Church of the Goddess

Padan switched from the road in front of him and Aithenes face, which grew paler by the minute. He was not sure how long they had been walking, but each second that passed was too long, in his opinion. The once colorful forest full of the songs of birds and the greenest moss that Padan has ever seen that painted the trees, as well as the forest floor, was becoming lesser and lesser. Eventually, the trees finally showed their end. Padan, along with his party, followed this man who he did not know onto a path that showed a small village on the event horizon.

"See, just as I said, we weren't far away at all." The dark-haired man said as a sigh of relief left him.

As they approached the small village Padan was shocked, he had become accustomed to large manor houses with gates at the front and men to guard it. He had seen smaller homes before, such as where Aithene and Harern lived, but he never thought poverty ran this deeply within the Kingdom. These villagers were living in one-room huts made of wood and a dirt floor; some were lucky enough to have a window or two, but all had a roof made of thatch. The village leader shared a similar fate to his fellow village-men, although it seemed his home was put together with more care than the rest of them. The only structures in this place that stood out where the guildhouses. Each one of them was made of stone and had way more grandiose showing than any of the village huts. Each guild was represented even in this tiny village that was way out of the way of the world entirely. Padan did not have to look hard for the local church, which held his healer. It was located in the center of the village and overlooked all of it with its gothic-styled towers. The group wasted no time rushing to the enormous wooden doors that had carved symbols of their gods on it. As they walked inside, the smell of incense filled their noses, and a priest turned away from prayer as he heard them enter.

"Welcome, how can I-" He stopped mid-sentence as he saw Aithene's blood still dripping onto the cold stone floor. "Come with me, I'll bring you to our priest of Naekil"

The group joined the priest as they walked outside of the church's main room and its arched ceiling and down a hallway to a set of quarters which held huge dyed stained glass windows. The priest knocked on the ajar wooden door as his audience turned around.

"Yes?" His eyes widened as he too saw Aithenes body. He then rushed over to his bed and motioned to put her onto it.

Padan obliged, then watched as the priest went over to his desk and picked up a sack. He then opened the sack, pulled out a clear crystal, and put his hand above it, and began to whisper words rapidly. As he spoke, a stream of what looked like purple light that had the texture of water began to rise out of the crystal and submerged into the Priests hand. After a couple of seconds, the priest put the crystal back into the bag and pulled a chair next to Aithene; he then put his hand over Aithene and began to again rapidly whisper as a wave of light began to enclose Aithenes entire body.

"You can wait for her in the main hall if she needs to stay overnight, we have extra beds for everyone," The first priest said, trying his best to smile while showing them the way out and closing the door.

Many hours passed as Padan took a seat in one of the aisle seats in the cathedral's main hall. The moonlit a ray of light through the glass stained windows. The old man had tipped his hood over his eyes and was audibly snoring. Padan was falling asleep too but was kept awake from worry about Aithene. Just then, the dark-haired man walked up to him. "My name is Eio, by the way."

"Huh?" Padan said, looking up at him.

"I never got a chance to give you my name due to everything that happened today, it's Eio." He then sticks out his hand to shake Padans. Padan returned the favor. "I don't know if you overheard, but my name is Padan, the wizard there is Harern, and the old man never actually gave us his name, and I don't think we will get it."

Eio laughed "Well, Don't worry about your girlfriend in there, these are good people, and she's getting the best treatment in the whole village."Padan seemed to warm up a bit after hearing that and became less tense. Eion continued, "How do you not know this guy's name? Haven't you been traveling with him for a while? Surely you would have figured out his name by now."

Padan shook his head. "When we asked he just gave us some nonsense about "i am known as many things by many people" so we just kind of dropped it"

Eio "huh, that's funny; it kind of reminds me of a stupid story I was told as a child."

Harern's ears perked up for this. "No stories are complete bullshit, sure parts maybe have been made up over the years, but it all starts from some truth not that-"

Seeing where Harern was going with this, Padan cuts off Harern before he can finish his sentence and prevents things from once again spiraling out of control. "How does the story go, Eio?"

"Well," began Eio, "I barely remember anything about it. It was mostly something my mother would tell me to comfort me whenever I felt frightened by something, but supposedly there exists an old man much like that one over there" Eio pointed to the old man as his stomach rose and fell with his lips flailing as the air left his mouth. Eio had to stop himself from laughing as Harern rolled his eyes at the obviously childish behavior.

