The White Pearl arrived at the shores of the holy land before the sun could set on the horizon. They sailed around the island until they found the artificial cove where the smooth stone walls safely protected the island's docks. A giant statue of a make figure with four arms stood proud and tall over the docks, holding a spear, a sword, a torch, and a thurible.
It's said to be a golem that protected Tinia and the freed slaves from the Sky People as they retreated to the northern lands. The lands that would be known as Venusia. But now it stands there, motionless till the end of time. The White Pearl entered the cove slowly. The giant's shadow enveloped the ship.
Behind the statue, the sun has turned orange and was about to sink into the ocean behind the island. The island's grandeur was indescribable. The large cathedral covered the island with its flying buttresses spreading all over the island. And the cathedral's presence felt more like a fortress guarding the vast span of open water. The towers sticking out from its body had hundreds of windows for archers to shot from and a large ballista on at its very top. The flying buttresses supported the giant building, but it also protected. Runes were carved in its inner skeleton, creating a barrier that protected those inside its arms. It was a military wonder as much as it was holy.
Captain Sparrow docked the ship between two large full-rigged ships. The White Pearl's pure colors were beautiful, but it was unmatched by the complex array of designs of the other ships. Sparrow looked at them with envy. Saliva drooled out of his mouth. "My Tinia, I could have sailed these bad boys!" He shouted.
"Watch your mouth!" Vivi grabbed a mop and smacked him behind his grey neck. "Don't say her name in vain, especially when we're in the middle of the holiest place in this side of the world."
Sun and Cirona got their luggage out of the quarters while their companions were already on the docks, and they kissed the ground beneath their feet. "Finally, stable land!" Shuja yelled.
While they were celebrating, a giant ship entered the cove. It was larger than any other docked or sailing away from the islands. Sparrow's jaw dropped when he saw the grand ship. "It's the Agni!" He yelled.
Sun The group walked up the docks and got to higher grounds to get a clear view. "Woah, that's huge," Sun said in awe. The Agni is considered by everyone in the world as a miracle of shipbuilding. A remarkable feat in naval construction. Its size dwarfs any ship that ever exists with a length of eight hundred feet.
Agni has not two, not three, but five large masts that it uses to sail. The bow was made of concrete, which is why it's considered a miracle by most people. It has two extremely large outriggers on both sides, helping it maintain its balance. Two large head statues were carved as relief on the concrete. "Why is that ship doing here?" Borvo wondered.
"Why, should it not be here?" Shuja asked.
"Well, you see, Agni is not meant to come until a week after the mock exam."
"And why?"
"You mean, you don't know?" Borvo raised a brow.
"Not much information comes to us. Considering we're so far from any body of water." Sun lied.
Vivi teleported in front of them, startling the group. Shuja nearly fell off the dock, but Sun caught her. They both looked at Vivi with suspicion and surprise. She managed to teleport without any of them noticing the mana travel in the air. Vivi extended her arm and pointed at the Agni sailing towards the dock. "That ship, the Agni, comes every four months bringing with lepers." She told the group.
"The lepers are brought here in the hopes of treating them with a healing spell. But as you know, healing spells are meant for injuries, not for illnesses. Especially with the severity of their illness."
"Then why bring them here?" Sun asked.
"The ship was named after Saint Agni, the patron of the ill and the slaves. Saint Agni was a two-headed chimera born between the union of a monster and a god. He was thrown into this world by his father because he was a freak. But we didn't see him as a freak but as a gift from heaven. Due to his divinity, he could carry our prayers to the heavens. He would hear our prayer in one head and breathe them out as flame in the other. When the fire burns, the prayers will be carried by the smoke the fire creates. And that is how the message reached our gods. Whoever they may be.
That all changed when the Sky people attacked. Agni stayed in hiding during the Sky People's occupation of this world until the Titania was born. Heaven told him that Titania must be rescued from slavery, and so he hatched a plan with the giant golem. He made a ship large enough to carry Titania and her followers, and he ferried them across the Emberian Sea and to Venusia. The church, in order to celebrate the Titania's escape, offer to carry the lepers on a ship and to their holy island, where they will be treated for the illness. That is why they bring them here. In memory of Agni, the two-headed fire-breather and the one that freed us from the sky."
