A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 59: Back to ' Château du Cochon' (part-2)

Maralyn frowned as she looked towards the door, 'Why is her Holiness so angry? What did we do to make her angry?'

Michalina frowned at that as she spoke, "With all due respect Lady Ylerias, I am unable to understand the reason for your sudden hostility."

Ylerias pursued her lips as she spoke, "Why have you brought an unknown apostle with you?"

Michalina looked completely confused at that as she spoke, "I am sorry but you must be mistaken the only person I have brought back is my injured brother."

Ylerias's eyes narrowed even further as she mulled over the situation for a moment before she shouted out loud, "Open the gates and let them enter."

Michalina simply gave her a small smile followed by a small bow of an acknowledgement as she climbed back into the Goliath.

"All of you go and take defensive positions and if they have any untoward intention to finish them."

Even if they had allowed him inside that does not mean that they were taking any chances, especially if the person was an apostle that might very well harm their Holiness.

The Goliath lumbered into the fortress making lots of cranking and rattling noise as the wooden doors closed after them, the inside of the car was even more tensed as the trio of elves had their weapons poised to strike down Michalina and her group, only to stop upon feeling the cold muzzle of Ryan's gun.

"Please lower those weapons of yours, I had taken a liking to you all and it would be a darn shame if you were to die because of your mistakes."

"When did you wake up Ryan?"

"Just now Dasyra just long enough to hear your leader threatening my big sister, and now please lower your weapon and no sudden movements."

Celanna pursed her lips as she spoke, "You won't survive."

Ryan simply smirked at that as he spoke, "So would you and many of your brethren just ask Dasyra what I am capable of and you would know."

Although Ryan had a smirk on his face, inwardly he was worried and afraid of the outcome, a shootout would be the worst possible outcome in this case, he was injured and even if he managed to pull a miracle how many would die, he did not wish to be in some kind of Mexican standoff unless it was in a video game.

Jessica looked towards Michalina who was calm as ice as she spoke, "So what now?"

"Our priority is Angela and Nikita, we have to rescue them, and maybe fork out the cure for Ryan, after that, we leave plain and simple."

"What about the other humans?"

Michalina spared a glance towards Nikita as she spoke, "It depends whether they side with us or not."

Dasyra looked conflicted as she spoke, "Please calm down everyone, some apostles are known to be a bit battle hungry and cause an untold amount of damage to others, she is just cautious and a bit wary if nothing more, after meeting him I doubt she would have as much hostility as before."

"We shall see."

Michalina stopped the car, as she stepped out of it, she caught a gawking elderly making her smile inwardly as she spoke out loud, "Yes if you are wondering, yes it really is a car that my brother made to move with his powers and escape from really dangerous creatures, and yes he can bring back and recreate every bit of technology that fueled our civilization."

Nobody had asked her yet she spoke as if someone was because she knew that her words would make the other humans stand firmly by her side, the lure of returning to their previous life was great.

Ylerias's brow twitched at that, 'Damn that woman she is making it even harder for me if their brethren decide to help them the odds might tilt against me.'

"Michalina."

"Lady Ylerias.", greeted Michalina with a slight nod.

"Your brother is an apostle?"

Michalina simply shrugged at that she spoke, "No idea, maybe he is, maybe he is not after all we never had to deal with such things before."

Ylerias sighed as she spoke, "Well what are waiting for since you have succeeded in finding and reuniting with your brother I believe it is time for you to rest, though if you do not mind I wish to speak with him a bit."

Michalina narrowed her eyes as she spoke, "Only if I am present as well."

Ylerias simply shrugged as she spoke, "Fair enough, though I would apologize for acting so rudely, we apostles not all of us are easy to approach most of them are egoistic and some of them are battle-hungry, and feeling the presence of another apostle so close by had set me off."

Michalina simply shook her head at that as she spoke with a smile, "There is nothing to apologize I understand that you were concerned for your people.", though inwardly she called her every cursed word she could remember, some of them so rude that Ciarra would have used soap bar on her mouth.

'If you are so sorry, then you should tell your bodyguards to lower you're their bows and not to shoot at us.'

