The Old Scholar

Stepping out of another portal, Leilani stepped into a land that had fields of grey grass and several hills that spanned for miles, the skies above were nothing but black with a few white stars in the distance, and what looked to be a giant singular line of ghosts flying in the sky. 

“Huh. spooky” Leilani muttered as she looked around her, trying to get a bearing of where she was

Seeing that she was now at the top of a hill, she saw a large pristine white manor in the distance that was surrounded by large silver trees that shimmered even from afar. 

“That must be where Armenakis is” she muttered as she began making her way down the hill, finding a dirt road at the base of it 

As she began walking along the dirt road, silver trees began sprouting from the sides of the road. But they were not small saplings but instead full-grown ones that continued to stretch up for a bit and as she continued, she was mesmerized by the beauty of them. Their silver leaves glittered and radiated with such beauty that it left her speechless. 

“Hey! Who goes there!” a young man’s voice suddenly broke the silence 

{!}

Turning her head, Leilani was treated to the sight of a young man with red horns and black wings dressed in a white robe. He was holding a large lance in one hand and a book in the other, his eyes narrowed towards her as she felt him scan her up and down. 

“Why is a mortal in the realm of death? Who are you and how did you get here?” the young man asked as he stepped forward and began slowly walking towards her

“Oh, I am Leilani…I was sent here to meet Armenakis” Leilani quickly answered as she instinctively took a step back 

“Uhuh, but you have failed to answer my other question on how you got here Leilani” the young man added as he got closer 

“I was sent here by Dashran” 

“What? Why would the God of the Elements send a mortal like you here unless-” 

“Voldar!” A young feminine voice suddenly rang out, cutting off the young man’s words 

The young man’s head turned to behind him and he looked up. He saw his fellow compatriot with the same crimson horns, white dress, and black wings,  flying down from a hill in the distance and as she got closer, he saw an expression of worry on her face. 

“Voldar! I can’t find her!” the young woman cried as she grabbed him by the shoulders and began shaking him 

“Oww, oww, oww! Can’t find who dammit!? Can’t you be more clear Scitillia!” Voldar shouted as he felt his shoulders getting crushed by his companion 

“The mortal Voldar! The one we were supposed to escort back to our creator! She wasn’t on the hill like she was supposed to be!” Scitilia continued on as she lifted her companion up and began shaking him 

“Youuu meeaaann thaaatt mortaaaalll thereee??” Voldar voiced as he struggled to point at the mortal behind him, 

{!}

“Yes!” 

TOSS!

CRASH!

“oW!” 

The moment Scitillia laid eyes on the mortal, she quickly tossed Voldar aside and ran over to the little girl 

“Hi there! You’re Leilani right?” She asked with a huge smile on her face

“Umm…uhuh” Leilani replied slowly as she glanced over at Voldar who was picking himself up and dusting off his robe 

“Great! I am so so sorry that we were not able to pick you up from the hill! Please forgive us!” Scitillia added as she bowed deeply

“Umm, shouldn’t you apologize to your partner first though?” Leilani replied as she pointed at Voldar who was now walking back to them 

“It’s fine, she has done this multiple times so I have gotten used to her monstrous strength” 

“Hey! Don’t say it like it’s a bad thing! Our creator Armenakis created me like this for a reason!” Scitillia pouted as she looked at him 

“Yes, I know. Each Angel of Death is different, you needn’t remind me” Voldar fired back 

“Anyways, Miss Leilani. I apologize again for not being able to pick you up immediately when you came here” the female angel of death apologized again 

“It’s because Scitillia here is poor with directions. We had to fly to several other hills before coming here” the male angel of death added

“Hey! Don’t tell her that!” Scitillia pouted as she grabbed her partner and put him in a headlock 

“Umm…so are we going or?” Leilani asked as she noticed that despite tapping her arm repeatedly and coughing, Scitillia would not release Voldar 

“Right, right sorry. Also sorry Voldar” the female angel of death lamented as she looked at him 

“It’s fine. I got used to these things by now” he replied as he massaged his neck

“Anyways, let’s just get you to where you need to be” he added as he looked at Leilani

