The God Ritual

An altar, in reality a low lying table, had been set up in the middle of the library. It was adorned by three golden apples atop an expensive looking porcelain plate. According to Misane, all she had to do to begin the God Ritual was recite the correct incantations.

This would compel a god to appear, and although he would probably be upset at first, the offering of golden apples, which were apparently beloved by the divine, should be sufficient to appease him. Once he was satisfied, we could ask him to grant our wish - to transport Arisa and I back to our world.

We had settled on Tokyo Station as our destination.

The library had become a function room of sorts; the furniture had been pushed to the sides so that it was flush with the walls, and scores of people currently occupied the empty middle space. Even Eisan and Rynn, the other two members of my party, had arrived to see me off.

Both, it seemed like, were acquainting themselves with the curiosity that was Iwasaki Arisa.

“Misane tells me you can read the runes written in The Healer of the Lake,” Rynn spoke enthusiastically.

“A most amazing thing!” her brother, Eisan, added. “I’m always surprised when I meet a human that can read. I don’t suppose you can write as well?”

It had to be mentioned that Eisan and Rynn were demons, and that the former had been crowned the new demon lord after the death of King Balaam. Despite the title, he acted deferentially when he saw Mab and even greeted her as ‘big sister’.

The usual suspects, Marissa and Lull were also present and the only person we were waiting on now was Trajan Araya. There was even some belief that he might bring a reformed Prince Lorenzo with him, but there was no such luck.

He turned up alone, and we were all the more happier for it.

We had been waiting at least an hour for his appearance, and I had had enough time with the others to have said my goodbyes two times over. Perhaps aware that he was the only person to whom I had yet to bid farewell, he hugged me as soon as I was within touching distance.

“So this is it,” he said when the embrace broke.

“You’re welcome in Japan anytime.”

“I remember the stories you told me about your hometown, Ayato,” he mused. “And of course I remember your goal too. I think you’ll make a fine doctor.”

I had my childhood friend, Satou Tsumugi, to thank for that.

For a while there, she had been my very reason for being. It wasn’t that I was in love with her or anything like that, although I’m sure she would have grown up to be a great beauty. It’s just that I was always a single-minded individual - once I decided I wanted to save Tsumugi and people like her, I became obsessed with the idea of becoming a doctor. That’s all.

“Maybe we’ll take a trip to Japan one day,” Marissa had skirted to Trajan’s side and locked her arms in his, as though to show me that the inevitable had finally happened. “We’d have to find another Jewel of Lazarus though…”

“And some golden apples,” Arisa laughed, directing her gaze towards the altar.

“Japan sounds like a great place, hey?” Trajan nudged me in the ribs. “I want to visit one of those maid cafes you told me about, you know, the one with the women dressed in the - ow!”

An irritated Marissa had conked him over the head.

"I think what he means to say is that it's been fun, and that he'll miss you. Isn't that right, dear?" she masked her irritation behind a smile.

"Huh?" Trajan was never one to take a hint. "No, I mean - hey, wha-?"

Before he could finish speaking, Marissa had clipped him on the ear and dragged him away. Misane had been watching this comical scene from afar and as soon as it concluded, she came forward to tell me that all of her preparations were done - we could begin as soon as Arisa and I were ready.

I knew in my heart of hearts that this was the right thing to do. Still, I should get it over with as soon as possible, or else even I would begin to have regrets. It was the same with Arisa - although, looking back on it now, I don't think I ever properly asked her how she felt about the prospect of going home.

She hadn't been in Avalon as long as me though, so she couldn't have had the same attachment. Or maybe I was wrong?

I looked over at Arisa and noted the consternation apparent in her face. It only when she noticed me staring that she seemed to overcome whatever negative emotion it was that had assailed her - with a deep breath and a gulp, she nodded.

"OK, let's start."

