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3 months had passed since Isaac of Vale had married the Goddess of Purity.
It was no mistake to say that his own personal power had increased by orders of magnitude, even if around 75% of the pure mana he could use was bound to She Who Purifies; it's not like he couldn't make use of it at all, it was just…well risky.
When using mana from the ring, it had two distinct features. For one, he could pull pure mana directly from his connection with his wife (being one part Solania and three parts She Who Purifies), which gave him an extreme proficiency in magic that would purify things. This could be purifying water to make it safe to drink or cleansing toxins from the body. On a personal level, this was essentially a constant. He could pretty much ingest as much poison as he wanted to, and it wouldn't be able to do much, if anything, to him. But using too much of this would risk the mana being influenced by She Who Purifies, which meant that he was also a prime target for purification.
So far, that hadn't gotten any less painful.
But the other function was handy. It acted as a way to hold mana, and having it increased his personal ability to store mana by over 1000 times. As the magic was binding himself as well, it allowed all mana to be easily used to produce his personal magic, meaning Illusion and misdirection.
Of course, it also very aggressively enforced his Vows. For most of them, Isaac wasn't concerned, but the fact that he couldn't lie to anyone was…challenging, to say the least. The specifics of this Vow were very blunt. If he said anything to anyone that was known to be a lie, he would experience pain and a reduced ability to use any of his power for 24 hours. So far he had not done this, but Solania had made the repercussions very clear, though she felt it wasn't a big deal; after all, the Path of Purity was an easy way to live. According to her.
Having access to this much power allowed Isaac to test a few theories about magic over the last few months (after a good week or two of healing from his wedding.)
Currently, Isaac was watching Leksha as she tried to find him. It was hide-and-seek but with swords. In this case, the haze over the glade did help him slightly, but realistically, using magic to refract light was probably a bit overkill.
Also, standing upside down on a branch of the great central tree of Solania's Galde was maybe unfair, but Isaac would counter that her using her full power was unfair. Chosen by a Goddess or not, Leksha was a master of Elven Blades, and he wasn't interested in doing another round of combat.
The point of this exercise was to see if Leksha's sharpened senses and years of experience could find him if he stood in one spot and hid with magic. They had played this game before, but Isaac's overall ability to maintain any magic was an issue in the past. Still, she had a pretty high confidence in her ability to see through illusions like this. He figured if this worked on her, most people wouldn't be able to see through things like this in the future.
So far, this had been going on for around 3 hours, and at this point, Leksha was stabbing at shadows in a desperate attempt to find him.
Well, she's persistent. I might lose just from the sensation of blood rushing to my head before losing to her at this point.
He contemplated just revealing himself when Solania trotted over to Leksha. She tilted her head and asked, "Whatever are you doing, Chief High Priestess?"
Leksha jumped, having just finished slashing at some patch of grass nearby.
Does she think I'm disguising as grass? Not a crazy idea, I guess, but it seems kind of risky.
She bowed her head quickly.
"A-ah, my Goddess. It is nothing important. I am merely attempting to find your illustrious Husband; he is quite the masterful illusionist."
Solania looked around and spotted him upside down on the tree. She gave an exasperated sigh, "My Husband is not playing fair, as is his way."
She gave him a disapproving look, "Isaac, must you do such things? I feel that it harms my own divine image somehow."
Leksha looked up at the tree, trying to follow where Solania was looking, but seemed unable to find him. He sighed and undid the light refraction, careful to remain high above them so as to avoid an immediate retaliation from Leksha.
Isaac gave his wife a hurt look, "Solania, I'm just trying to prove a point, your Chief High Priestess was certain that she could find me despite my magic."
Leksha's eye twitched, seeing him standing in a gravity-defying manner so casually, "You were up there all along…what happened to 'stay in the glade!'"
He smiled evenly, "Master, I believe it was you who once told me, 'All that exists under the canopy of that tree is The Goddesses Glade, a holy and sacred land,' and I am currently still under the canopy, am I not?"
It was Leksha's turn to give an exasperated sigh, but given his position, she held it in. Instead, she bowed towards him and said, "Certainly true, one could say that an illusionist lives and dies by their ability to see what others would not in any given situation. Still…can you even keep that magic up outside of the glade?"
He shook his head.
"Not likely, but it's also unlikely that I would have to do so for 3 hours."
Isaac gave her a pointed look. Leksha seemed to realize the implication. He assumed she had lost track of time. She put her hand to her face and looked defeated.
"I'm losing the elegance of my position." She muttered.
Solania ignored her and looked up at him, "My dear Husband, might you come down here? I have something important to give you."
