The streets were bustling with activity.  Civilians walked from place-to-place while merchants advertised and sold their wares.  Guards patrolled the busy streets while a pair pursued a fleeing man and a woman pointed in his direction shouting about how he stole her jewelry.  Yavish saw the pursuit come her way, and when the thief was in range, she reached out and grabbed the crook's chest.  The man let out a surprised gasp as an amber bracelet fell from his hand and clattered to the ground below.

Yavish let him go in just enough time to be tackled to the ground by one of the guards.  The victim approached at a speed walk while the other guard assisted his partner in binding the criminal and picked up her bracelet.  She looked up to Yavish with a smile of gratitude and said, "Thanks for your aid!"

"Glad to help," Yavish stated as she pointed to the bracelet that the woman was sliding onto her right wrist and advised, "Keep a tighter hold on that."

"Yes ma'am," the woman said before she stepped away from the scene.

Yavish did the same as the guards had finished arresting the thief and stepped toward a medium-sized library that was ahead.  A pair of men in decadent robes stood near the door and chatted.  One of them gave Yavish a curious glance before he returned to the conversation with his friend.  Yavish entered the library and was greeted with the smell of mahogany.  Several people were seated at tables reading, and all was silent save for the occasional turn of a page.

The layout was circular with the shelves arranged in a similar fashion.  Signs in different sections told visitors which category the books belonged to, and Yavish focused on the nonfiction section.  She entered one of the aisles and skimmed across the books until she came upon a title that interested her which detailed Revaliir's history of warfare.  It was removed from the shelf and Yavish returned to the main area where she settled at an empty table and viewed the table of contents.  Given that she was currently in Adeluna City, Yavish decided to read through the kingdom's conflicts first.

“Hurry now apprentice,” a tall red-haired lady spoke in a hushed tone. “We need these books!” The messy brown mopped man that followed her was making a face.

“Xeik do this. Xeik do that. Xei–” Angela turned around and popped the back of her head with a notebook.

“Uh uh uh… None of the sass today my little Divine Mender,” her voice carried itself in a song-like tone as her green eyes drilled into Xeik’s.

“Alright! Alright! FINE!” Xeik threw his hands up.

“Sorry~” Angela made her way past the minotaur accidentally bumping her chair.

“She has zero manners ma’am,” Xeik bowed to minotaur at the table.

Taking a very thick book that the minotaur had Angela gave her a wink and smacked her apprentice hard.

“ANGELA WHAT THE HELL?!”

“This is a library dear please don’t yell,” Angela gave a smug look. Xeik looked like he had reached a new peak of losing his shit with his goddess.

“…My lady,” Xeik was gritting his teeth, “What has crawled up your divine ass today?”

“Oh my… We have new angry insults! I like it!” Angela plopped down next to the minotaur.

“MY LAD–” Angela grabbed Xeik’s lips. “Let’s make friends today.” Xeik was trying to talk through his pinched lips. “My lady we have a schedule.”

“Oh I just consider schedules to be suggestions… what are they going to do holy blessings without me? Oh, wait. They can’t,” she gave a stretch and looked at the books. “Adeluna has a vast wealth of knowledge.” She looked over the titles. “Just like their deep history. Their conflicts go past the time they were called Adeluna or even an empire. Starting with the great city of Edelweiss.”

Hearing a pair of people speaking made Yavish glance up from her investment to see what was going on.  She would have paid the bickering duo no mind and had immediately returned to reading had one of them not bumped her chair.  It was no big deal and she prepared to forgive them after their apologies when the lady swiped her book and whacked the man with it, leaving her speechless.  The brief strike caused a few people to look up from their books to watch the disturbance, but all eyes were on them after the man's outburst.

A sigh traveled through Yavish's nose when the lady reprimanded her assistant for yelling and muttered, "I'm pretty sure using books as weapons is against the rules too."

