"You're telling me that I'm normal?" Ellie let out a sigh of relief. "You should have said that sooner, Mom. You made me worry for no reason."
"I didn't have the chance to do so before you started hurting yourself."
"Yeah. I should really stop doing that."
"It will take some time. Divinity is a drug no mere mortal can resist. Even the divine spirits yearn for it." Alea said, releasing her hug. "It took me years just to remember who I was after I received Heavenly Immortal Blood's gift to turn you back to normal."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I became one of his priests, but to keep my sanity. I'd never consumed his blood. I worked for him during the time I was at Moldrivore Academy, establishing a minor branch and building a network for him among the nobility. Once, he deemed I was worthy of a reward. I asked him to turn you back to normal."
Ellie stayed quiet, her long ears peaking up slightly.
"He absorbed you before injecting you back inside my womb, along with some of his blood, for nine months. The blood stayed within me to heal you back to a normal child. The time passed by in bliss. All I could remember was how happy I was, but I just couldn't remember the reason why I was happy." Alea lowered her voice as if she was embarrassed and didn't want her daughter to hear about this topic. "But I remember waking up to the sound of your cry. I remember how I had shed true tears of joy and not that delusional, blissful dream."
'Is this fate?' Ellie thought. Her past life and her mother's goal were quite similar in essence. 'Right. I should tell Mom about the trial and what happens inside of it.'
But before Ellie could take charge in the conversation, Alea didn't allow her to.
"Thumir Thunderspine, the current Clan Leader of Thunderspine, was a member under me."
'So that's how they are connected.'
"Then, the reason why Clan Thunderspine is cutting ties with House Gennan is because of its leader's relationship with you?" Ellie wasn't buying such a dumb reason, so she probed Alea for an answer.
Alea shook her head. "No, even back then, Thumir was never fond of me. Secondly, not all members of Clan Thunderspine are part of the cult. There are likely to be many clan members unhappy with this decision. But I know that at least one of them is part of the cult."
"Then why?" Ellie asked, her voice sharp. She was getting impatient.
Her brown furrowed as she felt a sharp finger pressed against her back.
"It's you the cult wanted. You. The first child born from Heavenly Immortal Blood that wasn't a clone, but rather a half-human. They want to see how that happens to create an army that is capable of rivaling the Church of Three's"
"To create a clone, you need to sacrifice humans for the blood. Reducing the already low number of manpower on the cult's side. Even discouraging half-bred bastards that are in hiding from the church from joining. Sure, the clone isn't weak per se. But it isn't all-powerful, either. Humans' power manifests in different ways, in different Characters, each has a distinctive effect. There are those who can counter Thief of the Divine Light."
'So it was that. They want to experiment on me to create more like me. No, not just that. Mother isn't safe, either. They would try to replicate the process, using her as some sort of breeding cattle until they figure out how to do it on a grand scale to fill up their ranks with half-humans. But how? Is it because the Royal Houses are of that Saintress' descendants?'
Ellie's thoughts ran against her twirling emotions. Fear. Anger. Hatred. Worry. Her head ached as she kept thinking about the worst scenario that could happen to her and her mother before trying even harder to come up with a way out of such a predicament.
Such an inhumane scheme. All for the sake of what? Power? Control?
But then, an undescribable sense of sleepiness overwhelmed Ellie, causing her to let out a loud yawn.
'Why am I this tired?'
"I feel better now. Thank you, Mom. Thank you for reassuring me." Ellie patted Alea's hand. "We should get some sleep. There is still a lot I want to talk to you about."
"I'm glad to hear that. And you are right. It's already late. We should go to sleep."
Ellie fixed her sleeping bags before tugging herself in. They locked eyes with each other one more time.
"Good night, Mom."
"Good night, Dear."
Ellie's eyelids closed as sleep reminded her of her Promise. Meanwhile, Alea put away the herb carefully.
***
Ellie opened her eyes slowly. Snow droplets danced with the gentle breeze; they fell down from the dark sky above, kissing her face gently, tickling her with cold sensations.
Ellie immediately got up, lunging her back forward, and she lifted herself out of the snow's embrace.
"FUCK! FUCK! WHY AM I BACK HERE!" Ellie yelled, her throat threatened to be torn apart from the strain. She slammed both fists into the ground. *Thud*
"The nightmare isn't over yet. It's not over yet." She got on her feet and started running. The last time she had awoken in this forsaken world, a patch of hungry cannibals was the first to greet her. She didn't know if this would be the case the second time, but she wasn't going to wait for them to close in on her.
