***The Chamber of Time, sometime in the past…***
As a being that was a 'near-equal' to the gods, the Lady of Time had been in that dark, dreary chamber filled with spinning wheels she called 'home' for as long as she could remember. Aside from the occasional visits from the High King of the Gods, she would sometimes receive other gods who needed something from her, such as a 'replay' of the previous events from the world they rule. The agreement was that, the gods won't handle the passing of ages, for the High King knew some of them tend to abuse such privileges. In return, she would be in-charge with the spinning wheels, but she won't intervene in the events that would happen. Even so, the requests would come, and the Lady of Time eventually put up a system of 'demands' designed to ask the gods 'heavy compensation' to keep them from sending her interference in their histories.
The chamber where she took up residence was not just a simple dimly-lit dungeon in the middle of the sea of timeline and space, however. More than a manufactory and repository of threads for the universes governed by the gods, it was where the 'stray souls' go, whenever their existence was purged from the timeline they were born in.
"…"
Time welcomed the idea. The visit of the High King was something she looked forward to, since she loved discussing stuff with Him. However, for the other deities, she dreaded those moments they would appear at the entrance and would ask for replays and changes in the history of their world. Not only did it was a hassle for her, she was also violating the agreement with the heavens by interfering with 'written' timelines. And she never liked going against the High King of the God's wishes.
The stray souls that would end up in her chamber provided the Lady of Time the break she needed from the monotony.
"…"
But, this person who had just arrived in her chamber was different.
"…"
Whenever a soul appeared there, the poor being would be lost, and scared. Confronted by the walls made of stars, illuminated only by the candles tied to the threads the spinning wheels were making, they would think that they ended in some sort of a hell, or limbo. As such, they would lose their sanity and would scream from fear. The Lady of Time hated when that happens, though she eventually learned to enjoy watching the spectacle those 'stray souls' would do, until they vanished, either sent to another universe, or reborn in their old one.
Still, this guy who came in her chamber was nothing of that previous lot. He was silent, not brooding, but rather curious. The moment he entered, he immediately touched the walls that shimmered from stardust. And, as if that wasn't enough, he drew near the spinning wheels…fascinated at the concept of those running automatically, and spinning endlessly.
The Lady of Time watched those stray souls with silent amusement until they disappeared. However, for this one, she couldn't help but ask a few questions…
"You seem to take all of these things without issues, huh?"
"H-Huh?" the man was surprised. "Are you talking to me?"
Time nodded. "Well, who else is there in this room aside from the two of us?"
"I…I see…" he replied. "Uh, I apologize, but I did end up here in your space. I already saw you earlier; I just don't know how to talk to you, since you looked so 'grand' and 'regal'. I hope I'm not bothering you…"
"Well, you already are bothering me," she chuckled. "But, don't worry; it's not like you're annoying me. Moreover, I find you fascinating."
"Fascinating? Why is that?"
"Of all people who came here, you're the only one who never screamed or lost their sanity."
"Is that so? I think I'm already used to strange stuff. See, I've been dead for a while now, having fought a former god and Roman dictator, and an Eldritch horror, too. Before that, I also fought the undead, Imperial legions, beastmen, demons…what else? Well, no matter…what's important is that I saw and experienced a lot of crazy things, I'm already desensitized to it."
"Ah, that explains your behavior; you fear nothing."
"Oh? Is there anything to be afraid of in this place?" the guy looked around; in his mind, Time saw he was searching for any monster that might be lurking around.
"There's nothing of that sort here," she assured him. "I've been here since I can remember, and I would vouch for the safety of this…chamber. In fact, it's so safe, it's boring here."
"I see that you can also read my mind."
"Well, I'm an existence almost akin to a god," Time countered. "Not a god, but like one. So yes, I can read your mind. I'm interested in those scenes in your head; for what I can tell, you fought against the Seductress?"
The man's eyes glowed, "You know that monster?"
