297 Night in the temple.

During the night, Gadaric, Rufus, and Suomi sneaked out of their hiding spot and observed the soldiers still securing the temple.

"Are you sure about this?" Suomi whispered to Gadaric.

"I know what I am doing. Just follow me," Gadaric whispered back.

Gadaric began snapping his fingers in a specific rhythm, creating an echoing sound that led the guards to believe they were hearing footsteps in the opposite direction. As the snapping continued, the guards started to hallucinate Sassanid people walking towards the temple.

While the guards were distracted, Gadaric, Rufus, and Suomi casually walked behind them and climbed the stairs into the temple of Cyrus.

"The doors are heavy. It will make a sound if we try to open them," Suomi warned.

"No worries," Gadaric reassured, using his powers to control the sounds and prevent any noise from escaping as they opened the heavy iron doors.

When they were in, there were no guards in sight.

"Wow, your divine powers are amazing. What did you do before joining Rufus's gang of mischief?" Suomi asked in a humorous tone.

Gadaric hesitated before answering, "I was an assassin, serving the enemy of Rufus. I killed many innocent lives in a futile attempt to bring peace. Now, I am trying to redeem myself in my own eyes, as I have not yet forgiven myself."

"Haha, but really?" Suomi continued, still not entirely convinced.

"First time I met Gadaric was when he almost killed me," Rufus interjected. "He had just killed a powerful person who had invited me to his house, and I tried to chase him down. Gadaric blasted me off a rooftop and I fell hard to the ground," Rufus explained, recounting their first encounter.

Gadaric felt sad and down, as could be seen through his mask. Rufus quickly patted Gadaric on the back, trying to comfort him and remind him that he was on a journey to redeem himself.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring back bad memories," Rufus said apologetically.

Once inside, the temple was badly lit, the only light coming from windows where moonlight lined the walls. The air was thick with the smell of incense, and the sound of their footsteps echoed through the chamber as they walked through the grand halls. The walls were adorned with intricate frescoes and carvings depicting the stories and deeds of the fallen god. On each wall, there was a depiction of Cyrus interacting with different people, from a carpenter to a soldier. Sometimes it even looked as if Cyrus was talking to lifeless objects, like stone or a shovel. They walked through the grand halls, passing by large statues and columns, each one more grandiose than the last.

The temple seemed to have been abandoned for centuries, as dust and cobwebs covered many of the surfaces. The floor was made of a mosaic depicting the stories of the god and their followers.

The trio made their way to the archives room where the records of the fallen god were kept. It was a spacious chamber with rows of shelves filled with ancient scrolls and books. They lit the room with torches and found the shelves were made of dark wood, giving it an ancient feel.

Suomi, being the only one capable of reading and understanding the ancient texts, began to carefully study the records.

Rufus took one book and tried to decipher the texts. "You think you can get any useful information out of any of those?" Gadaric asked.

"No, not really, but I was curious. Wanted to see how people viewed a god, as the only one I have seen tried to kill us. Thinking can there really be a generous god whom the people worship willingly," Rufus said as he scowled through one record.

"I know a thing or two of wanting to live in the shadow of a great being, looking the other way if they do bad things. Just wanting to be close to someone powerful. Maybe people view the gods the same way," Gadaric thought.

"Well maybe. Or maybe this Cyrus god was actually benevolent. I do not understand the text, but there are pictures and I understand them. None of them are of war, but of him being with his people," Rufus said as he was going through the records.

"Often, important events are hidden in plain sight. It is so that the priests can understand its meaning and importance, but a common person wouldn't. With it, all the power is with the priests and not the people," Suomi explained to the two of them.

As she scanned through the pages, she came across a passage that caught her attention. She called the others over to have a look.

"This record speaks of a blue smokeless fire that helped Cyrus in a family matter," Suomi read.

"What does that help?" Rufus said, thinking the phrase was utter gibberish.

"Smokeless fire is another way of saying a djinn. And I believe a god's family matter is not trivial," Suomi explained and continued, "I have read already a few times of how this blue smokeless fire aided Cyrus with matters in knowledge. This entire temple is basically dedicated to the bond between Cyrus and this blue Djinn."

"Well, this is the homeworld of the djinns. This must be a place where people used to worship the great bond Cyrus built between Sassans and Djinns," Gadaric noted.

"No, it's always just one being. One djinn," Suomi said.

They looked at the walls and realized the meaning behind the wall paintings. Cyrus was not meeting and talking to different people in them, but he was talking to a djinn who always had changed his shape. Always a single being. One djinn. A djinn who was a friend and an advisor to a god.