The Fourth pulled away from the embrace and clumsily wiped her tears with her robe. She then looked down as she twiddled with her elfin fingers, “Well... If I may be so honest, my Goddess, I’m not quite certain as to how it is best to proceed from here.”

I leveled my height with hers and rested my weight on my knees, “Well, just a few seconds ago you were confidently telling me how you were known as the Fourth. The Just. The High Judge of the Heavens.” I teased her with a playful smile. “I’m sure you know what you need to do.”

“Ah, no! I-I could never judge You! Not even in Your mortal form!” She raised her hands in defense and waved them in shakily before lowering her head in embarrassment. “I am just a humble servant of the Creator.”

“Haha, relax. I was just teasing you.” I stood up and ruffled her silky white strands.

Why must she be so darn adorable? And here I thought I’d never like kids because of my shoddy childhood.

“You can treat me as you would other innocents who came before you during a holy trial.” I gave her a warm smile, the one that makes you feel the tingles when directed towards you. “I am a human, after all.”

I’ve already been through a lot and I have seen peculiar things; but I still couldn’t fathom being a deity in a universe that I supposedly created. How can I, when I don’t even have memory of having done so? Sure, Kiel and Ser Michael pointed out some things that may point towards that conclusion and I am more inclined to believe that... But I don’t exactly feel all-knowing, all-seeing, or all-mighty.

Or is the Goddess here different, more vulnerable or with limits, perhaps?

Well, I’ll stick to declaring myself human, thanks.

“Then... It is my pleasure to do as You wish, O’ Goddess.” The Fourth regained her composure and did a small curtsy.

A white scythe then manifested itself in her small hands. She raised the weapon twice her size and bellowed in a loud voice, “Following the ritual that glorifies the love of the Goddess for Her people, the truth flashed in front of my eyes as I gazed into Your heart. Contrary to the accusation made against You by the mortals, Your hands were not stained by an innocent’s blood.”

The Fourth slammed the bottom of her scythe in three consecutive strikes. Every time she did so, the white floor shook and I felt my heart tremble with wonder. “As the High Judge of the Heavens appointed by the One True Goddess, I deem you, Lady Rinya, as innocent!”

Faint rays emanated from a ruby housed by the scythe’s blade near its handle. The reds stood out and glimmered in the white wisps of smoke around us.

I felt a warmth overcome my whole being, it was like being bathed in the purest sense of love and innocence. The heavenly energy flowed into my veins and travelled to every part of my body, even until the tips of my toes and fingers. It left a blissful tingling feeling in my heart.

“Wow. What was that?” I gazed at my hands in wonder as I slowly closed and opened them.

The Fourth giggled giddily. Her right hand let go of the huge scythe and it vanished into the whiteness of the place.

“It’s the Magical Arts that we learned from Your Holiness; Spirit Arts, to be more precise. What you felt was a protective charm. A small token to those who have been wrongly accused. I’ve really improved a lot with this over the millennia.“ The Fourth spoke with a huge cute  grin on her face, proud of her accomplishment.

“I’m sure you have. That was really awesome, I couldn’t explain the feeling! It felt really good, like everything - all negativity was close to nothing, like they were powerless against me. As if I really was being protected.” I happily complimented her.

“It also helps with the transportation back, not to mention that it stirs mortals away from pain or from being consumed by the white flames until they leave the site of trial. Come to think of it,” her eyes darted upwards as she tried to recall a memory, “I used to mess it up a couple of millennia ago that people ended up with really bad burns when they manage get back to the mortal realm. They didn’t die nor did they get punished by other mortals, but they usually were left with scars and became extremely fearful of fire. I really thought I’d get banished because of that.”

I stared blankly at the little elf and almost had my hand under my jaw just to prevent it from dropping. 

What? I would’ve been burnt to a crisp if I actually woke up in the world some millennia earlier? Assuming I would be under a similar situation.

“So I guess I’m lucky then.” I felt a sigh if relief escape my lips. It was extremely excruciating the first time around. I feel bad for those poor saps who suffered the Fourth’s greenhorn days. I mean they were innocent but they were burnt twice.

I shook my head and tried to recall the charm she casted and the fuzzy feeling it left behind.

Like a miracle. Like magic.

“Hmmm.”

