Rebirth of the Nephilim

Jadis and Meli’s return to Thracina was met with a small amount of uproar, since they arrived a little after sunset. Aila was particularly upset with them for being late, as she had already started organizing what was needed to get the Leviathan running so she could go after them. However, all anger was forgotten once Jadis explained both the success of their mission, and the true reason behind the delay.

“An entire library of Nephilim knowledge and history?” Aila echoed, her blue eyes glowing with interest. “Completely intact?”

“Tens of thousands of books and scrolls,” Syd confirmed in her most sultry voice. “Hundreds of thousands. And paintings, too.”

“It’s all in ancient Nephilim, of course,” Dys said from the other side of the room. “I couldn’t read a thing. But Techne, the Golem guardian of the archive, can translate. He’s already working on transcribing some books on enchantments right now.”

“Enchantments!?” Sabina practically fell over herself as she rushed up to Dys’ side. “They have enchantment books!? What kinds of enchantments?”

“All kinds, I suppose,” Dys shrugged nonchalantly. “There are over seven thousand of them.”

While Sabina squealed high enough to shatter glass, Jay had lifted Hope above her head and was playfully spinning the gray infant around.

“Have you been a good little Succubus while I was gone? Have you? Hm? You have? I’m so proud of you!”

“Hope was… Very good…” Alex confirmed as she wrapped her tentacles around Jay’s side and snuggled close against her. “She rolled onto… Her back… This morning…”

“She did?” Jay blinked in surprise as she lowered Hope and cradled her against her chest. “Isn’t she too young for that? Even by our accelerated timetable, I thought Bertha said that wouldn’t happen for another month, at least.”

“Hope is strong…” Alex said as she ran a hand through the feathery hair on her baby’s head, drawing a cooing giggle from the infant. “And restless… She wants… To move…”

“Well, that’s good!” Jay exclaimed before giving Hope a kiss and making her squeal in delight. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from our baby. She’ll be bench pressing kids twice her age over her head in no time.”

“What is… a bench press…?”

While Jay explained exercise techniques to her Demon lover, her other selves answered questions about the Hall of Memories as well as the trip to the grove. Meli added a few details here and there, but for the most part the Dryad stayed quiet. Jadis was happy to give her some space, since Meli was still processing her emotions from meeting with her family again after such a long time. Fortunately, the reunion had gone well, and it was apparent to Jadis that Meli’s feelings weren’t unhappy ones, as she had a small smile on her face as she stared into the distance, lost in her thoughts.

“I cannot imagine the art that has been saved,” Eir said, tears sparkling in her eyes. “Even if they are just illusory copies, to see paintings and sculptures that were made by the ancient Nephilim themselves! I am… Oh, Jadis, I feel as though I might burst into flame from excitement!”

“Not allowed unless we’re doing Oracle rituals,” Syd joked before giving her gentle elf a tender kiss. “I can’t wait to show you. Some of the paintings I saw were amazing. Even the stone hall itself is beautiful.”

“I cannot wait either,” Eir practically swooned as she giggled with anticipation. “Perhaps you can take me there tomorrow? Ah, but there are still so many in the city left to heal… But I must see the archive! Oh… I will wait if I must, duty comes first. It would probably be best if we make a proper expedition out of the trip, with scholars and priests, since we will need help translating the texts.”

“About that,” Syd grimaced. “We might want to keep the archive a secret for a while…”

There was, at that point, a rigorous debate among the group regarding who should be told about the existence of the Hall of Memories, and how much should be revealed. For the most part, there was a general agreement that keeping the archive a secret from Prince Hraustrekr and Prince Kestil was a good idea. Even Severina admitted that telling Kestil was a bad idea, since he was likely to involve the place in some scheme or another against his brother. When even one of the man’s staunchest supporters was saying to keep the archive away from the second prince, Jadis felt vindicated in her assessment. Most of the rest of the debate revolved around who else they should tell, and who would keep the secret.

Eir argued strongly in favor of telling the High Priests in Eldingholt, particularly Aurea and the other priests in Lyssandria’s temple. However, with both Aila and Severina on her side, Jadis was able to eventually convince the saint that the risk of an information leak was too high. The less people who knew, the better. The argument that truly got Eir to agree to not tell Aurea was the fact that even if she knew, the high priestess wouldn’t be able to visit the archive. There was simply no believable excuse that would allow Aurea to leave the capital and visit a foreign nation during a demonic invasion, especially considering Hraustrekr’s empire-centric policy. Telling the high priestess about the Hall of Memories when she wouldn’t be able to visit it until the invasion was over would just be cruel.