The tension was high when Ryan was finally lowered from the car on a stretcher as he came to face to face with Ylerias, he had been sound asleep when suddenly he was awoken, he felt as if something was someone was watching him intently, and when he heard the argument and the rest is history.

Ryan sat in front of Ylerias trying hard not to squirm under her intense gaze, "Greetings my name is Ylerias Luvenari apostle of the Goddess of Moon and Hunt Oena, it is an honour to meet you, my fellow apostle."

'If I am not wrong she is similar to Pope or some kind of the religious leader of their race so I should bow, right?'

Ryan slightly bent his head only to stop as Ylerias quickly stopped him as she spoke, "I do not know how you all greet each other in your species, so please do not bow if possible you are my equal as well as the representation the will of your God."

Ryan cleared her throat as he began, "Greetings Lady Ylerias, my name is Ryan O'Cahill, and sorry to sound rude but I do not believe I am an apostle and I do not know of any God who makes apostle."

Ylerias looked directly at Ryan's eyes as she spoke, "Tell me, Ryan, May call you Ryan?", as Ryan nodded Ylerias continued, "Tell me do you hear a voice whispering in your ears, whenever let us say. you kill someone or you achieve something, not to mention you can increase your strength by simply killing gaining blood points and souls that help you increase your strength, learn new perks that support you greatly."

Ryan's eyes widen at what he had just heard, 'Is she speaking the truth or is this some kind of elaborate prank on her part.'

"Tell me do I feel different than others?"

Ryan nodded slowly as he spoke, "Yes you do feel different, I do not know how and why but you do, I do not know how but I have never felt the presence of another before I met you, I do not know why but you feel different, you remind of forest and well a carnivore, a predator."

Ylerias tilted her head a bit before she spoke, "And you remind of libraries, wars and something that I do not recognize."

Ryan tilted his head as he spoke, "War?"

"Yes, the warm feeling of bloodlust, the anger, hatred, fear, loss those are the predominant feeling one that is of War give but a couple with the library there is one Goddess that comes to my mind but your powers of creation and destruction that I have learned about, well never have there been an apostle of that had such powers."

Michalina who was nearby spoke with a frown, "Do you mean that the apostle's gin their powers from their respective Gods."

Ylerias nodded at that as she spoke, "Of course, though to tell you the truth neither do we receive the full set nor do ours are as strong as our patron Goddess or Gods."

Michalina frowned at that as she spoke, "Is there no Gods or Goddesses that you can think of that have apostles with power same as Ryan?"

Ylerias shook her head at that as she spoke, "No, after all not all God or Goddesses take an apostle, even those who take are not regular, unlike my Lady who chooses a new one as soon as the old one perishes."

Ryan frowned at that as she spoke, "How are apostles chosen?"

Ylerias shrugged at that as she spoke, "That is something you will have to ask you, God or Goddess, as it is something that only they might know, like in my case I do not know why was I chosen, but I still remember it like it was just yesterday, our village had just received the news that my predecessor had fallen in battle, and then during the night as if the star had fallen on my family's hut, it hit me with incredible pain which caused me to pass out, and then next time I opened my eyes, well I was an apostle and the entire village including my parents worshipping me."

"It was incredibly difficult at first as I was suddenly no longer my parent's beloved daughter but I was Ylerias Luvenari, an apostle of the Goddess of Moon and Hunt Oena, the most important person of my race."

She stopped for a moment reminiscing before she spoke with a small smile on her face, "You know at first I was scared after all I was only nine when such an honour was bestowed upon me."

Silence descended for a moment as Ylerias spoke again, "Did any strange markings or tattoos appear on your body."

Ryan discreetly glanced at Michalina as she spoke with a sigh, "Yes it did."

Ylerias simply smiled at him as she spoke, "That is further proof that you indeed are an apostle."

Ryan frowned at that his mind going overdrive before he spoke with tiredness in his voice, "What does becoming an apostle entail, what do you do?"

Ylerias frowned for a moment as she spoke, "The Gods and Goddesses are beings of immense power, they are so powerful that if the descended into the mortal realm their presence itself would cause an untold amount of damage to the world, and here is why we come to play, we represent them we enforce their will their law and defend their worshipers from harm as well as punish those wicked on their behalf."

