Blessed Ch. 02: New Day, New World

Gladra smiled a little at the partial quote. "No, not a formal form of 'you.' Rather, a dual-gendered pronoun."

I frowned. "Like sh'he?"

Gladraxs expression mirrored my own. "I'm not sure - it seems Au'rea's blessing is straining to make sense of the concept. Do you truly not have a set pronouns that properly addresses hermaphrodites?"

I blinked. "Are... there are hermaphroditic people in Xeria? As in people with both Male and female organs who can be either side of a... er..." I felt an inner heat creep up my cheeks and ears, "...sexual encounter?"

Gladraxs eyes went wide. "Why of course, fully a fifth of nearly every race on Xeria is hermaphroditic. There are no hermaphrodites in your world?"

"Yes, but not in the same way. On Earth, someone was a hermaphrodite - or, more generally, we called them intersex - if they had tissue or parts of both sexes' organs, but not fully both. I think. For the most part, they were seen as an irregularity, a mishap of genes, and intersex conditions were rare enough that there wasn't really a need for a common pronoun that addressed both, as they were mainly one gender with small bits of tissue from the other. At least, not until recently, when society began to acknowledge gender-fluid people, but even then, there's a boatload of different ways that people might address that. Zi and hir and they and them are the most common."

Both Gladra and Rhaliyah seemed shocked by this revelation. Which, to be fair, I was pretty shocked to find out that about 20% of Xeria's population was hermaphrodites. "Are hermaphrodites restricted to sentient beings?" I asked, "Elves and Dwarves and Humans and so on?"

Gladra shook her head. "Nearly every species of large animal is hermaphroditic. Many plants are completely hermaphroditic, while some smaller creatures, like bees and ants, lack hermaphrodites entirely," Gladra explained absentmindedly, still frowning in thought.

I frowned after a moment. "Hold on, are hermaphrodites allowed to be disciples of Au'rea?"

Gladra raised an eyebrow at me. "Of course not. Such rumors are purely the imaginings of those who think we are nothing but sex-crazed cultists. Hermaphrodites may appear as women for the most part, but they are not women, just as they are not men. They are hermaphrodites. Just as women are not hermaphrodites, nor are men."

While her voice was educational and polite, I got the distinct sense that I had struck a sensitive issue. "Sorry," I said, ducking my head. "On Earth, there's a popular fetish that includes hermaphrodites - what are often called futas, short for futanaris, a word from a different language than my own. For the most part, futas are considered females with 'a little something extra down below.' So I just automatically assumed..." I gestured blankly.

Gladra smiled kindly at me. "Do not worry, Aaron. It is understandable that you would have trouble coming to terms with such a shift in reality." Her smile turned teasing. "In fact, it's a wonder you have only fainted once since arriving here."

I chuckled. "Okay, Kairko-Okriak, Balances the World and... Điþself, and Understands Điþself and Others. Next was...?"

Gladra laughed softly, shaking her head. "Đi Who Balances the Self and The World, Who Understands Điþself and Others." The Priestess gave me an imperious smirk, as if to be assured that I got the title right.

I smiled sheepishly, nodding. "'Đi Who Balances the Self and The World, Who Understands Điþself and Others.'" It was novel using both a voiced 'th' and an unvoiced 'th' in the same word. And the moment the thought occurred to me, I thought again about Norse language, recalling the rune-like appearance of Gladra's letters. Eth (Đ/đ) and Thorn (Þ/þ) were still used in Iceland in modern times, Eth sounding just like that hard 'th' in 'thee,' while Thorn was a soft 'th' like in 'thief.' I suppose trawling the internet for hours on end and learning random shit does pay off. Sometimes. I still couldn't balance a checkbook for shit. Or cook.

An approving smile. "Good," she praised me, before resuming our walk. "Next is Thsathmai, Goddess of the Celestial Sky; then there is Edolurdin, God of Magic; Aelor, Divine of secrets you have already heard of; and finally, Ueoa, Queen of Shadows, Lady of Dreams, Bearer of Death, Keeper of Wisdom and Knowledge."

"Ooh-ay-a?" I slowly repeated.

"Ooh-ay-oh-a," Gladra corrected, just as slowly. "She and Au'rea anchor the Nine on either side of a great spectrum."

"And Kairko-Okriak links each side together, forming the Trine?"

The Priestess positively beamed at me. "Correct."

"So Au'rea was saying that I have to get Blessed by Kairko-Okriak and... Ueoa, before nine years have past?"

