Part III - A Brief History of Select Apotheoses of the Incarnations of Princess Aerya of the Lillium (1/2)

Miyu Hoshikawa, the village's priestess, was literally run off her feet.

Between preparing for the start of Observance, and trying to handle all the unruly—and, let's be honest, unwanted—tourists coming to gawk at the 'quaint, little backwoods elves' in their 'quaint, little backwoods village', she hardly had time to sit down and take a much-needed breather.

"No flash photography!" she'd remind the tourists in the sacred prayer hall.

"No, no! No touching the Lazublooms, they're very delicate!" she'd scold the kids, trampling around in the garden.

And to the musclehead humans doing pull-ups on the sacred gates leading up to the upper Reliquary … Well, she hadn't even known what to say to them, she was so speechless.

Miyu, in a huff, had complained to her father, one of the village Elders, on more than one occasion: "Daddy, I don't understand why Lazumere has to open itself up to visitors like this. They don't respect anything around here! At least keep the humans visitors out. They have nothing but disdain for our culture. The village doesn't need their money that badly!"

And her father would usually hem and haw, saying something like: "Well … if Princess Aerya had issues with it, I'm sure she'd let us know somehow …"

He never knew quite what to say to his daughter these days. Ever since she reached Apotheosis, she'd been so much more … passionate about her work as the priestess avatar.

"Look at it this way," her father said. "Things could be a lot worse. Look inside you, at the previous avatars. Their feelings. Some of them had gone through unimaginable hardship. Used for wars waged by the Elfen Kingdom. Subject to torture by humans on the other side of the war. And in the olden days, most priestesses would have barbaric rituals forced on them, all in the name of serving Princess Aerya. You should count yourself lucky there's no war. That nobody's done anything awful to your body."

Miyu sighed. Her father wasn't wrong. If annoying tourists were all Lazumere had to deal with these days, then …

Still. They were really, really annoying.

Her father continued. "Lazumere, in fact, had come very close to destruction once. Hundreds of years ago, when the crystalfires rained—"

"… Yes, I'm well aware, Daddy, thank you very much. I'm the avatar, after all."

Speaking of crystalfires … A group of tourists were now rudely touching a bronze commemorative bust in the gardens.

"Hey, hey! Get away from there! No touching!" cried Miyu, as she dashed over to shoo the tourists away. They ran away, laughing, leaving her to clean up the fingerprints they'd left on the memorial plaque below the bust.

IN HONOR OF

OLD MAN CALLIHAN

A human friend to all of Lazumere.

… Old Man Callihan had been a human, too. Why couldn't the tourists be more like him!?

Miyu Hoshikawa sighed.

She wondered if the future avatars who would come after her, would have things any easier.

(c. 100–200 years after The Apotheosis of Miyu Nocturne)

*

Deep in the Crystal Kingdom dungeons, the priestess of Lazumar, Miyu Celestia, faded in and out of consciousness. Bound up in chains. Subject to the sadistic whims of Anders the Cruel. Chief Torturer of the human army.

Miyu Celestia looked up, weakly. They gave her food and water—just enough to prevent her from dying.

Anders, somewhere in the dark. His voice coming and going as she drifted between varying states of awareness.

"… We were all once Lillium, yes. That is true.

"… This is for your own good, elf.

"… See, I have a theory.

"… I believe the age-old rituals your kind has abandoned, such as the Rite of Crystallization … Within them lies the possibility of true magic. … After all, look at how weak your own Apotheosis was. You see your past avatars as one, singular, amorphous entity. It should not be this way. There have been others, before you, who inherited them wholly, and separately.

"… What's that? You know not of the rites of which I speak? And you call yourself a priestess. Well, you've undergone Apotheosis—even if it was some pathetic imitation of its true form. So perhaps if you dig deep down, you'll find the answers to your own question.

"… I LONG TO UNDERSTAND, elf! What causes the true Apotheosis. I wish to understand the process. … It may be the key to our own salvation. Oh, yes, yes—humans rule the continent now. I do not deny that. Your elfen race is under our thumb. … As it should be. But imagine if humanity can tap into that power—the power of Apotheosis—then imagine the sheer possibilities that would entail. We rule now, yes. But we wish to rule forever.

"… No, dear elf. Your faith, I fear, is not enough. After all—"

A thunderous explosion. Dust and rubble. A breach in the wall.

The hiss of arrows flying through the dark cellar. Anders fell to the ground, dead.

A voice: "… Celestia-sama … Are you harmed? … You're safe now. Please … Take my hand."

(c. 1000–1500 years after The Apotheosis of Miyu Nocturne)

*

Miyu Melodia sat in class, arms crossed, sulking.

The other kids were making fun of her again.

"That stuff's not even real, Miyu. You really think there's some invisible princess watching over you—all of Lazulopolis—who can make things happen, or not happen? And that you're really her, except you're also you?"

The other kids laughed.

"Yeah, grow up, Miyu. Stop believing in fairy tales."

"Oh, oh, you should see her dressed up in those robes! Talk about la-aame!"

"Robes?"

"Yeah, she wears these robes around summertime. Something called, Obsession, or whatever."

Miyu: "It's Observance!"

"Pfft, yeah, okay. … Freak."

Their teacher walked into the class. "Alright, class, settle down. Settle down." She walked to the blackboard and began writing. "Like we discussed yesterday, we're going to continue learning about the history of our own town. Today, we'll talk more about at how Lazulopolis transformed itself from a small village in the middle of nowhere, into one of the wealthiest, magic producers in the continent." She stopped writing, and turned to the rest of the class. "Now. Show of hands. How many of your parents work in the crystal magic workshops?"

More than half the students raised their arms. ("Oh, oh! Mine, mine!")

"That's right! Lazulopolis was able to grow, because of its role as a big player in the crystal magic industry. Now—"

Miyu grumbled something, under her breath.

The class turned to look at her. As did the teacher.

"What's that, Miss Melodia?" asked the teacher, a contemptuous grin on her face. "… Do you have something you'd like to share with the class? … Again? What is it this time?"

Miyu shot up from her seat. "CRYSTAL MAGIC IS JUST TECHNOLOGY!"

Hushed whispers throughout the class.

The sarcastic smile had faded from the teacher's face. An edge creeping into her voice: "Miss Melodia, we don't use that word—"

"Yes, the humans had their own version of it. They called it crystal technology. They used to have their own huge city, it was called Crystal City, built upwards, like a bunch of platforms stacked on top of each other. And they had all sorts of crystal machines, even machines that could project your voice all the way across the continent to another machine, and you could talk to people that way!"

Their teacher pinched her forehead. "Not this again, Miyu … Enough, already."

"It's true! It was during a time when human and elves lived in … well, not complete harmony. … A-and then later, there were even times when humans ruled over elves, too!"

The entire class erupted in laughter.

"Humans? Enslaving us? Such a weak, pathetic race could never do that. They've always been our slaves. Fit to work in our crystal mines. They're dumb and primitive and good for nothing else."

"It's true. The human we keep at our house is sooo dumb. You want me to believe they can create a … tall, massive city with floating platforms and … devices you can speak into? That they had their own version of crystal magic? Get real, Miyu."

"It's true, though …"

"And how would you know that, Miyu?"

"Because—"

Because what? thought Miyu. Because you saw it in your head? Because you can hear and see numerous other vessels of Princess Aerya in your head, as individuals? You can see the different periods of time they lived through? … Yeah, try saying that out loud. They'll lo-oove that.

"… Because … nothing." Miyu Melodia sat back down again.

(c. 6000–8000 years after The Apotheosis of Miyu Nocturne)