I managed to shake myself out of my daze and duck down just in time for her mana attack to whirl past me, while Tomar jumped to the side, took aim, and shot a water ball at her. This exchange was evidently too fast for her to react, as the ball hit her straight in the stomach, making her bent over in pain and finally fall to the floor as she became unconscious. Meanwhile, I started aiming at Oryn, who threw his hands into the air and got to his knees, while the guards entered the cell after us.

“Hey, what’s going on here!?” Bren yelled.

“I’m sorry!” Oryn said in a panic. “I told her it would be a bad idea! But she... Is she okay...?” he said, looking at her lying there.

I glanced at Tomar, who looked a little worried as well, but he shrugged his shoulders, to signal that he didn’t know what the result of this attack would be. We had never used a script on someone who wasn’t a beast or a Fighter before, and both were much more resilient than a normal person. These water balls were “just” a blunt weapon, but they could be enough to knock a Fighter off their socks, so we truly couldn’t say whether she was okay. Although it was remarkable that she took the hit without falling over backwards.

With Oryn surrendering immediately, I approached Aelene carefully and felt her pulse. “She’s alive at least.”

“Thank the gods...” Oryn said.

“Don’t thank them yet,” I said as I rolled her onto her back and raised her robe, to check her torso. However, it looked fine. I was certainly not a medical expert, but I felt her belly and couldn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. “Huh... not a sign of damage from the outside.”

“Uh, Lilly?” Tomar said while I was examining her.

“Hm?”

“She’s waking up.”

I looked up at her head, and her eyes were indeed opening slowly. They first fell on me, and her eyes grew wide in fear, but when she looked down at her half-exposed state, her expression changed to one of bewilderment. She didn’t dare move, however.

“What... what are you doing!?”

“Sorry about that, I only checked whether you were injured,” I said, as I pulled her robe back down.

As I got back up, she finally shuffled back as much as her chains allowed, while Tomar kept aiming at her.

“Not a scratch...” I said under my breath in wonder.

“I don’t want... to die...” she said as she started crying.

“What...? Aelene, we’re not going to kill you!”

“Do you think I’m stupid!? You’ve always hated me, Lilly! You locked us up! And we know everything! Of course you’re going to kill us eventually!!”

I was baffled by her reaction. We had locked them up, yes, and it might not have been pleasant in here, but we didn’t have much of a choice. We had to do something while figuring everything out, and we had made it clear that we were not going to kill anyone. I figured we’d let those who hadn’t really done anything out in a couple of days, but Aelene was apparently convinced that it was all just a ruse. She was terrified. Oof, now I feel bad.

“We’ll be fine in here,” I said to Bren and Brie, who had positioned themselves by our side, swords in hand.

“Are you sure...?” Bren asked.

“Yes, please wait outside.”

As they left, I sat down on the cold stone floor, and I heard the door close behind me.

“Tomar,” I said, and motioned for him to lower his arm.

Oryn was now lowering his arms as well, as the situation seemed to relax a little bit, although Aelene still looked at me like I was the devil. Lilana had made it clear that she didn’t like her from the start, but there must’ve been some real hate between them if this woman was cowering in fear like this, thinking that Lilana would kill her the first chance she got.

I thought they just didn’t like each other or something... I should’ve asked her what exactly was going on between them.

“Are you okay?” I asked Aelene.

“W-what?” she asked, somewhat confused.

“I’m asking whether you’re okay. You took a pretty heavy hit just now. How do you feel?”

She didn’t respond and just kept staring at me and Tomar. Based on everything I heard, she hadn’t really done anything wrong. The High Priest announced her as the divine messenger after her mana circulation was activated, and following that, she simply played her role, by appearing before the people regularly and showing off her powers a little bit. If I had to guess, all that might’ve even been just the High Priest utilizing her and the situation. I had never intended for her to be scared for her life. Actually, I had hoped we could have a friendly chat some time, about how she seemed to be able to reign in her aura by will alone.

“Aelene, I promise you, we mean you no harm.”

Still no response. I worried this entire experience might’ve traumatized her, and I wasn’t sure what to do, partially because I was lacking information.

“Hey,” I said to Lilana in a whisper, while turning away from them. “Can you give me a few pointers?”

‘I... I don’t understand why she’s so scared... I guess... I was mean to her sometimes, but... I didn’t mean it like this...’

Hm... a misunderstanding? Bullying maybe? At least she seems to feel bad about it.

“You should probably talk to her,” I whispered.

‘I don’t know what I should say...’

“Hm... mind if I give it a try?”

‘Uhm... would you?’

Let’s see...

“Aelene...” I started. “I’m sorry... I didn’t understand what I was doing to you... And I never wanted you to be scared like this. I really mean it, we won’t hurt you.”

At this, her expression finally changed slightly. She still looked scared, but she also eyed me suspiciously, maybe trying to figure out whether she could trust me. She assumed we would kill them eventually, so she probably thought that we were just waiting for a good opportunity. Maybe until after we established ourselves as the true leaders and could get away with a few executions here and there, despite our promises. We didn’t want them to sit here and tell anyone they could the secrets about Omega though, so anything that could be construed as an attempt to pacify them could be seen as a way to buy time. Like that deal I proposed last time...