She took a deep breath as she continued, "There are various other duties like in my case I am to look after those who have Elven blood, my race, it is my duty to see them prosper and destroy any harm that descends onto them, though that does not mean I will overlook any threat that will befall other races when they are within the borders of the Elven kingdoms."

Ryan tilted his head as he spoke, "So you are like an Empress?"

Ylerias scrunched her face as she spoke, "In a way my command is absolute, though there are Kings and Queens who rule over the people and until and unless I mustn't intervene much with how they rule, though it defers from apostle to apostle, as the apostle of God of Healing is a wandering he wanders from place to place helping other people."

Ryan scrunched his face for a moment taking into the various information that he had just heard before he spoke, "So what are the cons?"

Ylerias sat straight up as her eyes narrowed while her face darkened with anger as she spoke, "Excuse me!!"

Michalina quickly came to his brother's rescue as she spoke, "I am extremely sorry Your Highness, and the entire thing is a bit of a shock as such he misspoke. He did not wish to insult you or your Goddess and faith, but he was worried that hearing all those wonderful things about being an apostle as such he thought there must be something that might cause him harm."

Ylerias levelled her glared at Ryan for a moment before she spoke with a huff, "You should be grateful that I am a bit merciful than any other apostle, who would have killed you for asking such blasphemous questions any consequences be damned."

She took a deep breath as she spoke, "We apostles have many enemies, especially the beasts that have been corrupted are more attracted to us, our scent, our meat are like some form of the drug to them, they would actively seek you out to devour you unless you are much stronger than them."

Both Michalina and Ryan's eyes widen a bit as Ylerias spoke with a sad smile, "You remember how I said my predecessor had fallen in battle."

Ryan nodded as Ylerias continued, "There had been a beast tide near a city, they were being overwhelmed slowly as such my predecessor made herself a decoy and the entire beast tide followed after her, she fell in the battle that ensued between the beasts, she held on four days and nights before she was torn to shreds and eaten alive."

Both Ryan and Michalina's eyes widen at that as Ryan's face became white, the image of him being torn to shred popped up in his head with one of them being the ever-present soul eater, with great forced to suppress his imagination.

Seeing the condition of the siblings Ylerias spoke with a soothing tone in her voice, "Though you do not have to worry, for the time being, the scent becomes more potent as one age and in your case, it has been a few months since then so you do not need to worry, in fact for some reason I myself find that my maturity has been reset to when I was a child.", she looked directly into his eyes as she spoke, "As such I have a proposal for you, since I already know I have to work hard again to regain my peak I suggest we team up and work together, it would not only be safer but beneficial as well for us greatly."

"I know that I have said a lot of things and you need time to think so I will take my leave for now, and if you wish to ask anything please do not hesitate."

With her piece being said she promptly left leaving the siblings alone, as Ryan spoke barely above a whisper, "What now Sis?"

Michalina gave a small as she spoke, "Your job, for now, was to simply rest and get well, and if something bad happens no matter what I will be always by your side."

Ryan blushed before he mumbled out, "Stop it Sis.", a serious look came over his face as he spoke, Do you believe what she said?"

Michalina frowned at Ryan's question as she spoke with a serious look on her face, "I do not know but she gave us a lot of convincing argument including a few things that she should not know."

Ryan frowned at that as he spoke, "That could have been easily ripped off Angela and Nikita's head, who knows what special abilities they might have, we have to be cautious against them."

Michalina nodded with a serious look before she gained a teasing smirk on her face as she spoke, "So my baby brother is some kind of Pope for some God or Goddess, so should I bow and start worshipping you, Your Holiness."

Ryan scoffed at that before he spoke, "I highly doubt that Pope would charge into battle, and please if possible do not mention it in front of others, the last thing I need is some overly enthused religious person gathering mobs to burn me alive on a stake."

Michalina giggled at that as Ryan simply rolled his eyes before letting out a yawn as he spoke, "Well I better catch my sleep that had been interrupted."

With that he went back to sleep only to find himself standing in a familiar part of his mindscape, he wandered down towards the machine which was showing his stats, he took a single look at it as a look of disbelief entered his face.

"How is this possible? It must be a glitch."