As I spun, I saw the statues of the gods move, opening a path. Eglantine was waiting before the altar and would step forth to whirl once the path was fully open, ensuring that nobody in the audience would notice if she couldn’t erect high enough pillars. The knowledge that everything was going according to plan brought me some comfort, allowing me to focus on my dance. My luminous feystones obscured my view, so I didn’t even notice the waves of mana radiating from the stage and ascending the altar or the fact that the statues had started to shine. I simply finished my whirl and then returned to kneeling.
“Praise be to the gods,” I said.
In an instant, I was swallowed up by the most dazzling light. I squeezed my eyes shut on instinct and suddenly felt weightless. Then a voice reached my ears.
“So you have returned. You came second, Myne.”
Um, what?
I sheepishly opened my eyes and gazed upward. We had planned for me to bring Eglantine and the unseen Ferdinand to the Garden of Beginnings once the whirling was complete, but here I was, facing Erwaermen alone.
Hold on... We didn’t account for this.
The blood drained from my face. I frantically looked around, searching for an exit, but I couldn’t find one anywhere. Even the entrance behind the statues was shut for some reason.
Um, is Lady Eglantine going to be okay?! Can she reopen it on her own?! Ferdinand, what’s the plan?!
As far as I was aware, he hadn’t expected me to teleport to the Garden of Beginnings immediately after finishing my dedication whirl.
“Are you listening, Myne?” Erwaermen asked.
“No, sorry. This happened so suddenly that I was lost in thought. Could you repeat yourself?”
“I said you came in second in the race.”
Second...?
“Do you mean... Gervasio got here before me?!” I exclaimed, my eyes wide with terror. Ferdinand must have made a mistake. Maybe he’d destroyed the wrong medal, allowing Gervasio to escape the country gate.
Erwaermen shook his head. “Would that were the case, but no. Terza has disappeared. I do not know where he is.” Maybe he wasn’t able to track Gervasio now that the man’s medal was destroyed. Or maybe Gervasio had gone somewhere else.
“Does that mean Ferdinand came first, then?”
“Yes. The coward who attacked Terza to obstruct him returned to me before you.”
Wait, Ferdinand attacked Gervasio? This is the first I’ve heard about that.
He must have traveled all over while I was holed up in the Ehrenfest Dormitory. I didn’t know which route he had taken to reach Erwaermen, but it didn’t really matter; time hadn’t been of the essence.
“Look,” Erwaermen said. His eyes were still closed, but he indicated a direction with a subtle turn of his head. “Upon his return, Quinta declared his victory and then withdrew without asking for the path to the foundation. He even left something behind. Surely he does not consider this garden a storage room of some kind.”
I turned to see something wrapped in silver cloth and tied with magic rope, the former to prevent mana from seeping out and the latter to keep anyone from touching it. I recognized it almost immediately.
That’s the magic tool Grutrissheit we were going to give Lady Eglantine!
I’d pleaded with Ferdinand to let me see under the cloth, but he’d refused; my goddess-dyed mana would have overwhelmed the tool and forced him to remake it from scratch. He had taken it here to the Garden of Beginnings and used the opportunity to announce his victory.
Well, that shouldn’t surprise me.
“You came here later than the insolent Quinta, but you were first to reach the foundation,” Erwaermen explained. “Its mana has increased, though it has yet to be dyed completely. My congratulations on defeating the coward.”
Ferdinand wanted me to supply the foundation before him. But thanks.
I wasn’t going to correct Erwaermen—far be it from me to turn down his praise—but my victory against Ferdinand wasn’t at all deserved. I’d only supplied the foundation as a means of releasing my excess mana and so Ferdinand could see whether it changed the divine power within me.
“Moreover, the country gates are almost entirely dyed with your mana. I acknowledge your triumphs and shall make you the new Zent, not Quinta.”
“Um...”
This was getting a little out of hand. I didn’t want to become the Zent out of nowhere. The role didn’t appeal to me, and I was already in the process of granting Eglantine the Grutrissheit as the Divine Avatar of Mestionora. Not to mention, Ferdinand would be furious if my actions undid all of his hard work.
“Myne. Finish supplying the foundation before Quinta.”
“It seems wrong to make me the Zent. Ferdinand won the race, didn’t he? And there are plans in place to make me Aub Ahrensbach.”
Erwaermen’s decision undermined the whole point of our race, but he was unperturbed. “You filled the foundation with mana.”
“Yes, but only because—”
“And most of all, I dislike that insolent man. I would rather anyone else become the Zent.”
So it was a matter of personal preference. I doubted there was much I could say to change Erwaermen’s mind, especially when he had so many reasons to hate Ferdinand.
“I understand,” I said. “Ferdinand was anything but courteous with you. But he also won the race, so I would argue we should do as he says.” Passing him over would mean casting aside the reason we’d competed in the first place. Besides, honoring the results would guarantee Ferdinand the throne; Erwaermen would still get his way in the end.
“Quinta must dye the foundation before he can be freed. Such was our agreement. He has yet to finish, so act quickly. Dye the foundation before Quinta steals it from you.”
Could you maybe not speak like it’s already set in stone?
Fully dyeing the foundation in my current state would make it so much harder for Eglantine to dye it as the new Zent. Not to mention, I wanted to save my mana for Ahrensbach’s Spring Prayer and entwickeln. We were all working so hard to put Eglantine on the throne, so I refused to budge no matter how strongly the former god felt.
I desperately searched for the right words to convince Erwaermen. Did they even exist? How was I to convince someone whose actions were founded in the realm of the gods?
“Your mana alone will not be enough,” he continued, more or less ignoring me. “Mestionora shall provide her aid and grant you yet more of her inexhaustible power. She will make use of your body until the foundation is dyed.”
Light rained down on me before I could even respond. The feystones covering my body began to spark as if resisting Mestionora’s descent.
“Eep?!”
My charms from Ferdinand activated on their own, and it was then that I realized the gravity of the situation. Rather than seeking my consent, Mestionora was outright attempting to steal my body. Goose bumps rose all over my arms.
Am I about to lose even more of my memories?!
“No! I won’t give up my body!” I cried, resisting the presence trying to enter me. I crossed both arms in front of my chest and channeled mana into my feystones.
I refused to give up more of my memories. Some things were too important for compromise. I’d also promised Ferdinand that I wouldn’t carelessly surrender my body again. He still refused to tell me what Mestionora had done the last time she’d taken control of me, and the thought of what the goddess might do if she descended again turned my stomach.
I don’t want to worry or hurt him!
I focused on rejecting the presence until the light ceased raining down on me. Erwaermen began to radiate an overwhelming amount of power in response.