〘Continuing from the Meeting Place of Gods〙
All present were astounded, unable to comprehend what Taith had just uttered.
"It's as I said, Svågrad. This is the Lost Son of The Forgotten One! You won't know of him as you are of the New Era, but you two should." nodding towards Michi and Mhati, both of whom were still too shocked to respond, Mhati almost in tears. "You clearly remember the anguish The Forgotten One felt on that day, the day Their loved one and child died. At least, we thought had died!"
Mhati was the first to move, or at least try to. She tried to take a step closer to the old man, except her legs refused to work, instead dropping her to the ground as soon as she tried to put strength into them. "Is this truly him?? Taith, are you sure it's truly him?!" came the fervent and pleading question from her quivering mouth.
"Certainly, we always assumed he had died along with his mother. There was nothing left after the explosion. Hell, it left a massive crater behind. Nothing that we can conceive of could have survived that. And you're telling us that this is he?" Michi questioned Taith sternly, unwilling to fully believe his words.
To be sure they would have to examine the Shakujin stone residing in the old man's chest, or at least the residual form of it. But this was something they had never dared to do as it was encroaching into the realm of their Creator, something inherently taboo to them.
"W-w-e'll have t-to look at h-his Sh-sh-sh—" she couldn't finish her faint words. Mhati had made the suggestion to check first, or tried to. She had been the closest to The Forgotten One, being the first to be created amongst the Old Era and thus spent more time, even fractionally, with Them. She felt Their pain on that day as if it were her own, being so closely connected. As such this was even more of a taboo for her.
But whilst the others had been deeply stupefied by what Taith had said, and by the events unfolding, Svågrad had been on the outer of all this. Uninvolved and confused were her current feelings and state of mind.
She knew that The Forgotten One had fallen in love with one of the Ningen Race They created, an Ælf if she remembered her history classes correctly that the Old Era Gods had put all New Era Goddesses through, and that she had Their child. But the disappearance of the mother and child, and the subsequent vanishing of The Forgotten One, had not been a massive part of that education. In fact, it had mostly been left out.
She was curious, like a child who was told not to touch a wrapped present, and when she was curious she investigated, as was part of her personality as the Goddess of Records.
As the Divine Records Keeper she kept with her the original Truth Mirror, the 'Yata no Kagami' of The Forgotten One. She wasn't strictly allowed to use it, but as the one who governs over all worldly records it was actually her divine right to use it, she merely abided by the others wishes to not.
In the many thousands of years since her birth she has used it only once and that was only to try out a new toy she had been given. When she used it for what was only a few seconds she felt like her head was going to be crushed and immediately passed out.
Telia and Ílæ found her convulsing on the floor of her working domain when they came to visit. They are her fellow New Era Goddesses, respectively of Contracts and Laws, and are her closest friends. Upon finding her on the floor seemingly unconscious, yet writhing in pain, they immediately went for help from the Old Era Gods. She was never allowed again to have contact with the mirror after that.
But as has been said previously it is her Divine Right, and was an item long linked to her very being, which makes enforcing this ban very hard should she choose to use it.
As her curiosity was irritatingly wriggling beneath her skin as she stared at the others crouched around an unknown old man she decided to use it at this time to end her intense desire to learn something she had not known.
Moving some ways off to the side, separating herself from the others, she plunged her right hand into her chest, wincing with pain as she did so.
