Once the light began to die down, vision gradually returned to the three girls. Each of them could merely stare, dumbfounded, at the strange creature in front of them.
"Is that… a fairy?" Maven asked quietly.
Hovering a few inches above Maven's hand was indeed a fairy. Small enough to sit comfortably on a child's hand, with shimmering wings motionlessly extended from her back, the white-haired fairy stood smugly in mid-air. Going by the pure white, frilly dress that extended down to the knees, pearlescent hair that hung down halfway down the back, and gentle white haze exuded - she could be nothing but a light-attribute fairy.
The fairy, after noticing the close attention she was getting from both Fae and Shayna, became incredibly shy. To get away from the piercing gaze of Fae especially, the fairy hid herself behind Maven's head. Unfortunately, the effect was ruined by her rather large wings. Even with her body hidden behind Maven's head, the tips of her wings were still visible atop Maven's head.
"M-Maven! Save me! I-I'm still not used to this new body… That priestess' eyes are scary!!" Kannon's voice telepathically resounded in Maven's head.
"Kannon… is that fairy you?"
"It's me! Am I cute in this form? Fairies are pretty rare nowadays, but they should still exist… So why am I getting the stares??"
" You disappointing goddess… the reason they're staring is because you came out of nowhere, not because you're a fairy!…Well, that's at least 80% why… Where's Henna anyway? Before we all lost our vision, there were definitely two eggs."
"I-I don't know! She was definitely going to join me in jumping down to the lower world…" Kannon responded with discomposure, her shaking voice betraying how flustered she was.
"I'm behind you!" Henna's teasing voice resounded in Maven's head.
Whipping her head around in response, Maven looked around the room for anything that could be Henna's familiar form. However, she couldn't spot anything that stood out at all. She half expected the mischievous goddess to pick a skull or something, just for the prank.
"Fufu… your eyes went right past me. Try again!" Henna continued, the teasing lilt to her voice deepening.
Sigh. Henna isn't nearly as disappointing as Kannon, but she has way too much fun messing with people - especially me.
Not wanting to give Henna any additional ammunition to tease her with, Maven focused her eyes as she looked behind her again - determined to find her.
"Hmmm... There! Right in front of the brick wall, I can see a slight shimmer in the air. If you know where to look and relax your focus a bit, you can slightly catch the outline of something… is that… a mass of grey mist? What in the world did she pick?"
"Heh… I tried to pick something unobtrusive. I am the Goddess of Darkness, creator the demon race, and this is the Church that hates me more than anything. Wouldn't want them to get any sort of hint who I am and what my attribute is… so I picked a ghost! They'll never find me or even know that I'm here." Henna replied in a triumphant voice, clearly feeling very smug.
"I've definitely never heard of ghosts who just look like a blob of transparent grey mist… It's a bit… bland… compared to Kannon's adorable fairy mode."
"Hehehe... Maven called me adorable!" Kannon chipped in while holding her blushing cheeks in her hands, flying around joyfully.
Fae and Shayna watched the small fairy cutely zip around the room, entranced by the small, doll-like figure fluttering around the room as Maven conferred with the goddesses.
"This is my stealth mode! Stealth is cool! And don't call a goddess 'bland'!!! I'm the adorable Goddess of Darkness, beloved by all - the idol of the world! I'll show you exactly how cute I am when there's no nasty church-folk around!" Henna sputtered back at Maven, obviously displeased with the lackluster response.
Kannon, noticing the stares she was getting again, froze in mid-air. She then fled back to the shelter of Maven's head, pulling some hair up to hide behind.
Fae, collecting herself now that the attention-grabbing fairy was out of sight, finally reacted to the miracle that just occurred in front of her. "Wh-What just happened here? That fairy! So cute! That white hair, adorable figure, and that powerful aura of light… This can't be anything other than a sign from the goddess herself!"
Jumping up from her chair, Fae rushed up and out of the room, "You two wait here, I must go bring this to the attention of His Holiness."
Maven, Shayna, and Kannon could only stare dumbfounded at the door, baffled by the priestess who left with the momentum of a hurricane.