“Would you tell me something? Was it your idea for you to become the divine messenger?”

“... Uhm... No,” she said.

“It was the High Priest’s idea,” Oryn added. “He saw the potential in her godly aura.”

“Hm. Figures,” I said, and addressed Aelene once more. “In the eyes of the people, you betrayed and exploited them, by claiming to have been sent by the gods. We had to punish you for that, and no... the irony is not lost on me. We also had to make sure our secrets stayed safe, and locking you away for the time being was a simple solution. Honestly, I didn’t think twice about leaving you in here for a couple of days, but I regret this now.”

“You... mean that?” she asked.

“I do. And I believe I have learned enough to know that you never meant anyone any harm.”

“I never wanted this job in the first place...” she said, sniffling.

‘What...? Why would she...?’ Lilana wondered.

When I suddenly stood up, Aelene briefly winced, but relaxed again when I took out the bundle of keys and slowly approached her, while focusing on her chains. I crouched down in front of her, carefully took her hands, and unlocked the cuffs she had worn for four days, before stepping back again.

“You have served your sentence and you’re free to go. If you’d like, we will take you back to the temple with us in a minute.”

“I... I want to go see my parents...”

“Hmhm, okay,” I said and went to open the door. “Bren, Aelene is free to go. Would you escort her outside?”

“Of course, Lilly.”

Aelene got up and walked in the direction of the door on somewhat unsteady legs, but she stopped at my side. “You have changed since your ritual...” she said.

You have no idea.

After briefly turning around and wishing Oryn good luck, she finally left, and I closed the door again. We were alone with Oryn now, and I glanced at Tomar to see how he was doing, but he seemed okay. Not great, but at least not as if he was in a murderous mood.

“Now to you,” I said.

“I don’t suppose I’ll be allowed to go as well...?” he said with a deprecating smile.

“Two cases of cruel treatment... endangerment in at least two cases... and a lack of concern for the wellbeing of yourself and others... You’re dangerous. Do you understand that?”

“I’ve thought about what you said last time... I did cross lines in my pursuit to learn more about the scripture sigils and what they can do. I think this is necessary at times, but... I do want to apologize. Mr. Remore. I’m sorry that I went too far.”

This was somewhat surprising. He still thought that he had done what was necessary, but at least he admitted that it wasn’t necessarily right. Either he actually had an epiphany, or he was trying to convince us that he could be reasonable. Though the apology was kind of bad in either case.

“Why did you do it? Explain it to me,” Tomar said suddenly.

“... Humans... who are able to use the scripture... were by far the biggest discovery in scripture research ever made... I was tasked with examining you and figuring out what you could do, and since you were criminals, I simply went ahead. How could I not?”

“What if we had died?”

“What!? There was no risk for you to die! ... Right? Water sources replenish themselves at a rate of about ten liters per hour, and no matter how much you drain them, they never stop giving water! They always continue to work the next day! I was certain a human water source would be the same!”

“A human water source...?” Tomar growled.

“Yes!” Oryn said. “Take me for example! I have a volume of only two and a half liters unfortunately... but if I drain myself, I fall unconscious for about fifteen minutes, until I regenerate a little! And then I can produce water again!”

Huh. That’s actually pretty interesting...

“You... you did that to yourself...?”

“Of course! I need to research as much as I can! Unfortunately Aelene wasn’t willing to let me examine her in such detail...”

“He did it to himself...” Tomar said under his breath, a bewildered expression on his face. “He really is a lunatic.”

I could practically see how Tomar’s world view shifted. Oryn had been an evil entity in his mind, someone who tortured him and Riala without any sympathy or remorse. But not only had he seen us as criminals, he had also been convinced that we wouldn’t actually get hurt. And to top it off, he “naturally” also did this experiment on himself as soon as he could, to gather more data.

That’s it... that’s why I don’t have an issue talking with Oryn... I understand why he did what he did... And the reason we’re here... is not completely different, is it? Except that we want to use him because we aren’t willing to do the test on our own people...

“I’ll never forgive you for what you did,” Tomar said, “especially to Riala... Maybe I won’t always hate you for it though.”

“I understand,” Oryn said, nodding.

Even more so than before, I was certain that he would agree to my experiment if asked, but I started to wonder if this was right. It felt like taking advantage of someone who... couldn’t help themselves. Like a drug addict who is asked whether they’d like to test a new substance.

“What do you think...?” I asked Tomar. “Should we still...?”

“Ask him, you mean?” he said. “Sure. As long as it’s his decision, why not?”

“Huh? Ask... me something? Decision... Don’t tell me you want my help with testing new scripture sigils!? What are they!? How can I help!?”

This is a little eerie...

“You could die,” I said matter of factly.

“Oh... What... are the odds?” he asked.

“Hard to say. Ten percent? Twenty?”

“Ah! Those odds are pretty good! Please tell me more!”

Correction, this is really eerie.