Saintess Summons Skeletons

The date half of their arrangement being over, Sofia and Speed ended up outside at the top of the volcano the lodge was built under, sitting on the ledge of the volcano at an arm’s length from each other, they admired the sunrise.

“Time for the main course?” Sofia asked with a smirk.

“I thought you said you were full?”

“I always have some extra space for some bones, or a dead god. I’ve realised I might have messed up, though,” Sofia admitted.

“How so?”

“Well… You said the previous Speed died in his domain, right?”

“Yeah?”

Sofia raised her right hand, and took out Aphenoreth’s glove, showing Speed the ring on her middle finger. “This thing is the reason I need dead gods. Here, let me show you the system identification.”

Speed quickly read the window, “The annihilator? Ominous name…”

Sofia stared at Speed, slightly worried, but thankfully nothing happened.

“Is there something on my face?”

“It’s… You shouldn’t say that out loud.”

“I shouldn’t?”

“Yeah… Same thing for my full name. I’ll… I’ll explain next time, but it’s better not to say them, for everyone’s safety.”

Speed scratched his head, “I’m not following, but sure…”

“Just trust me on this, please. Anyway, the item description, you’ve read it all, right? Do you see the issue?”

“I do. Doesn’t sound like you can absorb remains from gods who passed in their domain… I don’t think you could even see the item out there, even, unless it’s made from divine essence.”

“It’s a very special item, I guess you could guess that, but I don’t think it’s made of essence, no. So… Probably no dead god for me tonight,” Sofia said with a shrug.

“Ah, shit. Sorry…”

“No need to apologize, I’m the one who failed to ask for basic information. Besides, it could still work anyway, no reason not to try. If it fails, then it fails.”

“I already didn’t pay for the meal… Do you want something else instead? I don’t have much besides money but-”

“Not really,” Sofia interjected, “I’m fine. Is it a lot of trouble to bring me to your domain for a bit?”

“Not at all, no. You might have a hard time adapting to the environment there but I suppose if you could handle Peace’s domain it should be fine? I’m thinking it probably isn’t going to lead anywhere though, are you really sure you don’t want anything else?”

“I mean… It’s not like I really had to ‘pay’ you anything, tonight was fun, I would have done it for free, really. I would have paid for my food, even; if I wasn’t so broke currently. But if you insist, I wouldn’t mind getting to meet Water?”

“You- … I can arrange that, but why? If you want dead gods you would have a better chance asking Sun…”

“Oh, I will ask Sun too. If I even need to. I would not even be surprised if she were watching us right now, her divine rune is permanently tattooed on my soul so I can hardly hide from her.”

Speed turned and stared at Sofia without a word.

“What? It’s a free mana regeneration bonus, do you know how rare those are? I had to go on a quest for her and all,” Sofia explained herself.

Speed turned back to look at the sunrise again, “it feels like the more you speak the less I understand about you.”

Sofia cristalline laughter illuminated the early morning. “Told you, could write several books with all the stuff I’ve been up to. If this is enough to make you speechless, wait until you see what I look like in the divine plane, you’re going to have many questions,” she teased with a giggle.

It was speed’s turn to shrug nonchalantly, “Infinity plus many is still infinity.”

“Come on it’s not that bad, I’m still young, imagine what it must be like when two of those old ten thousand year old monsters start to share life stories.”

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Sofia heard Speed’s voice. It was distant, and echoed strangely, getting more and more distorted the longer it repeated.

“Sofia?” it asked.

“Sofia, can you hear me?”

She focused on her hands first, trying to visualise their shape as she felt her divine essences floating around. Slowly the energy started taking form. Light sculpted the shape of her entire body, though vague and blurry, it shone with the strength of many essences. Sofia could finally see.

“I’m here,” she told the strange godly form of Speed holding her wrist.

He was even more blurry and strange, like a constantly evaporating man of blue-purple fire, his blank face full of round holes placed in the exact same way as the holes of his physical form’s mask.

Thank the lords he doesn’t look like Peace. No eyes anywhere!

“Can you hear me? Can you see? How does it feel?” Speed asked, his voice coming from everywhere all at once.

“Yes, everything is fine. It feels a bit breezy, strangely,” Sofia answered, “Is this your divine rune?” she asked, her free hand pointing at her own face.

