Hunter and Stephanie walked up to Linrun. "Where does your grandmother live? Orion can go heal here right now so that you no longer have to be worried for her safety."
Linrun looked at Stephanie who gently smiled before she looked back towards Hunter. "Follow me." She whispered as she began walking out the door, Hunter got Orion's attention so that he would come along as well. Quixi tagged along with them, wanting to see the new sites while holding Orion's hand, causing both of them to smile quite frequently.
As they walked through the village, many of the residents would greet Linrun as they passed, younger children running up to hug her and the adults smiling as several came to giver her some things they had bought. After several minutes, and a burdened Hunter, they arrived at an old cottage close to the cliffside. Linrun opened the door, as she called out. "Grandma, are you awake? I brought some friends here to see you."
An old and feeble, yet gentle voice called out from a back room that had a curtain as a door. "Child... *cough* *cough*.... you better not have wasted more of your money on doctors. *cough* There is no stopping my time when the gods call for me."
Linrun sadly smiled as she guided Hunter to an old rickety table, allowing him to set down many of the gifts she had received. She then turned towards Orion, followed by Quixi, and lead them into her grandmother's room while Hunter and Stephanie began sorting all the food items and necessities putting them into the kitchen cupboards.
"Who are these two adorable young 'ens?"
"Grandma, this is Orion and Quixi. They are my friends I met in Ironchill and Orion is a great healer. There family wanted to come visit the village for a while, and he was willing to agree and come take a look to see if he could cure you." Linrun spoke cautiously, trying to think of how to tell her grandmother that he was an angel without causing her to become overly shocked.
The old Feli sighed as she shook her head. [As much as I hate the thought of leaving this child alone in the world; she must come to terms that I don't have long to live, and even if I could be cured, we can't afford the costs in three life times.]
Orion slowly walked up to her grandmother, kneeling down as he gently took her small and wrinkly hand, clasping it in both of his own. As Linrun's grandmother watched, Orion's eyes began to glow a warm but firm white light before his hands began to shine like that of gold reflecting sunlight. Her eyes widened as this glow slowly spread across her body, and she felt her old and tired body become rejuvenated while all her old injuries began to fade as if they had never existed. The Python's poison began to fade from her blood, and she felt her strength return to her as her mana began to flow freely again.
Orion's eyebrows raised as he sensed her mana flowing, surprised that this old lady was so powerful. After her injuries were cured, and her body rejuvenated to the point that she felt like she was in her thirties again, though didn't look it. Orion let go of her hand as the shimmering light began to fade and his eyes returned to their normal green.
"You have some very strong mana ma'am." Orion stood up before gently helping the old Feli sit up in her bed.
The old woman smiled as she looked at the boy. "That's cause I was an enchanter back before I was poisoned. Besides, my mana pales in comparison to your strength little one. In all my life, I have never felt such holy power, let alone from a pope, though I only met one pope in my life."
Orion's eyebrows raised again as he looked at the old Feli. "Since this village is so small, I was not expecting anyone here to have met such a powerful figure before."
Linrun scowled at him as she felt offended on the fact that if Orion was thinking this, than so too were the other brothers, and she was especially angry that Hunter would think that this village was home to nobodies.
Linrun's grandmother laughed as she crawled out of the bed, stretching her body from the years of being stuck there. "You wouldn't be wrong if this was a village in any other kingdom. Siol is a kingdom based on businesses, the Ulteon continent's entire economy relies on us. Every village has at least one person who has interacted with important figures, because once you get old like me, you tend to want to find a quiet place to enjoy your remaining days. I'm one of the few enchanters who can enchant chilled iron and since that old pope wanted a holy moon staff which harnessed the ice element in the iron to the fullest I was able to meet him when we talked business."
Linrun held her grandmother's arm as she slowly guided her out the door and into the main room. "Oh my, why didn't you say that there were others, I would've came out as soon as your friend had cured me!"
Linrun glanced at Hunter before she turned back to smile at her grandmother. Her grandmother, being very observant, noticed the mix of emotions in her eyes, especially confusion and some fear, when she had looked at the boy in black. "The beautiful girl is Stephanie who happens to be a level four storm mage, while the boy in black is Hunter."
The old feline let out an audible gasp as she looked at Stephanie. "Child, I thought I was a prodigy, but the fact that you are a level four storm mage, and a human. Girl, you have a very bright future ahead of you. Hahaha, you might even be able to break the barrier and become a level six mage!"
Hunter looked confusedly at the old Feli. "Ma'am, what do you mean the barrier?"
Linrun's grandmother sat down in a wooden chair next to the table as she smiled gently at them all. "Long, long ago mages used to be the most powerful magic users in existence. Human mages especially since their affinity was so diverse, allowing them to have many mage variants while other races, like the elves, had one or two mage types. However, man ended up angering Mytheros, the human goddess of magic, who then cursed them so that it became more difficult for mages to increase their power. If you ask me, it's probably cause mages are capable of challenging the gods once they become powerful enough, and many of them probably kept challenging Mytheros so they could either become the new god of magic, or in the cases of males, become her lover.