In the end, it was agreed that the existence of the hall would only be revealed to Wilhelm and his party. Noll would also be told, Jadis argued, since the therion was one of the few people in the world that Jadis trusted with her life and could also run the distance to the archive in a relatively short amount of time, if needed. No one else would be told, including the rest of Fortune’s Favored, just to keep the information as confidential as possible. Once Jadis’ nascent plans for securing the Hall of Memories were further along, Tegwyn and the rest would be brought in on the secret. But before then, the info was need-to-know only.

The rest of that night’s discussion was spent going over what Maeve’s investigation into the smuggling ring and adjacent cultist activity had uncovered. She hadn’t gotten too much on the cultists, unfortunately, but the talented spy had managed to find far more connections and inroads to the smugglers through the Voltonian senate than Jadis had expected. A lot of food supplies from more distant areas were being moved underground and bought by the rich, including shipments that were coming from places as far away as the Western Continent. Meli planned on using some of her connections to pretend to be a merchant selling goods from Tiaga and then work her way through the organization from the inside.

The thought of Tiaga and the Western Continent made Jadis wonder what was going on in that part of the world. Jadis assumed that the demonic invasion was affecting the other continents, not just the Central Continent, but she had no actual news regarding those areas. Perhaps that was a part of the current Demon Lord’s plan; focus all of his power and resources on one continent rather than spreading his forces out across multiple. That was just her speculation, though. She’d have to remember to ask about other places later, but for the time being, she had enough on her plate worrying about the continent she was living on. At the very least, if Tiaga was still shipping goods across the ocean to make a profit in Volto, they couldn’t be all that bad off.

The next day, Jadis tracked down Wilhelm and his companions and discussed the results of her trip to The Crook with them. The Hero showed just as much interest in both the Dryads and the Nephilim archive as she had expected and easily agreed to keeping the existence of the ancient records secret. The rest of his companions made their own promises to keep their mouths shut on the topic, though Jadis couldn’t help but notice the frown on Lucia’s face when the reasons for secrecy were explained. Still, the Paladin and the rest of the companions swore their silence, and Jadis resolved to trust that their word was enough.

That same day, Jadis began her new employment as an air taxi service. Taking Aila, Eir, Sabina, Tiernan, and Amarantha with her, Jadis flew back to the Hall of Memories and introduced them to Techne. The Golem, who had only spoken to one other person for literally millennia, looked a bit taken aback to have so many new people crowding into the archive, but with stoicism that was typical of his race, he adjusted to the situation quickly. While Techne worked with the small group on researching and translating documents, Jadis flew over to Meli’s family’s grove and picked up several of the Dryads, including Acantha. With six of the woodsy folk in tow, she carried them back to Volto, where she and Meli escorted them around the countryside so that they could do their own survey of the damage done by the demon-born blights.

The Dryads acted as a convenient cover story for Jadis and her companions to leave the city and go north. Jadis made sure to tell the senate that the Μοναξιά grove was lending their aid, but because of Demon attacks in the north of the country, they had requested that Jadis and Wilhelm provide protection and help hunt down any Demons. Since there actually were Demon attacks coming from the coastline along the Parusyat border, no one questioned the excuse beyond a cursory inquiry. Thus, Jadis was able to get her people working on the archive while also getting the Dryads to work on fixing the problems with the farmlands around Thracina, all for the minor cost of being everyone’s transportation.

Sabina had tried to argue for setting up a tent at the archive so that she didn’t have to leave, but Jadis had to draw a line somewhere.

That became Jadis’ routine for the next several days. In the mornings, she would fly everyone to where they needed to be, then spend the rest of the day either escorting the Dryads, reviewing war plans with Wilhelm and the senate, or helping the military with their preparations. There were two instances where Demons were spotted in the countryside surrounding Thracina, and Jadis responded to them immediately, but in both cases, it was nothing more than a few weaker Demons who had slipped by the front lines and caused minor damage. She captured several of the Demons for questioning, but the results were entirely unhelpful. None of them would speak with Alex beyond blunt refusals of cooperation and aggressive threats.

