The Old Scholar

Later that night as Leilani drifted off to sleep, she opened her eyes and found herself in Fortuna's realm once more, laying face up and staring at the cosmos of the sky. Her head turned and she saw Fortuna standing a few feet away, flourishing a pair of swords. One was a large obsidian-colored longsword that had a red accent down the middle of the blade that started from a red orb placed on the hilt while the other one resembled an officer's pattern sword that had double edges, with the guard and hilt intricately decorated with what Leilani could only assume were magical runes and inscriptions

"Ahh, Leilani. Glad you could make it" Fortuna said with a smile as she left her swords suspended in midair and walked towards Leilani 

"Hi!" Leilani greeted with a smile and a bow as she watched the Prime Goddess approach her

"I take it you already met with the gods of this world while I was away?" Fortuna asked as she patted the young mortal on the head

"Mhmm. They are very nice people, er...gods" 

"Fufufufu, you can call them people. They actually prefer that as it reminds them of the mortals they work so hard for, regardless of being recognized for it" Fortuna giggled as she turned away from the young mortal girl and pulled the swords to her

"I take it you have a lot of questions for me Leilani? I am assuming that my subordinates explained the best they could without turning your brain to mush" Fortuna continued as she turned back to face the young mortal 

"I do, but I am pretty sure those questions will result in answers turning my brain to mush anyway" Leilani replied with a wry smile 

"Don't be disheartened, once you grow older and the full capacity of your brain is unlocked then we can chat and you can have access to the more sensitive answers of the universe" Fortuna added as she flourished the pair of swords again 

"Anyways, now that you are here. First a very Happy Birthday to you Leilani, sorry for the late greeting" Fortuna said with an ethereal smile 

"Thank you" Leilani replied with a blush as she bowed her head in thanks

"Fufufu, and in the spirit of your birthday, I present you this" Fortuna added as she knelt down and held up the double-edged officer's pattern sword she was flourishing earlier 

"Oooo, what is this?" the young mortal asked as she inspected the blade 

"It is a sword I forged just for you. It has several magical runes and inscriptions along the shield and hilt, the blade itself forged with the strongest combinations of metals and elements I could muster. It is practically unbreakable, even for a god. Well a god below me but you get the idea" Fortuna replied 

"Amazing. It looks amazing" 

"Hehehe, give it a swing" 

At the behest of Fortuna, Leilani took a few steps back and swung the sword, it felt so lightweight even for her small frame but she could feel the power in her swings and thrusts amplify every time she let loose an attack. She glanced at Fortuna who had a smile on her face as she watched her,

"Never held a blade before no?" The Prime Goddess asked 

"Yeah, I haven't held a blade before...yet, I am able to swing this with ease as if I had already practiced it before" The young mortal girl answered

"Fufufufu, that is due to the magical inscriptions and runes I had placed on it. To put it in simple terms, it scans your current magical capabilities and potential, as well as your current strength and potential then augments your capabilities through contact with the hilt via grip, sending discreet and impossible-to-notice magical energy to course through your body to increase your current stats by a thousand fold. It is also of note that this sword in particular is security bonded to your DNA, meaning if others tried to use the weapon it would act like Thor's hammer and be unmovable"  

"Woah" 

"Hehe, whoah indeed" 

"Do you wish to name her?" Fortuna asked

"Her?" 

"Mhmm, that sword is a she, it has a soul fragment, a piece of you that I cloned from your original soul" 

"Oh? Hmm...I would like to call her Augustus since she has a piece of me afterall" 

"Splendid name" 

{!}

CLING!

Without warning, Fortuna closed the gap and swung her massive obsidian-colored longsword down on the young mortal, Leilani's body still holding onto the sword acted without her knowledge and blocked the incoming attack, the force pushing them across the ground still locked with Fortuna

"What the fuck?!" Leilani shouted

"I'm sorry about this Leilani but I did promise you something when you reached thirteen, I promised to train you in everything combat-related. Do you remember?" Fortuna said as she looked down at the puny mortal girl 

"I do, but I didn't expect it to be so sudden!" Leilani struggled to voice her answer as she tried to push back the blade nearing her face. 

"Well, you better brace yourself little girl, for I will be teaching you everything I know of combat. And I will not be making it easy!" 

