree and gave it the ability to walk. The ability to fight. The ability to serve its master until nothing but a stump and sticks remained.”

“Like… like a treant?” Hima raised an eyebrow. Rita nodded.

“Exactly like a treant. Whatever ritual she performed had the dual effect of providing magical food that empowered the consumer, while also bringing life to the foliage itself and having it serve as more soldiers. Then, while she brought a forest and beastly men and women to fight in the grasslands surrounding the Romnuch city-states, she floated above the battle on solidified wind and called down tornados to sweep away the enemy ranks and turn a war into a slaughter. If any tried to get close, the ground itself would open up around them to drown them in mud and a localized thunderstorm would fry them with directed lightning.”

Addison’s face went pale. Well… pale-er. “How do you fight something like that?”

“You don’t. They certainly couldn’t, and even without the army, Sajasmentra would almost certainly have been able to win the battle completely on her own. That, of course, is when Golmori comes in. After Golmori struck Sajasmentra down, the tornadoes ceased. The ground solidified, the lightning stopped, and even the empowering effect of her semen berries ceased. Every soldier that was fighting for her was reduced back to their normal power, but worse were the trees that she brought to life. Instead of becoming mundane after she fell, they remained alive. Furthermore, they turned on both sides equally.”

Rita sighed. “Although Sajasmentra had abilities we have attributed with other Druids, such as control over the weather, the ground, plants and even animals, the reason I describe the specifics of her is because of her affiliation with the sin of Lust, which was clearly the sin in which her power was tempered- just as with Eris.”

Rita turned back to the board, picked up the eraser, and started wiping away entire swathes of white until the black underneath was unobscured.

“None of her general-purpose abilities or powers seemed to have any influence from Lust. Lightning, wind, controlling earth, none of it. In the same way, Eris’s Crafting Points, any of her spenders for the resource, or her Adept Artificer have no apparent affiliation with the sin in which she is bound. However, any time that any records state Sjasmentra using those empowering berries or raising treants to fight for her, there is always a ritualistic orgy involved. Every time. That implies that the skill was not one that she could use on its own, but rather one that required that orgy to take place before the magic could be done.”

“So there’s skills that have nothing to do with the sin, but then others that rely entirely on it?” Bailey asked. Rita snapped her fingers.

“Precisely. Although Sajasmentra could call animals to her will that would fight for her and do her bidding, there was one in particular that stood out- a gigantic eagle the size of a carriage that she often used as a mount. It was supposedly powerful enough to rip a house off the foundation and pierce its talons through solid ore, yet no other animal Sajasmentra commanded seemed to have that size or strength. In that same vein, there were no other animals that Sajasmentra was recorded mating with.”

Eris blinked. “She… mated with it?”

“Yes,” Rita didn’t miss a beat. “By our best assumption, Sajasmentra likely had some sort of skill that allowed her to bestow tremendous power to an animal that would do her bidding, but only if she copulated with it. A clear combination of both magic and sin, given that bestiality is most certainly a deep step into Lust.”

Everyone looked at Eris, who suddenly felt like melting into the floor. Thankfully, Rita kept talking.

“In a similar vein, Rimna also appeared to have skills of that kind. You see, I mentioned her, because she was also tempered by the sin of Lust. Before saving that town from the volcano, they needed to offer her a tribute to help grant her the strength necessary to perform the act.”

Ophelia, the cookie lady, raised her hand. “Another ritual orgy?”

Rita shook her head. “No, actually. Rimna was offered the mayor’s nine-year-old and eleven-year-old daughters to have coitus with. Presumably, that was the only tribute that would suffice.”

Okay, maybe having Rita keep talking wasn’t actually a good thing. Once again, everyone looked at Eris. The redhead just felt like she was going to be sick. Sex with animals? Sex with children?! That was vile, and wrong beyond reasonable. Yet these other Echoes did it.

“No matter which Echo you explore the history of, their class, or their tempered sin, one fact remains fairly constant between all of them. They appeared to have three different kinds of skills; ones that had no direct connection with their sin, but were likely empowered using their sin-based resource gathering. I propose we call these Basic skills.”

Rita turned and wrote Basic Skills on the chalkboard in big letters.

“Next were the skills that granted effects and/or bonuses based on the sin being performed. This would include ones like Eris’s Desire’s Reap/Enhance combination, along with skills like Sajasmentra’s orgy to bring the forest to life. There was a very good chance that there were so many participants because the potency of the effect likely scaled with the number of those involved. I propose we call these Sin skills for future classification.”