Isaac immediately felt a chill. Every time his wife decided to "give" him something, it always managed to make his life more complicated. He knew there wasn't much hope of getting out of it, so he mentally steeled himself for whatever may come and dropped down from the branch, landing nearby without much fanfare.
She gave him a satisfied look now that he was standing on the ground normally and looked back to Leksha, "Chief High Priestess, please go across the glade and begin a prayer."
Isaac raised an eyebrow and gave Solania a questioning look.
Given her isolation in the glade and lack of knowledge of the outside world, I had assumed that prayer must not do anything in this world.
She gave him a smug look, "Ahaha, so there are things you don't know still, my poor Husband? Fret not, I shall teach you."
She led him over to their area of the glade. She laid down before him and motioned that he sit in front of her. She began a lecture with a gleam in her eyes.
"All the Gods have their titles, as you know. For those mortals blessed by us, these are typically used to invoke some of our power."
Isaac nodded; he had seen this in action a few times through the High Priestesses.
"But, in general, any mortal who strongly believes in a God can call our names in times of need and be heard. Now, the effect is very dependent on the level of faith and how much need they are in. Distance is also a factor."
Isaac blinked in surprise at that.
Distance is a factor? That's strangely limiting…like your faith would probably be pretty impacted if your prayer can't be heard by your God because they are too far away. Hmm…
Solania continued, "As you are my chosen Husband, you can also hear these prayers. This may prove extremely useful when you are traveling in my name. Now, prepare yourself. I will grant you the right to hear a small portion of these prayers now. Try to focus on the prayers of the High Priestesses."
Isaac took a deep breath. If distance was a factor, then he would probably hear prayers from the Elves and the Ten Pure Villages. He nodded to show his readiness.
Instantly all other sounds were drowned out.
"Oh, Great Goddess of Purity, Please…"
"Pure Light of Purity! May I beg…"
"Purest Light, I am desperate…"
"...My Son..."
"...Disease is spreading!"
"...We are in so much pain!"
"...My desires are too great!"
"...My husband is betraying me and…"
"...please Save me…"
"...Please help us!"
"...My wife is…"
"...I can't..."
"...Water cannot be drunk!"
"...Killing my family!"
"...Afraid…"
"...Abandoned me in this…"
"...Arm is blackened…"
"...This land and protect…"
"...Make Him love me…"
"...Daughter, she was just a young…"
"...Call to you, Oh great Goddess…"
"...Her heart is is still…"
"...Or I will be dragged out and…"
"Eminence of Light and Purity…"
"...Curse him, that he may never defile…"
"...The Bleeding won't…"
"...Rotted and we are starving…"
"...Its so dark…"
"...I cant feel my arm!"
"...So hot and it hurts…"
"...Purify those who would…"
Isaac took in the hundreds of overlapping voices. It was a lot, though his experience with She Who Purifies was so intense that he had grown some resistance to being easily overwhelmed by such sensory overload.
More than anything, just trying to pick any single statement out of the cacophony was a challenge. He focused on them and tried to mentality sort them. It took some time, but he was eventually able to apply his own mental filter to the prayers. As with most abilities from Solania, it came through the ring. By willing it to filter out based on his rules, and with some tweaking, Isaac eventually heard a single, recognizable voice in his mind. Though the rest of the constant stream of prayers was in the back of his head, never abating.
"Oh Great Goddess of Purity, one who stands above us unworthy, who makes the path that we walk, we call to you, that you may bless us with your light. That you may take our desires away, bring us peace, cleanse us of that which ails. We beseech you!"
Interestingly, if he wanted it, the ring could pull him in the direction of a single prayer, given that he could focus on it.
Isaac immediately understood how this was invaluable in his purpose. Being able to hear and then answer prayers in the name of his wife was undoubtedly a good PR move.
He opened his eyes and nodded at her. Solania smiled, "Excellent work, Husband! Though only a small amount, I imagine it was difficult for a mortal to handle. With this, I think…"
She was interrupted as Isaac approached her and hugged her neck, stroking her mane gently. She almost jumped away in surprise. He had come to understand that she had never really received any physical displays of affection, as most would see that as massively insulting to a Goddess like her.
But, as her Husband, Isaac had no such restriction. He had mostly refrained due to her unfamiliarity with it. Still, after experiencing a small amount of what was likely a constant part of her existence, he felt it was warranted.
He spoke calmly, "It must be difficult."
"A-ah, well, i-its a part of my job as Goddess. I-I do not think this necessary." She said, clearly flustered.
He smiled, "Don't worry. We will ensure fewer of those prayers go unanswered in the future."
Isaac felt a greater sense of his purpose, so many voices, all calling out. Here, Solania couldn't hope to answer them all, and out there, her followers were not all-powerful. If he could even help her manage a small fraction, it might make all the effort to get to this point worth it after all.