Standing proud above the townhouses of the vast city of Norlov was its inspiring temple. The Grand Temple of the Sisterhood with its halls busy as was typical in this day and age. People were coming and going from all walks of life as well as from all parts of the kingdom. Many of them were here today to give offerings or worship to the goddess of the kingdom. Others were here to volunteer in the many community outreach events, and still others came to be granted the blessings of these events. Some choice few however came to these hallowed halls with ill intent in their hearts and minds.
Timothy walked down one of the east wing hallways where few people were this time of day. His might was without a single thought mulling on what disaster might befall him or anyone else. He had full faith in his powerful goddess to protect him and sometimes even now felt that he was dreaming his life. In his heart he still felt he had found not only a goddess to devote himself to but a little sister as well. Feelings that he would be horrified to hear his goddess already knew about.
The high priest was dressed in his usual workday attire and not the honorific robes. This meant he looked quite similar to the other clergy of the temple with a quite simple but elegant pure white robe and colorful sash. He had fine leather shoes on and wore on his head the white headgear that Goddess Jenna had called a “top hat.” This was the more relaxing attire he enjoyed when not making appearances to the public or at ceremonies.
Alongside the young man was his fairy companion Salferia, her bright emerald eyes dazzling with her lust for mischief. Her long dark purple pigtails wavered in the wind as she rode on her human mount's left shoulder. Much to her surprise alongside everyone else's the fairy had spent a great deal of time away from her human fixation as of late, the fairy explorer finding other targets for her curiosity. Right now however she was spending time with her main human subject as he was her favorite after all.
Timothy let out a sigh and stuck his hands in the pockets of his robe.
“I just don't know.” He agonized. “Will the war really drive Goddess to terrible things?”
Salferia giggled in reponse and kicked her legs up and down on her perch.
“I've told you all about the other goddess I knew haven't I? She was a terrible fright when angered. Might just pop a human like a bug!”
Timothy frowned while looking straight ahead.
“Yeah I know tiny terror. You are always oddly proud of the nightmares Goddess Hala inflicted on the world while in her 'other state.' You take too much after your mistress I have said before.”
He then took a deep breath and exhaled it all in a big huff.
“Goddess Jenna is nothing like that though. I know it. I've seen it. She would never lay waste to an entire town out of anger.”
Salferia lifted her right hand and tapped her finger on her chin.
“I heard she did do exactly that though?” She asked rhetorically.
“That was an enemy army.” Timothy retorted with a slant of frustration. “And it was only a gatehouse and a few houses.”
With a smirk Salferia lowered her hand and shrugged her shoulders.
“All I'm saying is she's already done horrific things. She could be one step closer to becoming some terrible creature of untold destruction. Though not one of darkness of course, but of light.” The fairy giggled. “I've said before that primordial light is just as nightmarish as the void.”
Timothy grunted and brought up his right hand to gently ruffle the fairy's hair. Her high pitched outburst of disapproval made him smile. Being able to mess around with her in return for her messing with him was admittedly fun. He was also one of a vanishingly small number of humans that could interact with a fairy in this way. A lighter sigh escaped him as he removed his finger and left Salferia to fix her hair and pout.
“You can't convince me Goddess Jenna will turn evil.” He said confidently. “Or even turn terrible. She is not the goddess of just light but knowledge as well. If speaking to you about goddesses has proven anything it is that can make all the difference. Goddess Jenna could have already done incredible damage to Pheoa and hasn't. She could have killed everyone that opposes her here but she hasn't. She won't change now.”
Salferia continued pouting as she straightened out her pigtails.
“Then why are you still worrying about the war?” She puffed up her cheeks for a moment. “Stupid human. You spend too much time worrying about a goddess.”
In an instant the pouting fairy became very serious. She sat up straight and her ears perked up. Her voice also shifted to be more stoic tone.
“Some scum has appeared.”
