The key

Just barely holding herself from shedding tears, Fey immediately looked the other way while hiding her face from Zan.

Zan's smile faded away as she turned her face away from him. He misunderstood her actions and felt ignored.

The cheerful reunion he hoped for suddenly turned into an awkward situation.

Unable to withstand the awkwardness folding before his eyes Herman spoke;

"Zan why don't you try to open the gates of the main temple? We're previously talking about the possibility of you being the chosen one, so shall we look into that possibility?"

Zan simply nodded his head in agreement without speaking a word.

Herman then asked Fey, if she'd be willing to go with them. But she didn't respond at all.

Her unresponsive attitude made them to think that she was angry with Zan over something. And thus they didn't bother her any longer and left her to recuperate herself while they headed towards the main temple.

Finally after calming herself, she turned back but they were nowhere to be seen.

Before Fey could say something, all three of them left her alone and departed towards the main temple.

"How could they not inform me? I know that I wasn't being reasonable but still they could've informed me about their departure before leaving? Am I not their friend?"

She murmured while looking slightly miffed.

As much as she wanted to resent them, she couldn't and she hurriedly rushed towards them while chasing their trails.

Just when she entered the hallway leading towards the main temple, she noticed a bright light illuminated from the direction of the main temple. Curious of the illiminating bright light, she ran towards the direction of the light. As she got closer to the source of illumination, she was dazzled by the golden bright rays.

Hearing the footsteps of someone approaching towards them, Herman guessed that the footsteps belonged to Fey.

"Oh! Fey you're finally here. I called for you back then but you ignored my calls."

He exclaimed while covering his eyes.

"I didn't hear anything back then? I thought that, all of you left me?"

"That's not important right now, is it?"

Appu Illapu interrupted while they were speaking.

"Well let's leave that topic for later. But what's happening right now? And where's Zan?"

Fey questioned.

"I'm not sure of it either. But whatever's happening right now, Zan's involved in it. So you might wanna look ahead."

Herman replied.

Just about some moment before she arrived, Zan was walking towards the gate of the main temple.

Nothing in particular happened when he was walking towards the main temple. Seeing that they both assumed that he wasn't the chosen one either.

But right when he touched the gates of the main temple, suddenly a blinding ray of golden light illuminated from the gate.

In that brink of moment, a thought permeated into the mind of Appu Illapu. He was foretold that the gates of the main temple would illuminate blinding rays of golden light, when touched by the chosen one.

"He's the chosen one! The chosen one!"

Appu Illapu enthusiastically exclaimed.

Tears rolled down his eyes as the blinding rays of golden light started to dissipate.

"Oh mighty lord forgive my ignorance. I who forsake my mission due to boredom ask for your forgiveness my lord."

Appu Illapu begged with eyes full of tears.

Zan who was somehow unaffected by the blinding light rays, slowly walked towards them.

"Why are you staring at me like this?"

He questioned while trying to figure out the reason behind their stares.

Fey and Herman gave him a perplexed look while Appu Illapu looked at him with his eyes full of admiration.

"Didn't you feel anything when you touched the gate?"

Herman questioned.

"Well now that you mention about it, it did feel a bit strange when I touched it. Before I touched it, I was sure that I haven't seen any keyhole in the gate but right when I touched it, a keyhole appeared out of nowhere."

"Didn't you notice those bright rays of light illuminated from the gate?"

Herman inquired after hearing him.

Just when Zan was about to answer to Herman's questions, Fey interrupted;

"What keyholes? I don't see any keyhole in the gate? Herman do you see any?"

Herman then intently stared at the gate, searching for the keyhole.

"No, I don't see any either? Zan you're sure about the keyhole?"

After analysing the gate, Herman inquired.

"Are you two blind? Can't you see that large keyhole in the middle of the gate? It's right there, see?"

While pointing towards the keyhole, Zan replied in an annoyed tone.

Fey and Herman were left puzzled by his remarks. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't see any keyholes in the gate. They thought that Zan was playing a prank on them at first when he mentioned about the keyhole. But his constant insistence and his serious look said otherwise.

"Also Fey, now you talk to me huh? After ignoring me earlier when I greeted you?"

Zan spoke while voicing his annoyance.

Fey was puzzled by his claims. Back then she simply hid her face to hide her tears. Thus she had no idea on what he was speaking of.

'When did I ignore him? Aren't they the ones who actually left without me?'

She thought after listening to his claims.

While all three of them were talking with each other, clearing their misunderstandings, Appu Illapu spoke;

"I'm the key!"

All three of them turned their attention towards him, bewildered.

"What? You're the key? You're joking right?"

Zan was puzzled by his remarks.

"Key? Keyholes?"

"Is there really a keyhole that's invisible to us and only visible to them both?"

While Zan was puzzled by Appu Illapu's revelation of him being the key. Fey and Herman who weren't able to see the keyhole were baffled by the ongoing conversation of the gate of main temple.

The keyhole was only visible to Zan and Appu Illapu. Zan being the chosen one and Appu Illapu being the key was the only ones, who were able to see the keyhole.

When sun god Inti ordered Appu Illapu to guard the temple and guide the chosen one. By guide, he didn't mean as a person who'd travel with the chosen one but he meant as a key who'd open the gates of the main temple, allowing the chosen one to enter the main temple.

With passing time, Appu Illapu forgot about the details regarding his mission. Thus he only realised the fact that he was the key, after the arrival of the chosen one.

The sole purpose of Appu Illapu was to help the chosen one to venture into main temple. And he wasn't meant to accompany the chosen one as his compatriot as he was only a key to the main temple.

While the three of them were confused and having doubts. Appu Illapu walked towards the gate while chanting the name of sun god Inti.

"My friends, who I've only known for a while. Although it's not the ending that I wanted, as I wished to venture on your journey as your compatriot. Alas! I'm bounded by my fate. And my fate is that of the tool and not of the person."

He let out a warm smile as he explained them about his departure.

"Herman I really enjoyed the moments when we could laugh and joke with each other. Fey and Zan, even though you both acted like immature brats, I enjoyed your immaturity. Although it's not been a long time since we got to each other. I enjoyed your company. As I bid my goodbye, I wanted to at least convey my inner feelings before I left. Thank you for hearing me. Take care of yourselves. Goodbye my friends."

Appu Illapu conveyed his inner feelings and bid his farewell. He then walked towards the gate and touched the keyhole which was invisible to Fey and Herman.

The moment when he touched the keyhole, he dissipated into thin air and vanished from their sights.

Only Zan was able to witness the slow and steady disappearance of Appu Illapu. As Appu Illapu touched the gate, his body slowly turned paler and paler, until he became translucent. Just like water getting soaked inside sponge, Appu Illapu's translucent aura seeped inside the gate until he became one with the gate and finally disappeared.

Even though they didn't spend much time together, seeing him disappear infront of them, pained their heart.

Especially Herman who had a lot of similarity with Appu Illapu, was affected the most by his disappearance.

But Zan who witnessed the disappearance of Appu Illapu in great detail, stood frozen in his place, showing no signs of emotions on his face.

After Appu Illapu was absorbed into the gate, the gate opened. But only for Zan as the door still looked close to Fey and Herman.

Only Zan was able to see the door open. Fey and Herman could neither see the disappearance of Appu Illapu nor could they see the opening of the gate.

While Fey and Herman were sunken in their sadness. Zan unconsciously walked towards the gate.