Gladra nodded, her face grave. "Indeed. Hardly any time at all."

I half-shrugged. "Nine-tenths of a decade is about a whole eighth of my life expectancy. Sounds like a lot of time to me."

Gladra flashed me a quick look of confusion. "You expect to live only seven decades?"

I shrugged fully. "Give or take. There's some people who live to their early hundreds, like 108 or something, but they're outliers. Average life expectancy for my generation is around eighty, give or take a half decade or so, though men generally fall on the short side of that." Then I actually realized what she said. "Wait, 'only?' You mean you expect to live longer?"

Gladra glanced across me at Rhaliyah, then focused back on me. "Aaron, I am 86 years old, and expect to live for more than three times as long."

I blinked at her, staring for a long moment. "Just to be clear, years on Earth are 365 days long, with an extra day every four years, and days are 24 hours long, each hour made up of 60 minutes of 60 seconds each. Seconds are about... one... two... three... four..." I trailed off, feeling pretty dumb. Even if I told her all that, it wasn't like she could actually figure out how much time that was.

Gladra made a thoughtful face. "Our seconds, minutes, hours, and even days seem the same, however our years are exactly 360 days long, made of twelve months of 30 days each. So I would be about 87 years old on Earth, and still less than a third through my life. And you would be almost a third of a year older here than you would be on Earth."

I sighed. "Ah, to be 21 already," I chuckled. "But seriously, even accounting for the 5-day difference - if I have my math right, every 73 years on Earth is effectively 74 when comparing to Xeria - you have a life expectancy over three times what Earth's is? And, no offence, but compared to the most advanced civilizations on Earth, Xeria seems... primitive. You use horses, do most heavy labor manually, don't even have electricity..."

"You mean you can control lightning without magic?" Rhaliyah exclaimed.

"Er... not quite. But our medicine is likely centuries ahead of yours." Then a thought struck me. "Unless... magic is your medicine, and is far more powerful and versatile than technology..." I trailed off, considering the implications. Had an ambulance crew found me at the same moment that Rhaliyah had, from the sound of things I still likely would have died, Au'rea's Blessing notwithstanding. But Gladra seemed certain that she could have saved my life, if not my limbs, even without the Blessing. A miracle for Earth's modern medicine. A certainty for Xeria's magical healing.

In other words, complications aside, if I stayed in Xeria I might live to be older than 261. I could live longer than the United States was right now. "Okay, when you measure life expectancy as a couple centuries, rather than a couple handfuls of decades, less than a decade does seem short," I conceded.

"And even ignoring that, Au'rea's appearance to you, Rhaliyah, and myself is unprecedented," Gladra pointed out. "The Trine rarely walked the world, even in times of eld. Finding the other two now could take lifetimes, if they even exist on Xeria physically."

I swallowed at the implications. "I guess..." I turned, staring at the beautiful, snow-ladened garden. Gladra's and Rhaliyah's eyes were like a physical weight on the back of my head.

"You guess...?" Rhaliyah prompted me.

I took a deep breath. What I was about to say went against everything I had believed in all my life as an atheist, but given what I'd seen in the past day and a half...

I turned to look at the two women. "I guess we just have to have faith that Au'rea will guide us true."

*****

Our walk continued for another hour, and Gladra talked more about the Divines. At one point, I suddenly had a thought. "Gladra, none of the Divines - specifically, none of the male Divines - have... you called them aspects, right? None of them have aspects for male fertility, correct? There is no male counterpart of the Disciples of Au'rea? Or, for that matter, no hermaphrodite counterpart? And if Ueoa is supposed to be the opposite of Au'rea, why isn't one of them male?"

Gladra smiled ruefully at me. "You have asked a question that has plagued theologists for centuries. Male and hermaphrodites do not have a religious order akin to the Disciples of Au'rea, and none of the Gods, nor Kairko-Okriak, have aspects of fertility, lust, and sex. There have been numerous theories, the most prominent among the secular thinkers being that it is because females are life-tenders, carrying new life in their wombs. Of course, this is used as incentive to allow hermaphrodites into the Disciples, despite the fact that the order was clearly founded to include women only. Others suggest that there once were more than the Nine, and that there may have once been hermaphrodite and male orders of fertility."

"And what do you believe, Sister Gladra?" Rhaliyah asked.

The Priestess smiled. "I believe that whatever the reason, the Divines will reveal it to us in time. Perhaps, the Blessed of Au'rea will discover the reason for us." Gladra fixed me with a soft, yet teasing smile.

