The Creation, the oldest epic on Aran, starts with the birth of seven gods. The first three are the Land, the Sky and the Sea; they represent the world. Then came the Heat and the Cold, these two determined the state of the world. When the two maintained an optimal balance, that was what allowed Life to appear. Eventually, the first of the living would fade, paving the way Death's emergence.
The period between the Creation and the appearance of the Argun is too long for anyone to have an accurate estimation especially since all surviving records were vague and incomplete. The Creation was believed to be around six thousand years old, a fact that left countless scholars doubting its authenticity due to the fact that Aran's history- as uncovered in snippets from rock art and primitive pottery- was much longer than that. Another reason why historians were sceptical was the fact that the epic had multiple renditions. Also, the humans back then weren't exactly focused on record-keeping as they were more occupied with trying to survive the Beast Era.
Of course snippets could not be discounted as they often painted a picture of history unknown, or reinforced an accepted truth; like the fact that Tizhura clashed with the Beast God in the first ages. The result was a defeat that caused the Sky Goddess to get lost in the annals of history. The most widely accepted version of this legend had the Lion devouring the Harpy as was often propagated by the Beast God's worshipers. The conclusion did not seem farfetched though, considering the fact that these day Rakka embodied not only the Land but the Sky as well. He was the only god with more than one aspect.
Another fact acknowledged by everyone since time immemorial was the animosity between Vestrava and Atasha. These two, unlike the others, had a physical presence on Aran. Throughout the year they travelled from the desolate continents of the north and south, though never together. While Vestrava chased the warm of the sun, Atasha strayed away from it; compounding the natural seasons and making them more hectic. The two were never in the same hemisphere and, among numerous days of the year, the they only met on two of those on the Equator, spaced six months six months apart. During these Equinoxes their opposing personalities would clash, to the detriment of all fleshly beings on Aran.
The wind smashed against the shut window for the umpteenth time, Sage to put down her book in annoyance. Constant from wailing outside made it hard to engage in activities that required concentration. Added to the wails were the constant taps on the windows. Needless to say, the two sounds acting together were an effective focus killer. She had no clue how many times she had been interrupted, but this would be the last.
Is there anything else to do, she wondered, looking around the room.
On the other side sat Isaac, as he had done since they entered the room. He was stationary, with his back slumped while facing the floor; almost as if the spectacle outside did not bother him. It was not a far fetched conclusion to reach considering the fact that he had lived through more than fifty such days while she was experiencing her first.
Another who was experiencing his first Equinox was Nyx, who was nowhere to be seen. She sensed the cat hiding in one of the room's corners. The emotions fed to her through their bond indicated that he would not be appearing anytime soon.
The Equinoxes represented not only the highpoints of the transitional seasons, but also signified the gods of Heat and Cold trading places. They were more than just day and night having the same length, or the sun finally setting in the far north and vice versa. When the two gods passed by each other, their animosity towards each other was put on full display. Apparently this animosity could be felt on a spiritual level by all creatures of the world, especially the strong ones. During this period the beasts with strong physiques would feel be in constant alert due to feeling a deep-seated dread. As for the ones with magical abilities, any attempt to use those abilities resulted in their mana going out of control and bringing about unintended consequences.
Although she had read about this, believing it was another matter entirely.
At dawn, when the first winds began, she had attempted to see whether the effects as stated or whether they had been exaggerated. Maybe undead were not affected by the Equinox. The line of thought turned out to be wish fulfilment. The mere act of initiating [Mage Hand], a Zero Order spell, nearly caused her mana to go berserk. In quick response she had terminated the spell's casting, however, she incurred damage in the process. Now, since the current state of her mana was fucked up, she could only wait the for wind to die down at the next sunrise for her to be able to heal her the wounds. Fortunately they were not serious and were internal, she did not need to expand effort to hide them.
Still, she was not happy with how everything was proceeding. With her two pastimes swept away, she had nothing to busy herself with.
Leaving the inn was out of the question. It was said that during the Equinox, many creatures found outside would either suddenly burst into flames or have their body randomly be set on fire. Humans, undead, birds and predators; there were no exceptions to this. Statistically, the rate of unfortunate creatures that had this happen to them was abysmal, not even one percent. However, no one was willing to risk the fact that they would be among the unlucky few. For her it would probably be fine if she was frozen; uncomfortable, but the chances of survival were great. However, if she were to catch fire-
She could go to the common room and join in on whatever topics were being discussed there. The Equinoxes were terrible times, but the people had adapted. On these two days of the year, the people usually sang songs of safety and psalms asking for protection the elements. When she had gone down to the common room to eat breakfast for the sake of keeping up appearances, the innkeeper had been muttering a song in which she asked the Dragon God to blow the Tiger away with his mighty breath.
That had been the only singing in the entire inn and it did not take long for it to die down. The problem with that was that there were not many of them in the inn. Not counting herself, Isaac, the innkeeper and her daughter; the only other people in the inn were two mercenaries she had spotted when they first entered. It was hard to maintain a jolly mood with such a small number.
