The Creed's Emergence

Chapter Two: Mother

Anika staggered back, dropping the candle in the process. It couldn't be. The Mother of Obscure was real, and she was laying in a bed of white lilies. She wouldn't move, neither did she seem alive. She was dead, wasn't she? Anika made choked-up sounds, unable to process what she was seeing. The woman in her dreams was dead. Yet how did she speak to her?
Unless she was alive and still capable of projecting her own image into people's dreams, but that was unheard of. No one in her city could do such a thing. Yet, she wasn't there anymore. She was in the Outerlands, where anything is possible. Which meant that this was possible, too. It made it a little bit less unsettling, but Anika still felt concerned. She swore she saw the woman in her dream in full health, perfectly fine. But now, she looked wounded. Judging by the transparent scar on her chest, she could tell that something happened to cause it. It was not like the other transparent parts on her body, which were a very pale blue. This one was as red as Moon's hair.
In the corner of her eye, Anika saw someone stand up from a table. They weren't there before. When she got to the courtyard she vividly remembered not seeing anyone with her. She was completely alone. Now someone was there, and either they came here silently or simply appeared from the air. They quietly walked over to her, carrying a cup of tea. The tea let off a waft of white steam, and it smelled fragrant. It wasn't anything Anika knew of, so it had to have been from a plant in this world.

"I know, shocking." Surprisingly the person was a man, but much older than Anika was. Looking up at him, Anika saw that the man had black hair and elf-like ears. He had an outfit like Crow did in her dream. It was the same exact outfit. Actually... Taking a good look at the man, it was Crow himself. He was real. Not just an image in her dream, but a real person. Anika was at a loss for words. She tried to speak but stuttered in the process.
"I-i... You... You're..." She could barely form a sentence, but she took in a deep breath and tried to say at least one word.
".. Crow?"
The man raised a brow. He sipped his tea, then he frowned.
"How do you know my name, girl?" He asked, walking past Anika and towards the edge of the flower bed. He stayed there, not looking back or moving elsewhere. He continued to sip his tea when he went silent, waiting for an explanation.
"I saw you in a dream, with the Mother of Obscure and a man named Moon! The Mother saved me from a nightmare and...-" Anika blurted out, starting to panic. Things were happening too fast. First, she had a weird dream, now the people in the said dream were actually real.
Crow froze, his eyes widening. He turned around to face Anika. The look on his face alone cut her off. He lowered the cup but kept it close to himself.
"So it seems, then. You were the one she told me about." He relaxed his gaze, shaking his head.
"Mother told me about a girl who survived an atomic bomb, she saved her for an unknown purpose, but she told me that she wanted her to be protected." He explained, but as he didn't know the full extent of the story, he didn't say anything else.
Everyone knew about her. The atomic bomb, the rescue. The word spread like wildfire. Her story was tragic and involved things that no Church member could even comprehend. The millions of people that died that day, and her being a possible sole survivor. She was truly in the favor of the Gods, not just the ones humans believed in back home, but the ones in this odd world.
"But why is she here, resting on the flowers?" Anika came to Crow's side, looking down at the Mother of Obscure.
"... She has been in a coma for years, ever since we were about eighteen. She was struck with an enchanted spear meant to kill the God that rules this Church, Meirkien. She didn't die only because we could save her before her soul left her body. Now, she's in an eternal rest that we don't know if she will wake up from." Crow let out a sigh. But he soon caught a glimpse of the air rippling nearby. He turned his head, seeing someone squatted down on an elegant stone arch. He had ruby red hair and a golden visor. Anika realized that it was Moon. He was real too.
"It's her, eh?" Moon jumped down from the ledge and came over to Anika's side. He had a sad grin on his face as he took a good look at her. He was the same as the Moon she saw in her dream. The same red hair, same grin, same golden visor. His outfit was white and gold like the one in the dream. A white scarf rested on his neck, one end hanging and barely touching the ground beneath.
"Didn't think I'd see her in person, mother spoke about her a lot."
"Yes indeed, brother.."
"Ahem, you must be quite shocked about all of this, no?" Moon got serious, his grin fading. He glanced over at his mother, who was still in the same position. Anika didn't know what to say, or even what to think. It was too much to take in. She nodded, but could only keep staring at the woman. It was a miracle she was still alive. But she wondered why she hadn't been taken inside where it was warmer. Maybe there was a reason for it, along with why there were flowers around her. She rubbed her head, letting out a soft sigh. At least she got her answer, that the three were indeed real and not just dream images.
Crow went over to a nearby bench and sat down, sipping on his tea again. He remained silent, letting Moon take over for him. The red-haired man patted Anika on the shoulder. He then went into the bed of flowers and knelt down next to his mother.
"Her name is Justitiam. We sometimes call her Justi. She is our beloved mother who adopted us at a young age. We both came from very different families and backgrounds. But she saw us as equals and loved us both equally. She trained us, not missing a single subject. She fixed our weak points and strengthened our skills. But she taught us to fight the evil, and bring justice." He reached out, gently touching the woman's hand.
"We miss her dearly. But we know that what she did was for our own good and that of the Church. Without her sacrifice, everything would fall. We would not be here, neither would you." He dug his hand into his pocket, digging for something. He stopped, then took out the object. It was a small marble-like object. But when it was exposed to the air, it burst into a blue-green flame. It resembled a soul. Moon laid it onto Justitiam's chest, and it began to glow brightly. Then it disappeared as it was absorbed into the woman's body. Blue veins spread across her body before fading away. The soul seemed to be restoring something in Justitiam. Perhaps energy? Or was it food?
"One day she'll come back, I know it. She sounds like a very nice woman." Anika smiled a little, hoping to brighten up the mood.
"You guys can't lose hope, she did a lot for you both. You can't give up on her. I'm sure she'll return to you both." She sat down on the cold stone floor, brushing a finger against a white lily. As she said that, the white lily began to glow. Tiny white orbs floated up into the air. One by one, the flowers lit up, releasing the orbs into the sky.