The next morning, Luna tried to use magic again before leaving.
However, she didn't make any progress, so she decided to practice at the next stop, and the group soon left.
Whenever they had the opportunity, even when they stopped for a few minutes, Sariel and Raymond tried to help Luna use magic, but it always resulted in failure.
Eventually, the group stopped for lunch. The trio moved away from the camp and looked for a place to train.
As they walked, the princess tripped over something, almost falling to the ground.
"Ah!"
"What was it?" asked Raymond.
"I tripped over something." She looked at what caused her to lose her balance. "What is this?"
She crouched down and saw what looked like a marble object buried, with part of it sticking out of the ground.
"It must be some kind of war relic." Raymond approached.
But this didn't convince Luna, who used both hands in an attempt to remove it.
Noticing her effort, Sariel approached.
"Let me handle this." He grabbed the object with one hand and pulled it.
Without any effort, he pulled a marble angel statue from the ground. This statue had no eyes, mouth, facial expressions, or even seemed to have clothes, it looked more like a white winged silhouette without any extra detail except its shape, like a mannequin.
"An angel statue? Why is this here?" Luna asked.
"Good question... Why don't we find out?" Sariel pointed to the ground.
Looking at the hole formed by the lack of the statue, Raymond could see a piece of marble, similar to a floor, below the ground.
"What is it?"
"Get away." Sariel released the statue and prepared to punch the ground.
Noticing his intentions, Raymond and Luna moved a few meters away from him.
When he realized they were far enough away, Sariel punched the ground hard, sending dirt and concrete flying around and creating a two-meter hole.
They both approached again and looked down, seeing a floor that was not very high and dimly lit by the sunlight, with the surroundings completely surrounded by absolute darkness.
If it weren't for the light, they wouldn't be able to see the bottom of that hole.
"An angel sanctuary?" Raymond asked.
"Yes... and a very old one, since it's completely buried under dirt and trees. It must have been built right when they came."
"And we're going down there? It could be dangerous..."
However, the traveler ignored the bodyguard and jumped into the hole, landing softly and smoothly. Then, he raised his hand, which glowed brown, and condensed this glow into a small sphere of light, illuminating the surroundings well.
"You can come down."
"No way, it's dangerous for Luna."
"I want to see what's there!" The princess approached the hole.
"There's no reason to be so cautious, there's nothing here." Sariel looked up at Luna. "Jump, I'll catch you."
But Raymond wasn't convinced.
"No, she's not going to..."
However, before he finished, the princess jumped into the hole without thinking twice.
The traveler, as expected, caught her deftly and placed her on the ground.
Upon seeing that, the bodyguard sighed and jumped in.
As soon as he landed, he was met with a large open space. The ceiling was arched and made of marble and gold, and the arches were statues of angels holding up the ceiling.
The walls were decorated with colored glass, forming a kaleidoscope that depicted in the center the white silhouette of an angel, without any detail just like the statue Luna had tripped over. Several concrete and cushioned seats extended throughout the space. At the end of that room there was an altar, with a one-meter-high cylindrical brown stone.
Behind them, there was a collapsed corridor, probably the original entrance before succumbing to time.
"A... church?" asked Raymond.
"It seems so. I wonder what's in that Alteration Gem." Sariel pointed to the brown stone.
"A gem that size... I think we would only find something similar in the kingdom of Acropolis..." commented the bodyguard.
Sariel slowly approached the altar. Behind this Alteration Gem there was a five-meter-tall statue of the same white silhouette. Numerous torn and burned books and papers were scattered all over the floor, making it impossible to read them.
Raymond and Luna followed him curiously. That large statue was made of a different material than marble, as it reflected the light of the traveler's magic like a mirror, illuminating the entire room with just its reflection.
As they got close to the altar, the three of them surrounded the Alteration Gem and soon realized that it was damaged, with some cracks and the top with an irregular diagonal shape, probably the place where the stone broke.
"What do we do now?" Luna asked.
"We touch it," Sariel replied.
"It's too risky! Something that size can contain more memories than we can handle," Raymond protested.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked.
"This is an Alteration Gem, basically it's the same thing as a magic stone, but anything that goes beyond a certain size is automatically called a gem. The larger the size, the more memories an Alteration stone can store, and stronger it is."
"That's why I said it's dangerous."
"Then I'll go first." The traveler approached his hand. "If I feel it's safe, then you can touch it."
Then, Sariel touched the stone, and countless memories passed through his mind.
Seconds after touching, he removed his hand and remained silent for a few seconds.
"What was it?" the princess asked.
"Indeed, it's better that you don't touch it, it might be too much for you." He sighed heavily. "And to think that a good part is missing..."
"And what did you see?" asked Raymond.
"It seems that this was a place where angels met with humans and taught them about Kura and their origins..."
"Wait, freely? Without the use of force?"
"Yes, apparently, Kura contacted the angels assuming this form." Sariel pointed to the large white statue.
"What? But doesn't Kura have a human form? Those who saw her always said she was like a human silhouette made of light."
"It seems she just uses different forms when talking to different races."
"That doesn't surprise me, no one would hear her if she appeared to a human in angelic form, well, nowadays..." Raymond pondered on that. "Although no one has seen her since the beginning of the war..."
