In the dimly lit tomb chamber, Vania huddled in a corner, her eyes fixated on the scripture lying on the ground. Fear consumed her, making even breathing difficult. She struggled to calm her racing heart, though anxiety and unease still clung to her.
After realizing she had received a divine revelation from a foreign god, Vania wrestled with conflicting thoughts. Should she surrender herself to the nearby Radiance Church? Or should she flee immediately? Quickly, she slapped her own face to dispel such ideas.
“No, I can’t. Calm down, Vania, calm down! If I surrender, I’ll definitely be sent to the Inquisition. There’s no way I’ll get off lightly—the sin of heresy is too grave. The presiding judge won’t show leniency just because I turned myself in. If I run, leaving only a pile of corpses behind, the Church will surely think I sided with the heretics and orchestrated this massacre. I’d be hunted by execution squads worldwide… never to know peace…”
Vania analyzed her situation carefully. Both surrendering and escaping seemed impossible. The only viable option was to pretend nothing had happened and return to the Church, keeping the fact that she’d received a revelation from a foreign god a secret.
But this wasn’t just about her keeping the secret; the foreign god must also remain silent. And what if concealing the matter offended this god?
Receiving divine revelation is considered an immense blessing, even marking one as a divine favored. Ignoring such grace and returning to her Church as if nothing had happened could provoke divine wrath.
“Even though They’re a foreign god, They’re still a god—an entity I cannot afford to offend. Besides, They really did save me, even if I don’t know what kind of god They are yet. I must tread carefully not to displease Them. If They insists that I join Their faith, I might not have a choice.”
“Phew… for now, I’ll try to communicate,” she murmured.
With trepidation, Vania picked up the scripture from the ground and began writing in it again.
“May I ask, oh unknown Lord, do You have any particular requests?”…
“Requests?”
Reading the words appearing in the book, Dorothy scratched her head. Since she didn’t fully understand the situation of the other party, she decided not to make any demands for now.
“None at the moment,” she wrote.
…
“None at the moment… Does that mean I’m not being forced into joining this faith? That’s a relief. Let’s ask the next question.”
Feeling slightly reassured, Vania wrote another line.
“May I ask, oh unknown Lord, if I may return to the Church?”
After a brief pause, the scripture offered a response.
“You may.”
Vania’s heart swelled with joy. This meant she could return to the Church without offending this god. As long as she carefully kept her secret, she could quietly resume her life as an ordinary clerical sister. This was the best possible outcome.
Even though she didn’t know who this foreign god was, They didn’t seem malevolent. Perhaps They weren’t an evil deity after all.
“Even if I remain a Sister of Radiance, I’ll always remember this deity’s grace. It would be best to ask for Their name, though. Knowing the god’s identity will help me avoid breaking any taboos.”
With this thought in mind, Vania wrote again.
“May I ask, oh great Lord, what is Your honorific name?”
…
“Honorific name? What kind of question is this? A god’s title, perhaps? No, wait… isn’t a ‘honorific name’ a long string of descriptions for a deity?”
Reading the words, Dorothy pondered. Back when she had studied at the Church, she’d memorized the honorific names of the Holy Mother of Radiance, which were a string of descriptors praising the deity’s attributes.
Realizing the other person had mistaken her for a deity, Dorothy thought she should come up with a honorific name befitting a god, even if she was merely a fraud relying on a system. But crafting a long, grand name would take time.
After considering the nature of her system, she wrote a simple word.
“Akasha.”
…
“…Akasha…”
Sitting on the floor of the tomb, Vania read the word displayed in the book, puzzled. She tried several pronunciations, but her confusion only deepened.
“Akasha… I’ve never heard of such honorific name before. No… this seems more like a name than a honorific name…”
Vania felt even more uncertain. Honorific names typically describe a deity’s nature, like Radiant Savior, Merciful Mother, Judging Father, Gluttonous Wolf, or Spider Queen.
Complete honorific names for prayers were even longer strings of descriptive phrases, meticulously capturing and venerating a deity’s powers.
But “Akasha”… it didn’t fit those conventions.
“Could it be… this is a transliteration from a language I don’t know? A language lost to history?”
“If this god uses a name I can’t understand, perhaps… it belongs to a deity from an ancient, lost civilization?”
As a scholar of scripture, Vania’s mind naturally leaped to such a conclusion when faced with an incomprehensible name.
“Forget it, I’ll just express my gratitude for now,” she muttered.
After writing a few lines of sincere thanks to the deity, Vania closed the scripture and secured it at her waist. Taking a deep breath, she surveyed the tomb chamber.
“Next, I’ll head to the nearby telegraph station to call for reinforcements. May the Lord protect me. I hope they’ll believe my account.”
Vania prayed as she always had. But this time, she realized something felt off. Was she praying to the Radiant Saints… or to this mysterious god?
This thought left Vania unsettled. Returning to her ordinary life as a Sister of Radiance might be harder than she had anticipated.
…
“Phew…”
Sitting at her desk, Dorothy exhaled in relief after receiving the follower’s latest message. She mused that she now had a potential source of intelligence or mystical knowledge. Perhaps this would save her some money instead of having to constantly pay Aldrich for intel.
However, she couldn’t fully utilize this source yet. Since the other party viewed her as a deity, asking basic questions wasn’t feasible. She’d need a better communication method to extract information.
“Akasha… No one in this world should recognize that term,” Dorothy murmured.
The word “Akasha” came from her original world, derived from Sanskrit. It roughly translated to “ether , ” but Dorothy had chosen it because of its association with the “Akashic Records.”
Like the Rose Cross Order, the Akashic Records were a concept from her former world’s mysticism. They were described as a transcendent, high-dimensional repository of all information—a kind of ultimate library storing all knowledge. The idea had appeared in various games, films, and anime.
Since her system was information-based, Dorothy thought the name fitting.
But just “Akasha” felt too plain for a god. Perhaps she’d elaborate on the honorific name when she had the time.