I coughed, feeling the tips of my ears begin to burn. "I suppose, when I meet the other Trine, I could ask them. Ueoa is the Goddess of wisdom and knowledge, right? She must know." I glanced around, smiling. "Or maybe Au'rea will drop in on us again sometime and enlighten us."

Gladra raised a skeptical eyebrow, and Rhaliyah smirked in amusement. But we all took a second to pause and look around anyways. No glowing goddess.

Looking back at each other with sheepish smiles, I opened my mouth to joke 'apparently not,' when the slap of bare feet came toward us down one corridor. Around it came Di'ia, the Kitsune looking excited. Her gaze flicked to me for a moment before she focused on Gladra. "Chio is en route to Au'thira on our fastest horse and with two of the swiftest remounts. Vlere and Othri have already spread the word to the others, and the warmaids are preparing for their lessons this afternoon. Is there anything else you wish for me to do, Sister Gladra?"

Gladra smiled. "Yes, in fact. You are among the strongest of us in magicraft, Di'ia, and I would have no other instruct the Blessed of Au'rea in the arts of magic."

I blinked. "Magic?" I repeated. "You want me to learn magic?"

Gladra turned her smile on me. "Of course, Aaron. As the Blessed of Au'rea, you should at least have a practical basis upon which to work with. We do not know what gifts the Blessing will impart, though clearly an aura of... attraction and superior recovery are part of it. Yet all Blessed have gained powers from the Divines, and I do not doubt that you will be any different."

"But I'm from Earth! I mean, sure, after being transported to a different world that does have magic, I'm not so stupid as to say that there can't be magic on Earth, but as far as we know, there isn't. Magic isn't something that just anyone can learn, is it?"

Di'ia and Gladra glanced at each other, and the latter gave the Kistune a small nod. Di'ia nodded back, then focused on me. "To some extent or another, all sentient peoples of Xeria can use magic. This is constrained, however, by two factors. The first is the specific Crafts of magic that one is capable of performing. Usually, each individual is capable of one or two, maybe three different Crafts, though there are some who can perform even more. There are even legends of great heroes who were able to use every craft, but they haven't been seen in millennia.

"Second, the flow of mana, or aether, or in more simplified terms, magic power, through one's body determines the extent of what they are capable of doing with their craft.

"This is a simplified explanation, of course; many Crafts overlap, and the number of Crafts and the measure of the flow of mana make classifying each and every magic user complex. Currently, a number-ranking system is used, with the 5th Rank indicating the lowest range of mana flow, and the 1st Rank indicating the highest ranges . Alongside that is a tab system, indicating the number and type of Crafts one can use. I am a 3rd-Rank/3-Tab mage; I can use the Flame, Light, and Space Crafts, each represented by a flame, star, and a ripple - I'll teach you all the tabs eventually."

Having been an avid gamer, I immediately latched onto the concept of a magic system. "So, you're about average for mana flow, but at the upper end for the number of Crafts you can use?"

Di'ia grinned. "Actually, Ranks get narrower the higher you get. The 5th and 4th Ranks account for nearly three quarters of registered magic users, 40 and 30 percent each. 1st counts only the top 5 percent, second the next 10 percent, and third is the 15 percent below that. So I'm actually in the top third as far as mana flow is concerned. And while 5th rank is the largest, the distribution is assorted pretty evenly. 1st-Rank represents an incredible flow of mana.

But for Tabs, you are correct; 3 Tabs is above average."

I nodded, thinking for a moment. It was only then that I realized that Gladra and Rhaliyah were nowhere to be found. Sighing, I asked, "So what, exactly, does the flow account for? The difference between a fireball and lighting a candle?"

The Kitsune smiled, nodded, and gestured for me to follow as she began to walk, her tail swishing placidly back and forth behind her trim rear. "Roughly speaking, yes. The flow of mana dictates how quickly one's personal reservoir of mana refills. 5th-Rankers can take anywhere from a month or so to a couple of weeks to completely replenish their stores of mana, while 4th-Rankers could take a week to as little as two or three days. 3rd-Rankers like myself usually refill within a day, give or take a matter of hours, while 2nd-Rankers are replenished in a couple of hours. 1st-Rankers almost always are completely topped off within an hour. The rate of mana flow doesn't strictly inform how much one can store within their body, but generally speaking, higher ranks can also store more mana than lower."

