The Order of Elysia

Chapter 9-Inspection

On the third day of their training, the morning was dedicated to combat practice and Lilly wondered whether Warden Volker would have them do practical exercises instead of giving long lectures about the Steelbounds and safety measures. As she strolled leisurely toward the training grounds after breakfast, alongside Alaric and Raven, a blonde woman hurried past them and Lilly had to look twice to be sure it was Freya. Her heart skipped a beat- she was okay! Quickly, Lilly caught up with her, overtook her and stepped in front of her, leaving Freya no choice but to stop.

"Freya! Are you okay?", Lilly burst out, studying the athletic woman. She appeared unharmed and healthy, but a bitter expression formed on the woman's face as she recognized Lilly.

"Leave me alone.", she hissed, glancing around as if to make sure no one saw them speaking.

Lilly sighed, but she decided not to force her company onto Freya if it was so clearly unwanted. Didn’t Freya remember that she had saved her during the trials? That was not exactly the kind of gratitude Lilly had anticipated. She had at least expected a more appreciative, respectful attitude, especially considering that Freya probably wouldn’t even be there anymore if it weren’t for Lilly.

A subtle anger crept up in her; she didn’t want to be treated like that. Before turning away, she huffed at Freya: "Well, that’s a fine way to thank someone who helped you.”

Freya shot her a venomous glare, but there was something else in her eyes, something Lilly couldn’t quite decipher. Not giving her a chance to respond, Lilly turned and strode back to Raven and Alaric, who had been watching the short interaction from a few meters away.

"What was that about?” Raven asked calmly.

"I helped her during the trial. Without me, she wouldn’t have found the way out.”, Lilly answered shortly, trying not to let Freya’s behaviour frustrate her further.

"She looked rough.”, Alaric chimed in.

"Yeah, I didn’t see her at the ceremony and thought something might’ve happened to her, but maybe she just needed more time to recover from the Brugmansia.” Lilly replied thoughtfully.

"Well, she’s a delightful person.”, Raven commented sarcastically, patting Lilly gently on the back, as if to say she was on her side.

"Don’t let it get to you. It probably had more to do with her than with you.”, Alaric added, offering Lilly an encouraging smile. She returned his warm smile faintly, but it faded as quickly as it came when they stepped onto the training ground and she noticed that not only Warden Volker was present at the training grounds, but also Warden Thorndale.

"Urg, not him again.”, Lilly pressed out.

Soon, the two Wardens began demonstrating basic combat techniques using wooden training staffs. Each held one in hand as they explained how to maintain a solid stance and proper posture in a fight. They demonstrated a simple attack, a defensive block and a parry. Warden Thorndale’s footwork was quick and effortless, he moved with the fluid confidence of someone who had done this a thousand times before, but Warden Volker didn’t fall back much.

After the demonstration, the Disciples were instructed to pair up and practice the moves they had just been shown. They were to alternate between attacking, parrying and defending. Lilly was relieved when Alaric volunteered to find another partner so that she and Raven could train together. He must have known it would be harder for her to find someone willing to practice with her, someone who wouldn’t take the chance to hurt her under the guise of training. After all, most Disciples had joined the Order to protect the realm her father had been accused of betraying.

Lilly pushed away the haunting question of what in the world her ailing father could have possibly done to deserve execution, especially when it had been so clear he wasn’t in his right mind. Or maybe… it was precisely that confused, delusional rambling someone had taken too seriously. She remembered the frosty winter morning they had stormed Fort Alenhold and had taken her father away, the chaos and the terrible fear that had gripped her. Back then, she hadn’t understood what was happening and now, she didn’t know much more.

She forced herself to focus on the training, the rhythm of combat drills with the long wooden staff. Raven wasn’t just fast; she was surprisingly strong, striking with enough force to nearly knock Lilly off balance, but she managed to block. The jolt only ignited Lilly’s determination and she straightened her posture and went on the offensive.

