A promise to return

- " It's been a while since you've joined us for the breakfast and it seems like you've changed a little. What happened overnight ? "

Asked Eira and everyone turned toward Val. He was thinking of replying her when something clicked in him and Val went with his intuition

- " I just missed having breakfast with you all mother, and if talk about change then yes, I've decided to walk on the path of paladin. "

Said Val with a smile and everyone froze in their movement, dumbfounded by what they heard.

Cling . . Clang . . Cling Cling Cling

Zion dropped his spoon and Eira was looking at Val with little widen eyes.

- " hahaha. . . ah hah. You and paladin ? With this measly body and nonexistent strength ? Mortals like you should know their place. "

said Zion after a heartfelt laugh as he whispered the last part to Val, but Val remained smiling. Theo agreed with Zion since he knew how weak Val was, and not only his magic capabilities but also mentally.

Val never showed courage in the face of adversary, he didn't had confident to explore his potential and he never fought back in any sparring session against Zion.

A Seedless who seek strength or wanted to prove his devotion to god, willingly chose to follow the path of paladin. Path of paladin was consist of adventuring in lawless places, fighting dangerous monsters, exploring dungeons, rescuing people, challenging several trials, solving hidden mysteries and many more, just to get a blessing from god. Val was not interested in all that paladin and glory but he needed an excuse, so he gave one.

- " Are you aware of what your words may bear ? "

Said Asvaldur in calm and suppressing voice. Upon hearing it, Val felt slight vibrations carried by Asvaldur's voice which gave him goosebumps in all over his body.

Theo thought of the irony behind it, that it was the first time in Val's life that his father had ever spoken to him and yet he never get to know. To become a paladin was never easy, not mention that 20% of seedless people die after setting their foot outside the city every year.

Difficulty rose on whole another level if Val would choose to become a paladin. For him, it'd became a must to climb the temple rank of Bishop in order to keep the pride of divine blood. If not, then he would be exiled and denounced from the divine blood heritage, of course if he'd manage to stay alive.

- " Yes your holiness . . I'm well aware that my existence is seen as an ill omen and I wish to change that. No, I'll show whole Kelnar that goddess Hiera didn't abandoned me, she just laid a different path for me and I shall find it and bring glory to both Kelnar and goddess Hiera. "

Said Val as he pretended to be determined. He was indirectly telling everyone about his departure in hope to lessen the hardships which he'd face in Kelnar.

- " You really have changed Val and just in one night I must say. Did you inspired by a paladin book so much? Stories should be taken as stories, your confidence founded on lies Val. "

- " Confidence is the requirement of first step. After then, journey is all about willpower and devotion. That is what I believe mother. "

- " Distance can't be shorten with words little brother, you must know how to walk. "

Said Zelos, the new eldest brother. Val didn't understand why their responses were negative about his idea. They should have been thankful to the thorn which was moving itself away from their sight.

26yr old High-Bishop ranked Zelos was the pride of Kelnar. He was elegant, sharp and composed. He was hailed as one of the strongest in Kelnar after his father and his devotion toward goddess was unparalleled among others. He always stayed busy with his duties. Whole Kelnar loved him and expected him to get chosen as the next supreme leader.

- " Then, I just need to prove myself before leaving. I'm grateful for your concern brother Zelos. "

Said Val with a confident posture, he stated his conviction very firmly to everyone. Eira and Zion were furrowing in annoyance when Asvaldur gave a nod.

- " So be it, Priest Maximus will make arrangements of everything you required but before you leave, know this, you'll only allow to enter Kelnar once a year until you prove yourself worthy of your name. "

Said Asvaldur and High-Priest Maximus knelt to receive the orders. Zion left the table unhappy with the events. Val knew that his new father won't believe in mere words and he was proven right when he heard the condition.

'He's basically telling me to die outside. '

Thought Val as he find Asvaldur's godly facade amusing. The condition didn't mattered to Val after all he didn't had any plan to come back. Instead, he got a free shopping ticket from Asvaldur with some restriction of course.

- " It'll be done as desired by your holiness ".

They all replied in unison.

******

After breakfast, Val went back to his room and read few books on mana manipulation, to gain more fundamental understanding about mana. Since he was in a magical world, he realized that mana and divinity became very crucial for his purpose.

knock knock knock

- "It's me your grace."

He was alone in the study room when Ana showed up, she came and stood beside his study desk quietly. Val knew that she must have had many questions for him but strangely, she didn't ask anything. An hour passed by in silence, Theo was indifferent but he needed to play a character, so he turned to her and asked

- "Deaconess, if you want to ask something you c-"

Val stopped in the middle of his question when he saw tears falling under Ana's veil as Ana failed to hold her tears when she saw his face. After sighing inwardly, Val stood up and led her to the couch. He made her sit while crouching down in front of her, naturally she opposed because of their status but gave up after he insisted firmly.

Lifting her veil, he saw her kind face shedding tears. Only then he understood that, why Val never came up to take his own life. How could he? when her love kept giving him courage to live. After little hesitation Val wiped her tears and held her hands gently so that she could calm down. Ana looked at him while holding her tears at bay

- " I felt powerless . . from past many years I felt powerless, my every efforts to acquire healing powers failed me greatly. Only goddess knew how much my heart ached when I had treated your wounds. And now I feel helpless, I can't bear to see you suffer nor here nor out there."

