18 Solarianus

He was sitting at a table with the three ladies of the town, Ventu at Diane's right and Bellita at her left, Lady Diane had invited him to talk. He was still without a shirt, but Lady Diane had offered to give him a cloak to wear, a cloak that a tailor was making for him as they ate, "You never answered my question, Lady Diane, why is Ventu a Celenstial?"

"He is because of a rare occurrence, a Luminasombra, a Light & Dark mix up, meaning that he is a Celenstial, yet male."

"He is the only recorded case of it, well, that I know of."

"Have you completed your works?" Bellita asked, "Sorry for interrupting you, I just am dying to know."

"I have, I am now a Child of the Night, I have 5 of 11 blessings now, I still have a long way to go."

"How long have you been travelling for?"

"Maybe a month, I think so, but it has been tiring, I would like to rest here a little, may I do that?"

"Of course, of course, we aren't going to kick you out after you saved one of our people and have been accepted by the gods of our town, you can stay as long as you want," Lady Diane said, "But not in the inn, maybe in a room we can lend you?"

"I think I have a place, but thank you, can I use that room if I ask you?"

"Of course, of course, it is yours for the time you are here."

"Thank you, this changes from the inn's food."

"I assume you like it?"

"I do, I do," He said finishing the food in his mouth, "But, I have a question, Lady Ventu, doesn't that clothes get uncomfortable?"

"Habit, Vidian," He smiled at Vidian, "I have been like this since I was a child, so the uncomfortable is male clothing, not female clothing."

"If you are used to it I guess," He yawned, quickly covering his mouth, "Sorry, I am just extremely tired."

"You can go if you want, I won't hold you back."

"Vidian, do you have a last name?"

"Nope, I refuse to use the one of my former master, and I killed him years ago, so using it would be painful for me, I never had a family and was a slave for a long time, if you noticed my back, I was beat and whipped a lot."

"That must've been terrible."

"Nah, after a certain amount of pain, everything feels the same, a long, never ending pain, the worst is that they would 'clean' the wounds to make sure they didn't cause infections, that was painful."

"But, I noticed this circular scar on you, what was that from?"

"That one, when I stabbed my master, he drove a spike blade into my shoulder, and I nearly died, but I was saved by a Celenstial lady, from Luminosada, that I met when I went there, I don't know how, but I recognized her, well, more or less, that part of my life is a haze."

"How old are you?"

"20, nearly 21."

"You are young, I thought you were a little bit older."

"You look young yourself, Lady Diane."

"Please, I am 35, I am not young like you."

"You don't look 35, you look 25, or even less."

"You don't need to flatter me, these two do it enough already."

"Do you have a husband?"

"I am married to Ventu, so yes, why?"

"Just asking, true, I forgot that Lady Ventu was a guy, I just hadn't seen any Darkkin with you, that's why."

"Most Darkkins I have met aren't charming, and just tried to get my power, so I married a girl, Ventu, I am allowed to do that, and therefore I did."

"And Lady Bellita is?"

"My younger sister, she is at the head of the Futila River Farms, she is richer than I am," Lady Diane smiled at her, "But not the one in power because she would have to give up her farms."

"And Lady Ventu?"

"Hmm? Oh, his family owns the River Trade Company that connects Nocturnus to Solarianus, the two larger cities of our world."

"Well, aren't you the power couple."

"I guess we are," She leaned over and kissed him, "If you are tired you can leave, you certainly look tired."

"I am, well, thank you for the meal, it was nice talking to you, and I have to sleep if I want any chance of recovering, thank you."

He lay next to Justia, "You are pretty, you know, I am sorry again for today, I hope you can forgive me."

"I said that I could, I didn't think you were as in love with me as I was with you, how did you fall in love with me?"

"The way most men fall in love with women, I kinda just suddenly did, you are pretty, you-"

"My personality doesn't count?"

"I was going to finish, your personality, your way of blushing, your cute way of doing things, the way you make me happy and how you smile when I make you happy, I think that I am actually in love."

"Aww, that is sweet, you are beautiful too."

"Thank you, Justia," He covered his mouth as he yawned, "I have to sleep, if it doesn't bother you, I have to recover from my travels, and what place better than here, next to you?"

"You don't have to exaggerate."

"Sleeping next to you will probably help me recover faster," He kissed her cheek, "Good night."

"Good night, I love you," She blew out the candle next to the bed.

"I do too."

He woke up with Justia hugging him, her body pressed up against him. He smiled and passed his hand through her hair. She smiled in her sleep and snuggled her head on his chest and hugged him tighter. He got out of her arms and sat on the side of the bed, his body was still aching, too much for him to continue his travels. He turns his head as he heard Justia wake up, "Good morning, Justia."

"Good morning, Vidian," She yawned, "Leaving?"

"No, I think I am going to stay some more, I need to be rested before going, you know?"

"I see, how long do you think?"

"A week more, I think, I need to complete the quest, even if I would want to stay longer with you."

"You can stay as long as you want, but I understand that you need to complete your quest."

He climbed onto the trade boat, the boat that would bring him to Solarianus. He waved at Justia as the boat began moving, he would be leaving her for a while, or forever, she smiled at him and waved before sighing and looking at the boat until it left her sight. He wore the cloak that Lady Diane had made for him. He had a hood and a cloth that covered his mouth and nose, hiding his mouth's holes and horn. The blessing sapped energy from him if he hid it, so he could instead hide it like this with a cloak. He sat down on one of the steps of the deck as the boat slowly sailed down the river. He sighed as the sun begin shining brightly from above them. They were supposed to arrive in Solarianus by dusk. Most of the workers were Darkkin, with a couple humans, making sure the stock was fine and the sails were well oriented. He sighed and rest his head on the side of the boat, Lady Ventu had allowed him to use the ship to travel to Solarianus, he was thankful of that, he would have had to walk for far more time than the time of the boat trip.

