Chronicles of Espiria Season 2
Episode 7 – Athalia's Army
Written by the Dude
Cecilia walked through the combat training grounds behind the Path of Ascension convent, watching, or more accurately listening to, the progress of the nuns under her care. She paused now and then to correct the form or technique of a student, but overall, she was pleased. This lasted until Susana brought what Cecilia at first considered unfortunate news.
"Mother Cecilia, a royal inspector has arrived."
Cecilia sighed with frustration as she massaged the bridge of her nose. "Please tell me it's not Tamara again. I cannot be the only one who found her very voice grating."
"Tamara's no fun at the Temple of Ascension either."
That was not Susana speaking; Cecilia was surprised at the voice. "Belinda?"
"Hello, Cecilia."
Cecilia was silent a moment as she recovered from the shock. "I was under the impression that you never wished to set foot here again."
"Honestly, I still would rather not be here; I have too many unhappy memories of this place. But I was asked to inspect your...soldiers, as they put it, and assess their progress."
The word "soldier" stuck in her throat like a fetid chunk of pork; these girls were nuns meant to serve the Light, and yet they were being spoken of as mere cogs in a war machine. Cecilia was irritated by the flippant views of the royal inspectors as well, though not quite for the same reasons.
"You know that I will unleash these warriors of Athalia only when I feel that they are ready. To rush their training would be to doom them to an untimely death. I'm sure you've told the other inspectors as much."
"That and more." Belinda confirmed sadly.
"That they assigned you to this task is more evidence of their sinful idiocy. Someone with your strength should not be given bureaucratic duties; you should be on the front lines, pushing the enemy back through the gates of Hell, not here filling out forms."
"I am where I need to be. The Celestials have placed me where I may serve as their ambassador to the King and his armies, freeing the Grand Priest to focus on the war. Besides, it's allowed Lucius to take time off to recuperate from war now and then; I need my bodyguard when I travel, after all."
Lucius was a ways off by the convent, lightheartedly sparring with a pair of initiates.
"It sounds like his skills have improved since I was last with you two." Cecilia observed.
"He has grown stronger." Belinda observed with both pride and sadness. "And the girls under your care seem capable themselves; those two are giving him quite the workout."
"Those two are among five who are ready for their final trial. You are invited to observe the test if you so wish."
"I look forward to it."
They walked through the training grounds for a time in silence.
"May I ask a personal question?" Belinda asked.
"You may."
"You said that it was a sin to keep me away from battle, but what about you? You have not left the convent since this war began."
"Nothing would please me more than to meet the Hypogeans on the battlefield, but as you said, my place is here. For the time being, I am meant to train up the army of Athalia, to prepare them for the war that Athalia herself wages against the children of Annih. These women need me, just as..."
Cecilia trailed off. Belinda noticed a slight tremor in her lip, and might have seen a tear form at her eye had it not been covered by her blindfold.
"I was never there for you, Belinda. Not enough. The missions were always more important to me; I thought they needed my personal hand to succeed. I never made enough time to guide you in Athalia's ways as my teachers did. But I want you to know that though our time was brief, I treasure every moment above all my missions. Perhaps if I treasured our time more then..."
"I still would have left." Belinda said. "What the Path of Ascension was doing was wrong."
"But perhaps you might have left on better terms. Perhaps you would not have fostered the hatred for me that you held on to so long."
Belinda suddenly hugged Cecilia, who was still not used to this sort of contact. Belinda could not explain her affection for Cecilia; Cecilia had done atrocious things, as had most other agents of the Path of Ascension, but Belinda could only pity Cecilia for her moral blindness and pray that her spiritual eyes be opened.
"Let it remain in the past." Belinda answered. "I have released my anger at you; it is time you released your anger at yourself."
"You know it is not in my nature to forgive. But I can learn, and I like to think that I have learned well from you and your time at the convent. These women shall receive the attention and guidance that should have been yours. I will not fail them as I failed you."
Belinda sighed. "I trust you to..."
Belinda was distracted mid thought by the sight of a Mauler attacking a training dummy with uncommon ferocity. The Mauler was dressed in a Path of Ascension robe, though this looked awkward on her half-lion body.
"Is that..."
"A Mauler, yes." Cecilia finished. "A Sphinx, to be precise. Her name is Caliya. She aided me in my search for the source of the demon incursions before the fall of the Barred Gate. As I understand it, she was orphaned by a Hypogean that destroyed her village; their shamans were kind enough to let me take her in."
"And you have been training her as a weapon?" Belinda asked, still trying to comprehend.
"She has taken to the training well." Cecilia responded. "She has a remarkable strength of will, much like someone else I know."
Belinda smirked at the gentle jab, happy to see Cecila joking at all.
"Her heightened senses and reflexes allow her to predict her opponent's actions easily, and her skills with the blades rival my own."
"What of her affinity to the Light?"
Cecilia was more hesitant to answer. "That is...more of a struggle for her. I understand that Sphinx' are generally quite skilled when it comes to their own magic, but in regards to divine magic, Caliya struggles with even the simplest of spells."
"You know what I mean." Belinda said, her tone almost corrective.
Cecilia was silent a moment before she responded. "She says her prayers. She practices her meditation. She performs her acts of contrition. Beyond that, I do not know her heart."
"We cannot know her heart as the Celestials do, but we can tell a tree by its fruit; if Caliya can only cast minor spells, then her devotion to the Light is weak at best. Tell me more about her."
Cecilia related all that she knew of Caliya; from the moment she found the Mauler girl, to the exorcism that saved her life, to the moment that she learned of the fate of the girl's village, to her adoption into the fold of the convent.