The talk of divinity made Yavish assume that the woman was a priestess, and the mention of a holy ceremony made her believe she was a high priestess, or at least someone in charge of said ceremony.  She was not one to act crass towards someone of such high status and authority, but she figured that a small reminder to reel it in every once in a while, never hurt.  The woman took a seat next to Yavish and silenced her assistant.  The moment of their bickering caused Yavish's mind to wander away from her subject of interest and instead was focused on the lady who seemed quite carefree despite her occupation.

Yavish cleared her throat and said to the lady, "That's interesting to learn about Adelund, so I'll have to read more about it when I get the book back.  These holy blessings you mentioned.  I take it you're a priestess around here?"  

Angela looked at the book and prayed over it, “I am truly sorry.” She gave their new friend a smile and Xeik was glaring at her. “I know that I did the back of my hair particularly well today my lovely apprentice but you don’t need to admire it like this.”

“She… SHE!” Xeik was pointing at her, “She converted the book to stone the moment it connected to my head. The book? SHE DIDN’T HURT THE BOOK.”

“Books are nicer than people. I prefer books,” Angela said it in jest. Once the question of her occupation came into play she merely gave a smile and thought about how to answer it, “Sure, a wandering priestess.”

“She’s a liar,” Xeik took a seat across from them. “If the high priestesses knew you were out here causing problems they would run to me to get you to calm down. So please… For my ears?”

“But I haven’t done a thing wrong today…”

“You gave that nobleman three more warts after he raised his voice with you,” Xeik said calmly.

“… I don’t consider that a wrongdoing,” Angela gave a shrug. “Fine. If we must be proper everywhere we go and give away our greatest secre–”

“It’s hardly a secret my lady… Just introduce yourself.”

“Fine,” Angela looked unamused at her apprentice but gave a friendly enough smile to the minotaur woman, “My name is Angela and I am the patron deity of the large church down the street.”

“Because that is SO convincing whenever you tell someone that,” Xeik looked annoyed at her.

“This is my apprentice and my champion. The Divine Mender Xeik. Also, how did you want me to say it? I am a great mighty god! GIVE ME ALL YOUR COIN!” Angela spread her arms. “Coins are worthless…” She sighed a bit. “I need books.” She looked toward their new friend and smiled. “We’re looking up an illness in these fine books. Scouring the pages for mentions even in history books.” She pulled out a fancy pair of glasses and flipped all the pages reading them as fast as the glasses would allow. “No mention in here. I am certain I know what the illness is but I want to make sure before I administer treatment.”

“…A nobleman’s daughter is sick. We think it is an illness but it might be a curse inflicted by someone else. So we’re cross referencing before administrating a cure. My lady doesn’t like to use her divinity to cure others.”

Angela frowned, “You make me sound evil. I don’t want to because… what if one day I died? I fell out of grace? Would the people I cured using divinity lose that blessing? It’s one thing blessing crops every year… It’s another when it is a life of a person. We take ownership of our mistakes in my churches. So I will heal them to the very best of my ability as an alchemist, healer, scholar, and so on and so forth.” Xeik sighed a bit. “It allows me to also remember my humanity… Many forget where they come from when they ascend. It’s very important to me.”

Holding out the book to their new friend Angela smiled, “We help people from all over Revaliir. Be it the old, the young, the weak, or even the strong on the battlefield. That is our purpose. If I can train a person to be as skillful as I am in tonics… Could I lead to the healing of hundreds without the need to notice it? That is the goal. Training young minds. I’ve been a cleric on the battlefield before as well when I was much younger.”

Xeik took a deep breath, "Sorry about my lady she is an eccentric… If I haven't apologized for her behavior already."

Yavish performed a small double take when the man mentioned that the woman transformed the book to stone when she struck him with it.  Whenever it happened, she must have missed it.  Her eyes shifted to the man, and she asked him with a concerned expression, "If that's the case, then are you alright?"

