Amdirlain's PoV - Qil Tris - Osaphis

They returned to Osaphis, and Tinu sighed as she absorbed the city's music. "It's so beautiful, even the sad parts call out to me."

"What's beautiful?" Tulne questioned.

Tinu paused and looked at Amdirlain expectantly.

"What? I've never explained True Song or Resonance to Tulne. That fun is all yours."

"But..."

Amdirlain caught the edge of a fervent sermon in a community hall and frowned at the tone. "There is a meeting I want to disrupt, I will be back shortly."

"I thought you were going to wait to talk to specialists."

"That I was, but I'm miffed about someone ordering people to risk their lives delving. I can stop things from getting out of hand and let them know I'll provide details."

The walls of the multi-level community hall featured posters for dance classes, various styles of hand-to-hand combat training, and meditation sessions for those seeking inner calm. Among the listed activities, a private discussion group club had reserved the upper hall for tonight, following a dance class. The wooden flooring across the ground floor had scuff marks in its polish from claw tips and mats being dragged about. Besides floor wax, there was a faint edge of the sweating students' scents in the air. A sound barrier at the top of the stairs stopped the ongoing ceremony from being audible to mundane hearing, but not to her. Amdirlain frowned at the tension it created among the audience.

In her azure-furred form, Amdirlain stopped just short of the locked door. Her senses showed her the three hundred-odd people who packed the room, filling the rows of chairs before the speaking dais with leftovers standing along the back. The male Priest who spoke had a rosette tabby coat; the distinct browns and black patterns stood out from his blue vestments. The content of his preaching had unsettled some among the gathering. Just as upon meeting An'krin, when she'd known the server's life, the lives of these faithful were known to her. Not in their entirety but their strengths and weaknesses, and the tipping points in their lives washed across her as easily as listening to atoms dancing in space.

"To show the sincerity of your belief, you must delve."

The repetition of his words earned him a mental nudge from her, and she extended a mental invitation.

At his acceptance, he found himself in a mind palace that presented a mountain slope he was familiar with inside the trial. The landscape was littered with dead monsters, and phantasms of his team moved among them; clothing blood-stained from the enemies and their own healed wounds.

"High Priest Qurar. You are very passionate about speaking of me."

"Lady Am. Is it truly you?"

Argh, titles give me a headache. I want to head that off, even if they expect it.

"Yes, though I'd prefer people just referring to me as Am or Amdirlain. This is the aftermath of earning your first Prestige Class. I thought it might help validate who I am."

"Yes, I didn't tell anyone when the achievement showed," Qurar murmured.

Amdirlain perched on a shattered boulder. "To answer some questions: Your body is still in the community hall. I'm talking in your mind, and this conversation should be over in a moment to those around you."

She interrupted him as he knelt, patting a spot on the boulder beside her. A boulder amid the broken terrain became a bench. She patted the bench more firmly. "I find people kneeling upsetting. I've not helped any of you for homage, and I don't need it."

Qurar quickly sat. "I hope I've served you well. You've been so quiet compared to Lady Sarah and Master Kadaklan."

"They told me they'd communicated my situation, but gained limited traction in stemming the confusion."

"Their priests told us to be careful of our choices." His mental voice was rich with wary tension.

"But?"

"It seemed to many as if they were trying to manipulate us."

"To clear things up. Sarah is my wife, and Kadaklan is married to my little sister, and I'd trust him above many others. Because I've been unaware of my surroundings for centuries, they tried to give general advice, but now there are a few things to sort out. Among them are what your generations of your family have seen as my teachings."

He tensed nervously. "How did we fail you?"

She patted his shoulder reassuringly. "There was no failure, just your family placed too much emphasis on the trials. I understand why your family came to their beliefs, and my situation prevented earlier correction. Let's move forward. The trials were my gift to Qil Tris to strengthen those who choose to adopt that lifestyle, among other reasons, but they're not mandatory. You can let them know you've spoken with me directly. Tell them you've been told the faithful on Qil Tris will hear more about my tenets soon."

Qurar stiffened in confusion. "You make it sound like you're not telling them yourself."

