Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 274

Chapter 274: Inevitable Encounter

Shortly after finishing her meal, Lysette retreated back to her quarters to reflect upon the conversations from the previous day.  She closed her eyes as she sat cross-legged in the middle of her so-called bed and allowed her perception of physical reality fade away as she took to active Cultivation for the first time in quite some time.

Her Garden in the middle of her vast soulscape was richer and more vibrant than it had ever been before.  Her Tree, towering triumphantly in the center, had grown thicker and hardier over the past month.  But it hadn’t grown much taller.  Looking around, Serrena’s Burning Willow hadn’t gotten much taller either.  The growth was still there, still noticeable as all things were within her inner world when she put her mind to it.  But unmistakably, both of their once-prodigious growths had been slowed to a crawl.  Mirae’s growth too was slowing, and if Solanna or Aurie had gotten any stronger in the past several weeks, they didn’t show it.

That wasn’t the only thing that was odd regarding the strength of the most powerful Cultivators on Aimarion.  Karchek was a six-hundred-year-old demon.  Saffron was no demon, but was a solid decade his senior.  Alan was half their age, and Solanna scarcely more than a third.  And most poignant to her confusion, Kiarra’s great-great grandfather, the patriarch of House Dozel, was younger than Solanna by a few decades and was probably still fully human.  And yet, all five of them were comparable to one another.

Not identical, of course.  Karchek and Saffron were above the others.  But not by nearly enough considering their centuries of additional experience and understanding and time to Cultivate and gain more power.  Something was preventing them— and now Lysette as well— from continuing to get stronger.

Lysette could think of only one possible explanation.  The Aestori Ban, whatever it really was, wasn’t just some barrier keeping the Celestials out of Aimarion as she had long envisioned it.  It was also some change to the physical laws of Aimarion that prevented Cultivators from bonding more than a finite amount of Essence to them.  One which necessitated that newer deities one day ascend to the Celestial realm if they wished to continue along the journey of power and influence over both.

With that in mind, her earlier question of where and even what exactly the Celestial realm was became even more salient.  That driving force for vengeance remained, amplified by a need to protect everyone who lived in Ciricu.  But if her hypothesis was true, then the question of where and when she chose to ascend would matter immensely.

The timing would have to be perfect.  She, as a demon, would be an immediate target for a number of deities all far, far stronger than she was.  Just as at the beginning of her journey, she would have to skulk around and evade detection in order to close the gap with deities who had existed for millions of years.  And she would need information more than anything.  Information she hoped Zarielle could be persuaded into giving.

She took time to reflect upon her conversations, and she was starting to get an idea of what sort of a country Ereill was.  It was a country of harmony through order.  One where all of society was configured to, as best as possible, accommodate the different desires and capabilities of a million people with the needs of keeping that society functioning.  A nation where everyone had their place, where everyone worked together for the greater good, and where everyone’s talents were used as efficiently as possible.  In many respects, it was the actualization of the society that Lysette had long sought to build.

Hearing about that protective side of her, where the meek were valued as much as the strong, filled Lysette with a sense of peace with her divine benefactor.  She began to wonder if Zarielle had seen something about her personality that drew the Goddess of Darkness to her.  There couldn’t have been that many people on Aimarion who both harbored a connection to the natural world while still harboring such enmity toward the gods.  She dared think that she was unique in that regard, or very close to it.

But after hearing about Ereill from its people firsthand, she couldn’t help but wonder if the society was really as great as its people had described.  It was a place where everyone had their place.  One with security, where one’s Devotion to their compatriots was repaid with Reciprocity from the same.  And perhaps five months ago, she would have taken Mirae with her and pledged herself to that society and to help spread it to every other continent.

But she could not abide by such a world any longer, and certainly she could not zealously force it upon others through strength of arms.  Peaceful and harmonious though it seemed, it seemed equally devoid of the freedom for each person to choose their own fate.  It was one where Ambition was suppressed for the sake of harmony.  One where Passion and Whimsy were nonexistent.  One that would never abide Lyon and his hundreds of brilliant if somewhat mad ideas to change Ciricu all while his patron goddess and maybe girlfriend encouraged and supported him every step of the way.

And it would certainly never countenance Mirae.  Mirae, her love, who had worked so hard and struggled unnecessarily more than any person ever should, just so they could express their true self and live their life as they desired.  And that was in the relatively more flexible society of Domaria, where cultural diversity and religious expression of many different deities was tolerated by Saffron and all who worked under her.

In a society so much more rigidly tied to conformity and having one’s lot in life decided for the alleged good of the community, what would have become of Mirae?  Would they have been allowed to fall in love with and eventually become engaged to Lysette?  Been comfortable following Lysette and accepting her as a deity, and a heretical one at that?  Or even been allowed to use their chosen name?  Lysette didn’t want to think further about it, but she was resolute that a world that couldn’t accept Mirae as they were was a world that deserved to exist no longer.

Maybe it was that demonic side of her that constantly sought to unmake and reshape rather than maintain and support.  Maybe it was the notion that Ereill wasn’t quite so perfect as its adherents had claimed, if she could so easily see its imperfections.  And maybe it was because she had been given the opportunity to become more than her fate by divine intervention that she wished to extend the same to others as well.  Her pacts and experiences might have forced her to start looking beyond her Domain, but Reciprocity was still baked into the core of her being.