"So it's not so much a matter of how much someone can put into their magic, but how much they're willing to put in, right? A 5th-Ranker and a 1st-Ranker probably could perform some pretty impressive magicraft in one go, but the 1st-Ranker could afford to do it more often, because they'll be ready to go in an hour, while the 5th-Ranker almost never would, because getting back the same amount of mana would take weeks. Right?"

Di'ia beamed at me. "Exactly. Granted, there are ways around mana expenditures and some 1st-Rankers have comparatively small pools of mana while some 5thzRankers have pools to rival 1st-Rankers, but more often than not it comes down to the flow itself."

I nodded again, thinking over what other questions would be good to ask. "Aside from not being able to do magic, is there any drawback to having a low amount of stored mana?"

"Only when someone has used nearly everything they have. It's basically never an issue for 1st, or even 2nd-Rankers, but if someone only has a tiny, infinitesimal amount of mana inside them, they could die if it is not increased within an hour. Most 3rd-Rankers are safe, though those who use up all their mana may become light-headed after an hour, for about an hour beyond. The way we measure mana inside a body is based on the amount of mana it takes to do one of the smallest works of magic - lighting an average candle. We regard that small piece of Flame Magicraft as the measuring stick against which levels of mana are measured, and consider it as using one piece, one 'measure' of mana. Most people have a pool of a couple thousand mana, and we've found that staying below 100 mana for more than an hour is dangerous."

I thought for a moment. "So 3rd-Rankers have a flow of about 100 or 200 mana per an hour? And 1st would have to have closer to thousands or tens of thousands of mana flowing through them each hour." Di'ia nodded, clearly pleased with how quickly I was figuring it out. "But that would mean that 5th-Rankers only replenish their mana at a rate of less than, say, 5 mana per an hour."

"Which is why they are so conservative with their magicraft. You asked before of there are those who couldn't perform magic. In a way, there are: people with extremely small mana pools, who also are 5th-rankers, are effectively just that. They might be able to do the equivalent of lighting a candle or five, but not much more than that."

I considered that for a moment. I came from a world where magic was just a myth, but I could imagine living in a world where everyone else could do amazing things, but I wasn't.

Then I refocused onto the original cause of the whole conversation. "Okay, so let's assume that my body works the same way, at least on Xeria. How do we figure out the whats and how-muches?"

Di'ia smiled mischievously, then opened a door. Inside was a large, circular room, with a life-sized statue of Au'rea, completely nude, in the center. Cradled in her hands near her chest was a glowing orb, about the size of her head. At her feet was a table, covered with an ornate cloth, on top of which was an assortment of other orbs and crystals.

"This," Di'ia said, gesturing grandly, "is the Shrine of Magic. The orb that the likeness of Au'rea holds is the source of power for the enchantments we use. It is made of mana crystal, or aether crystal, depending on which term one prefers. Those upon the table at her feet are what we use not only to measure one's flow and determine their mana pool and Crafts, but also to store additional mana, should the need arise."

Di'ia went to the table and picked up one of the crystals, a cloth between her hands and it, before turning to me. "Just place your hand upon the surface, and we shall see what Rank you are."

I swallowed. "Actually, could we do that last? I... I kind of want to see if I even have any mana at all. Or if I have any Crafts for that matter."

The Kitsune smirked skeptically. "Afraid you'll be low-rank, Aaron?" I blushed, but nodded. What sort of hero could I even aspire to be if impressive magic killed me? I half expected Di'ia to force me to do the Rank-measurer first, teasing all the way, but she simply nodded, set down the crystal, and picked up another. "Your Crafts. There are eighteen to test; this is Light, for obvious reasons."

Heart racing, I placed my hand on the crystal. The instant my fingertips made contact it began to glow, golden light pouring out. Di'ia grinned. "As I expected. As Blessed of Au'rea, I was sure that Light, along with Flame and Life, will respond to you. But I get ahead of myself." She turned, setting the Light crystal on the table and picking up another. It was then that I noticed the tiny star etched into the Light crystal, and the wispy-looking symbol on the next. "Light's opposite, Shadow," Di'ia explained. When I touched it, nothing happened. "No surprise, though you could have had an innate affinity for it," Di'ia said. Sixteen more went by, three responding to my touch aside from Light. First was the flame-etched Flame crystal, which wasn't a surprise to either of us as it glowed and flickered as though a fire burned within it. The next to respond was the ankh-marked Life symbol, glowing a golden green as it caught my attention. I recognized the ankh as an Egyptian hieroglyph, which didn't make sense. How would an Egyptian symbol find its way to Xeria? "Where does that symbol come from?" I asked, pointing to the ankh.