Kyrie continues the story...
Goddess Phanes went back to the god realm after that with a completely different answer than she started off. She saw that this does not only pertain to the mortals, but also to those who are closer to home. The day soon came where she had to appear in front of the king of gods to deliver her answer for the first trial. She stood at the center of the circular hall, surrounded by gods of all statuses sitting on the bleachers. In front of Phanes is the throne that the king of gods sat. The throne looked imposing and petrifying despite being empty. From the looks of it, the audience was more nervous than Phanes, who stood still patiently waiting for the answering trial to start. The small gods talked amongst themselves, trying to guess what Phanes would say. The gods of higher statues only waited on their seats silently while observing Phanes. Some were very pleased that Phanes was not showing the nervousness that the previous candidates had shown when they had to stand before the king of gods to deliver their results. Then, the trumpets sounded, and the king of gods entered into the hall. Everyone stood up and bowed to their king. The king of gods, in a good mood, slowly got to the throne and allowed his subjects to arise. Then, he sat on the throne and looked at the calm Phanes. He looked at Phanes and her unwavering eyes. He was pleased to see that Phanes found an answer for herself than hearing the response from others.
The king asked, "The time has come for you to tell me your answer, Phanes. What is the most deceiving feature of the living?"
Goddess Phane answered, "I think it is the eyes, your majesty."
The gods in the audience gasped and started to whisper among themselves. A god threw his wine towards the stand where Phanes stood. He threw a fit about how stupid the answer is—the spilled wine stained Phanes's long white silk dress that touched the floor. The purple colour slowly ascended in the dress. Then, Phanes looked at the bleaches where the god who threw his goblet with a stern stare. The offender flinched from the aura that was coming out of Phanes, and obediently sat down again. Essence softly flowed through her dress from the shoulders all the way to the end of the dress like a gentle breeze, cleaning it from the wine stain in a sweep. Once again, her dress became pure white like snow. The show of her powers illuminated the eyes of numerous gods on the audience. There is nothing more exhilarating for the supporters to see than a powerful candidate in action. She brought back the confidence they had for her again. The hall went silent, waiting for the king's response.
"Why do you say that eyes are deceiving? Aren't eyes the part where all truth gets unveiled?" asked the king of gods, curious at why Phanes would answer his question with something so contradictory.
"Although I say eyes, most surely there are other answers. However, this is up to one's own interpretation. For there is really not one true answer, but from what I have encountered, I concluded that this is my answer. The worlds that were created by our predecessors have never been a palate of black and white, rather with many more colours. Between those extremes, we see more colours in our days than black and white," says Phanes.
The audience nodded in agreement while the king gave a smile.
"I say the answer to be eyes because although they are the window to the heart, they are also the doors to the world. We see through those doors at the world, and others peer through those windows at our hearts. However, why do I say that eyes are the most deceiving? Because we trust too much our eyes and forget that we can see only what we want to see. We became inflexible to hear other views, thinking that we are right from our own feelings and understanding. However, what is a pair of eyes to a universe that is so big that it is even hard for us to see where the far end goes? That is why we have each other. We bring prosperity to our creation and companions through joined effort. Whether to trust or not, we have the responsibility to use our own judgement when the time comes. It is not that I say to distrust our eyes, but rather, give grounds for others to present us what they saw. Give others the opportunity to partake in our journey and decisions. That is so that in the end, we used everything we could find, and we did everything that we could do to never regret our decisions even if fate is not on our side."
Phanes energetically explained her thoughts to the audience and the king. The gods cheered and nodded at the goddess that stood tall and calm on the stand, executing her thoughts to the world with elegance and passion. The king nodded with a satisfied face. Although the king himself was expecting another answer, in the end, he agreed with what Phanes said. What Phanes said also impacted the rule of the king of gods, which later brought a golden age for in the god realm. Phanes passed the first trial with flying colours. The news spread far and wide around the god realm about her. The unwavering wish for Phanes to ascend to the throne and become the ruler became increasingly a common topic amongst those in the god realm.
Kyrie finishes the story in which Laurel becomes extremely energetic after hearing. She is overly hyper with how Phanes executed her speech and how she said those words. In her own experience, Laurel also experienced the downfall of only trusting her own eyes.
"It cost a lot when you only know how to rely on yourself," Laurel says, "Goddess Phanes is right about not only trusting our eyes. We sometimes really see what we want to see, and that can cause a lot of mistakes. As a merchant myself, I experienced a lot of losses because of that. Information is expensive! It was a good thing that the loss was only money. I have seen people lose much more than that. My comrades... My comrades... used to help me get away... from those... those... "
Talking about her teammates, Laurel starts to sniff. Then, she broke down in tears and cried while hiccuping. The reality is hitting back again.
"Those bastards used to be such a pain in the ass, but now I miss them so much! Those bastards left me all alone..." Laurel complains while getting choked on her words.
Although she is trying to put on a brave front, she cannot control her sadness that well when it comes to the death of people that were close to her. Her sudden change of mood brings everyone to silence. Nate takes out some tissues and gives her while looking away. Laurel takes it and dries her tears. Kyrie looks at Imogen, and he is frowning at how inactive Imogen stayed while Laurel was crying. Imogen looks back as if she is utterly oblivious of why Kyrie is pissed.
[Woman! Perfect opportunity!!!]
Kyrie signals at Imogen with his eyes and head for Imogen to comfort Laurel. Imogen looks troubled while Kyrie looks like he had a tic on his neck. Kyrie sighs and demonstrates with Ian. Ian was looking at Laurel, thinking of a way to comfort her. But then, Kyrie pulls Ian close to him and places Ian's head to his shoulders. He caresses Ian's hair and goes to pat his back. Kyrie then signals Imogen to do the same.
"What are you doing, Kyrie?" Ian chuckles while being confused.
"Nothing really..."
Imogen closes her eyes from looking any longer at the excessive PDA in front of her. She turns her head to Laurel, who is now silently sniffling. Then, Imogen sits next to Laurel nervously. Imogen timidly and gently places Laurel's head to her shoulders. Shocked, Laurel turns her eyes to look at Imogen, who is covering her mouth while looking away like she does not care. However, Laurel feels Imogen's hand patting softly on her back. Laurel stops tearing up, and a light blush appears on her cheeks. Although she still feels sad and can cry more, now, she can additionally feel her heart beating on her eardrums. Her heart starts to feel warm and comforted.
In a dark room, Saskia looks at her crystal ball with an annoyed face. The PDA was getting blasted through the crystal ball as if it was a mockery to her as a gamemaster. She never knew that her game will become breeding grounds to love. It was just annoying to see.
However, her mind soon gets preoccupied with the story that Kyrie shared - the story of Goddess Phanes's first trial. She giggles and says, "There is actually a piece of the story that has yet to be revealed."
What Kyrie said was indeed not the entire story. Everyone was happy except for the other successor that came before the goddess Phanes. In the shadows, at the corner of the hall, the other successor peered with cold eyes at Phanes that was shining brightly on the stand before the king and the audience. She chuckled at Phanes, who looked so bright and optimistic.
"My dear little sister... How dare she even accept to be a candidate! Saying such flowery naive words, there is no way she will ever be able to hold the weight of that crown steadily! What should I do with this cute one?" The other goddess, who was the official successor, said as she turned around and left the hall.