Maya hadn't seen Aisha again after that last time. A few days passed, and to her surprise, her father never forced her to train again. He never cared much about her from the beginning, but now he had completely treated her like air.
Maya didn't mind since she knew her father had always been partial to her older brother. However, she was curious to know why he suddenly changed his mind.
One day, she chased after the Chief Advisor, Kazak, and pestered him to tell her why.
"You skipped your training when I told you to do it. Now that I have relieved you from what you hated the most, shouldn't you spend your time on the 'girlish' things you always talked about? I'm busy, so don't bother me. And I'd better not hear anything about bothering your brother. He is already busy enough without you bugging him."
The Head Priest looked at her impatiently before leaving her behind. Maya pouted and decided she should just ask the Priestess directly.
In the afternoon, she went into the Priestess' quarter again. However, she couldn't see her even after the sky turned red.
Usually, she would be back around dusk, but there was no sign of her anywhere.
Maya was annoyed because she had waited for long for nothing. But she didn't give up and waited for Aisha the next day.
Then the day after, and another day. Eventually, a week passed, and it was like Aisha had completely gone from this place. Maya slowly became anxious.
"What exactly happened here? She shouldn't be able to go anywhere, or there will be a huge commotion."
Maya only knew a little about the praying ritual she did, but as far as she knew, there would be a sacred ceremony held in the inner shrine on the night of the full moon. Aisha would undoubtedly be there too.
The only problem was no unauthorized personnel was allowed near the Inner Shrine. It was located in the deepest part of the Holy Shrine and guarded by a lot of trained soldiers.
Thankfully, Maya knew a secret passage she could use to get close to the Inner Shrine. It will be difficult, but if she used the mountain road to get to the back of the shrine, then there was a chance she would be able to sneak in.
Normally, no one in their right mind would try to do this. In this place, there was a belief that disturbing the sacred ceremony would lead to bad luck, but Maya was never the type to believe such a superstition. She only believed what she could see with her own two eyes.
That was also why her father preferred her brother over her because she was less likely to follow the rules.
When the moon almost reached its peak, Maya sneaked out of her bedroom and ran towards the mountain.
There was a small river behind the shrine, and Maya knew the Holy Shrine used water from this river. The purpose for that was unknown, but that wasn't important.
This was a crazy plan, and she had no proof to support her claim, but she thought that if she swam following the current, she would end up in the Inner Shrine one way or another.
The only problem was she hadn't tried this method before, so she didn't know how long the tunnel would be. If she ran out of breath before reaching the exit, she had to make sure she could swim out of the tunnel before she drowned.
It was basically a do-or-die plan. Something that no one would usually dare to do. But Maya was prepared to do this. She felt a bad taste on her tongue whenever she recalled the sad look on Aisha's face the last time. It unsettled her.
She was determined to see the bottom of this, no matter the consequences.
The water tunnel was too small for an adult to fit in, but it was just right for a child like her.
Exhaling her breath, she braced herself. The wind was freezing that night, so she had to move fast before her body became too stiff to move.
"Okay, here goes nothing," Maya tightened the sash that bound her sword to her and took a very deep breath before diving into a cold autumn river. The cold prickled her skin, and she felt numb all over her body before she slowly got used to it and swam following the current.
Inside the tunnel, it was very dark and cramped; she couldn't swim freely. However, there was nothing else to do but trust her gut feeling.
Maya kept swimming forward, and just when she thought this tunnel had no end, she saw the light.
She hastened her pace and finally swam out of the tunnel. The place she ended up in was actually a pond. It was not too deep to drown her, but it wasn't shallow either. The depth was just enough for her to swim around without anyone noticing.
Maya carefully let her head out of the water and inhaled the air greedily. After that, she spread her gaze around the room. It was the first time she had ever seen a place like this.
It was a chamber-like place with a high ceiling, with a few pillars forming a circle in the middle of the pond. It looked almost like an altar, and it was built on a higher level than the pond, as you needed to climb up the stairs to reach it.
However, what mesmerized Maya the most was the window on the ceiling. She had never seen a window as big as that. It was almost as big as this room, letting the silver moonlight pass through the glasses and illuminate the center of the altar.
As if it was a place to put a sacrificial lamb in a ritual.
The moonlight was like a straight path to heaven within the dark room, creating a sacred and mystical yet discomfiting feeling in the room.
There was no mistaking it. This place must be the place where the ceremony would be held. Who would have thought her luck would be so good that she ended up right in the spot where she wanted to be?
No one was around, but it might be because the full moon hadn't reached its peak yet. Maya decided to wait by using one of the rocks around the altar as a hiding place. It was covered in moss, and she had to keep submerging herself in the cold water to camouflage herself, but she had no better choice.
Not long after that, the sound of the door opening reverberated inside the room. Maya straightened her back and peeked from behind the rock.
The first thing she saw was Aisha, who seemed different than usual. Behind her was a group of people who would assist her with the ritual. She quickly caught her father and brother among them.
At a glance, she looked like she was wearing her usual praying attire, but once she stepped into the stair of the altar and basked in the moonlight, she could see her wearing an exquisite outer robe embroidered with intricate golden butterflies.
A veil with the same design covered her head, and the violet eyes under it were serene and distant.
She stood alone on the altar while the others who came in with her stood below.
Aisha clasped her hand together before raising her head, and Maya couldn't help but admire how ethereal she looked then.