Chapter 9

Basil woke up from his dazed sleep to the sound of screaming and panicked fast talk that echoed throughout the Kaedeian temple, he found himself laid down on his side on a blue carpet. His head felt heavy as he tried to lift it and it took him a while to feel his hands and feet move. The sensation all across his body wasn't to dissimilar from the feeling of a hangover and like one would do after a hangover Basil tried lifting his body into an upright seating position slowly. His head felt like a brick that would fall of his shoulders as he did so and his hands felt like they would slip before he could get fully upright. With some extra effort Basil was able to get himself in a seating position though his movements were still sluggish. The screams and frantic panicked talk were still echoing throughout the temple which hurt Basil's ears somewhat since he heard all these voice plus a faint ringing noise he couldn't quite tell if it was an actually sound or just his hears playing tricks on him again. He covers his ears with his hands to block out the noise but all that happened was that the outside sound being muffled while the faint ringing noise stay constant.

Basil blinked his eyes quickly trying to readjust them to proper sight since all he saw at the moment he woke up was blurred. As he sight grew more clear Basil looked around him with his hands still covering his ears. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't the only whole had laid prostrate on the blue carpet, to his left and to his right he saw lines of men, women and children sleeping and looking like corpse. Corpses that had no wounds, injures or any kind of malady that toke away the color of their skin, calling them living corpses would be apt if you ignore the inherent contradiction. Basil looks at the body closes to him and sees his father sleeping still, his once nude body having been dressed in a priestly robe of white and blue. Basil's eyes go wide as he quickly recalls all that had happened to him making sense of the vague sense of danger he felt when he first opened his eyes. He lets go of his ears to try and crawl to his father's side only to be remind that the danger wasn't past yet as he hears again the sound of screams and battle. "EVAN, GET BACK, GET BACK IN FORMATION" shouts a voice, Basil recognized it as his mother's and it comforts him even as he heard urgency and desperation in it echo throughout the temple. And hearing Evantia's nick name being called he grew more comforted now knowing all his immediate family were within reach.

Basil figured it was his mom and sister that brought him and his father here, it worried him that Opilio hadn't regained consciousness making him wonder if this state of sleep was permanent. He tries to get to his feet but fails as they felt semi numb to him, he tries again and fails, tries a third time and fail, he finally got himself on his feet by the forth try. Walking was difficult and sluggish but Basil did his best to not step on any of the people sleeping in rows near him. He looks around not knowing exactly where he was or where he was suppose to go. While looking around he noticed that there weren't any windows and

the yellow crystalline light that shone down on the large room just registered in Basil's eyes even though it had been shinning all along. He looks up at the light and sees the ceiling of the room, the intricate paintings on it made him realize where he was. He would recognize the image of the goddess Kaedes anywhere but this specific painting of the goddess dressed in flowing blue and white robes showing small naked humans the wonders the world was specific to one place. Realizing he was now in the rather famous Kaedeian temple he looked around him more strictly. He noticed that there were holy miniature statues, tables and cushions stacked together the very edges of the wide room in order to make space for the many people sleeping on the carpet.

 And among the echoing sounds of screaming and battle Basil was also able to notice a faint rhythmic sound in the air, now that he was able to hear more clearly Basil was able to know the sound to be that of a religious hymn. The hymn seemed to be coming from the very front of the room so Basil gazed in that direction, the room was very big so the only thing Basil could see clear was the large statue of the goddess Kaedes. He could also see vague outlines of people dressed in blue and white robes kneeling around said statue and were ostensibly praying to it. Seeing as it were that they were the only people awake in the whole room Basil made his way to them carefully step over this person and that, tip toeing through the blue carpet. He hadn't visited the temple often and when he did it was only on festival days, as such he nearly forgot that there were no chairs in the temple. As he moved through the room and looked around him he had wondered why there weren't any chairs stack at the edge as well.