Attack- Block- Attack- Parry. Attack- Block- Attack- Parry.

The training went better than Lilly had expected at first, still, she could tell her body lacked the strength to deliver hard strikes, even if she made up for it with precision and agility, but her stamina faded quickly and she soon found herself out of breath from the sheer physical effort it all demanded.

Her ability to block waned with every strike Raven delivered, but Raven seemed to notice and began holding back, easing the strength in her blows. Attack- Block. Lilly was too slow; she couldn’t deflect the next hit and Raven caught her with a light strike to the torso.

"I’m sorry!”, Raven gasped, startled by the fact that she had actually struck Lilly.

"It’s okay, I’m fine.”, Lilly wheezed. It wasn’t a terrible pain, but it had caught her off guard.

"Disciple, Attack!” grumbled a commanding voice beside them. Warden Thorndale, who had been making his rounds among the trainees, was now striding directly toward them.

"I’ll take it from here.”, he said, whilst glancing at Raven and it was clear he was ordering her to step aside. Reluctantly, Raven obeyed, her expression grim as she watched closely.

"Melody Ayrelle.”, The edge in the Warden’s voice pierced Lilly’s ears, but it wasn’t the tone that made her stiffen up; it was the name.

"Her name is Lilly.”, Raven interjected, her voice cold and clear. It was a warning, a reminder that she was watching them. What a courageous woman Raven was. Lilly had told her about her mother and how much she hated being called by that name because of the pain it carried.

Warden Thorndale shot Raven a brief, icy glare but didn’t dignify her with a response.

"We’ve been training for barely twenty minutes and you're already collapsing. We don’t need weaklings on the Temple Isle who fall over at the first breeze. Keep going.”, he proceeded whilst he kept staring at Lilly. His words were cutting and Lilly bristled at the implication. Her body was weak only because it had been starved and broken, because she had been imprisoned.

Still, despite her exhaustion, something inside her flared, stubbornness, pride, maybe just a desperate need to prove she wasn’t what he said she was. Thorndale raised his training staff. "Attack.”

She attacked, clumsily, but with passion in her expression, but he parried without effort and countered, striking her across the arm. Lilly stumbled, but quickly found her balance. Again, she swung at him and again he blocked, jabbing her in the ribs this time. "Ouch!”, she gasped and attacked. They continued like this for several more exchanges, her attacks increasingly desperate, his blocks proficient, his counter-strikes precise and punishing. He watched her every move with his chilly gaze and sharp as he was, it seemed almost effortless for him to anticipate from which direction her next strike would come. He was wearing her down and the Warden parried and struck Lilly’s shoulder, then her side and finally her thigh, until her movements slowed and her body screamed in pain and fatigue. A final, sweeping blow knocked her legs from under her and she collapsed onto the dusty training ground.

"You will have to do better than this.” Thorndale stood towering over her, triumphant, the faintest hint of satisfaction flickering across his face before he spun around and returned to his duties, supervising the training with Warden Volker.

As Lilly crouched there in the dust, trying to catch her breath, she noticed that several eyes were stuck on her, but one pair in particular sent a chill through her: Rurik. He stood only about a meter away, grinning wickedly as their eyes met. He did not approach, he just stood there and smiled at her sight. Of course he was the first one to watch, when Lilly got her ass beaten.

Then, suddenly, she saw his lips move slowly, so that she could understand every word he was forming silently: "I will get you.”

and beforehe could whisper another word, Raven appeared and reached out to help Lilly up, pushing Rurik to the side with her hip, but she hadn’t seen what Rurik had whispered and Lilly’s blood turned to ice. Was there anywhere on this island where she was safe?

