12 Welcome

The few people crowding in front of the temple broke out in murmurs and conversations, the moment the flying figure departed. No one nearby paid much attention to the young woman holding the fallen young man in her arms.

Terror overcame Riya's tear-stricken face. She shook Silorek gently, then put her ears down against his chest. She had always jumped to worst-case scenarios in her previous life, and this time was no exception.

But to her immediate joy, she could hear his heartbeat in his chest. He still lived, she huffed out a sigh of relief. "Sil, can you hear me? Please wake up." Patting his cheeks in worry, she appeared at loss about what to do.

"Are you okay, my dear?" An elderly woman, who was watching them, approached carefully with concern on her wrinkled face. "Oh my, it must have been too much for the poor boy. Gods tend to go overboard sometimes, but that one looked particularly mad this time." The old woman explained in a tender voice, as she went down on her knees and pulled out a water skin from a basket she was carrying.

Riya stayed still and said little while the woman dapped some water on Silorek's face with a piece of her clothing. The young priest groaned in discomfort when the water touched his pale face. The old woman then nodded and gave Riya a reassuring smile.

"Oh Sil," The Goddess exclaimed, wiping away the tears on her face. There was one thing that hadn't occurred to her before this moment, but the realization dawned on her. Silorek was the only person she could call a friend in this world, he was the only person who had shown her kindness and actually tried to help her. Even back as Abdo, most of his "Friends" consisted of random online people he met on sketchy sites. His friendship with them was one of giving and receiving online memes, nothing more or less. It was a vicious cycle of memery.

But this friendship with Silorek seemed like the real thing she had never experienced before. He had only been with her for a few days but he already defended her honor, guided her and listened to her awful jokes. Who knew if he also had memes to offer in the future.

This made the idea of losing him someday, due to her incompetence as a goddess, even more painful.

A chorus of shouts and murmurs soon echoed around the two women trying to wake up the bald young Priest. The crowd that was gathered before the main gate of the Temple was beginning to disperse rather quickly. People passed them by, giving them a few curious glances before going on their way.

"On your way now, nothing to watch here. The temple is closed for today, come back tomorrow for your blessings." The reason for the quick dispersion became apparent soon, as a group of five people in green priest robes appeared through the gate, ushering people to leave the surrounding area.

"You three, clear the area now." One of the priests moved toward them, waving a stick in his hand. He had a small goatee and a scanty thin mustache, which reminded Riya of a juvenile young boy. The old woman quickly rose when the man took notice of them, patting Riya's shoulder gently, as if in apology, and leaving the water skin behind before walking away with the rest of the crowd.

Soon it was only Riya and Silorek before the temple gate. The priest who called them out came closer to them and stood with arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed.

"You heard me the first time, don't make me use force before Bes's own temple." The man threatened with the stick in his hand hovering before them. He seemed far less intimidating then he thought himself, mostly because of the ridiculous mustache that looked like it belonged to a young teenager who just hit puberty.

Riya looked at Silorek who still didn't wake up, before interjecting. "Can't you see he is injured?!" She exclaimed as she pointed out. "Your lover boy will be fine, Woman. The effect of the Goddess's daze will go away soon. But I would recommend you find a stronger man than this. Even that old woman didn't faint and fall down." The green-robed priest of Bes snickered in mock at the two. "Now off you go, nurse him somewhere else."

The blood in Riya's veins all rushed to her face, as it turned a beet red. Her mouth opened and closed in confusion, while she absorbed the words that implied she and Silorek were lovers. "I'm not gay!" She blurted out without thinking.

The mustached priest frowned and rose one eyebrow at the statement that made no sense to him. "What is gay?" he asked slowly.

"Wait, I'm a woman now." Riya berated herself in her mind, after speaking out loud without thinking about her words.

"I meant that my name is not "Woman" or "Gay", my name is Riya. Gay is a common name where I come from." She stuttered as she weaved her poor and awkward lie. But the man didn't seem to care enough to question her words, as he leaned down and grabbed Riya's arm lifting her up forcefully. "I don't care where you are from or who Gay is, you leave now."

Riya shrieked, trying to pull back her arm, but her body was fragile and she couldn't resist his aggressive pull. While on the other hand, Silorek body slid out of her arms and fell to the ground.

Anger bubbled inside Riya's chest at this treatment. She didn't know what to do, so she simply let her body respond on its own. She moved fast, her head tilting forward and her teeth sinking into the man's hand with all the might she could muster, before he could register what just happened.

A shrill scream resounded from the man as he reflexively let go of Riya's arm. Now that she was free once more, she moved away from his reach and took hold of Silorek again.

The mustached priest clinched his hand in pain, blood dripping down his arm and staining the ground red. Riya brandished her red-tipped teeth threateningly like a cornered animal at the man, or like an ex-girlfriend, attempting to stand up for herself for once.

"How dare you, you mad Wench! You'll wish you hadn't done that." He cried with a high pitched voice, lifting up his stick to the air and preparing to hit the crazed woman who bit him.

"HOLD, LIAM." A shout rang in the air at the last moment, freezing the man in place with his stick hovering above Riya. She had her eyes tightly closed and her body wrapped around Silorek, in preparation for the inevitable blow. "What?" The priest named Liam turned around, keen to see who had stopped him from teaching this woman a lesson.

When the expected stick didn't rain down in blows and a voice shouted something, Riya eased her eyes open. She opened her eyes just in time to see the man who was about to hit her, turn around and almost instantly get slapped in the face.

Slap!

The sound reverberated in the open air loud and clear, Riya even felt its force in her bones. The only words she could use to describe it in her mind was the term "Bitch slap". What made her gape in shock, even more, was that Liam actually fell to the ground from the force of the blow, instantly passing out.

She didn't even know it was possible to faint from a single slap.

Peeling her eyes off the incapacitated man, she looked up to see the person responsible for the satisfying achievement but also worried she might get bitch slapped too.

A mature looking man with a clean shaved face stood before her. His long hair hung down past his shoulders, the same color as the robe he wore. His robe was similar to the now unconscious priest's robe, except for its color, the collar, and two golden cuffs at the end of each arm. His jet black robe complemented his cool dark skin. Both his collar and the golden cuffs were decorated with silken embroidery of Leaves, Vines and what seemed to be Axes. He also wore a high topped hat with similar designs on his head.

The man stared at the priest named Liam on the floor, panting as if he just ran a mile to get here. His mouth twisted into a scowl and his ears burned red. Right behind him, a woman came running. She leaned down as she came to a stop, also panting and taking quick shallow breaths. The Priestess donned the exact same robe the man wore, except that her collar and cuffs had different embroidery of vines and plants woven on them.

The long-haired solemn priest stared at the unconscious man for a few more seconds, the veins on his neck bulging as if ready to pop. Then he turned his attention to Riya.

Riya almost peed herself a little.

The man's gaze burned a hole right through her, making her wish she was not even born once, let alone reborn again. But to her relief, his angry features eased as he looked at her and without a word, he went down on his hands and knees.

The similarly long-haired haired woman behind him, having finally caught her breath, also went down in tow.

The nearby priests watching this unfold stood flabbergasted at what was occurring. But when the kneeling man shouted again, "You fools, kneel now.", none dared disobey and all fell to the ground, prostrating before Riya in unison.

"We welcome you to our temple, Divine One." The man and woman said as one.