Rise of the Devourer

Book 3: Chapter 26 — Exploration Pt. 2

Noah teleported to the steps of the temple, drawing a couple of surprised glances from nearby. The surroundings had a more fifty-fifty ratio of humans and draconian, a bunch wearing different symbols and emblems of their respective gods. White marbled stones formed the temple, a common theme that Noah had begun noticing across the many temples and churches to the gods. Did they all just prefer white? He’d expected a bit more variance across locations, but given that the gods could just talk to their followers, perhaps it wasn’t quite like that.

Noah made his way up the step, deciding not to teleport or otherwise use his abilities too much. The last time he’d done that around a space for a god had resulted with him in handcuffs.

Not that they can really stop me with those anymore.

The thought amused him. Continuing on his way, Noah began to take note of the depictions on the temple. Oddly enough, the construction reminded him of roman buildings from back in his world. The entrance had distinctive pillars built high and tall with three giant entrances into the structure. Each gate had a sculpture of the respective gods carved at the top, depicting which one was dedicated to each god.

The left most one had Hellion standing with a sword in her hand, wings flared behind her back, looking poised and determined, as she always did. At the right side was a man, he had scars on his body, and flowing hair that ran like a mane behind his back, with a square jaw and sharp eyes. A war axe rested on his shoulder with casual grace. Rutha.

In the centermost gate was a woman, wearing flowing robes, and her hand to her chest, a motherly expression of love and concern on her face. She looked different now, but Noah could see the resemblance to the Septah he had met in his dream.

Would she remember? It didn’t exactly happen, it was just a dream trial. And yet… I have a feeling that she will remember anyway.

Noah could see Ernest’s location on his mini-map, marked there. He was inside Hellion’s church, and Noah decided not to disturb the paladin. He often went to pray and did not appreciate being intruded upon. Not to mention, it would likely be best if he did this on his own.

He walked into the central chamber, going through the door as he marveled at the inside of the temple. Different sculptures depicted various depictions of Septah. The goddess stood in one, gingerly covering the eyes of a child and with another hand she banished cosmic abominations.

In others, she could be seen at the bedside of an old woman, her hands giving comfort to her in her last moments.

Dozens of other depictions were present inside, showing all sorts of different stories. Noah continued to watch them all with fascination as he made his way inside. The temple itself was rather small and straight forward, without too many people inside.

At the center, beneath colored glass panes was the statue of Septah, words to a prayer to the goddess carved onto the pedestal she stood on. But before he could read the words, a woman caught his eye. She remained kneeling near the statue, wearing white robes that seemed to indicate she was a priestess of sorts, but the thing that caught his attention was the white blindfold the woman wore on her eyes. Noah used Identify.

[Priestess of Septah - lvl 147]

Noah was surprised when the woman turned towards him, inclining her head in question. “Is there something wrong, faithful one?”

Noah realized he’d been staring. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said reflexively. “I just- err, I was surprised by your blindfold, but didn’t want to be rude. Is that some kind of practice?”

The priestess rose to her feet. “You must not have seen a priestess of Septah before. Eyes are that with which we watch the sins of the world and let the evils seep into us. To avoid being tainted by such things, we give our sight to the goddess, and in return, obtain her eternal light, letting us see things from within our souls and avoid the madness of the Watcher,” the priestess replied.

Noah felt fascinated at that. A skill that let you see from the soul- sounded awfully similar to his Abyssal Awareness ability. He wondered how different the ability the priestess had was from his own.

“But I am surprised,” the priestess continued, looking at him. “You have the goddess’ blessing on you, indicating you have encountered her… not just in prayer, but in spirit. Yet you were surprised by me,” the priestess said.

Noah scratched his cheek. “I’ve encountered the goddess in a dream before. This is my first time to her temple. She’d told me she would remember me if I visited her.”

He could see the priestess’ eyes widen in surprise even through the blindfold covering her eyes. “Is that truly so? Well, why don’t you send a prayer to the mother. Perhaps she will commune with you,” the priestess said.

Noah gave her a nod. “Alright. Although… I have no idea how to do that.”

The priestess smiled. “Do not worry. The goddess does not take offense easily. Simply read the prayer and call to her with a genuine heart. I will show you.”

Nodding once more, Noah walked right up to the statue, behind a hand railing preventing people from directly touching the statue or dirtying it.

“Kneel here. I will read the prayer, simply follow me,” the priestess guided, kneeling in front of the stature.

Noah kneeled next to her on one knee, feeling a little awkward at the motion. He looked up at the statue and the words written on it, before he joined his hands together. The priestess began and Noah closed his eyes, trying to recall the image of Septah in his mind.

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“Goddess Septah, cloak our minds,

Shield us from the Watcher’s spell that blinds.

Save us from the moonlit sky,

In your grace let sanity abide.”

Noah waited for a moment for something to happen. A few breaths passed, and he was about to open his eye, giving up on the task, when something bright manifested somewhere in front of him.

You’ve invoked Septah’s name.