The minotaur listened as the duo explained their roles.  Her eyes narrowed slightly when the man mentioned that the "priestess" gave an unfortunate nobleman a heightened case of acne for the crime of upping his tone at her, and Yavish assumed that she probably annoyed him enough to warrant it, but she also felt that it was beyond petty to give him warts as a punishment.  Upon revealing her name to be Angela and a goddess of the local church, Yavish looked her up and down with skepticism.  The stone conversion and the facial modification could be good points of evidence sure, but Yavish felt that she needed more before she committed to believing Angela.

Angela introduced her assistant as Xeik, and that was when Yavish noticed a pair of patrons rise from their seats and stagger toward the woman.  One was a lively young woman in a commoner's dress who carried a small brown booklet and the other was a middle-aged woman in more upper-class clothing and had her auburn hair tied in a bun.  Yavish listened to the duo discuss their mission and watched as Angela flipped through pages of a book.  The two patrons behind her waited, keeping a respectable distance.  When Yavish received her initial book back from Angela, she asked, "So you're a deity?  I figured gods and goddesses would have the power of omnipotence.  Learn something new every day.  Anyway, not to be rude, but to tell you the truth, I'm a little doubtful on the whole deity thing that you claim to be."

Yavish's eyes searched the library for anything that she could use to ask for definitive proof and found one of four hanging plants suspended around the library.  She pointed to it and requested, "See that plant over there?  Make its vines grow to the point that they touch the floor."

She then turned to Xeik, and with a small dismissive gesture and a little grin said, "Do not fret, I wasn't bothered by it."

Yavish locked her fingers and told Angela, "You provide healing to many?  That is good work.  The strong should use their power to protect the innocent as I have.  However…giving someone warts because they raised their voice at you?  Don't you think that's a little childish?"

Behind them, the two patrons finally spoke up, the younger woman being first as she presented her booklet to Angela and requested, "Angela?  You have been such a wonderful inspiration to me!  Could I have your signature in my diary?"

The older woman then asked while holding her head, "I keep having these horrible nightmares about vampires!  Could you help me with that?"

“She healed it as she did it… Crafty witch that she is…” Xeik gave a smirk.

Angela thought about the best way to answer her thoughts even going as far as to close her eyes. “Even if I could be omnipotent… I would choose not to be. My dear, being omnipotent does nothing but make us turn a blind eye to the world. We would ignore the suffering of the small for the greater good of the many. And while yes if I was forced to make a decision… It’s what I would do… I would prefer not to live my daily life like that. I do not want to be bored. I want… to discover things. I don’t want to lose that humanity to godhood. I’ve watched many gods come and go over the years. The ones who let it go to their heads have the worst fates imaginable when they fall. I don’t want that for myself.”

She waved her hand a bit thinking about the warts and laughed, “Don’t worry about it. When asking for favors you shouldn’t turn your nose up to the one helping you. It’s rude yeah? Not even my triplets, the mighty age of five, would do that. Nobles in particular are some of the worst people to deal with. Constantly looking down their noses… but you find a gem every once in a while. Like Lady Tribest a half continent away? I would die for that woman.”

Having the two people come over to her, “I’ve been found out!” She seemed so happy as she got up and signed their things for them. “I have just the thing for that! I’ll be right back.” A portal opened to a messy little workshop area as she shuffled through what looked like thousands of potions. “Here it is!” She came back and handed it off to her. “This tonic helps with nightmares if you have any more after this please come to my church and tell the head priestess you wish to see me. Give her the empty bottle and I will come right to you. I promise on my name I will make time for you.” The old woman was ecstatic about the potion as she bowed and left her.

“Everyday miracles are made not by the gods but by those willing to work for the people,” Angela said softly to Yavish as she sat down on the table. “We must be willing to work towards our own miracles… I never wanted godhood. I didn’t know how to handle it and I hurt many people before I was finally able to come to terms with that decision. Now we just make the best of it. I remember my roots. The tiny study room at the academy. The messy laboratory as I was late for my exams. I let that ground me. God or not, that was where I was most at home.”

