The altar was under a shelter of twisting trees that created a sort of dome. Flora walked in front of him and then bowed as she saw to gods.
"Hello Flora, how are you today?"
"Good, Lady Temprania, I brought someone to see you, his name is Vidian."
"We were expecting him," The male god that Lady Temprania was using his lap as a seat, "Come forwards," Flora got up and let him pass, "So you are the famous Vidian of the Great Desert?"
"Yes, um, Lord Tardunus."
"So you want to do our work and collect our blessing?"
"Yes, I need to."
"Flora, you can leave or stay, but he will be working alone."
"I will wait, Lady Temprania."
He stood near a small source that flowed into a small pond. It was lined with lush green forest. He noticed a woman sitting next to the pond. She was humming softly, humming a tune he didn't recognize, "I am Lady Leyitan, goddess of the forest, I noticed you walking towards me."
"Sorry, well, I didn't exactly know that you were Lady Leyitan," He stayed where he was.
"Sit near me, sit, sit, don't stay standing there, sit down," He sat down next to her, he noticed her holding a small, wounded bird, "Poor thing, I can't do anything for you," It cooed weakly and she plunged it into the water, it struggled before quickly becoming still, she lifted it out of the water and then tossed it into the air and a large flying creature flew down and devoured it entire, "Circle of life, the forest is a prime example of this, how are you doing?"
"I am here for me work."
"Slow down, slow down, why are you so eager? You have time, you have time," She turned her head and looked at him, "You look far different than I imagined."
"The blessings make me like this."
"I know, I know, I think maybe I should present your work," She got up and revealed that she wasn't wearing any form of clothes, Vidian turned his head quickly, and roots left the ground, creating her clothes, "Sorry about that, you can look now."
"You could've warned me."
"Well, whatever, time for me work to begin, I am the goddess of the forest," She began walking and Vidian followed her, "The Forest is my child, and the thing I protect the most," She continued walking, "Someone, or something has been ruining it, to the north, I want you to deal with it, but I think that it is more of something than someone, so deal with it, return to me after, if you lie, the forest will tell me."
"I will get to it then, Lady Leyitan," He spread his wings and leapt from the ground, beginning to fly towards the northern part of the forest.
He saw nothing until he arrive over a massive clearing, burnt trees created an empty circle, there were three figures near the center of the clearing. He swooped down and landed a fair distance from them. He noticed there were two smaller figures and one larger figure.
"Someone is trying to kill our master, milord."
"He is collecting blessings to do so, but are you sure that angering Lady Leyitan was a good idea?" The two lesser demons had high pitched voices that crackled as they spoke.
"He will come," The larger demon's voice was much deeper, much more demonic, "I feel great power near us," He turned and faced Vidian, "This must be him," The demon was two times his height and stood on clawed feet that seemed to be armored. He had a black blade with, what looked like, a flame in its core. The two lesser demons looked like the one he had met in Solarianus, "He came."
"We will deal with him, milord," The demons broke towards him. He created his wing armor once more and his horns formed a helmet like before, but with four horns on it. One of the demons leapt at him, only to be impaled by the horns and tossed aside, not dead, but bleeding black blood. It returned to its feet and was now in front of Vidian with the other one behind him. He smiled as a shield grew on his left arm guard and a blade formed in his right hand. He placed the shield in front of him and read the reflection on one of the demon's eyes. He spun and slashed his blade behind him and then caught the rest of the demon's strike on his shield, shifting the weight and preventing himself from getting crushed. He lifted his shield and faced the two, slightly wounded demons, one was significantly lighter, the stabbed demon, and the other one was extremely heavy. They snarled at him as the larger demon is still standing away from them, watching them fight.
Vidian slammed his shield parrying the smaller demon's swing then slammed the side of his shoulder, with the aid of the Blessing of the Conqueror, into the larger demon's head as it tried to bash him. He slammed the side of the shield into the stunned, larger demon and it dug into its head, shattering its eye. He spun and his blade slid through the larger, armored demon's, now unprotected, neck. Its head fell to the floor and he then blocked the wild swings of the smaller demon, breaking its claws, but as he did, the demon's tail slammed into him and it set him sprawling to the floor. He got up quickly and placed the shield in front of him. The smaller demon ripped the heart out of the stump neck of the dead demon, before swallowing it. Vidian reduced the shield and created two, smaller, shield on both of his arms with a second blade in his left hand. His helmet returned to his basic horn form, laying on his head. The demon fell forwards, seeming dead, before something burst out of its back, an evolved demon. It was larger than the larger lesser demon, it had plated scales that created armor. Its neck had frills covering it and its tail was spiked. Vidian held his blades as they stare down each other and moved closer to each other. He noticed the demon move forwards in a leap, missing but the tail swung towards him. He swung both his blades and they dug into it, but didn't go all the way through. He blocked the tail but the force set him backwards, off balance, before forcing him to fall. The demon spat a ball of purple goo towards him. Vidian dodged it and the ground seared as it landed. The same goo was dripping from its mouth. Vidian got rid of his armor and created beast arms. He roared at the demon, who roared back. The beast lowered its upper body and charged towards Vidian as horns formed on the beast's head. Vidian ran towards it but instead of taking it on in a test of strength, he jumped above the beast before slamming his arms that was covering in green markings, into the back of the creature. The skin of the beast didn't rip or tear but the bones in the beast shattered under the blow. The beast tripped and then rolled, before roaring, not an intimidating roar, but a weaker, dying roar. Vidian went to execute the beast but the actual demon landed on the demon and ripped off its head with its bare hands and then ripped the beast apart to grab its heart. The beast was already massive, and now began to mutate like the last one, but without the back-bursting. It grew massive horns on its shoulders, two facing the sky and two following the direction of its arms. It drew the blade that seemed to be sheathed in its back. The blade seemed to be burning, with the flame in the middle being blue. He roared looking to the air and then slammed his blade down, shattering the ground and creating flames around it. It reeled its head and roared again, spitting flames around, hitting some of the non-burnt trees.
