Janus’s first night sharing the bed with all of us went better than I dared hope. The little ones only woke us twice, though maybe that’s just how I saw it. When morning crept in, I noticed something was off—Janus wasn’t beside me. Instead, I realized I’d somehow sprawled almost entirely on top of him, with just my right arm and leg touching the mattress. He was still there beneath me, breathing softly, lost in dreams, and for a moment I just watched him, letting a quiet happiness bloom in my chest. I wanted nothing more than to wrap myself around him and never let go, but I forced myself to stay still, afraid to break the spell of his peaceful sleep. So I just listened to his gentle breathing and the steady rhythm of his heart, letting the moment linger as long as I could.
Of course, as of late mornings never let me keep my peace for long. One by one, the kids began to stir, and I had to peel myself away from Janus, my skin sticking to his like old tape. I moved through our usual routine—lowering the mana shield I’d set up the night before, checking diapers, feeding, and then that short, hopeful pause for digestion before the chaos of playtime began. Alexander and Seraphina stretched their tiny hands toward the mobile above them, dragons and fairies spinning and chiming like distant wind bells, while Teresa was on a mission to test her favorite rattle against every surface she could find. Only when she reached the bedframe did Janus finally blink awake, looking as if he’d lost a battle with sleep. I had to bite back a laugh at the sight of his grumpy face and Teresa’s triumphant rattle. It reminded me of those mornings back on Earth, glaring at my alarm clock and wishing for just five more minutes of peace.
I nudged Janus back to the land of the living with a little healing magic, and the rest of the morning blurred by in its usual rhythm. But just after breakfast, the familiar sight of a church carriage rolled up, Solar Knights in tow, and Elio waiting with the door open. He looked more worn out than before, shadows under his eyes, so I asked what was wrong. He only gave me a cryptic answer, promising I’d find out soon enough. I hate when people do that.
Despite Elio’s ominous words, the carriage ride was uneventful, and soon we pulled up to the Eclipse Cathedral again—this time on the side bathed in sunlight. It was nothing like the other side that seemed to be constantly cast in shadow. Here, every stone gleamed, every carving stood out in sharp relief, and for a moment I just stood there, breath caught in my throat. Even Earth never had anything quite like this. Maybe the gods really did help build it, or maybe Earth mages were just that talented. I found myself daydreaming about learning earth magic next. Maybe I should make it my next attribute after I’m done with non-attribute magic? Sigh, though that might still take a couple of years. But then again, Light magic could fix my pale skin and red eyes if I’m good enough.
I tucked those daydreams away for later, since Elio was starting to look impatient with me drifting off into my own little world again.
We slipped through the gates, past a cluster of desperate-looking pilgrims, but this time, instead of climbing up, we went down. And down. And even further down. So many stony steps it had been that it made me wonder if we were already under sea level until we finally reached a rather odd, featureless door. It wasn’t anything like the carved wood outside Lucrezia’s office. This one was made of that ancient black stone, the kind you still find plenty of in Amor’s foundation.
Elios took out a set of different keys on a chain, each a bit different, all lacking any teeth or bumps; each key also had a small pea-sized stone suspended between its shaft and bow. When I looked closer, I noticed that they were mana stones that shimmered in the different colors of their respective attributes. Elio inserted the toothless key into a hole I hadn’t even noticed before, and without even turning, the Keystone shone a yellow light, and the door opened smoothly without making a single sound.
Beyond the door, the ceiling soared away into a vast hall, washed in pale white light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. The whole place was packed with strange objects and machines, each one more mysterious than the last.
“What is this?”
“This is the vault. It is where we keep holy relics and artifacts that remain from the ancient civilization.”
“Why did you bring me here? I thought you wanted to discuss our agreement further?”
“Well, Her Holiness hoped you could help shed some light on some of the artifacts we have in our possession, as some still evade our understanding. But don’t worry, she should also be down here and is eager to meet…”
Before Elio could finish, he dropped to one knee with the kind of grace that only comes from years of practice. I followed his gaze and saw an old woman making her way toward us. It took me a moment to realize who she was—Pope Lucrezia herself. She looked nothing like the frail, weary woman I remembered. Her back was straight, her eyes bright, and she seemed at least twenty years younger. I couldn’t help but marvel at what a single dose of my healing magic could do. One moment, she was teetering on the edge of the grave, and now she moved like her joints had never known pain.
“Ah Ruby, it is so good to see you!”
Beside her stood a timid young woman who couldn’t have been much older than twenty. She looked like she wanted to disappear into the floor, but then looked up, a bit stunned by how casually Lucrezia behaved.
“Hello, Your Holiness. You are much healthier than last time we met.”
“And I have you to thank for it. Let me tell you, being old is awful.”
“Your Holiness, who… who is this Woman?”
“Oh right, this is Ruby Yuwen. The healing mage I have told you about. Ruby, this is Klara Wittenberg, our youngest Archbishop who is in charge of our Archives and this vault. The two of you will work together to make use of Ruby’s knowledge while the rest of the Cardinals and I will take care of reforming certain parts of our faith.”
Klara’s eyes went impossibly wide as she tried to make sense of Lucrezia’s words. But something about what Lucrezia said caught my attention, tugging at the back of my mind.
“What do you mean by “the rest of the Cardinals”?”
“Well, you already know about Seymore, who had to leave due to political strong-arming but still retained his office. Well, there are now two actually vacant spots among our upper clergy. Cardinal Teodor de Montblanc and Cardinal Bernat Solaris have both been murdered by an unknown assailant.
“What really?”