And so, despite the warning from the good Commander about the dangers of spreading Cultivation talent, Lysette turned her focus to her gardening, working to apportion what Essence she had accumulated among her followers.  She saved a little bit not tethered into her abilities, but used the rest roughly evenly among the people of Ciricu.  What was astounding was that, despite most of the grasses being undifferentiated from one another, Lysette had developed an instinctive awareness of exactly which patch was whose.

The one other rule she did continue to abide by was that none of the kids would be instructed or assisted in the ways of Cultivation until they’d reached thirteen years of age.  Aurie unlocked her Domain at that time, and it seemed a reasonable age for them to start learning about utilizing the abilities of the gods.  Old enough to be responsible for their actions, but young enough that they could be properly molded and instructed in the right ways of doing so.

And thinking about that sent her down the path of wanting more proper instructors and information on Cultivation.  She and the other deities had instinctual knowledge on how to Cultivate, and that would go a long way for the time being.  But not toward her end goals.  Advancing toward her ideal society meant advancing toward a people that would mature and grow beyond any need for her.  For any gods.

It was a little sad to think about, one day she’d be cast aside.  Maybe not forgotten, maybe even remembered fondly.  Maybe, Lysette thought, that’s how parents thought when their children grew up and eventually moved out and started families of their own.  Whatever shape that family might take.

Lysette’s thoughts meandered to her own parents.  To her sister, Celica.  She dared not think too long about what they would think of all that she had done.  She was still a demon, with all that that moniker implied.  But she hoped that they would at least have looked fondly upon Mirae.  Would have accepted them as her betrothed and welcomed them into their home just as they did their own flesh and blood.

She allowed her consciousness to slip partially back into the outside world twelve hours later, shortly after dusk.  Another major change between Ereillan society and that of both Domaria and Ciricu was that the former was nocturnal.  In the distant northern wastes not far from the poles where the capital of Ellibara was located, the winter was highlighted by a celebration of five consecutive days of uninterrupted night.  And even in the summer where light shone just as long, artifice was employed to dampen the light of the daystar as it spun around the horizon.

She walked out to the deck and looked out upon the star-studded horizon.  And more and more, she genuinely looked forward to their arrival on the shores of Ereill, something that was now scarcely a day away.  Dennell arrived to join her scarcely a minute later, bowing slightly when he was a few feet away.

“Good evening, Your Ladyship,” he said.  “I hope your day was restful.”

“Less so than I would have liked.  I’ve had a lot to think about.  And plenty of tasks to attend to.  Mental tasks,” Lysette quickly clarified.

“Anything I can assist with?”

“No.  Things only I can do.  That, and a lot of reflecting upon all of the cultural norms and etiquette lessons you gave me yesterday.  Needed plenty of practice with it all to make sure I was well prepared for tomorrow evening.”

“Shall we do a quick refresher?”

Lysette nodded as the diplomat quizzed her on matters of Ereillan etiquette.  Lysette’s answers were mostly correct.  On some of the finer points, she needed modest correction, and some of the rationales which lay behind the rules she did not fully grasp.  But in total, Dennell looked upon her with pride an hour later as the last vestiges of twilight disintegrated into night.

“Whatever practice you did since this morning has certainly paid its dividends, Your Ladyship.  Though it shames me to admit it to myself, I feel a small bit of envy when I see you.”

“For what reason?”  Lysette could think of a few, but it would have been impolite to speculate.

“Because you were chosen by Her Divinity.  I have served Her Divinity’s temple for thirty years now, but I have never had even a single conversation with her.  Even the Grand Abbott only occasionally speaks directly with Her Divinity, and never for very long.”

“I think it had to be me,” Lysette said.  “All of you, all of Ereill, I would imagine, is quite loyal to Zarielle and her temple and teachings.  But she needed someone who harbored a deep, unrelenting hatred toward the gods.  A hatred so deep and visceral and pervasive that it could be honed into a weapon for killing them.  Do you believe you possess that hatred?”

“I concede Your Ladyship’s point–”

Dennell was cut off by a sudden rocking of the ship.  The waves grew heavy, spewing seawater all over the deck.  Lysette pulled out two seeds and germinated them with her own energy, forming a barrier of sharp vines around herself as sailors scrambled to their stations and six other Cultivators ran onto the deck, taking positions around Lysette and Dennell.

“What is the situation?” Dennell asked.

“Your Excellency,” the strongest of the six said.  “I’m afraid we’re being attacked by a sea monster.  A Cultivation beast of immense size.  We are readying countermeasures and evasive maneuvers, but we cannot hope to hold it off all the way to landfall.”

Dennell clenched his fist.  “Then our options are to slay it or injure it badly enough that it decides to retreat.  Your Ladyship.  I ask that you please–”

“I will fight as well,” Lysette said.  “I understand that I am a guest and a diplomat and that it is your duty to protect me, with your life if you must.  But it is my responsibility to protect them as well.  A responsibility that is self-imposed, but that I feel obligated to nonetheless.”

“Very well.  Stay close, where we can protect you.

“Understood.”  She clenched her teeth and focused on the fight before her.  Damn you to the Infernal realm, Thosse.

Chapter 273: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116230965

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 275: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116300509