***

The hostility of many Disciples towards Lilly had persisted and was still going strong, Rurik and his two companions, fraternal twins named Anmar and Onmir, as Lilly had learned, often leading the way. It had happened not only once, that Lilly had been "accidentally" bumped into or that someone had thrown a nasty remark at her in passing. "Traitor.", "You should have been executed.” or "Zarvath's whore.", they had spat at her and deep down, Lilly knew that the allusion to the neighbouring Empire of Zarvath had something to do with her father, even if she could only guess what they meant by it. She had grown somewhat used to the disapproving looks of the others, but she found it regrettable that even her two new friends had to suffer because of her miserable reputation.

Raven didn’t seem to care much, but Lilly never really knew what Alaric was thinking, as he was often quiet and rarely spoke of anything other than his favourite books or his family back in Ilvarra. As the son of a cook, he and his sister seemed to have had a rather ordinary childhood and youth, neither marked by hunger nor by wealth.

It had been announced that later in the day there would be an inspection of the new Disciples, during which they would all be checked for glyphs to see who among them already carried one and what kind of glyphs they were. So, if Konrad would have had the patience to wait just a few more days, he wouldn’t have gotten himself into trouble during the very first lesson with Warden Neachtain.

Each of them had been given a time slot in which they were to report to the temple for inspection. Since Alaric had gotten the slot right before hers, Lilly suspected they were being called in alphabetical order again.

Lilly tried to push aside the pain she felt from the many blows on her body, all thanks to Warden Thorndale’s harsh lesson. She had decided against visiting the healer's quarters, since she was already being stared at and watched everywhere she went and she didn’t want to appear even weaker than she already did.

As she stood in the spacious entrance hall of the Temple, with all the statues of Elysia, waiting in front of a marble door to the left of the room, it suddenly opened and Alaric stepped out. He looked relaxed, but he didn’t give Lilly a smile as he passed by and whispered:

"Thorndale is inside.”

Lilly nodded to him and gulped to meet that dreadful Warden for the second time that day. She only hoped he would be easy on her during the inspection and wondered how many people were waiting for her behind that door. She didn’t go in, since they had told her to wait until someone would get her and so a few minutes passed before the door opened again from the inside.

Lilly found herself in a long rectangular room, at the far end of which stood a platform with a wide table placed on it. Behind the table sat a number of people, lined up like beads on a string and Lilly immediately recognized some of them. There were seven people in total looking down at her and except for two of them, Lilly had already made their acquaintances and she instantly knew that they were the Archwardens.

The High Sovereign sat in the middle and as Lilly walked down the room toward the platform, her heart pounded into her ears. He radiated such a presence that Lilly almost forgot that both Warden Thorndale, who had beaten her black and blue just a few hours earlier and Warden Neachtain were sitting at that table, watching her approach.

Warden Volker and Warden Chesterlain were also present and in addition to the ones she knew, Lilly recognized two unfamiliar faces: that of a dark-skinned woman with full lips and short-cropped hair and that of a man so ancient that Lilly feared he might collapse from old age at any moment. He was small and gaunt, with snow-white hair growing around his balding head and there was a certain coldness in his eyes. Judging by his ornate, golden robe, he was a Priest of the Sun, which meant the woman had to be a Chronicler.

Lilly stopped a few meters in front of the Wardens and looked silently and expectantly up at the High Sovereign, who, regardless of her gaze, was just beginning to speak: "Ah, Melody Ayrelle, our guest."

Guest? It was a romanticized version of what Lilly felt; she felt more like a prisoner fighting for her life in a cage full of predators. She had to force herself not to snort aloud as she heard the gentle words of the High Sovereign. Instead, Lilly nodded politely and held his gaze. His amber-colored eyes looked at her kindly, carrying so much wisdom, so much knowledge, but what had she expected from an Ascendent, the Seer of Light?

"Do you carry any glyphs you want to tell us about?”, he proceeded, in a calm and assertive tone.

Lilly shook her head and said: "No your highness.”

"Alright then, you may now remove your clothes.", the High Sovereign continued calmly, almost innocently examining her.