 The answer came to him that everyone in the temple walked around in socks or bare feet and when they wanted to seat they would just seat on the ground since every bit of the temple's floor was covered with a well maintained blue carpet which could change color given where you were in the temple. He also remembered that he wasn't suppose walk with shoes in the temple but his were still on and that of the other sleeping people as well. He figured given the circumstances the temple priest made an exception for today and as he got closer he realized some of the priests were wearing shoes as well. 'Well I will be damned' he thought, Kaedeian priest were knew for being sticklers for protocol so seeing them abandon of such traditions was in a way prove that the situation was dire. "Excuse me" he said as he finally reached the front of room, the priests and priestess who had been intently focused in their prayer jumped to their feet in fright as if it was the very monsters outside that spoke. They all turned and looked at Basil who looked if he made the mistake of walking into his sisters room while she was changing.

 Among the priests were both young and old but a majority were middle aged or somewhere around their 30s, an elder man among them stepped forward toward Basil. The elderly man was about Basil height and the silver of his long hair blended well with the white of his robe, instinctively Basil stood rigidly arm at his sides to to await the elder priests words since he had been taught to show deference to his elders and this one was a priest on top of that so demanded greater respect. But the elder priest didn't speak at first but instead slapped Basil across the face, Basil was so stunned that he didn't move, the elder priest then started railing at him. 

"Didn't we tell you to knock before you entered the sanctum!" he said aloud with anger "We were praying to the goddess fool! Didn't you see? You interrupted our holy rite and the goddess may not hear our prayers because of this offense.". A middle aged man then came forward and put a hand on the elderly priest's shoulder "Elder brother that is uncalled for, the young man may have made a mistake but who wouldn't during these times.". The elderly priest turned on the middle aged priest saying loudly "It is especially at times like these that we must show our piety with greater zeal so the goddess may hear us brother Komnos and not make such foolish mistakes". Basil still felt the burn from the slap on his face that fed fire to his growing inner rage as the two priests argued, he had just gone through hell in the span of a few hours and now he was getting berated for disobeying an order he didn't hear.

 "I apologize honored ones," he said with a measured respectful tone, determined to keep his composure "I had not heard of any such order made by you or by any.". This response however seemed to enrage the elder priest even more "Have you no ears then boy?" he shouted "How much clearer could we have made it when we told you that you could only inter the sanctum to check on your fellows by knocking and announcing your presence so we may properly cut of our prayer to attend you.". He elder man continued on saying "What blasphemy were you committing in our temple when we told you this, our prayers are more important now more than ever and you sneak up on us in stealth cut short our prayer without proper pardon from the goddess. Are you trying to help the dark sky consume us all? Don't you hear your comrades cries outside? Our prayers are essential in helping them force back the dark tide.". The old priest to Basil's surprise started crying, the tears flowing down the old mans wrinkled face abated some of his anger Basil felt for the man. The middle aged priest named Komnos grab the elder priest by the shoulders once his tears started to flow and gently gained him towards his fellow priests. Komnos then turn back to Basil with an apologetic smile "Sorry for my friends out burst child, it has been a difficult couple of days for him, I hope you will not think ill of him for it.". 

Basil was going to respond politely but then registered the fact Komnos had said days and so asked about that instead "I am sorry again for my lack of knowledge but I heard the honored one say it has been a difficult couple of days?", "Yes" said Komnos in a tone that suggested why he need to ask the question at all. "Ah, honored one hadn't the dark sky appeared just a few hours ago?", the priests eyes narrowed at this and his face expressed confusion "No, it has been over us for nearly a week now.". 'A week?' he thought, he couldn't have been asleep for that long it was impossible he would have starved, the expression of utter shock must have been quite apparent on his face as Komnos moved closer to hold him by the shoulder. "Alright, alright easy there" said the priest thinking the young man was experiencing battle shock, Komnos thought to comfort the him by asking him about familiar pleasant things to remember. "Where are you from child?" he asked, "I... I am from Corippi, th… the sky it turned black and then these things came for me and pa. They…" Basil rubbed his face as if to clean something "They got in my face and my…" he touched his crouch and said nothing, " I went to sleep then I awoke up here.". The last statement shocked Komnos to his core and he grabbed Basil's face with force bringing it close to his own, he forcible stretched Basil's eyelid to open wider and he looked closely at each eye. "Are you telling me," said the priest with a grave voice "that you woke up here and didn't walk here and simply forget that you did?". "Yes honored one" answered Basil while nodding, "PRASIE THE GODDESS!" exclaims Komnos with joy "SHE HAS ANSWERED US".