"The world stone has already served its purpose. All the work after that needs to be done by Yerra herself. That's why she sent me a message to get it back."
"Yerra is residing in a separate dimension within your planet. That temple you entered was designed by Yerra to keep the world stone in place. She opened up her dimension to let the temple pass through and reach the junction between the two worlds. As I was busy with something, I sent Cassana to retrieve the world stone. But something happened, which I'm not clear about, that made the temple surface in the physical world just above the surface of the planet. That wouldn't have been an issue either, as the temple had measures of its own to keep it inaccessible and invisible to anyone. But as she is always slacking in her training, she didn't operate the temple competently and made such a flashy appearance." Della shook her head while looking at Cassana, who kept her head low to indicate that she was ashamed of her mistakes.
Suddenly, Anom said, "The design was great, but at least she should have made your statue a lot more solid. Such good art was almost ruined." He really liked the workmanship on that thing. The real person was standing in front of him, so he could easily assess how precisely it was made.
As soon as she heard this, Cassana went stiff, and her face paled.
Della looked at her and said, "Cassie, which statue is he talking about? I didn't see such a thing in the temple. Are you sure you told me everything?" Although she had a smile on her face, the vibe she was giving was really chilling.
"Mo-Mother God, it was a statue that Goddess Yerra made for you. I just kept it with me for safekeeping to prevent it from getting damaged." Cassana replied with the best possible reason she could've thought of.
"Oh. Then where is it? Let me see what the gift sent by my friend is like." Della said, her face still carrying her usual smile.
Cassana hastily nodded. She waved her hand, and a statue appeared out of thin air. It was the statue, which had been restored before they came here.
"As you can see, Mother God, I've taken good care of it for you." Cassana boasted. "It still looks as if it was just made."
Anom didn't even need to rat her out, as Della had already waved her hand. The statue emitted a red light, and all the spots that were previously damaged got highlighted.
"Ouchi!"
Della gave Cassana a rap on the head, making her hold it while crying in pain.
"Do you know what that was for? It was not because you damaged the statue. But because of the lousy job you did while restoring it. How many times have I told you to focus on your control of energy? You waste your whole time messing around with other spirits or keeping watch on the mortal world using God's Eye. And don't think I don't know about the last time you used the Gate and slipped into the mortal world." Della seemed to be using this incident to educate her naughty spirit angel.
"Do not consider yourself powerful just because you're a spirit angel. There are many existences in the mortal world wielding more than enough power to erase you." Della scolded and warned Cassana. "Stand up. Anom should be tired after all that's happened. Let's go. We will talk on the way."
They continued walking on the stone pathway as Della led them towards the mountains.
She spoke while walking: "According to what Cassie told me, when she got there, the temple was already under the ocean surface. That's where she messed up and made it appear above the water's surface. She even went as far as to create an island to use as a support."
"I did that because I was afraid that the temple would absorb too much energy to keep itself afloat and cause harm to that planet." Cassana justified her reason. Even Anom thought that what she said made sense, and it was very kind of her to have made such considerations. Maybe she's not that annoying.
But Della rebuked her, saying, "You can fool anyone else by giving that reason. Do you think of that temple as some mortal weapon? It can absorb cosmic energy from anywhere without disturbing the natural balance. Although I didn't do it myself, Yerra would only have made it better as she specializes in such matters. And don't tell me you didn't know that. I already explained everything you needed to know before you left for the mission."
She's worse! Anom thought as he stared at Cassana.
"Hmph!" Cassana folded her arms while looking away. She kept quiet, as she was in the wrong this time.
"So why was she sleeping in that room unawares? And those people just came and took the stone without alerting her? I mean, it was not surprising given her performance. But it is still very irresponsible, even for her." Anom said while looking at Cassana with a smile.
Cassana gave him a hard stare while gritting her teeth. She looked like she was having a hard time suppressing her urge to beat up someone.
"That was because she handled the temple the wrong way and drained her energy till she fell unconscious. The equipment I gave her kept her in a separate space till she recovered. As for the orb, it was not possible for it to be taken so easily. Any living being getting near it will have their soul assailed with a surplus of energy, directly shattering it. They must have used some kind of equipment to keep it away, though, and they must have paid quite the price before they were able to take it away." Della explained while looking at Anom with a complex expression.
Anom understood and asked, "So why didn't it work on me?" To be honest, he was really startled after finding out about the stone's scary ability. What the hell! Those bastards didn't even put a warning sign on the box.
Della was silent for a short while before she spoke. "You know, your world, specifically your planet, was renowned around the multiple worlds for its experts who specialized in mental and spiritual energy. They trained the soul in the most mundane ways and developed their control over energy to a level where even people above their level feared them. Too bad they declined after the suppression of energy. From what I know, their legacy continued on for a long time even after the suppression. They treated the restriction as a form of training and kept trying to train their souls to a realm where they could ignore the restriction and be free to utilize energy however they liked. They reached very far in this way, even surpassing their predecessors. Too bad their mortal bodies couldn't support them for long enough to succeed. Such a grand legacy ended just like that. Yerra knew this would happen. She didn't like it, but she had to do that because the responsibility of the whole world was on her shoulders."
"Before she entered her seclusion, she told me that she believed that the glory of her planet would return one day in the future. Your soul is… different. I don't know it clearly, but it's quite close to the natural laws. It was kept dormant because it didn't get any kind of stimulation to emerge in that restricted environment. That was till you picked up the world stone. Your soul regained its original nature."
Anom was ready for anything she could have said, but he was still stunned. Now that he had connected those myths and legends about divine beings and sages on Earth, they made more sense. And although Della didn't explain it clearly at the end, he was sure there was some kind of connection between his soul and the events after the restriction.
After a while, he asked, "So what should I do now? Can I go back?" He had a feeling that he would not be able to go back, or Della wouldn't have kept him here for so long and even explained so much. And although he didn't have any deep attachment to anything on that planet, he still had to ask.
And as he expected, Della refused, saying, "No! You can't! Your case is special, so I can't be sure, but it would be bad if you ended up disturbing Yerra. You don't want to endanger your whole world, right?"
Anom sighed, "Yeah, you're right. This was for the best." He paused then asked, "So what now? I'm going to live with a pretty goddess and her annoying spirit from now on." His tone was mischievous.
Cassana once again bared her teeth at him, while Della just smiled. She was amazed at how quickly Anom got over such a huge change that had happened to his life.
"Oh, we have arrived. You can decide what you want to do after getting some rest. Let's go inside."
In front of them was the mountain range he saw when he came here. He was surprised at the speed at which they reached here. They were standing in front of a huge cave. Under the semi-circular entrance was a path made of blue stones leading inside.
Tsk! Cassana looked at Anom while making an annoyed face and went inside. Della smiled at Anom, waiting for him to enter.
Anom looked back towards the path he had come from and took a deep breath. Then they both stepped onto the new path in front of them.