"Yes, she devoured many worlds I've been watching over. I mean, the histories they're making, yes."
The stray soul fell silent.
"And…hmm, Gaius really went that low, huh?" she quipped. "I know he's ambitious. But never did I expect him to join forces with an enemy he's supposed to kill…"
"Ah, at least it's all over for me," he had a poignant look on his face. "I finally did my duty and protected my loved ones from them."
Time said nothing. She just stared at the strange soul with dark hair and brown skin. In his mind, he was congratulating himself for defeating Gaius and the Seductress, yet there was still lingering thoughts of sadness and bitterness at what happened to him.
"You still want to go back to your world?"
"Of course," he flashed a lonely smile. "Though, I don't think I should do that. It will waste all the sacrifices I made if I do…"
"You're right," Time reached out her hand to him for a handshake. "If you cross to your world again, you'll surely bring in that creature with you. Any case, let's see how the High King of the Gods will decide on your fate; He always has the final say. For the meantime, I'm the Lady of Time, but since it's pretty long, you can just call me Time. And you?"
"Can't you just read my mind?"
"I can, and I already know who you are. However, I feel like it's rude of me not to let you introduce yourself, so…"
"Right…I'm Greg Santo—no," he paused for a bit, reminiscing his experiences. It seemed that for this person, he had 'killed' his old self. "You can just call me Kuro."
----------
It was the fourth time that Time had dreamed of that event.
"…"
And whenever she opened her eyes, it didn't make her feelings any better. The Lady of Time still felt a resounding loneliness in her heart, magnified by the dull, dark walls of her chamber. She always yearned to go back to that moment, but—even if she could—she knew she wouldn't change the outcome. The Black God was bent on avenging the death of those he lost, and it's just a matter of when, not if. The Lady of Time never wanted to be the one to hold him back. Or worse, she could waste the Black God's efforts. She had to go through the pain of losing the only person she loved in her immortal life.
Kuro.
She would utter his name in silence. That 'name' given to him by the woman he loved and lost, even though he already had a name from when he was born. And then, memories of him would come flashing back in her mind. The moments he spent with her talking about almost everything. His wisdom on the things he experienced, some of which enlightened her. And those precious seconds where she would explain to him how the spinning wheels worked. The Lady of Time would just let herself drown in those happy moments…
"Milady…"
"!!!"
Her consciousness returned when she heard a familiar voice inside her chamber. At once, the Keeper of the Timelines stood from where she sat, and looked for her visitor. She found her staring back at her from the entrance of the chamber, arms on her chest, leaning on the doorframe.
"How long have you been there, Lady Seirna Stephanie?" the Lady of Time tried to control her voice, but her surprise at the Overseer Saint's sudden appearance still leaked out.
Seirna bowed before she reported to the former, "I've been standing here for not too long, milady. I figured you might be doing something, so I didn't disturb you initially."
"Ah…right," Time flashed an awkward smile. "In any case, can I help you with anything?"
"Well, milady, I'm here to ask about the whereabouts of the dwarf saint. Have you already found her?"
"I…haven't," the Keeper of the Timelines realized that she's been delaying for too long, much to her horror. "I'm sorry, I forgot about it…"
"It's alright," Seirna replied, nodding in agreement. "A lot of mortals desire immortality, yet they don't know that immortality has its own share of problems."
"Haha…indeed! Living for too long is making me forget things…count me impressed whenever I meet someone who has lived for long and can still keep track of the minute details of everything."
"You're talking about the High King of the Gods," the Overseer Saint pointed out. "Even the Lord Gaius forgets things."
"Right…"
"But, in any case," Seirna kneeled before her, hands clasped as if in a prayer. "I beseech you, Lady of Time, please have an exception for our petition. Each time we delay is a favor to that creature from the Void; we need to get the otherworlder his god-powers."
"Yes, I understand," Time reached out to her in an effort to convince her to stand up. "I'm sorry for my mistakes, but reserve your knees for the High King instead."