"Where you heading to?"

"Me?" Vidian looked up at the Darkkin sailor, "To Solarianus, My next step of my trip is there, so Lady Ventu allowed me to ride her boat so that I could tire myself less."

"Why you going there?"

"Travelling."

"It is a pretty city, a little bit larger than Nocturnus, but not massive," The sailor said as he continued working, "My family is from there."

"Married?"

"Yep, my wife is there, with my son and daughter."

"You do this trip often?"

"Whenever I can, I get paid with a percentage of the trade, it can get pretty high, like 2 or 3 golden gods," He smiled, "At least I get to live well when I am with my family."

"Do you have one wife or several?"

"One, only some of our leaders have several, but a Lord got judged by Lord Justicearinaian, and-"

"Got killed for killing his one of his wives? Yeah, I know."

"How do you know?"

"In my journey, I collect blessings of the gods, and Lord Inventaariy was one of them, therefore, I had to judge, and I think that I judged him."

"Ah, well, I think you did the right thing, his wives remarried separately, and his wealth was redistributed, at least we gain from your judgement."

"Good to hear that I am not hated."

"Of course not, he was the hated one."

He set foot on the river port of Solarianus, the Celenstial city to the east of the Great Desert. He set foot on the river port and walked towards the city. It seemed large than Nocturnus, it was also brighter, from the color of the walls to the clothing of the townsfolk. He hid his dark side under his cloak that had a part that covered up to his nose. He walked, zigzagging through the crowd. A person bumped into him and then looked up at him, "Excuse me, I didn't mean to bump into you, sir."

"Call me Vidian."

"Wait? You are, you are Vidian?!" Everyone turned towards him, no matter what they did, then a small moment in which nothing moved or made noise at all, "The Vidian? Of the Great Desert?"

"Yes, why?"

"Then why do you wear that cloak?" He scanned Vidian, "You certainly look like him," Vidian revealed his amulet, "Eternum's Blessing!!??!"

"Indeed, but why am I this famous?"

"My sister said that you had taken on Lord Reignus back in Luminosada, and your stories are wide spread."

"Huh, never thought of that, but, I am not a god, I am just a mere mortal, so I don't need to be given this much attenti-," He caught an arrow out of the air, it then crumbled, "-on, well, I feel like someone doesn't like me," The boy scrambled away and the crowd, that seemed numerous, vanished, leaving five men, wearing cloaks, white cloaks with golden lining, one of them placed a bow back on his back, "Okay, what is this about?"

"Are you a demon?"

"I am a child of the night, not a demon, but I am looking to meet your god."

"You mean our lady."

"Yes, your lady, Lady Dorana," He removed his hood and mask, "Her brother gave me this, as his blessing, you need not fear me, I am here to meet your goddess, she will know of my arrival, all the sub-gods know of me, I am Vidian of the Great Desert."

"We are the Priests of Dorana, paladins that roamed the lands to help others before settling here with families and making this city, we are the leaders of today's order of priests."

"All five of us are the maximum authorities here, you listen to our rules when you are in our city, unless you want to end your life faster than the natural way."

"I count of finishing the quest I started, bring me to your Lady."

"Drop your weapons first."

"I don't have any," He said flipping the hood back on, "I am cursed, weapons crumble when they are between my fingers, as you saw, I am not a threat to your gods, I am here for their help, I need to become stronger, Lord Eternum has told me that I could become stronger with their help."

"Why would Lord Eternum give you such a task?"

"Because I am mortal, and I am driven by a will that only a man who can die would be able to have, the will to make a name for himself, without looking for it actively."

"That sounds correct, Grandmaster, Lady Dorana has told us that he would have to reason that way."

"Thank you, Grand Mage, now, Vidian of the Great Desert, come with me, we can now bring you to Lady Dorana, our Lady will surely meet you," They walked, with him in the middle of an imaginary enclosure as all the crowds dissipated as they passed. A little further down the road, a massive flight of stairs lead to a temple, large than the ones he had seen before.

"This is the temple of the sun, Lady Dorana's temple, Zenith never dims over that point," He pointed at a golden sphere on the top of the temple, "Enter, you will have time to meet with her, but watch your tongue, you are in our city, and you follow our rules, so now you have been warned, go ahead," He continued walking, beginning the ascent of the hundred steps that lead to the entrance of the temple. He had his cloak on, covering his face and horn, with his amulet covered as well. The sun battered down on the white steps, sending a glare to his eyes if he looked anywhere near his feet. The massive doors of the temple were open and the inside had very little light, except for a massive light well in the middle of the room, a glass section of the roof. He walked in and the doors closed behind him, the light well in the middle of the room was shining over a figure that was wearing white, her hair was golden, hanging down to her shoulders. Her skin was slightly darkened, tanned. She had two ram horns that circled once before ending, pointing backwards at the top of her head. They had a light brown color, not black like the horns Lord Fendian had. She stayed still, under the light, staring at him, she had no emotion on her face, and seemed to stare into his soul. He look back at her and walked forwards. She remained still until he was just outside of the light well's limit.