Summary

The beloved Princess of the Pyuriya Kingdom. After the Great Goddesses cursed everyone in the world to turn to stone in retaliation to humanity's ignorance, due to King Leoris Vathana Faeyris betraying his nation's patron Goddess during a time for war; which left him trapped in stone and his daughter, Aerith, to embark on a quest to fix his mistake and gain the Goddesses' trust again before every being on the planet will be turned to stone. She leaves home with her Knight, Domiel, at her side, and eventually crosses paths with Lovise and Galateia, an Assassin and Demon respectively, who vow to help her in her quest for preventing divine retribution. How she'll rectify her father's grave error, she does not know yet. But perhaps this adventure will lead her to the answers that she seeks.

Story

Before the Divine Petrification

Prince Athrel was born to Queen Valyhra Vathana Faeyris and King Leoris Vathana Faeyris in a trubulent time of war. As the only child and heir, as soon as she was able to walk and talk, she was expected to learn politics and the art of war in preparation for when she would eventually become the King of the Pyuriya Kingdom. This left no time for personal things, like hobbies or friends aside from her soon-to-be Knight, Domiel Sraosha, and a strain in her and her parent's relationships as they didn't have any time to talk. Despite this, she understood her position as then-Prince, and dedicated herself to her studies. Her only solice in her stressful life was wearing the pretty dresses and makeup that Domiel bought for her, walking around the castle, pretending to be a girl, when everyone else was asleep. When she was 19, she came out as transgender to her parents, much to their confusion, and changed her name to Aerith. But any dramatics about this change were swept under the rug as the neighbouring nation, the Kingdom of Auraevell, had invaded their nation. In a moment of desperation due to their lack of resources and soldiers, King Leoris swore a contract to the Goddess of Military Excellence, Cedrena. He would give his life and the throne to his daughter, in return for the Goddesses' power; but when the war was won, the King broke the contract and fled the Goddesses' eyes, contracting the protection of a minor god who was unaware of the broken contract. In deeply angered retaliance, the Goddesses turned him to stone, and delivered a prophecy to his daughter that the entirety of humanity would pay for one man's misdeeds and began to slowly, one-by-one, petrify the rest of the world.

Aerith's Quest

With the threat of world-wide Petrification looming over her head, Aerith quickly set out on a quest to gain an audience with the Goddesses alongside Domiel, who she had knighted herself. Without her father able to tell her how to speak with the Goddesses, the two of them visited many libraries in the towns they came across, and spoke with anyone who would give them any information. They poured through book after book for any mentions of Goddesses or Divine Retribution, but nothing they read would bring them any closer to meeting the Goddesses and saving humanity.

Meeting Lovise

During a visit to a particularly shady town, Aerith and Domiel were met with a group of secular anti-Goddess protestors who were forming an anti-Goddess rebellion in hopes of bringing down the Goddesses. After hearing of Aerith's inquiries of the Goddesses and their previous Divine Retributions, the secular group had come to the conclusion that the royal family was the cause of the Petrification and began persecuting towards the royal bloodline, attacking Aerith and Domiel before they could bear their arms. Before the Princess could be hit, a person jumped in front of the two, protecting them with dual blades. The mystery person had dealt a killing blow to one of the attackers, which made Aerith immediately pull the person away, insisting that they run away instead of resorting to killing innocent civilians. The saviour didn't take too kindly to what they believed to be a naive mindset, but any argument they would start was stopped by Domiel shoving between them to stop a knife from hitting the two of them with their shield. Deciding that it wasn't worth it to continue aruging, the person threw a smokescreen into the crowd, leading the other two to a safe spot away on the rooftop of a building. Aerith explained what the two of them were doing, and why the townspeople were so angry, and the person, introducing herself as Lovise Liliveri, an Assassin-for-hire, officially joined the team as protection. She was interested in helping them stop the Petrification, as her fingertips had began petrifying.

The Demonic Contract

The trio's journey was halted not only by anti-royalty and anti-Goddess rebels, but also monsters who took the strange decrease in population and increase in person-shaped stone statues as motivation for raiding and ransacking towns and villages, since there were less people to fight back and less soldiers protect the citizens. While the three of them were travelling to the next town for information, they were suddenly jumped by a hoard of flesh-hungry monsters. They fought back to the best of their ability, but one monster in particular was powerful and took out Domiel, who was getting weaker since they had started petrifying from their fingertips, with ease, and whose thick skin wasn't pierced by Lovise's daggers. In a moment of desperation, Aerith used her scythe and began scrawling a summoning circle on the road. A book that she had read previously had incantation and summoning spells, and one in particular had caught her eye so she had memorised it. The circle began glowing, and horns slowly rose from the ground, followed by a head, and a hand raising to grab the ground. A demon; tall with horns and wings, with fur-covered legs and a tail, rose from the circle. Aerith pleaded to the demon to lend them their power, and the demon agreed, dealing with the monsters with a quick swipe of her claw to unleash a blast of magic from her grimoire that turned them to dust. As a being from the Demonic Realm, the demon, introduced as Galateia Kaossixia Tethys Katsaros, was not affected at all by the petrification. After Aerith proposed a contract that promised meals of the royal's blood in exchange for Galateia's protection, the demon accepted the contract and became the fourth member of the team.

Divine Convocation

After five long years of travelling, with the four eventually entering into a loving four-way relationship, and with both Domiel and Lovise slowly turning to stone, their trials and tribulations finally brought them to the Realm of the Goddesses. With a carefully-drawn magic circle, and an ancient incantation rehearsed, the four of them were summoned to a bright, white abyss with eight marble pillars with a Great Goddess seated on each pillar. The Goddess responsible for the Divine Petrification, Cyheia, the Goddess of Stone, would not be reasoned with, so Aerith proposed a contract. The four of them would battle Cyheia and if they lost, they would be killed and the rest of humanity would be petrified. If they won, all of those who were turned to stone would be depetrified, not including her father the Goddesses commanded would suffer this Divine Retribution alone.

The Battle Against a Goddess

The four of them took up arms against Cyheia, engaging in an intense battle. After five years of watching the people around her slowly turn to stone, and hearing her two girlfriends grimly accept the fact that they might eventually turn to stone before they could meet the Goddesses, Aerith held nothing back against the Goddess, determined to win this battle. They all used every ounce of their power and abilities, fighting with tooth and nails against the deity. Until, after hours of non-stop battle, Goddess Cedrena, who had been the one to be betrayed by King Leoris, ordered for the battle to halt. It declared that the persistence and courage that the four of them held was to its tastes and that witnessing the determination of humans was enough to settle its anger towards the King of Pyuriya. "I have watched your journey for these past five years, Princess Aerith of Pyuriya Kingdom. Seeing how much you care for your people, for all beings on this earth, has made me believe that not all humans are as selfish as The Betrayer was. I have hopes for you, Princess Aerith of Pyuriya Kingdom. The determination you and your companions have shown today, against a Great Goddess, has proven to us that you are dedicated enough to lead your kingdom to greatness. May you never break this trust. Farewell, Courageous Ones, may you live prosperous lives."

Afterword

With a sudden flash of blinding light, they found themselves in the throne room of the castle in Pyuriya Kingdom, where the dead still, petrified statue of the King still stands, arm outstretched to the heavens. The petrification that had been creeping up Lovise and Domiel's bodies had receded and disappeared, and those who had been petrified or in the process of being turned to stone, had returned to normal. With the lands finally in peace again, Aerith accepted the title of Queen regnant from her mother, and her partners became the Queen Consorts, where they led the kingdom together under the protection of Goddess Cedrena.