Like before, the pink-haired professor turned to write Sin Skills on the board.

“Then, there are the final kinds of skills, the ones that delve into their sin but beyond any normal limits that people usually have. Likely ritualistic in nature, and delving into aspects so morally flawed that they should only ever be used in the most dire of circumstances. Like Manner, the Paladin of Hate who would murder children and paint his armour with their blood. Edna Crumb-Counter, who would feed a starving person to the point of bursting, then carve bits of their flesh off to eat them herself in ritual cannibalism. Sajasmentra, who would copulate with wild animals, and Rimna, who would engage in perverse pedophilia. All acts that likely gave tremendous power to the Echoes or provided tremendous effects, and all of them unquestionably vile.”

Under ‘Basic Skills’ and ‘Sin Skills’, Rita wrote her third classification. Vile Skills.

“Not every Echo has records of having skills like these, but it may very well be a case of those Echoes having never used them. If the information that Pravala gave was correct, and that only the pure-hearted could become Echoes lest they become monstrous under corruption of their skin, there is a very high chance that if an Echo never encountered a reason to use a Vile skill, they never did. Every time they used one of these skills would warrant a cost that couldn’t be measured- a direct breaking of their morality itself. However, now we have our three classifications of skills that should be much more helpful in determining what Eris receives in the future.”

The black-and-green haired Hima raised her hand partially, which only seemed fitting given that they were indeed in a classroom. “What about Pacifist?”

Rita paused. “What indeed? The existence of Eris’s Pacifist skill is quite an oddity. A skill with no upsides. A direct, factual weakness incorporated into the very core of an Echo’s power.”

“What if every Echo had a weakness skill like that?” Tatum chirped out. The professor, however, shook her head.

“That is, unfortunately, the part that has eluded me the most. It is for plainly obvious reasons, however. If every Echo did indeed have some crippling, vital weakness set into the very foundation of their class, the last thing they would want is for that information to get out to people that would seek to use it against them. Even more, if the records of the Echoes are being written by the people that worship them like gods and goddesses, would you really expect those followers to explain in detail the greatest vulnerabilities of their divine guardians?”

Tatum frowned. “No, I don’t suppose I would.”

“And that is the problem,” Rita cleared her throat. “If Echoes really did have weaknesses as defined as Pacifist, then there would naturally be a void of information about the subject as it is so sensitive. However, Echoes had enemies. Echoes didn’t fight exclusively for the betterment of the world at large- often they fought for wherever they built themselves a home. To them, fighting for their country was the ‘right’ thing to do, and countries and kingdoms naturally waged war for land, resources, or political gain. Therefore, Echoes often went to war against each other. If they knew they would be going against such powerful opponents, an Echo would surely use every advantage they could get their hands on.”

“Including the weakness of the other Echo…” Bailey furrowed her eyes. Rita snapped her fingers.

“Exactly, which would logically imply that there should be more information about weaknesses, not less. If the strategy of war was to try and discover the other Echo’s weakness so that it could be used against them, then records would exist saying such, but there are none. There is neither the complete void of information that would be expected of intentionally hiding truth, nor the information that would exist when Echoes conflicted against each other.”

Addison rubbed her temples. “So… what exactly does this mean?”

Rita set her chalk down, leaning both hands on the rail of the board in a relaxed pose, if not one that was a little bit… ‘stumped’.

“I have a theory, but there is almost no factual evidence supporting it because of the lack of evidence in general. Therefore, I am trying not to focus on it for fear that it would warp my future perceptions until we are able to properly establish ‘truth’ from ‘hypothesis’.”

All the students blinked. Rita sighed.

“If Pravala was indeed speaking the truth of her skills, then she would have been unable to use her enslavement on Echoes. For her time period, that would have exclusively meant normal, nonmagical people, and perhaps even animals should she have attempted. However, she was able to use it on both Leyla and Bailey, binding their souls to hers and destroying their classes in the process. They are most definitely not the nonmagical individuals that Pravala’s skill would have been intended to use on, but neither are they the Echoes that should have immune to the skill.”

Rita took a step forward towards Bailey, whom all the eyes of the room were now on.

“Gifted are a step in between. A fragment of the power of Echoes instead of a whole. If Pravala really was truthful, then it very well may have been a situation where upon their souls being bound, Pravala’s pure, unfiltered essence as an Echo completely shattered the pitiful powers of a traditional Gifted and wiped that power from existence.”