"The delivery of those messages is still to be decided since Qil Tris has changed much while I was away. It might be me, Jal'krin, or perhaps others who will communicate my tenets. I'll ensure people know my genuine messages."

"What should I tell them for now?"

"Life is about choices and growth, refining one's Soul. I like to seek ways to improve the realm. If people don't feel that my purpose connects with their lives, we should help them find paths that bring them happiness, as long as that doesn't harm innocents. I'll help those who wish to work with me, but I won't seek prayers or faith."

"You don't care about the faithful?"

Amdirlain raised an eyebrow. "That's not what I said. If I didn't care, I'd keep letting you push people into risking their lives. However, another's expectations don't determine my existence. My nature revolves around transformation, creation, life, and the Soul. The faithful connect to me through the facets that hold the most meaning for them, and I'll send word out soon to clarify them. Don't force them to delve. If someone prays to me and follows my tenets, I will help them."

To the crowd, Qurar's gaze had widened briefly.

"To show the sincerity of your belief, you must delve. That is what I've told you so often, yet I was wrong."

A ripple of surprise washed through the crowd.

"Delving is a choice, and for those worshipping Am. It's a way to gain strength, yet it's not the only way to live, nor to serve her. I've heard from her tonight as I began this sermon."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd, and he gave them a few moments before he raised his hands.

"I'm not the first or the only one contacted. Among other matters, she revealed that my focus had been too narrow. The trials are a gift she gave to strengthen those who desired that way of life, not something we all must do. She also told me her full name is Amdirlain, and we'll hear more of her tenets soon, yet she told me some of her nature, which I'll share with you."

Amdirlain hopped back to the apartment where Tulne was busy sending messages on her trace unit, while Tinu looked on.

"Your fingers are moving frantically."

"So far, I've organised six companions to meet tomorrow mid-afternoon," Tulne reported as she hit send on another message. "I've got a reservation at a private meeting room in the city centre."

"What did you tell them?"

"That their specialty in communication was required to spread important news among those inclined to listen."

"Very vague."

"The vagueness will make it clear it's news concerning you; persecution in many cities means we practise it even here in Osaphis. We've had hunters from other cities staking out people here to find targets."

In Earth's history, oppression strengthened the faith of many, yet it doesn't make the persecution any more palatable.

"Intelligence gathering."

"Jal'krin's work for you almost got him killed many times, among those outraged by the existence of your music."

"It keeps attention on my name. Surprisingly, it isn't banned in more places."

"You know your sets are banned in over half of all cities?"

Now I want to rub it in their noses and play various songs through all the receiver units.

"It's banned in many places, but that causes a high demand for the original sets and covers in the underground."

Tulne paused, one hand lifted from her trace unit. "You're aware of that?"

"Banned materials are the most appealing to some people." Amdirlain nodded to the unit. "How many people are you planning to invite?"

"While I've had confirmations from six. I'd like to get at least twenty to come along, to cover the various groups."

"Let's cut it off at twenty," Amdirlain said.

The tip of Tulne's tail twitched nervously. "I hope I can get them all to attend. Some don't see eye to eye with me, and they might reject the invite."

"That makes little sense," Tinu protested.

Tulne sighed regretfully. "We've been on the opposite side of too many arguments. They won't take my word for it, so having them present to experience the aura themselves is better. They'll also speak in terms that like-minded individuals will understand. It's more important to get Am's messages to those who need to hear them than for me to be friends with everyone involved."

"I'm not good at dealing with large groups outside of performances. How about I not show myself for this? I assume you didn't tell them I'd be present."

"No, I told them we needed to discuss the news broadcast and decide on handling enquiries from any caster station or territorial group."

Amdirlain set a crystal sphere on a mahogany polished holder in the middle of the table. "Attune to that, and when you use it, it'll create a brief distraction, and activate my aura. Then you have a truth to share with them."

"That I received an object to share with them?"

This may count as sneaky.

"It will give them a sense of my Domain, so it should be a pleasant experience all on its own."

Tinu grinned. "It's so nice listening to the souls floating in the Wellspring, and the happiness of the arriving petitioners."