………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Woah” Leilani muttered as she was being carried like a baby by Scitillia and they were flying towards the giant silver manor she had seen from the top of the hill, her eyes looking at the large monsters of bone running across the fields of grey grass 

“Those are the Prairie Walkers, their massive size and big durability are what help us guard the realm, they are incredibly dangerous to those with ill intentions toward Armenakis. But if you get to know them they are practically giant cats, if that was the right name of the animal from your world” Scitillia stated as they continued to fly past them 

Reaching the manor, Leilani saw a familiar figure standing in the front doorway looking at her as she was coming down, the unmistakable flowing white dress, pale skin, beautiful face, and flowing raven black hair, she knew it was Armenakis. She saw a large smile on the goddess’ face when she began walking up to her, and she could feel the mature aura from before filling the air 

“Welcome to my realm Leilani” Armenakis greeted as she patted her on the head 

“I hope you had a peaceful flight on the way here, and I apologize for not being able to pick you up in person, I was very busy organizing the realm and I admit I kept pestering Dashran to send you already even though I was not ready yet” the goddess added with a cheeky smile 

“Anyways, you are here now. So follow me inside” Armenakis gestured as the massive doors to the manor opened and they stepped inside 

Stepping into the manor, Leilani’s eyes were filled with the sight of a lavish and well-lit entrance, marble white floors, and walls that had accompanying furniture that suited the design. On the ceiling were sets of tubes that ran as far as she could see, running along the structure of the ceiling. The tubes themselves had glowing white substances that shuddered and made a wailing sound from time to time

“What are those things up there?” she asked Armenakis as they continued up the staircase in front of them 

“Oh, those are the tubes that bring the souls of the departed to the center of the manor for recycling” the goddess answered her as they made their way along the lavish and beautiful corridors 

Soon they arrived at a massive chamber, there were numerous angels of death fluttering about and manning arcane machines with arcane magic, with scores of endless tubes running through the floor and running along the ceiling, all of them converging on a set of several giant glass vats that swirled with hundreds of thousands of white entities that gave moaning and wailing noises. Some of them were directed into tubes that were colored red and went further down or gold and they went up, with some going into a tube colored white that led out of the room. 

“What is that?” Leilani asked as she looked at everything in front of her

“This is the main chamber of souls, here we sort out the souls of the living for three things, Reincarnation, Damnation or Heaven” Armenakis answered as they began walking through the giant room 

“Here, we receive a constant stream of souls, whether they are souls of monsters or humanoids, etc. they all get transported here and are sorted through” 

They then continued and then stopped they came upon one vat that was filled with souls that suddenly shifted from white to red before being sucked into a tube that was colored red and led deep under the floor 

“Those souls just now were designated as “Vile” or “Evil” and were sent down to Hell for damnation, my angels of death or rather, Devils, give those souls their just punishment until the souls are broken up and rendered into useless shards. Those shards are then sent back up here and are processed through the vats again and are sent into that tube over there” Armenakis explained as she pointed at the tube colored white that led out of the room 

“That tube sends the shards of destroyed souls or “seeds” rather and some other intact souls to a processing plant we have outside the manor, it’s called the “Garden Of Souls” and that is where we manufacture new souls to fill new bodies or reuse and recycle old souls deemed worthy for reincarnation” 

“Do the souls and seeds retain memories?” Leilani asked 

“Ah, no. they do not, once a soul reaches my manor they are stripped of their memories and mark them. We move those memories into numerous memory banks that are then used by my angels of death to mark those souls destined for Hell, Reincarnation, and Heaven” the goddess answered 

“And speaking of Heaven, look at that” she pointed out as several souls switched from white to gold and got sucked up by the tubes that shot up into the ceiling

“If you already guessed, Heaven is managed by me, my angels of death make sure that those souls are treated well and rewarded for their good behavior and deeds in their life before eventually those souls break down through happiness and are sent back down here to be reused and recycled, but that is up to them of course if they wish to rejoin the cycle” 

“Huh..neat, but I was told you were the “Goddess of Death and Destruction” but so far I am seeing nothing relating to the destruction part” the young mortal told her 

“Ah, well that title was made due to certain events involving me lashing out at some of the early humanoids that populated the world, leading me to massacre a lot of them, the humanoids feared me so they added the “Death and Destruction” part to my name, which stuck unfortunately” the goddess lamented 

