25 Darkyan

He left the Altar of Nature, Lord Tardunus and Lady Temprania's altar. He lifted his amulet to look at the blessings, the Blessing of Nature allowed him to ask for nature to help him, whether animals or actual plants, it was like the blessing of the sea but with living creatures. He smiled, he only had 4 left, his next stop, Lord Krranus in Darkyan, all the way in the southwest of the known world, south of Luminosada. He would have a long distance to walk.

He arrived outside of the Forest of the Uncanny, in the distance he could see a river, with a few houses around it. He realized that the river was the one that linked Solarianus to Nocturnus. He began walking in the direction of the houses, his wings wrapped around him in the form of armor and his helmet formed with no horns sticking out of it. The land until the town was flat. The midday sun beamed down on the endless looking meadows that stretched towards the river. He stopped and looked around. Everything was beautiful, the golden shine of the meadows, the smooth movement of the tufts of grass under influence of the wind, the same wind that brushed against his body as he gazed over the meadows, "Maybe another reason to save this world," He started walking again, still towards the village.

He arrived and found the town nearly empty, it seemed ghostly. He found the people of the town crowded around a small home.

"What do you mean you can't heal him?"

"I don't know what it is, it is totally new to me."

"Will he die?"

"I am not sure," He overheard the conversation within the crowd.

"What is going on here?" He asked making all the villagers turn towards him, seeming surprised, "Am not to know?"

"A child of our village is sick, and, unfortunately, I cannot heal him, I don't know what it is."

"Let me see him," He said before mumbling to himself, "Lord Inventaariy, can I use your help once more?"

"Of course, Vidian, I will help you, and tell you if I can cure this sickness," Vidian walked through the crowd and into the house where a child tossed and turned in a bed, his face was red, he was sweating. Vidian knelt down next to the child and looked at him.

"This is pretty bad, he has Ofnotiyusit," Inventaariy told Vidian, "But I heard that there was a certain plant could cure it, nearly instantly," Vidian nodded as he looked at the boy, "You can ask for it, ask for the Yunti root, the plant that flowers in the Eternal Icebergs, a region of the Frozen Peaks."

"I think I can cure him," His blessing of nature glowed on his amulet and the ground began rumbling. A small plant grew from the ground, hidden from the villagers, he took the flower and hid it in his hand before pulling out of an imaginary pouch, "Take the flower and have them boil it, it will make a sort of potion that will heal that boy," Vidian did as he said and handed the roots to one of the villagers.

"Boil this, then have him drink it."

He watched at the boy drank. He stopped churning, his sweating seemed to stop, his pain seemed to fade, his body cooled. The child's mother nearly crashed next to him as she grabbed his hand, crying tears of joy. The child looked around, seeming lost, "How are you feeling, son?"

"What happened, mister?"

"Do you feel fine?" The boy nodded, "May the gods guard your souls," He got up and left the house, with the child's mother holding him tightly, still crying of joy. He walked passed the crowd. A man stopped him, "Yes?"

"Stranger, I am the mayor of this town, I wanted to thank you."

"Of course, anything I can do to help."

"Are you travelling?"

"Yes, I am."

"Do you have a place to stay?"

"No, I do not."

"Do you want a place to stay?"

"I wouldn't."

"Stay, stay, we should have somewhere for you to stay, sir,"

"Vidian, Vidian of the Great Desert."

"Are you some type of lord?"

"No, I am from a town near the Great Desert."

"Ah, I see, I see, thank you once more for saving one of my townspeople."

"Don't thank me, it is fine."

"You are very generous, but I must ask, how did you do that?" The rest of the village had returned to their business, "The plant thing."

"You saw it? Well, you see, I am a blessing hunter, I collect blessings of the gods by completing tests of strength, will, mind and courage, I have recently collected the blessing of nature, allowing me to ask nature for help, and it came in handy."

"That is amazing, I have never met anyone like you," A farmer walked up to him and interrupted, asking about rain, "No, I have not received messages of rain, the time is drought, we will have to work on the irrigation system and depend on the hunting and gathering."

"Rain? How long has it been since you have had rain?"

"A few months now, sir," The farmer responded, "It is going to seriously hurt us, but only the gods can bring it to us, we can still hope."

"Maybe this is fate, maybe it is luck, maybe, just maybe," Clouds began to gather overhead at alarming speed. Pitch black clouds filled the sky above the village as winds awoke and blew through the village and the dry bits of earth began blowing off the ground. Rain began pouring out of the sky, nearly out of nowhere. Vidian chuckled as most of the villagers sheltered themselves from the rain and others danced in the rain. Vidian mumbled under his breath, "I hope I do you justice, Eternal Domain, I hope I do."

"Sir Vidian, don't stay in the rain, come in, come in," He jogged to the shelter of the sort of altar of the town, "I am Victor Gillore, the priest of the town, I thanked the gods for what you've done for our village, thank you very much."

"What god do you worship?"

"Any, but we mainly worship the gods that can bring our survival," Vidian looked around the wooden building as the rain battered the roof, "We have an altar for Lady Structania, Lord Orn, Lord Tardunus and Lady Temprania, and the last, for Lord Eternum, we worship the gods of our trade, Blacksmith, Farmer, Shepherds and then the one for our survive, Civilization."

"Do you worship any other gods?"

