Chapter 13 – The Sacred Altar
In the morning, Darren was seen in the kitchen for breakfast today. He has changed himself again into someone else.
"Looks like your Mana has returned," said Pino sitting on his shoulder, ignoring the existence of the focus to find out where the Saintess might be.
"I can help you; you can get out of here."
Dareen turned to Pino, making her nervous about hiding something.
[Hufth…] heaved a sigh of relief after not looking at her anymore.
"I don't want to rush and try to find the Saintess on my own," Dareen replied.
"He's not an ordinary human being that someone like you can easily find."
"Because the Saintess built a magic circle to hide from unimportant things,"
Darren left Pino, rushing through every room in the temple and getting desperate. He had to meet the Saintess to get out of this novel as soon as possible.
"There he is!" shouted a crowd of people toward him.
They made a commotion in the holy temple; feeling like a target, Dareen ran. From afar ran fiercely, pushing the prayers that passed by, blocking the pursuit.
"If this continues, it will disrupt places of worship," said Dareen.
Darren struggled to escape the chase through gaps in windows or doors.
"Pino, I will negotiate with you," he said at a dead end.
"Ooo… you finally changed your mind, huh?" asked Pino mockingly.
"Let's make a deal, immediately meet me with the Saintess,"
"Of course," said Pino happily.
"For Mana, please don't suck it too much. I don't want my figure to be known by people. I still need it."
"I wonder how? The ratio of Mana and blood needs must be the same."
"Come on! I beg you," pleaded.
"Get out of the way!" shrieked, brandishing a sword.
The people behind went crazy as their distance from him grew closer. Darren increased his running speed so as not to be caught by them.
"Answer quickly!" who had almost exhausted his patience.
"Fine, but I ask for a blood guarantee,"
Without thinking, Dareen opened the bandage in his hand, trying to keep running.
"You must leave this place first so that people don't know when you suddenly lose Mana," said Pino.
Darren went away towards the back of the forest belonging to the sacred shrine. Seeing the group still chasing him immediately scratched the wound there.
How often had his hand been scratched to summon that extremely annoying god's pet?
Pino's hatched blood spilled out and sucked in vigorously, causing Mana to come out too.
[Aaarrrggghhh..] groans in pain while being sucked in simultaneously.
"Hey, stop it," Dareen replied.
Pino didn't stop her action; it made the necklace change color showing unstable Mana.
Suddenly a blinding light emanated from the creature's body, sending them to another place.
[Kricik… kricik] an equally large fountain and pool in the middle of the room surrounded by vintage windows, marble pillars, and the floor. Dareen lay limply on top of him, trying to get up.
"You are so weak, I only asked for a little, and you already look terrible," said Pino floating in the air, looking thrilled.
He paid no heed to the words that came out of his mouth and didn't want to have a lengthy debate with that very annoying creature.
Darren tried hard to keep the Mana on the necklace; the cold floor immediately woke him up.
"I respect you because of your status as a god's pet; otherwise, I would have rubbed your little body yesterday," his emotions overflowed.
"Who summoned me to the human world?" asked Pino.
"And now it's as if you don't care anymore, a human-like you will only always be weak against anything," she did not accept.
Their bickering was heard by someone in the back watching Dareen's behavior, talking to himself with nothing being seen nearby.
"Who are you?" break up the situation.
The spontaneous chatter stopped and turned to the source of the voice.
A shadow of a young man walked up to Darren, asking one more time.
"Who are you?" he said again.
His figure is not different from Dareen's; the look in his eyes was born wise seems to worry about the man in front of him, now getting confused to dodge.
"Sorry for my rudeness here. Introduce me; my name is Roan," replied Dareen, who clasped his right hand above her chest, followed by a bowing motion.
"What business have you come here for?" asked the man.
He looked at Dareen, waiting for an answer, the aura of calm eyes far from being ambitious when faced with something that didn't look easy to be provoked in a circle of emotions.
"I want to meet the Saintess."
Pino didn't seem surprised; she was sure that the man in front of Dareen was the same person in the wooden house.
The future Mana Spirit-controlling Saintesses and their descendants were the only ones who could talk directly to gods.
"Jase, are you still here?" another voice was slightly hoarse.
He came from the entrance.
"Yes, father," he replied, who was still standing in front of Dareen.
Darren was silent when he saw the older adult who entered among them. He patted the shoulder, asking for news.
"How was the lesson learned earlier?" only replied with a smile.
He was not surprised by the stranger's strangeness in his place, wearing a white robe surrounded by gold-colored tires as a holy temple. The two were like a mirror full of Jase's warm side, signaling that someone had come without permission and suddenly entered the sacred room.
Once again, his father pats Jase on the shoulder to ensure everything is okay.
"What do you need here, Roan?"
Darren was surprised when they met for the first time, worried the person would reveal his figure.
"I came here to talk to a god," he answered hesitantly.
He didn't want to stay in that place for too long because there was more to do than enjoy a harmonious family talk.
"Alright," the Saintess replied as she hurried towards the altar in the middle of the large pond.
"But father..." Jase said, his words cut off. However, it couldn't prevent his father's actions because he directly contacted gods as a Saintess.
He was convinced that his father had received a revelation from a previous god. Feelings of worry and anxiety while holding back emotions saw the two of them walking toward the sacred pond.
The place that only Saintess could enter to speak or receive revelations from gods was now entered by strangers; Darren went inside while Saintess stood in a particular area using a foothold that floated on the water.
Chanting spells and a magic circle with a white symbol appear, unlike Dareen's one to summon Pino; he doesn't need Mana stone powder and gold elf.
[Wush…wush…] The circle directly behind the Saintess' reflection in the water also gave the same image.
[Ting…ting…ting]
The rippled surface created waves around where Dareen was standing.
The magic circle then moved swiftly past the Saintess's body piercing into her and floating on the water.
The thing was above him. The magic circle shrunk to the size of a human body. He was floated in the air a white light appeared to form a high wall covering Dareen. The strange writings moved around the white fence and felt the effects as Pino sucked it pressed against the boulder.
[Grrrrttt]
Pino tried to keep her distance from the man; Jase approached the edge of the pool to see the wonderful; this was the first time in history that someone dared and presumed to speak directly to gods and even kings through the intermediary Saintess.
Jase's mind wandered, remembering the incident when he was doing a maturity ceremony where his father did not visit Jase to meet the king and important guests.
Jase's mother told him to pursue him at the sacred altar, perhaps still preparing to stop her footsteps, when she heard a muttering voice talking and eavesdropping behind the slightly ajar door.
"There will be a dimensional passer who will open a new storyline, whether he can complete the task or choose to destroy the world,"
Jase's hoarse, deep voice was confident that his father was talking to a god, a momentary vision blurring what was happening before his eyes.
Darren disappeared together as the white wall also disappeared; however, the magic circle was still floating on the water.