Somewhere in Morntelle, Daysworth duchy...Somewhere in Morntelle, Daysworth duchy...
Tianah's presence started forming, with a light blue glow, and her form slowly materialized. Soon, she fully appeared and found herself right where she wanted to be.
The night was dark and the starry sky seemed to be more crowded with stars here, showering the mystical plane in dim light.
But the light from the stars seemed absent under the light emitted by the massive building structure that stood magnificently in front of her.
Its design was profound with several angelic statues as pillars that upheld the structure. Its walls were white and pristine, it shimmered in the dark, bathing its serene and lifeless surroundings in ethereal light.
Tianah sighed wearily and walked towards the golden double door, which had exquisite carvings on it. She walked in with a bored countenance.
It wasn't her first time being here in The Temple of Athan, and she had seen this beauty for so long as she existed that the beauty had become a normal view from her perspective.
On entering the temple, she strode across the golden paved floor, which mirrored her as she walked onwards.
The interior of the temple was filled with a few nuns scattered here and there, a few donning armors just like her, and the majority in simple white with red monastery robes.
An array of colossal statues of angelic warriors pillared the whole structure, golden and golden white, mighty and gallant in appearance. Amidst these statues— at the gaps between their feet— were rows of chairs extending to the length of the hall.
On a separate left were statues of historical gods who saved humanity from decline and gave them power. These gods ranged in appearance and were in different poses, but all in all, they were majestic.
At the center was Tianah, walking towards the statue of Athan, goddess of Aether and Healing. The statue of the goddess, like the others was majestic and was even more so in the heart of Tianah.
At the feet of the goddess was a woman in a caped robe of scarlet at the front, with designs of golden, and white at the sides and a hood covering her hair.
The woman sat with her provocative thighs exposed through side partings of the robe due to her sitting in a lotus sitting pose, on a hassock.
Tianah reached her and saw a strange glow in her beautiful hazel eyes. She immediately kneeled and bowed, waiting for the spiritual ecstasy of the high priestess to end.
Simply put, the high priestess was in meeting with the goddess. Her being incarnate of the goddess gave her the privilege to meet her through astral projection.
After a while, Tianah heard the unruffled voice of the high priestess:
"Tia, come here."The high priestess stood up from her pose and gestured Tianah to her.
Tianah obliged and went over to her, not daring to look up, in reverence and fear.
The high priestess's beautiful hazel eyes screamed of motherly love. Her white brows took their places on top of her eye sockets and her glossy pinks lips were in a smile.
Her beauty could be compared to that of an immortal, but her height and aura said otherwise. Her being the chosen incarnate of the goddess played an important role in her appearance.
Tianah's boots clacked against the transparent golden floor as she walked over to the high priestess who was barefooted. A bit worried for she had missed her duties as a priestess of the Temple of Athan.
"Mother..."Tianah called to the high priestess, intending to explain the reason for her late presence, even after the mission she was sent on turned out to be a false call, she was cut short by the high priestess, who was her real mother.
"...You were supposed to teach the recruits, but you came late because you were showing the newcomers around Kramdery Duchy."The high priestess looked over her shoulder and said like she was with Tianah the whole time.
She turned around and faced Tianah with a mild smile she removed the hood from her head, revealing her silverish white hair, with exquisite red stripes all over.
Tianah was confused for a moment, an unsettling feeling welling up in her chest as she removed her head scarf, revealing her pure white hair. Which further revealed her beauty, which she had been veiling before.
The high priestess signaled to a nun, who brought her a rectangular glass-like object. The high priestess went closer to Tianah and showed her the rectangular object which turned murky white after she infused it with spiritual energy.
Some figures showed on the screen, and with a few taps and drags, the displays on the screen changed till she found what she was looking for and showed it to Tianah.
Tianah got startled by seeing the picture that was on the projection. It was a picture of Conan, who was serving as a waiter at a restaurant, behind him was a table where a group of attractive people was eating, Tianah included.
"...M-mother! Where'd you get this from?"Tianah said, her voice full of panic. She was surprised and unsettled at the same time, especially on seeing the smile on the high priestess's face.
The high priestess smiled, "Don't panic daughter... I saw it on the Web, uploaded by the Cubus Coven girls as their next targets."She said, walking closer and standing closer to Tianah, her tall and voluptuous figure shadowed the relatively shorter Tianah as she showed her the picture. "He is beautiful, isn't he?"
Tianah sighed, somewhat relieved. And she doesn't even know why she was anxious in the first place, Maybe because she thought the goddess deemed Conan as a threat?
Or perhaps, because Conan was like her friend now? She remembered the hug. It had the same feeling as when a friend was about to depart from the other.
