XXX-II
"What happened to him?" Amihan asks Sartilliane, who asked Salthifer to lay Larius on the bed. She stands beside him and performs her ritual of removing bad memories or any dark magic that controls his mind.
"Lumwal ca cing lungga mu at harapan mu cu. Cing harapan daring dacal, paten da ca."3
Sartilliane chants. A black gas filled with bright stars suddenly appears on the top of his head. "What is she doing?" Amihan asks Salthifer, as they all watch the living God works on her magic. "Incantations," Salthifer simply answered. Amihan looks at the other living God and waits for her to finish. Salthifer went to Alviary and helped him heal. After Sartilliane dealt with the dark Sage, she notices the sudden presence of Siyenthera and disappears from the room.
Amihan gasps but when she tries to call her, she was already gone. She turns her way towards her brother who is sleeping peacefully on the bed. Salthifer drags Alviary out of the room and unto the empermeryal. He sits him down and heals him. "Does it hurt?" Salthifer asks while wrapping Alviary's wound. The other living God just shakes his head and looks on the ground. Salthifer ties the wound tightly to prevent it from bleeding and stands up to throw the dirty gauze away.
He stares at Alviary who has a frown on his face. "Larius will be fine," Salthifer said, earning a smile from Alviary. "I know," Alviary said, a hint of hesitation is evident in his voice. "It's just-," Alviary said and Salthifer cuts him off and faces him with determination in his eyes.
"Stop overthinking about the war. We are going to win this war," Salthifer said, tapping Alviary's shoulder lightly. Alviary nods and thanked the living God for his comfort. He never thought a living God could comfort anyone since they are all full of themselves. Maybe it is a good thing that Salthifer's compeer is Stephen.
Alviary's thoughts are all over the place. The war, the suffering, the pain, the loss, and even his promise to Jethro are mixing in his thoughts making him go crazy at the moment. He releases a heavy sigh and looks over to Salthifer as he asks his next question.
"Did you also see my fate with the child?" Alviary asks, making Salthifer look at him with confusion. "Whose child?" the other asks, Alviary looks over and sighs, swaying his hands on the air spelling the name J-E-T-H-R-O, making Salthifer chuckles and sits down beside him.
"Oh you mean, that child?" Salthifer asks, earning a defeated nod from Alviary. "You said yes to his condition, right?" Salthifer asks again, Alviary nods at him with a sheepish smile as rubs the back of his head. "In my vision, you didn't say 'yes'," Salthifer informs, making Alviary looks at him with a sudden realization that this living God does know what is happening. But Alviary already knows that he can't change his decision whether it is on purpose or not.
He already made it. There's no way Jethro would want the sudden change of decision. Besides, he is still his adopted child and Meryanha would want him to be happy. He sighs in defeat and Salthifer chuckles at the state Alviary is in now. The living God just screw himself over and now he can't take it back before the child might kill him in return. A little lie towards Alviary will not only hurt him but would make him a better living God just how the Sages would predict his future.
x-x-x-x-x
Days had passed since Larius' sudden outburst, and Amihan can't still get over the fact that his brother could elicit such a bad aura as that day. They are now at the strategy room, waiting for Belevathan to show up and discuss the battle plans with them. They have been waiting for an hour before she showed up in her long dress with pink and white chiffon type of fabric.
It sways with the wings and she looks more ethereal than usual. Her wings compliment her clothes and that made her ethereal, a perfect figure for a living God. The silver-like flowers that surround her dress and the crest of sapphire diamonds in her belt create all the little details of her dress.
"You are late," Salthifer greets her, with a scowl on his face. "Chill," the Endulity Goddess said as she lands in the room. She looks at him with a piercing gaze before looking back at the people around the room. "As you know or felt, something big has arrived our realm," she starts, placing her maps on the table and spreading them carefully. She asks for Alviary's maps and proceeds on talking about their battle plans that they forgot to call Sartilliane. She is almost finishing when she remembers about Sartilliane.
"Shit," she mutters before opening a portal inside the room. "I forgot to call Sartilliane," she said and immediately calls for the Golden Warrior. Sartilliane answered a few minutes later with her low voice that almost sounds like a guy. "What?" she asks, earning a frightful scream from Belevathan as she immediately closes the portal. "I should've warned you," Salthifer said, earning an angry glare from Belevathan, which Salthifer only smiled upon.
The bickering lasted for a day and the others just left the two in the room. They all resume their respective tasks and tried to forget about the shivers they felt these past few days. It wasn't long when Queen Meryanha senses another unknown force penetrating through the protective barrier of the island. Belevathan and Salthifer sense it too and immediately went to the place where the others are.
Minutes later, a woman in her late 40s enters the island. She is wearing a very smooth and silky white dress. Her long white hair waves along with the winds over the horizon and she is wearing the full moon eclipse on her head. Her body is surrounded with blinking stars and her face hides the real beauty of a Sage.
All of the living gods present at that time bows down to give respect to the Sage, even the other creatures that witness the mysterious event gave their respect to her.
She smiles upon them and lands in front of the little girl that Kawanami is holding. She asks for him to drop the kid to the ground carefully then she places her hand over her head. She closes her eyes and the little girl followed her.
Moments later, the little girl opens her eyes and sees a different surrounding. She looks around hoping to see Kawanami but she isn't there. She walks towards the big old tree in the middle of nowhere and draws her hand forward.
All of a sudden, the tree glows and pulls her towards the light. Vines from the trees elope her body and pulls her towards it as she struggles to get away from it. Before long, the tree swallows her whole.
On the outside, the little girl fainted and Kawanami catches her. He looks at the Sage with confusion in his eyes and the Sage just smiles.
"Bayu ing makatakdang aldo na ning panga-gising na, eme dapat gagalon ing anak. Kailangan mayari ya ing orasyun para eya manasakit. Istung eya meyari ing dapat mayari, mate ya ing anak." 1
She said to Kawanami, at first he doesn't understand but when he heard the last words she spoke, he nods in return and the Sage asks Belevathan to create a portal. Before the Sage went away, she looks at Salthifer and smiles, "Banten meng masalese ing metung kareng lobu, pota ya ing maging rasun na ning keka yung panga-sambut," 2 she said before completely disappears through the portal.
Salthifer thought for a minute before looking around the wolves, changing his own perspective on them in search of the traitor. He sighs when Alviary catches him looking over them and slaps his shoulder. "What are you doing?" Alviary asks, looking bothered at Salthifer. The other living God just smiles and shakes his head. "You don't have to worry," he said, still looking over the wolves.
He spotted Triton among the bunch and sees something different in him. "Alpha," he quietly muttered but Alviary heard him and looks over to Triton. Alviary cannot believe his eyes when they saw the mark of the true Alpha. He blinks his eyes quite a few times before he looks over to Salthifer.
"Are you seeing what I am seeing?" Alviary asks him in a whisper, scared that others might hear him, and start asking a question. "I do," Salthifer answers, unbothered with the sudden stares of lingering questions from the others before he shrugs them so they will stop looking. Eventually, they did and the day ends with more questions than answers.
But for Alviary and Salthifer, it is clear who the traitor among them is. Now, what they need to do is find bits of evidence to prove his treachery.