"Ǐ̵̼̟̱̯̻,̸̱̹̖̙͆̋̇̃́ ̴̰̬̜̦̻̾̊̎̔͝S̷͕͎̈́́̋͆v̶̛͓̼͙́͗̍͂̓å̷̭͈͕̌̉̇ǵ̵̲̳̤͑̾̚͘͜ṙ̷̢̘̮͛͋̓à̵̖̃̔̑̎̕d̷͓̲̘͊͊͊̔ ̸̳͎͈̙͎̂͛͗̑͒p̶͈͉͈̭̘̲̔́̚͝ȍ̷̮s̵͖̖̞̦͘e̵͚͋̓̅̎̓ͅs̷̲̜̜̣̓ ̸̢̩͓̫̣̐̓̈̾̅t̵͂̔ͅẖ̵̞͂̓͗̀̌̉e̶̻͋̈́͗͛̉ ̶̣̂̋̑̇̓̀r̸̡͔͕̳̋̎̾̚ì̸͕g̵͕̹̰̝̩̊̐͌h̴̙͕̊̉̆͊͗t̸̼͖͕͚̑͘͝ ̵̢̪̹̚ͅö̶̼͔́f̷̡̲͑̂̀͂̓ ̴͔̺̬͚̰͇̏̒͑͝͝us̵̢̳̬̙̺̓ȩ̸̳͚̼͌́́̐̆͑.̸̛̜̳̘̓̌͛̆ ̸̡̳͙͊͘C̵̱͇̟̆͛̚͠Ơ̵̤̱̠̠̣̮̽̽̚M̸̳̥̲̣̀͂͐͋̔͘E̷̼͍͊̀̉,̴̛͉̞̟̩̖̬͋̓̋ ̴̛͓̣̹͔̙̫̌̇́Ÿ̷̛̻́̋̅̐̐a̵͇̼̺̮͊̅̍̈͋t̵̙̦̠̰̂̈́̓ͅa̴͕͆͛̿́̕ ̷̡̻̬̟͚̕ͅṉ̴̦̯͙͙̇̌̐̕͜o̴̤͆̃͘ ̵̩̪̑́͊K̸͖̅̀ḁ̴̢̣͕̳͕̈̈́̌ǵ̵̢̥̘̰͚̺ā̴̮͍̮̬̉͗̊͒m̴̨̚i̵̺̹͚̿͜ͅ!̶̧̨̗́̊̓"
She spoke strange and tonally bizarre words whilst doing so and once the final utterance was made she began to glow brightly, finally garnering her long wanted attention from the three other Gods and Goddess present.
"Svågrad, what are you doing?!" came the booming, concerned and outraged voice of Michi who had noticed first that something strange was happening and had already begun to run towards the now blindingly bright beacon of light Svågrad had become.
She was attempting to use her Divine Right, not even something the older and more experienced Old Era Gods would do frequently. It was extremely dangerous when done wrong and she knew this, especially because of her previous encounter with hers. But she believed herself to be a different Goddesses now, thousands upon thousands of years later. More powerful and knowledgeable, not like her younger self.
In a word she was childishly arrogant.
"AHHHHHH!"
A scream came from within the light, stopping Michi in his tracks a few metres away. He raised both hands to shield his eyes and attempted to peer inside. What he saw was the figure of the slender Svågrad slumped forwards with her hand seemingly buried deep in her chest, trying to wrench out her Divine Right.
"But wait…" he thought, once his eyes adjusted. "She's not at the invocation stage, she's already past it and is barely retrieving the mirror. No, she's stalled in its extraction! This is bad!"
He immediately called out to the dazed and lagging Mhati and Taith, "Hurry, she's just past the critical invocation of her Divine Right. She's attempting to use the 'Yata no Kagami'. I think she wants to help us discover who this man is without breaking the taboo. We have to help her, quickly!"
Upon hearing Michi the other two quickened to a panicked pace and arrived on opposite sides of the glowing Svågrad, stretching out their arms like a V, with the tips of their fingers pointing up, and pointing towards each other. They were going to try and stabilise the Ether field around her that was reacting and causing the blinding light by manipulating the fine field variations of the surrounding Ether.
In essence when one retrieves a Divine Right nobody other than the user should know that they're doing so. However, when those that are new to it, or untrained in its retrieval, attempt the invocation of a sealed Divine Item their Mana will run wild, exciting the surrounding Ether and causing what is called 'Severe Ether Run-off', whereby the users mind is directly linked to the Divine Item where raw Ether is directly channelled through it, continuously emitting Ether through the item and then processing it back through the users mind, an exponential process. This condition, if left unabated, can even cause death in Gods and Goddesses of this world.
The three Old Era Gods dutifully stood their ground beside the near comatose Svågrad, flowing Mana between each other and the Ether field, slowly quieting its rage as quickly as they could. The longer she was left in this state the greater the risk of damaging her Divine Authority. If prolonged it can be eroded causing chaos within that god's realm of influence. And Svågrad's influence was one of the most important.