"But the goddess said something about him..."The high priestess said, making tianah's eyes widen in shock and her anxiousness resurfaced, but anticipation followed.
"What'd she say?"
"She said he has an uncanny resemblance to a powerful man she once knew of. A man of both Good and Evil conduct, a free man whom she once helped..."The high priestess continued "..She said, she thought that he'd died or perhaps been erased from existence, but it turned out that he finally had a son with his beloved. It's all he had ever wanted."
The high priestess said with a long face, looking at the picture of Conan. It felt to tianah like the goddess was speaking through her.
"So... Conan is the son of a powerful being? I thought so, his eyes are strange and his knowledge seems profound."Tianah said with an apprehensive look.
"That's what the goddess said."The high priestess didn't go further into details but then gasped shortly after on remembering something important.
"Ah! lest I forget, it's time for me to stop being Athan's Incarnate."The high priestess said as she walked like the weight of the whole plane weighed on her shoulders towards the magnificently sculpted statue of the goddess of life.
Tianah gasped in surprise, her eyes widened and her heart trembled. The spirit core in her stirred and her hazel eyeballs reddened in anticipation and excitement "Really? Has she chosen?"
"The goddess has chosen her incarnate."
"What? Then who will be the next incarnate?"Asked Tianah.
Her mother had been the Athan's Incarnate for years, which she doesn't know of. Her sudden declaration shocked her. The goddess had chosen another incarnate, but then who was it?
"...Your sister."The high priestess said, her gaze fixed on the statue of the goddess.
"What? She's 18! She's still young, she's not ready."Tianah practically exclaimed out of shock, not being chosen didn't graze her in the least as she wasn't interested in going through the horrendous works an Incarnate will have to do anyway.
Well, maybe it did graze her a bit—in an emotional sense—she was only worried about her younger sister, who will have to do the work.
She was only worried...
"Your sister is ready and she had even passed the requirements, while you are not. Don't worry about her."The high-priestess refuted curtly, and matter of factly.
Tianah sighed, that was crushing to hear but she did not care anymore, she said "Okay, I trust the judgment of the goddess."
All she cared about was the ceremony. At the ceremony, there'll be lots of fun and people to gossip with. And she needed just that at the moment.
She left shortly after receiving no more answers from her mother, who was looking at the statue of the goddess in a daze.
Her eyeballs glowed scarlet and a smile was on her lips, a smile of uncanny reasons.
...
Back in Kramdery, Conan in his assassin suit was gliding across the sky, trailing the stone-paved path amid the forest, hoping it'll lead him to where he was going.
His arms and legs were spread out, his baggy outer one piece flapped as the wind brushed against him. His serpentine eyes scanned every direction, checking if there was any living being or anomaly nearby.
But all of a sudden, he felt a chill run down his spine, he got startled and lost control over his flight and he inevitably plummeted, the branches of trees crunching under the weight of his fall.
He hit the ground and the mask receded from his face—Merging with the inky black suit— and revealed his feverish and breathless face. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he sneezed.
"ACHOoooo!"
A thunderous sneeze shook the air and a mild snowstorm was created. The floor became plated with sheets of ice and snow, freezing the innocent herbs living at the feet of the enormous trees to death.
The trees danced wildly to the songs of the fierce wind, leaves rained on Conan and even fruits fell on him.
"Ugh!"He grunted and felt dizzy a little, his head smarted, and his skin tingled. His spirit stirred upon sensing the spirit of a powerful entity calling out to him, hence he lost control of the spiritual energy which he was using to fly. It dispersed and damaged his body, hence the mighty snowstorm summoning sneeze.
"What a blunder, I forgot that the goddess of Aether still knows me, and yet, I spoke with her disciple."He reprimanded himself for the silly blunder he made, but then again, no one was above mistakes.
He knew the goddess of Aether quite well. They were quite close as she was related to the god of clouds.
When he wanted to resurrect phiona, he went to her for help, due to her ability to give 'life' back to souls of the dead and make them suitable to be resurrected—Which not many knew of. She played a vital role in resurrecting phiona.
However, before she agreed to help him, she warned him of the consequences, yet he did it and he faced the consequences anyway, promising to take responsibility, which he did.
"...She won't sell me out, probably."
It seems he was going to face more problems than he had thought, and it was starting to get on his nerves. He breathed sharply and masked his face back, took to the air, and continued his journey.
He was going to vent out his frustrations on the Goose Creeds. He was going there partly because they touched his little girl, but now he was being honest with himself.
He wanted to vent out, a thousand years of sleeping, teaching, sitting, and snacking, had made him rusty.
However, he didn't notice that it wasn't just Athan that noticed him, some had labeled him as a 'next target' already, unbeknownst to him.
But a celestial can't know everything that happens in the domain of gods, can he?