"Today, they are going to present a story of Lord Ajay! Woo, I'm so excited!"
"Same here!"
The two young ladies were hyping up among themselves as I watched over them.
I was in a carriage with Lucia, Princess of Renhard Kingdom, and her cousin, also daughter of Duke, Reena.
"You know what, I don't know whether legends are true or not, but I am a huge fan of the story itself!" Reena told Lucia, who was sitting beside me.
"I feel the same!"
Usually, as a bodyguard, I must stay outside to guard. But in this case, Lucia forced me to sit in carriage with them.
When I asked, she gave me a... weird? Unusual reason. She said, "If you're going to guard outside, who is going to protect us inside carriage."
𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦?
"O Noble Ladies, have reached our destination," Carriage stopped as charioteer informed from outside.
I opened the door and get down of carriage.
Then I lend my hand to young ladies inside carriage to get down too.
"Heh, quite a gentleman you are, Allan?"
"Thank you for your praise, Princess."
As I aid both Royalties, Lucia complimented me as Reena jabbed me an elbow in abdomen while Lucia wasn't looking.
"Ouch..."
"Such a player you are," she smirked at me, but I ignored her as we made our way to temple.
Of course we were accompanied by few soldiers too as safety measures.
Though soldiers will guard outside temple since weapons weren't allowed in religious venues unless in case of emergency.
Lucia led the way as Reena followed right beside her. I too followed them.
I wasn't carrying any weapon.
As we reached, the temple gate. Lucia and Reena entered.
I, stopped, hesitated before entering temple.
"Hmm..."
Noticed, Lucia turned and called me out. Reena turned too.
"What is it, Allan? You not coming," She asked.
"I am, Princess."
I strengthen myself up as I took a step towards temple gate.
The moment my foot stepped inside gate. The moment my foot touched the land of temple...
Ground start shaking. The strong winds blew.
"Wh—?! W-What on the Celis is going on?!"
"A-An Earthquake?!!"
Lucia and Reena stumbled their steps as were caught of guard by shaking of land.
They lost their balance. As they were about to fell on ground, I rushed to prevent it happen.
I held them both from behind, all flustered Lucia and Reena clutched my clothes to prevent fall.
After few moments, Celis calmed down as earthquake ended.
Both girls thanked me. I saw knights approaching from distance but I assured them with my hand and they returned.
"W-What was that just now?!" Lucia questioned to which I simply replied.
"...Who knows. We better get going?"
Both were anxious but soon composed themselves and made their way to venue.
Lucia and Reena removed their sandals, I followed the suit as I removed my footwear, and submitted our footwear to shoe keeper before we enter temple.
As Lucia guiding us, we reached the main hall. There was a huge divine sculpture in front of me. The statue was about 15 m high representing the worshiped deity.
"Ugh..."
"Is something wrong, Allan?"
"Oh, nothing,"
𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘐 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴...
People were praying to their God.
Lucia and Reena also joined their hands and they begin offering prayers.
Lucia quit her prayers in between as she investigated me,
"You're not going to pray?"
"I don't pray at all."
Hearing my words, Reena joined in too.
"So you don't believe in Gods, huh? Then why did you tagged along in the first place,"
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦.
"I do believe in existence of Gods,"
"Hoh, then why not offer your prayers to them?" She raised her brow.
"I believe in existence of Gods but I'm not a believer." I answered.
"Huh, what does that mean? I didn't get you at all,"
"L-Let me explain that to you, Reena." Lucia pulled Reena and distance between us. She wishpered in Reena's ear.
"...You see, it's a bit sensitive."
"What?"
"What I think is that Allan do believe in existence of Gods, as he said so. He just dislike Gods. He is not a fan of worshipping God."
"Just so you know, I have no faith in Gods." I added.
"Crap! He heard us."
Reena turned to me and said,
"I see what you are getting at. So, I won't force you. But you can atleast pretend. There are so many people here, it won't be good so least you can do is to just join your hands in front of our Goddess. It won't hurt your pride, right?"
𝘐𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘉𝘶𝘵,
"...Sure" I sighed. And joined my hands.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸...
Lucia and Reena turned to statue, satisfied.
I closed my eyes, pretending to pray.
After few moment, I realised something odd.
There was no sound.
No sound of wind. No sound of birds, animals or insects. No sound of mortals. I couldn't even hear the sound of breathing. I couldn't hear Lucia and Reena, who were standing beside me, breathing.
