I walked through the forest with my sword still in my hand, the blood dripping from the blade had mostly dripped off by this point and been wiped away by the plants I passed by. When I eventually reached the edge of the forest I stopped and looked down at the sword as the coldness within my soul slowly melted away leaving me with a hollow feeling.
‘What was that? That wasn’t me, I don’t act like that. I’m not a bad person, I help people, I stop the bad guys.’ I raised my sword until the tip of the blade was at my eye level and looked at the little blood that remained. I looked at it for a while until I had the sense to wipe away the little remaining blood and sheathe it back on my hip.
‘Something is wrong with me.’ I thought to myself as I sat down at the base of a nearby tree. ‘I can feel it, something has changed. I have never felt that way about anyone or anything before, not even the dark mages that killed me the last time. The only thing I can think of that was drastically different from the last time was the dreams I had that was in the Runead Kingdom and everyone was speaking the Eldaric language. The one with the floating eye made of blood was the most recent dream like that I have had, and it happened on the trip back to Antium.’ I felt a skinning feeling in my soul as I came to the realization, something about those dreams was changing me for the worse and I could only hope that I wouldn’t experience any more.
********
Once inside Antium I went straight for the Free Parrot Bar to lay down and take a rest on the bed I was renting. I needed the mental and physical rest that only rest could provide me.
Slowly I walked up the stairs in the middle of the day ignoring the various conversations happening on the main floor and walked down the hallway towards my room. I pushed the key into the lock and opened it with a slight creaking before stepping inside and locking the door behind myself. I slowly walked to the bed and sat down before I turned and laid down looking up at the simple wooden ceiling.
I felt the sickness in my soul and knew I needed to do something about it, but the question of what remained. ‘If this is a magical problem then I will likely need a magical solution. If is the big question, but I think I am on the right track. That would mean I need someone well versed in magic to help me clear this influence from my mind. I do have some money and other valuables from the bandits but I think I would like to save that unless completely necessary. That just leaves the statuette as a bargaining token.’
I reached into my bag and pulled out the silver statuette of Solarius and held it in both of my hands, it was still just midday and I already knew of a nice temple dedicated to Solarius in the northern district that would definitely be more than happy to take it off my hands.
*********
A while later in the northern district I was standing just before the largest temple in the district. Outside were stone statues of men in plate armor and bucket helms holding their swords by the hilt and pointed downwards just like the statuette. It was a given that such a wealthy place would have the nicest place to pray to the most popular god in the kingdom.
I climbed the ten steps made from stone up to the large double doors and stepped inside the temple. Even just at the entrance of the building I could already see that it was massive and beautiful, more than fitting for a powerful god like Solarius. For a moment I even forgot just how I preferred the god Xardas and the message he offered over any others.
In the middle of the main floor was a pathway large enough to allow two or even three people to walk between the wooden benches that lined the room. At the very front was a stage and an open space which likely allowed for some small demonstrations related to the religion. I also quickly found several young priests talking and helping some of the wealthy citizens that were in the building, in fact one came right up to me.
“Good afternoon sir. I am brother Quintin, can I help you with something on this fine day?” The priest was a cleanly shaven human man no older than twenty years old which made it feel a little odd hearing him call myself sir. He was wearing an almost entirely white roble with just a simple red stole over his shoulders.
“Yes actually. I have something I need to return to the circle of fire. I assume there is someone here that has some authority within the circle, so would you be kind enough to go and find them for me?” I asked as I presented the statuette to the young priest. He looked down and up before looking down and back up again and walking away to a door leading deeper into the temple.
I waited right in that sport for several minutes before Quintin exited the door with another priest. This second priest was dressed far nicer with a deep red robe with some fire-like designs along the ends of the sleeves and a black stole over his shoulders. This priest was also much older than Quintin, at a first glance perhaps in his late fifties at most with a thick graying beard and head of hair.
The priest walked right up to me with a soft smile and looked down at the statuette I was holding in my hands. “Ah, the silver statuette of Solarius. It appears you have found it for us. It was commissioned all the way from the southernmost point of the empire you know. It was supposed to be delivered to a smaller temple in the western district several months ago. How exactly did you find it? We assumed it was lost.”
I could already tell that it wasn’t just a question to make small talk, the priest was using some sort of divine magic to see if I would lie to him. I could feel the magic in the air as he did so, it did feel quite the same as when I was doing magic. It was more elegant whereas every mage I knew did magic in a practical way, an interesting distinction I decided to remember.
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“I found the statuette in a bandit camp in the Pelcester forest earlier today. It was actually with the leader of those bandits, I think she was keeping it as some sort of trophy along with several other trinkets I found with her.” I said trying to speak the truth without sounding suspicious, I was just hoping that he wasn't going to ask how I found the bandits in the first place.