"Now you just really pissed, me, off," Clouds gathered above them and rain began pouring down, "I'll kill you, like I killed your minions," The water wrapped itself around the flames, extinguishing them. The rain continued to pour, soaking his body.
"No you, you will die," Vidian leapt forwards forming a blade in his hands, jamming it into the leg of the massive demon. The demon shock violently and swung violently at its own leg, cutting into it. Vidian climbed onto its back, jamming the blade hands to pull himself up. He pushed off as the demon's arm swung at him, "Fight like a real being, not like a coward!" Vidian dodged the next swing and flying backwards, "Fight me, don't act like a wimp!" A spear formed in Vidian's hand as markings lit up all over his body.
He hurled the spear that pierced into the creature's chest, but stopped. The creature stopped, before falling backwards. Vidian landed on its chest and ripped out his spear, tearing out its heart and crushing it under his foot. The spear returned to his arm and the ground opened and absorbed the bodies, disappearing. Vidian landed on the ground and fell to one knee as rain drenched the floor.
"Fuck you, this is how a mortal human does it."
He landed, tumbling as his feet gave out. He was on the floor as Lady Leyitan turned her head and looked at him. Roots moved below Vidian and lifted him and sat him near her, "You finished my work, good job, Vidian, and you protected my forest, thank you."
"Don't thank me," He said sitting up, "Can I rest here for a little? Just sitting here? My blessing should let me recover."
"What happened over there?"
"Demons, Death of the World, they planned it, they knew I was coming, so they knew they had to make you give me that work."
"And what was their reason?"
"To kill the one who wanted to kill their master."
"I have a feeling your job is not done," As she finished speaking three demons leapt out of nowhere, three massive roots burst from the floor and impaled them, tearing them apart, before their bodies disappeared, "I can handle myself, go tell Lord Tardunus and Lady Temprania that you have finished my work, but you need to rest, but be on the lookout for other demonic presence, within the realm."
"Thank you, Lady Leyitan," He got up slowly and stumbled as he walked, catching himself.
"How was the work?"
"Demons, they were attacking the forest."
"Why would they do that?"
"I don't know, I just stopped them."
"You don't looked tired."
"My blessings allow me to gather energy without sleeping or actual rest, I just absorb it, from the sun or the moon."
"That is so cool!"
"What did you do while waiting?"
"I talked with Lady Fuanila, she gave me this," She held out a golden and silver egg, "She said it was special so I have to make sure it doesn't break nor get stol-," Her foot hit a root as she said that, flinging the egg into the air. His arms mutated instantly. He caught her his right arm and with his left his cushioned the eggs and prevented it from even hitting the ground, pulling it back, "Thank the gods you save me from that humiliation."
"Watch where you are going."
"I was caught up in explaining."
"Then pay attention, instead, to where you are going," She took the egg once more, "Do you think there is somewhere for me to sleep in the city?"
"I have an extra bed in my home, if you want, but Grissel would need to agree, oh and Amaranth."
"I'll ask them."
"No, I will, Grissel might take it badly."
"If you say so."
"What do you mean, you want to house Vidian?" His voice resonated throughout the city, he began whispering angrily, "Why do you offer? He is human, he can't be trusted," She glared at him, "Who are you looking at like that?"
"Where shall he stay then?" He opened his mouth to answer, then stopped, hesitating, "I gave you an offer, and no one will willingly do it."
"That is true, but I would house him."
"Like you can, you already have a guest every other day."
"What did you say?" He grit his teeth then swung his arm at her and hit, sending her sprawling to the floor. Vidian heard her scream in pain as Grissel picked her up by the back of the neck. He ran up to the platform where Grissel had snapped.
"Grissel!" He dropped Flora and turned to him, creating his root hammer, "What are you doing?"
"Nothing, nothing at all, Vidian," He lost his anger and the root hammer stopped forming, "Just reminding this little one the rules."
"Then why does that involve beating her?"
"You don't need to look into it, your request is accepted, Flora," He left both of them, "Just remember what I told you beforehand," Vidian ran to Flora's side and helped her to her feet.
"Are you okay?"
"I am fine, I am fine, don't worry," Vidian picked her up and felt the creature egg that she had in her pouch, he reached for it and held it in his hand, it had a crack in it, "Oh no, I am a failure," She got out of his arms, and fell to her knees, sobbing and holding the egg in her hands, "I failed, I am a failure," She sobbed, ignoring her wincing eye and the cut across her right cheek. Vidian placed his finger on the crack and sealed it, removing part of his morphed finger to protect it. She looked up at him, then back at the egg, then back at him.
"You aren't a failure, you a mortal, we all make mistakes, where is your place, since you offered."
"Just over there, the one up there.
"Okay, let's get going then."