At those final words, Leilani had a feeling in the back of her mind telling her she was going to hate this. 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

As the years went on, Leilani spent her days learning magic and household skills from her mother Kalani, and basic hunting and survival skills from her father Malikei. She spent hours upon hours learning from both of them, with her parents surprised that she was able to replicate what they taught her after being told and shown once, but telling her to continue repeating the exercises as they felt that their daughter should be humbled and taught what struggles are, all in the name of molding her into a better person and not a stuck up arrogant one. This included teaching Leilani how to properly store away food, how to cook, how to clean and how to wash properly. As well as teaching her how to track down prey, how to properly wield a bow and arrow, a sword and shield, a hunting spear and even how to survive off of eating flora and insects, which although Leilani did not say it, she disliked immensely but understood their importance. 

Then at night, when everyone was asleep, Leilani would be whisked away via her soul and would engage in what could only be described as years of training as Fortuna stopped time whenever they had their lessons and she would not hold back. Fortuna drilled countless lessons into Leilani's growing body and mind as she grew older and older, teaching her the glories of numerous weapons besides "Augusta" such as a warhammer, a halberd, daggers and so much more, the Prime Goddess also drilled her repeatedly in the art of offensive and defensive magics that were too complex for anyone else in the world, telling her that Kalani will teach her the basics so it was fine. During their numerous duels, Leilani would always find herself battered and on the ground bleeding or burned, or with her body partially vaporized. But she never died as Fortuna would always keep her alive and heal her immediately, the scars and wounds that Leilani suffered from their intense training never came back with her to the physical world but her acquired skills did, skills that she decided to hide for now as trying to explain how she got so good overnight would certainly have given her parents a stroke. 

As the world went on, Leilani filled in the role of being a 'Seer' for the tribe, just as her mother was. Using her magic for the good of the tribe and ensuring that the younger generation was taught their ways. She also was the right hand of Chantook who became chief of the tribe around twenty-three after her father passed away, she was always consulted by her best friend on actions that would decide the outcome of their survival. Leilani also used her position to bring about some minor modernization plans she had to further help their tribe as her previous knowledge from being a super genius in her old world finally came back to her, such as introducing basic principles of logging, which allowed them to harvest the nearby woods in the mountains, the importance of herding livestock and cattle since their tribe usually relied on fresh kills for food, and even helping expand their territory by allowing the tribal village to expand to several other villages that were connected by dirt roads that were reasonably paved with rocks. With them setting up very basic walls made of wood and stone to protect them from the beasts that roamed the Great Plains. 

But that was not all, as she introduced improved hygiene techniques, better ways to preserve their fresh meat and harvested crops, and new and more convenient ways to expand their crop yields by using different types of crops and using the earth magic users to terraform the soil below them to suit their needs. Even helping drill a very basic military force loyal to the tribe that was split up into sections to defend the villages they had and assist in daily tasks. Leilani also took this time to ensure that the tribe was always tightly knit, usually acting as a mediator for disputes of all sizes, earning her the reputation for being a very lovely person that even Chantook would ask for help whenever it was a situation too big for even the Blessed of Ragneus. 

When Leilani was thirty, she earned the title "The First and Only Scholar of Santomin" as they saw Leilani's great genius as a product of Santomin's blessing and the fact that no one else in the tribe had the same blessing ever since she was proclaimed as blessed by Santomin all those years ago. Leilani's parents who had witnessed everything and seen the growth of the tribe were proud of their daughter, it was also a known fact that Leilani placed her parents above everything as when a disease hit the tribe, Leilani spent countless sleepless nights caring for everyone especially her parents whom she kept by her side at all times. Throughout their lives, Kalina and Malikei were immensely happy as Leilani personally cared for them despite her busy schedule, spending numerous hours experiencing so many things with them as their tribe evolved. 

But as the years went on, it was clear to everyone that Leilani was no longer aging past how she looked when she reached thirty. This caused many rumors to go around about how she was able to keep her youth, with some going to her and trying to pry the secrets from her mind, with all attempts being futile however. When Leilani was seventy-five, all of her friends from her generation were now resting peacefully as they had died and moved on, her parents however were still alive at ninety-five each, and she would spend the remaining five years of their lives close to them, taking care of them and never leaving them, and when they died happily in her arms, she spent an entire year grieving for what she had lost. Despite the knowledge that she could always ask Armenakis access to see them again. 

