Chapter 4
I have an objective; finding Eren. I have no idea how to accomplish said objective; I got no clue where to start. What did you expect, I'm eleven. Powers aside, at my age there wasn't very much I could accomplish on my own. Traveling to far off lands to find a complete stranger is definitely not part of my skill set. That said, I still don't plan on giving up easily. Sure there isn't much I can do right now but with a little growth here a carefully placed montage there, I'd get strong enough to travel the world on my own.
With that in mind, my immediate goal should be getting stronger. To do that I had to learn as much as I could about the mark on my left hand. To learn everything about being the "Water God" and that's how I came to the conclusion of borrowing the large book Mary used to explain the concept to me in the first place.
I was in the church where my mother spent her days helping the community of Erith. As I traipsed around the cathedral I fully took in the feeling of devotion and holiness. It was an unpleasant feeling that made me want to get out quick. I spotted my mother next to a priest, Father Dumont, I think that's what Ginevra called him. The two of them seemed to be in the middle of a discussion about something highly important. I chimed in like the miscreant I am, the two of them jolted at my pop up surprise.
"Eden!" mother yelled. "Don't do that."
I found it increasingly difficult to hold myself back from laughing. When I opened my mouth to apologize, Father Dumont stepped in to introduce himself.
"Good day dear boy. You must be the Eden Connor I've heard so much about." He said all smiley faced.
He reached for my hand and grabbed it then shook it furiously.
"Yes, I am Eden. You must be Father Dumont."
"You've heard of me?"
"Somewhat," I said awkwardly. "My mother has mentioned you a few times."
"It's an honour. For a mere priest such as I to make the acquaintance of someone of your standing."
Someone of my standing? The priest's implications were lost on me. He suddenly grabbed my hand with both of his in a gesture of reverence. I swear he was this close to kissing it. My unease had reached it's peak. I tried prying my hand away from the priest but his grip on me remained ever firm. At that point I legitimately considered punching him.
"Father," Mary interjected. "I'd appreciate it if you would please let go of my son."
Father Dumont, who was ever so entranced by my delicate little boy hands, suddenly snapped awake. He pulled his hands away. "My apologies. I'm just so honoured."
"I'm sure...."
The father and I shared an awkward laugh for no particular reason, it lasted for about a minute or so. When he realised that he was no longer needed he slunk away like an unwanted rat. Like vermin. I'm not insulting the guy, he genuinely creeped away like a rodent. There was no better way to explain what I was seeing.
Once the priest cleared away I wiped my hand against my pants. I didn't know why but it just felt right to do so. It felt safer. Hopefully I wouldn't build some sort of aversion to priests.
"What's wrong with you sweetie?"
"I think I just got violated." I said without thinking.
"I'm sorry?" Mary asked, her face panicked.
"Just some childish rambling. Any who, how's your day going?"
"Busy. We're preparing for a ceremony that's gonna take place in a few days."
"A ceremony? What kind?"
I hadn't noticed it when I entered but the cathedral was lined with incomplete decorations. Coloured banners hung over the cathedral's pillars, each one marked with a peculiar design that resembled a tree in a circle. More over, the other nuns were rearranging the benches from their usual format.
"It's for uh...." Mary drifted off midsentence.
I paid her little mind. That's a lie, I ignored her completely. My attention was more attached to what was happening to the redecorating that was taking place in the cathedral. It dawned on me at last that no matter how hard I tried I'd never figure out whatever ceremony the church was trying to prepare for.
It was then that I looked to Mary for an answer.
"Ceremony for...normal…worship."
By the looks of it, she didn't know what the ceremony was for either. Wait. I didn't come to the church to discuss a ceremony. I came to find a book.
"Nevermind that. Can I borrow something?"
"Yes! Absolutely!"
She jumped at that opportunity quick.
That "Yes" was so enthusiastic I felt bad for not changing the subject sooner. Nevertheless I achieved my objective so I turned to leave-
"Wait."
Just to be stopped before setting foot outside. I knew she agreed way to easily.
"What do you want to borrow?"
"The big book about the Elemental Gods."
"Why?"
Come on lady you're putting me through the wringer here!
"To study….."
Not my best excuse. Hey, even I have off days alright!? Mary's eyes narrowed in suspicion. I felt myself shrinking slightly at her gaze.
"Don't touch anything else. Go it?" she said finally.
"You're the best! Love you mom!"
With victory in my grasp I bound for the door of the church. As I ran I heard Mary shout, "And make sure to stay inside okay!?"
I waved, "Got it!"
As I dashed along the streets of Erith, hurdling towards home, my heart jittered in excitement. When I was still employed my days were always occupied with working at the store. Now that the slot that occupied my midday hours was no more I had time to do lots of other things.
The book that Mary read to me that day was so massive I began wondering just how much information it had. Obviously it had info about the previous Water God but who knows, it might have information about the other Elemental Gods.