She closed her hands, “Though I suppose if you need proof…” When she opened them a strange colorful flower was appearing. It looked like a lily made out of stained glass. “I can create life but creating life means to take it from something else for me. It is a cycle my darling. Life becomes Death and Death becomes life. It took my darling apprentice a long time to learn that lesson. We must honor life the same way we honor death. Balance. This flower used to be the banana tree that my lovely clergy accidentally killed and I will plant it in my garden where they can't hurt it." She chuckled. "Not all clergy of Life and Love have green thumbs. My title is the Weaver of Life and Love. Some of the oldest spheres for godhood."

Angela's detailed, thoughtful explanation as well as the portal to a workshop and the stained-glass flower were more than enough to convince Yavish that Angela was legitimate.  She felt that this goddess not desiring to be omnipotent was also worthy of respect as well.  Yavish shrugged and informed Angela, "Alright, you've made your points.  You are indeed a goddess."

She placed her hands on the table and leaned forward saying, "It's just that through my travels I've heard tales of people claiming they were divine beings and paying the price when they were discovered to be frauds.  Why, at an inn I was spending a night at there were people discussing an old man who claimed to be the god of the earth.  One of the men challenged him to hold up four boulders as proof that his claims weren't folly.  The poor soul could barely manage to lift up one boulder before it crushed him to death."

Yavish sighed and shook her head, "Some people just don't realize that sometimes it just isn't worth the price to fake it till you make it."

She glanced at the books that Angela and Xeik had and asked, "One of those books specifically about curses?  It might have what you're looking for."

The warfare book was reopened, and Yavish asked Angela, "You mentioned that Adeluna's wars extend past its beginnings.  Which one would you recommend the most?"

Her eyes then widened in surprise for a brief moment as she realized that she never introduced herself to the goddess and her champion and looked to them both saying, "Forgive me for forgetting my manners.  I am Yavish."

Angela looked amused, “Mortal do so for a variety of reasons. There was once someone who claimed they had my abilities. My conclave siblings reacted horribly I was fine with letting the fake exist so long as it didn’t endanger my people. I also knew of a goblin that prayed to a god with his name. Was he the god he was praying to? Or was he named after it? I just knew I liked making miracles happen around him to watch his reactions.”

Tapping her chin she thought about a few books and snapped her fingers as they floated over. “These three are a good place to begin. I also happen to know a very talented writer who was born before Adeluna was created. She is a princ–”

“Don’t involve those two… You never know what they could be up to,” Xeik said with a sigh. “They can be rather troublesome.”

“How very rude,” Angela laughed a bit, “However, Simone is a fallen princess of a kingdom that no longer exists. Her kingdom of Auclair is in the middle of a vast swampland now. Time hasn’t been kind to that region. She could probably tell you all about it.”

“And correct you when you misunderstand. She is very thorough in everything she does. A perfectionist,” Xeik sighed as if dealing with her and her husband were exhausting.

Angela took the book on curses and flipped through it. “Introductions are very important Yavist.” There was a hint of amusement in her eyes. “My name is Angela Rose Volkov. I am the Weaver of Life and Love or the Mother as most have come to call me. Wife of the God of Light and Darkness Nemesis Volkov. Daughter of the Sands. Once Queen of the Arri Kingdom. I hail from the oasis city Sularia up north. This is my apprentice Xeik Eraphim. He’s a thief and a street rat.”

“Used to be a thief and a street rat. I’m a healer now under my lady’s guidance.” Xeik was annoyed lightly by his goddess.

“Details. Details,” Angela sounded lazy as she waved her hand. “Oh… Incoming,” Angela put her hand against Yavish and forced her back a bit as a fast rainbow blew past them sending papers everywhere.

“RAINE! THIS IS A LIBRARY!” Xeik stomped his foot as a rainbow phoenix transformed into a small pink-haired woman with rainbow eyes.

“I’m here to help!” Raine bounced around excitedly as she got up to Angela’s new friend and held out her hand. “I’m RAINE! I’m the divine avatar of our lady!” She did a little dance.