“Yikes” 

“Yup. Yikes” Armenakis added with a disappointed look 

“My original title was the “Goddess of Souls” but that has been unfortunately overridden by my newer title” 

“Oh…ah! I forgot but Dashran said something about you guys being involved in the creation of my body. So what did you do?” the young mortal asked 

“Ah! That, yeah. I was responsible for the power of your soul. Let me explain. Each soul has a certain power level, it is different from the mana pool and is something more potent. Besides giving the living thing a unique personality, the souls in this world are what power the ability for people to use their magic whether it be elemental or not. For example, Shadow magic or Carnomancy. All of them require a soul to be used and when a soul is placed into a body there are certain magic that are activated, or in rare cases there are none” 

“So does that mean if the magic does not activate then you cannot use it?” 

“Oh no, no, no, you can still learn certain magics, but it will be of lesser power” 

“I see, so I take it when you crafted my soul you did something akin to making all the magic activate for me?” 

“Something like that yes, when I received your soul I made sure the memories were retained, I personally created several layers to your soul that allow the enhancement of your magic, it also helps that these layers increase the speed of how you master them, meaning by your twenties or thirties you will be literally a master of all magic unless my creator does otherwise” 

“Huh. that is very impressive” 

“It is, I personally love Carnomancy, the manipulation of flesh, blood, and bones. Hohohohohoho the things you could do with that magic” Armenakis voiced with a smile 

“So, will you take me to that “Garden Of Souls” ?” the young mortal asked 

“Yeah, I will. Hold onto my hand” 

Following the instructions, Leilani grasped the pale hand of the goddess tightly, feeling that it was colder than she expected, closing her eyes in preparation for the teleportation. Armenakis on the other hand raised her free hand and held it in a snapping position, a smile on her face as she did so. 

SNAP!

Materializing out of the manor felt like a gust of wind blowing against her skin, before feeling the air stop as she materialized at the next location. Opening her eyes, she found herself in the middle of a large patch in a field, with Armenakis by her side. All around her were small flowers sprouting from the ground, their crystal white color glimmering brightly in contrast to the darkness surrounding them. 

“This is the garden. Those flowers are the new souls maturing after being planted into the soil of life, a special type of soil that fills my realm. These new souls still lack personality which is noted by the color they have, pristine white means that they are still maturing, and when they mature they become a plethora of colors and have a personality but sadly it seems none are ready to be shown” 

“They’re all so pretty. Do you tend to them yourself?” Leilani remarked as she bent down to observe one up close

“Yup, I do. And I-” 

At that moment, a faint ringing could be heard in the air. Leilani turned to Armenakis who had a concerned look on her face, with her materializing a screen in front of her, with an angel of death appearing on the screen

“Status report” she commanded 

“Your Holiness, one of the vats lost power, and some of the souls broke loose but several angels are in the process of hunting them down as we speak” 

“Double time then” 

“Understood!” 

With that exchange, the screen disappeared and Armenakis pinched the bridge of her nose 

“How did that happen?” Leilani asked as she walked closer to the goddess

“The lack of Spiritual Energy I get is causing my realm to sometimes have  ‘hiccups’ as I call it and certain systems shut down. But you needn’t worry little one, me and my angels are more than capable of subduing or destroying any soul that tries to escape” 

“I didn’t see this happen in Ragneus’ or Dashran’s realm, so why yours?” 

“Well, it’s because I am the realm that is the closest in connection to the world, I forgot to mention earlier but when it comes to the order of realms in proximity to the world, it’s Ragneus first, then Dashran then Santomin then me, but I asked Santomin to make you visit here first so that’s why you’re here” Armenakis answered the curious and concerned mortal 

“Looks like I have to cut your visit here short, I will send you now to Santomin and I do hope you enjoyed the tour I gave” 

“I did, thank you so much Armenakis, I swear to make sure people worship you for who you truly are. A Goddess of Souls and not the Goddess of Death and Destruction” Leilani promised as she held up a pinky to the goddess

“Aww, thank you Leilani. I have no doubt you will achieve that. Bye-bye now!” the goddess replied as she wrapped her own pinky around the small mortal’s and spanned her fingers

“Bye!” 