Frequently they would glance over at the body of the old man, the body of Ichirou-no-Mikoto, the presumed son of The Forgotten One. They needed to succeed in taming the wild Ether outburst to not only save their beloved and reckless Svå-chan but also to know who this man actually was.
The process took a short while to complete, but longer than they had hoped for. Not long enough to cause her any harm, they hoped. After a sudden and deafening 'POP' the bright field of Ether vanished to reveal a small girl on the edge of consciousness dripping in sweat clutching the most gorgeous of mirrors in her arms. Just the sight of it made the onlookers' heads spin and made them feel uneasy. This was an object even Gods worshiped.
"You must hurry and do what you will so it can be returned and stop your suffering, Svå-chan" came the now calm and cooing voice of Mhati as she cradled the weak girl's body, "And once everything here is done with we'll correct our mistakes and give you girls proper education." She was gently stroking her hair. Mhati was the closest thing to a mother most of the New Era Goddesses knew. She doted on them endlessly.
With the help of the three surrounding her she tentatively stood and walked to where the old man lay, placing all her weight on them, still tightly clutching the mirror to her bosom.
Stopping a short distance away from the man she shakily raised the mirror and did much the same Mhati had previously done with her Truth Mirror, except this time the man's body shone and began to float where it lay, connected to the mirror with a red and gold cord only visible through the glass of the mirror.
As soon as that cord fully materialised Svågrad dropped the mirror to the ground, causing it to shatter into a thousand pieces that burst out and flew back into her delicate body. It was returning to its home, sealed inside her.
"Svå-chan, what did you see?? We have to rely on you now since you're the only one who can see what the 'Yata no Kagami' shows."
Turning to Taith with an awestruck but pained and tiered expression on her face she said "It's him. It has to be. Though instead of a Shakujin he has a sheathed sword! What is that? I've never seen that in all my life. It's weird. And it says he is half Ælf and half divine being! Wow." Her eyes were sparkling, as were the 'adults' eyes.
Mhati wept tears of joy and sorrow, before being roused out of her grief by the bustling of the others and realised what must be done. "We have to send him to Them. Across the Void and to where The Forgotten One came from." The others agreed and were already moving towards this thought.
"We have already contacted those that we think are free and willing. They should be arriving soon, but they all seemed so busy. We'll be lucky if a couple actually can come. Let's begin preparing while we wait!" Taith was beaming with visible joy, as was Michi and Svågrad, who had also contacted her closest friends to come and help.
Those of the Old Era that could come ended up amounting to two, the first was Asao, the Goddess of Flowing Water. She had the Divine Guidance of Purification and would be indispensable if they were going to send something through the Universal Divide, the Void between realms. The second was Odā, the God of Experience, who presides over all Skills and Experience Related Growth of the world.
Those of the New Era that attended were Telia and Ílæ, who had come at the request of Svågrad but they had no real idea why they were called to the Meeting Place of Gods by her, a place they rarely had need to come to.
"Te-chan~! Læ-chan! Over here!" came the voice of an over excited Goddess who had only moments ago recovered from her ordeal. "Oh, Asao-okasan~! And Odā-senpai too, you came~! It's so exciting, isn't it???" She was the very definition of exuberant. Telia and Ílæ rushed over to her and they began to swap information, the usual for when they met up with Svågrad. Asao on the other hand rushed over to the others in a hurry, leaving Odā behind.
"Taith. Michi. Mhati, my love, you don't look well. What's happening? Michi didn't explain himself properly as to why I was called here." Asao greeted her brethren, paying extra close attention to the reasonably dishevelled looking Mhati.
"It's so lovely to finally see you Asao." she said with a touch of warmth returning to her and a smile spreading across her face, "We have to hurry though, right now! Taith, properly explain to her what's happened and what has to happen. You three gossipers, over here, quickly. And Odā, go to Michi and help while he properly explains."
What happened next happened in a flurry of activity, so much more than the endless white space of the Meeting Place had seen in many thousands of years.
It seemed happy about this.
The New Era Goddesses were helping Mhati prepare the old man's body, essentially his soul, for rebirth, while Taith and Asao were hurriedly talking amongst themselves on magickal topics unheard of by even Adepts of the art. Michi and Odā were doing the heavy lifting, gathering the materials and supplies Taith and Asao would regularly shout out they would need.