Now at the age of one hundred, Leilani left the now flourishing tribe, she had seen them grow into a powerful state in the middle of the continent they called home, dominating the entirety of the Great Plains and establishing the Great Plains Kingdom. With the descendants of Chantook, the one family she had continued to advise ever since her best friend's passing ruling fairly and equally, never forgetting the ideals and traditions that they once had. During that time, Leilani knew it was time for her to embark on her mission to save the world, promising to return to her home after she took a few years on one of the other continents across the sea, a side she had not explored ever since her sixties. She bid her home goodbye, with many children and elderly coming to see the oldest woman in the kingdom off with smiles on their faces as they thanked her for everything, with Leilani telling them she would be back. But as she spent twenty years exploring the vast expanses of another continent, back home, the eastern side would bring her nothing but sorrow as when she finished her part of spreading the worship of the gods and bringing knowledge to the small tribes, clans, and kingdoms and returned to her home, she found it in ruins as the clan known as the "Cretorans" Had declared war on the Great Plains Kingdom, launching a surprise attack during the peace talks that resulted in the slaughter of the entire royal family and decimated nearly everything they had built over the years. 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Standing in the midst of the ruined capital, Leilani's heart was filled with nothing but rage. She had spent the past few days searching for any survivors in the many towns and villages that dotted her home, her heart wishing to see at least someone or anyone. But her heart sank when she finally arrived at the capital, a place that used to be a small and old tribal village that became a sprawling city of cobblestone and wood teeming with life, now housed tribals who dressed in ragged clothes, wore the rudimentary plate armor stripped from dead soldiers, and hung the corpses of women, men, elderly and children up on the walls. A nation she had spent her life helping to build, was now nothing more than a mass grave. 

Leilani had no time to grieve as she immediately went about plotting her revenge, she scoured the entire eastern portion of the continent for months and learned that the Cretorans had conquered them all the same, they had placed their new capital in the ruins of her home which they called Krakornum, as a tribute to their false god. She tried searching across their kingdom to see if there truly was anything worth saving, but in her eyes, all she saw were savages who had wiped her people off the face of the world. The gods of the world however, who had seen all of this happen under their watch, feared that their one savior was now going to turn on them, with Santomin being sent down to speak with Leilani. 

At the edge of a waterfall, Santomin found the ageless scholar sitting near the edge, the rushing current of the waterfall filling the air. The Goddess of Wisdom felt many conflicting emotions, emotions that were coming from the understandably grieving and furious woman in front of her, taking a chance, she sat next to the young mortal and wrapped her arm around her. Silence was the only thing between them as the waterfall noise faded away from their minds. 

"I failed them" Leilani spoke after the long silence 

"What?" Santomin asked, opting not to resort to reading her mind, making sure the mortal expressed herself without interruption 

"I failed them. I went on the mission given to me to save the world and I failed them. I was not there when they needed me the most" Leilani continued as she stared off into the distance 

"It wasn't your fault Leilani, in fact I-"

"Were they meant to die?" Leilani cut Santomin off before she could finish, turning to her with dead eyes and a sorrowful expression 

A small silence followed as Santomin's expression turned from bad to worse as she gave Leilani a frown and then a nod 

"They were...an unfortunate result of the latest calibrations" The Goddess of Wisdom answered 

As her answer reached the scholar's ears, Santomin saw Leilani nod as she turned away, her gaze focusing on the castle in the distance that used to be part of her home. A feeling of understanding and calmness washed over her rage for a moment and Leilani's eyes began to water, turning to the Goddess before crying with everything she had. Santomin on the other hand, pulled the mortal in closer and stayed silent as she embraced the grieving mortal and did her best to soothe her. 

After a few hours of grieving, Leilani wiped her tears away and looked up at Santomin, 

"Are you feeling better now?" the goddess asked as she pushed Leilani's hair away. 

"Mhmm...a bit" the young mortal girl answered with a snivel 

"I am sorry Leilani, none of us wanted this to happen but-" 

"I understand Santomin. It is unfortunate the results came to this but I need to accept it" Leilani cut her off as she looked away into the distance 

"I am sorry you can't do anything to stop it from happening, I know our creator gave you access to a wide range of magic such as Chronomancy but I believe she has told you the consequences of such magic" Santomin continued 

"I know...she told me it could have dire consequences if I try to change a calculation outcome, she told me that I could but it would either cause the death of the world and everyone including myself or it would have a different outcome where everyone lives, but I am not brave enough to chance that" 

"So what will you do now?" The goddess asked 

"I will do what they did to my family. Slaughter them" Leilani replied without so much of a hint of hesitation 

"Oh...I see, if you need anything from us, you can always ask" Santomin stated 

"Then I will ask only one thing" The young mortal replied 

"What is it?" 

