Conquest Of The Fallen: Dark Dominions-Chapter 288: Sacrament of Bodies

"HELLO ISRAFEL." Her voice was a running river.

Distant. Echoed. Pure. Spelling.

’Have I heard this before?’ Rafel thought. ’—I must have. I could never forget voice like hers.

It was a gentle music to listen to her talk. When she called his name, it sounded like water pouring in a mug. Rafel didn’t discern what part of the kingdom her accent came from. Perhaps, it was from all the parts. The Elder faerie in front of him: this glorious woman; she sounded Rocasian and Tyrene, Rhobiil and Corynthian.

And the furthest languages of the [Nine Realms] he could think of.

The massive perv in him almost begged her call his name again.

"How are you feeling, son of the Abyss? It takes a while for the eyes to adjust, for those not from here. You may feel a bit of fatigue and nausea. But," she purred, "it’ll pass."

Rafel was still hooked on her first words to him.

"You know my name?"

The woman glowed again with another dazzling smile. The [Nova-star] spinning above her cottage home gave her an ecclesiastical radiance. Her form shone like a [Gold Saint]. "How can I not, m’lord?"

Did she just call me her Lord?

Rafel’s pervert subconscious was doing jumping jacks. Can she still say that with her mouth full?

The Elder continued: "I am the Eyes of the Seely, the Guardian of [Etheria]. Lady of light. The Oracle of [Thrall]... and as you might’ve heard, the fairest of them all."

Rafel was still hooked on wondering what her flesh might taste like. ’I mean if it looks this good then—’

Her rhymes were pretty good. Her voice moreso.

What other amazing things can she do with those hot lips?

Ahem—

The Elder faerie cleared her throat sharply. Rafel knew if it were the other [flora] sprite, she would have made some comment about him staring into her dress’s dip by now. The Elder just regarded him in something of respect. Rafel still wondered at this. "You called me your Lord. What do you mean? I would certainly remember meeting a chick like you. I mean, you’re made from literal gold. And while I do admit to having a pretty confident past with the gals, you don’t rack up a memory.

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No offense," he added quickly.

"None taken," her riparian soprano hit the air, "I shall explain. I call you m’lord because I know you. I have lived with you for a little while—at least a part of me." The luminous elder spirit took a step closer, bathing him with her gorgeous aura and orchard fragrance. ". . .back then, I was called the Autumn Angel."

"Wait! WHAT!"

Rafel had been waiting for the canon to drop and now that it did, he couldn’t believe it.

"Aelaria? AELARIA TÖRMUND?!"

The Elder fairie rendered him such a sweet smile he knew he was right. Even before the next second when she said, "Yes m’lord. It is I."

Rafel stood awestruck before the shining sprite. He was short of words. If she was Aelaria Törmund, it meant she was also Anna Bellisma Craven.

"My Immortal Huntress..." Rafel breathed.

Looking on the Elder’s pure moon eyes, it all made sense. Annabelle too had a gaze stark as a winter’s scape. Iris and pupils all immaculate white. Staring at her when she was looking at you was spooky.

But since Emberfall, Rafel had come across other wytch-eyed Immortals with the same pale orbs for eyes, like the [High Magus], linguist and Historian, Damnameneus. So the very first time the Elder had stepped into the cottage’s spotlight, Rafel thought nothing of her wintry gaze.

Until now.

Whilst his mouth hung open, he dished orders to his system. "Peitho: open latest memory of her we have in the Archives."

[DING!]

[Host’s Request Confirmed!]

[Accessing Archives now. . .]

Peitho resumed the rapid info in one-millionth of a second. Of course she took her duty to Israfel very seriously.

[Memory retracted from Left Psyche Hemisphere]

[Aged 19 months, 07 days, 10 hours, 15 minutes]

[Ding!]

[MEMORY ENABLED ¢ Showing now!]

Rafel felt something of a refreshing spring flood his mind. He felt winded for a bit. But then before his amber eyes the images of that day he first met the [Autumn Angel] in the woods flashed. It was him, Aya, and a few hiking friends—about a year ago in the Corynthian Academy for Witches, during [Land Nav.] class. The memory was crystal clear:

One wiry boy had asked,

"A-Are you a god, ma’am?"

"What is a god?" Aelaria Törmund swept her pale eyes off Rafel—in this memory, smiling when the [Third Company] created space for her in their middle to meander, "a deity? An avatar? Energy? Or perhaps, a combination of all those things. If so, then yes darlings, I am one.

"I stand before you as Keeper of the Gardens, the Crossroads Maiden. The [Rose], the Herb, and the Blackthorn. The Huntress of the forest. Lady of the woods and the fair fields. I stand before you; the Mistress of Summer. The Autumn angel, Aelaria Törmund."