“Yes, as much as it pains me to admit. A few days before the Welcoming party, Cardinal Teodor de Montblanc was found dead, with all of his guards suffering the same fate. But what is giving me far more of a headache is Cardinal Bernat Solaris, the younger brother of Duke Edward Solaris, who was found dead yesterday. Both were missing their heads, which we have yet to find.”
Both Cardinals were from the south, and one was even the younger brother of the southern duke. I could already feel the storm of drama brewing over who would replace them. Before I could ask anything else, though, Lucrezia was already making her exit.
“All this will be announced tomorrow, so keep your mouth shut for now. But enough of such dreadful things Elio let us go we will have to go back to work *Sigh*. Call if you need anything.”
Lucrezia left with a spring in her step, Elio trailing after her, and Klara and I were left standing there, both a little stunned.
“Then I guess we will be working together for a while, Klara.”
“Eh uhm yes Lady R- Ruby.”
Once Lucrezia was gone, Klara started showing me around. At first, she was shy, but once she got going, it was like she forgot to breathe—her words just poured out, filling the air with stories about artifacts no one understood, holy relics from past saints and the days when Solaris and Lunae faiths were still separate, and books so old they seemed to crumble if you looked at them too hard. Even with my memory, it was overwhelming. I had no idea how she kept it all straight in her head.
By the time we reached the working artifacts, my brain felt like it had been left out in the sun too long. Most of what we’d seen so far was broken or stubbornly silent, but these machines actually did something. The crown jewel was the Church’s soul contract paper press. It looked like a bulky, modern printer you’d find in some boring office, except this one needed a bit of blood from whoever was setting up the contract and a few low-grade mana stones to spit out a sheet of special paper for soul contracts. The paper even had neat little holes punched in the side, ready for a binder. All that was left was to write the actual contract in the blood of whoever was signing it, sign it, and you’d have yourself a finished soul contract.
Wilhelm Yuwen, as well as other nobles, sometimes sent vials or whole bottles of their own blood to the church for this process, since it was the only still-functioning soul contract paper press in the Kingdom and the only way they could make a soul contract.
The rest of the devices looked even stranger. There was a golden pistol that used mana stones for bullets, a blender with a blade that looked like a biblically accurate orphanim, a huge lantern that turned out to be the source of all that white light—shining into every shadow and corner. Under a blanket, there was a mirror that let you see yourself in different outfits without ever changing clothes, and a pile of fist-sized glass balls that reminded me of Magic 8 balls that apparently could measure how much mana someone had.
Most of the gadgets didn’t interest me much, and the mirror only showed outfits I’d already worn, so I quickly tossed the blanket back over it before Klara could get an eyeful of my more questionable sleepwear. What really caught my attention were the soul contract press—perfect for the magic school I kept dreaming about—and those little mana measurers. I’d always hated guessing how much progress I’d made or how much mana it truly took to heal someone, but with these, I could finally see the numbers for myself. Who doesn’t love watching numbers go up? My future students would probably get addicted to it.
I picked up one of the mana measurers and held it against my wrist as Klara instructed, and soon a number was seen on its surface.
0001,1583
Only 1,16? That felt embarrassingly low. I let my head droop, disappointment settling in, but Klara reacted completely differently. She jumped like she’d seen a ghost, nearly knocking over the covered mirror before grabbing the measurer from my hand and testing it on her own wrist.
0000,4738
So she didn’t even have half as much as I did. Suddenly, my own number didn’t seem so pathetic after all.
“How do you have so much more?!”
Klara asked urgently, holding the measuring device right in my face, demanding an answer. Gone was the timidity; in its place was a rather intense desire for knowledge.
“Maybe because I have already formed my own mana stone?”
Maybe that’s why it says 1,16; the 1 in front of the decimal could indicate that only someone with enough mana to form a mana stone could reach one? Would that also mean that, since then, I have only gathered a bit more than a tenth toward forming the next one? I really hope not.
“What do you mean by mana stones? Humans don’t have mana stones?”
“Well, I do as well as several of my students. And my father-in-law, Wilhelm Yuwen, even had one before I ever even met him.”
As I expected, the next hour vanished while I explained the basics of gathering mana and forming a mana stone to Klara. What I didn’t expect was for her to plop down and try it right away, her face scrunched up in a way that looked more like she was bracing for a bathroom emergency than meditating.
I had to stifle a laugh, but eventually I helped her relax, guiding her to breathe slowly until her face softened. Another hour slipped by, and we tried the measurer again.
0000,4739
An entire hour of meditating, and the number only budged by 0,0001. I braced myself to comfort Klara, but instead, she threw her arms around me, tears of happiness shining in her eyes.
“*Whimper*Thank you! Thank you so much!*sniff*”
She kept hugging me for a few more minutes until she finally let go, her reddened eyes now filled with a look of embarrassment instead.
“Please F-Forget what just happened. I was just surprised. I have always been a 0,4; never have I even dreamed of reaching 0,5.”
There were 261 decimals between 0,4739 and 0,5, so she’d “only” need to meditate for 261 hours to reach it. That sounded like a lot, but honestly, I’d spent more time than that on some video games back in my old life. Maybe an hour per decimal wasn’t so bad. But then again, wasn’t she still faster than me? I’d been meditating whenever I could, sometimes even multitasking, and I’d only managed 1583 points in almost a whole year… which was over eight thousand hours long…
Just how awful is my talent for gathering mana, really?! How much longer am I supposed to wait?!
Once again, my confidence was in pieces thanks to one of my students. Klara, meanwhile, was already scribbling down everything I’d just told her, eyes shining with excitement.