Dance of the Gods

Hesitantly, Veronica looked from the books to Father Martin, at a loss for words.

"What do you want to know exactly?" He asked, after waiting for a while.

'That is an excellent question... Everything?'

She didn't say this out loud. After remembering her past life, most of the holes about human history were filled, but it was only the history everyone knew.

There was also the supernatural history, which she only learnt a bit from Suze, but it was clear that her knowledge was quite lacking about the subject.

Eventually, she decided to start with something small, like the basics and the most important events.

"I don't really know anything about the supernatural history, so you could perhaps try to cover the most important events for now?"

Father Martin sat back on the couch and sipped from his tea. He then placed it back on the tray and picked up one specific book from the top of the pile. He nodded to himself, then handed it to Veronica.

The book was enormous and leather bound. Its color was similar to red wine, while its title was written in beautiful golden intricate letters... 'Saint Virginia's Secret History'

Before Veronica could ask anything, Father Martin spoke... "That book is exactly what you are looking for. The first half is a basic rundown of the world's supernatural history, while the second is about one very special person called Saint Virginia!"

Veronica heard this name previously. She was famous, since she was the only person whom all six churches considered a Saint.

People very rarely made it to Saint status in a church. You didn't just have to acquire a high rank, but you also have to make great advancements in the process. Each church only had a handful of Saints throughout their history.

Father Martin didn't say anything else, and Veronica didn't ask. She opened the book on the first page, which began with a simple title and description... 'Chapter One: Era of Darkness, 4th Era'

'The Era of grand discoveries and utter tragedies. The Era when everything began again. The Era, which marked our path to ascension. The Era, which marked our path to ruin. The Beginning of our End.'

Although the writing was very ominous, it only increased Veronica's curiosity. She turned the page and began reading.

She became absorbed in the book quickly. At some point, Father Martin left, leaving her in the small library alone.

The book was thick and should've been a very annoying and boring read for most people, but for Veronica, a person who adores history and history books... She ploughed through the pages with ease.

She read through the first part, which was about the 4th Era, then jumped to the second, which was about the current 5th Era. The sun was already making its way down by the time she reached the third part, which was at the half waypoint of the book.

Father Martin came back to the room, a bit surprised to find Veronica sitting in the low-light.

"You shouldn't read in the dark, its bad for the eyes." He said, while igniting the gas lamp near the door.

Veronica cringed at the sudden change in brightness, which caused the Father to chuckle. He sat back down on the couch and eyed the book in Veronica's hands.

"You read through most of it I see, but you haven't reached the best part yet..." He spoke with a small smile. "You can borrow it if you want to."

Veronica looked back at the book, and the last chapter's title... 'Chapter Three: The Story of Saint Virginia'

She took a deep breath, then sighed with exhaustion. Concentrated reading proved exhausting, especially after a busy day.

She looked back at Father Martin and with a small yawn said... "No thanks. I'll just come by next week and read the rest, if that's fine with you, of course!" She said with a small, bright smile.

The Father reached out and touched Veronica's hand. He had his usual kind and warm expression on as he said... "You are welcome here anytime, Veronica."

They stayed like that for a few moments. This good-natured old man was growing on her.

She wanted to spend more time with him, just chatting away about useless stuff, but it was time for her to leave.

Father Martin led her out through one of the side exits of the church, then after a warm hug, they said their goodbyes and she was on her way back home.

...

While walking home, Veronica's mind was going over everything she had learnt. There was a lot of new information that was left out of the regular history books.

For example, in school, Veronica never learnt about anything related to the Eras, and they taught nothing about what happened before humanity came to be.

The name 4th Era implies the existence of 3rd, 2nd and 1st Eras. The book only talked about them briefly.

They knew little about what the Eras were called, but they found definitive evidence for their existence. The two continents are littered with ruins, which contain the remains of old humans and even a few writings that survived the passage of time.

Archaeologists weren't sure how old the remains were exactly, but they were definitely more than a few thousand years old, which was quite interesting.

The book made this a point too, and Veronica just couldn't stop thinking about it. All the people that lived long ago were at least at the same advancement level as the world was before the industrial revolution.

This meant that a worldwide civilization had just disappeared for no apparent reason. It was like the people just forgot everything, or some plague killed everyone.