"What's the difference?" Tulne asked.

"Mother rescued a bunch of souls who weren't her worshippers but shared commonalities that were lingering at Judgement, while the petitioners are the faithful. The unaligned souls aren't less for it, but they don't regain the same awareness because the Domain isn't fully empowering their consciousnesses."

Tulne tilted her head. "They're insensible?"

"Dreaming pleasant dreams. Listening to their melodies as they serenely drift is delightful, with how they hum with potential. The Domain helps them make sense of their lives so they have seeds of wisdom for their next lives."

"I'd like to see that if I may."

"I'll give you a tour if Mother's busy. Speaking of seeing places, would you give me a city tour in the morning?" Tinu asked.

"Us. I'd like to go for a stroll myself," Amdirlain added.

"I can give you a morning tour and we can have lunch near the lake, so we're close to the meeting site. While we could teleport, I typically try to avoid drawing attention."

"The spatial detectors in the city?" Amdirlain brought up an illusion of the grid for Tinu.

"Yes, since I'm a known Wizard, coming and going to my residence is one thing, but doing that around high-priced shops draws questions. Since you don't have an identity chit, avoiding those would be for the best."

"I've never had a fancy lunch before. None of us bother eating, since we're normally just among celestials," Tinu offered.

The evening and morning were a series of firsts for Tinu. She popped out to clubs, tried drinks, and flirted with mixed success while escorted by Amdirlain at a distance. Breakfast and tours of parks, tourist attractions, and the waterfront were more things off her list. When the meeting approached, she headed back to the apartment alone to try her hand on public transport—another first.

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

The large conference room Tulne booked was on the top floor of a high-rise overlooking the lake on the city's western edge. Sunlight through the tinted hexagon panes glinted off crystal flecks within the grey granite table that claimed the room's centre. Its top was a lacquer seal mosaic that was a regional map of the first chain of the trials. Thirty black hide seats with a reptilian scale motif surrounded the table, spaced out to leave plenty of room for guests to swing their chairs and tails freely.

A wet bar occupied the room's left wall, its countertop and eight stools crafted from warm reddish brown wood. A tapestry of a woodland scene covered the right wall.

Tulne took a spot opposite the door at the oval table, the afternoon sun directly behind her. She settled in place with a magi-tech tablet, checking over arcane notes unrelated to the meeting. When the door swung open again, the plush carpet rasped beneath the boot heels of a cream Catfolk with a single gold loop at the base of each ear. Her attire was an off-white body suit that clung to her curves, yet didn't quite blend with her natural colouration. A single chain of gold set with diamonds glimmered on her left wrist. She frowned at the spot Tulne had taken and then sat directly opposite, ignoring the door behind her. Amdirlain knew her to be Eri'slani, the primary speaker for those who viewed sensuality as the most critical element in their worship of Amdirlain.

An uncomfortable silence hovered in the room for long minutes before the door swung open for the next arrival. More followed in quick succession. The companions were all elegantly groomed and dressed in expensive and exquisite outfits, suiting their colourations. As the other companions entered the room, they spread out among the seats, balancing their choice against those who arrived earlier and Tulne's position. Though there were more seats than they had guests, a trio ended up sitting directly opposite Tulne. Blending with the wall, Amdirlain took in the looks exchanged by most around the table as each weighed up the other attendees.

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"Are you waiting for an invitation to get started?" Eri'slani asked flatly.

"I'd hardly expect one from you, Eri'slani." Tulne coughed and set her stylus aside. "We're still short two attendees. Given yesterday's news and their lateness, security concerns suggest we vacate this location."

"Who?"

"Quenya and Gwenith."

Fey'ra, an amber-furred Catfolk who sat at the midpoint of the table, frowned. "They've got the furthest to travel, and neither are wizards capable of teleporting."

"Or they sold us out," Eri'slani grumbled.

"There have been arrests in their home city this morning; they might have gotten swept up." The black maned Xenia, shifted uncomfortably.

Tulne looked over in surprise. "When?"

Icey dread coiled within Amdirlain's chest, and memories of a cresting wavefront clawed at her.

People might always die, but I won't let them down.