“My head? Yes. Sorry for the disturbing sight…”

“Much less disturbing than Peace or Death, I assure you. And I look strange myself, so who cares,” Sofia told him as she looked around, “So this is your domain? Why is it in ruins…”

Speed’s domain looked like the remains of an ancient civilization in the clouds, there were ruins of what one could easily imagine were gigantic buildings, but very little remained. Everywhere one could see huge blocks with a stony texture, some still standing in low walls, some fallen and broken on the ground, along with remains of ornate pillars and sculptures. Very few buildings still stood, most of them rather small. Perhaps the strangest thing was that the entire thing seemed to be built on a big fluffy cloud. Sofia and Speed were both outside of the city, standing on said cloud right at that moment. Ever so slightly sinking into it every second that passed.

“This was all built by the previous owner,” Speed explained, “Inspired by existing ruins of the lost epoch, I believe? Never seen them myself but this was Water’s opinion.”

“That… I think I know exactly what it’s inspired by, actually. Now that you said that, the similarities are striking.”

“What would that be?”

“Do you know about Valeure Dargent?” Sofia asked.

“Valeure… I feel like I’ve heard the name before, but that’s it.”

“Wind’s saintess,” Sofia clarified.

“Oh! The fox lady? I have heard about her, yes! Never met, however.”

“That’s the one, her home looks a bit like that. It’s not on a cloud but it’s in the sky, and it’s a bunch of old ruins very similar to these.”

“I suppose it is time I go pay her a visit soon, then. Ah, come, you are going to fall through if we stay here.”

Sofia followed Speed through his domain, walking against the wind, taking in the sights as the sights took her in. Here as well, just like in Death’s domain, she saw the eyes. The more she looked for them, the more she found, the shape of cracks in the bricks, the faded mural carvings, the twisting and turning clouds in between the buildings, eyes shapes were everywhere.

Hard not to feel watched… The divine planes truly are disturbing.

As they walked through the ruins, Sofia broke the silence, “Are you not going to ask about the essences?” she questioned.

Speed was walking a few steps in front of her, he turned his head as he kept walking, “Well, you warned me. I would ask about it, but I’m afraid it will only raise more questions. The bright ones are all from Sun, right?”

“Five of them, yes. I helped Sun with a sensitive matter and this is the reward I got in return, pretty much.”

“Some crazy reward, that. Can I ask what that help was about, or is it really sensitive still?”

“It’s got to do with my name and the annihilator. I’ll explain next time,” Sofia answered.

“Next time, next time… You keep saying that but when and where are we doing a next time?”

“I’m going to be busy for a while… Is a year and a half from now too long?”

“What are you going to do that will keep you busy for almost two years?” Speed answered with a question of his own.

“Leveling up to 299, then going on an expedition to harvest a dead god, quickly leveling up my skills, then getting the best score possible in the fourth trial– is currently the plan. Tight schedule. I didn’t expect Mornn to want to go for the next trial so soon, but I’ll have to make do with it. I promised Sun to take the trial with her saintess. Thanks for getting me that answer from Mornn so fast, by the way.”

“Just doing my job. And… Why not just focus on your skills right away if you’re not going to be able to fully prime the ring before the trial anyway? Aren’t you taking the trials too lightly?” Speed asked as he took a turn to enter one of the ruins that were still standing that looked a bit like an administrative building with a lot of desks lining the walls.

“Because it’s a two-for-one deal, I know of the corpse of a dead god and have a class quest with very good rewards in the same general location. There’s a 66% chance the reward I get from the quest will be useless for now, but if I hit the 33%? I’ll crush the trial with my eyes closed, I’m pretty sure. Much better potential gain than spending the same few months grinding a few skill levels. Not to mention that my skills will level just from using them during that time anyway.”

Speed nodded along Sofia’s explanation, taking several turns through the building, eventually reaching a set of stairs and starting to go down.

“Sounds like you have things well planned out. I’ll happily say that I’m fine with not having to deal with any of that leveling and trials stuff. All I really have to worry about is amassing more knowledge and more practice doing the things I want to do, and that’s it. Still, that’s a bit long. How about you take a day off to come visit my place before your next trial instead of after? That way I can get you a meeting with Water too.”

“Hmm… Do you think there’s a chance Water would sell me or trade an essence or two?”

Speed stopped in his tracks, turning around and looking up at Sofia a few steps behind him.

“Wha-... I mean… Maybe, but… no, seriously, what do you need so much essence for? You already have more than me!”

Sofia laughed. “It’s settled then. Don’t forget you promised to show me your paintings!”