Abandoned Temple & The Seven Orders

Arthur barely kept himself standing straight. He had to thank his extra chunky back that there were no internal injuries as the mace had landed ferociously on his body.

Arthur looked at the orphanage for the last time and turned away from it.

The road he stood on now was the same road that he once stood on with his father.

Road, 8 miles. Unlike the name, the road only went on for a few kilometers at best, and with Arthur's wide presence standing on it, the lonely road wasn't lonely anymore.

Looking at Arthur, Conor smirked before he returned to his room.

"Fucking Conor. Fucking triplet twerps. Fuck the bullies. Fuck everybody." Arthur mumbled as he slowly walked away in a particular direction.

He was enraged but he was powerless.

If it was possible Arthur wanted to burn the whole of Gaia, but he was as powerless as the road he was walking on.

Thousands of meters away from the orphanage, there was a temple that stood tall in the middle of a gigantic circular forest. Thick trees surrounded the temple, their branches extending throughout the entire circle

It was a vast place, and because of the tall grass, no one ever made their way towards the temple.

It was quite an eerie place as the whole place looked abandoned without a trace of soul there.

"Phew." Arthur reached the park and leaned against one of the trees in the outer zones of the circle.

Catching his breath, Arthur turned around and did a free fall towards the patch of grass behind him.

That was the last time this particular patch of tall grass enjoyed its blessed heights.

Crushed under the weight of Arthur, the grass wasn't even given a chance to wreathe in pain.

"Damn it." Arthur was looking right at the branches and the green leaves that fluttered every other second with a light breeze of air that was coming from deep within the circle.

"Am I homeless now?" Arthur mumbled with a shaky voice before placing his arm on his eyes.

"Damn everything." Hundreds of thoughts jumbled in his head, nothing was making sense to him.

Abandoned left and right, bullied all his life, the only thing left was this.

Being homeless in this world of magic. In a world filled with mana and dreams, Arthur had nowhere to go.

He had nothing, or so he had thought.

Arthur instantly removed the arm that he was crushing his eyes with, touched his chest, and felt something there.

A second later, he pulled out the letter envelope that Malissa had shoved in his shirt.

"Malissa's recommendation letter!" Arthur said as he looked at it with hopeful eyes.

But, then again he still didn't have a place to live.

Arthur while wondering about any to every nonexistent option that was available to him, raised the letter envelope as he stared at it.

He was thinking of his savior who had left him with this, which acted as the last bit of rope that was pulling him away from falling into the well of insanity.

"There is nothing worse that can happen to me. This is the lowest that this world can push me." Arthur mumbled while looking at it.

His words were a pep talk to himself. While waving the letter envelope, Arthur was ready to make a resolution.

"Now I will only rise up-hey hey." Before he could even finish talking, a gust of wind blew from behind him.

The wind was strong and sudden as it made its way towards the center of the place right where Arthur was.

In an instant, Arthur felt the wind and weight lifting off from between his fingers as the sealed letter was swiftly carried away by the wind.

While staring with bewildered eyes, Malissa's recommendation letter looked nothing less than a future fiancée who was eloping on her marriage day.

That letter was the last bit of sanity that was keeping Arthur attached to his life so how could he let it fly away just like that?

Arthur hurriedly got up and started running after it.

"Wait for me ~" Screaming, Arthur ran as fast as he could towards the center.

Seeing the letter moving with the wind just fast enough that it would remain in Arthur's sight, Arthur couldn't help but feel skeptical about it.

Without the recommendation letter that Malissa had passed onto him, he wouldn't be able to enter the Mysticlore Academy. And, the bit of pride he had left in his young self wouldn't allow him to ask Malissa to write another recommendation letter for him.

So he had no choice but to get his letter back.

The chase lasted a few minutes before the wind carried the letter inside the temple whose gates were suspiciously already opened.

"Wait." Arthur finally stopped but now, he was only a few meters away from the temple.

"For the last seven years, I have almost visited this place every day. But this is the first time I have ever come this far." Arthur said with a worried look. He couldn't help but look around before turning away from the temple's gate.

Looking back, Arthur could only see himself trapped in a mush of giant trees. Going back to where he had started running from, seemed more dangerous to him.

Taking a deep breath, Arthur walked back while turning around as he faced the temple.

Open was the entrance of the temple and nothing was stopping Arthur from looking inside.

