The True Saint

Anger, that was a feeling that she hadn’t really known well. The months as Saint she felt a range of emotions, a majority of them fear and anxiety. But the one that she hadn’t been given was anger. There wasn’t much purpose to it. The most that she could do was direct that at a goddess that may or may not exist. But that emotion faded long ago for her.

Sophia didn’t know she still had a strong fire in her. But she stood out of the audience chamber once more where it all began. ‘This is rather fitting. I hope that they still have it.’ She exercised her authority for the first time as Saint. It wasn’t really something that was written or taught to her. But Prince Henri did repeatedly remind her that her importance was close to that of the King or more. ‘It seems that he might have been right. But they may regret that now.’

The knights didn’t let her through until granted permission. She heard the familiar deep voice that was losing his strength, King Renald. “She may enter.” The doors finally opened loudly and she hurried in, already seeing the King and Prince present. Though his younger brother and sister remained absent as ever. ‘They must not be involved. Prince Henri is the heir. It makes sense.’

She made it half way into the chamber before she looked back to the guards present. Sophia then turned to look at the King. “I recommend this be a private meeting, Your Majesty.”

Where his son kept a stoic expression, she saw the King crumble a little. She hadn’t told him what she wanted to discuss, only that it was a formal request. Given that she never made such an ask of any of them, she counted on them seeing how important it was. “Yes, leave us. The Saint and I have something to discuss in private.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Without any question, they turned and closed the door behind them. A loud thump of the wood signalled their secrecy. The King looked down from the throne at her. “You are a very different woman to the one that was cowering in fear.”

“I am.” There was silence between them for a moment. ‘He’s waiting on me as the one that called this meeting. Has he figured it out? Was this something that he feared the whole time? Was all the Prince’s questions about gauging my risk?’ Sophia fought back all the paranoia that rose up with her anger. She needed to focus on the facts. “A question for you. Do you know any Sulish?”

“An odd question for a meeting of secrecy, Miss Sophia.”

“Just answer the question.”

Prince Henri stepped forward. “Sophia, you are being far too loose with your words. This is the King. No matter your status or lives you’ve saved, you must still show him that respect.”

She crossed her arms. “Respect? I’ll grant that respect when I know you’re being honest with me.”

He hurried over to Sophia's side, not raising his voice too loud. “Your thoughts are coming out again, Sophia.”

“Oh, you haven’t heard my real thoughts yet, Prince.” She glared up at the King. “I want an answer. Did you know or did you just hope I wouldn’t figure it out? And if I did, would I just disappear like other Saints have from the pages of history?”

“Sophia!”

She turned towards the Prince giving him the same flare as his father. “You aren’t absolved either. Answer me! I’ve been lied to, bribed, strongarmed, kidnapped, traumatized and saw too much death. I think I’ve earned some answers or you’re going to see how much trouble a Saint can be.” While it wasn’t something on her mind. There was literally no one in the kingdom that could stop her. It was just her good intentions and trust that the Saints worked for them and not against.

Coughing harshly, the King stood up from the throne and walked down to meet Sophia. He seemed even older than the last time she saw him. “That will be enough, Henri. Hiding matters will not solve anything. It would seem in our wishes to protect the young woman, we have created our demise. Seems fitting punishment for a family built on lies.”

“Father.”

“You admit that you’ve been lying to me.”

The King started to circle around Sophia. “Let’s start with what you know. And I will answer or correct you.”

“Your magic device, the relic of Solis. Its real purpose isn’t to make an oath before Euthemia. Irst Eurten Whelin Catholid. It’s a command to activate the device. But you don’t know what it means, do you?”

“You translated it?”

“Once I realized command phrases wouldn’t be complex, yes. It’s to activate the magic transfer of mana to a target. That’s why you had only me touch the orb. I remember the Prince very carefully made sure to never touch it, always holding it in the cushion. Euthemia isn’t picking a Saint, you are! The relic is some sort of mana battery and because there’s no mana in the region, you’re making up the difference with it.”

“So that is what it says. The relic itself probably has full instructions. My ancestors likely knew it all clearly, but you are not entirely correct. The relic does transfer mana as you say, but it is not a battery in the manner that you believe. It does store mana, but it cannot create mana on its own. It has to come from somewhere.”

