Chapter 14 - Divinities

Saying that divine name aloud drawn the sleepy boy’s attention.

“It’s one of the few tales left about Vel’Moran’s angels. And let’s not even talk about him, there are no books dedicated to his name left,” he commented, flipping through pages, thoughtful.

“Why not?” she asked in return.

“Well… Because Vel’Moran blessed the Dark Lady with boundless power and Divinities, right? That’s why the Empire forbade worshiping him and his angels. Everyone knows that…” the boy explained, shrugging and quickly realizing what he had said. “…or at least everyone who hasn’t lost their memory. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not offended, don’t worry. It’s not your fault that I don’t know anything about Empires, or Dark Ladies, or the gods. At least I know a little more now, thanks to you.” Tristessa placed her hand on Lucahn’s head and stroked him, causing the boy to giggle and his ears to turn red. “Do you have any other stories about Vel’Moran?”

“No… See here? There used to be pages, but they were torn off a long time ago,” he explained, stopping the turning of the pages over a part of the book where only pieces remained stuck to the spine. “Even if I use my gift, it’s not enough to read them.”

“Gift?”

Lucahn focused his gaze on the book and grimaced in pain, as if he was suffering from a severe headache. Suddenly, flickering intermittently like a light bulb about to go out, ghostly versions of the book's pages appeared, filling the missing space perfectly. Amber-colored and phantasms, the pages materialized and disappeared nonstop, paralleling Lucahn's effort as small beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

“What the…?! W-wait, Lucahn!” Tristessa grabbed the boy’s wrist, more shocked by what she was witnessing but equally concerned by the way he was suffering. “Whatever you’re doing, stop!”

“I-I can keep going for a little bit!” he exclaimed, with clear pain crossing through his face. “Read!”

“No! Stop right now!”

She was about to let out a cry for help to get Tiara’s attention, but Lucahn gave up, breaking his focus and simultaneously stopping the supernatural activity in the book.

“I tried. Please don’t tell mommy,” he pleaded, taking a deep breath and pouting to keep from bursting into tears. “That hurt a lot.”

“Calm down, it’s over now,” the girl comforted him, using the back of her right hand to wipe away a few tears that managed to escape and begin to run down his cheeks. “That wasn’t necessary… I’d enjoy anything you read to me, but not if it hurts you, silly.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright. Say, what was that? It seemed like… Wait, was that what your mother mentioned? A Divinity?”

Lucahn nodded, not letting go of Tristessa’s hand for the time it took him to regain his composure.

“The mystic tattooist who tested me said it was called [Divinity of Fragmented Reality]. I can reconstruct events from the past, according to him, but for now I can only do it with small things and for a few seconds.”

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“That’s amazing!” she exclaimed. She helped the boy by holding the brass cup for him to take a sip of water, noticing that his hands were still shaking. “In your stories you mentioned several people with abilities called Divinities, right? People like you.”

“Y-yes. It’s not normal for someone to be born with a Divinity. Mommy and Daddy say I’m lucky… And you know what, Miss Tristessa? I am, because I met you! You’re my second friend, after Mr. Severus! With you here, the house doesn’t feel so empty!”

Tristessa couldn't help but hug that adorable boy, earning a few affectionate laughs from him, and without him seeing the sad expression that formed on her face.

From the photo she had seen in the room on the second floor, she sensed that Lucahn had surely lived his whole life in that house, far from the main city of End-World, and was blissfully ignorant about family secrets. About the absent children, not mentioned but indirectly confirmed. Why the Mercer-Archeos family had been banished, for reasons only Jin and Tiara know.

What a blessing it was, to live in ignorance, oblivious to dark secrets; ignorant about what was outside the house, what Jin and Tiara feared. Tristessa wished she could say the same for her situation, but if there was something she was sure about, was about finding the missing pieces of her memories and answers about her arrival to Nekrom.

“Miss Tristessa? What did you think of my gift?” the boy asked her once they both separated. “Do you think I'll ever be able to read the missing pages?”

“I would like to tell you that I do, but the truth is that I don’t know anything about Divinities.”

“¿No? ¿Don’t you remember at least someone doing something out of the ordinary? I-I mean, something miraculous, something impossible made possible.”

“Like…magic?” she wondered.

“If you’re talking about thaumaturgy, well…not really. I mean, thaumaturgy is unusual, but not so like Divinities,” Lucahn explained. “There’s a book in my room that delves into the topic. It says that unlike the magic that can be summoned through thaumaturgy, Divinities bend the laws of the world in accordance with the will of the Gods. People who are loved by Xiliarra are gifted with [Divinities of Nature] or [Divinities of Life], aligned with the aspect of Order. Those loved by Kantrus are gifted with [Divinities of Power] or [Divinities of Mind], aligned with the aspect of Balance. And those loved by Vel’Moran are gifted with [Divinities of Death] or [Divinities of Dimension], aligned with the aspect of Chaos.”

The boy blushed a little bit and lowered his gaze, embarrassed.

“Mommy won’t admit it, but it seems that Vel’Moran saw something in me to gift me with a Divinity of Dimension. She pretends as if that fact doesn’t exists, but… That’s what the book says.”

Throughout his explanation, Tristessa kept grinning, and could barely resist Lucahn‘s cuteness. She wanted to pat his head very, very much.

“You’re amazing, you know that, right? I can’t even begin to fathom the amount of knowledge you…” The admiration she felt for the boy made an idea pop into Tristessa’s head. An idea that filled her with an interesting mix of excitement and fear. The realization made her take the boy by the shoulders. “Lucahn, do you know if there is a Divinity that can bring someone back from Death?”

The boy frowned, his eyes pointing in a direction other than Tristessa’s expectant face, thoughtful and analyzing his mental repertoire on the subject.

“Perhaps…? I never heard about someone with such a rare Divinity. Why do you ask?”

At last, an opportunity had presented itself. Could she trust Lucahn with her secret? It was one thing to reveal her Resurrection to the two adults, which was a more than risky bet, but it was another thing to have this child who undoubtedly trusted her enough not to inform his mother of his Divinity demonstration. They were only a few years apart in age, there was no one else in that house who could understand her, much less with knowledge of supernatural abilities and miracles.

Tristessa gulped, nervous under Lucahn’s inquisitive and curious gaze. She took a deep breath, and said:

“Perhaps I possess a Divinity. You see… I died in the Sea of Trees, and then I came back to life.”