The book made quite a few ideas about its disappearance, from which there was only one that the author deemed plausible... A war so extensive it destroyed everything!

This idea sounded ridiculous to Veronica, but as she read on, she started to believe it too.

Archaeologists judge the Era of Darkness to span around two thousand years, but time has obscured the exact start date.

Recorded time began with the Axim Royal Family and the Axim Empire.

The power of said empire encompassed the whole of the Eastern Continent, except the Outlands, since even they couldn't tame that place.

This is a fact that every school teaches, but the Axim Family is much more mysterious than most people know.

They began recording history, which included supernatural history as well, and they were the first to have found signs of higher beings. In a few lost journals, the members of the family described a few specific members wielding unbelievable powers.

The book didn't go into too much detail, but it raised a very interesting question. Since people hadn't discovered the orders, paths, and rituals back then.

'How could the royal family gain ascended powers, without knowing about the required materials and process?'

What was even stranger, was that they weren't the only ones. Throughout the years, they found lots of records about people with supernatural powers. They were associated with 'Outer Beings'.

Veronica didn't know what 'Outer Being' referred to, and the author didn't care to explain it. The only time she heard about the Outer was from Michael, and supposedly, it referred to space.

The author speculated that the Axim family was worshipping some kind of Outer Being, which gave them blessings, but there was no actual evidence to support that claim.

One thing Veronica was sure of, though. Whatever gave them supernatural powers, it didn't come without a price...

The family was enormous, with close to a thousand members at its peak, but even then it was strange that about fifth of them would go mad, like some curse sat on the whole family.

In the year 137, the Axim Empire collapsed in an uprising and the surviving family members went into hiding. Nobody knows how many survived, but the author warned the reader...

'If you meet anyone with the surname Axim, turn around and run the other way... Don't test your fate!'

The message in the book was ominous. It seemed there was indeed something wrong with the family, and Veronica felt like she didn't want to know about it.

While walking mindlessly, people again tried to rob, or do something even worse to her, but she dodged every attempt with ease. She wasn't even thinking about moving. Her body done everything on its own, like a machine.

This was one of her principles' perks. It gave her body a lot more autonomy than a normal person's. It took a lot of load from her mind, so while walking, she could focus on other, more important thoughts.

The book tried to focus on only important events from a supernatural standpoint, like the discovery of the mysticism book, which was in the year 213, only two years before the first ascended appeared.

The most important part was about Saint Virginia and her discoveries in the world of mysticism, but the book skipped through that and jumped to possibly most important event that happened in the 4th Era... The birth of the orthodox churches and the Great War.

The two were closely interconnected, since the churches caused the entire conflict.

They say that the first orthodox god appeared in the year 693. Their name has been scraped from any regular records. The only place where they still probably exist is in the records kept by the orthodox churches.

When Veronica read this, her mind instantly jumped to the archive Michael had talked about. It seemed like the churches kept their own records of everything that has happened.

It made her really curious about the secret history of the churches, but it was clear that she wouldn't learn anything about it. Those records are probably defended by the strongest of the churches, and since they had a chokehold on society, getting to them was impossible.

As she was nearing the inn, her thoughts arrived at the last part of the 4th Era... The Great War.

After the year 693, gods slowly began to appear, which led to something that nobody thought possible... Overpopulation and bickering.

The gods began to make their churches, but it soon became clear that gods were even pettier than humans.

Back then, they still walked in the normal world, but after the devastating war, it was clear that changes needed to be made.

A contract was signed by each of the surviving six orthodox gods and their churches. It forbade them from ever walking the world, and they could only interact with their church through a few blessed individuals.

This was the Noninterference Pact. It made the gods fade from the mind of the regular humans and now for them they are only stories, nothing more.

This revelation was probably the most distressing for Veronica, since it proved two very interesting and terrifying facts...

Gods were real, all the six orthodox Gods actually existed, including the Goddess of Secrets, whom she technically prayed to every night before dinner...

But this wasn't the worst. She had to read a few paragraphs a lot of times, before she finally realized the scary truth about ascension.

It should've been obvious from its name, but Veronica was from a modern world filled with ignorance towards anything you didn't fully understand...

After reading the book, it became clear that the purpose of the ascension was to reach the highest order...

Godhood!