Ch. 37 – Secrets Revealed?!

"Psst! Maven..." Henna's voice resounded in Maven's head in a conspiratorial whisper.

Thinking it was unusual for Henna to send her a secret communication when they could all speak to each other, Maven followed along.

"Why the secrecy?"

"That organization Fae was talking about... Fae was clearly brainwashed. Through dark magic or some other power, I have no idea - but she'd clearly been warped in some way."

"You won't hear any argument from me... No human should ever act like her. She's a million times worse than cult members from my previous life!"

Maven involuntary shivered, remembering the expansive list of odd and cringey behavior Fae had exhibited over the last month.

"It's a lot easier to twist someone to your purpose when you have a blank slate, so they locked her past away. They filled her mind with the skills, thoughts, and ideals of their choosing. Unnecessary emotions were likely pruned as well. Spies don't need feelings like compassion, guilt, or love. I'm not sure how she behaved before meeting you, but I'll bet it was a twisted caricature of what she once was."

"But isn't she cured already? She said her memories returned when I cast magic on her."

"Brainwashing someone isn't such a simple thing. You can accomplish it with dark magic, but it'd require a whole mess of seals and bindings. Are we sure you lifted them all?"

"You think her mind is still warped from whatever they did to her?"

"It's possible... You agreed she's still acting like deviant. You weren't even trying to cure her before, maybe there's still some leftover bindings or something. Whatever was affecting her before, it must have been powerful…. Ordinarily, brainwashing is done with dark magic, but I should be able to sense any and all dark magic. Yet, I couldn't feel a thing when we first met her. Can't feel anything even now..."

"Hmmm... So what should I do?"

"Just hit her with some more magic!" Henna said, switching to verbal communication. "Really focus on purifying Fae's heart and soul. Bring her mind back into balance! Fix the pervert…."

Looking shocked at being called a pervert, Fae turned confused puppy dog eyes toward Maven - as if begging her to say it wasn't so.

Maven, for her part, was unable to meet Fae's eyes, unwilling to deny it. Kannon and Shayna just looked confused, having been left completely out of the loop.

Still refusing to meet Fae's gaze, Maven just extended one hand in the priestess' direction and gathered her magic. She filled her hand with every scrap of power she could muster, reflecting her overwhelming desire to turn Fae into a normal person again. Not only did she invest this spell with an inconceivable amount of pure magic, but she even channeled some of her unique brand of divinity into the spell.

Fae just stared worriedly at Maven's glowing right hand, concerned about whatever her goddess had planned for her. However, she had no thoughts about resisting or protesting. Not against the intentions of her dearest goddess. Kannon and Shayna just sat, dumbstruck, on the bed as Maven crafted her most powerful purification spell to date. An overwhelmingly powerful, yet astoundingly gentle, aura permeated the room - soothing all who it touched. All this, before the spell was even cast.

Maven shoved as much magic into the framework of the spell as she could and compressed it to the utmost limit, like an archer pulling back the string of their bow. Then, the arrow launched - the magic flew. The iridescent orb flew directly into Fae's heart.

The mature, white-haired priestess' body then began to glow brightly. White light emerged from within the depths of her body, pushing its' way out of every pore. The pristine alabaster light, however, carried a hint of corruption with it as it exited Fae's body. A disturbing, dark purple mist twined Fae's body as the purification magic did its' job. That unnerving aura was the embodiment of the power warping Fae's mind.

Something about that deep, dark magic felt wrong. Whatever had been holding Fae in its' grip, it was incredibly alien and foreign. As if it didn't belong in this world, or any other. Kannon and Henna both recoiled from it, their divine instincts screaming at them - warning them to run away. Far, far away. Whoever had done this to Fae, they were a threat. A threat of unprecedented scale and power.

Whatever they were, however they had implanted into Fae, it was enough to scare even a goddess to death.