Chapter 12:

12 — Lorelai's Faith

Ill-Fitting Crown

A longsword rapidly approaches his left side. He quickly maneuvers his rapier to counter it. The other blade then retreats, trying to hit his right, but he parries that too. It seems to go for a thrust, so he places his rapier in front of him...

But it was a fake out. The longsword hits his pants, lightly grazing his knee.

"Come on, even a beginner wouldn't fall for that. Your leg was too exposed." Lorelai says, stepping back. "Again."

She tries attacking his leg first thing, but he steps back quickly. Her right arm seemed exposed, so he thrust his sword there, but she parried it easily. She twirled her whole upper body, twisting her sword around so it'd hit his hand, hard.

"Ouch!" Joezand says.

"If you weren't wearing those gauntlets, that'd be a whole finger off at least." Lorelai says. "You're so sloppy these past few days. Let's try it again."

"A-Alright." Joezand says, slightly bending his legs and focusing on her movements.

She tries for a lightning-fast cut to his left arm, which he parries with his rapier. She puts on the pressure, forcing the bind closer and closer to his body. He doesn't have the strength to throw her off, so he attempts to sidestep. But her sword thrusts towards his head, grazing his cheek.

"Barely cut, but that's still first blood. You're out again." Lorelai sighs. "Take five and drink some water. We'll continue later."

He all but collapses to the ground, panting heavily. He looks at the empty, bright blue sky above him. The sight is beautiful, and it feels like it should improve his mood.

But it's still fresh on his mind, even after three days. The fright he felt when Cecilia was above him.It keeps inexplicably coming back into his mind.

Why?

It's not like anything actually happened.

But he still shivers thinking about it.

Again, why didn't he just stop her? He was strong enough. After all, he has Sunnaria's blessing.

But then he looks at the ring on his finger. It's still softly glowing, and it's doing it's job in enhancing his speed and stamina. But... he feels the effects waning. He's not as fast as he used to be. It's not too big of a deal, since his actual body has been trained, so he can make up for some of what he lost. Still... he doesn't know if he can beat Pult without it.

Most worrying, though...

Again, it's been three whole days.

She hasn't said a thing.

'Sunnaria?' He tries reaching her once more, twirling the ring with his thumb. 'Are you there?'

...

No response.

This was normal, in a sense. Most people don't have voices in their heads, but... he felt so lonely without her. He hasn't been here for long, but he was already used to her presence, her voice, her jokes... and now she's gone. And he's just a lamb without it's ewe.

Especially with what happened the day she disappeared.

He could really use a confidant about that... uncomfortable situation.

With her voice disappearing and the power of the ring subsiding, he supposes he needs to... charge it? Somehow? He's not sure. But clearly the problem is that her blessing is fading from it.

He slowly gets up from the ground, stretching his legs. He sees Lorelai sitting on one of the steps of the training ground cleaning the blood droplets from her sword tip. He approaches her, sitting by her side.

"Hey, Lorelai." Joezand says. "Do you guys have, uhm..." He tries to choose his words carefully. Would they call them 'churches?' Does this world even have them? They should, right? "Places of worship?"

"What? You mean a church?" Lorelai raises her eyebrows.

"Y-Yes, that's right!' Joezand says. "I was thinking if there was a church of Sunnaria in town. To... you know. Pray for my success in the coming duel."

"Why would you pray for Sunnaria in this situation?" Lorelai snorts. "This is Falchion's domain. What's next, gonna pray for Cazmo for a good harvest?"

He has no clue who 'Cazmo' is.

"Oh, it's just the god that I felt more... in tune with." Joezand explains. "I did just a little bit of religious reading when you were asleep, so I only know three gods. Falchion, Sunnaria and..." He tries to remember the name of the goddess of theatre that Sunnaria told him about. "Chansa! That was it."

"Oh, I see." Lorelai says. "Well, I could go into a long lecture right now, telling you all about the gods. Like how Carpes drowned several cities, or how Turken created the Monobeast, but..." She groans. "I don't want to. The myths just bore me to death. So yeah, if you're rocking with Sunnaria, that's fine by me. Although I do prefer Falchion."

"Yeah, I didn't really like him all that much. I'm not really a natural-born fighter." Not to mention he seems like a grade-A douche from what Sunnaria described. But he's not going to say that out loud.

"We can go to her church on one of your off days. I don't think Agatha will mind, she is rather pious. Although Sunnaria isn't her personal choice." She points to the bronze head of Sunnaria's statue, visible from everywhere in the city. "That half-naked statue was in really poor taste, in her opinion. She'd rather have a statue of Carpes, who's a way more proper lady."

"I mean... now I'm starting to get curious about these gods. Can you give me a rundown?"

"Ugh, fine. Sunnaria's kind and motherly, but a little bit... unashamed. Falchion is a bloodthirsty adrenaline junkie. Cazmo is a shy fella despite creating the biggest things, like the sky and stars." Lorelai takes a sip of a cup of water before continuing. "Turken hates humanity because we kill animals and burn down forests. Chansa's two-faced and has fun when you suffer. Carpes is a total psycho. I guess that's about it."

"Wow, you really don't care, huh?" Joezand complains. "That's an awful introduction."

"I tried telling you." She sighs. "If you want a lecture on the Sixtuple, you can ask the priests when we go to the church or read a book on the subject. I'm the least qualified person to tell you about them. And the least interested." She says. "I'll take you to the church on your off day. But we still have three more days of training before that." She takes her sword and moves towards the center of the training grounds. "Now, your break is over. You better improve your form, or else I'm rescinding your rest days, and you'll train all week!"

"Yes, ma'am!" He takes his rapier and goes to spar some more.