"I also apologize for pushing you, milady."
"No, a saint's duty is to protect the world she was entrusted with, standing for the god she serves. I do not take offence for your persistence."
"Thank you, milady."
The Lady of Time gave a scroll to Seirna. "Anyway, I've been searching the heavenly archives earlier, and I found something interesting that can lead us to the dwarf saint. That scroll has clues on her last whereabouts; I suggest you look at the place it mentioned."
"The Serpentinus Library in Cherwind?"
"It won't hurt to see," she reiterated. "I think the dwarf saint did something outside her heavenly mandate to hide herself so effective that even us gods and immortals can't find her. After all, the Lady Cassandra David had done it before, right?"
"You mean, the Lady Helgath did something illegal?"
"Possible…it's hard to find her," Time shrugged. "I can only think of that possibility."
Seirna wanted to say that Cassandra David's case was different, for the old human heroine was born different. However, she decided to say nothing, for she didn't dare oppose the Lady of Time.
----------
**Kuro**
By our fourth 'day' in Temun, Her Holiness Seirna Stephanie finally joined us, suddenly appearing at the doorway of our room. By then, we were staying at one of the hotels in the city's underground—an inn called 'Hotel Mevingia', and we were fortunate to have its owner to be one of Lady Hughes' 'associates'. Honestly, it was a place of ill-repute, where many 'illegal' stuffs were being done, like 'prostitution' (though in dwarf societies, it was tolerated), and gambling (and selling oneself to slavery after losing bets). Lady Hughes chose this place to 'coddle' our operation, for she claimed that church officials rarely go here, and only in extreme situations. As such, there was no need to hide or be careful with our movements; we could use the hotel's amenities without raising suspicion.
Though, to Seirna, it was an entirely different matter. She may have done questionable acts before, or decided on controversial issues, but she would never remove her air of holiness. To stay with us, however, she would only remain inside our room, rarely venturing out the red-light district of Temun and often teleported herself.
"…"
Now I get the reason Prince Uhrian wants his niece to come with us. Everything's so smooth with the dwarf lady…though if I may say, she's 'bulldozing' our way in through her connections with crime syndicates around the city. Not a good way to do it, but who am I to choose the help and the helpers given to me?
"Otherworlder, I think you'll like what I'm bringing to you," was Seirna's greeting to me the moment we let her in. Held against her chest were scrolls, a lot of which looked fragile enough to be torn with just a slight push of a finger.
Lily immediately removed the things we had on the only table, while Lady Hughes remained on her bed, watching us from there. The Overseer Saint, still in her disguised form, put the scrolls down in delicate order.
"What are these?"
"Scrolls from the Serpentinus tribe's great library in Cherwind," she explained. "These are records from this place, a few generations of humans back. The chronicles of the Dwarf Saint." Seirna picked one of the scrolls, and with her magic, opened it. "The last entry before she disappeared can be found here."
I followed where she pointed, though to my surprise, I couldn't understand what was written…even when I already knew Chersean language and alphabet.
"It's an older variant of Chersean," Lily told me. "Our scholars at Meldech can read that, and perhaps, Her Holiness, too?"
By 'Her Holiness', the Iron Princess meant Seirna. The Overseer Saint puffed her chest out and replied, "Of course, I can. And I thought the Otherworlder can do it, too. But if you can't, it says the Dwarf Saint rested at the peak of a mountain called 'Hemelin'."
"Hemelin?" Lady Hughes exclaimed. "Is that some kind of a joke?"
Our eyes immediately fell on her. The dwarf lady sat on her bed, with a look of disbelief on her face. "Hemelin," she paused for a moment, as if trying to remember something, before continuing, "is right at the heart of Equality. It is the city where the Grand Temple of the Golden Hammer is."
"I see no problems," I told her. "It's not like we'll go there with guns blazing. We're wearing this disguise, so can't we just sneak in like common tourists and do what we came here for?"
