When they washed up using their own water supplies stored in Nick's wristbands, Zia finally broke the silence that bugged her already since they left Moira.
"What exactly did we see last night?" Obviously the question was addressed to her 'expert' friend who since childhood was almost like a walking encyclopedia.
"I can only guess." Nick shrugged while bringing out a small table in front of them and putting few snacks on it. They all sat in the dry grass and finally had breakfast, "My theory is that the temple and everything underneath was built as some strange, powerful formation that had something to do with absorbing water or maybe lifeforce for 'that thing'."
"So that is why you wanted me to destroy everything there." Zia finally understood.
"But if it was built for it, how old exactly could it be? The temple should be many hundreds if not thousands years old!" YunYun said.
"Nah. I don't think it was as old as the temple. It's position should be some kind of hereditary, because if someone is born, they have to die as well – no one is immortal." Nick shook his head and said.
"So you think this 'Lori goddess' …" YunYun tried to formulate her question, but Nick guessed what she wanted to ask.
"Ye. The creature on the throne was what they all called 'Lori goddess'. In fact, most likely it was a human, simply extremely old and with time mutated into the thing we saw. The Qi techniques it used definitely played a large part as well – it obviously was using the same technique the grand elder and emperor Osman did and also the one that bishop practiced, except we don't know much about that one. It's impossible for such evil and unnatural techniques to exist without any side effects. In addition, since that thing was extremely old, it carried enormous knowledge and that includes Qi techniques and there is no telling how many it practiced. And then there is the huge formation which might in some way be related to its longevity. My guess is it was something like matriarch for all the clergy of the Lori church and the Holy Order, of course. Good thing it was way too old and couldn't resist." Nick snickered at the end.
"Good!" Zia punched the ground, "She must be one of the Trinity, right?"
"Most likely. She did mention the two younger sisters – thus the three should make the 'Trinity'." Nick agreed.
"I heard her screaming something about the sisters avenging her. What was that all about?" YunYun asked.
"Well, it didn't say anything about the second sister, but the third is 'going to open the gates'. The simple hierarchy dictates that the 'goddess' should be the oldest and somewhere out there are two younger sisters. We don't know anything about the second, but the clue about the youngest is important." Nick said.
"Could it be that the youngest is the Holy Order's elder Agnes and was trying to open the gates to hell in Nola kingdom?" YunYun pondered.
"I had this thought as well, but it doesn't really fit. But in some way it should connected to the Holy Order." Nick said.
"How stupid are these people? For thousands of years they are killing all over the world and searching for the gates of hell, to open them and destroy the world! And during all this time they couldn't realize that the hell doesn't really exist?" Zia angrily shouted and punched the ground.
"I have a theory. Wanna hear it? ... Hmm ... Let's not call it a theory, let it be 'a story', alright?" Nick smiled and seeing the two girls nod, continued, "A long time ago there was a civilization in the south east of the Mainland continent. It had a strong female leader whom they worshiped as a goddess and this title became hereditary. At some point the leader or the people used their knowledge and created a huge formation to give their goddess immortality, at least compared to the lifespan of a regular human, and built the pyramid temple on top of it. In the following years the city was formed around the temple and today we know it as the capital of Lori kingdom, Moira."
Nick stopped for a second, took a sip of water and continued, "It's normal for a strong leader to create a country or religion and at some point, maybe at the very beginning, the 'goddess' obviously created both, but since she was still a mortal, she passed on her position to some heir. Or the position was taken by someone forcefully, it doesn't matter. Be as it may, in order for them to live longer or maybe gain a real eternal life, besides using the power of that incredible formation, goddesses started to develop Qi techniques to help them to absorb the lifeforce of others. As a result, their lifespan increased, but the human body and mind still has its limits and the 'goddess' of the current generation went mad. Of course, any other person could've gone crazy as well, but that's besides the point."
"And when I say 'the current generation' I mean three, four or five hundred years, but definitely not thousands. Thus the crazed leader got delusional ideas caused by the mutation of her body, that her origins could be demonic and started to look for the 'real' demons in this world in order to release them or join them, or maybe even rule over them. Thus she created a special task force and its main objective became the search for the 'other' demons. Of course, demons and devils have always been a part of human mythology and this task force had always something to research and to look for based on illusory clues."
"This whole system was based on delusions and nonsense, therefore the people it attracted were also mentally challenged – not stupid, often exactly the opposite – extremely smart, but with serious psychological defects. These people started to look for the 'demons' in unorthodox ways, even by using Qi formations trying to summon them in human bodies."