With that exchange of farewell, a portal appeared below Leilani, sucking her in and out of Armenakis’ sight. A smile appeared on her face as she thought back to the promise she made 

“Fufufu, I am looking forward to all the great things you will do young one. I really am” she muttered to herself before she turned her gaze back to the manor and snapped her fingers, disappearing from the garden.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Appearing out of the air, Leilani dropped a few meters before landing on the smooth and bouncy surface of a couch, it felt very soft when she landed. Looking up she saw herself inside a giant circular library with a very familiar figure in the center of it all. 

Sitting in the middle of a circular desk that nearly surrounded her, draped in a grey robe with her silver hair let down instead of a bun, sipping a cup of tea while she was reading a scroll was Santomin, the Goddess of Wisdom. 

“Hmm? Oh?! You’re here already?” The goddess voiced as she raised her eyes and saw Leilani on the couch 

“Hi Santomin! Armenakis had to deal with something so she sent me here ahead of time” Leilani stated as she sat up on the couch and looked around the circular room 

“Is this all of it?” she asked with a tilted head

“Oh? Well it’s most of it, being the Goddess of Wisdom means it's my job to record everything that has happened in the world so far, the shelves here house about five-hundred and fifty books alone, and this was years one to eighty-eight, the rest are currently outside being managed and recorded by my angelic scholars” Santomin answered as she stood up from her seating and walked over to the young mortal, sitting beside her. 

“Oh? Can we go see them do it?” the young mortal asked with a smile on her face 

“Sure, I see no reason why not to” Santomin answered as she conjured up a door next to her and held onto Leilani’s hand 

“Follow me” 

“Ok!” 

Stepping through the door, Leilani saw a massive and expansive library in front of her. She was on the top of a booth and when she looked down she could see rows upon rows and columns upon columns of shelves, but instead of them being filled to the brim with books, all of them were empty. 

“It’s all so vast…and empty” she remarked as she took it all in 

“Yep, but that is to be expected, this world has been in service for a hundred years and it is already on life support. But that will change soon thanks to you” Santomin stated as they walked back into her personal library 

“Dashran told me you guys did something to my body in this world, what did you do?” 

“Ah, that. I was in charge of sealing that mighty intellect of yours, my creator told me that the knowledge you possess is very important and very potent in making sure that this world becomes better” 

“Oh, but wait, you said ‘sealed’ What did you seal inside my mind?” 

“Well, the knowledge you had in everything really, but the seal weakens every year and so when you become twenty the seal will fully unlock and your vast knowledge from your first life will be at your disposal. This is to get you used to the world and ensure that the knowledge that will become unlocked will not override it. Think of it as a bowl with some milk right, you add some chocolate powder and mix them together. That represents your current knowledge of the world, this world. Then you add more milk from another bowl, this represents your past life of knowledge, they get added to the mixture but they do not override the original contents, instead the contents are altered to best suit this world” 

“Ohhh, so if I had my knowledge off the bat then it would be practically useless since it's a different environment?” 

“Exactly” 

“Umm, if you don’t mind me asking, can you explain some parts of the world the others left out?” 

“Depends, what did they leave out?” 

“I don’t know…” Leilani replied as she puckered her lips and looked at the ground 

“Alright, let’s start with the basics then” Santomin said as she summoned a large whiteboard and marker 

“Now, to start we have the realms that comprise this world, first is the realm of creation run by Ragneus, then there is the realm of elements run by Dashran, then the realm of souls run by Armenakis, and the realm of knowledge that is run by me. These are the four Prime Realms that are quintessential in making the world work, you cannot reach any of these realms unless we gods give you permission to. Then you have a secondary realm that is directly linked to the main world via gates scattered throughout it, this is the Demon Realm, a personal realm created by Armenakis to house her creations. Although it was not part of the main blueprint our creator has allowed it to be connected to the main world via numerous gates scattered throughout the world. Of course there are a few demon tribes spread across the main world as well” the goddess added as she drew several diagrams 

