The main temple within Red Oak blanketed the entire area with dozens of various buildings, though it was not quite as huge as the main temple in Jaghi. The temple complex held the highest concentration of red oak within the entire town, the purple haze of twilight shimmering across the wood. ‘Damn, I should come here more often around this time.’

A dozen statues watched over the people who arrived at the temple in the evening. Adam estimated the number of people to be in the hundreds, if not a thousand, each making their way across to the meals being served for a pittance, while some of the commoners, those who most tried to ignore in their alleyways, where only the cold embrace of darkness would embrace them, were shuffled to one side where they could be fed without disturbing the other, donating, citizens.

Adam eyed up the statue in one corner, almost hidden away to one side, the elven form of Lady Aesof, a Champion of Mother Soza.

“Last time we were here, there was a Champion walking around the land, doing the Lord of Order’s bidding,” Adam said, his eyes falling across the sight of the various statues, each made of marble, though with a clear gem’s dust settled atop or within each. “Now that he’s dead, when’s the next Champion going to ride?”

“I do not know,” Vonda admitted, her eyes also taking in the sight of the statues, paying most of her attention to the statue of Lady Aesof. “It may be you.”

“Me?”

Vonda’s eyes fell to Adam’s amulet, raising her brow knowingly towards the half elf.

“I doubt it. I don’t think Lord Sozain wants a guy who is so…” Adam wondered if he could truly call himself hesitant after how many people he had killed with his Fireball in the other world. “I’m not sure I want to be a Champion.”

“If it is your calling, can you refuse?”

“Yeah,” Adam replied, as though it were truly that simple.

“To refuse such a calling would be unwise,” Vonda replied, letting slip her alarm before she quickly gathered herself.

Adam shrugged his shoulders.

“If you refuse the call, you may find your prayers falling on deaf ears.”

“If Lord Sozain doesn’t want to answer my prayers, someone else may, Divine or otherwise,” Adam replied.

Vonda’s eyes grew wide, her brows shooting up. Adam’s words being a surprise were a shock in and of itself, the young woman realising she could still be surprised by her companion. “You would call for darker powers?”

“If the Divine want to abandon me, that’s fine, but there are consequences for such a choice.”

“You must live by the consequences too.”

“I’m prepared to do that, Sir Vonda,” Adam replied, smiling casually while speaking of such deep blasphemy. “I hope the Divine are too.”

Vonda clasped her hands together, quietly muttering a prayer to herself, trying to calm herself. “We should visit the temple to pay our respects, Adam.”

“Of course, Sir Vonda.” Adam let out a light chuckle as he followed her in.

Vonda greeted the various acolytes about, before making her way to the section reserved for Mother Soza, one of the largest sections within the entire temple. There were quite a few worshippers eating meals within the open faced section outside of the temple proper. The meals were quite simple, bowls of porridge and baked bread, and if one was lucky, grilled vegetables.

An acolyte walked up to Sir Vonda, though upon noting the amulet at her neck, they quickly smiled. The acolyte was an older woman, in her fifties or so, wearing a garb which covered her head to toe, including her hair, though her graceful smile and warm eyes were bare.

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“Ah, Sir Vonda,” the older woman said, seeing the young woman more clearly now they were closer. “Mother’s blessings upon you.”

“And you to as well, Sister,” Vonda replied, offering her hands almost like a noblewoman would for a kiss, though the older woman took them within her own, with the affection of a mother priest.

“I will inform Mother Priest of your arrival,” the acolyte said, bowing her head lightly, before her eyes fell to Adam. She smiled, before her eyes fell to the young man’s amulet. For a moment, her smile faltered, and though her eyes grew with shock, they flashed with inquisitiveness, before the return of a practised warmth. “Mother’s blessings to you, young man.”

“To you as well, Sister,” Adam replied, bowing his head towards the woman.

“Have you come to pay respects to the Good Mother?”