"When I am done, may I see my family and apologize for not being there for them?" Leilani asked as she turned back to face the Goddess of Wisdom, with the latter seeing tears in her eyes as she asked 

"It will be done. I wish you good luck and good hunting" 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Inside the blood-soaked halls of the former castle of the Great Plains Kingdom now called Krimetta Castle of the Khanate of Cretorum, Khan Cretoran The Great as he was called by his people, was enjoying the wine, women and feast that filled the grand hall that was once filled with splendor and civility that has now been transformed into a scarred and run-down building. His eyes scanned the room, all of his best and bravest warriors who helped him claim this land, a land which he saw was rightfully his. It did not matter to him who these so-called Great Plainers were to him, to him they were nothing more than idiots who relied on things such as "civility" or "cooperation" weak things that his people had thrown away long ago. 

He dressed himself in the hides of slain monsters and beasts that he killed himself that were fashioned into rudimentary pants, boots and a shirt that barely kept his hulking muscles covered, with a long black fur scarf to round out his looks. His teeth were crooked and his skin was pale, and atop his head was a crown of gold that had faded blood covering the jewels.

As he took another swig of his people's ale, much to the cheer of the warriors and women of the hall, a warrior burst through the doors, panicked and bloodied. 

"Great Khan!" The warrior cried as he looked at him

"We are under attack!" He added, causing the elite warriors and women of the hall to stir. 

"Who dares attack my people!?" Khan Cretoran barked as he rose from the throne, pushing aside the women on his lap. 

"I don't know Great Khan but- AAAAAGHHHHH!" As the warrior tried to answer his leader he suddenly felt immense pain and fell to the floor om his knees. 

The Great Khan and the rest watched as the warrior before them moved in erratic motions as he convulsed on the ground, white foam frothing at his mouth as his screams filled the hall, an unsettling sight to all of them, even the Great Khan. 

{!}

Suddenly, the warrior was lifted into the air still screaming but this time the screaming was louder, and as he screamed the sight of his skin peeling off of him was a horrifying display as they saw him deconstruct before them, all the while screaming out for help. The sight of the warrior pointing at the Great Khan as his finger unraveled into nothing was nothing short of chilling. 

And when the bones of the warrior clattered to the floor, everyone was left in horrified silence, only broken by the sounds of some of the elites puking up their meat and ale as they could not stomach the sight. 

"Such sorcery....black magic! Go find who would dare do this to one of us!" Khan Cretoran ordered as he looked at his elite warriors. 

"Yes Great Khan!" His elite warriors replied as they scrambled to their feet. 

{!}

But as soon as they said that, the elite warriors and the women in the hall all began to scream in pain as they all were suspended in the air and exploded into gory chunks of red mist. Their blood splatter decorating the entire hall in their bright crimson color. Khan Cretoran on the other hand was terrified as he saw all of this, his mighty voice that could sway everyone in the khanate reduced to stutters and pleas of denial. 

His eyes then shifted to the main doors leading into the chamber, widening as he saw a woman dressed in the same robes and hood as the Great Plainers he slew in droves. His anger boiling but so was his fear as he summoned up everything to speak. 

"Who are you.....WHO ARE YOU!??!!" He shouted as he held up his war club shakily, his breathing increasing and his focus narrowing on the lone woman at the doorway. 

"I am The First And Last Scholar of Santomin" The woman stated as she smashed her fists together, creating limbs of deep red that hovered above and behind her.

"And I sentence you and the Khanate of Cretorum to death" The woman finished as from deep within the darkness of her hood, a pair of menacing red eyes glowed

A/N: Hello there! And we are back with a mega chapter! I apologize for not posting much due to college and my main series but here we are now! A new chapter and some progression of time! Let me know what you think and if you have questions you can post them all in the comments below! I appreciate answering and interacting with you all so if you want that then go for it! Anyways, the next chapter is being worked on so don't worry and as always Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!