(V1) I Know What You Did Last Isekai - Interlude Viola

“I’m eager to wrap up this farce,” Viola continued, her gaze sweeping back over the council. 

Poor Kim looked like a frightened hare about to be butchered at the market.  A far cry from the resurrected Lilim everyone kept insisting her to be.  Something she very much wasn’t from their limited interactions so far.  Whatever the ritual’s intentions, it hadn’t succeeded in finding Lilim, just some poor girl who was murdered at roughly the same time as the ritual.  A horrific series of coincidences that might not be anything of the sort given the level of power poured into the ritual.  Only a handful of people in Arcadia had the magical knowledge to parse the intent of that ritual from the few sigils still intact.  Viola was one of them.  Whoever let that little detail reach the Council likely knew more than they let on. 

The Cult of Lilim weren’t numerous and most of their followers were completely benign.  Most were just young teens looking to prove they were different.  Yet, there were always those willing to push things, to reach for that which they did not understand.  Reginald Dougal was one such follower.  She knew of his proclivities; how could she not after he gave his daughter that scar on her arm?  Yet, that he had been willing to sacrifice his daughter simply due to a passing resemblance with a mural that had been painted a mere eighty years prior was a bit much. 

After a few dozen iterations one would think that the resemblance would be lost.

She’d told him as much when he asked about the mural.  Dabbling in things they didn’t understand was something of a hobby for nobility with an excess of money and a failing of common sense.  At least most of them focused on vanity projects for the city rather than attempts to bring about the end of the world or just the collapse of society or whatever asinine idea crawled up their ass this week.

“I’ve seen the ritual site Viola, there is no hiding what that thing is.” 

A warm smile settled over the cold fury underneath.  “Mister Lancaster, you’re not still angry about the incident last week, are you?” 

“You mean where you threw him through a wall?”

Viola leveled a cheerful smile upon the woman.  “Yes Miss Foster, that’s exactly what I was referring to.  Try to keep up, unlike some people, I’d like to get through this before I start showing any gray.” 

The fact that Miss Foster unconsciously flinched—a hand wanting to check her hair—was lovely.  Messing with the Council was one of Viola’s favorite pastimes.  There wasn’t much to do outside of delivering sermons that were actually entertaining.  Magical research was a slow and tedious process best left up to others for the boring parts once the general theory was worked out.  The comedy of the current generation of performers left much to be desired.  The less said about popular music, the better.  A vacation might have been in order if not for the current mess dropping something actually interesting in her lap. 

Kimberly wasn’t Lilim, but she did hold the woman’s power in some nascent form.  That had all sorts of implications about what those fools had done to drag the poor woman to their world.  The language she spoke was completely foreign to their lands, with no common roots.  If Viola hadn’t explored the entire surface of their home world she might have assumed Kim to be from another continent or some hidden island. 

Then Kimberly confirmed it and set Viola’s imagination alight.

Other worlds beyond their own, ones without any hint of magic.  Such a thing was supposed to be impossible.  Magic was the very essence of life!  A world devoid of magic was where the damned were sent when judged by the Creator to be beyond redemption.  Viola had always assumed it to be a metaphor for returning them to nothing. 

Kimberly stood as proof that there was far more to their understanding of the world than modern scholars currently possessed.  It made her excited to dive back into the arcane studies.  But first, she had to make sure the idiots didn’t overstep and do something stupid to the newest curiosity to fall from the void and into her lap. 

“Bring this creature to the stand then,” General Cid Manchester grumbled.  “We shall judge her for ourselves.” 

The martial master of Arcadia’s military had a seat on the council by virtue of his command.  It was similar to how her own position as Maester allowed her to contribute to the laws of the nation.  That did not mean he was actually qualified for making laws or even upholding them.  His role on the council was to hit problems with a hammer until they stopped being problems, or convincing others to do it for him. 

“She is not a creature you simpleton,” Viola snapped.  “She is one of the Creator’s flock and deserves all the same respect!” 

“Spare me the compassion,” Manchester said with a wave of his meaty hand.  “My duty is to the safety of our lands and people.  She represents a threat and would have already been dealt with if not for your intervention, witch.” 

The insult seethed under her skin, burning her very blood.  Few knew the origin of that particular slur, but Viola knew, she would always know.  It took every ounce of willpower she could muster to not conjure the sigil that would separate head from shoulders.  No, she needed to channel that anger into something that everyone else would understand.

“Surely you aren’t suggesting the death penalty.  That’s been illegal in Arcadian lands for centuries, not to mention how it breaks half of the Creator’s commandments.” 

