Origin

The day was special. There were garlands, decorations, foods everywhere. People were singing. And for the first time, the kids had a skip in their steps while doing chores. There was laughter, joy, and booze permeating the air.

It was Leia's Rite. A celebration we held every third eclipse.

"It's not a wedding, ya know." I told my friend, the manager, and now the priestess. Or at least a junior one.

"This is bigger than a wedding. We have nine of those every week. Anywho we're done." My reflection in the mirror with the dress covering all my muscles and face paled out by layers of powder was one I wasn't expecting. "See you can look pretty if you try."

Dressing up was not my cup of tea, I was planning on showing up in my usual work clothes. But the priestess wouldn't have it.

"You don't look enthused." The priest looked back at me while shaking his hands.

"I don't?" I thought I had a smile on my face. Something had changed about me somewhere along the lines. I woke up worked, learnt, trained, and went back to bed. For five years without questioning it. Those weren't bad days, still the happiest that I'd lived.

But I felt as if I hadn't plateaued.

Over the past few years, the weight of my words had started to weigh on me. Becoming their hero wasn't simple. With the absence of the Apostle in effect, their belief was so overbearing that my weak shoulders struggled to bear it. 

Strong as I was, I had to get stronger. Yet I couldn't.

I looked around and there were familiar faces. People from the town, kids, and the list went on. Many were laughing, some were crying, some were hopeful, some had their hands joint in prayer. Without the person who connected these people to the ascendant, they prayed desperately into the confines of their own mind.

How was I supposed to become their strength?

"She really set the bar too high." I looked at the priest.

"But we still have to meet it, right? For the people."

Seven years ago I was sitting in a bar while three men talked about war. As it turned out Glut couldn't avoid going and much like those who came before him, he was never heard from again. But that story didn't reach the expected tragic end. His family was still here and safe thanks to the Apostle, Gwan and her daughter stood in this ceremony holding each others' hands tightly with smiles on their faces.

She tied so many fates together.

"Today! We become closer to divinity." The priest raised the wine in his hand.

I looked down at the cup handed to me and raised it. 

"Closer". As soon as the word left my mouth, the world turned white. The sound of joy was replaced with a low rumbling hum and a fog setting in. I looked around and saw a flat plane of white. The sky was pitch black and devoid of stars. But the white plane below disruptively lit up the scene.

I was surrounded by emptiness and a faint smell of lavender.

The clothes I dressed up with were gone my hair was down loose.

'Where am I?' My goosebumps started to raise as if alerting me of something. It was a weird bout of breathlessness. Intuitively I knew this was some sort of pressure but I couldn't put a finger on what exactly it was. I felt a force pushing me down. But also it felt as if I was surrounded by bubbles.

A low feminine voice echoed. "Welcome to my realm, mortal. It's been twenty-four years since someone has been here." 

I turned around and faced what looked like a human but also looked like she could fit hundreds of them within her volume. I had never seen a real angel before, but I could tell that she wasn't one.

"Hello. I'm Leia, your personal Ascendant companion."

"Huh?"

"Oh yeah, she wouldn't understand that reference still." The being mumbled.

Bright golden eyes. Light pink skin. Endlessly flowing hair that glowed white on one side and every colour of the rainbow on the other. She had an iridescent aura around her and a white dress that covered the ground like a blanket. The first thing I saw were her breasts the size of hills. She was lying down on one side as her curves spilt over.

"You are quite the lecher for a girl."

"I- I didn't mean anything lustful," Mind empty.

"I'm sure, honey. Unfortunately, we don't have all the time in the world so I want to start off with a little story." She gave me a bright smile. "Do you know the previous Apostle's name?"

"I" I thought for a moment… "Don't?" We always just called her Miss Apostle.

"It's Lia. Let me tell you a little something about her. Just like you got brought to the shrine after your time in piracy, Lia was a Con Artist. She used to tell people's future using a crystal ball. And in doing so had fooled a lot of dumbasses. But one day she got too greedy and tried to fool a member of my congregation and got caught. Even in the moment of helplessness she never gave up and climbed up to her reputation. Funny thing is, I never picked her to be the Apostle, and never gave her clairvoyance. But I never interfered either, because I knew what she was doing helped my people. Even back in the days she used that crystal ball, all the money she made went to the poorer families around her."

"She wasn't the real Apostle?"

"She was greater than that. She was a Hero."

"The-Then what about the pilgrimage."

"That was the first time I called for her because she was speeding towards burning herself out. Even Heroes like her need rest. So I sent her to find her bliss. Shiawasay if you will." She circled her finger around. "I read it in an article."

All I could do was breathe a sigh. I felt lied to but not offended.