“If you are here to help… Then start getting books and for voice sakes go apologize to the poor librarian…” Angela said it sternly as the small woman ran off to do just that. “She is your responsibility while she is here. Sorry about her… For a phoenix, she is very young still. She is full of energy and bound to make you tired just watching her."

Yavish listened to Angela's tale of the imposter and her opinion of him.  Her hand reached out to take the books that the goddess brought over via telekinesis.  She set them down and eyed each one with interest.  Her ears took in the tale of Simone and she raised an eyebrow when Angela mentioned that she ruled a kingdom that had since been taken over by swampland.  She could not help but ask, "So Simone had a long reign?  Who primarily runs said swampland now?  Territories usually change hands over time."

All of the titles that Angela introduced to Yavish confused her for a moment until she realized that said titles would make sense since the woman was a deity.  Though for the Darkness part she narrowed her eyes at Angela and said, "Darkness Nemesis eh?  Well, I hope there isn't an evil version of you in existence.  I bet that would be a hell of an opponent to fight."

Yavish cried out in surprise as she was pushed back and nearly crashed into by a rainbow phoenix that changed into a woman.  She could only watch in puzzled silence as the energetic Raine bounded up to her and introduced herself.  The minotaur had no clue how to react to this zany arrival.  Words were found when Raine was ordered to clean up her mess and she muttered to Angela, "Sounds like you have quite the interesting family here."

She opened one of the new books to a page about siege equipment and said, "At times I've pondered what it'd be like to have kids of my own, but usually I've dropped the idea.  I find it pointless to think about when I've never had an interest in marriage."

Her slumped shoulders indicated that she did not mean any offense.  Yavish attempted to make things more positive by complimenting, "That rainbow seems like a high spirit.  I actually stopped a thief just before I arrived here.  Gave the stolen bracelet back to the owner and she gave me gratitude for it."

A tiny smile formed on Yavish and she said, "Ever since I've left my village, I've made it my goal to help and protect the innocent.  It always warms my heart to see their thankful smiles whenever I do a good deed for them."

She looked to the book of curses and asked Angela, "Did you find what you were looking for?"

Yavish started to find her interest in the warfare books waning, traded instead by the possibility of helping an actual goddess and her partner alongside Raine find the cure for whatever illness or curse was afflicting said nobleman's daughter.

“She didn’t even get to see a coronation,” Angela was gloomy as she spoke. “She was stolen away like a treasure and put through the worse torture I’ve ever seen. Fitting considering it was the worst form of pseudo-immortality I had ever seen. A curse is the best way to speak of it. One that loops life upon death and resets not only age but also memories. “The swamplands are in Adeluna’s control now. Auclair doesn’t exist anymore and everyone who lived there died when it died. When we speak of monsters who are man-made I speak of those who had no choice but to murder to survive. Doing unspeakable acts to retain some form of humanity. Simone is one of those people. She isn’t very shy about what she has done to others but to meet her you wouldn’t think someone as fragile looking would be capable of something like mass murder. When I judged her soul… I deemed her innocent for the sheer fact that if she had been left alone she would have blossomed like any other innocent being but blood was splattered into her garden and left her to do whatever she had to do.”

It was something that Angela fretted about for a while. It was clear by the look on her face. “She isn’t sorry about the lives she has taken but in her eyes, they were a price that had to be paid for the injustice done to her. Auclair, her father, her innocence… All of those things were taken from her and those were priceless.” Waving her hand Angela decided she had said enough. “Judge her after talking to her about it. It’s excellent from a therapy standpoint if she answers anything more. Good and evil, as I like to say, are very bold words that don’t fit life. It is white or black but shades of gray and one period of a person’s life don’t always measure up to the rest of their long lives. Only a fool would think something is so written in stone because even stone erodes.”

There was a smirk on her face as Yavish commented on the goddess’s nature. “Oh, I can be devilish if someone crosses me. I don’t like to be so mean though so don’t fret. Even I have my moments of darkness though.”

There was a snort as Raine came barreling in and Yavish made her own judgment on Angela’s kin, “They are what makes life enjoyable I suppose. Life does get boring if they aren’t around.”

