Disclaimer: I don't own any IPs that might appear in the story
The Council of Thirteen
Book Three: The First Lord
Restitching the Web of Love
Chapter 1: Accepting the Mantle
Beta:
Eriol Hiiragizawa, Celestial mage, Eleventh Lord of the Council of Thirteen and 'son' of Clow Reed teleported into a cavern filled with a hoard of treasure, including piles of coins, racks full of magical artifacts and sealed chests lit only by a handful of torches. Without giving the immeasurable wealth a single glance, the young man with dark blue hair, snow white skin, and large gray eyes underneath rectangular glasses and dressed in blue robes and a large black hat, both sporting yellow decorations in the shape of starbursts, walked unerringly towards the center of the treasure vault. There on an ornate throne was an ancient man with a head of long, bone white hair and an equally long and white beard. Dressed in a set of truly elaborate robes, the man did not acknowledge Eriol's presence instead struggling to simply breathe, so labored were his breaths.
It was only when Eriol stood directly before him did the man open his eyes to greet him.
"Hello Merlin," Eriol greeted the man on the throne.
"Has she passed your trails?" Merlin said in a labored voice.
"Years ago," Eriol replied with a proud smile. "She has had all that time to grow and refine her power."
"Is she ready?" The ancient man asked.
"No one is ever ready," Eriol said with a shake of his head.
Merlin offered a toothless smile and nodded as much as his aged body would allow.
Eriol returned the smile and continued, "She will do well."
Merlin nods and leans back onto his throne before saying, "Then I leave the magical world in her hands. Guide her, Clow."
"I will, old friend." Eriol said. "It is time for you to rest."
Merlin said nothing, just closed his eyes and breathed his last.
"Can you tell us now why you asked us to come to London?" Sakura Li née Kinomoto, a beautiful young woman with short brown hair and emerald green eyes, asked Eriol as she, her husband Syaoran and her two Guardians, her familiars, took seats in his sitting room. "And where is Mizuki-sensei, Ruby-san and Spinel-san?"
"Ruby and Spinel are keeping Kaho company as she does some shopping for some ingredients she needs for dinner tonight," Eriol explained with a pleasant smile. "And why I summoned you was so that I could speak to you privately about something important."
"Are you insinuating that I shouldn't be here?" Syaoran asked, his arms crossed and his large amber eyes narrowed in anger.
Eriol shot Sakura a look and she just offered him a smile even as she put a restraining hand on her husband's shoulder.
"Syaoran is my husband," Sakura told her father's 'brother', actually the other half of Clow Reed that he the legendary magician had reincarnated into but her father treated him as a brother and that was all that mattered. "Anything that you want to tell me, you can tell him as well. Especially if you want to tell Kero-chan and Yue-san as well."
Eriol glanced at the aforementioned animated stuffed animal with yellow-orange fur, big ears, and small, white wings and the silver haired man in his elaborate robes that were Sakura's Guardians before nodding. "Very well."
"So out with it already," Syaoran said, clearly still irritated by her uncle's earlier dismissal of his presence.
"I was just about to," Eriol said, shooting the other man with a disappointed look but nevertheless continued. "The magic of the Council of Thirteen has selected you, Sakura, as the new First Lord within its ranks and I have summoned you here so that you may assume the mantle."
"The Council of Thirteen?" Sakura gasped.
"They are the rulers of all things magical in the world." Syaoran said with a roll of his eyes.
"Sakura knows that brat," Kero-chan finally broke the promise to behave himself like she had asked him to make to tell Syaoran with a glare. One that her husband returned with vigour. "She is just surprised they are approaching her."
"You shouldn't be, Mistress." Yue-san said with a good natured shake of his head, radiating amusement. "You are the most powerful magician alive. It is only fitting that you take a seat among the Thirteen."
"The First Lord when open is offered to the powerful magician alive." Eriol added with a smile.
If she was younger, Sakura would have deflected the honor citing her belief that she was not worthy. However, over the years and everything that she had been through her self-esteem had grown tremendously. That said she still had one issue she needed clarification on.
"Has the previous First Lord passed?"
"Merlin passed on last night," Eriol confirmed. "I called you shortly afterwards."
Sakura nodded.
"Then I accept," Sakura said with conviction. "I hope to live up to the lofty expectations of the office."
"Congratulations Mistress," Yue-san said with a bow and a rare smile.
Syaoran and Kero-chan meanwhile broke off the staring contest they had descended into to offer their congratulations as well.
"Uh, was something supposed to happen?" Sakura asked after a moment. "Do we need to perform some kind of ritual?"
"No need," Eriol said with an amused grin. "You are the First Lord from the moment you accepted the title."
"What? Did you honestly expect some kind of lightshow Sakura?" Kero-chan asked with a chuckle. "Not all magic is as flashy as Clow's. He liked his dramatics and his magic shows. You can't measure all magic by his standard. Or yours."
"No, I didn't expect a lightshow." Sakura said with a shake of her head. "But I expected to at least feel something for accepting such an esteemed position but I didn't feel any different when I did."
"That is understandable," Eriol said with a nod. "The magic of the Compact of the Thirteen has been so suffused into the fabric of the world that its Lords are chosen by its magic essentially from birth. With the exception of the Thirteenth and their hereditary passing of power from generation to generation, a Lord's power as such is built into their very fates and thus already there's upon their ascension. There is no need for anything special, just an acceptance, a recognition of their mantle."