"We can do that, yes," Lady Hughes answered. "But then, you've seen how we dwarves dug into the mountains. Not only did the temple complex built on the peak of Hemelin, they also created an underground city—cut into the rocks. As far as I can remember, there's nothing in there when the construction began!"
"You mean to say these records are faulty?" Seirna asked.
"I won't say those are shit, Your Holiness," the dwarf shook her head. "But, I can't be mistaken about Hemelin; I was there when the construction began. Nothing. On the peak is the small village of Hemelin itself, and underground are just…rocks."
Silence all over the room as we realized we hit a dead end. Then, I remembered about the Lady Time. However…
"The Lady Time's been helping us as well, but for some reason, she's taking long to find where the Dwarf Saint is," the Overseer explained, reading my mind. "I've been in her chambers before I went here."
"That's odd…"
"Well, it's either the records, or Lady Time," Lily declared. "I surmise we got no options left, other than those two?"
"If Lady Hughes says Hemelin is out of the question," Seirna proposed. "Then we'll wait for the Lady Time then."
"I say, now that we're here, we should go to Hemelin, anyway," I suggested as well. "First, we can make sure that there's nothing else to find there. Second, I read in the books that the Grand Temple of the Golden Hammer is a great tourist spot, so I'd like to check it out. And third, I'd like to have an audience with the leadership of the Church."
The Lady Hughes blurted out, "W-What for?"
"Well, I'd like to ask them about the assassination team they sent me before," I pulled the clear cyanide pill case from my pocket. "As far as I can remember I did nothing wrong to piss them off."
----------
***The Holy Palatial Gardens…***
Maddie's everyday activities were becoming increasingly mundane, especially now that Kuro and Lily—two of her closest confidants—were gone in Equality. However, even though they were on the other side of the world borders, she still tracked them, thus, she knew of their whereabout and progress.
How did she do it?
"…"
A couple of soft knocks came from her room's doors. Then, a paladin let herself in, followed by a servant and another lady, clad in a black mourning dress. "Your Holiness," the holy warrior announced, "Her Holiness the Lady Seirna wishes to you."
"Please," Maddie gestured towards the nearest empty chair, to which the servant led the Overseer Saint. "And bring some tea and snacks for us. Thank you!"
After giving their respects, the maid and the paladin let themselves out of the Human Saint's private chamber.
Meanwhile, Maddie set the book she was reading aside. "Any news on their progress?" she asked her visitor.
"Well, they've been staying in Temun for a week now," Seirna replied, putting down a scroll for the Human Saint to see. "The dwarf girl's taking it slow, deliberately. I don't want to annoy her, so I guess it'll be awhile before they go to Hemelin."
"I see…"
"Anyway, Lady Rubinforth," the Overseer Saint called her peer's attention to the item she laid on the table by pushing it nearer to the latter. "Check this."
"And this is?"
"It's something the Lady of Time gave me," Seirna revealed. "According to that, the clues to the whereabouts of the Dwarf Saint can be found in the Serpentinus Library, deep inside Cherwind. However, when I went there to investigate, I found another scroll that says the location where Lady Helgath was last seen was in Hemelin."
"They're being passed around?"
"Seems like it."
Silence filled the room, as the Human Saint pondered on her thoughts.
The Overseer Saint, however, said what she had in her mind, "I see that we're thinking of the same thing."
"Yes," Maddie nodded. "Look, I find it weird that this Lady Time—whoever that is—is having difficulty in looking for the whereabouts of the dwarf saint, when she can simply go back in the timelines like what Lady Natasha suggested about her abilities."
"True. She's giving us random places instead."
"Yes."
"And honestly, I'm lost about her," Seirna admitted. "I don't know what's going on in her mind, and there's a suspicion in my heart that she's working against us. However, common sense and logic dictates that she's on our side, for she hated the Seductress as well. Or, the High King of the Gods is lying…"
"You know the High King will never do that."