"Whenever someone asks me to, I am not from here originally, I used to be a wandering priest, and now, I stay here to help these people, so I still have scrolls from my other worships, meaning that I can still do these worships," He pointed at a shelf full of scrolls, "I collected a lot of them in my time as a wandering priest, from nearly all the gods, I had a Seakin man actually give me a scroll."

"A Seakin?"

"Yes, I was near Bloodwater and I saw a man unconscious on the beach and helped him, he was Seakin, in return, he offered to bring me a scroll of his god, and I gladly accepted, I am I very grateful of that," He began talking to himself, "How did the rain come all of a sudden?"

"That book there, what is that one?"

"A legend book, the one about Eternum's Trusted."

"Have you ever read it?"

"I have, I have, several times," He pulled the book off of the shelf and flipped through it, "I read this to many people, preaching the glory of Lord Eternum."

"Go to the part about Lord Krranus."

"The god of war, the god of war, wait, something happened, there is nothing here, the pages are blank? How?"

"Maybe flip back?" There were filled pages, Vidian said as he walked towards the door, "Well, that was a nice talk, I will get going."

"Wait, Sir Vidian, it is raining, don't you want to stay?"

"It isn't raining, I actually will be leaving, my travels are bringing me down south and to the west, have a nice day, and keep looking at that book over the next few days."

"I guess I will, sir Vidian, may the gods protect you."

He walked alone, down a dirt path, under the alley of trees that shaded the path. He decided to try out his new blessing some more. He placed his hand near the ground and a root emerged, and followed him for a few steps before retreating back to the ground. He smiled at his power and continued walking. He stopped dead in his tracks as someone called him out, he turned and saw a woman, wearing a plated shoulder piece on her left shoulder with a fully armored arm. She was shorter than him with long black hair that was in a braid that lay on her right side. She was wearing a leather and plate armor, with a pair of blades hanging on her left leg.

"What are you?"

"A human."

"You control nature, you aren't human."

"I was human," He stood still with his armor and helmet still formed, "If that is what you are thinking."

"Then what are you now?"

"My real form, my real face, my real body, it terrifies most."

"I am not scared, I came here looking for a fierce warrior, nothing can terrify me, I am not a scared little girl."

"Why are you here then?"

"I am stopping here, but show me your real form."

"I will, I will, have you ever fought a demon, sorry, ever seen one?"

"I have, both," Vidian smiled at her as she said that, slowly letting his horns return to their normal state, revealing his mouth as well, "Are you, are you a demon?" She grabbed one of her blades' hilts. His wings began unloosening around his body as his horns lay on his head. He revealed his four wings with his amulet around his neck. She pulled out both of her blades, "What are you?"

"We haven't had perfect introductions, introduce yourself some more."

"I am Helena Vigure, a warrior, I was sent by my lord to find a warrior, a man named Vidian, with no last name."

"Why do you look for him?"

"Because an enemy from the Gorge of the Deep has threatened to end us, and he says that Vidian is the only one that can save us," She said, sheathing her blades, "And I believe what my lord tells me."

"Well, I assume it is my turn to present myself," She nodded, "I am Victor, Victor Gillore, a blessing hunter, heading to Darkyan, do you know where that is?"

"Yes, I am from there."

"I will join you, and your town to defend against this evil."

"You are a blessing hunter?"

"Yes, the powers I have are thanks to that."

"And that amulet?"

"A place I can keep them," He changed the conversation, "How long have you been gone from your town?"

"2 week now."

"Well, maybe we should hurry then."

"Yes, but I haven't found Vidian, I can't return yet."

"I'll die to protect your town, with me there, we might be able to buy enough time for this Vidian guy to show up," He snapped his fingers and a four legged creature broke into their sight, "Climb on, we have to get going," His wings wrapped around him and created his armor once more, "Unless you want to let your town die," He pulled her on and the creature began moving, sprinting down the path, "Lord Krranus has one hell of a work for me," He mumbled.

"I hope my lord is fine with this."

"Your lord? Is it Lord Krranus?"

"Yes," She said as the creature kept moving, "The god of war."

"I'll talk with him, you don't have to worry about his wrath."

"I hope you are correct, I hope."

"We are human, all we have is hope and will, nothing else, we are not gifted like the Natura or the Seakin, not robust like the Ice and Earthkin nor as perfectly made as the Darkkin or the Celenstials."

"I've heard that before."

"Many people have, I was told that as a child, it is the gift gods have given humans, we aren't strong like the Earthkin, crafty like the Icekin, intelligent as the Darkkin or Celenstial, nor are we as powerful as the Naturas or the Seakin, but we have hope."

The gates opened and allowed them to enter the towering stone walls that were surrounded with wooden spikes and a moat, an empty trench. The ground around the eastern side of the city was burnt, the smell of death and smoke hung in the air, "He came, hopefully nothing came of it."

"The town seems fine," He climbed down from the creature and Helena hopped down, the beast grunted and dashed off. Helena ran into the town as Vidian walked with his armor created and his horned helmet created around his head. The town seemed dead until guards appeared out of nowhere as the gates closed and surrounded Vidian, "Great."

"He is with me, please, trust me," Helena said walking back to the guards, "He is here to help, he means no harm."

"How can you be sure, Lady Helena?"

"I am, I need to bring him to our lord, he needs to talk to him, apparently."

"Then he is under your care, Lady Helena, we will go back to our posts."

"Where is my brother?"

"In the altar, my lady."

"Very well, Victor, come with me."