Sakura nodded in understanding, almost missing as Eriol added quietly under his breath. "Most of the time at least."
"And what if someone selected by that magic rejects the mantle? Does the power it gave them get stripped from them?" Syaoran asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't think that's possible." Sakura hypothesized. "If magic is truly suffused into the very fabric of the world, I'm pretty sure it would not select and empower someone who would choose to do so at least at the moment when they are set to assume their mantle. Such deep magic would be able to manipulate or at least read the fates of those it selects."
"Well reasoned Sakura." Eriol praised. "You are correct."
"Thank you Eriol," Sakura says with a smile. "But I would like some kind of ceremony regardless."
"Why?" Eriol asked, even as he sported a knowing grin.
"It is a momentous event and deserves something to mark it. Plus, I am sure Tomoyo would love to help organize such and to record it for posterity."
"And why would we involve Tomoyo in this at all?" Syaoran said with a tired sigh. "She's a mundane. We've involved her in the magical world too much as is."
Anger bubbled in Sakura's heart at that. This was hardly the first time that Syaoran had tried to distance her from Tomoyo and like each time it made her furious. But as always, she hid her anger as best as she was able.
"Because she is my best friend." Sakura said, shooting her husband a firm look. "She has recorded my entire magical career since childhood. It is only right for her to record this milestone too."
"Fine," Syaoran conceded but nevertheless radiated displeasure.
"Thank you for understanding, Syaoran." Sakura said, offering her husband a grateful smile even as she smothered her displeasure at his desire to excise Tomoyo out of her life.
Just a day later, the ceremony to mark Sakura's ascension to the First Lord of the Council of Thirteen was about to begin inside the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey. The site was selected by Tomoyo who claimed that the aesthetic of the place fitted perfectly with the 'crowning of the first of the magical lords' with the skeleton of the abbey's church invoking 'at once the grandeur of a cathedral and ancient mystery'.
Sakura herself did not understand exactly what Tomoyo meant by that but trusted in her best friend when it came to such things.
It was why she had allowed herself to be dressed in an elaborate costume that consisted of a dress that reminded her of nothing less than a medieval queen, that included an elaborate train and a stylized pointed hat. All in various shades of purple accented by the odd dash of pink and other colors.
"This is ridiculous," Sayoran complained from next to her as they waited for Tomoyo's signal to begin processing down the red carpet that the heiress had laid out on the grass down the centre of the ruined church.
"Maybe a little," Sakura agreed. "But this is a very special occasion. Why not mark it appropriately."
Sayoran frowned and seemed ready to reply but Kero-chan, in this true form as a huge, tawny maneless lion, with enormous, angelic, white wings and a breastplate and helmet of metal, studded with a large, red, precious stone, spoke before he could say a word.
"Sakura is right, brat." The beastial Guardian of the Clow Cards said with a chuckle. "Just think of it as a cosplay event. Besides, you can't deny my Mistress looks good in that dress."
Sakura blushed at that praise even as Yue nodded his agreement.
"The dress becomes you Sakura," the other Guardian of the Clow, with his angelic wings out on full display, said with a rare smile for his Mistress.
"Thank you, Yue-san, Kero-chan." Sakura said, just managing to suppress her blush.
"You do look good," Sayoran allowed with a frown. "Tomoyo always did have a knack for designing outfits that made you look particularly attractive."
Sakura blinked. Her husband was complimenting her but at the same time also insinuating that she wasn't attractive outside of the times when Tomoyo dressed her up? That wasn't her imagination, right? Or was she just completely misreading what he was trying to say?
Before she could ask, the music that was the signal for the ceremony to begin began to play and she dismissed the thought entirely as she allowed Sayoran to escort her down the red carpet, Kero-chan and Yue-san following behind her as the faithful Guardians that they were.
Sitting high up in the ruins of the church, a single pure white spider with a single large fully functional human eyeball for an abdomen watched as the First Lord of the Council of Thirteen reached the dias set up at the end of the red carpet and separating from her escorts, stepped forward alone to be crowned by the Eleventh Lord as he was flanked by his own Guardians all whilst music supplied by an entire orchestra played in the background.
It was a truly extravagant affair as befit the ceremony marking the ascension of this world's Sorceress Supreme but the abominable spider paid it little attention. Instead, what caught its eyes, both its arachnid ones and the unnatural human one, was the convoluted web of feelings that connected the First Lord, her husband and the beauty with grayish-violet hair that had organized the event. A web that the spider's alien master was just itching to pluck to see just what interesting reactions it would elicit.
So this is the first chapter of my first attempt at a 'book' where romance is the primary focus. I've got feedback that it is pretty 'meh' and I have to agree. Romance isn't my forte. However, I am going to go for it anyway. I won't improve if I don't try. Besides, as much as I want to improve my writing and appreciate feedback, ultimately my greatest motive for writing is because I want to give expression to my plot bunnies. So this is what this is. If it isn't good then too bad. I think it is good enough to publish and that's really the only opinion that matters. Nobody is obliged to read it of course, but for those that do I hope you share my opinion.
Well, till the next chapter adieu!