Theology was useful like that, and people would go to great lengths if they felt their Creator commanded it.  The statement got the council going again, and let her take a step back for a moment.  Kimberly hadn’t moved from where she stood, watching them all with wide eyes and a trembling lip.  That was exactly what she hoped to avoid by putting the meeting off, but everyone was so damn insistent that it needed to be now. 

All because they might be more right than anyone else realized. 

“Hey,” Viola whispered softly.  “Breathe.  You are safe.” 

This English that Kimberly spoke was nightmarish to learn; with spelling and grammar rules that defied all logic.  She spoke other languages too, all of which were just as alien to the Maester.  It was simpler to teach her Acadian and go from there.  Viola had little hope of mastering English, but it couldn’t hurt to put in the effort alongside her wayward charge. 

Especially if anyone else from Kim’s world managed to find their way through the rift.

The likelihood of that was low, but not zero.  Especially with Kim now serving as an anchor for potential magical resonance.  The amount of power necessary to bridge the two worlds would be catastrophic, as demonstrated by the simpler spell that pulled Kim’s soul from beyond the void and into her current vessel. 

A shared likeness and name had been enough to sunder the veil and pull a single soul through, and Arcadia’s barrier formation took the brunt of the backlash.  Three minor breaches in as many days, all within the city walls.  What should have been impossible was enabled by the effects of the Dougal family’s summoning ritual.

Sympathetic effects could bridge impossibilities, but not to the degree that they apparently had.  Kimbree had to have died the exact moment the ritual sought the connection, which was just barbaric.  Then there was Kimberly’s death at the same moment to tie it all together.  And now Kimberly’s poor soul had ended up bound to Kimbree’s flesh rather than her own, all without any capacity for communication. 

Which the Council seemed bent on taking advantage of. 

“What saying?” Kimberly asked. 

“Ritual cause,” Viola said in English.  “Blame you.  Try.  I not let.” 

Kimberly blinked, her pupils dilating as it took her a moment to process Viola’s broken sentences.  The young woman turned and watched the squabbling Council.  Viola was grateful that her Acadian wasn’t good enough to follow along.  Half the assholes wanted to just kill or exile the innocent girl. 

“Stupid,” Kimberly muttered.

“Agreed,” Viola said.

She had let this farce run on longer than she should have.  It was time to bring it to a close.  She formed a sigil of light and sound in hand and projected it up and away from herself.  Then with her off hand, a sigil of dampening formed and manifested over herself and Kimberly. 

Then she detonated the concussive burst overhead.  The effect was immediate, cutting off all arguments between the blinding flash and deafening crack.  Poor Henry actually fell out of his chair, which was rather hilarious.  As all eyes turned back to her, Viola offered them a polite smile that hopefully concealed how done she was with the whole production.

“Such mutterings are unbecoming of this council.  We must strive to be above this.  Kimbree is in no condition to speak for herself, and an innocent besides.  We will reconvene this subject next quarter and I will submit an update on her progress then.” 

“Now see here!” Cid shouted, rising to his feet as his chair clattered to the stone floor behind him.  “You do not have the authority to just dismiss a meeting of the Council!  Until we can be certain that she is not some nascent monster that is endangering the city, this meeting will continue!” 

“Well said,” Joanne agreed.  “This woman is not the Kimbree that I knew.  I can see that plainly just as well as anyone else present who knew the Dougal family.”

Henry hummed, stroking his beard.  “Perhaps we should nominate a new family to helm the seat in their stead.” 

“Especially if this usurper thinks that she can just claim power not rightfully her own,” Vance said, his fingers drumming the table in clear disinterest. 

“Dougal’s seat is vacant because of his own stupidity,” Viola said cheerfully.  “That does not give this Council the authority to strip her of her family’s titles unilaterally.” 

Well, they did have that right, but it would require a conviction for crimes, and all the perpetrators of the summoning were dead.  Kimberly hadn’t done anything wrong other than being the victim of their crimes, and Viola was determined to keep her that way in the eyes of Arcadian law. 

“Besides,” she continued, cutting off the budding arguments.  “Even if Kimbree were to be executed, it would do nothing to restore the stability of the local aether.” 

“Then what do we do?” Ser Hollinger asked. 

“Unfortunately, we’ll simply need to keep ahead of the rift-breaches until the aether-weave stabilizes,” Viola explained.  “No amount of reinforcing the barrier array will help in the time that will take.” 

Ser Renwatch frowned.  “Surely there is something that can be done to repair the damage already done.” 

Viola laughed softly.  “Yes, I’m sure a thousand years of scholars attempting to understand the Sundering would love to entertain your questions.  This event wasn’t to that scale, but it was still a piercing of the veil.  Only time can stabilize things.” 

