After voluntarily stepping down from her Council seat, Lucrecia had never expected to find herself once again wearing her official robes beneath the Originator Tree. Then again, these weren't exactly regular times.
"Timberpond is the latest victim of the Weapon's rampage," a messenger was saying from where she stood a short distance in front of Eola's seat. "The villagers were at least all able to escape this time, but this is now the third village to be destroyed in as many days. If this continues, even the capital will be unable to support all the refugees."
Eola frowned. "Your report is appreciated. Leave the concerns of support to us, however. No one is going to be turned away, we'll do whatever it takes to ensure that everyone is taken care of."
The messenger at least had the dignity to look embarrassed as she nodded before quickly leaving the room. Lucrecia assumed the woman was mostly repeating concerns she'd heard from the city streets rather than, necessarily, her own views. It wouldn't have been at all surprising, considering it was one of the main topics of conversation these days—that and the loss of magic.
"With the news of Timberpond, I believe it's safe to say that the threads line up," Irian said, rising to his feet. "With only the two villages before this, it was unclear if the Weapon was acting randomly or if it had an end goal. Now, our fears look to be all but confirmed—it's on its way here, to the capital."
As much as she didn't want it to be true, Lucrecia knew he was correct. There were other villages that were closer to the second attack than Timberpond, but all of them were in different directions than the capital. Ever since it had first begun its rampage, she—and the rest of the Council—had hoped it would stay put in the general area it had appeared in. Of course, things were never that easy and now the pressure they were all under was only increasing.
"At the very least," Eola said, "we need to look at the positive side of this as well: this will allow us to better predict the path that it will likely be taking. We'll need to order the evacuations of all the villages along the way and come up with solutions for relocating them. With the knowledge that it's coming here, that also means the other villages will be safer."
"Why has Gaia forsaken us?!" another councilman abruptly demanded, rising to his feet. "What sin have we committed that is so great she would unleash a Weapon and cut us off from the Lifestream? Are we not her chosen? This war is the fault of the Humans, she should be striking at them, not us!"
Lucrecia didn't recognize him, indicating that he must have joined sometime more recently during her brief retirement. It was a struggle for her not to roll her eyes at his outburst. He and Raena would have gotten along well together.
"Gaia has not forsaken us," she replied calmly. "We still have access to Materia that continue to function without issue, not to mention that the strongest of us are still able to use magic, if only at a fraction of the normal power." Holding up her hand, she created a small flame the size of a candle above it. Normally, the amount of effort she was exerting would have been able to produce a blaze the size of a wagon wheel, but this was the furthest extent of her powers in the current situation.
"My theory," she continued, "is that the Weapon itself is running off of the power of the Lifestream, diverting its flow from our use and to its own. Given the size of the creature, it would stand to reason that it would require a massive amount of power to function. Unfortunately, there is still a lot we don't know, especially considering we believe this is the first time one has been unleashed."
Irian waited for the other council member to sit before speaking up again. "On that note, have the lore keepers made any progress in untangling the chaotic weave of the ancient archives? Surely there has to be some precedent to this situation, otherwise, we wouldn't have myths and legends of the Weapons to begin with."
"Nothing yet," Eola said with a shake of her head. "Without the help of the Loremaster herself, efforts have been disappointingly slow."
"Where is Raena?" Lucrecia asked. She knew from Vincent that the position of Loremaster had been left vacant after Raena had left. They'd both assumed it was because Eola had been planning to get Lucrecia back into her role as Archmage, but now that she had, the other woman's absence was unusual for multiple reasons. Not that Lucrecia was complaining. Her greatest concern in coming back had been having to listen to Raena rant about how unfair everything was.
Eola shook her head lightly before turning her attention to one of the guards flanking the entrance to the room. "Have you been able to track her down yet?"
"The . . . Loremaster has locked herself in the Archmage's study. Guards stationed outside have overheard comments about a "purifying flame to cleanse the corruption," but other than that, no one has had contact with her in nearly a week."
A purifying flame? And what corruption? Given the timeframe, Raena would have locked herself away before the Weapon had emerged, indicating it was something else entirely. Lucrecia wasn't going to complain if she wanted to stay away, though. More power to her, in fact. She didn't even mind that what technically should have been her study had been occupied—she'd always found the place far too stuffy and preferred to do her research outside or at home.
"Kindly inform our Loremaster that it is her duty to carry out her proper role and that locking herself away like a child is entirely unacceptable," Eola said with a rare huff of annoyance in her voice. "Nothing is more important right now than us learning more about the legends of the Weapons so that we can avert this impending disaster." She turned her gaze onto Lucrecia, and unlike when they'd met in private, this was a look that meant business. "Continue your research into what has happened to our magic and if there is anything that can be done to reverse it. Materia won't be enough on their own, especially considering we don't have all that many and can't make more in our current state."
