Tsaimath
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Chapter 1077
🕑 Added 2024-11-01 17:00:14 +0000 UTCFinding out the actual date of the ‘Longest Night’ to celebrate turned out a lot more complicated than expected, though by the time I ran down my list of ideas, the solution was a lot easier than anyone would think.
My first idea was to look at the length of each day, though I quickly realised that doing so would need accurate clocks for one and would only tell me that the longest night had come and gone when the days started to become longer again. So, simply using the length of each day and night wouldn’t work, so another way had to be found.
My next idea was to inspect the Astral River, as I had noticed that there was a faint ascendance in the abundance of Darkness Magic, the umbral energy of the night slowly eclipsing the radiant energy of the day, which I interpreted as a magical representation of the seasonal cycle. From solstice to solstice, one of the two energies was waxing, the other waning, while both would be in equilibrium on the day of the equinox, at least that was what I had been observing thus far. Sadly, the problem with that idea was the same as it had been with my first idea, I would only know that the longest night had happened after the fact. So, this, too, was useless for organising a celebration.
There probably were a myriad of other ways to discover the solstice but, without a quick check on the internet, I wasn’t able to think of any good ones. Maybe something with the angle of the Sun, either during Sunrise, Sunset or at high noon, not that we could easily tell when that was, but I neither had a good way to measure that angle nor did I have any way to compare and contrast it to actually tell what my measurements would mean.
So, my ultimate, and utterly disappointing, solution was to pray to Lady Hecate and ask Her for help, as annoying as that was. I didn’t want to become some cleric, only able to have their God do things for them instead of having the ability to figure things out myself but I felt that this might be a case where I had to swallow my pride and ask for help.
So, during an early hour in the night, around midnight if I had to take a guess, I made myself comfortable in the empty shrine and sent out a prayer into the void. Given that it was incredibly strange to pray in the direction of a statue with your own face, or that of your daughter, my head, and thus possibly my prayer, was directed in the direction of the Crone’s statue, carved in the image of the Grandmother.
Maybe I should have been a little more cautious, or maybe cognisant, of this, as the next moment, I could feel a brief but incredibly intense connection. Not one that would transmit images or words but one that transmitted concepts and ideas wholesale and the recipient of that connection was, without a doubt, the Grandmother. Amusement, flavoured with a bit of annoyance, came across the connection, giving me a fair idea of what the Grandmother currently thought of the situation. It also drove home that Luna, the Grandmother and I might be on the path of becoming a triad-deity, but the only one of us who could lay claim to any divine status was the Grandmother, who could be considered a somewhat weak demi-god now. But a demi-god with an apparently growing religion, as there were actually people who had found the shrines I set up and started praying towards the statues.
And wasn’t that an incredibly weird thought, people praying towards me? Even if it was somewhat similar to what I was doing right now, though my prayer was directed towards Lady Hecate, with the statues She had made me carve acting as an intermediary. Still, a very weird thought and I was more than happy that it seemed prayer could only act across dimensional boundaries, or maybe I was simply too weak to acknowledge the prayers flowing in my direction. It also didn’t explain why Lady Hecate had pushed and prodded to make things set up as they were now, but I had a feeling it would be one of those questions the Lady wouldn’t answer in anything but the most cryptic of fashions, if at all.
Luckily, the strange communion with the Grandmother lasted for but a moment, though that moment was a lot longer than any moment had a right to be. Time could become very strange with high amounts of magic and mental ability involved, allowing me to digest information at speeds far higher than any human had a right to perceive it. With an intelligence as high as mine currently was, I might have been able to set a computer to simply scroll downwards while reading an article and my mind and eyes should have been quick enough to keep up. Now, I wasn’t able to test that particular trick any longer, but from what I had experienced while reading a book or two, I was fairly confident it would work.
Not that it truly mattered any longer, sure, reading faster was nice and all but when it came to magic, it helped very little. There just weren’t any books written on the subject yet, the closest thing to those were the ones written by myself and Luna. The Zevharra Agha might count but due to the enchantments placed upon that book by the Grandmother, I couldn’t just read through it, I had to take my time and additional pages were unlocked subsequently due to increases in my magical ability or maybe my attributes. Though, if I ever managed to convince Lady Hecate to let me into her library, I might be able to read as much about magic as I could ever want and more, but I doubted that would happen easily. At the end of the day, Lady Hecate wanted people to figure out things themself, a stance I usually supported completely but there were times it was a nuisance.
Just as I was thinking about that, the world around me changed and I found myself in the familiar, white-grey environment of Lady Hecate’s realm, with the tinkling laughter of the Goddess echoing through the void. Well, not a real echo, it simply came from multiple directions at the same time, creating an echoing effect, even if there was nothing to reflect the soundwaves in this endlessly grey expanse.
“Good Evening, Lady Hecate,” I politely greeted Her, curious why she had pulled me here instead of responding to my request while I was still within the shrine.
“Good Evening, Jade,” She returned the greeting, now no longer laughing by studying me with those piercing, oh-so-familiar eyes. The same shade as Luna’s eyes, only so much more intense in ways I could hardly describe, it was both sobering and a little frightening that my daughter had been gifted with eyes identical to those of a deity.
“It is quite amusing, to have a celebration but be unaware of the date that celebration is supposed to occur,” She grinned, that usual teasing tone once again strong in Her voice, “But given that I decided to throw my hat in the ring, I think I should give you the information you need, otherwise, it might be a little embarrassing,” She continued, before raising one of Her hands to Her chin in a pensive gesture, Her grin turning wicked as She considered for a moment.
“On the other hand, my dear Child Luna had me help her to make that Oculus on your tower, you could actually use that to figure out the solstice, you know?” She asked and now I was starting to get a headache, as I had no real idea how to use the state and course of the sun to calculate the solstice. Maybe there were some books in some college library, but to find them and do the calculations without error? That wasn’t something I was confident in doing, at least not in the unknown, but limited, amount of time we had until the solstice actually occurred.
I was just about to explain that to Lady Hecate when She continued speaking, making me realise that I didn’t really need to answer Her, she could read me well enough to know what I wanted to say. Or, She could read my mind, not just my body, a possibility I couldn’t confidently exclude, especially not within Her domain. Who knew what powers the Gods had while you were on their literal front porch?
“I guess I’ll be able to help you for this year but remember the lesson for the future, for I shall only teach it to you once,” the deity explained and moments later, I felt a strange sensation around me, one strikingly familiar to the sensation of the Astral River but not, making me think that Lady Hecate was recreating the sensation using the magic of her own realm. Then, just after I realised what I was feeling, I could sense the power representing Dark Magic crest in a fascinating way, reaching a crescendo while the other power faded to nary a whisper but it was a whisper that purported a future waxing, while the Darkness would wane. With this as an example, I was convinced I’d be able to recognise the signs within the Astral River and read the progression to the point where I’d be able to divine the time of this crescendo.
“Thank you, Lady Hecate,” I bowed, knowing that Her lesson would allow me to sense what I needed in reality. Moments later, I was back in the shrine, my mind still awash with the knowledge I had just gained, though I also wondered if the lesson would cost me something in the future. We’d have to see.
