Saintess Summons Skeletons

“Well? Are you going to stay here and stare like a dead fish, Saintess?”

The unexpected voice pulled Sofia out of her muddled thoughts.

Sofia turned around, only to see a white-clothed man laying in the field of flowers, hands behind his blurry head.

“O- Orator? Why? Is that– That woman… Did you–?”

“Hmmm? What, me? You must be mistaken, Saintess. This is your doing. You caused this.”

“I did?”

The man chuckled lightly as he disappeared in a cloud of blue petals. A system window quietly opened up in front of Sofia’s eyes.

[The Orator’s approval : Defeat Scripture]

[Rewards : Second upgrade to [Blessing of the Deep]; special active skill [Eye of the Orator]; surprise item reward; more surprises!]

’Conditional reward unlocked! [More surprises!] : How? Since when? Who knows. What is time, anyway? Do you like surprises, Saintess?’

Sofia turned around again. The two women sitting at the edge of the cliff still seemed completely oblivious to both Sofia and the Orator’s fleeting appearance.

She lacked the physical ability to cry at the moment, but Sofia’s voice came out trembling as she muttered to herself, “Aren’t these rewards too much, for just promising to kill a god…?”

Before she realized what she was doing, Sofia had already walked all the way up to the two women, standing just a few meters behind them. Without her even realizing, her shape had changed back from her demon to her Lumian form, though she was still nothing but a black silhouette of herself. She tried to say something, anything, but the words died in her throat. Head spinning, she took a few last steps forward, and sat between the two, looking straight ahead. She dared not even glance to the sides, as if afraid one look would make the two silent figures disappear.

Her eyes blurred, Sofia spoke with a hoarse voice, “Mom… I’m here.”

Sofia closed her eyes. She struggled to contain the storm of emotions in her chest. Her heart almost broke as seconds passed without an answer.

She heard the faint rustling of clothes, two frail hands gently grabbed her shoulder from the right, lightly pulling her into a warm embrace. A third, larger hand patted the top of her head.

“I’m so sorry, Sofia,” the woman holding Sofia said with an ethereal voice, her hands caressing her back as she held her tighter, “Mom couldn’t keep her promise to you and Saria…”, “How you’ve grown… I’m so glad. I’m so happy. There, there, cry all you want, mom is here for you now.”

Sofia was shaking too much to be able to say anything. She lacked proper eyes yet she still felt tears fall between her sobs.

The second person also grabbed Sofia and ‘mom’ in a big hug with her longer arms. In perfect contrast, her embrace was cold and soft like an early spring breeze. Her voice was deeper, calmer, “such a good daughter, let it all out, it’s alright, leave your sorrows with me.”

Sofia had no idea how much time passed without her being able to stop the tears.

She woke up, head resting on her mother’s lap, in the middle of the field of blue flowers. Sorrow was further away, plucking a few flowers while humming peaceful tunes that echoed with grace all throughout the divine domain.

Sofia looked up, unable to see the face of the woman caressing her face.

“Mom…”

“Yes, Sofia?”

“Is it… Are you… How…”

Merise chuckled brightly, a hand over her mouth, “Your mom did something bad, my little princess. I’m sorry.”

“You… You died…”

“Hmmhmm. It was not as scary as I thought. As my thoughts faded, I could only think of your sister and you… And then he appeared out of nowhere. The lord in white.”

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Sofia was silent for a moment. For how long had Orator been meddling with her life?

“Did he save you?” she asked after a while.

“No. This is what he told me: Mortal. Sell your soul to this Lord, and your fate will be rewritten. Your most cherished wish will come true. Will you do it?”

“You sold your soul?!”

“Of course. My body, my soul. I was ready to sell everything. The lord in white promised me, you and your sister would live on to become happy and healthy adults, with or without me.”

“Mom... I think you got scammed.”

Merise burst out laughing at Sofia’s worried comment. “Certainly not. I have been watching you, right here, with Sorrow. It was so painful being unable to reach you, but so joyful seeing you and Saria accomplish so much! I only wish I could have watched you grow.”