“And what does this have to do with Pacifist?” Bailey asked the question that was on Eris’s, and likely all of the other’s minds as well. This had been a very odd pivot. Rita sighed once more.

“The reason I’m bringing this up is because when Pravala connected with Gifted to form that kind of connection, it broke their power. However, Eris doing that same thing has had no apparent effect of the sort.”

Eris frowned. “I’m… I don’t enslave-”

“But you do have a skill that forms a connection and allows you to gain sinful resource from that connection, just like Pravala did. One you have since used to connect to five individuals.”

Eris’s eyes narrowed. “Wonders?” Rita nodded.

“Now, again, this is just a theory with almost no supporting evidence. For example, the reason why your Wonders skill did not destroy the effects of the Gifting on those five girls could be from any number of reasons. You have not engaged in nearly the level of sinful collection as Pravala, so her drastically-inflated power may have been the cause. Your Wonders skill is not a permanent connection like Pravala’s was, so the temporary, malleable nature of Wonders of Artifice might be more flexible in the ability to affect Gifted. Yours is not a direct binding of the soul as Pravala’s was explained to be, so the connection might not be as firm. Any number of explanations exist, and any of them equally true as the last.”

“What’s your explanation?” Rachel asked from her spot a bit further back in the room. Rita paused a moment, obviously contemplating her words.

“There seemed to be any number of Echoes at a time for most of the Seven, ranging widly between classes and sin. Aside from the normal rarity of Echoes, there did not appear to be a standard ‘limit’ as to how many could exist at a time. That is, except for Echoes of the Oculus; blessed either by Demeri the Augur or Yerrow the Keeper. The Oculus are fundamentally different than the rest of the Seven because of the events of the Goserei, commonly known as the ‘Grand Voyage’.”

“When the Seven became immortal?” Rocky tilted her head.

“Precisely,” Rita nodded. “A little over a thousand years ago, about six centuries before the Sundering, a fleet of a thousand sailors in a completely nonmagical world sailed to a part of the ocean that was mystical, unmapped, and supposedly dangerous since no seafaring vessel that entered ever returned. It was the largest oceanic expedition of the age, and as it turned out, that section of the ocean was the original point in which the Stream flowed into and out of the world.”

Yet again, the sound of chalk dragged across the board filled the room as Rita began writing names.

“The thousand souls aboard those ships were torn apart as they were pulled into existence beyond our world. Nine hundred and ninety-two people sailing over the ocean one moment, then being collapsed into pure energy the next. Energy that collided and folded in on itself, conjoining together and turning nearly a thousand individuals into one amalgamation of will, flesh, and magic that was lost to the Stream. However, eight people were not pulled into that mixture. Eight people were not destroyed by the Stream and rather empowered by it. That singular, unexplored section of the ocean that served as the stem connecting the apple of Tonshlur to the tree of the Stream was broken apart and split into seven pieces- into which each of those eight were imbued.”

The names she finished writing on the board were spoken aloud.

“Madriel. Penelope. Sashuran. Hondas. Esmeralda. Gariet. Demeri, and Yerrow. Eight souls brought into the Stream, connecting with the energy of both Grohl, the whirlpool of life, and Grihm, the maelstrom of death. Eight souls pulled in both directions as either side of the Stream tugged their influence, tearing their beings apart as their singular mortal selves were transcended into divine essence yet simultaneously split into two halves.”

Rita pointed at the names as she went down. “Madriel became the Arbiter, with Grohl claiming half to become Pollus the Dawn; god of sunlight, daytime, law and order. Meanwhile, Grihm claimed their half to form Zetherys the Judge; god of war, balance, chaos, blood and pain. Penelope became the Zenith, with Grohl claiming Kiara the Harbinger; goddess of oceans, storms, battle, family, and vengeance. Grihm claimed Vinteus the Martyr, god of ice, sacrifice, wrath, moon, and darkness.”

Rita paused for dramatic effect and pulled a kerchief from her breast pocket, the silence stretching long enough until Eris realized that it wasn’t for dramatic effect at. After several seconds, Rita’s face twisted and she brought the cloth to her face to stifle a sharp sneeze; followed shortly by a second. Then, Rita calmly folded the cloth and tucked it back in her pocket.