Sophia remained silent with this added detail. ‘There was writing all over it. I couldn’t translate it in the panic of the moment. If what he said is true. Then that would mean the Eye.’ She turned to match gazes with the King once more. “The Eye is your fault!”

“My family, yes. In truth, the relic sat in our vault for decades untouched. Solis relics can be found across the continent in possession of the wealthy and powerful. Some can grant vast strength and others prestige from just possessing it. The orb however was rejected by Solis as an affront to their society. Built on magic, a device that steals mana from people would alter the balance of power and destroy the hierarchy they carefully constructed. It was considered a cursed item and passed from hand to hand with little notice.”

“Until you got the idea of the Saint to use it for your gains.”

“Nothing so sinister, Miss Sophia. The truth is far more close to what you’re familiar with. Disease.” She thought to the Blue Dream and how much fighting plagues and sickness was tied to the Saint. “Nearly five hundred ago the Crimson Weed was spreading through the kingdom. A quarter of the population died in a month. No medicine, no mage could cure it. Nothing we did stopped it. Until the King’s daughter Silica had an idea.”

“The First Saint. She saved the kingdom from the plague and became the origins of the Oracles that Balstar wrote about.”

“She was never a Saint. She was much like you. She loved stories and studying. Ancient cultures was her passion and she made much of her life in the royal vault. So she knew the relic very well. With the kingdom on collapse, she proposed using the relic. If all the mages of the kingdom could not save it, then perhaps one singularly powerful mage could. Every man, woman and child in the reach of the relic would be drained of the mana and stored in the device for as long as it remained active. It constantly transferred its reserves into the marked person until their death. It was not a decision made lightly, but to save lives they acted.”

“And she became the Saint.”

“No, Silica died as the Royal Mage of the Court. It was only fifty years later with our need for saving by another through the relic that the Church constructed the Oracles and the Saint.”

“The Church knows and has been keeping this secret? They never wanted the Oracles translated properly.”

“Balstar was a Priest within their order, but I am told he had reservations about reworking their whole faith around the Saint. He was said to have left evidence of their duplicity within the Oracles, but they completely hold it within their grasp. The truth will never see the light.”

Sophia stepped back with the whole truth coming out. ‘This is far worse than I thought. I just considered they might excommunicate me, provided I never pressed too hard. But if they ever heard about it I’d be dead. I thought Balstar was a revered figure within the Church, but he’s a black mark that they erased.’ Her hand rubbed over her face dealing with the weight of everything she knew.

“Why did you make me the Saint then? I was already too close, too dangerous.”

“I wanted to protect you from the Church. I put a gag order on the Academy to seal all of your research. It was not perfect, but it would slow down the Church. And with you as the Saint, they could not act against you.”

Her anger had cooled. So much of her life wasn’t what she thought it was. Yet for all the lies, the King looked honest. ‘Protect me. All this trouble for me? I was a commoner, he could have let me just die.’ Sophia turned to look over to the Prince. “It all seems like far too much trouble. With all the backstabbing and fighting I see, what was worth the risk of bringing me in?”

“When I heard from my son about your theory, part of me hoped that you had figured it out. We’ve lived a lie that we cannot escape. I think I wanted this day to happen.”

“That’s reckless.”

Prince Henri stepped forward towards her. “The last King tied everything to the Saint and this nation. My father has done everything to reject it. We would prefer to see an end to it. But we face a collapse if the truth were to be exposed. The chaos, wars and death that would follow. It’s a road we can’t turn from.”

“But you are the cause of the deaths. You’ve been killing citizens and just ignoring it with the Saint.”

“What are you speaking of Sophia? We have caused no death.”

“The relic. You didn’t realize?”

“What?”

“We need mana. I don’t know exactly how it works, but the Blessing of Euthemia that cured me of all my ailments? That wasn’t the Blessing, it was the mana you transferred to me. The device, as you said, drains mana from everyone in the range of it and gives it to one person. We need that mana to survive. Our whole kingdom is constantly racked by diseases and sickness. You, King Renald, cough regularly and are sick almost constantly right? Without the mana our bodies are weaker. The relic is costing everyone their health.”

“But we still get plagues. The kingdom was almost crushed by it.”

