For a long while, nothing was said. Elyonari sat where she had collapsed. Mintherenia sat beside her. When Elyonari finally spoke, her voice was hoarse.
"Tell me all of it. I don't want pieces anymore."
Mintherenia nodded slowly.
"Very well."
She folded her legs beneath herself. Her hands rested on her lap.
"Your mother Arthrea was born a Verdarite. Such beings are powerful, yes. But that power comes at a cost. The stronger the existence, the harder it is for it to divide itself. Life resists being copied when it is already too complete."
"So she couldn't have children."
"She tried for millennia. Tens of thousands of elven men were chosen for strength, vitality, lineage and affinity. Some loved her. Some feared her. Some never even knew what they were to her. She took them all into her bed and when they failed, she killed them."
A long silence followed.
"All she wanted was a child. At first, it was grief. Then desperation. Then obsession. And obsession, when fed by power, becomes something else. She came to me and begged me to help her conceive. She asked me to make a child for her."
"And you agreed."
"I did because I believed she meant it in the way most beings do. I believed she sought balance. I did not expect ingenuity born of madness."
Elyonari laughed weakly. "That's a nice way to say it."
"When I agreed, the agreement became law. I cannot revoke my own consent once it is given. Not without unraveling parts of myself."
Elyonari turned her head toward her.
"So when she showed you her plan…"
"I could not refuse."
Mintherenia opened her eyes.
"She brought me the corpses of her parents. She had preserved them like subjects. She must have planned that for centuries. To create life, one needs two things; a vessel and a soul. Artificial souls require immense fuel. When I made the first Elves, I used a lot of energy that it took me millennia to recover. So, I couldn't risk using it again, especially after what the world is now."
"So you used the city."
"A city in Northern Mintheris, yes. She chose it herself. She calculated the population density and their power levels. She told me where to act."
"And you destroyed it."
"Yes. I collapsed the land beneath it. I made an earthquake precise enough to annihilate without scattering the souls. Hundreds of thousands died in moments. Their souls were pulled free before they could disperse."
Elyonari closed her eyes.
"I refined them. I stripped their identity, memory, individuality, everything that made them people. What remained was raw soul-mass enough to forge two artificial souls of extraordinary density. Your mother then used her Verdarite authority and her authority as the Split of Life to bind those souls into the corpses."
Elyonari's breath hitched.
"The souls were new so the bodies adapted. Growth accelerated backwards until you two became infants. That is how you and your brother were born."
"Why didn't you stop her?"
"Because I could not. I had agreed. And when I realized what she had done, it was already finished."
"So you just walked away."
"No. There was a cost. I revoked her title as the Split of Life. Also, I took you."
Elyonari frowned faintly.
"I removed you from her reach and brought you to the Ancient Temple of Mintherenia. You were to be raised away from her influence."
Elyonari let out a hollow chuckle.
"Yeah. I remember how that ended. Arthrea destroyed the Temple. Every priest, every priestess, every attendant, she annihilated them to break the cost of your agreement. My brother stayed with her but he took everything. The expectations. The experiments. The… cruelty. I got lucky."
"Yes. You did."
Elyonari stared at her own hands.
"Why was she like that? Even after she had us, she wasn't a mother. She didn't care. She just observed us like test subjects."
Mintherenia hesitated.
"Some beings do not desire children to love them. They desire them to validate their existence."
Elyonari laughed weakly, shaking her head.
"I'm made from my grandmother's corpse. That's… that's what I am. I don't even know how I'm supposed to feel about that."
Mintherenia reached out, hesitated, then rested her hand lightly on Elyonari's shoulder.
"You are not responsible for the means of your creation."
"Then why? Why make me the High Priestess after all that?"
"The High Priestess before you made a final wish."
Elyonari's eyes narrowed.
"She wished for the cycle of High Priestesses being born only to die within two centuries to end. She wished for the burden to stop, even if it required change."
"And you used me."
"Yes."
Elyonari shouted. She pushed herself upright. Her tears were streaming freely now.
"I didn't want it! I never wanted to be a High Priestess! I never asked to be worshipped! I hate it! I hate being treated like a Deity when I didn't choose any of this! That's why I left Mintheris! I didn't run because I was ungrateful. I ran because I was suffocating from all of it!"
When Elyonari finally ran out of breath, shoulders shaking, Mintherenia spoke softly.
"I know. And I am sorry. There is one thing I can still do for you. I can revoke your title as High Priestess of Mintherenia. The—"
"No."
The word left Elyonari's mouth instantly. Her eyes were tired and rimmed red but there was clarity there now.
"It's a burden and I know that. I've always known that and I accepted it a long time ago. With me, the cycle ends. I'm a Divine Being. I won't die in two centuries like the others. No more High Priestesses will be born just to wither and be replaced. No more children will be raised knowing their death is scheduled. If someone has to carry that weight, it might as well be me."
"Do you hate me?"
"No."
The answer came without hesitation.
"You've protected the Elves since the Second Epoch Cycle. You have shielded them from things that would've wiped them out. You always treated the Elves as your own creation and my mother tricked you. That's not your fault. Everything happened the way it had to. If it didn't, I wouldn't exist."
For a being worshipped as an absolute being, Mintherenia's apology was painfully small.
"I am sorry."
A green orb condensed out of the air and drifted gently toward Elyonari. Elyonari caught it instinctively. The moment her fingers closed around it, she felt a nostalgic feeling.
"What is this?"
"It contains every memory of your life."
"Why would you give me that?"
"You have a beloved, do you not?"
Elyonari said nothing.
"That is answer enough. Sharing this with him will ease you. Pain does not lessen when carried alone. It only deepens."
"That's impossible. I'm supposed to be the serene one."
Mintherenia reached out and flicked her forehead. The contact was light but the sting was not.
"Ow!"
"The most serene ones are the ones hiding the most. He cares about you. You already know his past life on another planet, no less, and he is better for it. Is it truly fair that he bares his scars while you keep yours locked away?"
Elyonari looked down at the orb again.
"He is the key to your Verdarite genes awakening fully. Trust binds life. Just as Vastarael trusts you, you must trust him."
"I will but he's in another realm."
"I am the World Tree. That is hardly an obstacle. When you are done, bring my son-in-law to me."
"Wait—what?"
The realm vanished in an instant Elyonari stumbled and found herself back in the empty chamber. The Mystic Circle had faded. The air was still. Celadille was gone.
For a while, everything was silent.
"Elyonari?"
Her blood ran cold. Vastarael stood in the doorway. He looked around the chamber, then back at her, utterly bewildered.
"Why... how am I here?"
Elyonari's eyes widened in pure, unfiltered horror.
"What... happened to you?!"