Chapter 32: Matriarch of Life

Apart from people’s faces and body language, Magna also paid close attention to the architecture, the buildings, the streets, hoping to learn more about their culture.

Everything was colorful.

Some buildings were built from wood, others from stone, western style, their outer walls ranging from dark blues all the way to a bright, eye-catching pink.

Flowers decorated every corner, and trees, all sorts of different colors, stood in nearly every street, at least one to a block.

Everything being so remarkably clean added to the beauty of it all too.

The whole place looked exactly like the sort of thing you’d describe as touched by a woman’s hand, that old saying fit it perfectly.

Magna wasn’t sure if this was something special to Winterborne city or just how things were done in this world, but there were plenty of artistic touches everywhere as well.

The biggest one, the one that caught his eye, was a massive statue of a woman rising right in the middle of the city, visible even from the entrance.

"What’s that statue?" he asked, realizing it had to be someone important.

There was something familiar about it too. He looked more closely, as though he actually knew who she was, but the lack of any color, just grey stone, kept him from placing her in his mind.

His question made Celeste’s face shift slightly, while Faye just looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in the world.

’Did I ask something I shouldn’t have?’ Magna wondered, the stares leaving him uneasy.

His unease only grew as words began drifting from Celeste’s lips.

"Vein of the Living World. River that has flowed since before the First Dawn. Silent Mother of Rain and Sea."

She’d suddenly started chanting a spell.

Though she stopped there, never adding the final line, the part that actually brought out a spell’s real character and power.

Looking at the boy’s startled, half-guarded expression, Celeste smiled again, chuckling this time, clearly amused.

"Those are the honored names of the Matriarch of Life. I must say, I’m rather surprised you know so little about this."

She knew the boy had spent his whole life with goblins, in a cave.

But seeing he could speak human language well, she’d assumed he’d have had access to whatever books the goblin who’d raised him owned. And beyond that, some basic knowledge of the Great Matriarchs, the sort everyone simply knew.

The look of him was misleading too, his skin clean, not a speck of dirt on him anywhere, and his manners refined, giving off the air of someone raised in a civilized family, not inside a cave.

"Matriarchs are the 5 Great Mothers, the owners of the beginning, responsible for everything your eyes can see, your ears can hear, your nose can smell, your skin can feel, and beyond your senses."

Celeste explained it plainly, the way you’d explain something to a child, while Magna listened carefully, hoping to understand their belief and history a little better.

’So they’re just goddesses who created this world,’ he thought, also surprised there weren’t any gods at all.

Then again, in a world so plainly ruled by women, it made sense enough.

She went on to explain that each Matriarch represented, in sequence, Life, Time, Death, Order, and Fate.

And that while the Winterborne family respected all the Mothers equally, they followed the teachings of the Matriarch of Life above the rest.

That was because they believed the water and ice spells tied to creation came from that very Matriarch.

Magna, listening, felt an odd familiarity with the gods from his own game, God Simulator, and a flicker of dread along with it.

But thinking it through, he realized these couldn’t be the same.

In his game world, the gods numbered 9 in total, so Chaos, Creation, Destruction, and Void were apparently missing from this world.

’So I’ve been reincarnated into a different universe?’ It was, at least, something of a relief, knowing he was away from his killers.

But there was also a faint resentment sitting in his heart. Part of him actually wanted to see them again, wanted to spit in their faces for everything they’d done to him.

While he sank into these deep thoughts, the carriage began to slow.

Looking out the window, he saw they’d come to a stop in front of a large mansion.

It looked rather like the old monasteries Magna knew from his modern world, in both architecture and structure.

"Welcome, my lady." The door was opened by a middle-aged maid in a light blue uniform, bowing to those inside.

Faye was the first to step out of the carriage, hopping down in a single motion, Magna following after, his eyes tracking everything and everyone around him.

There was a small army of maids waiting, at least twenty of them, lined up on either side, all standing with respectful, lowered heads.

A few of them, unable to hold back their curiosity, kept glancing up at Magna now and then, faintly startled looks on their faces.

They couldn’t be blamed for their curiosity, given the family had left the mansion with just mother and daughter, and had now returned with a boy at their side.

That the boy wore no clothing at all, save for a scrap of red cloth tied around his waist, was more than enough on its own to explain those startled looks anyway.

"Victoria, this is Magna. He’ll be living with us from now on." Celeste said as she stepped down from the carriage with slow steps.

"Yes, my lady." The head maid received her order.

Celeste looked at the boy as she held out her hand. "Come, let’s go inside and find you something to wear."

Magna reached out too, taking hold of it, feeling how cold it was, as the two of them started walking, following after Faye, who was already hurrying ahead with quick steps.

He still wasn’t quite sure why this family had taken him into their home, or why they seemed so intent on treating him with this much kindness.

But whatever the reason, he figured it was better than living alone in a cave.

At the very least, he could use them to gain more knowledge and power in the days ahead. And if they ever meant him harm, well, that was something he could think about when it actually happened.

There was no need to make his already miserable life any more miserable with thoughts like that.