I arrived home, my mind filled with endless theories.
"Sorry sis. I'm in a rush."
Silence.
"Sis?"
The cabin was as quiet as a graveyard. It was vacant, not a sister or a mother to be found anywhere. I mean I already knew my mom was at church, but Lucy was nowhere to be found.
She must've gone out. I thought.
I slid into my room bound for the dresser. Rummaging through my mother's clothing dress after dress I finally found the book I was looking for. Like I remember it being, it was pretty big. The cover had an encircled tree in it's centre. I knew then that the book was property of the church. For some reason the Saint Christian Church seemed to have a lot more influence than I originally gave it credit for. Though I suppose that explained why I never slept with an empty stomach. Having a nun for a mom meant I was a sort of noble in the church's eyes.
So that's why Father Dumont was acting weird.
If I remembered to I'd make sure to apologize to him the next time I saw him. That aside, my focus turned to the book in my hands. I placed the grimoire-like book on the bed and spread it's pages. While I perused through the pages I found out more about the books contents. It had information about elemental magic, racial art magic even celestial magic.
I already knew about elemental and racial magic but celestial magic was new grounds for me. I turned to the page dedicated to celestial magic and started reading.
"Celestial magic is the highest class of magic that was used by the goddess of all life to defeat the evil Chaos God."
That was all the book had to say about the matter. Well that and a really awesome illustration depicting a woman using a beam like attack on really confusing monster. I say confusing cause the thing had so many heads. Like, seven heads or something. I turned my head to better understand the picture but I was left more confused. What I thought was a monster was actually a dude. A dude with horns, wings, hundred or so hands and devil of a smile.
Meanwhile, the goddess of life/ Terra, looked like the personification of righteous justice and glory. Whoever drew this wanted to make sure that their love for Terra was understood perfectly, and their hatred for the Chaos God was just as apparent. If only they made this clear at the cover of the page so I wouldn't flip over a hundred or so pages just for an illustration. Here I thought I'd find out more about celestial magic.
"Bunch of simps."
Fawning over a woman was one thing, but promising a dude information on peak magic and giving him an object of your simpetry is unacceptable. I mean if you're gonna fawn over someone let it be someone who exists here and now. Not someone who existed a thousand years ago.
Though I got no room to judge seeing as I fawned over Reiya for three years. At least she's real.
Truthfully I don't know how I feel about Reiya. Ever since that failed date plan I've been hesitant to make anymore attempts. And she said she was leaving for some university in about two months. I was letting myself get side-tracked again. Though my motivation was slightly sapped by the disappointment I knew I didn't really borrow the book to read about celestial magic.
Alas I continued my search for Maxwell's records. The more I paged through the more I realized just how much the church reveres Terra. Part of me started thinking it wasn't just respect but fear that drove them to paint her in such a light. I started reading some of the book's texts out loud to pass the time.
"The Goddess Terra breathed life into the world and life took root and shape."
I skipped what looked to be a recount of how the goddess of life breathed life into the world. After a few or so pages I found something that finally caught my eye.
"Records of Terra's selected warriors, the Elemental Gods."
Finally. My search had come to an end. As I suspected, and as Mary explained, there are four Elemental Gods each one given dominion over their respective element. Among the four, the first one mentioned was the Wind God. She, yes the Wind God was a woman, disappeared over two hundred years ago. According to the book, her name and reason for disappearing are unknown.
The missing info didn't matter to me though, I didn't really care about the other guys. Coming in second was the Earth God. The first Earth God was supposedly alive around three hundred years ago. He lived an uneventful life and achieved nothing worth mentioning so there wasn't really much to tell. The Fire God was next and boy....his section stretched three pages. Nope four. The fourth one had an illustration on it.
To describe it, let's just say it had a ripped individual doing a T-pose.
"That's trauma for another day. Oh, finally. Water God; Maxwell Agrabath."
Max's section started off with a bit of his history. He was born as the only child of the first Agrabath. During his youth he exhibited unmatched strength that was considered remarkable even by Agrabath standards.
When he reached adulthood he ventured away from his home to start a life of his own. During his travels he found an uncharted island and groomed the island into a whole new nation.
After his death his body was buried in the depths of that nation. It was his descendants' way of asking him to watch over them. Twisted as that might've seemed I think his descendants' hearts were in the right place.
Still dark though.
I flipped over the last page expecting a drawing and sure enough there it was. The symbol jumped out to me almost immediately. The same symbol I had resting on my left hand.
"Show me what you got, Max."
As I prepared to turn the illustrated page I heard a sudden burst through the front door. I freaked out so much I tore a piece of the page off.
"Dang it!"
I had no time to lament though, cause what I heard next had me jumping out of my skin.
"Eddy!" gasped Lucy. "It's Reiya! She needs help!"