A gasp came from next to him and Noah opened his eyes and saw the goddess’s statue glowing with light. He could see everyone in the temple bowing their head from his periphery vision, even as his eyes remained affixed on the goddess’s statue.

“Close your eyes, the goddess is speaking with you!” The priestess quickly spoke and Noah closed his eyes. The light began to grow around him, and a moment later, the world changed. He opened his eyes once again, and found himself standing in cloudy expanse, with the goddess in front of him, standing with a smile.

This wasn’t his first time meeting a goddess by any means — he absent mindedly noted that he’d not met a single god besides the void god, if he could even give that eldritch abomination a gender — but with his senses grown, he could see… a lot more. And what he saw felt a little like trying to stare at the sun. The presence the goddess had was overpowering, it wasn’t oppressive and it didn’t freeze him in place, yet he could feel her power in a deep part of his soul that told him this woman was beyond mortal understanding.

“It is good to see you again, Noah. Thank you for saving me back then,” Septah said.

Noah blinked, taking a moment to respond. “Uh- you’re welcome.”

The goddess’ smile widened at his response.

He tried to close his eyes and pull himself together for a moment. “Sorry, and hold on— you do remember that?”

“I do. I told you I would. I do not lie,” Septah replied, tilting her head. “Or are you implying that I would?”

“No, no, no, nothing like that, I was just surprised. Does that mean that the dream really happened?” Noah asked, finding his thoughts running. Somehow he hadn’t really expected to meet Septah just like that, and it’d thrown him off balance.

“Not quite. It was a dream, but dreams are part of reality too. Just not reality itself. I saw and experienced everything you saw and experienced, in much the same way. Just like how I am both here and not at the same time,” Septah replied.

“Right, aspects, I was told about it. Must be difficult being all over the world at the same time,” Noah said.

Septah giggled. “That is the first time someone has showed sympathy to me for my position. But no, it is not difficult. It would be harder to ignore my faithful and not respond.”

“Fair enough,” Noah replied.

He looked at the goddess in silence, not sure where to go from here.

“So… do you want something from me?” Noah asked.

“That should be my question, no? You’re the one who called me,” Septah said.

“Right, right I did.”

“You’re not used to interacting with deities when it’s not an antagonistic position, or when you aren’t willfully barging your way in, are you?” Septah said.

Noah scratched his cheek at that in embarrassment. For some reason the woman unsettled him, more so than Hellion, Avera or even the void god ever did. Noah didn’t understand why until he looked in the woman’s eyes and understood why.

Her eyes, the way she looked at him, it was filled with empathy and love.

It reminded him of his mother.

He stared at her, something twisting in his chest painfully.

“Let me help you remember why you wished to have me here. I believe there are some questions you wish to know the answers to,” Septah said.

“Right. I do, yeah. What… what was that dream all about?” Noah asked. “Why were you a child? And, why were those things after you?”

“It was the war against the Crimson Heart, led by the old goddess of war Raelinah. They were after me… because I was still in my nascent form, and they wished to sacrifice me to the heart, to give it power,” Septah said.

“Raelinah… do you know her then? And what happened afterwards? Who won?” Noah asked.

“I don’t know. Unlike the dream, I had died back then.”

“What?” Noah stared in shock. “I thought gods were immortal? And you- you’re still here?”

“Gods die too, Noah. Though not permanently. When one of us dies, our Aspects reform us, typically as younger forms of ourselves. We will know a lot of things, including who we are, from birth. But the memories of our past incarnations are lost. The memories of my time back then are anecdotal. Sources borne by others who carry the memories still,” Septah said with a sad look on her face.

“And to answer your other question. I do know Raelinah. Or did. After the war, she left our realm, through the Astral Rifts, a feat previously thought impossible, even for us, to somewhere beyond. To what purpose… I do not know,” Septah said.

Noah chewed over the words.

“Do you know what my connection to her is? And… if gods are immortal. How come one of them died and left behind shards?”

Again, Septah’s expression changed, that look of pity forming on her face.

“Your connection to Raelinah… it is difficult for me to speak of it. I cannot give you an answer to those questions Noah. But if you truly wish to know no matter what… seek the reaper,” Septah said.

The clouds began to swirl around the two of them.

“I’m afraid our time will have to end here, Noah. Thank you for coming to see me,” she said.

“Wait! I still haven’t—”

The world shot back into focus, as Noah opened his eyes, still kneeling in front of the statue in the temple. A jumble of emotions swirling in his chest, as his unsaid words swirled in his mind.

I still haven’t asked why you were looking at me like it hurt you to see me.

Noah stood back up on his feet, and found the priestess nearby, who bowed her head to Noah.

“May the goddess’s mercy heal your soul,” she said.

Noah nodded, making his way out. He didn’t want to stay here for much longer if he could.

His eyes went to the timer of his quest and he saw it tick down by the minute, before chiming with a ding.

Sub-quest completed.

Quest: Exploration, completed!

Noah dismissed the prompt. He would check the rewards later. Taking a deep breath, he channeled Arcane Step, as he teleported away.

Some food was exactly what he needed right now.

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