I opened my eyes to check, observed my surrounding.
No one was moving, all the livings. Lucia and Reena too, weren't moving a muscle. I couldn't feel them breathing, there was no movement in there belly and chest.
The Time Stopped...
From the moment I stepped inside temple, nature is showing unusual behaviour.
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭.
I felt a bright ray of light spreading everywhere.
I looked up to the source.
Above the statue of deity, a figure appeared out of air. They carried almost same the appearance as divine sculpture.
"Ki tvam atra anayati kumar?" They said.
"Shut it," I replied in disgust.
"N-No would have expected 𝘆𝗼𝘂 to step in a temple,"
"Nor did I... I am here because I have a business to attend here that's all."
On my remark, Goddess glanced at Lucia, standing still beside me, before turing her attention back with a grin.
"...A Date?" She said.
"Hah, in such place?" I asked.
"A-Ahem... Anyways,"
Levitating in air, she finally decided to stand on ground as she stepped infront of me.
"Never did I expected you to step in a divine sanctuary more to reconcile so soon, Bhaiyaa."
"But you saw this coming right, Amelia,"
"Indeed."
The temple, this place was home of Goddess Amelia. One who supervise dimensions, time is no exception.
𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.
"So, what could it be that you decide to step on this land?"
"Why you ask,"
"Oh Hello Mister. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 is dedicated to me. Mortals made this temple to worship me so I may bless them. I am the 𝗕𝗼𝘀𝘀 here."
All I did was to stare at her.
At my gaze she averted her gaze which I thought was cute of her.
𝘏𝘦𝘩... 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘩.
"As I mentioned before, I am here for some business. I'm here for sole purpose of protection."
"...I see," So she said, but Amelia wasn't convinced with just that as intensely stared at me though it was for a split second.
Then she sighed.
"As always, I don't know whatever is going on in that head of yours."
"Is there any specific reason for your approach?"
"Nah, Just here to greet you."
"I see..."
"Then I'll take my leave,"
"Wait!" I stopped her from leaving.
There was still things that need to be take care of. Today's incident, fortunately, made me realise this.
"I've a request to you,"
"Hoh, it's rare to have such opportunities. Tell me without any hesitation, I'll surely fullfill it with best of my abilities." She thumps her chest.
"Just shut that nature alarm. It caused me trouble when I stepped in temple."
"That's all? A piece of cake," She said as if it was no deal.
"Let other Gods know too,"
"K-Okey. If there is anything else don't shy to ask~"
With those words, Amelia levitate in air and through the same brightness she appeared, she vanished in that light.
I closed my eyes and joined my hands too.
After that, time resumed. I could sense living in my surrounding.
Then Lucia called me out.
"We are done. Shall we get going?"
"Sure,"
We made our way to venue. It was crowded but as people they saw us approaching, they left the way.
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.
We took our seat in front, which was already organised for Princess and Noble Lady.
As play begin after some time.
It was based on religious believes.
A holy scripture, about a person who not only fought evil within but protected whole Celis from invaders too.
It goes something like, a man who possessed unimaginable powers and used it to annihilate all the evil beings in Celis.
Then there were outlanders who didn't belonged to Celis. Their goal was complete control over Celis but were stopped and thrown somewhere corner of the universe by the same man.
Legends were passed down as people named that person Ajay and started worshipping him.
It was there Lord Ajay who introduced people to several other deities, as he said that without their aid there might be no Celis. That those Deities aid him in the process.
People even put Ajay above any other God, which I thought foolish of them.
𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘺-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵.
𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴.
But Lucia and Reena, on the other hand, enjoyed story quite a lot. They didn't stop chatting about it.
𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯.
"Hey, since we're here. How about we take a look around. This temple is full of ancient and historical articles. Each have a story of it's own, which are all somewhat connected to divine." Lucia made a suggestion out of blue.
Not that I'm in a position to refuse.
"Sounds good. Well, let's go already." Reena presented her answers full of enthusiasm.
"You're coming, Allan?" Lucia asked me.
"I'll pass."
"Huh, you don't agree?" Irritated, Reena asked.
"I'd like to take a wake around here. Environment here, I really liked it."
"Then, we'll get going..." Lucia said, somewhat unsatisfied.
Before Reena could act, I walked away with parting words.
"If anything, remember me and I'll be present." Lucia nodded as I swiftly evacuated.
𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴... 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺.
. . . . .