Lilly swallowed; she had known her body would be inspected, but here? In front of so many pairs of eyes staring at her? A flush of shame crept up her neck and her hands trembled slightly as she hesitated, before she slowly began to undress. Even though she had always liked her body, every cell in her recoiled at being examined under so many eyes, inspected as though she were livestock put on display at a market auction. What kind of people believed it was normal to force others to bare themselves, to surrender every inch of who they were, even when they did not want to?

She thought it was ancient and brutal, to expose her like this, even if a glance from one of them would have been enough to assess the Disciples. It felt cruel and deliberate, as though they meant to display their power, to remind them of the control they now held over each of them. Like a dog that must first be broken before it can be taught to perform.

Her bruises started to show, red stains, almost purplish, blooming across her pale skin where Thorndale had struck her during training. Her thin frame was evident as she pulled her pants down to her ankles and stepped out of them until she was exposed almost completely. She caught a glimpse of Warden Thorndale’s expression because she wanted to see his reaction to the bruises he had given her. It was unreadable and she couldn’t tell for sure, but the coldness in his eyes made her skin crawl. She felt unwell, vulnerable and exposed, stripping in front of all of them like that, but she knew that did not matter to them.

She hadn’t taken off her underwear and hoped desperately that she wouldn’t be forced to remove her bra and panties as well. She felt everyone’s eyes on her skin, when she was ordered to turn around and spin for them. No glyphs marked her body, no signs of the arcane power were visible on her skin, so it didn’t take long for the Sovereign to state with a disappointed tone in his voice:

"What a pity. Well then, you may put on your clothing.”

Someone let out a short laugh and as Lilly looked up whilst pulling her pants back on, her gaze landed on Warden Neachtain. The High Sovereign raised an eyebrow and turned to her as well:

"Is there something you’d like to share with us, Fiora?”

The copper-haired Warden didn’t need to be asked twice and said: "Even if she had a glyph, we all know she’ll be handed over to Warden Monella anyway.” She nodded in the direction of the Priest.

Lilly swallowed as she realized what Neachtain was implying. Had it already been decided which Dominion she would be assigned to? Her eyes drifted back to the old man in the richly embroidered robe and it slowly dawned on her: she had likely been condemned to spend the rest of her life lighting incense and sending prayers up to the gods. Blood rushed to her face as she turned back to her blouse, pretending a bomb hadn’t just dropped on her. The life of a cleric had never appealed to Lilly, it seemed like an unbearably boring and monotonous path.

"That is correct, Fiora. Miss Ayrelle here is an offering to Elysia, to lessen the betrayal committed, to counteract it.”, Warden Monella croaked, addressing Neachtain with thinly veiled scorn.

"To appease her wrath and as a symbol of our eternal devotion.”

An offering? She was an offering? Like a rabbit caught in a snare, lain at the feet of Drosmarth as tribute? She wasn’t a thing to be handed over to some divine being. But then again, hadn’t that already happened? She had sworn an oath, an oath that placed her in Elysia’s service.

Nausea surged through Lilly, as she stuffed her blouse into her waistband as quickly as she could, gave a curt thanks to the Wardens and rushed out of the temple. Her lungs gasped for air as she tried to wrap her mind around what she had just heard. She didn’t want to be a Priestess of the Sun, especially not now, not after her faith had been so deeply shaken. She didn’t want to spend a lonely life on the temple island, never allowed to leave, bound to rituals and isolation, as the Priests of the Sun almost never received missions that required them to travel beyond the island’s borders.

She had overheard other Disciples whispering that the Priesthood led the dullest, most lifeless existence of all, tasked only with speaking to unseen entities. Lilly had no desire to take vows of silence, to fast, or to wither away in celibacy. One of the few lights in her new life had been the idea that, in between missions and training, members of the Order still had time to enjoy themselves, to celebrate, to build connections, but the Priesthood of the Sun tended to stay among themselves, isolated and detached, deliberately avoiding worldly pleasures and idle talk. The thought of such isolation filled Lilly with an aching sense of grief, one she knew all too well from a life already spent in loneliness.