Chapter 1292: Meeting The Matriarch
Chapter 1292: Meeting The Matriarch
The matriarch, a mysterious figure that Zephyrus, Mist, and Lara had never heard about from Faylen until now, through the entire trip, she had talked a lot about the monsters around the garden, their materials, how to prepare potions and antidotes against their poison, and more. And although it was very informative, they noticed she had been secretive about everything, either because she wanted to surprise them, or because she didn't really want to talk about it if she could help it...
"Alright children, you know how to fly, right?" Faylen asked them.
"I do!" Zephyrus nodded. "{Golden Phoenix Wings}!"
FLUOSH!
Zephy suddenly grew a pair of large, golden wings from his back in a similar fashion to Sylph's Draconification wings, they were not magical, as they were physical and real, but would quickly retract once the transformation was undone.
"Golden Phoenix Wings? Interesting...!" Hendrickson nodded. "Faylen, you've given your son a powerful Physique. Where did you even find such a secretive and incredibly rare mythical beast such as that one?"
"Well, we paid a visit to Cloudia for our vacations," Faylen said. "When we explored one of the pyramids, we found a large nest of those phoenix. He has even contracted an egg for his familiar, which is still gestating, resting inside his Soul Scape."
"A-Amazing! To Cloudia you said? Ahh, I wish I could go there too! But our duty ties us into this city, unfortunately," sighed Hendrickson.
"Wind Spirits! Can you give me some wings? Like those of a bug!" said Lara.
FLUOSH!
The Wind Spirits gathered behind Lara, fusing with her back, and materializing into a pair of beautiful green wings like those of butterflies.
"Oh, so that's how the Saintess of Spirits uses her magic, truly incredible... I had never seen the usage of worldly spirits in such a way before!" Hendrickson gasped.
"Did you see that?"
"She wielded the worldly spirits so easily!"
"Who is that girl?"
"Is she a Saintess?"
"She's with Saintess Faylen!"
A flock of Celestials gathered around, looking at Lara in surprise, and also noticed Zephy's amazing wings, which they also praised.
"But why can't you go to Cloudia?" wondered Mist. "If you really want to go..."
Her Spirit imbued her Magical Aura into her body, helping her grow a pair of wings, the same one as her little spirit had, golden-colored butterfly wings.
"Despite having wings that can carry us anywhere, we... we are not allowed to freely explore the world..." said Hendrickson. "Since birth that we are assigned a role within this city, we live to protect it and the Legacy of the Saintess."
"O-Oh..." Mist muttered. "I see..."
She found it slightly sad that the people were not allowed to be truly free, the Celestials were born with a purpose and could not do anything else than to protect Celestia and the Tower.
They flew through the skies, led by Hendrickson, gaining the attention of many curious Celestials, the children noticed there were no young Celestials at all, only adults.
"Are there no kids?" wondered Zephy, looking slightly sad.
"We don't experience childhood like you do, the moment we are born, we quickly take the shape of our current selves," said Hendrickson.
"Huh? H-How does that works?" wondered Lara. "I'm confused..."
"Celestials are part ethereal, like fairies," said Faylen. "While fairies are usually born from the World Tree, Celestials are born from the Clouds of Heaven every 1000 years."
"H-Huh?! T-That's wild..." Lara muttered. "I thought you... Well, you did that."
"Oh, no, we usually don't reproduce like the rest of the world," Hendrickson laughed. "There is no need. And we lack the... well, the necessary parts."
"Although they take upon female or male appearances, Celestials are usually sexless," said Faylen. "Though they do have gender identities or develop them based in their
personalities."
"That's right," nodded Hendrickson.
All of this information was quite shocking to the children, they could swear these people were still similar to them... Yet even their conception was much more different. Even fairies could reproduce normally if they wished, but Celestials seemed not capable of.
Also just "being born from the Clouds of Heaven" was very ambiguous for them.
Was it any cloud out there?
Didn't clouds move around?
How could they tell where their children are born?
Many questions filled their little heads.
"We're here," Hendrickson said. "If possible, try to be polite and not speak unless the Matriarch refers to you, children."
"I-I understand..." nodded Zephyrus. "Matriarch... Is she like your mother?"
"Yes, she is our mother, she is the one that controls the Clouds of Heaven above our city, and grants them the power necessary for our creation," Hendrickson smiled. "Without her, we
wouldn't exist."
"Huh..." Lara nodded, looking into the large tower.
The doors opened, and they were led inside.
At long last, they reached the second floor of the tower, while looking around and finding many Celestials wearing golden armor and holding weapons such as blades and spears.
At the end of the floor, which was beautifully decorated with many white stone statues of ancient saints, there was a throne of white stone, where a woman sat down.
Gracious, tall, powerful, beautiful, she was the embodiment of what a person would imagine a goddess to look like.
Yet she was nothing but a mortal at the end, a very long-lived one.
With cascading, long, blonde hair, shining as bright as gold, blue eyes like the sky, pale skin
like porcelain, and a size that surpassed three meters of height.
She wore a beautiful yet simple white dress, and her wings were the biggest, long and angelic-like, yet still clearly like those of fairies.
Her natural beauty was all there was to it, she was not wearing any fancy accessories or anything at all.
"Welcome, Faylen, I've already sensed your presence," she smiled, talking with a gentle,n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
motherly voice.
"Matriarch," Faylen greeted her without lowering her head. "I suppose you already guessed
why I came here too, right?"
"Yes, you want the new Saintess to go through the Trial and test the other two children as well?" she asked. "Nobody other than a Saint has ever stepped into the Trial before, you see."
"I see... So it's not possible, then? Even if I request it using my authority as the current strongest Saintess?" Faylen asked.
"Well, I never said it was impossible," laughed the matriarch. "You are allowed."