Timothy was completely taken aback by the sudden shift as Salferia was almost never serious. He quickly whirled around to face behind him in case there was some sort of attack. This sudden movement almost flung the fairy off his shoulder. Instead of complaining however she simply took the air to flutter by the right side of his head.
“What? Where?” Timothy asked with concern.
Salferia was facing the opposite direction of her friend and pointed down the hallway.
He then noticed the fairy was facing in the other direction and turned around to face the same way. There at the end of this hallways was the main east hallway, in which there were several people walking to and fro. Standing at the opening to this side hall however were two people that had turned off the beaten path to come their way.
Firstly there was the pretty and wonderful young woman Maisy, her flowing orange hair shimmering in the light from the windows. She was dressed in her usual head secretary attire and always brought a smile to Timothy's face when he saw her. Walking next to her was a person he never enjoyed meeting: the elf Illiad Westbow. Being the head of the king's very own mage tower he was nothing but bad news as far as the temple was concerned and his visits were always a pain.
The two walked down to where Timothy and Salferia were. Once a half dozen steps away they stopped and Maisy gave a quick bow.
“I'm glad I found you High Priest!” She said standing back up. “Master Illiad wished to speak to you about something. I'll leave you to it.”
It was very clear the to Timothy young woman was extremely uncomfortable around the elf. She rarely acted so proper when preforming her duties, much less when directed at him. He was not about to keep her around to suffer whatever political nonsense he would be subjected to.
“Thank you Maisy.” Timothy said with a smile and nod. “You are dismissed.”
Maisy gave him a look that loudly said “thank you” before quickly turning around and shuffling down the corridor again to vanish into the main hallway.
Now that they were left mostly alone the elf gave a quick and shallow bow himself out of politeness. His voice was quite musical though most would consider it hallow as well.
“Greetings High Priest. I hope you are having a pleasant day.”
Salferia was fuming, her hands in fists with her arms stretching down at her sides.
“You piece of shit!” She snapped. “What are you doing here again?”
Timothy did not like the elf either but his position meant he had to at least act polite. He reached up and grabbed around Salferia's legs to stop her flying about. This caused her to yelp but she otherwise did not fight him.
“Now please Salferia.” He said with some embarrassment in his voice. “At least try to be polite to our guest.”
Salferia crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head away in disgust. Her people's history with elves causing her emotions to flare up whenever meeting with one or even speaking about them. However she was clearly trying to control herself for the sake of her human if nothing else. Once her legs were released she darted through the air and vanished under Timothy's top hat.
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“Please excuse her.” Timothy said in a halfhearted apology.
Illiad gave a halfhearted acceptance of the apology as he disliked fairies for the same historical reason.
“It is alright young man. Now as for the purpose of my visit I actually wished to speak to you about the war and your goddess.” He smiled disingenuously. “No one else has the influence with her as you do. Perhaps we could speak over a drink?”
Timothy took a deep breath and straightened himself up to full hight, though his posture did nothing to change the fact he was still over a foot shorter than the elf.
“Alright Illiad. Come to the meeting hall.”
With Salferia temporarily quiet inside the tall hat the two of them started walking in relative silence. Timothy took the lead as he knew the layout of the temple more than the mage did. Down the corridor and into the main eastern hallway they went with the young man leading them around turns and past doorways. Along the way he briefly stopped to greet one or two people though most gave them a wide berth due to the presence of the elf. He was an outsider in human society two fold as both an elf and a mage.
After only a few minutes they arrived at the small meeting chamber arranged at the back of the main worship hall. A private meeting chamber which was directly next to the high priest's office. In this average sized room was a large ornate wooden table and several plush chairs. To the side of the room was a small cabinet which housed among other things several bottles of wine. Upon walking into the room it was from here that Timothy took a bottle and two wine glasses before turning back to the table.
“Come in then and sit down.” He said to the elf.
Illiad stepped into the chamber almost having to duck as he looked around the familiar room. He had been here several times before to discuss things with the high priest, and even the goddess herself once. He didn't need much of an invitation and sat himself down in the chair across from the young man without betraying any emotion on his face as was typical.
