17 Deity Roku's Blessing

-Charm's POV-

I woke up exactly at four in the morning, and so is Mang Kanor who will be my guide towards the temple of Deity Roku. I'm still so sleepy to be honest but I have "deity duties" to fulfill.

We never know when is the exact time that the enemy will arrive in this village, so better be early than to be sorry.

***

-FLASHBACK-

"So here's the plan..." I said yesterday evening before going to bed.

I have Aurora, Mang Kanor, Trash and Baal gathered around me and listen to whatever I have to say.

"Me and Mang Kanor will be the ones to go to the temple tomorrow. While I'm gone for a while, Aurora will be the one watching over North Coast for any signs of the intruders. In case that I'll be late, I hope not, do everything that you can to delay their ship from reaching the shore. Alright?" I thoroughly explained then looked at Aurora, who's now squinting her eyes at me.

"Why do I get to do all that hard work?" she said while heaving out a sigh. She saw us looking silently at her so afterwards she raised both of her hands in complete surrender. "Fine. I'll do it."

"Don't be late for more than ten minutes!" she quickly added, right index finger pointing at me.

"I'll do everything I can." I reassured her. She somehow relaxed after that.

"You two..." I said, looking at Baal and Trash at the same time. "You stay here."

I saw Trash's bunny ears dropped down, indicating that he's sad, while Baal took a step forward.

"Just change me back to my original form!" he whined.

"Nuh-uh. We really need to wait for two days before the side spell lose it's effect." Aurora explained, moving her index finger sideways.

Baal just gave us a bored look before going back to its place.

-FLASHBACK ENDS-

***

And that's what we have agreed on. If you somehow think of it, we are really outnumbered, even though given the fact that we can wield magic... there's just only the two of us against an upcoming battalion of soldiers

I hope Deity Roku's blessing will be enough to drive them out of the village, for good.

After a quick breakfast, me and Mang Kanor started our journey towards Deity Roku's temple.

"I hope you're into long walks, because reaching the temple will get us probably around one to two hours by foot." he gives out a little warning as we started our morning walk.

"Don't worry about me. I'm used to it." I proudly said.

Eventually, I regretted saying that out loud. The old man was right. It really is a very.... very... long walk before we could reach the temple. Drops of sweat soon emerged from my forehead but I immediately brushed it off with my right hand.

Instead of complaining over here, I simply looked at the old man walking next to me, who seems pretty happy and is full of energy despite his age. I suddenly felt ashamed of myself.

Here I am, silently complaining while my companion over here has the energy to hum a song while walking. I smiled at the thought of it.

"I'm glad to meet someone like you... you know, who isn't afraid of us unlike other residents of the village." I suddenly decided to break the silence between us.

Truth is, he's the only one resident of Ziv Village who volunteered to let us stay in his humble home.

He turned to look at me and smiled. "Deities in the past made several good deeds for my ancestors. That is why our family chose to be your follower up until my generation. I always make sure to visit the temple every Sunday and clean it up, because I was really hoping that someday..."

He paused for a moment to avoid certain rock blocking his way.

"I was hoping that a deity like you gets to visit the temple. And I was right! My efforts were never wasted when you came to the village."

No words can explain how happy I am to hear all of this from him. It's just... amazing... to know that there are still certain people out there like Jade and Mang Kanor who still have faith in deities.

After.... who the heck knows how many hours it has passed... we finally arrived at our destination.

I gasped in awe as I looked up to have a clear view of the temple in front of me, which is a a symmetry-driven structure, with many variations, on a square grid of padas, depicting perfect geometric shapes such as circles and squares

Mang Kanor then guided me to where the entrance is, and I was the one to open the door. Thanks to the little gas lamp that Mang Kanor was holding, it became our tiny source of light as we entered inside the temple.

I eventually noticed the empty torches attached to the walls, so I started to ignite a flame in my hands and cast it to every torch that we passed by, illuminating our way.

After several minutes of searching for the temple's sacred room where I surely can find the spring, we later came across an enormous door, which has a grey color of seemingly an unburnished silver, dull and spotted with years of water damage.

What makes me think that this is the room we're looking for is the marking on the door. It has the face of Deity Roku engraved on it.

"Please wait for me here while I talk to Deity Roku inside." I pleaded with my companion, who only nods in agreement.

I took a few steps forward and soon as I came face to face with it. Remembering what Baal did at his master's temple, I also stretched my hand forward and was about to reach for the engraved image of the supreme deity when the door suddenly by itself. I halted for a moment before returning my hand to my side.

After taking a deep breath, I forced myself to take another several steps inside the room. As soon as I finally went inside, the door again closed by its own with a loud thud on the process.

"I've been waiting for you... Charm." said by that gentle voice.

It didn't take that long for me to realize who's the owner of that voice.

"Deity Roku!"