“... Since when… How long have you been watching for? What… What happened after you died?”

“It’s not much of a story, do you really want to hear?”

“Of course! Ah, but… Also… Before that… I… I’m… Since I have been calling Sorrow mother, I–”

Merise put a finger over Sofia’s mouth.

“It’s fine, isn’t it? I can’t complain when she has been raising you more than I did, can I? You were so young when I left you… I don’t care at all what you want to call me or to call her. I’m just happy to be here with you. And she is the same.”

That left Sofia a bit speechless. In a few years she had gone from being an isolated Orphan to having her sister, an adoptive father, grandmother, multiple distant relatives, and two moms.

At this rate she would soon have to start praying not to discover that her previous father was also alive.

It was as if Merise read her mind, a gentle finger touching her furrowed brows. “Are you thinking about your father?”

“Hmm…”

“Silvio was not a bad man, at the beginning… Or perhaps I was just too naive. I was just a pastry chef in training at the barony, and he was the baron’s first son… Our love was an open secret in the barony for a long time. Then we had Saria, and things changed. His father died so the three sons fought over the title. This child of a lowly pastry chef was a liability so he hid us for the first years, then I had you around the time he won over the title. But after he killed both of his brothers himself to secure the title, Silvio’s mind… He changed. I still don’t know… Whether he’d ever truly loved me or his daughters… But you already know how it ended…”

“... I refuse to believe someone like that was ever a good man.”

Despite her mother’s fully black face, Sofia could still see her sad smile.

“Your mother might not have been the smartest. But I regret nothing. If I could go back… I wouldn’t change anything.”

“You still love him despite all this?” Sofia asked in incomprehension.

“I would strangle him myself if he was still alive,” Merise corrected, “But I love you, and your sister. I wouldn’t change you for anything.”

Seeing Sofia at a loss for words, Merise laughed again, “Ahah. You should forget all about that. Silvio and the barony are already long gone anyway. Now let me get back to what you asked before. How I got here…”

“Did Orator really take your soul?”

“As you can see, I’m still here. He just smiled at my dying wish, and disappeared. When I woke up, I was here, in the manor of passing sorrows.”

“The manor of passing sorrows… So you just died and woke up here, with no explanations, nothing?”

“That’s it. Now I know more, but I was at a loss back then. I met a few of the other sorrows who spoke our common language, they explained the situation. Apparently my feelings of sorrow at leaving you and Saria alone were so intense that my soul drifted here instead of dissipating after death. Sadly there was no way out no matter how much I searched and asked around. As I kept trying to understand, I slowly adapted to ‘life’ here, I joined a few other cooks, and learned about their craft, about magic, about gods...”

“You didn’t meet Sorrow?”

“Not initially. Why would a god take interest in a weak drifting soul? Sorrow protects the lost here but she never interferes. She is not capable of letting us out so she stays away, not wanting to give us false hope. That was until a few years ago.”

“Because of me,” Sofia guessed.

“That’s right. Sorrow paraded around the manor like a giddy little girl, showing everyone her smart and cute new daughter.”

“...”

Sorrow, who had been away picking flowers until now, appeared next to the duo.

“‘That’s my daughter!’ she said,” Sorrow recounted, shoddily imitating Merise’s voice. “She recognised you instantly. Everyone was speechless, myself included. So I brought you mother here, and we talked while watching you walk through the red desert with Alith. Then we spent a while trying to look for your sister.”

“We couldn’t find Saria but you did!” Merise chimed-in happily, “Oh how I want to see her too…”

“Why… Why not say something earlier?” Sofia asked, incredulous, thinking about all the times she almost died not knowing that her actual mom was alive and watching.

“It’s very hard for Sorrow to communicate with the physical world!” Merise said, “Every time she contacted you or Ihuarah a lot of disasters suddenly popped up out of nowhere! You were just lucky enough to avoid most of them. And you already had enough on your mind. So even if it was a bit lonely, we decided not to say anything, since I cannot leave and you were not able to come, it was better that way.”

“Mothers… Let me out right now! I need to bring Saria!” Sofia said, energetically standing up. “Not a second to lose!”