Lords of RPG

Heath was still a toddler when she started showing signs of knowing things she should not know.  Remembering things she could not have seen...or heard.  Her parents tried to ignore it at first, but neighbors and extended family were disturbed by the things Heath would say or reveal.

She knew their secrets and would blurt them out without a single thought to the consequences.  She knew the worst things they had done in their lives.  Their worst fears.  She knew their betrayals, and their tragedies.  And worst of all, she would tell tales of things that had not yet happened, and the passage of time always proved her to be correct.

By the age of seven, her parents had given Heath to the local Temple for the Great Inquisition.  Her parents hadn't even asked for anything in return.  

Heath was sad when her parents gave her away, and sadder yet when neither her parents, nor her family, nor her friends ever came to visit her.  Even the Inquisitors were hesitant to interact with her.  Despite being men of the Gods, they too had their secrets and shame...and Heath knew all of it.

For several lonely years, she lived among the priests of the Great Inquisition.  Occasionally they would ask her to use her talents to assist their order.  Sometimes she would tell them about the secrets of an accused heretic.  Other times, she would tell the priests of future events, so they could use this information to the order's advantage.  

When Heath was twelve, she met Giovanni Piazzi.  He was a handsome man, muscular in build, with red hair, and a fiery temper.  Heath knew his secrets and sins, but Giovanni made it clear to her that he didn't care.  He was the first and only person she had ever met that didn't give a shit about her powers, or what dark things she might know about him.

Giovanni was nearly 15 years her senior, but she didn't care.  He was a father to her...an older brother...and her first crush all wrapped up into one unhealthy package.  Heath was a lonely girl, abandoned by everyone she had ever loved, and Giovanni had volunteered to be her protector within the Great Inquisition.  This created a strong bond between the two.

In her visions of the future, Heath could see that Giovanni would be in her life for a very long time.  She saw great pain in their future...great tragedy.  But, he didn't leave her.  He didn't give her away.  In the future she could see, he would always be at her side.  This comforted the young girl at a confusing time in her life.  The Virgin Oracle was growing up.

A few years later, a dark and craven creature raped the Virgin Oracle, taking away her special sight, and impregnating her with twin sons.  Her virginity lost, she was no longer an oracle.  But, Giovanni stood by her.  He helped the teenager through the birth of her sons, and stood by her when fate took both the sons away from her.  They had destinies ahead of them, that didn't really include Heath.

Despite the loss of her visions and special sight, Heath  was a clever girl.  When the Great Inquisition fell apart, brought down under the weight of scandal and misadventure, Heath and Giovanni embraced the rising movement to deify one of her sons...Crighton, the Grey King.

It turned out that Heath was a distant descendant of the Grey family, the royal family of the Kingdom of Grey on the Mainland.  This made Crighton an heir to this fallen throne, and it made Heath the mother of the King.  A Holy Order called the Men in Grey rose up, worshipping the Grey King, and his mother and father.  Thus, Heath was titled as "the Matron."

Several years later, the Matron and Giovanni took a young girl with visions and special sight under their tutelage.  Her name of Hazel, and in a very short time, she took on the role of a new Virgin Oracle.  Hazel's sight was a gift from the Goddess of Oracles, Sahadi.  Hazel became an advisor to her King, and helped shape the destiny of mankind with her special talents.

Now Hazel was dead.  Killed by unnatural means.  Much like Heath's rape was meant to rob the world of her special sight, Hazel's murder was meant to take a game-piece off the board.  She was killed to prevent her from making a difference in a world that was coming apart at the seams.  Heath knew these things instinctively, despite not having her visions for many years now.

Giovanni was at the Matron's side as always, but her grief knew no bounds.  There was no consoling her, and Giovanni gave her space to mourn.  The Matron spent most over her time in the chapel of the Half-Castle, praying to her goddess, Sahadi.  The Matron spent time screaming accusations at her goddess, her anger shift eventually, and the accusations became pleading.  The Matron offered her own life for Hazel's, and promised to do whatever Sahadi asked, if Hazel could simply be returned to life.

Heath often took her meals in the chapel, and even slept there on occasion.  One night, a voice woke her.  It was a female voice.  When the Matron opened her eyes, a naked young woman stood before her, soaking wet, with a large puddle gathered under her feet.  The naked woman spoke.  "Are you quite done yelling and begging?"

The Matron knew instantly that she stood before a divine being, and she fell to her knees.  "No, I am not done...I beseech you to return my Hazel to life.  Her death was unfair...and unjust.  She did not deserve such an end...and...."

The naked goddess interrupted the Matron.  "There is no justice...nothing is fair...few deaths are deserved.  I see everything that happens, and know what lies before us, but I will not bring your student back to life.  Dead is dead...and Hazel is with her dead ancestors.  There she will stay."

The Matron bowed her head.  For the first time, Hazel's death seemed very final to her.  "Yes, my Goddess.  Great Knower of Secrets...Ageless, and Timeless, I accept what you say...and ask you to forgive my desperation."

Sahadi walked forward.  "You are forgiven, my child.  My virgin-turned-matron.  You loved Hazel like a child from your very womb.  She lived a powerful life and was loved.  Now let her go."

The Matron prostrated herself.  "I loved her...and...," there was a long pause, "I let her go."

Sahadi stopped before the Matron, dripping water on her and wetting her clothes.  "Stand, my child for I bring you a gift for a gift.  You have spent a life as an oracle or training other oracles.  You have given everything of yourself to me, and now I return some of that love and faith back to you.  Stand!"

The Matron scrambled to her feet, and stood proud before the vision of her Goddess.  Sahadi placed a hand on the Matron's belly.  "Despite the rape and birth of twin sons, you have remained chaste all these years since?"

The Matron blushed.  "I thought...hoped....I..."

Sahadi finished her sentence for her.  "...hoped that if you remained chaste, I might wipe the slate clean, and return to you your powers as an Oracle.  My poor girl, I appreciate your optimism, but it was misplaced.  Allow me to release you from this restriction."

The Matron looked confused.  "What do you mean."

Sahadi's hand strayed lower on the Matron's belly.  "You will take faithful Giovanni as your mate.  You will become pregnant with a child that carries my blessing.  You will birth a daughter and name her Esla.  She will have special sight and become a powerful oracle."

The Matron felt a warmth deep in her belly.  "What are you doing to me, my Goddess?"

Sahadi smiled.  "You were my boon to the world...and after you were lost, Hazel was my boon.  Now that Hazel has been lost, I bestow upon you my boon.  You will carry it...until Elsa is born, at which time it will pass to her."

Suddenly, the world opened up for the Matron in every direction.  She could see things near and far, in the past, present and future.  The secrets and shame of every person living in the city of Wather rushed into her mind.  Tears filled her eyes, as she felt the gift return.

Sahadi withdrew her hand.  "Carry my boon for your child...guard it well, and give Elsa all the tools she'll need to serve the World of Kempin in the dark times ahead.

The Matron could see the winding paths that led to what might be.  There were various paths, but few of them led to anything good.  Sahadi was right.  Kempin would fall into darkness.  "I will do everything you say, Sahadi.  I will follow your every word, my Goddess."

Sahadi smiled seductively.  "Good, now go my child.  Deliver my word to Giovanni, and tell him what is required of him.  I am certain he will be pleased, and will give you whatever you ask.  Bear him a daughter, and return my Oracle to the world."

The Matron was alone in the chapel now, but the water remained on the floor, and there was a wet hand=print on the front of her dress.  After all these years of denying temptation...she could give herself to Giovanni, and they would have a child of their own.  The Matron said a prayer of peace for Hazel, and then ran from the chapel to tell Giovanni the news.