“Are the demons hostile to us?” Leilani asked 

“So far no, none of the demons from the demon realm nor the humanoids have made first contact as neither of them even know these gates, and if they ever found one they wouldn’t know how to operate it. You do however, but it’s sealed with the rest of the information until you're twenty so don’t worry about it” Santomin answered 

“Uhh ok…oh! What blessings do you guys give? The ceremony in my tribe talks about you guys blessing certain people but not others” 

“Ah that. Well, for why we bless some and not others, it’s actually tied to the mana pool of a person and their body. You see when we bless someone, we look at their mana pool and their body. There are certain requirements that I will not disclose but these requirements are needed as the blessings we give will destroy someone who can’t handle them. For what we give as blessings, however, well we give them ones based on our roles. Ragneus’ blessing involves the recipient being stronger than others with better vitality and endurance, and a small ability to manipulate meager life such as making flowers bloom or controlling insects, dogs, and cats. Dashran’s blessing involves the recipient having much stronger elemental magic, Armenakis’ blessing is that the person has access to more magic off the bat and they don’t have the debuff that limits their magic potential. Then there is mine, unlike the other blessings, mine basically allows people to process information faster and learn better. It’s not as flashy but I believe that being able to learn anything from just seeing or hearing it once is incredibly useful” Santomin finished as she gave a small smile 

“That’s amazing!” Leilani answered with excitement 

“That is literally overpowered in this world where people know basically little to nothing!” She continued

“You think so?” Santomin asked

“I know so! Heck in my old world, people who could learn fast were highly sought after” 

“Huh. alright, but yeah those are the blessings and why we don’t bless certain people” the goddess finished as she waved her hand, and the whiteboard and marker disintegrated

“I almost forgot to ask, in the process of creating, what do you do? Armenakis gives souls, Dashran the mana pools, and Ragneus the shell, soo what do you do?” 

“Oh, I simply give the brains of the bodies the ability to learn, ensuring that the brains and internals of the husks are in working order” 

“The more you guys explain the more I think that Ragneus can’t create life” 

“Oh he can, but he needs us to help flush them out” Santomin replied, making Leilani nod in understanding 

“Is that all? Because if so, I will be sending you back to your body”

“Yep…oh! One last thing, can you be the one to bless me?” 

{!}

“You want me to bless you? Why not the rest? Santomin asked, baffled by the young girl’s request

“Well, during the ceremony I heard the names of the other three but none have yours, so I thought it would be nice if I was the first” Leilani answered with a sincere smile 

“Pfft, I see. Thank you for the pleasant thought Leilani but in truth, I don’t need to bless you, and neither do the rest of them, the body we created for you and the enhancements we did to your soul are already our blessings” the goddess stated as she knelt down to her height 

“Ohh..ok then” the young mortal replied with a small frown as she looked at the floor 

“Fufufu, ok then. Let’s keep it a secret between us ok? I will give you my blessings, and it will stack with the ones we already gave you ok?” Santomin told her as she chuckled at her reaction

“Haah! Thanks Santomin!” Leilani exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around the goddess and pulled her into a hug

“No problem, now off you go” the goddess added as she tapped Leilani on the forehead and sent her away in a flash of light 

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Back in the mortal world, Leilani’s ears were filled with sound as she heard her mother call out to the crowd 

“The first one in the history of the tribe, Leilani! Blessed by Santomin!” Kalani cried out with joy

The crowd cheered as they heard the news, all of them had never heard nor seen anyone get blessed by Santomin since the creation of the ritual all those years ago. Leilani’s parents were also ecstatic about the events and were half sure that their daughter would not be blessed. Leilani’s best friend, Chantook was even jumping for joy for her best friend as she was so happy that she and her were blessed. 

Rising to her feet, Leilani bowed at the crowd before being escorted off the stage with her mother, who was clinging tightly to her, a large smile on both of their faces. 

Meanwhile, outside the village, high up in the air where nobody could see, Fortuna hovered alone as she looked down at the village below. She had just come out of a meeting with her higher up and it was very tense, but seeing the human she chose to help save this world smile brought a smile to herself as well

“So it begins” she muttered before disappearing back into her realm.

 

A/N: Hello! sorry this one took a while to make, anyways I hope you enjoy the chapter and I will see you in the next one and as always, Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!