That much was true.  Yet, even time had its limits.  The Sundering was one of many names for the event that banished Lilim from their world, separating her body and soul and casting it into the void so that she would never return.  What nobody foresaw was how the veil weakened and bits of the void broke through into their reality.  Rift-breaches had become a part of life since then, but back then it was utter pandemonium. 

“What about preempting potential future issues?” Gerard asked.  “Obviously we’ll be seeing more Rift-breaches in the short term, but what about finding a way to prevent a similar ritual in the future?” 

Henry nodded along.  “Even if it is only within our own walls, that does seem prudent.” 

“Such measures were already in place,” Cid said, shaking his head ruefully.  “Have been for centuries.  All it means is that those conducting the ritual would need to spill more blood for the same effect.” 

Henry blinked.  “Then why didn’t they leave the city for the summoning?” 

An excellent question, and one that Viola hadn’t found the answer to.  Even scouring their notes yielded surprisingly little in that regard.  Arcadia was one of the worst places to perform such a ritual.  They didn’t even have the excuse of it being the site where the Sundering was performed.  That was hundreds of miles away in the mountains.

A permanent rift stood atop the site; the creatures long cleared out.   While most rift-breaches might be closed, there was no anchor to remove that might collapse it.  Which left it as a sort of marker for pilgrimages known only to the clergy.  It was the site where the hero banished the great evil that Lilim represented. 

Viola made it a point to visit the shrine there each year, if only so she never let the memory fade.  It was her duty to remember that which the world forgot, or rather, didn’t want to recall.  Those who stood vigil over the shrine were the guardians of history, regardless of political leanings of the current day. 

“I’m sure we’ll glean the answer in time,” Viola said instead.  “Their notes were written in plain Acadian.  I have several scholars searching them for hidden ciphers, but there has been no signs of such found in the preliminary investigations.” 

“I have my own people doing the same and can corroborate,” Gerard Renwatch said, eyeing some of the opposing voices on the Council.  “The fools didn’t bother to conceal their notes.  I do not expect they intended to survive their ritual.” 

“Which is strange enough,” Kirkland Hollinger said, stroking his chin.  “Even if we factor in that they wanted to summon some ultimate evil, why end their own lives to do so?” 

“Death cults are a thing,” Viola said softly.  “Some people draw in followers and convince them of some higher calling, then commit suicide together.  We deal with one every decade or so.  This is just a bit more extreme than the usual fare.” 

A somber silence fell at that, and Viola found a firm hand gripping her own.  Kimberly held such compassion in her eyes as she looked at her that it should have been clear to everyone present that there wasn’t a drop of maliciousness within her.  Sadly, some wouldn’t understand no matter the signs.  She was well educated and kind at heart, with a spark to learn that was unrivaled.  Viola couldn’t wait to see how far she could go with a proper education into the arcane arts.  Kimberly wasn’t the evil that everyone expected her to be.  

Not yet.

And not ever if Viola had a say in it.

“I think that about covers everything,” Viola said, shifting the conversation forward.  “Obviously Kimbree here cannot speak for herself.  Further argument serves no purpose and I have a class to teach in an hour.” 

“That doesn’t excuse—” 

“Thank you for understanding,” Viola said cheerfully.  “Kimbree, with me.” 

She turned on her heel and marched out, the soft footfalls of the otherworldly girl following close behind.  Now she just needed to get the girl to the point that she could read and speak Acadian.  She was well on her way to that goal, and should reach it in a month or two’s time. 

The true effort would be teaching her the intricacies of the Arcane to the point that she could defend herself in the event someone attacked her.  Because after this farce of a meeting, Viola knew it was only a matter of time.  Someone had wanted her eliminated today, and if not for Viola having the clout to get away with what she had just done, there were good odds it would have worked. 

Viola had bought Kimberly time, but she could see the stirrings.  The council wasn’t happy with either of them.  Someone would make a foolhardy decision before the next meeting could transpire.  It didn’t matter that Viola was the Maester, some held their faith in the Creator above all and would ignore her if they got their head far enough up their own asses.  She just had to hope that whatever it ended up being wasn’t completely foolhardy.

Oh who was she kidding?  Those children would find some way to fuck it up spectacularly.  If there was one constant in the world, it was certainly the stupidity of man.

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A/N - Been in a bit of a rut with writing, but I think I'm slowly working through it. It's a bit of a self-reinforcing loop. I don't get writing done, I get anxious. Anxiety keeps me from writing as much as I want. I hate it. This year has been hella stressful given everything.