Twilight Manor.
The ground beneath Loki's feet began to tremble. Then it shook. The walls around her started to crack, fine lines spreading across them from continuous vibrations.
Her footing slipped. Her head falling straight for the edge of a wooden table. Anakitty, beside her, wrapped an arm around her waist and hauled her upright before she could collide with it.
If this had been any other moment, Loki would have savored the sensation—copped a feel or two while she was at it. She didn't even react this time.
"Have Ares and Ouranos both gone mad!? Unsealing Arcanum in broad daylight!? Breaking the established rules!?" Her voice climbed with each word, turning into a roar by the end.
Raul Nord was already nearby, his hands braced against the main doors, shoving them open.
"Aki—outside. Move." Raul spoke with sharp urgency, gesturing to Anakitty while gripping the door handle for balance.
Anakitty's ears twitched. She hooked an arm around Loki and pulled her through the entrance of the main hall, straight out into open grounds connected to their manor.
Loki didn't protest. She followed her children's lead.
Before disappearing further, Anakitty glanced back over her shoulder.
"What about you, Raul?"
"I'll get the others. Go." Raul was already stumbling away, fighting to keep his footing as he moved toward the other wings of Twilight Manor.
Loki and Anakitty reached the open ground. Other adventurers had already gathered there—faces carrying every shade of dread, from uncertainty to raw, unmasked terror.
Behind them, Twilight Manor continued to quake. Devastating impacts from beyond Orario's northern edge rolled across the city, reaching all the way here.
"Just who the hell is fighting an unsealed Ares? And how the hell are they even holding on?"
She didn't wait for an answer.
"No. I have to go see whoever this is." Loki turned on her heel.
"Goddess Loki. It's dangerous outside. Stay." Anakitty's tone left no room for argument. Her fingers locked around Loki's arm with a grip that bordered on painful, anchoring her in place.
"But... Aki, I have to see—"
Loki's words were ripped away.
A devastating sound sheared across every corner of Orario. Before Loki could even flinch, Aki had already spun around, wrapping both arms tight around her and turning her own back toward the oncoming shockwave.
A heartbeat. That was all it took.
More adventurers surged forward from every direction, surrounding Aki and Loki in an iron formation—bodies interlocking, bracing for impact.
BOOOM!
Bodies flew in all directions like broken dolls. Loki felt her surroundings blur as she tumbled alongside Aki, rolling across the ground before skidding to a halt some distance away.
Warm drops landing on her face snapped Loki back to focus.
She looked up. Aki was above her—still shielding her, even now. Blood dripped steadily from her nose and her cat ears.
"Hey, Aki. Hold on. I'll go get a healer." Loki patted her cheek. No response. Nothing.
The goddess pulled herself out from beneath Aki and nearly lost her footing again.
A pallum she'd watched pass his Level 3 promotion last year was face-down ten paces away. Not moving.
"Damn it... Don't worry, everyone. I'll get help."
She had just taken a single step forward when—
Everything went white.
A single, blinding instant. No warning. No transition.
Then came the pillar of light—radiant, absolute—setting the entire sky alight. A searing gust of hot wind rushed through Loki's hair, stopping her dead in her tracks.
Particles drifted down from above. Golden. Like petals. Like dust.
She was frozen for a moment. The blood on her cheek, the bodies at her feet—all of it fell away. Just for a second.
Those golden petals settled on her skin, her hair, the blood on the ground around her feet.
Beautiful. Like nothing in Orario had any right to be right now.
Then—
Her closed eyes parted slowly. Fully.
Her lips stretched. Wider. Wider still.
A smirk crawled across her face.
Her fingers, however, were curled so tightly that her knuckles had gone bone-white.
"If that thing or whatever it is, were ever pointed at my children... not even Ais could survive it."
...
..
.
Hostess of Fertility.
Tremors had been shaking the whole tavern for some time now. Walls rattled, and cracks had appeared across nearly every window.
Haruhime lay on a bed, brows furrowed and tail limp. She was running a high fever after the earlier Mind Down.
Hestia moved toward her, a wet towel in hand. Syr sat on the bed just beside Haruhime, lifting a damp cloth from her forehead.
A sudden, more violent shockwave made Hestia trip, scraping her knee against the floor, wet towel slipping from her grip.
"Oww."
Syr glanced back at Hestia, eyes landing on the blood welling up from her knee.
"Lady Hestia, you should take a break. I'll handle Haruhime."
"B-but—"
A cough from Haruhime interrupted her.
Syr snapped her gaze back and pressed a palm to Haruhime's burning forehead.
"Her condition is deteriorating. Where is the wet cloth?" Syr looked back, eyes finding Hestia—and the wet cloth lying on the floor nearby.
"I-I'll get another one." Hestia turned on her heel, rushing toward a wooden basin filled with chilled water.
Before she could reach it.
BOOOM!
Sounds of glass shattering resounded nearby as a sound travelled across every inch of Orario—less intense here, given the distance.
Hestia tumbled, her knee scraping harder against the floor. Her wound widened, more blood seeping from it.
Syr brought her hands to her ears, eyes squeezed shut as pain flashed across her face.
She looked back. Haruhime's ears had curled inward even in unconsciousness, more coughs wracking her chest.
Syr opened her eyes with difficulty.
"Lady Hestia!"
"I'll fetch more water from below." Hestia moved without thought.
Pain flared from her knee. She bit her teeth to muffle any sound.
Tears welled up in Hestia's eyes as she forced herself forward.
Before she could push herself further—
Light.
Light that turned the cracks in their surroundings gold. Light that made her pain feel insignificant.
It was immediately followed by a radiant shaft punching a hole through the sky, like it had always been there, like it would always be there. For her.
Hestia and Syr both snapped their gazes toward it through a shattered window to their right.
Something drifted through the window. Not wind. Flakes. Gold.
One passed by Syr's side. She caught it with wonder—and her fingers closed around nothing. Her expression didn't change. But her eyes, for just a moment, stopped being Syr's.
Another floated over Haruhime and settled on her forehead, melting into her skin.
Her furrowed brows smoothed out. Her ears uncurled. Her breaths were no longer uneven and labored.
The last landed on Hestia's head, melting against her scalp like snow under the sun.
Warmth seeped into her knee. Her skin knit together like nothing had happened.
Like it was easy.
Hestia pressed her palm against the shattered windowsill. Glass bit into her skin. Blood welled up warm around her fingers.
Bell. You fool.
Come home.
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Authors Thoughts]
So... Did it feel real? Loki getting dazed from something beautiful while surrounded by horror. Its something complex that is better felt rather than explained, but I've tried to write it nonetheless.
Anyway take care...
And have a wonderful day, everyone!