"Just what is this abandoned temple?" Arthur said with squinted eyes as he tried to look inside the temple. It was truly an abandoned place and even though he looked as hard as he could the temple was darkness in itself. Arthur couldn't see a thing. The darkness affirmed that there was no one inside the temple.

"Huff....Haaaa...Huf....Haaaa." Arthur breathed like someone who had ruined their lungs by using mana vapes too much.

Mana vaping was a leisurely activity that was enjoyed by the nobles and the ones who were truly rich even amongst the rich magicians of the Kingdom. The same activity was passed onto the kids of these rich ones who were born with a golden spoon.

Arthur who was currently homeless couldn't even think of something that the nobles enjoyed when his last hope was already out of his sight.

Arthur looked back while taking deep breaths and then at the darkness in front of him.

The only thing left was to walk inside and pray that he could find the letter, somehow and someway.

"Who does this temple belong to?" Arthur mumbled to himself as he glanced at the sides of the opened gates.

The abandoned temple had no such things as a mark or a design left by the one who had built it.

"Just who built this? And for whom?" Arthur said with a reluctant look as he took a step forward. Another step and he would have one foot in the horrifying abyss in front of him.

In Losmo Kingdom, there weren't any temples and Arthur who had been a nerd and learned about almost everything, knew this fact.

With power, people stop believing in entities, be they gods or devils, since all of their solutions are within themselves. Unless the followers of these entities are stronger.

This was the current status of the Kingdom but only the people of Losmo Kingdom were like that.

"There are only seven orders in the Agrazeel Continent. But, none of the orders had ever approached this Kingdom. There are no such records." Arthur mumbled to himself.

The Seven Orders that ruled the hearts of the people of Agrazeel Continent belonged to the five Gods and two Goddesses.

Aquanor, the God of water.

Pyroth, the God of Fire.

Terrarus, the God of Earth.

Zephyrus, the God of Wind.

Voltar, the God of Lightning.

Nocturna, the Goddess of Shadow.

Luminara, the Goddess of Light.

Except for the raised affinity with your attribute, which was a minor reward, there were many other reasons to join an Order and follow a God.

To join an order came with a constriction, that was, to follow the orders of the God whom you are submitting to.

Thus, the ancient Kings of Losmo never productively got in touch with any of the orders as it was better to remain neutral.

And, Arthur knew it thanks to Malissa who was a genius in the Mysticlore Academy, Arthur was never short of books. The more he read them, the more knowledge he had accumulated. From the history of the Kingdom to the orders in the Continent, and from there, to the continents in Gaia. Arthur knew about basically everything.

That was one of the biggest reasons why he had never approached the temple in the seven years of visiting this place. And, now that he was already here, he couldn't help but doubt if he had missed something.

"A letter that would possibly let me join the Mysticlore Academy. But, it's in a temple that shouldn't belong in the Kingdom." Arthur contemplated as he was weighing his choices even though he never had any.

"Damn it." With the dropping of another damn it, Arthur took his first step inside the temple.

With one foot inside the temple, the space around Arthur instantly distorted as he was pulled inside the dark abyss.

"Boom." The doors of the gate crashed instead of closing with a sound that shook Arthur from head to toe.

The moment the gate closed, Arthur could feel his heart palpitate. His back was cold with the sweat that was pouring out instead of slowly seeping out of his thick skin.

"It's dark." Arthur didn't even dar mumbled his thoughts in case something popped up out of nowhere.

Unlike how Arthur looked, he was mature for his age, way more mature than kids who were even years older than him. But it was human nature to feel scared in darkness.

Not any common darkness, a darkness where you could feel being watched.

Arthur shivered and already had his fist clenched.

Just twenty or so minutes ago, he had been kicked out of the orphanage. Arthur had thought that being homeless was his lowest point but now he was sure that he had spoken too soon.

The fear was taking over him and he was just one sound away from passing his pants.

"H-" Arthur tried to speak but he felt like he would choke if he continued.

Remembering what he had entered the temple for, Arthur closed his eyes. Since it was dark, it didn't matter if he had his eyes open or not.

'If I can find the letter, it will be worth entering this place and almost wetting myself!' Arthur smiled with his eyes closed as he got on his knees.

'I can do it.' Arthur on all fours, started swiping his hand on the ground, in search of the letter.