“Every nation suffers from it. But you have to see the number of diseases we have been infected by is higher than anywhere else. The Church claims it is the Judgment of Euthemia and the Eye she made for our sins. But the truth is she doesn’t even care about us. This is your doing, not hers. This can be fixed. Undo the device and we have a fighting chance. Master Jolsi and I have an incomplete spell that can aid mages in healing the disease. Magic has advanced far more than in the centuries since Silica. We need to act now.”

Silence. She laid out her wishes for them. It was on the royal family to make a decision. ‘All the lies. It seems they were as trapped in a cycle as I am. I don’t like it, but this can still be fixed. I don't want people to die because they’re unwilling to do the right thing. If they truly care about the people like they seem, they’ll make the necessary decision. And accept the consequences that come.’ Sophia relaxed her stance much since entering the chamber. All the tension transferred to the family.

After a long period of thought, King Renald finally spoke. “How certain are you about this theory about mana? This is not something I have heard about as a function of mana.”

“Everyone lives normal lives with mana. We’re the only place that doesn’t. How do you know you need to breathe to live? You hold your breath. No one can remove their mana to see if it has a negative effect. It is constantly stripping people of a part of their life force. You weren’t going to see a problem until over a long enough time frame.”

“It does sound logical, but lacking in empirical evidence.”

“Before I came here, I transferred some of my mana to my friend. Her cold and other ailments improved. It’s not flawless data, but I’m standing here because of it. It will work. What the kingdom needs is not a Saint, but to work together. We’ve relied too long on a single exceptional individual to save us. I think it’s time we all save ourselves, together.”

There was a small nod from the King. It seemed like he was considering it. But Prince Henri stepped in. “If we expose the lies it will ruin the trust with the royal family and the Church. As much as we fight, you’re talking about the complete collapse of a religion that has supported everyone for centuries. And that’s to say nothing of our neighbors. Wars and societal collapse will be our future, even if we escape the Blue Dream.”

“But if we do nothing, we’re dead anyway. I’m tired. I’m burning myself running all over the kingdom healing the sick, but I’m losing the battle. Unless Master Jolsi and I can solve the formula in time there’s not going to be enough of the kingdom left to rule over.”

Everyone went silent. Both sides knew the direness of the situation. Death seemed the only possible outcome. ‘There needs to be a way to save the people. They’re suffering. I don’t want to be sitting on a pile of corpses because I’m the Saint!’

Prince Henri turned to the King, with Sophia half in his view. “What about a compromise then? Something that fulfills all the goals.”

“What did you have in mind, Henri?”

“Prince?”

“It would be another lie, but one to restore things to how they once were. Sophia, do you think destroying the device would restore everyone’s mana?”

“It would stop it from being drained. But I still have all it collected. I would need to return it to speed up their recovery.”

King Renald stepped forward. “You would give up the power of being the Saint?”

“I believe I said before I never wanted it. It belongs to the people, this isn’t mine. They’re the ones who need it.”

The Prince paced around with his plan. “Then I propose we make use of the Church’s faith. They’ve claimed that the Eye and lack of mana is punishment. We have Sophia return the mana to the people. We present the Saint as the real test of the Goddess. The Saint was a trial and only in giving the Euthemia’s gift to everyone in a selfless act is our sin cleansed. Sophia finally passes the Goddess’ trial upon us. With no more Saints we can in time restore the balance to how it was and avoid collapse.”

“I see what you mean by another lie,” Sophia said. ‘More lies. I don’t like it, but it’ll save lives. And that is more important.’ It didn’t take long for her to nod. The plan had a better chance of not causing the death of everyone she ever knew. “Let’s do it then.”

“We will all become the enemy of the Church for this. And without the Saint, you’ll just be a regular woman once more.”

She gave a rough smile welcome to the idea. “I can live with that.”

“The people may praise you now, but the Church could bury you in history.”

“Joining the company of Balstar as a rebel. I think I like that.”

“Balstar is still remembered well, his treacherous act to the Church painted over. They would not afford the same respect.”

“Fitting for me. We haven’t agreed in years.”

Prince Henri stood before Sophia lowering his guard to her. “I’m sorry for the lies. But believe me. Though the Church may convince the world, I’ll shout my voice raw to tell anyone I know, you are a True Saint, unwanted as that may be for you.”

Sophia grinned, feeling some of the exhaustion peeling away. She no longer knew what her path would be in the future. But it was a road she could walk proudly now. “That doesn’t sound so bad. That’s the sort of Saint I’ve always wished to be!”