Misane must have been considering her role in ritual in a multifaceted way. On one hand, she was doing us an extraordinary favour, but it was also a chance for her to advance her own knowledge. Even though she might have considered me an uncouth layman, even I was aware that the summoning of a literal deity was not something that happened everyday, not even in Avalon. It must have had extraordinary research value.

She held the Jewel of Lazarus up towards the ceiling and began to mumble the incantations under her breath. At first, nothing seemed to happen; then, all at once, the crystal began to glow a coruscating yellow and something began to materialise in the empty space in front of the altar. I had expected the summoning of a god to be accompanied by a rumbling of the earth, or the darkening of the sky, but there was no such occurrence.

One second, Misane's hands were aloft, her fingers wrapped around a brilliant looking jewel and the next, the jewel was gone and the eight of us had been joined by a ninth person who had quite literally appeared out of thin air.

Her golden hair swept down her back, and her beauty was, quite frankly, without peer. She even made Mab look pedestrian in comparison. She was dressed in what I could only describe as a toga - the very picture of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and lust.

Hey, it even fit the golden apple motif.

The goddess looked at the offerings on the altar and smiled, but that was all. She didn't deign to reach out and take them, or let alone eat them, as though to do something like that in front of humans would be unbecoming. She looked at us as one might look upon a colony of ants - fascinated and curious, but only as a collective - she did not take any note of us individually.

That was the kind of impression I received as she swept her gaze across at us. At least until she laid eyes on Arisa.

"Oh, it's the pitiful girl," her eyes lit up in recognition.

"...."

Arisa was unresponsive; the goddess smiled vacuously.

"Do you want to do the honours?" she whispered to me.

"I want you to transport Arisa - this girl here - and I to Japan," I said.

"Japan...?" the goddess looked to be combing through her infinite memory. "Ah, yes... that small group of islands near the Celestial Empire..."

"Wait!" I interjected - the fact that she referred to the 14,125 islands that made up Japan as a small group did stand out to me, but that was by no means the major issue. "The Celestial Empire? If it's still called that, then we've gone too far back!"

The last thing I wanted was to be isekai'ed to the Three Kingdoms period or something. That would be too much of a leap, even if you thought my story so far a poor one. I had taken up arms against King Balaam and his army, but I wasn't interested in fighting Cao Cao and the heroes of Wei.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I know exactly what place and time you'd like to go to," she reassured me.

Of course she would. She was a goddess after all.

"But," she looked surprisingly serious, "are you sure about this?"

"I'm absolutely sure!"

"I wasn't talking to you, you ant."

"Huh..?"

I was struck by the goddess' piercing gaze and found myself involuntarily stepping out of the way so that she could engage Arisa in some sort of otherworldly staring contest. It was Arisa who folded first; she nodded and hung her head low as the goddess got to work. With a flick of her fingers, a portal had appeared in the embassy library.

We both stepped up to it.

"I don't have to tell you what will happen to you if you wake up from this dream, do I?" the goddess said, and I knew better than to answer - I clearly wasn't the one she was talking to, and I definitely didn't want to be called an 'ant' again.

"I won't waste what you've given me," Arisa replied cryptically.

The goddess seemed satisfied by this answer. She hummed a seraphic tune as she scooped up the three apples Misane had prepared, and I caught a glimpse of that of that ethereal smile as she turned into golden dust. It was then that I realised something - didn't Arisa and the goddess sound eerily similar?

As though they had the same voice...

Oh well. I could always ask her about that before we parted ways at Tokyo Station. We'd have to exchange LINE contacts first, of course, so that we can keep in touch. I made the daring move to hold Arisa's hand so that we could both leap at the same time - however, I found myself grasping the air.

She was no longer standing by my side. At some point, she had shifted behind me and now had both palms pressed against my back. But this was no embrace. The word rifling up from within me was ''why?'', but it caught in my throat as she pushed me. Everything went black, and all I could hear was Arisa's faded voice.

"I'm sorry, Ayato..."