CHAPTER 58: IS IT REALLY ME OR THE OTHER ME?

After the meal was served, Aelindra leaned back on her chair. She was at peace for perhaps the first time in years.

"It’s strange to see all of you together again. For centuries, I feared I’d never hear this kind of laughter again."

Cecilia reached over and touched her daughter’s hand.

"You’ve done well, Aelindra. The world didn’t make it easy for you, but you’ve made it. You aren’t called ’wise queen’ for nothing. The people respect you and look up to you, and you managed it by being just the kind and gentle person you are."

For the first time that night, Aelindra’s composure cracked. Her voice trembled faintly.

"Only because you taught me what gentleness is, its costs, and its value."

Ephyrael looked away politely while Siraaeniel pretended to find sudden interest in his tea. Mina, ever-attuned to emotion, began humming under her breath - a simple, domestic melody.

((It’s hard to look at them now and think that they were once NPCs in a game. There’s no artificiality in their exchanges. Their emotions are truly human.))

The chatter trailed away through the next hours. Laughter seasoned with a subtle layer of unspoken grief as they reminisced about the past.

Marya was already nodding on her chair, half-asleep, when the dinner ended and Cecilia took her back home.

:::

A few days later, on a random morning, Marya was merrily copying diagrams into her notebook from a book that Siraaeniel had given her.

Cecilia was curious about the book, a decently sized one titled ’A Complete Treatise on the Auralean Tongue,’ written by Siraaeniel himself. She guided her student through the book, explaining the more erudite passages.

In the game, Auralean was the language of high elves, but it didn’t have an actual existence. It was mentioned in lore and sometimes referenced by characters, and all high elf names for people and places were supposedly created in that language. But that was all.

The language of the game itself was English. That was the language actually spoken by characters and in which the lore was written. There were some standing exceptions, languages added at players’ request.

One was Ephyraeon, created for the usage of Ephemerys priests and priestesses. The other was Netjeret, the secular arcane language created by Helen and then added into the game by the devs after she purchased the package.

There were a couple others, added at the behest of other players, but all of them were merely cosmetic. Just a sparkle of lore. Few people were crazy enough to learn the languages used in the incantations enough to be able to actually chant them in combat.

Yet, for some reason, Cecilia discovered while teaching Marya that she actually KNEW Auralean, as well as Morvaen, the language of dark elves.

All interactions with other people since she came to this world were in English, which she expected as a lasting influence from the game. But she was surprised to learn that she could actually speak those two foreign languages if she tried.

Not only that, but she knew them well enough that she was able to teach Marya. She felt like she could even translate full texts from one language to another. Like she was doing right now.

"Look, this phrase. ’Aelir silar vaelir faerion.’ What do you think it means?"

Marya frowned, deep in thought.

"’Faerion’ means ’light,’ right? And ’silar’ is... ’singing’? ’The dawn is singing the path of light’?"

Marya looked at Cecilia, hopeful.

"Almost, but not quite there. You mixed ’faerion’ from Auralean with ’phaneros’ from Ephyraeon. ’Phaneros’ means light, but ’faerion’ means truth."

"Oh, I see... ’The dawn is singing the path of truth,’ then?"

"Exactly. The Ephyraeon equivalent will be this one. It uses words derived from the same roots, but can you tell the meaning in the sacred language?"

Cecilia had a couple sheets of paper she used to scratch while teaching Marya, as it made it easier for her to convey ideas. She wrote down, in Ephyraeon, the phrase ’ephemar theryn, vaerneth phaneros’ and handed it to Marya.

"Oh, ’ephemar’ means soul, right? I remember that one. ’The soul sings...’? Of the second part I only know ’phaneros,’ which is light."

Cecilia smiled, pleased.

"You have a great memory, Marya. And yeah, I haven’t taught you ’vaerneth’ yet. It’s one of the sacred concepts for Ephemerys. Translated literally, it would mean ’binding.’ But it isn’t any simple binding.

It’s the binding between soul and world, the woven state of life, death, and memory that allows for the continuity of the cycle. So one possible translation of that verse would be akin to ’the soul sings, binding light.’ Can you tell me in what context that chant would be used?"

Marya’s face was lit with understanding and wonder.

"Ohhh... So that’s how rebirth is possible, Senpai? Because of that binding?"

She didn’t just ignore her teacher’s question. She just asked for a clarification that she needed to be able to solve the problem at hand. Cecilia was already used to the girl’s mind processes, so she didn’t mind.

"Yes, that’s exactly it. ’Vaerneth’ is what grants continuity between incarnations."

"Hm... Would the chant be used when you want to transfer something from one container to another, then? It will change form, but you want the essence to remain."

((That girl is so impressive... she deduced the practical applications from such an abstract word.))

Cecilia was, once again, in awe at the cleverness of her student.

"Yes. Though not only for change from one container to the other, but also for change in form. For example, it may be used to accelerate the sprout of plants from their seed. There are several use cases for it."

Cecilia wasn’t only amazed at the girl, though. But also at her own words. It had become a common occurrence for her to find herself saying things she wouldn’t normally even know.

((I wonder if it’s really me speaking, or if it’s Morielen speaking through me. Either way, I had no idea about that, even though I know so many spells by heart.))