Peitho skipped the memory to the relevant parts.

"ARE YOU ANNABELLE?" Rafel’s voice was low and moist. He clarified, "My Anna?"

’Yes. I remember asking this.’ Rafel in the present agreed as the memory speedily went ahead:

Aelaria lowered her winter-set eyes a moment and rubbed her ashen lips together. Her reply that fall day Rafel remembered too—

"Yes, I am. And I am not.

"The one you know as Anna Bellisima, maiden of the Drowned god and the Bone Huntress was lost in the fire. She died, and her bones were taken up and buried by pilgrim monks in passing. But in death, the souls of the children she had saved those many years alone in the dark woods sought her out amidst the flames and bonded to her. They died also.

"However, their sacrifice made her into something between worlds. A sprite. An offering to [Kratio]. A world walker. A god.

"So, yes, darling, I am Anna Bellisima. Your Anna. But I cannot be with you... for I am also Bernadette Portineri. Hope Hillsong. Tulane Fearst. Xifeng Li. Greer Umbrasyl. Yvonne of Rochemont. And many others. I am hundreds of souls.

"I am a thousand and one lives."

Aelaria’s voice melded into the joint speech of her [avatars] and her pale eyes shined out brightly. "I am Spirit of the Ancient Ones and Charge of the Lost Children. I am Seer and Sovereign..."

[DING!]

[Archives Completed!]

As Peitho withdrew the vision of that memory from Rafel’s purview, his adamant mind fixated on how that even after meeting Aelaria in the forest, it was all the students at the Academy talked about for weeks. The Autumn Angel. Everyone in the [Land Nav.] Class that day was awed as this beautiful mystery woman known as Aelaria Törmund burst in sparkles of light, vanishing before their dilated, inspired sights.

In the present Rafel was hooked on one particular sentence of hers:

’I am hundreds of souls. A thousand and one lives.’

A THOUSAND AND ONE LIVES.

He thought of all the people she had called. All the people she was. And still, his Anna. First, Immortal. Second, a literal Archangel. Now, the Seely Elder, the fairest of them all. He looked upon her again, going much slower this time. His panther eyes cold and warm at once. His gaze climbed her luminous form: her long creamy legs, her expanding hips and bust; she was fair as a Nigerian [Ogbanjé].

A river child.

He said the only thing that came to his lips adoring the solar [spirit girl].

"She’s so pure... a sacrament." He paused, thinking for a sec, then adding, "a sacrament of bodies."

Aelaria Törmund was the definition of a celestial [Legion].

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A union of souls.

With the countless lifetimes in her [longevity rune] she deserved to hold [Sss Rank] Immortal. Just like that, the words came pouring out of Rafel. He put only inches between them and asked, "speaking of, can I call you Aelaria? Are you still Aelaria? Can I touch you?"

"Yes. And yes, Apollyon." She smiled. "But I see in your eyes you’ve loved Annabelle more. Perhaps for tonight, in the abundant [Etheria] present here, I can manifest more of thy Huntress." Rafel saw her brighten a bit and her flowing gold hair shimmer in and out of colors, and then finally land on cheese yellow. When the Elder spoke again, her riparian voice was distinctly Anna’s; the heavy voweling of the [Drowned god] people. She did a twirl in her hot, blonde waves.

"You like, m’lord?"

Rafel nodded. "You equipped a [Soul Fragment]."

"Mhmm. Just for you. Everything Anna was to you, everything she remembered," moon eyes sparkled on Rafel’s, "... everything you didn’t get the chance to do."

Rafel took her soft hand. "Anna?"

"Yes, Your Eminence."

"It really is you!" Rafel couldn’t help his goofy grin.

She lady-dipped elegantly before him.

"It is an honor, Sir."

Rafel grabbed her hand and started for the cute cabin on the moor hill, the one with the [nova star] above it. "Thank fuck. I was getting tired of sprites. Come on, Anna, let’s go see if we can make a mess of the Elder’s cottage. I have so many things to tell you. First off, I avenged you. How would you like to thank me for that?" He looked back at Anna mid-step.

She was blushing. "You could show me how."

Her pale fingers laced through his. He smiled along with her.

"I have some ideas."

Annabelle did a full laugh. "Are we flirting? Is this flirting?" They were up to the door. Rafel turned to regard her and she leaped into his arms. "I’ve been wanting to do that for like..."

"Two years?" Rafel volunteered. She chortled, him surprising her with the ease with which he caught her. Rafel kicked the door in. "It’s time I see what all the fuss about the SEELY COURT is."