“Lady Angela wasn’t even married nor courting a lot of men when she had her children!” Raine was eager to join the conversation.

“Raine is right. You don’t need a partner to be a good parent. Many men have climbed through my trials to ask me for children only to leave them with me. This is normal in Sularia so we don’t take too much offense to it. As a Rosenite I mostly have girls and what few sons I do have are very precious. You’ll find I can be a bit more of a softy with my boys though they don’t cause nearly the amount of trouble my girls do. Rosenites tend to be bold since we’re mostly female and we like to take our claws out. If you want to experience it the desert to the north is where we are. My family is the ruling royalty there and I recently dumped all of my royal duties on my son. I’m far too busy nowadays to deal with that much stress.” She waved her hand frantically, “That boy always wanted to be in charge so good riddance! I love my sisters dearly but working with them every day is tiresome. The youngest in particular is just dreadful to deal with. I am on my fourth marriage. The issue with us long-lived races is that we forget why we fell in love and take things for granted. Even I’m guilty of it. Luckily, Nemesis is stubborn and stuck in his ways so it’s doubtful he’ll change much over the centuries.” She was like a giggling girl now.

Xeik had been looking through books while Angela talked and pointed out passages to the goddess every once in a while. “Yes, I think I did. We won’t know until we try though. I have my theories but I’m not dumb enough to think I have all the answers. Researching problems will serve us better in the long run.” It was one of her personal favorite sayings so… Even if she had said it before the goddess said it again. “Alright! Let’s head out and see this daughter. Maybe Yavish can see something we haven’t thought of yet. Come, come… We can always come back here later.”

The goddess led her little group to a very wealthy-looking manor. “Oh! My lady! You’ve come back,” the woman of noble descent was very eager to greet her. “Did you find what you were looking for?! What could have happened to my poor little girl?”

“I have theories but we must see the patient,” Angela did her best to calm down the woman before they were brought inside. “Here’s the girl.” She was a teenager of human descent with light skin and dark hair. There were black veins around her skin. “My theories are like this…. This is either mana deficiency which presents itself as these black veins and,” Angela held up the girl’s hand to show the blackened fingertips, “the blackened tips here. This has either been caused by a curse or Yevonne was playing with magic on a level she shouldn’t have been. If it’s the latter then that will be easy enough to offset. If it's the former well…” She was thinking hard. “We’ll need to figure out just who cursed her. The why is more important of course.” The girl groaned a bit and Angela covered her up more.

“Can’t we give her a mana potion for now?” Xeik was pondering his own solutions.

“We could if it was just deficiency… It would help the body start producing its natural mana. Everyone is capable of producing life force which can translate into mana. Some people can’t produce it at all. Those people tend to have very bright life forces to me but she doesn’t have that so she can produce mana on her own. If this is a curse then no matter what we do until it’s broken it won’t actually relieve the girl.”

Angela had Raine and Yavish wait outside the room while Xeik and Angela worked on the girl. After twenty minutes Angela came out looking rather grim. “It is a curse. We got it broken for now but this girl was obviously cursed for a reason. I will depart for now and leave Yavish in both of your care. The job I want to give you all is to locate the people who did it.” Producing a pendulum she held it out to Yavish. “Use this to locate the group responsible. I’ll come help if I need to but I need to get treatment for this girl quickly. Breaking the curse did a lot more damage. She’s in critical condition.”

Raine did a tiny salute to Angela, “I’ll make sure no one comes into any harm while you are away!”

“I’m counting on you all. I’ll come to find you once I’m done administering treatment,” Angela waved them off as she opened a portal to her workstation and began on the potions she would need.

Raine led them outside and turned to Yavish. “This might take a while since we don’t know if the group is moving… However, to maintain a curse like this Lady Angela told me that they would have to be nearby. So we know they are in Adeluna! All you need to do is focus on the signature engraved here,” Raine showed her where it was carved in the pendulum. “It should do its job when you do that and point us in the direction we need to go!”