Healing powers were not really rare for seed bearers but for seedless, their only way to acquire it was through the blessings from god, which was a really difficult task. Ana was an orphan and after devoting her life to the divine family she didn't made a family of her own.

Original Val was in her care since his birth, so naturally she cherished him very much and even thought of him as her own son. Obviously, Ana was also equally important for original Val but being constantly in pain he never expressed it.

So as a last thing for both Val and Ana, Theo thought that the least he could do was to express original Val's sincere feelings for her which she deserved to know in proper words. So, in low sweetest voice and with a kindest smile he told her

- " Deaconess . . when I was little I learned to walk with your fingers in my hand. You cried with me in my every pain. Your love compensated my every nightmare and more than anything else, you believed in me more than I did. As goddess knows of your heart so does she knows mine, that in it, you are more of a mother to me than my own. Do not worry, I'll be fine."

Tears started to leave her eyes again and she cried while holding Val in her embrace. She repeated " Oh goddess . . what should I do ?", "What should I do ?" feeling loved as a mother and afraid for her son's future travel.

Val sat quietly in her embrace, still indifferent to her sentiments. After calming down, it appeared that Ana reached some kind of conclusion as she quickly wiped her tears and with a determined look, she proposed

- " I'll travel with you, I'll protect you with everything I'm capable of. "

'. . . . it backfired '

thought Val as he saw determination in Ana's eyes, so he tried to calm her down

- " No, it is my trial and mine alone, so are the hardships which will come. "

- " . . T-then promise me that you will return safely after a year."

- " You know very well that I can't do that. "

Said Val and her face became grim. Ana thought, Val couldn't promise her because of his unguaranteed survival but in truth, he couldn't because Val didn't wanted to cross path with Aramis. Theo didn't had any attachments with her nor he wanted to create one but that conversation ignited an intuition within him.

One of the supernatural ability which Theo gained before his death was accurate intuition. Due to the changes in his belief system and his spiritual awakening, Theo's intuition got more accurate but less frequent.

It became more difficult for Val to reject her now. He had an intuition that something was hidden behind her words, so he agreed to go along with her wishes

- " Sigh, very well then . . I, Val Asvaldur Kelnar invoke the sacred oath in the name of goddess Hiera"

Val invoked a sacred oath while holding Ana's right hand and a sphere of white light covered their clasped hands. Sacred oath was an unbreakable promise which made upon the name of a god, that was why it was never meant to be taken lightly. The punishment for breaking it was unpredictable which made it more terrifying.

For example if Val broke his promise then it might be possible that his memories would be wiped clean or he might as well robed of his youth.

Val continued -

- " A year after leaving, if my heart will still beat, then I promise to come back in the place of my birth."

With the end of promise, the ball of light got absorbed in their hands and a white tattoo of beautiful flower ring was formed in the index fingers of their right hand. Ana was still worried because Val didn't used the word 'safely' in making of promise but everything got normal later.

********

After few hours . .

Aleesia came to notify about the prayer. It was the daily routine after breakfast which involved the participation of everyone. Ana helped Val to change his attire accordingly, then they departed for temple.

The place where divine family resided was a monastery, built at the center of city, it was more grandeur and remarkable than any palace. With marble white walls carved with blue mandala patterns, in compared to monastery the 8 wonders of earth appeared like sand castle.

It was big enough to accommodate 30,000 people. In the center of that monastery a huge magical dome was built. From outside, it appeared as a normal stone dome but from the inside, it looked like an artistic stained glass which was painted with the legends of goddess Hiera and it animated like a fairytale.

The statues of 8 white holy knights which was around 40m tall stood in pair of 2, those were built around the monastery in 4 cardinal direction. Each pair of knights carried a huge golden bell which attached to a horizontal pillar carried on their shoulder.

Those 4 golden bells were symbolized as the herald of change. It rang only when a major change took place, a change big enough to affect everyone's life. The temple of goddess Hiera was located inside the monastery just under the center of dome.

'hmmm . . ?'

Val was on his way to the temple with others when he heard something. After taking a turn, they reached in front of a large circular garden, where several stone pillars hovered holding white curtains, rays of sunlight fell generously passing through the magical dome which appeared so wide that it felt like covering the whole sky.

In front of Val, laid a straight pathway made of granite, besides which every deacons and priests stood in order, facing toward pathway, humming a song of goddess Hiera with a soft melodious voice in unison.

' If humming is the traditional method of singing then maybe . . '

The melody was different for what Theo heard before his death but he had a feeling that the person whose voice he heard might had some relation with either goddess Hiera or Kelnar.

Val didn't dwell much as he saw a marvelous statue of goddess Hiera stood at the end of that pathway. Different from the giant statue outside, she wore a halo crown and several head chains, her both hands held a beautiful blue flower crystal, her magnificent folded wings which started from her collar bones looked like a fancy feather cloak.

' It's huge and feels mystical '

Behind the statue of goddess Hiera rooted a giant tree. Strangely, its trunk was bone white in color and its long branches were lavished with blue wisteria, it looked really ancient but it was still lush and mesmerizing.

Several semi-transparent spirits which looked like pokemons were found sitting on that tree branches. Their body had slight glow in it while their movement left a sparkly trail.

According to Val's memory, that wisteria tree was known as The sacred tree of generations, it was said to be there since the foundation of Kelnar.

Val joined with other members in front of the goddess statue, then they all knelt and with closed eyes began the prayer.