“Apologies. Sashuran became the Primordial-” she pointed to the next name. “With Grohl claiming Hennel the Crucible; god of fire, creation, healing, life, and imprisonment. Grihm claimed Amelie the Huntress, goddess of hunting, freedom, nature, beasts, and pain. Hondas became the Cardinal; Grohl claimed Raelan the Ardor, god of wind, travel, art, passion and trade, while Grihm claimed Cabal the Reaper, god of harvest, decomposition, nightmares and hunger.

“Esmeralda became the Matriarch, who was also the only other member of the Seven to continue using her own name. Grohl claimed Esmer the Matriarch, goddess of monarchy, empires, respect, conquest and communication, with Grihm claiming Alda the Promise, goddess of plague, home, hearth, crossroads and selflessness. The sixth was Gariet, who became the Warden. Grohl claimed Talas the Valor, god of protection, civilization, marraige, peace and despair. Grihm claimed Mizzari the Relict, goddess of love, greed, poison, wealth and hope.”

When Rita paused this time, it was far more clear it was indeed for dramatic effect. She placed one hand on her hips and the other pointing to the last two names listed.

“Now, you’ll notice that I have already listed six of the Seven, each of whom was one individual torn into two deities, yet there are two names left on the list. That is because Demeri and Yerrow were originally siblings on that ship, a brother and sister. When their energies mixed with the Stream and pulled in to bind with that last, seventh fracture of power from the original tether that held Tonshlur to the Stream, both of them were pulled into that one fracture together. Instead of one soul torn in half to become two deities under the same power, they were two halves brought together into one whole- the Oculus.”

Rita pointed. “Yerrow the Keeper, god of dreams, secrets, death, truth and memory. The brother of Demeri the Augur, goddess of fate, prophecy, knowledge, fear and fortune. ‘Navon-tol’. The Twins. The one member of the Seven that is fundamentally different from the rest, and the only one of the Seven who has only ever had one Echo at a time. Never more, never less. As one died, a new one would be appointed. Rikael, Sloth Paladin of Yerrow was succeeded by Timat, Gluttonous Lycanthrope of Demeri, then by Felgori the Wrathful Druid of Yerrow, then Yna the Prideful Dreadnought also of Yerrow, then another, then another after that, and another after that, either blessed by Yerrow or Demeri. A pattern leading all the way to the last recorded Echo of the Oculus- Vojemala Ywer, blessed by Demeri. An Artificer of Lust, almost exactly like Eris here.”

During the pause that followed, it was the armoured Charlotte in the back of the room that spoke up. “So you think the reason Eris’s Wonders skill didn’t destroy the powers of the Gifted was because Echoes of the Oculus are inherently different than other Echoes?”

“Possibly, though again- it is hard to come to solid conclusions.” Rita let out a long, low, frustrated sigh. “It could be that only Echoes of the Oculus had such weakness skills, and that was never revealed to anyone, ever, explaining the lack of information. Or just as annoyingly, that weakness skill could be something exclusive to Eris. After all, she wasn’t granted power directly like traditional Echoes. She partook in the Gifting to take up what should have been a fractal of power, and was then chosen and blessed by a mere ghost of a goddess long dead.”

Rita picked up the eraser and began wiping the board yet again.

“For all we know, Eris may be an Echo, yes, but she may be a ‘damaged’ version. A version where in order to give her the same power that other Echoes needed, a sacrifice needed to be made elsewhere because Demeri’s ghost was too weak to give the power properly. There are too many unknowns and too few certainties to try and make proper hypotheses.”

“Then we’ll settle with guesses,” Grace said, prompting Eris to look over at the Artisan that ate her out just a few minutes ago. She still had a dusty smudge on her shoulder from Eris’s shoe, and Eris had to quickly try and retain her focus away from getting horny.

Again.

“So Basic skills, Sin skills and Vile skills,” Grace continued. “I think it’s safe to assume that in terms of other Basic skills, she is likely to get one that lets her properly use enchantments, since every other crafter usually gets something like that. What else?”

That last question was not directed at the professor, but rather the other crafters in the room. Tatum flipped her mohawk over and tapped her chin. “Choosing stat bonuses. Being able to pick which stat is boosted by an item, so she could make a sword that boosts Vitality instead of Physical Power if she really wanted to.”

“And increasing the bonus!” Hima blurted out. “One of my skills makes it so that my clothing gives a Moderate bonus to the stat instead of a Minor one, so Eris would probably get something like that?”

Bailey nodded. “It would likely be one that could be levelled with her Desire, too. Levelling it up lets her make it a Greater, Superior, or maybe even higher of a bonus.”

