Chapter Thirty-Seven

The temple was very dimly lit, but what light it had, was the sort of thing ripped straight out of a fantasy novel. The walls were lined with lanterns, but inside each was a single pair of fae. They were not however, just flitting about, but hovering within, and they were singing. Their high pitched voices gave an ethereal air about the place, and blue mystic light washed over every bit of stone and wood, everything was ‘grown’ in place, with little round flat seats, the wooden roots from the floor curled upward like a snake’s body at a comfortable seating height, a ring of stone sat over that, and in the center of the ring, a mossy flat surface. There were at least a hundred such seats, perhaps many more.

At the far end of the building stood a small tree that reminded me of the little bonsai trees from home, but even it was ‘off’. Its leaves were ‘ringing’ like little bells of silver, and with every little chime, colors of all shades drifted like a rainbow in a summer mist.

I couldn’t have stopped walking if I wanted to. Loysa’s expression was tranquil to the point of an almost divine radiance.

“You know, you’ve been very troublesome to my follower.” That was Loysa’s voice, but it wasn’t her speaking.

“I’m sorry.” I said, my pulse racing as a goddess addressed me.

“It’s fine. A little trouble is good for her, no matter how she protests it.” Kuduru said, then added, “Just be a little more gentle, no more making promises to greedy bastards without consulting her, eh?” The Goddess asked of me, and I won’t deny I felt rather sheepish.

“I promise.” I said, “I just couldn’t think of anything else to do at the time.”

“I’m sure. And one more thing, don’t be too quick to judge her wishes when the time comes.” Kuduru said, “And of course, don’t mention we had this little conversation.”

She didn’t wait for acknowledgement. And somehow, I just knew when she was ‘gone’.

We reached the far end and I stood before the little tree. As Loysa sank down to both knees, I went down with her. Then her hand came away from mine. “Divine ones of Manami, Loysa, follower of Kuduru, brings a soul to you in search of guidance. From another world she comes to ours, bearing her knowledge of the old and ignorance of the new, I pray that one of you might choose her, and lead her in the ways of this world, that she might work your will.”

When she was done speaking, she said, “Focus your eyes on the bell tree.”

I wondered if there was more, or how long I needed to focus.

But with no other directions, I did as she said, and I was lost in the colors, lights, everything… the more I focused, the more I saw.

‘The bark… those are gears… tiny… little… gears…’ The tree was not a tree. The leaves were tiny bits of metal strings, and as the gears moved, the gentle swaying was in fact the striking of these tiny little notes. The lights… ’Are those a form of magic? Or some effect of the unfamiliar metal? She called it a ‘bell tree’ didn’t she?’ And then I could see more, the ‘leaves’ were shaped like bells, or the bells were shaped like leaves, I could no longer tell the difference between the two.

There were only little notes and I felt my body sway in time with the gentle tinkling, I could then hear the tiny gears and feel the warmth of whatever device beneath the table moved the gears. ‘So hot…’ I thought as it caressed my skin… there was a brief flash of metallic blue and bioluminous green.

Then it was over.

I blinked.

I felt Loysa’s hand on me again, the noise was gone, I could no longer see the tiny gears or hear the tiny bells.

“I’m sorry, I’ll try again!” I thought I’d failed, I felt sure I’d let her down somehow.

“After eighteen hours?” She asked with eyebrows raised.

“Eighteen hours?!” I exclaimed while I watched her rise to her feet.

“Yes.” She said and held her hand out to me. I accepted it gratefully, and if I doubted her at first, I didn’t when I tried to stand.

My entire body ached, my knees felt like they’d been smacked with a sledge hammer or something. My everything hurt, even my tails drooped from exhaustion.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“If you didn’t hear anything, don’t worry.” She reassured me. I guess it was obvious that I was anxious, and then with her help, I was on my feet.

“Where are the others? Are they back at the inn?” I asked.

“No. Dwarguy will have gone out for supplies and made camp outside of the city. We’ll meet him there.” She promised, and that only made me more curious.

But Loysa didn’t give me a chance to ask as she guided me out of the temple.

“We were together a long time, I’ll know how to find it even if my Goddess goes quiet for a while. Not that she ever does.” Loysa chuckled a little as she helped me out of the room.

“Are your legs all right? Are you sure I’m not too heavy?” I asked.