After the elf had taken his seat Timothy took one on the opposite side of the table. He then began pouring two cups of wine while speaking. He was always nervous dealing with this treacherous person but his faith in his goddess gave him more confidence as of late.
“So you wanted to speak about the war and Goddess Jenna?” He asked. “Funnily enough I was thinking about such things before you arrived. What timing!”
Illiad put his arms across his lap and both of his hands slid into the long sleeves of his robes. While it was typical for a mage to want to hide their hands they rarely did it around people they trusted. They also did it when they were hiding something, though for mages that was everything all the time. Thus this body language did little more than slightly perturb Timothy.
“How fortunate.” The elf replied. “I am sure by now you have awareness of the full destructive capabilities of the goddess you so love. What with her recent incident in that town up north.”
Timothy sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. The anger starting to rise in his breast was dissipating any nerves he might have had. He was aware the elf was trying to get a rise out of him though and was keeping his emotions calm. While he was keeping his attention on the conversation but couldn't help feel something was wrong. He did not hear, feel, smell, or see anything strange at the moment however so dismissed this odd feeling.
“I do not enjoy how you seem to be referring to her like a weapon Illiad.” He replied curtly. “Also that incident as you call it did result in hundreds of the king's subjects being saved. The lives of the enemy soldiers lost is to be expected in battle is it not?”
Illiad nodded in agreement, his expression impossible to read as always.
“True. You really get a glimpse at the positive change a goddess can inflict on the world though do you not? You are quite close to her young man. You could convince her to further assist the king's army in striking Pheoa in a way that would prevent them from ever harming our citizens again.”
Timothy unfolded his arms and almost slammed his fists down on the table in anger though he controlled his outburst. Instead his fists came down with a loud thump on the wooden surface while his voice remained stable.
“Is this idea from the king mage? Or is it your idea?” He then sat back up straight. “Goddess Jenna is not a weapon. She is not some murderous monster like the goddesses of old were.” A scoff escaped him. “If they even were! At this point I doubt even that!”
Hearing that Illiad placed his own hands on the table, held together and out of sight in his sleeves. The look on his face was quite serious, almost menacing, as he looked Timothy straight in the eyes.
“I would be careful of such thoughts boy.” He said almost too quietly. “You cannot imagine what the goddesses were like.”
This direct eye contact was too much for Timothy and he had to look away. It was at this point that he also noticed something strange out of the corner of his eye. He had figured out what seemed to be wrong. Yes it was if the shadows in the room were just a bit too dark.
Quickly he glanced to the right to confirm this but found puzzlingly that they looked no different than normal. Movement out of the left corner of his eye made him look back at the table where Illiad's hands had just finished moving closer to his body. His hat had also lifted up slightly and Salferia was half laying out on top of his hair.
Salferia's voice was dripping with venom.
“Do you want to tell him what you put in the wine shitty elf?”
Timothy was momentarily frozen in shock. Had the head of the king's mages really just tried to poison him? He had no reason to disbelieve Salferia and it would make total sense for this to be attempted. Whether it had been ordered by the king or not hardly mattered. Thankfully however Timothy had been made immune to poison by his goddess's blessing, something the elf clearly was not aware of. He said a silent prayer of thanks to Jenna as he stood up from his chair.
“Did you just try to poison me Head Mage?” Timothy asked in a surprisingly calm voice.
Illiad was acting surprisingly calm himself, though annoyance was clear on his expression as he stood up from his own seat. Both of his hands slipped from his sleeves as he grimaced.
“I had wanted to do this the simple way.”
It was obvious now that the elf was preparing for an attack and in response Salferia had thrown the hat off herself and stood up on her human's head. She was posing as it ready to cast magic herself. Timothy himself however was suddenly overcome with real fear. He was very likely to survive but the collateral damage could be disastrous.