With that, Eola signaled that the meeting was adjourned and people began slowly trickling out. Lucrecia remained seated, waiting for the room to empty before she got to her feet and walked over to the older woman. "Is there any news from my husband, or even from Myrna?"
"You know I wouldn't keep it from you if there was," Eola chided gently. "Unfortunately, everything on that front remains completely silent. Myrna's weekly report failed to arrive this morning which is the first time since she began her mission. I'm doing my best to convince myself it's because the Weapon is complicating everything, but I fear it's something more. Even so, we have more pressing concerns until we know for sure that something went wrong. The main way for you to help your husband is to do what you do best and find a solution to the issue with the Lifestream."
Lucrecia wanted to do nothing more than to charge off and make sure Vincent was alright, but she knew Eola was correct. Vincent was more than capable of handling himself, but this was the longest they'd been apart since getting married and the lack of any news had her extremely on edge. The Weapon's presence certainly didn't help things either, although he was at least in completely the opposite direction from where it was rampaging through their forests.
"You're right, of course. I'm sorry, I just—"
Eola held up her hand, cutting her off. "There's no need to apologize, were I in your shoes, I would feel exactly the same way. Do your best, and I promise you I'll do everything in my power to find out what's going on in the Human's city."
"Thank you," Lucrecia said, dipping her head. "I'll get to work investigating ways to get our magic back right away. As soon as I learn anything you'll be the first to know." With that, she turned and made her way across the chamber and out of the room.
As much as she didn't want to, Lucrecia took a right instead of a left once she stepped outside. Left would have taken her in the direction of her favorite park—the location where Vincent had proposed to her all those years ago—which was her preferred location for brainstorming solutions to large problems. By going to the right, she was now heading in the direction of her study and, apparently, Raena.
Her reasoning was two-fold. First, there was a book tucked away on the second shelf in the back of the room that discussed the more arcane theories of the origins of magic and the Lifestream that she thought might be particularly helpful for her research. And secondly, she couldn't stop thinking about what the guard had said about the Loremaster. A part of her hoped it was simply the other woman being stubborn and refusing to accept the reality of what had happened, but from what she knew of Raena, that didn't line up. So despite feeling a headache already coming on, she pressed onward.
Once she finally reached her destination, Lucrecia was surprised to find a single guard standing watch outside the door to the study.
"Archmage," the woman said curtly, dipping her head in a nod of respect.
"This door isn't normally guarded . . . Is this because of Raena's refusal to leave?"
"That's correct, Ma'am. We have strict orders to apprehend the Loremaster the moment she tries to leave the premises."
Lucrecia frowned. "How is she eating?"
"As far as we're aware, she isn't," the guard said with a shrug. "We presume she's fasting, and even with the current state of magic, she's likely still capable of creating water."
It obviously wouldn't last forever, but it was surprising to hear that she was that dedicated to not leaving. Taking a step closer, Lucrecia cast a spell to enhance her hearing—a clever modification of Aero—that normally would have made it simple to hear everything inside, but now only made it faintly possible.
". . . not right. It needs to be so much more than merely Firaga."
Her brow rose in shock at the words. More than Firaga? That was madness, the strongest fire spell was the strongest for a reason.
". . . hot enough to burn anything. Capable of purifying their taint from this world."
The words were sickening and showed just how far her old friend had fallen. She let the spell fall, not wanting to listen anymore. Whatever it was Raena was researching was at least a problem for the future. A spell along the lines of what she was talking about was utterly impossible with the current state of magic. Even a basic Fire spell was already too much for nearly any Cetra.
Coming here had been a mistake, after all. "Please inform me the moment she leaves."
"Of course," the guard replied with another dip of her head.
Turning away, Lucrecia did her best to push Reana's words to the back of her mind. She was already under enough pressure without worrying about that headache, and for the time being, she needed to focus on a way to at least strengthen their connection to the Lifestream. There had to be something she could do, the alternative was simply unacceptable. Hopefully, a solution would come to her after some time at the park—if she was going to find one, it would be easiest to do it there.
With our window into the Council no longer there, we instead turn to someone who is, his wife Lucrecia! As hinted in their last chapter together, she's taken Eola up on her request to return to her role on the Council, and not a moment too soon as all hell breaks loose with the Lifestream. Raena doesn't appear to be taking it very well, although it's entirely possible she's not even aware of the role reshuffling since she's locked herself away and is doing... something. Maybe looking into Firaja? Oh well, it's probably nothing too important.
Anyway, we're skipping travel time again, so the next chapter will be Aerith's return to the capital! I hope everyone's looking forward to it!
Next Chapter: Magic