Adam glanced around, flashing a smile. He was about to speak up when he saw Vonda’s warning glare, before he cleared his throat. “Of course. I have much to be thankful for, for many of the Divine, but Mother Soza? For the children she has blessed me with, I thank her perhaps the most.”

The woman’s eyes beamed a little harder towards him, and her smile grew less practised and more genuine. “Of course! Children are Mother Soza’s greatest gift to us!”

“Amen to that,” Adam replied, letting out a chuckle.

“Amen?” the acolyte replied.

“Oh? You don’t say that here?” Adam asked.

“No,” Vonda replied. “What does it mean?”

“Oh. It just means I agree, but in a religious way.”

“Ah, dima.”

“Dima? Is that the word?”

“Yes.”

“Ah. Dima to that, Sister.” Adam smiled wider.

The acolyte led them them into the temple building, where they walked into a small section designed to take off one’s shoes before entering the temple proper. A set of open doors revealed the large prayer room, with an altar at least a hundred steps in. The section to the left seemed to be an area to clean oneself, while the section to the right held a set of stairs, which led upwards. The acolyte continued to lead them, heading towards the stairs, then behind it, revealing another small area where they could remove their boots and slip on some slippers provided by the temple.

“It’s always a pleasure to see you, Sir Vonda,” the priestess said, swapping her slippers for a different set, those which were beside a box she slipped her outside slippers within. “A member of Life’s Rose visiting is always a joyous occasion.”

“It is always a pleasure to visit the temple, which puts my heart at ease.”

“The warmth of The Mother is eternal, though she may not speak directly to our minds, she answers within our hearts,” the acolyte stated.

‘Now that I think about it, when I met the Divine, I didn’t meet Mahtu, did I?’ Adam though, slipping into a pair of visitor’s slippers, before following the women.

The acolyte reached for a rod which, at her prayer, glowed lightly before turning into several small balls of light, three which floated forward and one which floated behind them, coating them in a gentle light.

Adam could hear the gentle cries of newborn children through the corridor, which led out and around for what felt like an eternity, the corridor growing dark some minutes through. Meanwhile, the women chatted between themselves of their own matters, while Adam’s thoughts wandered.

‘How much money should I donate to you, Baktu? Do you even want gold? No, I’m sure you want gold. I know in East Port your guys feed people for free, so you probably do need the gold. Would you like dead bodies instead? Or maybe you want animals I’ve hunted or something? That makes sense, doesn’t it?’

Adam jolted up, almost walking into Vonda, while the acolyte prayed quietly, before knocking on a door, seemingly at random. Adam glanced on either side, seeing through the darkness beyond the glowing orbs, but found the corridor was the the still seemingly endless both ways.

“Come in,” called a disembodied voice.

The acolyte stepped within the room, which seemed so tiny, before Adam stepped within it, and watched as everything expanded outwards. ‘Whoa.’ Adam reached out to the door frame, bracing himself as he blinked furiously.

Vonda’s eyes smiled towards the half elf, understanding what he felt since she had felt the same many years ago when she first stepped within the Mother Priest’s chambers. The chamber was made of thick stone, though they had certainly been walking within a wooden building, and though the room was bare, there were still a number of items Adam had never seen before.

To one side was a tiny statue, of a kneeling woman, adorned head to toe in plate mail, wielding a large staff that was more like a greatclub. To the other side was another small statue, that of a dragon made of diamond, its features unlike the dragons had yet to see, neither as slender as a silver dragon, nor as brutish as a blue dragon.

Then there was the club, which hung on the wall with a pair of red oak hooks which clung to it. The club was made out of diamond, catching the light in such a way that it covered the area in a rainbow. Even from where Adam stood, he could sense the electricity of the light emanating from the club, which coated his body with a strange tingle.

‘Damn, I wonder how powerful that club is,’ Adam thought.

“Good evening,” called the disembodied voice, before Adam realised that the woman had been sitting right beneath the club the entire time, but he had been too distracted by the three items within.

Though, one couldn’t blame him, since where else would he find three artefacts which were considered to be Legendary all in a single room.

Other than the Iyr, of course.