I vividly recalled a black claw come out from the shadows, grabbing onto Autumn’s heart and killing her short after.

It’s a twisted form of magic.

My breathing became heavier so I tried to regulate it by slowly introducing and removing air from my lungs alternately.I need to get a hold of myself. I need to know more about this world to help me understand what really happened and ultimately bring justice to Autumn’s death.

“Is something the matter?” The Fourth raised her voice in curiosity as to why I suddenly dropped my smile and went inside my head to think.

“I don’t know how much time I have left in this dimension of sorts that we are in, but I’d like to learn more about these Magical Arts.”

“No need to worry at all, my Queen. This realm spreads beyond time. It has not even been a second since your mental body was projected here.”

“That’s good, I guess.”

“Did Your Holiness want to learn more about Magical Arts because of the evil entity that you saw? The one that took Autumn’s life?” The Fourth waved her hand and two chairs magically appeared in front of us.

“Yes. I wanted to know more about it. I think knowing more about it is pivotal in solving Autumn’s case. Hmm, but can’t you do anything about this as a Holy Saint?”

She gestured for me to have a seat and when I did so, she sat down next to me.

“I’m afraid I cannot do so. I am bound to my duties in service to the Goddess, and I do not have the capability to see and know everything that happens in the mortal realm. My apologies. I am guessing that Kyrie did not mention this, is that correct?”

My eyebrows furrowed. Kiel never talked to me about them. He’s pretty much a closed book locked up in some library of a forgotten kingdom.

Heck, I even had to throw tantrums just so he would answer a few of my questions.

“I... he never willingly gave me information. I usually have to dig them out of him.”

“Kyrie might have his reasons, but how dare he withhold information from Your Holiness!” The Fourth’s cheeks puffed and reddened with annoyance. “He has no right to belittle Your Name, just because You are in a mortal shell!”

“C-Calm down, Fourth.” I warily said. “It’s fine, I can find out about them from you now. Can you start from the beginning?

“Yes.. As you wish.” She shyly pursed her small pinkish lips before speaking once more, “The Goddess imbued Her creations with ‘phantasms’, these are holy particles deemed capable of great miracles. They come from Her divinity and mix with other universal particles until such a point wherein they showed signs of being ‘alive.’ Such signs include movement and the requirement for nourishment as they roamed Gaia.”

“The phantasmic particles that directly come from the Goddess are called ‘holy phantasms,’ which are the purest of all phantasms and are the most concentrated with energy. Even in the most minute amount, it can easily kill beings as it is too pure to harness for use.”

“The Goddess taught the people in olden times as to how to use a more crude version of it, the different forms of lesser phantasms that resided in their mortal bodies. This resorted to different types of Magical Arts being developed: Spirit Arts, Soul Arts, Elemental Arts, and Core Arts.”

“What are those? Where does that dark entity fall under?”

“Spirit Arts draw power from the Divine Being or from their faith in the Goddess, these usually allow miracle-like feats to be performed. Soul Arts uses mental energy to affect the external or internal environment while Core Arts are practiced by using the lesser phantasms to boost physical capabilities of their wielders by using up their life force, this is usually the most common yet most dangerous for those who practice it. Elemental Arts enables mortals to brandish the elements into weapons.“

“That’s a lot to swallow but none of those seem to fit what I saw that night...” My shoulders fell and I hung my head low.

“In the last thousands of years, there has been a good number of people who practiced Spirit Arts only for their own benefit. Their phantasms became corrupted and the said people began to develop the Dark Arts and these techniques led to misfortune and deaths.”

“So the claw was created by these people? Why? Why kill an innocent child?”

“I’m afraid I do not know for sure, as my abilities are still quite limited to certain things despite being a Holy Saint.” The Fourth stood up and started randomly hopped about. “What I do know is that it looks like the events arerepeating themselves again. Dark phantasms gather, creating monstrous entities.”

“My Queen, you need to find the main person who fed the evil entity with phantasms. You need to sever the link from the host to the person in question to prevent it from happening again.”

“But, but... How do I find them?” I whispered anxiously.

“Where did you feel the evil aura to be strongest?" she bobbed her small head to the side and threw back the question to me.

There was no thinking about it. It was a no brainer.

"The Inn!" I blurted out.

All of this mess was caused by someone from the Inn?