"Lia managed to do a lot for this world despite just being a normal person. I sometimes wish I made her my proper Apostle during her time, but she was already too far gone by the time I made up my mind. I wish I could say I wanted to make you my Apostle to remedy that, but this time the reason is going to be slightly different."

"Wait I'm going to be an Apostle?"

"Yes. Your world is in danger, you know it as well as anyone else. The war you've been fighting is turning significantly worse for humans, the reason being that while they have Ma- the Lord, you humans have no one. That's the one thing you desperately need. You are special. Both in Prana and in swordsmanship. I want you to meet the Lord and bring this war to an end, whether it be through battle or through understandin-."

"You are wrong about that." I cut her off accidentally. "I am not special. I never aimed to be special. I am just a normal human being willing to give up whatever it takes to help everyone around me."

"Hmm." She remained surprisingly calm despite my rudeness. "Honey, why do you want to be normal?"

"I don't know. It just feels like I- Like I owe it to myself." To show people who struggle like me that it gets better if you work for it. "I want to be my own role model." There was no point hiding what I was thinking, she could read my thoughts.

"You are no role model. Never will be. Your purpose in all of this is not to influence, but to save. Maybe you wouldn't be able to inspire a ten-year-old girl to do better, but you can protect her. Let her find someone else in the world to admire and protect them, there are plenty of good people in the world to look up to. Go to bed knowing that without you being special she wouldn't have had the chance to admire them. And to protect people you can't be a people. You have to be special."

"I-"

"Honey, I love your humility to say you're not special. But in all of the versions of this tale I have witnessed, you and only you are the one who could draw this story to a happy conclusion. In every world where you were given a chance, you earned my respect. And that makes you special. Whether you believe it or not."

"I don't understand."

"You will, be it after I give you my blessing, after you fight the lord, or perhaps five thousand years in the future as you reminisce within a heaven. Just believe in yourself until then."

"Understood."

"Give me a second."

She placed me down and got up with very bad technique. Wrists on the ground knees and then getting up. From down here I could almost see-

"Close your eyes." I was robbed of sight. Why is it wrong to be curious? She is supposed to be the embodiment of perfection.

"You can look now."

By the time I opened my eyes she was floating in the vast expanse of space. Pillars from the ground had risen all sounding as if they were unlocking a seal. She bent over and picked me up in her palm.

"Did me cutting you off not offend you?"

"You were in the middle of going through it. I'm sure it was a mistake. Besides, I'm not prideful enough to let something like that get me down. You are an absolute specimen of a person though." She giggled under her breath. "I am an ascendant, a being akin to divinity. But you are more. You are the protagonist to this world. With or without my help, you would've made this world a better place. Right now, I have been given an opportunity to make your life easier."

"I see?"

"Alright, now I'll give you the power to stop time." The hands under my legs started to glow a bright white.

"Eh?"

"Also I have not tried implanting this Prana into anyone so I don't know what side-effects you might experience, you're my first Apostle after all. Use it with caution. I can't give you clairvoyance, but I can give you some abilities associated with it. Like the ability to see through lies and such."

The pillars around me shattered to pieces and condensed into six gems. Gems that then rushed towards my face and immediately the glow became blinding just like when I was brought here.

"Ah and when you meet him, tell Mao mom said hi."

And just like that, I was standing back in the middle of the hall. Luckily with my dress on. But-

"Why is your hair like one of the ladies down at the entertainment district?" The priest jumped at me. "And what are those things under your eyes?!"

I looked at my bright purple hair with hints of pink. It was strangely reminiscent of Leia's skin.

Wait that wasn't what's important currently.

I sighed and focused on my heartbeat. Was it instinct or was knowledge implanted in me right before I left? Pause. Both my heart and the world around me ceased to move. I walked for five seconds halfway across the room before it started moving again.

The people in the room all looked at me with delay. To their eyes, I must've disappeared and reappeared in a different area.

Immediately as soon as I used it the statues of the angels took to motion. The crash of rock against rock. They kneeled.

The atmosphere of the event had changed immediately. It was now silent admiration and awe, and a lack of understanding.

"Divinity has descended." One of the attendants mumbled.

"Please get me an armour." I now knew what I had to do and I had no time to wait. No that's not right. I wasn't doing this to stop the Lord. I was doing this to bring peace to the people. I was their hope. I wished not to become detached from them. I wanted to give them a place of solace and safety. Just like Lia did to me.

I had quite an image to live up to. But now I was slightly more confident in myself.

"Also bring a jug of wine."

So I decided to enjoy the day.

It was what she would've done too.

What followed was a feast for lunch and a night of joy and laughter. I realized this only within the brightness of today's company that I had forgotten how to openly smile. I had become a crude lady.

"By the way, why do you know what the girls down at the entertainment district look like?" The priestess asked the priest.