But in the end, she ended up cursing them, causing the number of powerful mages to decrease. Daurarth was the last human mage to reach transcendence, however he died in the battle against Alveos, the Demon God of Destruction. It wasn't till the last three hundred years that human mages became unable to break past the level five, or what was once called the beginner mage. Since you have already reached level four, you must have the favor of Mytheros, or at least some god's favor."
Stephanie smiled as her cheeks became slightly pink as her eyes flicked towards Hunter. The old Feli caught the movements and raised her eyebrows as she began to look at Hunter closely. [If this kid is some deity, than that would explain how miss Stephanie could increase her strength so quickly, and explain why my little Lin Lin is afraid of him. Hmm, but what kind of deity is he?]
The old Feli turned towards Hunter, her old and gentle eyes glistening with curiosity and respect as their corners wrinkled while she smiled. "So you must be the one who helped her reach level four mage hood. May I ask good sir what holy being you are?"
Hunter looked at her before he looked at Linrun who was now standing behind her grandmother. She looked at him before she turned away, unwilling to acknowledge his attention. [Why the hell am I acting like this? I've only known him for a few days and yet his presence drives me crazy! It must be because of his demonism. He must be doing something to me!] *gasp* [If he's doing this to me, then doesn't that mean Stephanie has also been effected by this?! I have to help her get away from him so she can think straight again!]
Hunter watched Linrun's eyes widen as she let out a small gasp, undiscernible to everyone except him, before determination settled on her face as she looked at Stephanie. [What's going on with her?]
He than turned towards Linrun's grandmother as he continued to smile. As he stood up, his black wings unfolded from his back, spreading out until they nearly touched both sides of the little kitchen. The old Feli's eyes widened in both shock and fear as she looked at those large black wings. She jumped when she heard a gentle cough behind her, and as she turned around, she found Orion with his gleaming white wings also spread out.
As a few tears began to trickle from the corners of her eyes, Linrun's grandmother gently smiled as she laughed. "By the gods! I didn't expect to see an angel while I was a live. Though I must ask, why are you affiliating yourself with a fallen angel?"
The group became confused as they looked at the old Feli. "What do you mean fallen angel?" Hunter softly spoke as his wings folded back into his back.
Linrun's grandmother glanced at him as her eyes widened in even more surprise. "Wait you mean that you don't know what you are?! All fallen angels have black wings and are more evil than chromatic dragons...."
Orion burst out in laughter as he heard this. "My brother, evil?! That's not possible. If anything, he enjoys hunting down and killing evil people, making sure they suffer for all the evil that they do."
"Heavens! I didn't know that fallen angels could be good." Linrun's grandmother shook her head while she begun to relax and smile at Hunter. "If you truly are good, than this world will be in a far safer place."
Stephanie leaned on the table as she looked at the old feli. "What do you mean by that?"
Linrun's grandmother shook her head as she sadly smiled. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that. I was sworn to secrecy long ago and the consequences of spreading what I know could put little Lin Lin in danger."
Linrun blushed as her grandmother used her childhood nickname. Hunter looked at the old feli before he turned towards Orion. "You know. I'm not surprised that she said that. What is it and reincarnators."
Orion chuckled. "Seems a lot like those webnovel stories that had a major hit in the novel industry a year or so ago."
"Wait, you read those too? Man I enjoyed a lot of those stories, though I gotta say, seems like our lives are in a story too." Hunter laughed before turning back to Linrun and her grandmother. "Since your grandmother is all better then I think it's best if we all take our leave. You have a good afternoon ma'am."
Stephanie and Hunter walked out the door while Orion picked Quixi up and followed as he folded his wings. Hunter looked towards the cliff before he turned back towards the others. "Brother, can you go back and let eldest brother know that I took Stephanie down into the gorge? I want to see if there's anything good down there since the locals said that the Pythons used to live there."
Stephanie's eyes widened in slight confusion but she didn't say anything, wondering what Hunter was truly planning. Orion nodded as he continued down the road towards the inn. "I gotta say brother, these Pythons sound a lot like that of the Greek Python that guarded Delphi. If you find a live one, don't kill it cause I bet Spartacus will wanna see it."
Hunter laughed as he nodded and waved before he and Stephanie turned around and walked towards the cliff face.
"What are you thinking?" Stephanie asked quietly as they slowly neared the cliff edge.
Hunter turned and smiled at Stephanie as they arrived at the canyon, looking over the cliff at the barren but rocky valley that laid at the bottom. Stephanie gasped as she watched a flock of birds flying in the distance, flying over the river that was formed from the nearby waterfalls. "Lets go explore."