"I believe I did the right thing, taking her in rather than letting her be sold as a servant to some minor chieftain, and I am not yet prepared to give up on her, but I do not know what else to do."
Belinda thought for a moment before answering. "It is clear that she is devoted not to the Light, but to vengeance. She is on the same path that you were on after the death of Steven."
Cecilia flinched at the mention of Steven; even after all these years, the memory still pained her.
"His death was tragic, but it has given you a connection to Caliya that no one else will ever have; you understand her pain because you have felt it. Be the one to guide her through it; lead her from the darkness she is trapped in now into the Light."
Cecilia was silent as she considered Belinda's advice. Finally, she nodded and walked toward Caliya.
"Elijah, Lailah, please be with Cecilia." Belinda prayed silently. "Help her to lead Caliya to the Light of Dura. And please touch both their hearts, that they may learn to temper the justice of Athalia with the mercy of Dura."
Caliya was attacking a new training dummy as Cecilia approached, having reduced the first one practically to kindling. Though she had only just started on it, the head was already wobbling from the cuts she had delivered to the neck. As Cecilia stood and watched, Caliya reached out with her front paws and ripped the head the rest of the way off, batting it about like a ball of yarn for a few moments before pushing it aside.
"Impressive." Cecilia said.
"If only your gods were so impressed." Caliya replied as she turned her attention to the dummy's torso.
"One does not earn the favor of the Celestials by combat prowess." Cecilia pointed out as Caliya broke off the dummy's arms.
"I know, I must be chosen for my devotion to the Light." Caliya sighed. "And I have tried to show it with my prayers and actions."
"I fear I have given you insufficient guidance, and for that I must apologize. It has been too long since I was an initiate. Come, sit with me."
Cecilia took a seat on a nearby bench; Caliya lay her feline body next to Cecilia.
"I did not always call this convent home. Long ago, when I was a much younger woman, I lived in a village in the south called Esperance. It was the sort of place that Ranhorn paid little attention to because it was too small and out of the way to send their tax collectors to. Because of this relative isolation from the king, Esperance grew to think of itself as a sovereign island. But despite the presence of a chapel of the Light, the people grew distant from the Light, preferring a sort of 'live and let live' attitude to heresy.
"I, to my shame, fell into the same trap. I cared little for the Light, preferring to think of the teachings of Dura as a tired moral code with some good ideas. All I wanted from life was a good husband and a comfortable home, both of which I found in a fine man named Steven. He was a carpenter by trade, and served faithfully in the chapel when the villagers could be bothered to show up for the priest's sermons. I believe now that it was his faith in the Light, but he was the only one in the village who could look past my blindness and see me as a person instead of a helpless blind girl. He loved me with all his heart, and I loved him in equal measure.
"One day, I woke to find that he was gone. He was not in his shop, nor was he in the forest collecting wood. No one seemed to know where he was. Everyone else concluded that he had grown tired of caring for me and sought a new life elsewhere, but I knew better; he loved me too much to leave me of his own accord. So I started searching for him. It took me a long time, but I did eventually find him. Unfortunately, I found him too late; he had been abducted by a Hypogean cult, who sacrificed him to their patron demon lord."
Caliya gasped and laid a hand on Cecilia's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Mother."
"So were they. I came upon one of their demonic meetings in which they indulged in their carnal lusts to the glory of their Hypogean master; I waited until they collapsed from exhaustion, then took my vengeance on them by slitting their throats."
Cecilia fell silent a moment as she clenched and relaxed her fists.
"My husband's murder was avenged, but it was of little comfort; the deaths of the cultists did not restore Steven to life. I could not return to my home; everything about it was only a painful reminder of him."
Caliya shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Cecilia took notice, but made no indication to the affect as she continued.
"But blessed be Athalia, my activities against the Hypogean cult did not go unnoticed by the Path of Ascension. They took me in when my village grew weary of me. They trained me as a living weapon, that I might serve as the hand of Athalia's justice. They taught me the ways of Dura, and impressed on me the level of importance she placed on justice, as shown by her appointment of Athalia. And this is where I feel I have failed you in my teachings."
Caliya perked up.
"First, I have not emphasized the importance of true devotion to the Light. The outward acts that I have taught you are important to maintain your devotion, but they do not in themselves instill devotion. Your total loyalty and whole heart must be to the Light, to the Celestials that serve it, and to their teachings; anything less, and the divine Light will not acknowledge you. Once you have true devotion to the Light, everything that the Celestials teach will make more sense.
"Second, I have given you little reason to be devoted. My friend Belinda is devoted wholly to the service of the Twins; she loves them because she believes that they loved her first and showed mercy to her. I am devoted to Athalia; I share her commitment to justice and desire only to see her will done. Steven is gone, and he will not return to me; but if I follow the path of Athalia, I can prevent others from sharing Steven's fate. I also find hope in knowing that one day, when my service is complete, my soul will be reunited with him in the Underworld. No more pain. No more separation." Cecilia chuckled a moment. "No more blindness. We will be together for all eternity."
"Do you think my parents are waiting for me in the Underworld?" Caliya asked.
"If they walked in the path that Dura laid out for them, it is a certainty."
Cecilia rested her hand on Caliya's shoulder a moment, then stood and took her leave. Caliya remained seated, contemplating Cecilia's teaching, her thoughts interrupted only by Lucius crashing through the remains of her training dummy. He calmly picked himself up, brushed the dust and wood chips off his armor, then started running back to the convent with a big smile on his face.
"That was a good hit, Sister!" he shouted. "Next point wins!"