The innkeeper was accommodating, though- being a traditional woman of Lethia- she harboured a distrust for sorcerers, be they alchemist. While chatting with her, the innkeeper had even indirectly revealed the fact that Sage covering wearing a mask made her uneasy, the usual those who wear masks have something to hide schtick. While that was certainly true in Sage's case, she had rebutted the subtle accusation by claiming she had burned her face during and experiment gone wrong and. Playing it up with a few sniffs, she had claimed that she was not brave enough to show her disfigured face to anyone. Her acting fooled the woman, maybe even touched her. After that, the innkeeper's apprehension visibly lessened.
The same could not be said for the mercenary duo. When she and Isaac entered the inn, the two had been too engrossed in their conversation to pay them any mind. However, the previous night at dinner the woman occasionally sneered in her direction for no reason. Her male companion had not been any better. It was fine though; she never had any intention of talking to them.
Then there was the innkeeper's daughter. Sage took one deep breath an released it.
The brat was the last person she wanted to strike up a conversation with at the moment. The previous night the stupid girl had laughably snuck outside their room door and tried to eavesdrop on whatever she thought might be happening inside. The brat's assumption of the relationship between the pale knight and her was highly amusing, but after an entire hour passed and she remained outside the room- believing her actions had gone unnoticed- it became annoying. She had not interacted much with children since leaving Earth, but this incident reminded her of her lack of fondness for them; they were too nosy for the own good.
So, going to the common room was out of the question, leaving her with two choices. The first was something she particularly was not enthused about while the second involved meditation, to be alone with her thoughts. However, her thoughts were a rough path that led to a rabbit hole best left alone; she would not be treading there anytime soon. So, with a strangled groan, she went with the former option.
"Isaac," she began turning to the slouching former Guard Captain.
He responded by looking up from the wooden floor at her, she could feel his glare through his blindfold.
"What!" he asked hoarsely.
"Tell me about yourself."
The man did a doubletake at her request, sitting up straight and giving her a new kind of look. A frown wormed its way to his lips as his head lolled to the side, scrutinising her.
"What for?" the rudeness in his tone was unblemished.
"No reason really," she responded, "just trying to feed my curiosity. Like, why were you kicked out of the Paladin Order."
According to the information received from Sylphia, the details of the incident were vague with obvious signs of a cover-up. The only certainty in the information was that there had been an altercation between Isaac and one of the Imperium's senators.
The Shean Holy Imperium was a theocracy. Although the senate was the civilian branch of its government, every member was a priest of standing with the consul being the Arch Priestess, the leader of the Church of Life. The head of its military wing was the praetor, who ensured the safety of the Imperium's citizens and delegated large scale operations against dangerous nations or individuals. Normally these were the highest ranks in the Imperium, only the imperator outranked the two.
What happened between Isaac and the senator had resulted in the senator's death and Isaac being let go by the Paladin Order. Only the insiders knew exactly hat had happened. Even so, the death of a senator was no minor affair. If Isaac was the culprit, which was the only viable conclusion anyone with two brain cells would come to, he would have been rewarded by relieving his head from his shoulders. Seeing as that had not happened, the had to be a good reason why not. Sage was not particularly interested in learning what it was but, given that she had nothing better to do, she might as well find out.
Except the bastard did not respond. After glaring a her from behind his covered eyes he simply sneered and went back to eyeing the floor. His actions made caused her eyebrow to twitch, but she elected not to pursue it.
"Tell me about your dreams. What do you wish to accomplish in the future?"
The pale knight looked up from the floor again. This time his glare was more intense, she could almost see the black eyes behind the cloth angrily questioning, are you serious? He did not remain silent this time.
"I have no dreams," his tone was silent, oozing of a strong loathing and heartbreak. "You killed every dream I had when you turned me into this!"
"Oh," she replied as the accusation harmlessly bounced off her. "Even though you're undead a bit different now, you are still you. In time you will gain new dreams and something to look forward to."
Her words seem to have struck a chord, causing him to have an unintended visceral reaction. Before she could react, he was in front of her, just shy of grabbing her lapels and hoisting her face him. The expression on his face suggested that had been his intent, but had found himself unable to follow through with the last part. Seeing that it was fruitless, he resorted to verbal violence, blowing cold air into her face with every word uttered.
"How dare you!" he hissed. "How dare you spout such words after what you did to Saana?"
"Get out of my fucking face," she retorted, shooting him a glare of her own.
Unable to refuse, he retreated while continuing to glower at her. "You destroyed my dreams, killed every hope I had for the future. And after what you did to Saana, the Church will hunt you to the ends of Aran and rip you to shreds!" His brows creased further as he continued. "Perhaps that is my new dream, nothing will give me more pleasure than to witness it."
"You'll definitely be there!" she fired back. "Of that you should have no doubt. When they find me, you will be the one helping me kill them!"
Isaac clenched his fists and ground his teeth loudly. "You-"
Fuck off," she cut him off. "Go sit in your chair again and continue brooding. I assure you; you'll be feeling much worse if we ever encounter Shean agents."
With that said she got up from the bed and made a beeline for the door. Chatting up the innkeeper was a better alternative to staying in the room with this bastard.