That's my...

Seeing her stop, one of Sepherene's followers raised his head and spoke softly. "Is there a problem, my lady?"

Sepherene did not answer him, merely continuing to gaze at the wall. As the man who spoke began to look uncomfortable, she pointed her chin and spoke with a hymn-like tone. "What is in that room?"

The man glanced at it. "Just another prayer room, Milady. Shall I check it for you?" he offered. Sepherene seemed to consider the offer before shaking her head and beginning to walk on. "No need to bother. I though I had sensed something, but it seems I was wrong. Let's go."

The group silently walked on, turning the corner and vanishing from sight. Thirty seconds after they were gone, Endyr slunk out of the room and let out a deep breath. She had very nearly been caught, and had only managed to fool that woman's senses by using a mix of invisibility and Infinity energy. Luck also seemed to be on her side for once, because it seemed the woman wasn't in the mood to investigate the disturbance. 'Just my gaze was enough to trigger her senses, or maybe her Mana Sense is just that fine?' Endyr thought over what gave her away before resuming her stealthy exploration of the temple.

She hadn't gotten much further when she became away of a faint but insistent buzzing coming from...her own body. Looking down in confusion, she failed to detect anything wrong with her but the feeling was certainly emanating from within. As she wondered what it was, and began to panick at the possibility it was a form of detection, the System spoke up.

[Host is approaching the objective they need to accomplish to escape this Quest. Host's body is thus subconsciously reacting to it.]

Humming in relief, Endyr felt a flash of joy. 'With this, finding what I need should be a lot easier. Still, something the System said is bugging me...My body is reacting? Not the System itself? Does the exit of this Quest have something to do with the Abominations?'

Endyr believed it to be likely, specially since her choice of vessel had to be influenced by something. What the Almighty would have stored at the heart of "His" altar that was related to the Abominations, she didn't know. 'Whatever it is, the security around it must be pretty intense if I'm only feeling it now' Endyr thought. Ever since she had entered this vessel, she had be vaguely aware pf pockets of something spread across a very large area. After careful consideration, she came to the conclusion that she was feeling stray bits of Infinity energy seeping into the world. 

Whether the blobs also represented other Abominations, Endyr could not tell. She couldn't even properly describe how the sensation felt, or how she could identify the blobs. She just knew they were there, aimlessly moving ever so slightly. How far away or whether they could sense her was unknown, and Endyr strangely wasn't curious to find out. Normally never the type to let something go, the Abominations...gave her an eerie feeling. Perhaps the sight of her own body being used as a seedbed without consent was the reason, or maybe it was an uncomfortable to be faced with the fact that all the Abominations did was kill and destroy. Even as a Denizen, Endyr understood the value of life and necessity for restraint, if only to avoid depletion. But these creatures didn't even have that. It left a bad taste in her mouth that her "creations" were so negative .

Back to the present, Endyr once again had to play whack-a-mole within the temple: popping into a room whenever people past. By now, she met dozens at a time, all going towards the temple entrance and each more fabulously dressed than the last. After around ten minutes though, the numbers began thinning and groups less frequent. When several minutes went by without encountering anyone, Endyr surmised that everyone had went to the ceremony. It was about that time anyways, according to her instincts. 

Picking up the pace considerably, Endyr practically pranced through the vacant hallways as the stinging sensation got stronger. By now,. it had transitioned into a light burning pain, and Endyr was slightly worried about how extreme it would get. Thankfully it stopped at "somewhat painful" and didn't obstruct her movements. She had to suck air through her teeth to stifle a pained gasp every now-and-again but the pain was mild compared to how she felt after escaping that hole in the previous run. And finally, after easily thirty minutes of wandering, Endyr found what she was looking for.

Well, kind of.

What she actually found was a door seemingly built for Giants, or perhaps the Dragon that Belgemir rode. By now she had gotten accustomed to massive, gold ornaments and structures, but even Endyr had a double-take upon seeing this door. Though perhaps the reason was different from what you'd think. On the door, multiple scenes were inscribed with great skill, making each one seem alive. Giants wreathed in clouds and lighting fought soaring Dragons, winged humans fought black figures with horns and tails, a tsunami drowned forests, red-eyed humans fought monsters and beasts with shadows and blood...this door was nearly identical to the one in Tamar's crypt. 

However, Endyr soon noticed two differences. The symbols of Jester, Fallacy and Daemon were missing and only the Almighty's remained. The second, and bigger difference, was that another story was being presented instead of just the Chaotic Era's. It showed the Almighty Primordial, wrapped in silver light and storm clouds, "His" shadow long and menacing, fighting against a sea of dark grey matter, possessing hundreds of eyes, mouths and limbs, and excluding an aura of pure evil, degeneration and hunger. From the ooze came forth grotesque and hideous creatures of various forms, destroying all life around them. Some of the figures Endyr found quite familiar: they were identical to hers. 