"Anyway," continued Eio, "From what I remember, he's described as a sort of protector and guide. My mother told me that he appears to people to help them through life-changing events. His appearance is a good and bad thing he's here to help, but he doesn't appear for just any reason." "Is your reference the legend of Arturus? And you're comparing this bumbling idiot to the mythical spellcaster that helps the legendary warrior unite all of his clans into one of the first kingdoms of Ingolfell?" Harern had to control his laughter to finish his sentence.

Eio turned to face Harern with a face of rage. "That's not a legend to a lot of the folks in the village, so watch your tongue. You go around saying that you'll get your ass kicked by them, and I'll be there to enjoy it. Besides, even if it is made up, there's nothing wrong with believing in it. It gives people something to believe in. It lets them know there are good leaders out there to follow. People need it these days with the world going to shit."

"Yeah, well, the problem with their little belief is it's wrong. Even if there were good leaders, they are long dead. If there were still men capable of leading, this invasion would have been prevented".

"But Harern, we don't have all the details so I wouldn't rush to judgment. I'm sure good men are advising the King, who are capable of turning things around. This invasion is just something that is to come and pass Ingolsfell has been standing for many generations, and it will be like that for a long while." Padan said, trying to keep the peace.

"Oh, save that noblemen propaganda bull for some other peasant that's blind enough to run and die for rich men who don't care about them." Harern stood up and walked to his bed and slammed the door behind him. Padan sighed as Eio got done rubbing his forehead. "Why is he so angry all of the time?" Eio asked

"Like I said on the road but never got to go into full detail, our village was attacked and burned by the Qên. In the attack, he lost his parents, who were basically his entire family. He joined the Guild of Seiress to learn how to become a wizard".

Eio cringed upon learning of this news. "By the Gods, why would he do that to himself? I know I'd never make that sacrifice."

"His family needed the money," Padan replied. "And now that he doesn't have a family, not only is he grieving, I don't think he knows what to do with himself. It's sad to say, but it's almost as if he got those scars for nothing. It's not like those bodily mutations they give you to unlock that type of magic is an easy experience."

Eio was quiet for a few moments before a confused look appeared on his face. "Wait, but i didn't see any scars on him."

"That's because he hides them," Padan replied. "Like I said, you don't come away from those mutations looking the same."

They were both quiet for a moment until Padan spoke up. "Is this your village?"

Eio laughed, "sure is, in all its glory."

"It's just weird." Padan continued, "Seeing the guild houses and the church be so big and expensive-looking even in a place so impoverished as this."

"Well yeah," Eio said, "They pretend to be helpful and one of us, but in reality, they are just as bad as the noblemen. Each guild is run by greedy men looking to make a quick buck on the common folk".

"But, you're in a guild yourself?" Padan said, confused. "You hunt monsters for the King in the guild run by him and his advisors, don't you?"

"I did it originally because I thought I was going to be helping people, but I soon saw how bad men took advantage of their position of power and drained poor farmhands for every coin they had, or they would deny the job outright," Eio admitted.

"I would have left," Padan said, shaking his head.

"Listen thy holy one," Eio said, "it's a lot more complicated than that. I have to look after myself, I feel bad, but what can a single man do? I just try to ignore it."

"I wonder how many men think that same way. Everyone hates it but does nothing about it. Maybe it's because I'm Young, arrogant, and ambitious. Still, I'd rather die attempting to destroy an evil cause then watch it happen. At least that way, no one can blame me."

Padans words struck Eio even though he did not show it. He took a second before responding. "Yeah, well, you are all those things, so the answer will seem easier to you than me." He then stood up"Well, I'm going to go to bed. I've got to take this head to the guild wizard tomorrow and have him deal with it."

"What will you do after that?" Padan asked.

"To be honest, kid, I don't really know I tend not to think that far ahead," Eio responded, walking to his bed.

"Aren't you worried about the invasion? Do you not want to help?" Padan responded, confused.

"It's not really my problem kid like I said what can one man do?" Eion then got into his bedroom then closed the door.

"And I wonder how many people think that," Padan whispered to himself as he too got up and headed for bed.