"It got no media coverage. I overheard travellers talking when I caught my shuttle."

Tulne sent messages to the pair, and Amdirlain traced the signals and found the tracer units sitting in a locked drawer in a highly secure law enforcement building. Hundreds of people filled the cells beneath it.

"Can you visualise the companions that are missing?" Amdirlain projected to Tulne alone.

With the mental image from Tulne's mind, Amdirlain snatched them from the packed cells and deposited them behind vacant seats. They wore prison jumpsuits already stripped of their finer attire and jewellery. She sent the other prisoners to a trial haven and dispatched angels to help them, advising Tulne of what she'd done.

A raised hand from Tulne forestalled the dramas of Quenya's and Gwenith's arrival. "We're glad you're safe. I've been informed that those captured with you are also safe. If you'd all take a seat, determining how to communicate our Lady's tenets is our goal today."

Quenya slapped the table. "You called this meeting about tenets, but we've got an immediately threatening situation; let's deal with them rounding people up."

"Tell her I'll protect those being arrested and issue a deterrent." Amdirlain projected to Tulne. "It'll be something public and noisy, and I'll soon broadcast it out like we did with the Matriarch."

"We won't be. Am is upon Qil Tris and will care for her people and deter further action. The mountain wasn't the act of an impostor, but her dealing with an Eldritch infection. She rescued you and advised me to leave it in her hands, and we'll see the show on the receiver in this room shortly. Would you like a drink, or shall we get started?"

A murmur of agreement came from the group.

As Tulne touched the crystal, Amdirlain's Soul Haven swept over those gathered, and the group inhaled in pleased awe. Sensations she caught from some of their minds clarified that transformation for them covered certain intimate physical states; the scent of arousal filled the room.

"Am would like you to focus on the parts that called to you the strongest and explain them. You need to clarify that it's not the complete picture, but a facet that they can choose if it appeals." Tulne lifted her hand from the crystal, and Amdirlain cut off the Power. With its purpose fulfilled, she caused the crystal to dissolve into dust.

The earlier tension had left Eri'slani's frame, and she cleared her throat huskily. "Touched indeed."

By taking this approach, I think I'm digging the hole deeper. Well, it's time to put on a show.

The northern city's legislative body had drafted a hastily written bill, and the Pride speakers were hotly debating amendments. Amdirlain appeared in the centre of their assembly hall and flared her Charisma, silencing the room. The long oval chamber had eight tiers of seating, with each speaker having their own space to handle whatever business they needed to present before the chamber.

A speaker in the third tier had been at a chart on a stand. On it, curved lines showed their researchers' estimates of the growth of the three faiths among Qil Tris's population. The estimates were woefully wrong. Amdirlain alone had four times the estimated number of worshippers.

As they recovered, Amdirlain took over the chamber's cameras and broadcast to every receiver unit in the system. To avoid distractions, she blocked their trace units from receiving calls and sealed the doors.

"I'll not bow to a deity." The growled words came from a black furred speaker sitting on a dais at the end of the main floor.

"Who asked you to bow? I have a hard enough time with titles. Let's have a teaching moment about that last word. Deities are entities whose energy comes from their worshippers; they'll fade away without that energy. Thus, taking out their worshippers is effective when you're upset with a deity. Your people already knew this, and it's why you killed off large chunks of your population when the last Gods' War occurred. You didn't know that since they were local gods, they would have stayed dead if you had killed their avatars during any of the various gods' wars. Yet you're out of luck if a Deity has believers on other worlds."

I wonder how many will figure out that their ancestors killed millions of people who they didn't need to.

"So you claim."

Amdirlain perched on the table in the middle of the assembly hall's speaking floor. "Would you care to guess at some difference between the three of us and them?"

"I'm not playing your game."

My enemies haven't fared so well. This guy doesn't know I can read his mind. What secrets does he have?

Amdirlain smiled teasingly. "It's a much better idea to keep this playful and friendly. Though your belief that this is a game is part of the problem, you haven't properly considered the impact of your legislation on real people. It's just a move to draw my attention and inconvenience my side. One issue with that game framework is that games have rules to allow a particular balance between players. You have set goals to achieve, and on your turn, the rules allow specific moves and dictate consequences. Some games allow more moves than others, but most board games expect that the moves you announce will run to completion on your turn. A real estate game will let you collect rent from a player who lands on a square you control. Is this a square you control?"