'The Almighty fighting against the Abominations? But I've never heard of these things before arriving here, and especially not that blob thing. The artist clearly means to depict the Abominations as a world-threatening calamity, but who do no records or even tales of them exist in the current Era? What secrets does this matter hold?'

The door was left slightly ajar, just wide enough for light to slip through, and hopefully for her to do the same. There were no handles on the door, so how she was meant to open it escaped her, so she was thankful towards whoever forgot to close the door after them. Gathering her breath, she walked towards the door and put her hands on it. The gold was slightly warm and surprisingly soft to the touch, almost like putty. She couldn't affect it in any way though, and wasn't going to even if she could. Squeezing her body through the gap, she took in the room beyond it.

It was like a much more impression version of the other prayer rooms in the temple, with banners depicting a cross on silver wings hanging from each of the two-dozen columns. Rows of easily a hundred pews sat before a marble altar, possibly the only thin that wasn't made of gold in the place. A cross the size of Belgemir was erected behind it, and a book was left open on the altar beside a silver chalice. A lush red carpet covered the floor and Endyr felt her feet relax just by standing on it. The carpet was surely a magical item, for she could feel all the little aches and pains melt out her body within seconds. 

What immediately captured Endyr's attention however, was the new murals on the walls. A continuation of the story on the door, it showed the Almighty battling against more Abominations. The difference was, the giant grey blob was no longer present and the Abominations had assumed a more orderly and structured form. No longer lumbering clumps of putty, they now stood firmly on four or two legs, and fought in organized waves. 

The Almighty had also changed: "His" shadow was now normal and "He" also commanded the sea and sun on top of silver light and storms. Endyr believed that the two pictures represented the Almighty in two different time stages; the door showed the Almighty fighting the Abominations before defeating the Ancient Gods, while these showed the fight afterwards. What had happened to the blob was unknown, but Endyr imagined it had been slain. These murals also painted an interesting picture: the Almighty gave up the Authority of Death but gained more Authorities in return: Fire and for the sun and Water for the sea.

'They were probably stolen from the Ancient Gods' 

As Endyr's eyes wandered the walls, something caught the corner of her eye. Tilting her head back, she saw that an additional painting had been drawn on the roof. What was shown made her frown, because it was different from everything else she had seen so far.

The Almighty walked alone in a pitch black void where nothing existed. On "His" back, countless wings of silver light illuminated where "He" walked but failed to brighten anything away from "Him". The Almighty held a plain stone tablet in "His" hands, something illegible written on it, though the words glowed with a soft golden hue. The biggest eyecatcher in the painting though wasn't the Almighty, but what was above "Him". 

Thousands of unblinking eyes stared down at "Him" from the void, seething with hatred and maliciousness. The extent of their evil greatly surpassed the grey blob's and all of it was directed at the Almighty. The Almighty looked up at them with a calm and indifferent gaze, and the two parties were locked in a staring contest.

What this symbolised, Endyr had no clue. The empty area resembled the fabled Void, which she had learnt about from Kieran Durnoff in passing. It was credited as a desolate null space, more of a boundary between Orvonia and other realms than anything. It also served as some sort of barrier between Orvonia and space, since anyone who attempted to leave the world's atmosphere would end up their instead. Those that didn't leave within seconds remained trapped their for forever, something the world had learned the hard way. 

'The Almighty fought against malicious entities from space? Orvonia was threatened by aliens in the past?' To this, Endyr was mostly indifferent. Obviously, life existed all throughout the Infinite Universe and she doubted most of it was friendly to others. The presence of alien entities targeting this world was natural, especially since she was often raided civilisations and worlds for entertainment as a Denizen. Instead, it was the complete absence of any reference of such hostile existences that bugged her. 'Perhaps the aliens have already been destroyed by the Almighty?'

Finished observing the art, Endyr instead focused on the marble altar, and the cross behind it. Once she laid eyes on it, the burning sensation somewhere n her body flared up noticeably. Making her way over to it, she started exploring it with her hands. However she found nothing, causing her to instead pat down the altar. This time, she found a small button underneath the counter, which she promptly pressed. A quiet click sounded behind her, and Endyr turned to see that the centre of the cross had opened up. Inside the gap, a glass prism sat with something sealed inside it.

It was an abysmal purple orb that was obviously unnatural. Three golden rings had been carved on one side. At the centre of the golden rings was a white dot that was perfectly aligned with the rest to form an odd sense of beauty. Endyr failed to appreciate it however, because the burning sensation blossomed into a crippling agony upon seeing it. Falling to her knees, Endyr finally became aware of where the pain was coming from: her left eye. Putting a hand up to it, Endyr realised her vision on that side had vanished, just as she saw the orb!

'No, that thing isn't an orb!' Endyr knew what was going on, what the thing she needed to find was. It was indeed connected to an Abomination, more intimately than she'd expected. After all...

'That's my eye!'