"So, Kura really guided the angels to our world?" Luna asked. "Then why would they try to destroy humanity if she was helping both races?"
"Unfortunately, the answer is not here."
"Maybe the angels turned against Kura?" Raymond suggested.
"It's a possibility."
"But it doesn't make sense..." the bodyguard muttered. "If that were the case, why hasn't she communicated with any human since the war?"
Sariel remained silent.
While they pondered, Luna looked at the statue curiously and felt drawn to it. After a while, she noticed something fallen near the statue and approached to see. Looking closely, she noticed it was a book whose cover was destroyed, but the interior was still somewhat preserved.
There was only one chapter that was legible, and it was written in a language she had never seen before, but for some reason was able to understand perfectly.
"Dies Irae..."
Hearing that, the traveler instantly abandoned his silence and approached the princess quickly.
Getting close enough, he was able to read the contents of the chapter.
Dies irae, dies illa.
Solvet saeclum in favilla, teste David cum Sibylla.
"Quantus tremor est futurus..." Luna murmured. "Quando
judex est venturus... Cuncta stricte discussurus..."
She didn't notice, but during all this time Sariel had been staring at her intently.
"Do you know what that means?" the traveler asked.
"No..." she murmured thoughtfully. The first part was unknown to her, but she had heard that second part in her nightmare. "I mean, I understand the text, but I've never seen this language before..."
"Angels, and some descendants of angels can be born already knowing the angelic language without having to learn it. I was born that way too."
"But why is this here?" Luna asked, referring to the book.
"It's a church, it's natural that this kind of text is here... Do you happen to know this?"
"Don't you know? The stone didn't show anything?" Luna realized that Sariel was being insistent, so she questioned him, looking him in the eye.
"No, it's damaged, remember? That's why I'd like to know if you know this."
"Why would I know?"
The traveler looked at the book again, realizing that the next chapter was completely illegible, except for the title.
"Tuba Mirum..."
"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything else here..." Raymond commented.
"We should go back."
"You're right," Luna agreed.
The three of them then turned their backs on the statue and climbed back up.
As soon as they left, the traveler carried a large stone on his shoulders and hid the hole he had made.
"Well, let's forget about that and focus on your training, okay?" Sariel looked at the princess.
"All right."
The three of them focused on helping Luna use magic, but she continued to fail.
Sariel and Raymond thought of countless possibilities and suggestions that might help her, but nothing worked.
After half an hour, the bodyguard went away for a few minutes to check on Aegreon and Shiina, leaving the traveler and the princess alone.
Luna tried to follow all the teachings, but with each failed attempt she became more frustrated, resulting in faster and more repetitive failures.
"I can't..." She was becoming increasingly depressed. "Why do I have to be so useless?"
She pressed her hands hard, feeling angry with herself. Even though she was an angel, which theoretically would make her superior to any human, she was not able to create even a tiny snowball.
Sariel watched her curiously, when he decided to try a different approach.
"Try again, but close your eyes this time, and no matter how much your head hurts or your magic flow decreases, try to at least keep the magic active. Don't try to complete it, just keep it."
"Okay."
Following these instructions, Luna closed her eyes and started the magic again. As before, she managed to create a sphere the size of an ant, but soon her magic flow decreased and a sting in her mind distracted her.
But this time she wasn't going to give up. Ignoring the pain in her mind, she focused all her strength on keeping that snowball the size of an insect.
Therefore, the pain in her mind intensified more and more.
She resisted as best she could, but soon the pain became so intense that she felt as if they were stabbing her with a knife into her skull, so she ended up giving up and failing once again.
"I can't... " Her voice was almost inaudible, as if she had just run a marathon.
"I think I've discovered the problem." Sariel had an intrigued look.
"And what... what is it?"
"I need you to repeat what you just did."
"But it didn't work before, why would it work now?"
"Just trust me."
Luna looked at Sariel doubtfully but decided to try again. After closing her eyes, she started the magic once more, feeling the same pain as soon as the slightest bit of snow formed in her hand.
Sariel watched her intently and approached her as soon as she closed her eyes. When he realized that the magic was failing, he touched her forehead with one hand and her forearm with the other.
The princess felt this touch, but was focused on maintaining her magic, which was becoming increasingly difficult due to the pain in her mind that continued to increase.
She felt like she was about to fail, when she felt the flow of magic, the "cold", that was passing through her arm increase, and the pain in her mind decreased. In response, more snow accumulated in her hand and, for the first time, reached a larger size, close to a grape.
Her heart raced as she realized she had made progress, but it wasn't long before her mind ached again, and the flow decreased.
While this was happening, she felt the touch that was on her forearm move to her belly, but she focused on continuing the magic.
This time, the pain she felt was even greater, but she did her best to keep it going.
Once again, she felt like she was on the verge of collapse, when the pain gradually decreased, until suddenly, all the pain disappeared and an enormous energy ran through her entire body and went towards her hand, as if her whole body was an ocean and her energy a tsunami, invading the continent and sweeping everything in its path.
With all that sudden power running through her body, she was unable to stop her magic in time, which grew much larger than a simple snowball.
Her ice consumed everything.