I stared at the fires at the bottom of the stairs, unsure what to do next. Fortunately for , it seed things were happening on their own as I saw a few of the white-robed n and won stare at the blue flas before hurrying inside the temple. I noticed the guards still not moving.
Montarily, a young white-robed woman with light blonde hair, indiscernible from the other priests, appeared on top of the stairs and slowly walked down. Her eyes were on , but I couldn’t spot fear in them. In fact, she had a small smile on her lips, which surprised . At the sa ti, I lowered myself so Cellestra could step off. She walked up next to and waited for the priestess to make her way down.
“Welco,” The priestess said warmly as she took the last few steps. “I am the head priestess of this temple.” She turned her head to one of the roaring flas before turning it back to us.
“I can see the goddess is eager to speak to one of you. I assu you’ve co this way to talk to her, correct?”
I nodded. “As you can see, I have so… questions.”
“Naturally,” She replied before turning around. “If you’ll follow then. I’ll get preparations on the way right away. I would dislike invoking the goddess’s ire for making her wait, after all.”
This seed to be going better than I’d expected. No weird questions about what I was, who I was. I wondered what she ant about the goddess’s ire, though. Elysa didn’t seem to be the type to get angry quickly. Then again, I hadn’t seen too much of her to know for certain.
It did sound a bit ominous to invoke her ire…
I looked at Cellestra for a second while the white-robed elf walked back up the stairs. She nodded briefly which was exactly what I needed at the ti. We then followed the head priestess as she led us inside the large structure.
I cast a glance at the guards with my spider eyes but noted that they still had not moved. It was almost as if they were statues, even though I knew they weren’t.
The inside of the temple was surprisingly sober. The colorful stained glass windows were about the only thing that seed to breathe life into this otherwise grey building. Simple wooden benches were placed in rows to either side of a walkway in the middle, facing a stone altar which we were moving towards.
So of the priests were still sitting on the benches, lost in prayer, but most of them seed to have disappeared. There was a door to the far right in the wall behind the altar through which I saw so movent. I assud there was another large room behind there where all the priests had gone.
“Please wait here a second,” The priestess said as we reached the altar. She then walked behind it and pulled up a large golden bowl which she placed on the stone altar. She then walked towards the door and entered the room behind it.
“So far so good, indeed,” Cellestra comnted.
“It seems your knowledge about all this is accurate,” I said. “It’s like I am… welco here.”
Cellestra nodded. “As I said before. It’s extrely rare that Elysa makes it known that she wants to talk to a person. Usually, it’s people requesting the ritual only for it to fail because the goddess does not wish to talk to them.”
“That sounds harsh.”
“Expensive too.”
“Wait, do I have to pay?” I frowned at the elf. “I had not accounted for that.”
Cellestra shook her head. “In your case, no. When the ritual is successful, it’s free.”
“Sounds like a gamble to .”
“It is, more or less.”
I rubbed my temples as I focused on the questions I wanted to ask the goddess. I wanted to know where my parents were. A way to get rid of Cellestra’s curse, and what the reason was for the curse that was placed on , and who did it.
That made think. Even if I knew who did it, what would I do with that information?
My train of thoughts got interrupted as the priestess returned with a woven bowl of all kinds of herbs, leaves, and dried flowers. She carefully placed each one of the items in the large bowl on the altar and then looked at the two of us before her eyes settled on .
“Elysa wished to speak to you, you ntioned?”
I nodded.
“Alright,” She said as her face turned to a serious expression as she held up her arms above the container of ingredients. “Please hold your head above the ritual bowl.”
Cellestra took a few steps back as I did as instructed. I leaned my head over the plant materials and noted the strong minty scent coming from them. Then, the priestess retracted her hands as I suddenly saw blue flas erupt beneath . I panicked for a second as they engulfed my face, but… it didn’t burn. Rather, it was pleasantly warm. It made feel… sleepy.
The next I knew, I found myself in Elysa’s realm once more. The strange thing about it this ti was that I stood there, in front of her desk, with my current body.
I only experienced a brief mont of confusion before my eyes rested on the goddess who smiled at .
“Kealyna, my child. I’m glad you chose to talk to . I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”
I shrugged. “Just a few, actually.”
“Doesn’t surprise , seeing as it’s you. Before you ask anything. I’d like to know how you are doing.”
I wanted to ask where I was first. I sohow had a hard ti believing I was back in her realm. I decided I’d answer her question first.
“I’m okay, I guess. Besides a rough start, I think I’ll be fine going forward.”
Elysa sighed. “I’m… relieved to hear that. As I said in my ssage to you, I’m unable to reverse the curse completely. As you are now is how you’ll stay I’m afraid.”
I nodded. “It’s okay. I can live like this.”
“Now as for your questions, I am sure one of them is where we are right now. You are not actually here with in my realm, this ti. This is just an illusion I’m projecting into your mind, with the help of the ritual, so that we can talk.”
I nodded again.
“I guess you already know the first question I would like to ask.”
“Where you ended up, right? Or rather, where your parents are.”
Elysa took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m afraid there is a bit of an issue in that regard. Before I answer that, I need to make sothing clear. I have found out who was behind the events when I was about to reincarnate you. As I had suspected, it was Hograd. As for reasons, I do not know… yet. However, in order to protect your parents from his influence, I have not followed them.”
I raised my eyebrows. I didn’t quite know what she was on about.
“What I an to say is,” Elysa continued. “If I were to track them, I think Hograd would eventually find out. While he cannot interfere in your current world directly, he could still instruct underlings to do sothing. Do you see what I an?”
I didn’t know what to say.
“I can tell you where I had initially placed them, but I cannot promise they are still there.”
It seed this wasn’t going to be easy, after all…
“They are in a small settlent called Thymhil, far away from you in a province called Len Asari.”
“How about their mories of ? Do they know I’m looking for them?”
“They don’t know about you,” Elysa said suddenly, which caused shock to run through . “At least, not yet. I have placed a mory lock on them… call it a slight curse. As soon as they see you, the curse will be dispelled and their mories of you, at least from before their deaths, will return.”
“So they don’t rember their deaths?”
The goddess shook her head. “No. If you wish to talk to them about that, that’s up to you.”
Elysa stared into my eyes once more. “If you have another question, I suggest you hurry up. This ritual won’t keep up forever. I have to add that you cannot undergo this ritual again for so ti due to the stress on your psyche.”
I decided to hurry up as she suggested.
“I’m looking for a way to get rid of a curse on my friend. Do you know anything about how to get rid of it?”
“Cellestra, you an?”
I nodded.
“That’s not a curse from what I can see. Even if it was, I wouldn’t be able to intervene. As I’ve said before, I cannot interfere in your world directly. I am afraid I haven’t seen anything like it before and as such, there is little I can do to help you get rid of it. For what it’s worth, the magic my blessing grants you, at least the beneficial spells it grants, seems to stop the ailnt’s progress dead in its tracks.”
I was relieved to hear that. At least Cellestra’s fears wouldn’t co to pass.
After that, I could see the goddess smile and the world around started to change shape. The colors of everything I was seeing started to blend together and I knew the ti of the ritual had co to an end. I had my most imdiate questions answered save for what the reason behind this interference and my curse was. I could see Elysa wave as everything started to beco white.
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