"Where am I? I don't know where I am. It's all snow and dark and cold." Ellie panted. The failing snow had started to pick up speed, and heavy snow crystals hindered her path.
"Someone please save me," Ellie yelled. The raging storm swallowed her pleas while hailing winds blew past her ears in swift motions, making a sound that was almost like laughter.
But then in the mix of mocking laughter, Ellie could hear a faint voice calling out to her, full of concern.
"Father, calm down. It's me. I'm here to help you."
Caught off guard, her feet tangled beneath her, sending her face-first into the snow. But before the cold could swallow her, she pushed herself up, hands digging into the frost to lift her head.
"It's you. It's you," Ellie said, unable to hide her happiness. To have an ally in this forsaken world was the greatest gift one could ask for. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you."
"I'm happy to see you, too, Father. But quickly, follow me." Snow split open as the wind rushed through, leaving a narrow path in its wake. Ellie quickly got up, she ran along the opened path, her vision was finally cleared to make out figures lurking in the veil of snow.
'Not again.' Ellie screamed in the back of her head. She swung her arms, using the momentum to throw herself forward. Her heart beats loudly in her chest. But something else caught her attention. She was fast. Faster than she had ever been. She felt light. Not just in the physical sense.
Before, she had to rely on consuming that damn blood, risking her sanity every time she felt her past life's body was about to break down, to continue her escape from dangerous beasts. The only thing stopping her from being consumed by divine madness was Ray.
Now, she was in her original body, one that was well-fed and had undergone a bit of training, although she wasn't that fond of exercises, but it was still better than nothing. Not only that, as the wooden boy--her past life's son had said, she was a rare case where both the Character and the Avatar were one and the same, causing her body to adjust to manifest her Character into the material plane, shredding her weight considerably after completing the Trial. And, all the years of stuffing herself with food to feel at ease living at Windshire Fort were gone just like that.
For the first time, she felt good being inside her own skin. She could hear the sound of her heart, still as loud as before but no longer beating wildly. Instead, there was rhythm. Beats. Songs. It was encouraging her to push forward, to go beyond her limit, pumping her muscles full of her own blood as if telling her that this was all her doing, and not thanks to some accursed blood.
The cold was still assaulting her skin, but it had stopped bothering her the moment sweat started to bead on her forehead before trailing down her cheeks. Ellie did notice her body had become much more resilient toward the temperature of both extremes, but this was different. When she said her body had become more resilient toward temperature, she meant her body was, to an extent, numb to the sensation; she could feel it somewhat, but it was no different from mosquito bites--annoying, but you can still ignore them.
Meanwhile, this feeling she was having was true heat. She could feel her hair becoming oily, and she could feel sweat coating her skin. And she loved every second of it.
At first, it was pain. Honest, biting pain with no divine blood to chase it away. It clawed at her joints and threatened to fold her knees.
But then came the shift. All her thoughts—worry, shame, regret—they were still there, but quieter. Her mind floated above the body that kept running. The world blurred as if slowed down to let her pass. The rhythm of her heartbeat became music, and every stride wrote its own verse. Her body no longer screamed—it sang. She had never felt something like this. For the first time, Ellie felt... whole.
Her eyes dilated as she focused on following behind the wind that was clearing the path for her. She didn't know how long or how far she had been running for. However, she did notice the snow had become heavier and was falling with great speed, making her unable to make out anything beyond the path as it was opened up.
But then, the wind whispered in her ears.
"Father. We're about to reach a ravine. Jump when I tell you to."
"Okay." Ellie gave a short reply. The moment her feet felt the ground tilt at a weird angle, while her mind was so caught up in the rush, her body reacted on its own, planting both feet on the unstable ground before leaping off the ravine, sending patches of snow down with her.
The wind twirled, going high up before doing a full circle. It hit her back, giving her the necessary boost to make it across the gap between the ravines. There was nothing standing between her and the ground for thousands of miles.
"I'm flying. I'm really flying." Ellie yelled in excitement. She laughed as she looked down at her feet. Calling it flying was not accurate, but Ellie wanted to call it that way.
Her laughter suddenly came to a halt as a sharp pain coursed through her chest.
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