At the start of the fourth day of her new routine, Jadis was finally confronted with a situation that she had been putting off. While she was forced to work with the senate, she was able to leave most of the more troublesome interactions to Severina or Wilhelm and his companions. Unfortunately, there was one senator who wanted to speak with Jadis specifically, and there was simply no way to put her off forever. So, after transporting Aila, Kerr, Sabina, and Tiernan to the archive and dropping off Meli and her kin at one of the local farms, Jadis made her way to a section of Thracina where some of the largest and most opulently luxurious homes could be found.

“Good morning, Donna Jadis,” a beautiful young woman greeted her at the gate to the palatial residence her directions had led her to. “Please, follow me.”

Jadis was still learning the local language, but the polyglot skill she had borrowed from Kerr was helping her along. Donna, she realized, was a formal form of address, something like nobility, which was not a term regularly used among the Voltonian people. Senators were not nobles, nor was there any kind of noble class like in the Empire, though there were some people with hereditary titles that had been passed on from centuries past when Volto was kingdom rather than a republic. The titles didn’t hold any weight anymore, but they did exist.

“I’m not a Donna,” Jay told the pretty brunette as she followed her inside the estate. “You can just call me Jadis.”

“Thank you for your kindness, but no,” the woman shook her head with a smile. “I could never address one of such glorious lineage as yourself by any title less than donna, nor would I ever presume to be so familiar with one of Senator Celsa’s guests.”

Glorious lineage?

Jadis sighed internally. The worshipful attitude that the servant was giving her was exactly the reason why she had been hesitant to visit Celsa before that point. The senator was clearly obsessed with Nephilim. She didn’t get the impression that the woman was a bad person, but Jadis didn’t want to be fawned over by a stranger who was just interested in her because of her race, rather than her own self. Maybe that was unfair, but none of the brief meetings where Jadis had spoken with Celsa had dispelled her of that impression. The senator was focused on Nephilim, nothing else, and that made Jadis… wary.

The servant turned to continue leading Jadis further into the luxurious estate but paused for a moment. Jadis saw the conflict on the woman’s face and so tried to prompt her to say what she was hesitant to put into words.

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, nothing wrong, donna,” the servant stated firmly. Then, her expression shifted as she gained a measure of resolve. “Only… I would ask, if you do not mind… would you give me your blessing?”

“My blessing?” Jay echoed, one eyebrow raised in question.

“Sì, donna,” the woman nodded. “Would you bless me, so that my womb will be fertile this month? My husband and I have been trying for a baby for a year, and our prayers to Lyssandria have not been met. Perhaps la Madre Della Bellezza will listen if you give me your blessing?”

This was not the first time Jadis had been requested to bless one person or another. Sometimes it was for luck with love, other times it was for artistic endeavors. The blessing of having children was definitely something Jadis had been asked many times before. The thing was, she still didn’t have any idea of how to go about it. To her, all she was doing was putting her hand out and saying a few platitudes. It didn’t feel like she was affecting anything, nor did she believe Lyssandria was able to act in a direct way just because Jadis had said a handful of words. Giving her blessing, whatever that meant, didn’t feel right when she wasn’t certain she was having any effect. She didn’t like the idea of giving innocent people false hope.

“Well, I—”

“Jadis Ahlstrom!”

Senator Celsa’s rich voice cut through the atmosphere, interrupting Jay’s words and causing the serving girl, who Jadis had not yet gotten a name for, to flinch. Looking up, Jadis saw that the statuesque woman was standing in the open door at the far end of the hall of the opulently decorated manor house. She had a bright smile on her face, and her pink eyes were sparkling in the light.

“I am so happy you finally accepted my invitation,” Celsa said as she held one elegant hand out towards Jadis. “Please, come in and sit down, rest yourself. I am certain that you have been busy these past few days.”

Glancing at the servant who had moved off to one side, the senator nodded once.

“Gloria, please fetch us some refreshments. I am certain that Jadis is not used to the heat of a Voltonian summer.”

Before Jadis could say anything, Gloria bowed and scurried away on her errand.

“Good morning, Senator Celsa,” Jay put on a smile for the older woman. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“My home is always open to you,” the senator grinned broadly as the three of Jadis approached. “Please, visit as often as you desire.”

Opening the door wider, the pale woman motioned for Jadis to follow her inside.

“But perhaps, before I plea for your continued presence, I should have you tell me; what is this I have heard about you looking to purchase property in Volto?”