Chapter 12: Ascension

The bells of Marchten tolled across the city, the family's footsteps echoed through the narrow streets as they made their way to the cathedral. The closer they drew, the more overwhelming the structure became. Its yellowed stone walls rose higher than any building the twins had ever seen, their surfaces carved with intricate patterns of suns, stars, flowing vines and swirls. Four great spires at each of the four corner towers stabbed toward the sky, their peaks glinting with gold in the late morning light.

At the base, crowds of pilgrims and celebrants crowded the nearby area, some sung hymns while others simply stared up at the monument in awe. To Lea and Leo, it felt ominous as if the building itself breathed with the devotion of those who worshiped the Gods.

Solan led the way, his stride steady, while the twins followed in behind Lucina. The cathedral doors stood open but you could see the intricate engravings with the likeness of the Nine Gods on it.

Inside, the air changed. It was cooler, and calmer, carrying a faint fragrance of incense and wax. Shafts of colored light poured through stained-glass windows that climbed nearly twenty meters tall, scattering red, blue, and gold across the polished stone floor.

The twins’ breaths caught as their eyes lifted. Along the sides of the nave stood colossal statues, each nearly five meters high, made of grey stone. At their feet metal plaques were inscribed with information about each one respectively. Their presence was commanding, almost suffocating, as though they were real and stood watching.

A robed priest with graying hair approached from the far west aisle, his steps quiet on the stone flooring. “Welcome, Lord Solan, Lady Lucina,” he said with a bow. “And these must be the young heirs, what might your names be?” His kindly smile deepened the creases of his face.

“I’m Lea,” she said with a polite bow.

“My name is Leo, sir,” her brother followed.

“You’ve come just in time for the Festival of Renewal,” the priest said warmly. “Shall I guide you through the hall of the divine?”

“Please do,” Solan replied.

The priest began walking slowly, and the family followed. “Each statue,” he explained, “is carved to honor the gods who rule over our world. Their lore is etched into the plaques at their feet, so that none may forget the blessings they bring.”

The twins leaned forward to read as they passed. They caught fragments as they went by; Nelon, lord of fire and destruction, Seraph, mistress of the waves, commander of the seas… Chrysalis, goddess of ice and crystalline.

Each line felt both strange and oddly familiar, as if reminding them of something they had half-learned already from their mother’s lessons.

When they reached the center, the priest turned to them. “Tell me, have the young ones been assessed for their magical affinities?”

“Not yet,” Lucina admitted. “We thought to wait until they came here.”

“Then perhaps today the gods themselves will answer.” The priest smiled faintly, folding his hands. “I will fetch the tablet of discernment. It will reveal what blessings lie dormant within them.”

He bowed and left through a side corridor. Solan and Lucina lingered only a moment before Lucina tugged gently at her husband’s sleeve. “We should take this time to pay our respects at the chapel. Come.” With a glance back at their children, she added, “Stay here, we’ll be back shortly.”

And then all the adults were gone, leaving the twins standing alone beneath the shadows of stone gods.

The silence pressed down, broken only by the faint crackle of candles and the faint noise from outside. Lea tilted her head up, staring into Seraph’s sapphire eyes, the sweep of her carved robes frozen mid-motion. “It’s so different… but cool” she whispered.

Leo followed her gaze, his lips tightening. “Yeah. In Japan, there wasn't anything like this. I only ever went once to a church, that one time on the trip to France. But this…” He trailed off, unable to find the words.

Lea reached for the plaque at the foot of Arcadia’s statue, her small finger tracing the engraved words. Lady of light, lightning, purification. The script gleamed faintly in the colored glow.

They moved slowly from statue to statue, reading the plaques, whispering the names under their breath. Thynaria, goddess of nature and healing. Vontayvah, commander of winds and sky. 

The atmosphere that filled the hall changed, as if belonged not to mortals, but to the gods themselves.

One of them that they came across was moved out of line with the others, its face was blackened like from scorchmarks, and it had a crater in it, as if someone struck it with an enormous hammer. They had one twisted horn on their head and the other seemed to be missing. The rest of the figure was draped in a black cloth as if it were wearing a cloak.

“What on earth happened to that one?” Lea pointed

“Yeah… It's as if someone tried destroying it but gave up halfway” replied Leo

At last, they came before the final and tallest statue, set in the center of them all. Athnea. Her form towered even higher than the others, this one different from the others was made entirely of white marble, Athnea’s arms raised as if cradling the heavens themselves. At her feet, the plaque read: Athnea, mother of humanity, arbiter of the mortal realm, sustainer of vitality, and eternal guide of beginnings and endings.

The moment their eyes traced the words, the air shifted. A sudden brilliance burst from the statue, flooding the cathedral in a white so bright it seared their vision.

“Leo—!” Lea cried, reaching out blindly, but her hands grabbed nothing. The ground beneath them was gone.

A few moments later when their vision cleared, they realized now they were no longer in the hall of the cathedral. Now they stood upon a vast expanse of clouds, endless and soft beneath their feet. The air was clear and warm, the horizon an eternal glow. And before them, seated on thrones that stretched toward the firmament, were the Heavenly Council.

Each god loomed five times taller than any mortal man, their thrones all built of different materials but still from elements that radiated power.

D-did we just die… again? They both thought

At the far left sat Nelon, draped in black robes, a crimson trident held loosely in his right hand. His red eyes glowed like embers and beneath he had a sinister looking grin on his face, and a scar cut across his face from his eyebrow to cheek, giving him the aura of a commander hardened by battle.

At the other far end loomed Thorrak, heavier and broader than the rest, his curly hair and beard streaked with white. His tunic was white and orange, his arms like pillars of stone, his expression gruff yet steady, like the mountains themselves.