She thumped the table hard enough to bounce it, yet the surface didn't fracture.

"I'm the alpha speaker for this assembly." The protest came from the black furred individual near the table.

Amdirlain delved into his mind to grab snippets and learned of more prisoners. Filtering through her Oath links, she also sent them to safety along with their fellow captives.

"Good to know, but I honestly don't care for unearned titles. Your daddy brought you the right to that seat with party contributions. Let's get back to the real estate game. Its fictional rules don't allow you to gank the landlord, so rent is paid or the other player suffers consequences. In real life, things happen. Take that God killer ritual team, whom you gave orders to target me the moment I showed myself. You want to give them time to complete the ritual. Should I continue to monologue like a villain and make it easier?"

The speaker's fur bristled as he straightened and adjusted his dark blue suit. "You frame yourself correctly."

"You're an idiot. You don't know how long a ritual takes to set up and cast. They're still refining the ritual circle and haven't started etching it. Manually, that process can take weeks or months for a complex circle. Ask yourself: What happens if you place the bait before setting the trap?"

She patted the table, and the head of the ritual team appeared beside her.

He held a transparent plastic sheet with an elaborate magic circle drawn on it. Fear flared through his scent, and the sheet reverberated in his hand like a plastic tarp smacked by a tornado. His grey fur stood on end as he stared at her, and Amdirlain thoroughly concealed his bladder's release. "Fuck!"

Amdirlain kept her laughter contained.

"I agree this situation is a bit fucked up." Amdirlain waved about the chamber. "I'm not going into all the city's privacy laws they broke to identify the worshippers they arrested this morning. Hacking someone's magi-tech systems is supposed to be against the regulations of this territory, and you've been doing it for years. Do the residents know you're constantly tracing all their locations with the local identity chits?"

The male shook his head vigorously.

"Why don't you introduce yourself, Professor?"

He started to stammer, and hearing his themes, Amdirlain softly activated Soul Haven, restricting it to the room to avoid traffic accidents. The golden glow filled the chamber, its touch evaporated the tension from him and some among those assembled. However, some legislative members fled, and others held positions only by sheer determination and grit.

"It's okay, everything is fine. I know I seem scary, but I've no desire to hurt you or anyone else today. I'd much rather avoid it, but that requires me to seem scary right now unless I want to show lethal capabilities later." Amdirlain reassured his mind alone.

"I'm Professor Brightclaw of Northern Spike University." Professor Brightclaw breathed, suddenly awestruck. "Yesterday, I received orders to establish the largest ritual circle the university could manage."

She tapped the plastic sheet he still clutched. "I take it that's the schematic. What is the purpose of the circle?"

"To act as an amplification for a long-range assault. It's to strike the entity who appeared on the glacier, which means you," Professor Brightclaw explained.

Amdirlain patted his arm. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Amdirlain marked a D-minus in the right corner of the sheet. "It's more like an A+ with extra credit for mortals, but it would have been a waste of time against me. Though it would be a bigger surge than the tickle that melted the glacier, it wouldn't be enough to put a hair out of place. Let's explore a few subjects: the Eldritch, your old deities, and how we're different."

The speaker started to protest, and Amdirlain fixed her gaze on him, freezing him like a mouse before a snake.

An illusion showed the Primordial flames striking her on the glacier and continued into the repeatedly broadcast images. However, the mountain burned away slowly, revealing a cross-section with each exposed layer. The audience saw the ant's nest of tunnels that the Eldritch had created deep into the planet. "It's different when you have more information. Someone might want to ask a mining engineer about the difficulty in creating tunnels at those depths."

"What cut those tunnels?" asked Professor Brghtclaw.

"Nothing, it's just an illusion, a lie!" yelled a speaker from the back tier.

They have some balls on them, but lucky for them, castration isn't in my wheelhouse.