"That's why I'm lost. And since Lady Time is an existence akin almost to a god, I'm just a lower being who can't peek and read her mind."
"I've got no idea as well," Maddie concurred. "But, let's look on the bright side. Her delay—for whatever reason—is helping us in our plans."
"What, to get the dwarves to place their faith in Kuro and away from the Golden Hammer?"
The Human Saint nodded.
"As the Overseer Saint, I'd like to admonish you on your use of questionable people to achieve your ends, but…" Seirna took a deep breath before continuing, "…I don't think I have the moral high ground to do that. I've had my share of sins, and it's for the greater good, so who am I to stop that?"
"Thank you for your understanding."
"I'd be careful though, Lady Rubinforth. The Lady of Time already violated one of the holy agreements she has with the heavens. She already attached herself to your man, and the laws state that deities should never interfere with stray souls. The High King alone has jurisdiction over them."
"Indeed. Though, whatever she has in her mind, I'm sure she'd put Kuro's benefit into consideration," Maddie insisted. "After all, like her, I'm also faithful to him. And we all know what makes Kuro happy…"
"I don't understand anyone of you," Seirna heaved a sigh. "Okay, we're in the same boat because I'm protecting this world for the Lord Gaius' sake. However, I'd like for you to know that if the time comes where I have to pick between the otherworlder and this land, I'll always pick the latter."
"Let's hope it won't come to that," the Human Saint took her book again, and opened it on the part where she was interrupted. "We're more powerful when we're united, and Kuro's the only one who has the potential to convince everyone to stick together. It's the power he wielded even before he came here; he just needs more confidence like the Lord Gaius to step up to the task."
"Yes…I hope so too."
----------
"Anyway, stay for a bit more," Maddie smiled as they reached the end of their small talk. "I'd like for you to join me for a little snack, Lady Seirna. And I won't give you the right to refuse."
The Overseer Saint stared at the 'audacious' Lady Rubinforth, surprised at the friendly invite. As someone who was steadfast in protecting her master's legacy, Seirna had no time for little things, like eating together with acquaintances, much more with 'friends' (she had none). Being 'near-immortal', it's folly to make 'deep, intimate' relations with mortals, especially humans who had brief lives. Yet, she couldn't refuse Maddie's offer; for some reason, the Human Saint's mind was wide-open…Seirna could tell that she was sincere on her invite, and it's been a while since she experienced that.
"Milady," Maddie chuckled. "I'm sure you can see my thoughts. Yes, I mean what I'm thinking. Won't you try falling in love? Or form friendships? It's one of the greatest feelings for us mortals."
"I'm sure you understand the consequences of forming relations between an immortal and a mortal, Lady Rubinforth."
"I do…that's why I'm just suggesting. I won't force you to it, but I'd like you to try. The Lord Gaius was also a mortal once, and he experienced friendships and love as well."
"It killed him in the end," Seirna pointed out. "Betrayed by those he trusted."
"It's a sad episode, but he did made relationships after he died, right? He even loved my 'mother' when he has all the reason not to."
Seirna was silenced once again. Part of her reason to harden her heart was to protect herself from the sadness of watching those she loved die, not to mention, to keep herself from being influenced by 'irrational' feelings. But then, she knew she eventually had to give her god-powers to Kuro, and for that to happen…
She needs to trust the otherworlder enough to kiss him…
"…"
Maddie knew it herself. And she's being honest about it, even when she had her doubts and jealousy. She was always declaring her support for Kuro, but she's still a human girl…and was quick to get jealous when someone else was with him. Nevertheless, the Human Saint understood that the world didn't revolve around her, thus, she was willing to sacrifice her feelings for him and for everyone else.
And Seirna was impressed at her growth as a person. She never thought the time would come that she would see the Lady Madelaine do it.
"Okay, then…" the Overseer Saint took a deep breath and steeled her resolve. "Lady Rubinforth, since you're the one who suggested it to me, I'll have you take responsibility and teach me how to fall in love."