The twins froze, their hearts thumping erratically in their chests. This was no illusion, no dream. They had been brought for an audience with the gods themselves.

“Welcome children. Do not fear us, raise your heads.” came Athnea.

Against the immense pressure Lea and Leo reluctantly stood up to the divinities before them.

What on earth is happening… Lea thought, staring at them.

Athnea now stood in front of the rest of the council wielding her staff in hand. “Children, we are the heavenly council. I am Athnea, the goddess of humanity and vitality. Now, you may be wondering how and why you two are here.”

Her voice carried no echo, yet it filled the endless sky around them.

Leo clenched his fists at his sides. “We… we didn’t ask to be here. So why bring us?”

Athnea regarded him with a soft but steady gaze. “Because truth must be given to you. And it can only come from us.” She looked across the other thrones, then back to the children. “Your lives were not spared by chance. Do you remember the day of your end, in your former world?”

The air seemed to grow heavier. Memories of the storm, the bus, the tumble down the cliffside, the plunge into the river flashed like shards in their minds. Lea flinched, her throat tightening. “Yes, we… we died,” she trembled.

Athnea lifted her hand, “Yes. That day, your mortal lives ended. And at that very moment, in this realm, the original souls of Lea and Leo Kazantria were taken from their bodies by a demonic ritual of sacrifice. Two innocent children, condemned to death by the witch Veldra.”

Leo’s heart skipped a beat. “A sacrifice…?”

Arcadia leaned forward, the golden bangles on her wrists catching the light. “The witch sought power, and to extend her life further than the natural cycle of life intends. But in her ritual, the Kazantria heirs perished.”

Lea’s jaw tightened. “So they… really died.”

Athnea’s expression did not waver. “Yes. But in that same breath of time, your souls—lost between one world and the next were right there. The council debated. Some argued to let you pass beyond, to follow the natural cycle. And that Intervention is not our way.”

Many of the other gods lowered their gazes in shame. Only Athnea stood tall, her golden gauntlets glinting.

“I could not. I saw the path ahead if those children were not returned to life. A house of light extinguished, a family shattered, and the future of our realm weaker and possibly in peril. So I chose. I took pity on you both… and I placed your souls within the Kazantria infants’ bodies. Now you live on as them. Reborn.”

Lea felt her knees tremble. A rush of heat burned behind her eyes, and she swallowed hard.

Athnea said gently. “You, Haruka, are still her. And him. The past you carry lives within you, as do the ties of this world. Do not see it as loss, see it as continuance.”

Leo looked up sharply. “So that’s it? We’re just… replacements?”

“No,” Lyrule’s voice cut in, calm but edged. Her long black hair spilled like night around her pale face, the attire she wore was black and indigo and resembled a bodysuit. “You are disciples. Chosen not only to live, but to stand as bridges between the realms. Our voices, our hands, the manifesters of our power in the mortal realm.”

Lea’s eyes widened. “Disciples…?”

“Indeed,” Seraph said softly, her hair a cascade of blue, her robes shifting like flowing water. “You were not summoned here to be chastised, but to be entrusted. You will one day act in ways even the legendary greats cannot.”

The twins looked between them all, their young minds struggling to anchor the weight of it.

Lea found herself blurting out, “But in the cathedral… there wasn’t even a statue for you, Lady Lyrule. Just… some ruined one.”

The moment stretched. The gods grew silent.

Nelon’s red eyes burned with anger, his trident sparking faint embers as he spoke. “Memphis.”

Even the name seemed to darken the skies.

Athnea lowered her gaze. “Once, he was the god of darkness. But he betrayed the council, and in his betrayal he fell—becoming not god, but a true demon lord. The statue you saw is a relic of a lie, half-desecrated, yet not yet replaced. For not all mortals accept Lady Lyrule’s rise as his successor.”

Lyrule’s expression hardened, though her voice remained steady. “There are those who still whisper his name, not knowing they feed a demon, and use his power as his disciples instead of mine. though in time, their own devotion will corrupt them.”

Leo’s hands curled into fists. “Then why not tell everyone? And destroy the statue?”

Thorrak rumbled, beard shifting as he shook his head. “Mortals cling to what they know. To strip them suddenly of their faith would shatter more than stone.”

“Still,” Athnea said, her tone final, “the day will come when truth prevails. And perhaps… you will have a part in it.”

The words pressed against their small chests, heavy but resolute.

“W-why when you reincarnated us did you switch our genders?” Leo asked

Athnea’s eyes softened with sorrow. “I must admit to you that it was all a mistake on my part. You see when I brought over your souls, I had to commence the soul binding rapidly and since I don't have domain over your original home world I had to overreach my abilities. When that happened your souls were not being very cooperative and when I sent them to your current bodies they happened to uhm…switch my intended targets.”

The twins both stared at her with a baffled look.

“H-how does that even happen! Aren't you an all-powerful God?” Leo choked.

“And why did you choose us, Goddess? What was special about us that meant we deserved to be reincarnated over anyone else who would've died at that time? Why not pick someone else from this world or one of our classmates from the bus crash? Lea's voice broke.

“You simply were there at the right time, no other people would have gone together as well as you do, and if you remember.” She turned to Leo, “You, Haruka. Cried out for a god that day, and I was the one who heard you.”

Athnea lifted her hand again, light blooming from her staff. “For now, you need not worry more. But what you must know is this: you are our disciples. Chosen. Guided. And you shall discover the blessings you bear.”

Before they could respond, a searing light engulfed them, blinding and warm, until they were back in the cathedral, standing before Athnea’s statue. The candles that ordained the walls still flickered. The quiet still held as if not a single second had passed.