“This is just part of the job. Don’t worry.” Loysa replied, “Besides, you’re not as heavy as Dwarguy was, and I took him into a dwarf temple. Those things are as hot as a forge.” At my look, she explained, “Every temple is different, reflecting the builders. Dwarves are smiths and miners, so their temple reflects that. Elves love growing things, so naturally their temple reflects that in turn. You’ll get used to it, eventually anyway.” She said as we emerged out into the shade and the darkness.

I didn’t really know what else to say, Loysa wasn’t her usual self. But then, it had only been a few days, what did I know about what was ‘usual’ for her?

Not much. I wasn’t really sure what to say, so I just… I walked. I walked beside her, the whole thing, everything, it was ethereal. I don’t know what else to say about it, leaving the temple was like leaving another world. Especially now that we were down on the streets of Steelven again and I could see the distant smoke rising from a factory that was running through the night. I wondered what they made that was so important it had to run all day and night.

I was sure it wasn’t the only one like that, even if Steelven blended their industry and nature very well, I had to wonder if that was unique to elves or if it was worse elsewhere than here. I knew dragons existed, and necromancy now, too. Every day I learned more, and the more I knew the more dangerous I realized this world could potentially be. ‘No wonder they only allow people to go out in teams!’ I shivered to think of it.

“When we get to camp, you’ll try your first spell.” Loysa was clearly ‘informing’ me, rather than asking, and that at least made me feel a little better. “Since you’re a kitsune, we’ll have to give you some distance from the others.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes.” She frowned a little bit, “Kitsune are creatures of magic nature, more like spirit beings than corporeal, I know you used to be a human male, but not anymore. So even the basic spells that anyone can use are going to be dialed up a notch.”

“That’s actually more relief than worry.” I said and she only huffed, her frown becoming a smirk. I don’t know why, but I’m fairly sure that for whatever reason, my statement pleased her.

Like I’d done something right.

All I could do was hope to keep that trend going.

When we emerged from the city she pointed in the distance in a very specific direction. “Dwarguy will have gone that way.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Good question.” She replied in a ‘teacherlike’ voice. “Even in the most well planned and close knit party, people can get separated from one another. Someone goes to gather firewood, or to scout, or who knows what else? Maybe they get lost or forced to flee blindly from a danger of some sort?” Loysa shrugged as if to say there was so much more that could go wrong.

“When that happens, you need a way to find each other. So the easiest way to do that is to have a consistent plan. Some teams use flares or flare magic of some sort. Others build fires and use smoke signals. But both of those have the drawback of telling everybody where you are. And that is dangerous. So we have a different method.” Loysa paused and reached into her robe to pull out a compass. It had the usual gear design I was getting used to seeing, with each tooth on the gear marked with a number. The needle was two little arrow designs that wobbled in my still trembling hand.

“I just do a back azimuth from a specific starting place and choosing two specific objects. In this case, the mountain we’re going to, and the ‘Spark Star’ in the forge constellation.” She then pointed to the distant mountain and then shifted her finger over to the right toward the stars. “I can eyeball distance and degrees, but you probably need to practice. He always uses the star at night and the destination point, all I need to do is walk between those and I’ll find him eventually.”

“I’ve never made a campsite before.” I admitted. I hated admitting I didn’t know something, especially things that must have been common knowledge here, but she accepted that without criticism.

“You’ll learn quickly. And after we teach you a bit, throw some points into key skills, you don’t need to be the master of it, just ‘good enough’ to get by and not poison yourself on bad mushrooms. You must have some points left after all, right?” She asked.

I focused my thoughts and checked. To say I had ‘points left’ was an understatement. Between the ‘emergency quest’ or ‘two’ if you think about my arrival as one, I had more points than I knew what to do with. I could spend them like pennies for a while yet.

“Yes, I can spare some for basic skills.” I said, and that was certainly the truth. I wasn’t comfortable revealing how much I had, best case scenario I embarrassed myself, worst case I made things awkward by revealing I had something over the rest of my team.

“Alright then, let’s pick up the pace, that is, if you want to get in a few spells before you sleep.” She replied, and her pace picked up as if she had not been kneeling for eighteen hours beside me.

All I could do for the moment, was pick up the pace as best I could, and be grateful she kept her own pace slow enough that I was not left behind.