It seemed as if he had come out of a heavy and uncomfortable sleep, straight into a hellish nightmare, years without actually hearing her voice, years only feeling the emotion of her voice through the vibrations that passed through the crystal and her almost dying carcass. Just for a moment of happiness to soon be exchanged for another fight and again, even though I won, I still lost something, the most important thing now.
But not only him, Liem saw the anguish and pain on the faces of everyone around, Sofi was always loved here, as she had been in several of the places where they traveled with friends centuries before. But she always felt unworthy of this affection from others, always trying to prove her existence, always trying to ward off the ghosts of her old family that never left her.
And now where did this need lead. Of course, Liem knew that this wasn't internally true, he knew that she had done the things she did because she simply liked this place and the people in it, but even knowing that the pain of losing her still gnawed at his mind and he couldn't stop thinking. on ways to try to remedy this.
He wasn't the only one, everyone thought the same thing, some thought about taking all the herbs from Sofi's house and combining them with the potions that 'he' had sent, maybe the effect would increase and she would return to normal, others thought they should simply mix the potions and offer some type of sacrifice to the altar so that 'it' would increase its potency. While others simply thought about how to let Sofi go in the most comfortable way.
These 3 were the most present ideas that gained strength in the minds of the majority. Except in the minds of a small group, Hannah, Matt, several of the spearmen, and even Constance and Dan (who probably appeared in the crowd when they saw the flash Sofi's attack caused) thought much the same thing.
'We have to ask for his help'
That was easy, asking without giving anything in return, but just like with Matt before, no one had time to worry about that kind of detail, so they prayed, prayed hard for him. When Liem looked at what these children were doing for a moment he felt a wave of anger, Sofi was dying and they were doing nothing but lowering their heads and clasping their hands?! Even the boys they had fought to bring that mutant goblin to the ground were doing this?! They have no idea what gratitude is?!!!!
But as quickly as those thoughts came they went away and Liem remembered the brief conversation he and Sofi had had before going out to fight, about how when asking for a miracle days before to save the young archer some being had actually offered a method. Although this method had already proven useless, no one had "asked" for Sofi's salvation the right way.
Honestly he still had a little hesitation in trusting a God again, but as he himself had already admitted he would be willing to exchange his soul if necessary without any problems to save her and at least try to make up for everything she had already done for him. Then he also lowered his head and prayed.
It was irritating how much he still remembered the old doctrines of how one should make a request to a God, since the general collapse of the temples he had considered this kind of thing useless knowledge that he had wasted much of his life to acquire.
Liem was also amazed by the way these kids prayed, from what Sofi had said the influence and much of the credibility of the temples has essentially been wiped out of this world now, and therefore how one should pray is also often forgotten knowledge. He assumed everyone would scream looking at the sky or some poorly drawn painting on the floor or walls, but no, they were praying the same way as him silently but intensely.
One of the only constant things he would learn that had proven real was the fact that discourses in temples were said in an aura voice for believers to hear and strengthen their faith, but prayers should always be silent but willing.
And desire was something that he and these young people had in abundance. For several agonizing moments the only change that happened was how much of Sofi's body continued to be petrified and when her breathing became shallower, when she was already petrified up to her neck and Liem considered stopping this force and starting to insult the heavens, they finally responded.
Hannah had prayed many times before, all without ever getting an answer, which she did and there are several others who basically abandoned the idea of help from "greater forces" as some of the "wandering priests" chanted as they went from village to village, from village to village. there is village, from city to city, from kingdom to kingdom. How could they withstand the mist outside to go to other realms? They said it was the power of their faith, but even the dumbest street beggar knew that they probably had some kind of amulet that allowed them to do so.
Anyway, since she was a child, she never really believed in the gods or supernatural powers that her mother said she found on her travels, she was always sure that they were just stories to impress her. Until a few days ago when it became blatantly obvious that gods and "greater powers" really existed.
However, Hannah had a little secret that she wouldn't even tell her best friend Constance. Even before what happened with the nobleman, her certainty about the non-existence of "greater powers" had begun to waver. She didn't know exactly when, but just over a month ago she had felt a strange session in her ears, a kind of low but constant buzzing like the buzzing of a bee but much quieter.
She had thought she had some kind of problem with her ears, but strangely when she felt this sensation, the few villagers who often escaped from work would come to Sofi saying they felt unexpected severe pain when they were "taking time to contemplate nature". She even joked to herself that this was the work of the spirits of their ancestors haunting them for being lazy, but the more time passed and these realizations continued, she began to wonder which one was true.
She had the answer days ago, when the nobleman (pig) and the knights (bastards) died she thought she heard something like, "–... you are doomed". Obviously she never had the opportunity or courage to talk to anyone about it.
And why she remembered it at that moment?, simply because she heard that voice again but much clearer this time, although not louder than a gentle breeze.
"– it's a bet... there's no other option... whatever..."
She could only hear these gibberish snippets of a voice that seemed male but she still couldn't be sure, but it was because she was referring to the entity by 'he' that this pronoun became popular in the village.
Soon after she felt this "voice" move away, a bright and blinding white light enveloped Sofi's body, coming from a direct beam from the small stone altar on the other side of the village. The light formed a cocoon surrounding Sofi's body and slowly lifted it, while everyone stared open-mouthed at what was happening, no one more amazed than Liem, who for the first time in his life saw such irrefutable proof of a miracle.
Seconds or minutes later, the cocoon with Sofi shone brightly once again and abruptly twisted on its back, almost as if doing a backflip, but as soon as it returned to its original position, the cocoon simply disappeared, revealing Sofi inside.
Physically there were no changes to her, the same bright blonde hair, the same slender but still strong body, the same delicate face with an intoxicating beauty. But the clothes and the "air" she exuded were totally different, instead of a simple cotton dress with a coat, she now wore a mixture of a white tunic with armor, boots and a kind of pants inside the skirt that was possible to see from the open slits in the legs. Armor across his entire torso and a shiny helmet made of what appeared to be steel or even silver and a staff with a tip adorned with bronze and silver.
Sofi had always exuded an air of authority but now, in addition to that, she also seemed to exude magnificence, which further enhanced her natural beauty. When she opened her eyes, everyone could see that in addition to the characteristic green of her iris, she now also had a kind of ring in the shape of a golden star surrounding her pupil.
Sofi looked at everyone there, looked at herself and only then realized that she was floating on thin wings of white mana that disappeared at the ends, but she didn't despair instead she calmly landed without even making a sound, she looked first at Liem who was still kneeling and said.
"Well, I guess we won't have to say goodbye anytime soon." He said smiling.
Liem also smiled while shedding tears of happiness.