Before the situation could devolve into violence however the room was filled with a bright flash of light that caught all parties by surprise. Suddenly to the side of the table between both mortals a golden portal the size of a bathtub appeared horizontally. Bursting from this portal came a towering amorphous shape made of pure light. It was over ten feet tall as it emerged from the rip in reality, the place its head might be dominated by two holes that looked like eyes. These eyes were gleaming with a terrible light.
Just as pure terror began to take hold of all three observer's hearts the shape morphed into something else. It collapsed towards the floor like a melting pile of snow as the portal closed in front of it, the shape getting smaller until it was no larger than a human child. Then in the blink of an eye the light vanished to reveal the young goddess Jenna. She had a very confused expression on her face as she looked up at the two men.
“What?” She asked. “Is something on my face?”
The appearance of his goddess brought great relief to Timothy. He clasped his right hand over his heart and let out a sigh.
“Oh goddess!” He then looked confused himself at her question. “Erm. No?”
While the terror previously felt had subsided from Salferia as well she did still look down at Jenna with her eyes bugged out of her head. She even exchanged a look with the still frightened elf as if they were confirming something with each other.
Illiad for his part was still full of fear of course, as he should have been with the goddess appearing right after his failed assassination attempt. It was her high priest that he had just tried to kill after all.
Jenna continued looking puzzled for a moment as she patted her torso down briefly. She seemed to disregard whatever concern this was as she turned with a fake smile to the elf in the room.
“Well hello Illiad. Hows being a shitty elf going?” She asked. “Anything going on here?”
Illiad was quickly recovering from his terror and was looking behind him at the still partly open door like a cornered animal looking to escape.
“Nothing dear goddess.” He replied slightly sarcastically. “I was just leaving to deal with some important business. Enjoy your servant.”
He then whirled on his heels and quickly left the room, the great relief unseen on his face as there were no attempts to stop him.
Timothy however did point after him in disbelief as he cried out.
“But Goddess! He just tried to kill me!”
Jenna crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. Her eyes closed for this before opening and looking after the elf.
“Let him go. He's not a threat right now.”
Salferia sighed deeply and fluttered into the air with her wings before settling on the table in front of Timothy.
“Oh Mistress Hala would have killed him. Such a shame you did not.”
With a roll of her eyes Jenna gave a quick look down at the fairy before looking back at her priest.
“I'm not gunna kill him for this. We all know the poison wouldn't have even worked on Timothy.”
She smiled happily before reaching out and grabbing the young man's right hand with both of hers. Then she swung it around playfully.
“Isn't that right my cutie bug?”
Timothy blushed red and pulled his hand back and out of her loose grip. While this made her slightly disappointed he knew it would not anger her.
“Please do not call me that goddess.”
Jenna sighed and shrugged. “Oh fine.”
Salferia giggled and crossed her legs. “I think its a cute name though!”
Ignoring the fairy for the moment Timothy turned back to his goddess, a look of concern on his face.
“But truly Goddess Jenna. How is that mage not a threat? Surely he will try to kill me or others of your worshipers again?”
Jenna shrugged again in a nonchalant way.
“Yeah I mean he will. I'll be there to stop him though.” She turned to face the now empty door with a furrow of her brow. “He won't try anything for a while though. I don't like him either you know. If he tries anything again I will take more serious action.”
This news brought relief to Timothy's troubled mind. He let out a small sigh before sitting back down in the chair with a slump. Seeing this brought a smile to Salferia's face and made Jenna turn back around to look at him.
“Hey now cheer up.” Jenna said with a smile. Her eyes then lit up. “Hey since I'm already here why don't we hang out for a little bit huh?”
Timothy sat back up in his chair with a new energy coursing through his body. Spending time with his beloved goddess was the thing he looked forward to most in life.
“Yes Goddess that sounds great!”
With some renewed hope for the future Timothy stood up in the small room next to the young goddess and prepared to make more wonderful memories he would keep with him for the rest of his life.