The food arrived and he forced himself to eat and stop thinking about stupid things. The meal was great and flavorful, cooked to perfection.
Aldrich thought about the reason for the great flavor and realized it must be the salt and pepper. Of course the cook was also competent.
In Wakefield salt and pepper were expensive and sparse, halfway through winter most salt is rationed. But in the cities, he heard from the peddlers, salt and pepper were in abundance and much cheaper.
Aldrich finished his meal and helped load the luggage in the carriage. When everyone else was done, Norge drove the carriage to the nearby temple.
From the outside Aldrich could already tell how different it was from Wakefield's humble temple if it could even be called that.
This one was made from pure white marble. As the many walls rose higher they joined together to formed a great dome that encapsulated most of the structure leaving only a single tower rising in to the south.
When he entered the massive prayer hall, he took a deep breath. He had seen the tall glass windows on the walls from the outside, they were painted with many colors what he didn't expect is that when sunlight passed through the windows and into the hall it bathed the place in a hundred different lights.
The hall was unfortunately almost empty, except for the priest who was kneeling by the altar. Perhaps the priest heard the door opening because he stood from his kneeling position and turned to them.
The priest was surprisingly a young man only five or so years older that Aldrich. He was wearing a blue and black holy robe. He walked towards them.
"Greetings, did you perhaps come for the morning prayers? Unfortunately you're bit late."
"I guess we didn't pay attention to the time." Apologized Ayemon.
"It happens life is filled with many distractions but god is merciful. You can join the prayers before sunset."
"Ah, although we are a little late, father, can you perform a passage rite for this young man here? He had lost many dear ones in an accident but couldn't send them off. If you please..." Caldera suddenly said.
Aldrich froze in place and then, in a fit of anger, he tuened to leave but Norge's hand rested on his shoulder and made it a futile struggle.
Aldrich tried, but even with his newfound strength he couldn't even budge, which made him question if the enhancement even worked.
But Aldrich kept trying until his face was blood red. Then Ayemon's face lowered in front of his own face. Norge's hand loosened around his shoulder but Aldrich didn't attempt to run again.
Ayemon whispered, "Aldrich your people haven't been buried and you are the only one who can send them off. I know it must be unbearable, but being a grown man means that sometimes you have to do things that you don't like, things that you can't bear to even think about."
Aldrich closed his eyes and the faces of all the villagers of a backward insignificant village called Wakefield passed through his mind. Images that told a story from what seemed like a life time ago.
Krynt and his family that took care of him, his wives, Lana and Venna always treated him to honey cakes when they made some. He had a rocky relationship with Krynt's step children but he always believed that they would put it all behind them someday.
The mayor who treated him kindly, father Gombst that taught him about the teachings of god. Tomard that sent his goons to beat him up. his mother...
And many more, some people he liked and some he didn't, some he played with and some he fought with. All of them were now dead.
Aldrich walked behind the priest until he was face to face with the alter. Aldrich kneeled and clasped both hands behind his back. He looked at the alter.
The alter was made up of three layers. The highest one was empty, the second had five small statues, representing the five aspects; the father, the maiden, the sage, the lady of harvest and the iron lord.
The last layer had the likenesses of the nine prophets in order, from the first to the last.
The young priest smiled at Aldrich and placed his palm on his forehead.
"Almighty god, Altunan, may his divinity bring peace to the dead, to the departed. In his infinite mercy, the faithful shall be accepted and embraced from now on and forevermore. From this earthly living they are unchained, released but they are not forgotten not by the Almighty Altunan nor you. May he watch over you and guid your way."
In the final part Aldrich repeated softly after the priest and drew the holy ring on his forehead, "Their deeds shall forever live until the end of time."
———————————————-
Aldrich skinned the rabbit and removed its internal organs after letting it bleed out under a tree. The night breeze was growing cold and the green leaves danced to its tune.
He already figured out that what happened at the temple was a setup. Planned by Ayemon probably but Aldrich didn't have it in him to protest.
It was true that the dead deserved a send off at the very least. As the only survivor it was his duty to do so, whether he liked it or not.
Aldrich looked at his right hand, there was a pitch black ring on his index finger. Cazmer sacrificed his life and entrusted him with his last wish. He had every intention of fulfilling it to the best of his ability.
After they finished in the temple, they immediately got on the carriage and rode off to Kidaran. From there they would get on a river ship and sail to Voryhrm.
Even after sunset the carriage didn't stop or slow down until very late in the night. He could see now why they were sure the trip was only going to take seven days.
Night travel should shorten the time considerably and while he initially believed it was reckless he quickly changed his mind. The obvious common sense of normal people didn't apply on Crestmasters.
Aldrich enjoyed the taste of the tender rabbit meat and thick broth. He drank the apple juice they brought from the inn just before they left.
Aldrich was excited to go to the nightmare realm today, throughout this day he was impressed by his own power. Aldrich believed that he could rival the armored husk right now. In strength at least.
Aldrich thought about what had happened carefully and came to the conclusion that his crest appeared because he increased his spirit to three.
A while back Harvick told him that it would take a month for that to happen. He had managed to do what should have taken him a month in only a few days. This was the great ability of essence.
Despite that he was realizing that every single one of the attributes was very important and that he needed more and more essence.
When Aldrich remembered the number of giant roaches and great number of houses and buildings, he had to ask himself how many husks were there? There was definitely no shortage of essence.
Aldrich continued to analyze the ability further. If he needed four essence orbs to upgrade from one to two and eight to upgrade from two to three then he could only assume that he would need sixteen for the next level.
Without realizing it, at some point he fell asleep. When Aldrich woke up on the couch in the base he smirked. But soon his smile died down when he heard the noise outside.