He looked at the cleric in front of him, his clothes looked better and cleaner than before leaving the village and the first image that came to his mind was of Oliver.
Arthur remembered the archer's words before they left to hunt, even remembering the cleric who had left shortly before the fire, making him lower his head even after the receptive answer.
His mind wandered and he looked at Chris who looked a little more serious, but soon the blonde showed a smile and went towards the swordsman, stopping in front of him and looking at his already recovered arms, he gave a slight smile and spoke.
"You must have a lot of questions, Arth. But it's good to know you're okay."
Chris showed a calm expression and Arthur looked back, sighing more quietly as he spoke.
"I'd like to get dressed first, but it's good to see you too, Chris. I really have a lot of questions..."
He looked at the cleric from the corner of his face and he saw that the old man was still smiling when he saw him, but soon Arthur turned his eyes to Christopher and noticing that something was sheathed in the blonde's waist, he spoke.
"What are these clothes? And have you recovered your wooden sword? Is everyone okay? This guy said he was going to answer my questions, but in the end they're just piling up."
Nathan raised an eyebrow in doubt and spoke..
"What evil..."
But soon Christopher was laughing and talking.
"Don't worry, he's kind of short-tempered anyway… but if you want me to show you something, let's at least eat, since you've just recovered, you must be hungry and with that I'll also show you where the other residents ended up."
The words caught Arthur's attention and soon he heard a loud and disturbing sound that came from his own stomach, he lowered his eyebrows and frowned bothered by it, but Chris just smiled and spoke.
"Come on, I'll take you to the cafeteria."
Chris touched Arthur's shoulder with a smile and led him to a door at the back of the temple, the swordsman accompanied him, but before they entered, he directed his eyes to the cleric and noticed that the elder was still smiling as he walked away from the two.
Entering the door, the two saw a large hall, but this time several tables with white cloths covering them, there were several wooden plates positioned so that they could help themselves.
All over the table he saw people who were sitting eating and when they entered they ended up calling attention, Arthur didn't recognize their faces right away, but Chris kept smiling, until a man who was having a soup noticed the two.
His reaction was to widen his eyes and open a wide smile as he saw the two young people, he got up from the table and spoke.
"Look, the other boy woke up."
The sentence caught the attention of the others who were there and as if it were a chain reaction, everyone got up, some were surprised and others were smiling, but as a consensus everyone approached Arthur and Christopher, seeing the two closely.
The man who had spotted the two first spoke.
"Damn, you're even smaller than I expected, thanks for the help kid. I'm Hans, it's a pleasure."
Arthur was frowning and speaking in confusion.
"Is it the village people? But how did all this happen?"
Christopher looked on with a certain tranquility and then sighed a little more peacefully as he spoke.
"Well, it's a long story. Better sit down to eat, how about that?"
Upon hearing the sentence, Hans would show a smile and put his arm around Arthur's shoulder in a sudden way that caught him by surprise, but soon the man continued smiling and spoke.
"That's it, boy. We should have a party for your recovery, so…"
He would raise his fist up and speak.
"GUYS, LET'S CELEBRATE!"
And in unison, everyone who was there seemed more excited and also raised fists and mugs in the air while giving an excited scream, making the sound even echo.
Everyone moved and before he could react, Arthur had already been pushed to sit at a table with Christopher in front of him, the people around the table surrounded the table as if they wanted to know Arthur even if it was just by sight and he was uncomfortable.
The counterpart to this was Christopher, who got some juice and bread, helping himself and starting to eat.
"Well…that's a little weird. I need to know what happened, even if I want to celebrate too, I don't understand all this excitement."
Christopher looked a little more relaxed and smiling while a piece of bread was still in his mouth, but soon a weight sat down on the extended bench Arthur was on, again he saw Hans who looked a little more serious as he held a mug of juice.
"Well, we don't know everything, but when we woke up we were being rescued by the Ciccattas and Luminattas, there were several knights and even some novices who were taking care of and transporting the wounded, if you saw it... damn... I think we were part of something big."
"Ciccats… is it the people of this church? And those Luminattas?"
"Damn, you really are an atheist, aren't you, boy? Even those who don't serve the deities should know their names, right?"
He spoke looking at the blonde who just smiled awkwardly in response and swallowed the bread to answer.
"In Cleric's classes he gets distracted easily, so it makes sense that he wouldn't know."
"Did he take lessons from the Cleric? How lucky."
Both continued talking, but soon Arthur sighed and said.
"Can someone explain to me?"
Hans looked at the boy even a little more calmly and leaned his elbow on the table.
"Well, basic class on the deities, boy. If you fall asleep this time, I'll give you a smack to wake you up."
He spoke with a smile while showing a strong and muscular arm, despite being an ordinary villager, he was physically strong, perhaps because of his profession. Arthur just nodded and sighed heavily, placing his hand on his cheek while still confused, he made himself willing to listen.
The three fingers and pointed at Arthur seemed to symbolize what he was about to explain.
"To begin with, at the beginning of everything there was a dense blood storm that covered the world, those responsible for it were the gods of chaos who were represented by darkness, hatred and injustice. They-"
"Wait... wait a second."
The sudden pause made Hans raise an eyebrow and speak.
"What is it, boy? Did something confuse you? Should I start over?"
"N-No, but this story seems confusing, why does it start only after such a blood storm? And what came before? And another, were these gods born gods yet?"
Arthur questioned and that made Hans scratch the back of his head, looking around he noticed some people slightly uncomfortable and soon the man continued.
"They were believed to be wizards and vampires who performed rituals to cause this storm in the ancient world, but you want to know about the gods first, don't you?"
Noticing the behavior of everyone around him, he sighed and scratched his head awkwardly while Chris remained a little more serious and looked around.
"Well... from where I was... the gods we know today were heroes who went through the ascension process, using a grace that made them able to face the blood storm and face the other gods, being the counter- part of them, like the god of light, Illumina. The god of justice and truth, Jugram and finally the goddess of love Cohra or Ciccatta."
"So they defeated these gods and got power? But how does it work?"
Hans put both arms on the table and went back to the front seeing the windows, outside it was possible to see the people who had been welcomed and he continued.
"It's not that simple, boy. In fact, there is still a war going on between the gods right now. We are in the middle of it."
"What?"
Arthur looked curious and soon Hans was talking again.
"From what Christopher said, you come from an isolated region and I'm not surprised you don't know much, but just as there are temples for the gods of order, there are those for the gods of chaos and you were victims of a cult of that. .."
The words made the swordsman squint in anger as his memories returned to the cave, he had lapses of Tytew's smile, the eyes of others and the vivid memory of being trapped along with the memory of Christopher being pierced by the occultist's arm.
He clenched his teeth and clenched his fist tightly at the memory and then spoke in an irritated tone.
"Is the so-called 'Noah's Ark' a cult of the gods of chaos? That explains a few things, but they weren't wearing armor or weapons, and it still doesn't explain why they wanted that village and who the hell was that woman?"
"Woman?"
Hans raised his eyebrows doubtfully, but soon Chris sighed and spoke.
"It's a long story... but to start with, I'd better tell you what happened when I woke up, Arth."
Arthur heard his friend's voice and immediately frowned, but nodded in agreement.
"OK. Tell me, what happened..."
"If it is to indicate a starting point, I think the ideal would be to start with my death..."