"Eldritch beings carved them. They are horrors that can drive mortals mad, which are fortunately rare. They normally exist outside the realm's rules; those whom they don't kill, they drive mad or wear their skins. This happened to me from an Eldritch's touch on my first visit." She adjusted the illusion so only those in the chamber could see how the contact warped and twisted her limbs. Over the caster system, it was a blurred image. Three speakers were barfing over the carpet beside them as she severed her torso, and the warped flesh incinerated.

"That wasn't fun. It's why Jal'krin's biography mentioned me being comatose for days after my first big public performance. The night after that performance, I'd run afoul of an Eldritch. Afterwards, I left an illusion behind at his place while meeting with Kadaklan. He regrew not only my legs but the concept of having lower limbs that the Eldritch had corrupted."

A chorus of questions came from those not scratching fruitlessly at the sealed doors, but Amdirlain ignored their calls.

"No, I don't answer to any of you, and none of those questions were interesting. I answered the professor's question about the tunnels because he deserves courtesy. The rest of you were setting laws to attack your own people and seize assets from other prides under this excuse. I've sent the chambers' records out to everyone you were targeting in this farce. Good luck covering that up. The next subject is deities. Your deities were local gods known only on this planet, and most had only regional followings. Small fish in a smaller pond."

An illusion appeared hovering overhead of a kid's clamshell pool, with large koi crowding each other. Then, Catfolk spear-fishing killed everyone, leaving a cloud of blood behind.

"After they gained mantles from the faithful on Qil Tris, Sarah and Kadaklan made themselves known to mortals on other worlds."

The clamshell shrank to a few centimetres across, and she covered the chamber's ceiling in an illusion of a churning ocean. Amdirlain pointed to the small water marble by her shoulder, and then up.

"Take this as an example of scale as far as sources of faith go. The small bead represents the faith of the population of this world, while the ocean image on the ceiling is the faith provided by the populated worlds in one galaxy within this realm. There are more galaxies in the realm than you can see in your night sky. Sarah's and Kadaklan's servants are helping people improve their lives on many worlds."

Amdirlain paused and looked over those in the chamber, letting that news sink in.

"When people here started worshipping me, I was busy transforming myself back into a Primordial, so I'm only known by people on seven worlds. Yet, primordials can sustain themselves and give Mana out rather than requiring faith to exist. While I will protect those who look to me, their faith isn't what sustains me."

"You're just like them. Mortals are just playthings to you." The speaker interjected. He started to rise from his seat, only to freeze when Amdirlain locked gazes.

He's looking for me to make a newspaper to smack his nose.

Amdirlain scornfully rolled her eyes. "On my first visit here, I risked my existence saving this world from Eldritch, saving it for people I didn't know. Why? Because the Eldritch are a threat to every living being. With that in mind, do you also think I'd let you murder people who pray to me and not act? That I'd let you imprison them before you'd even made their choice of faith illegal?"

"Now your threats start."

"I don't bother with threats, though occasionally I give advance notice. Do you think only the people in this chamber are hearing this? You've fucked up, done your dash; this advance notice is for others. Everyone is going to know you as the ones who forced this confrontation. We're going live to every receiver on and off planet. I even turned millions on for this show."

Amdirlain paused and waved at a caster.

"Sorry to those whom I woke up. I'm trying to keep it fit for at least teenage viewing. I'm such a diva, right? Hopefully, you see this as important enough."

She jabbed a finger at the alpha speaker.

"Call one of the company directors living on an outer planet who pads your secret accounts and see what they say. Or someone on the outer planets could call you. I'll wait."

The speaker's fingers dug hard into the arm of his chair. Amdirlain caused the receiver on his side desk to buzz forcefully. He turned it off without checking the display, so she didn't need to let a call through to it.

"I'm not playing your game."

"Since you don't want to play, let's stick with some facts and questions. I created the trials that could hold this planet thousands of times over as a gesture of kindness to strangers who had suffered from the spite of predatory gods. How far do you think I would go to aid the faithful of my wife and a friend who is married to my little sister? How much further for those who put their faith in me when I couldn't respond properly?"

"You only claim to have created the trials."