"That was a beautiful story," Sun shed a tear, "What happened to Agni during the war."
"We don't know. There are many stories about what happened to Agni, but they all end the same way. He attempts to deliver a message from Titania and some god, and the Sky People noticed his smoke and ambushed him. His death ultimately leads to Titania and her servants to liberate some region which changes depending on which god Titania prayed to in the story."
"No way!" Sun started crying. "So sad."
"Please stop acting like Rock." Shuja covered her face in embarrassment.
The group watched as the giant ship sail across the waters until it finally found a spot it could dock on. A crowd of nobles gathered near the ship, curiously waiting for Agni's passengers to climb out. They wondered who could be in the ship, believing it to be some important dignitaries or secret weapons since the Agni is not meant to arrive during the mock exam. But their wildest guesses were further from the truth.
Indeed, the ship carried only the lepers. The nobles were disappointed. They hoped that Agni's presence during the exam meant something new was about to be unveiled, but that was not the case.
Sun, Shuja, Cirona, and Borvo joined the crowd out of their own curiosity, while Vivi stayed near the White Pearl. Borvo watched the lepers walk down the platform with pity. He stared at his hands, and then he prayed to the sky. Shuja and Sun listened to him pray. His poetic words merged well with his gentle voice.
But it was interrupted by a group of young nobles throwing trash at the lepers. "Go back to the dessert, you filthy rats!" One of them yelled.
"It's desert, not dessert." Another said.
They kept throwing trash and insults at the lepers as they walk in a line out of the pier. Borvo had enough of their rude behavior and walked up to them. "Stop it! They've suffered enough with their illness. They don't need your ridicule." He told them.
"Hey, get out of the way!" A noble with curly blond hair and freckles on his nose pushed Borvo back.
"I said enough!"
The noble ignored him and picked a rock. He threw at one of the lepers, hitting them on the thigh. The leper tripped and fell to the floor. He picked up another rock and threw it, but Borvo stepped in absorbed it with his belly. "You fatass!" The noble yelled. He ran to Borvo and smacked him across the face. "You think playing hero will do good. Get out of my sight, fatty!" Sun and Shuja tried to help by beating the rude children, but Cirona blocked their path. Then she pointed to the sky, where a figure was flying towards them.
"Corin stop," one of the nobles stepped between them. "An angel has come."
The angel hovered over their heads. His blue wings cast a large shadow that covered the pier. "What's going on here?" He asked.
"Nothing your holiness." Corin and his friends bowed before the angel. "We were simply playing and got a little rough."
"Well, I suggest you play elsewhere. Now go"
"Of course," Corin and his friends ran off, and so did most of the nobles in the crowd. Before Corin disappeared, he looked back at Borvo and ran his thumb across his neck. This roughly translated to Borvo as 'you're dead.'
Finally, peace was restored in the pier, and the lepers could walk through without the fear of being assaulted. Sun, Shuja, and Cirona ran up to Borvo. Cirona embraced her brave husband while Sun and Shuja sent him compliments.
Then suddenly, Sun's Isiptali caught a glimpse of a strange aura coming from one of the lepers passing by. Sun and the leper looked at each other. Sun could sense something familiar from the leper but could not express it in words. Maybe it was fear or anger. Possibly even disdain. He couldn't tell because the rags covering his body were drenched in mana, interfering with his ability to see. But it doesn't matter now because they had to heal the wound on Borvo's belly.
Meanwhile, the angel above them watched Sun and Shuja closely. Just as Sun could feel a familiar aura coming out from one of the lepers, so did the angel. He could tell they were his kin, but their forms were different. The leper could be explained as an angel or demon that lost its wings due to leprosy, but Sun and Shuja were not those. They looked like halflings, but they lacked the halo of an angel or the horns and tail of a demon. They only had feathers, just like an angel and demon.
The angel didn't think it was worth lingering in the thought. The two probably came from mixed-breed parents, and the disappearance of their halo was caused by the angel diluting over the years—a possible explanation for now.