“Is that so? That sounds like it was a very dangerous task to undertake just on the behalf of the circle of fire is it not?” The priest kept his soft smile up like a vail hiding his true thoughts. I didn’t know what he was trying to determine but I knew it was best to remain truthful as much as possible to avoid any issues.
“It was quite dangerous, but I didn’t do it for the circle. I have a personal dislike for bandits and when I found across their camp I decided to do something about them. I had even been attacked by a group of bandits in the past which was part of the reason I even seeked them out. I was just lucky to find that statuette.” The priest maintained his smile, but his eyes betrayed his true feelings. He knew I wasn’t telling him everything, but he also knew I hadn't lied to him.
“Well in any case I and the circle thank you for the bravery you displayed in recovering this wonderful work of art for us. Would you by any chance like something to drink? I have some of this new drink imported from the far west across the ocean that is called tea. I think someone like you is deserving of a little taste.” The priest said while he waved off brother Quintin who gave a small bow and left to help another believer.
“Well I don’t see why not, it sounds like a very interesting drink.” I said, a little caught off guard by the sudden offer. I was going to try and ask to speak with the priest in private for help with the dream and the sudden changes in my personality, but him offering something even as simple as a fancy drink was a good ice breaker.
The priest just smiled at my answer and beckoned me to follow him into the temple further. We passed through the door to the back of the room and into a stairwell with another door on the opposite side, the wooden stairwell went both up and down at least ten floors each way. We went up and stopped only at the fifth floor before entering through another door that led to a hallway with many doors on each side. We walked down the whole hallway until we reached the very last door on the left side. The priest opened the door to reveal a well furnished and designed office space with a polished wooden desk in the very center.
The priest stepped behind the desk and opened up one of the compartments and brought out a cylindrical metal object that opened up to show these small little fabric bags filled with all these holes allowing me to see a greenish plant inside of each. The priest picked out two little bags before closing the metal cylinder and returned it to his desk before closing it. Then he walked over towards a shelf on the left side of the room and picked up two clean glasses and brought them over to the right side where he had a container filled with water. The priest filled both glasses up before walking back to the desk and offering me a seat.
Placing both glasses of water on the desk he placed the two fabric bags in each and began to use his magic to heat up the water. With just a few gestures the water boiled and the water began spinning around, the greenish plant must have been a part of the process as the water quickly began turning a soft brown color as the water spun.
When he was done he handed me one of the glasses and took the other for himself. Holding the glass I could feel the heat radiating off into my hand and the smell that was very unique and unlike anything I had experienced before.
“What did you say your name was again?” The priest asked as he took a sip of his own tea.
“Arthur.” I replied while sipping on my own. I was a little surprised by the flavor I experienced. It wasn’t the best thing in the world, but it was certainly unique.
“You may call me Brother Albin. Now what exactly is it that you do for a living Arthur? I assume it has something to do with going out into the forest, but it must also pay quite well to afford something as high quality as what you are currently wearing.” I knew Albin wanted to know who I was and what I was doing out in the forest, but I wasn’t sure what he really wanted. He might just be a very cautious man, but he might also suspect something.
“I am an alchemist. I was an apprentice around a year ago and I recently came to Antium to rebuild myself after an unfortunate series of events.”
“Oh, that sounds rather dreadful, and how exactly is that going for you at the moment?”
“I would say I am making good progress so far. I have some nice and healthy savings and I think I have enough money to start working on a few side projects I have been putting off for a while.” I was a little confused by the line of questioning Albin was going through, but I assumed it had purpose.
“That is good to hear Arthur. There isn’t anything else that you might be interested in telling me is there? You seem rather tense about something, but from what I can tell you have been telling the truth almost in its entirety during our conversation.”
I froze a little at that, I knew divine magic was powerful and acted strangely compared to anything a mage could do but I wasn't expecting him to feel my emotions. “Well yes actually. You see I have been having some issues that I think I need help with.”
I could feel my heart beating faster as I began to speak about my shifted personality and how I only noticed changes after certain conditions are met.
“You see, I have been experiencing something rather odd that I haven’t before, not until I was making the trip here to Antium.”
“What have you been experiencing? If it is any sort of physical injury then the lower ranked priests or even a mage or alchemist could very easily help you.” Albin looked at me with a spark of interest in his eyes, it was something I was quite familiar with.
“Actually it is something a little different. I have suffered a drastic personality shift when I was dealing with the bandits that stole the statuette. I became cold and uncaring to anything in a way I have never experienced before and only when it stopped did I realize that I was acting in a way I have never done so before. It was quite scary to be honest, and I wasn’t really sure what to do about it.”
“You said it happened during the trip to the city. Was this when you killed the bandits?” Albin was leaning towards me as he asked the question, he was invested and I felt a small weight being lifted from my shoulders at the sight of his concern.