Nick paused for few minutes staring in the distance, while the two girls looked at him while holding their breaths, "It went on for decades, maybe even centuries, when until one day they took for an incarnation of the Primeval demon a simple human. Realizing that these people were basically sick in their heads, for his own survival, this human fed them information they believed to be true, including location of the Hell and other nonsense."
"And? What happened next?" When Nick paused again Zia couldn't take it anymore. The story was too captivating she wanted to know how it ended.
"Hahaha!" Nick let out a loud laugh. The tension had become too strong, but seeing Zia's facial expression he finally relaxed, "Then the moronic third sister went to look for the gates of Hell!"
"This human in the story … is you, right?" YunYun said in barely audible voice. If Zia was interested in story itself, she and Nick had a different connection. Even though the story wasn't long, she felt the pain in his voice.
"Well, kind of, ye." Nick smiled and nodded, "But it doesn't matter now. What matters is – we can be almost hundred percent confident that the Holy Order is not some huge mysterious ancient sect, its just a bunch of psychopaths running around and killing others. Thus, knowing that, it'll be much easier to deal with them."
"Alright. I understand we destroyed the formation beneath the temple and there will never be another 'goddess Lori'. I understand that we can find the location of the Holy Order and destroy the sect as well. But how can we find the other two from their 'Trinity'? We need to root the problem out completely, right?" Zia pondered and asked.
"Indeed, but it might not be as hard. From what it said earlier we know what the third sister is doing, it will be harder to find the second, but with the information we have, we might be able to do it." Nick said while still smiling.
"Stop being such a smartass! Where can we find them?" Zia said and punched him on the shoulder.
"Aww!" Even a casual punch from a Qi master could be painful, to not speak of when annoyed one punched you.
"I think we can figure that out by ourselves and Nick is not teasing you but lets you train your brain." YunYun said and Nick nodded while still rubbing his shoulder with a pained grimace.
"Alright then, let's think. Since he knows where they are, we can figure it out as well." Zia agreed.
"Exactly! I almost missed it! He knows where the third sister is because he told her where to go!" YunYun's eyes lit up, but, seeing Zia's confusion, quickly added, "Not told her personally, but he told someone – probably when he was back in the Holy Order. Am I correct?"
"Indeed." Nick nodded and his smile returned. This girl was not only good with her sword.
"Good, then we know about her, but what about the second sister." Zia questioned.
"Well, the goddess didn't say anything about her …" YunYun tried to think really hard. Nick saw that and tried to help out.
"What do the siblings usually have in common?"
YunYun immediately looked at Zia. She herself had an older sister, but Zia had many more.
Zia, feeling her stare, muttered, "They are just 'flowers' from the capital, we're completely different."
"Don't think about you, think of the siblings from other families that you know of – what are their similarities?" Nick started to like this game. Maybe it could be used as a practice in the future?
"Well … they may look alike a bit and are of a similar age …" Zia pondered out loud, but YunYun almost jumped up.
"Exactly! If not the exact same age then the two younger sisters should also be very old!" Seeing Nick nod, she continued, "It probably means the other two also practice a similar life-absorption techniques!"
"But how does it help us?" Zia scratched her head. She was not really good with this.
"It means that in the particular region where they live, people regularly disappear or are transported in batches … slavery! They are located in the regions with slavery!" YunYun smiled happily.
"But that leaves us with almost third of the Mainland and the whole Nestri continent!" Zia argued.
"Alright, let me help you." Nick joined the discussion, "Or rather, make my own assumptions. First of all – from what we know the third sister is going to open the gates, that means she is capable of moving and that – she is probably considerably younger than the other two or at least the one we killed. But despite that she's considered a 'sister' therefore she should be very old and, probably, similar to her older sibling is having some bodily mutations as well. Thus – they are more or less of the similar generation and look somewhat similar, just like real siblings. In addition, according to the intelligence of the Holy Order, the only place that has still an open passage to Hell is Dragon isles. The rest of passages have been sealed by Primeval demons many millennia ago and are not accessible."
Seeing the stupefied faces of his two companions, Nick quickly added, "Of course, its pure nonsense and I was the one who told them that. Awww!"
Zia punched him again, "How do you expect us to know about that?"
"I didn't, but the rest you basically figured out." Nick defended himself, "And if you punch me another time, I won't take you with us when we go there!"
"Hmf!" She snorted, but kept her hands with herself. Hanging out with Nick was always fun and the last threat was almost like that of a capital punishment.