“Or adding more bonuses,” Addison muttered. Ophelia snapped her fingers at that.

“Oh, yeah. Adding more than one stat bonus is practically a given. How many do you think Eris would be able to put?”

Eris just kept her eyes wide while the crafters around her began discussing her future like she weren’t even there. Hima even pivoted in her chair to sit backwards with her arms crossed over the backrest.

“If she’s able to level it up, at least six, right? Because if it starts at level one but lets her put an extra skill, then it goes at least until level five when it evolves again, then that would mean one extra stat she can boost per level, right?”

“Unless it’s a static value of one extra stat bonus with some other modifier that’s increased with each level,” Rachel stated. “Then maybe it becomes two extra stat bonuses after it evolves.”

Rocky whistled. “And that’s all just with skills that increase stat bonuses. There’s a whole lot more out there, like your skill to pull shit out of an oven with your bare hands-” she pointed at Ophelia, “-and your crazy Potency bonus thing you’ve got going on.”

She then pointed at Bailey, who shrugged and crossed her arms. “Condensed Production. Passive effect; you can choose to reduce the Duration of any non-instantaneous concoction you produce by seventy-five percent, but they gain a fifty percent bonus to their Potency. And I ‘had’ it going on. Not anymore, so thank you for reminding me.”

Rocky suddenly looked a lot less comfortable. “Oh- uhh… I-”

Bailey grinned, the smile breaking the serious look she temporarily had. “Relax, I’m fucking with you. Plus, we’re all thinking way too directly about this. We aren’t even considering the possibility of Sin skills. If an old Druid had orgies to empower armies and raise trees to life, what would an Artificer empowered by Lust get?”

Eyes went to Rita, who seemed to take the temporary bout of the students talking amongst themselves to enjoy a drink of water. She closed and set the bottle back down on the desk beside her.

“Udala Menjarinalus was an Artificer of Raelan attuned to Lust, and legends stated that she would invite hundreds into her workshop for an annual orgy. Supposedly, it would increase the power of her crafting while inside-”

“Alright, so an orgy ritual to make a magical workshop-” Ophelia said. “What else? Specifically with this… Oo-duh-luh? What else did she do that was sexual?”

Rita thought for a moment, and Eris was afraid that she was about to start going on some long story.

“There were legends that she traded many of her creations with other Echoes for the opportunity to sleep with them, almost like a business transaction. She may have had some skill that interacted directly with having lustful interactions with other Echoes, but to what benefit I cannot say. Sadly, there were not very many lustful Artificers in the legends. Most seemed to be attributed towards Greed, because I suppose that was one of the easiest for them to indulge in given their need for valuable materials they’d already be using for crafting.”

“Hmm…” Rachel rapped her knuckles on the desk a few times. “Okay, so that’s a bust.”

“Not entirely,” Rita said. “Eris accidentally discovered her ability to put lustful enchantments on items, and there were records stating about the items of Artificers being more powerful when designed for their sin. So, the knowledge about being able to use that sin in the crafting itself is not something exclusive to Eris. Despite that, in both of the Artificer items that Eris has Inspected as of yet; the Abstract of Eternity and Control Trap: Alda One, neither had any apparent sinful enchantments.”

“And this means…?”

Rita cleared her throat. “There may be some skill that Eris receives later that allows her to imbue her sin into an item to get that power without producing an additional, random enchantment. Effectively trading the random, powerful enchantment for a small overall power boost. Strength for reliability.”

“Interesting…” Bailey nodded. “And what about the Vile skills?”

“I don’t want to-” Eris was cut off by the Professor.

“Well, there are many aspects of sin that would be considered deeply unnatural and disturbing, especially when regarding the concepts of Lust. This includes the obvious examples such as rape, pedophilia and bestiality, but they most certainly are not excluded to those acts and provide tremendous effects.”

She brought her chalk back to the board, and Eris tried again, feeling a little clammy. “Can we not talk about-”

“-As for Vile skills displayed by previous Artificers of Lust, there was one example where Vojemala Ywer was stated to have necrophilic relations with a deceased individual she preserved in a bath of saline, and that supposedly let her go six months without a single break for food, drink or rest. Endless work for thousands of hours, at a pace nobody else could achieve, all for the cost of a single intimate act with a corpse. Truly fascinating, when you think about it.”

Eris gagged.

“I think I’m gonna throw up.”