"Creating thousands of stars and systems is more of a challenge now." Amdirlain laughed. "If you go to war with our faithful, we'll take action to save them. As I protected this world from the Eldritch, I'll defend our faithful from you."

"Again, you're threatening us!"

Amdirlain tweaked the access pillars worldwide and had them set a Power within each faithful.

"I said defend. Economic sanctions are a defence. Do you think you control the trials, proud Alpha Speaker?" The screens around the chamber shifted to show the local access plinths and the queues of adventurers trying to use them. "Do any of you?"

She paused, looked around the chambers. "Here is this city's sentence for your attempted actions against our worshippers and innocents alike. Today, this city is losing eight thousand four hundred and forty-seven plinths to match the number of people you illegally detained, many of whom weren't worshippers. I'll double the number per person if there are any further arrests. Also, the exit point from your trial will no longer deliver people to a central location, so good luck collecting taxes on the materials."

She let the concerned mutters and whispered conversation swell before she cut them off with a simple press of Charisma.

"The trials are mine, and as profiteers, you will follow my rules. You don't have to worship us, but if you attack those who choose to, then don't expect access to my trials. Does anyone have a question they don't think will offend me?"

An elderly male rasped from the back row of representatives. "Will the graves return?"

The memory of the sickening foulness in those tunnels drew a shudder of disgust from Amdirlain. "Never, not even if you don't use your trials. Those things were abominations. I blocked the curse from gathering energy and won't undo that, so the curse, despite being fed so long, will wither and die. The universities have probably recorded the appearance of astral pools. A pool appears wherever the curse tries to reach, allowing souls to migrate to the afterlife without passing within reach of the curse."

"What other changes have you made?"

Amdirlain held up a hand. "That is the last question I'll answer. The last change I made was so you and others can't imprison the faithful. I've made it so they can go to any trial at will from any world, no longer needing a pillar or pendant. I've established other safeguards for their health and liberty, though they won't help them escape what I see as a crime. Among them are murder, theft, and most felonies currently listed in the city's legal code. No matter the lies you tell yourself, this punishment will remain enforced or worsen until I'm satisfied."

I bet they'll see their adventurers move to other trials and maybe even transfer their residence permanently.

The speaker growled. "You're the liar. Your appearance is a lie, and no one knows your real name."

He's got a high Willpower, but a low survival instinct when he's afraid. He sees public humiliation as a fate worse than death. Since I can't do subtle, let's go for broke.

She twirled a strand of azure hair around a finger. "The form of Am is familiar and puts people at ease, yet even the form I had in my farewell speech has changed since my last metamorphosis. I normally dislike any title or formality, so Am is fine. My little sister calls me Ammie." Amdirlain changed into her natural elven form. The constellations and nebulas in her gaze radiated light throughout the chamber, reaching through every active caster and receiver. She set her will into the following words. "Yet my name is Amdirlain. I'm the Lady of Creation, the Titan's Daughter, and Songbird. Do you think yourself important, speaker? I'll show you when the realm was born. Let's see how much of that truth you can bear."

The words squished the speaker painfully against the wood of his high-backed chair, while the Professor had stayed steady. Her infused will had added a tonal modulation in her name, disrupting its usefulness to Message spells, among other purposes.

A window of time shimmered around them, and the audience experienced a fleeting glimpse of the realm's birth. The first minute only caressed most of their minds; from within, her music sang through the observers' bones. The light from the Titan's forge and the energy streaming from the other realm were the only illumination in the vast emptiness that caused some to shudder.

She gently patted Professor Brightclaw's shoulder, his grey fur restored to the tortoiseshell of his youth, and his aches and pains vanished. "Brave fellow. I'd teach you more about ritual circles, but those you serve would send you into dangerous waters. Many primordials would snuff you and your team out for trying to follow the orders they gave you."

"None of the bets proposed came close." Gideon chimed brightly in her mind. "You made Nicholaus cry again."

The glow that had radiated from her gaze lingered when she vanished, and the screens showed half the pillars throughout the city fade away. Reeling under the impact of the music, the Alpha Speaker dropped to the ground, sobbing.

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